Chapter 74: The World Beneath the Earth

Chu Tianfeng nodded, signaling for Lv Hui to continue.

“At the time, Ma Tu was on watch. Team Leader Fan scolded him a bit, and unexpectedly, Ma Tu suddenly shot at him. Team Leader Fan was caught off guard and was hit in the chest,” Lv Hui’s eyes glistened slightly with moisture.

“Where is Ma Tu now?” Chu Tianfeng suddenly realized that ever since the gunshot, he hadn’t seen Ma Tu.

“He jumped into the water and escaped,” Lv Hui gritted his teeth. “The people on those two boats opened fire on us. Xiao Du was unlucky and got hit as well. Team Leader Fan told us to find you, and he stayed behind alone to cover our retreat.”

Everyone knew what staying behind meant, and Lv Hui understood it even more.

When he came ashore, he hadn’t heard any more gunshots, so he knew for certain that Fan Youzhang must have already fallen.

“Who are those people?” Chu Tianfeng asked calmly.

“I don’t know. All of them had their faces covered. Ma Tu was probably bribed by them,” Lv Hui replied, still seething with anger.

The timing was too coincidental—they had just found the treasure, and the enemy appeared in force. It was clear there was a traitor in their midst.

Obviously, that traitor was Ma Tu.

He had shot Fan Youzhang and escaped into the water—proof enough.

To be fair, Ma Tu had played the part of the traitor rather well, successfully deceiving Fan Youzhang and the others, and sending out word as soon as they found the treasure.

“If I had known earlier…” Lv Hui began to speak, but Chu Tianfeng waved a hand to cut him off. “Someone’s coming.”

Lv Hui immediately drew his pistol and crept toward the entrance of the cave.

A moment later, chaotic footsteps echoed atop the cliff—there were clearly many of them.

Chu Tianfeng sat cross-legged, eyes closed, ignoring the commotion.

The cave entrance was well hidden and not easily discovered. Even if it was found, it didn’t matter much; with Chu Tianfeng and Lv Hui on guard, it would be nearly impossible for the enemy to force their way in from the cliffside.

Lv Hui pressed himself against the stone wall by the entrance, gripping his pistol tightly.

The group above whispered among themselves for a while, then gave a sharp whistle before departing.

Only when their footsteps faded did Lv Hui let out a long breath and collapse by the entrance.

Chu Tianfeng remained seated, eyes shut, silently circulating his cultivation technique.

Half an hour later, he suddenly opened his eyes and gazed outside.

There was nothing but deep night and a scattering of desolate stars.

But what ordinary people couldn’t see, Chu Tianfeng could. Under the sweep of his spiritual sense, a human-shaped mist was clearly visible outside the cave.

It was a ghost—a female ghost.

Her face was lovely, her features exquisitely delicate, though the ghastly pallor of her complexion was enough to chill the heart.

She hovered in midair, her entire body shrouded in a white gauze dress, long hair draping loosely down her back.

A faint, inscrutable smile played at the corner of Chu Tianfeng’s lips as he locked his spiritual sense onto her.

Her cultivation was impressive—much higher than his own—already at the tenth level of Qi Refining, on the verge of Foundation Establishment.

However, ghosts were most vulnerable to true fire; those below the Nascent Soul stage had no physical form and were far weaker than cultivators of the same rank.

As a cultivator, Chu Tianfeng understood all too well how difficult it was for ghosts to survive in the world of the living.

After all, he himself had once been a ghost, spending decades inside a soul pearl with Jin Daizi.

So, as long as this female ghost didn’t provoke him, he had no wish to eliminate her.

Her cultivation surpassed his, and her spiritual sense was stronger as well, so she naturally sensed his attention and focused her own spiritual sense on him in return.

Human and ghost confronted each other with a strange, silent intensity.

“Are you a cultivator?” After a moment, the female ghost broke the silence, communicating with Chu Tianfeng through spiritual sense.

Moreover, she was speaking in the language of Huaxia.

“I am,” Chu Tianfeng replied with a slight smile.

He knew she could tell not only that he was a cultivator, but also that he was disguised as a woman.

“You took my belongings,” the female ghost said, sensing that Chu Tianfeng bore her no ill will.

She also knew she was no match for him, so her tone remained calm and her words polite.

“Uh…” Chu Tianfeng was momentarily at a loss, but forced himself to ask, “What belongings?”

He had a pretty good guess—she was likely here for the treasures, probably their original owner.

“Two luminous pearls, two water-proofing pearls, and a flying sword,” the ghost answered calmly.

Upon awakening, she had discovered the treasures in her tomb had been stolen. Tracking them here, her spiritual sense detected both the luminous and the water pearls.

She realized the thieves had also raided another site, claiming those treasures as well.

“Who are you?” Chu Tianfeng asked. “You’re a female ghost—why do you need such mundane treasures?”

Whether or not she was the rightful owner, Chu Tianfeng had no intention of returning them. It hadn’t been easy for him and his companions to acquire them, and taking the treasures did her no harm.

The ghost pondered a moment, then, as if making up her mind, asked hopefully, “If I tell you, would you be willing to help me?”

Chu Tianfeng frowned. “That depends on what you’re asking.”

Truthfully, he wanted to refuse outright—he already had enough troubles and didn’t want more.

She sighed and replied through spiritual sense, “My name is Siya, and I come from the Inner Earth World.”

Chu Tianfeng was startled to his core and immediately asked, “Inner Earth World? What is that?”

“It lies within the earth, a world of its own with mountains, rivers, animals, and humans. The spiritual energy there is many times richer than on the surface, so although the population is small, almost everyone cultivates,” Siya answered serenely.

Chu Tianfeng drew in a sharp breath.

Everyone cultivates? What kind of place was this?

On Blue Moon Star, the spiritual energy was thousands of times richer than on Earth, but not everyone could cultivate—there was the matter of spiritual roots.

“Does everyone there have spiritual roots?”

“Very few are born with them—only about one or two in ten. The rest acquire them by taking a Life Essence Pill,” Siya explained.

Chu Tianfeng inhaled sharply again.

One or two in ten born with spiritual roots! That was astonishing. On Blue Moon Star, those born with spiritual roots were one in ten thousand, if that.

As for the Life Essence Pill Siya mentioned, he assumed it was the same as the Five Elements Pill Jin Daizi had told him about—a pill capable of producing spiritual roots. Jin Daizi had mentioned it before, but he hadn’t thought it possible such a pill existed.

Now it seemed this pill was real—truer than pure gold.

“Were you born with spiritual roots, or did you gain them from a pill?” Chu Tianfeng was curious.

“I took a pill. My Aro clan is fairly wealthy, and I was a princess. Besides, Life Essence Pills are cheap—almost everywhere,” Siya replied indifferently.

Chu Tianfeng could only roll his eyes. He’d barely heard of such a pill, but in the Inner Earth World, they seemed as common as pebbles in the street.

After a pause, he asked, “If the Inner Earth World is so wonderful, why did you leave?”

“I didn’t want to,” Siya’s eyes flickered with pain. “Our clan was destroyed by the Dani clan. My protector, Duan, fled with me, and we stumbled upon a teleportation array leading to the outside. That’s how we escaped here.”

“And where is this protector now?” Chu Tianfeng grew slightly wary.

Siya’s expression dimmed. “We were wounded by the array’s defenses. We found a spirit spring and a soul-nourishing spring by the Anjiang River, so we stayed here to recover.”

She paused, her body trembling. “Later, my injuries worsened and I died. Duan performed a ritual to preserve my soul, built a tomb for me, and used the soul spring to nurture me.”

Soul-nourishing spring? Chu Tianfeng’s eyes narrowed.

That was a rare treasure—not only could it nurture ghosts like Siya, but it could also strengthen a cultivator’s spiritual sense.

Unfortunately, after Lv Hui and the others took the water pearls, the soul-nourishing spring likely mingled with the lake water—a real pity.

“Not long after, a self-proclaimed Daoist named Master Tianxuan passed by. He pretended to be Duan’s sworn brother, tricked him into revealing the secret, then poisoned him and seized the spirit spring,” Siya’s voice quivered with grief.

“Wait, Master Tianxuan?” Chu Tianfeng was shocked. “The Master Tianxuan of the Tianmu Sect from over a thousand years ago?”

“Yes, him,” Siya’s face turned even paler. “My tomb was deep and hidden, so he never found it. That’s why my soul survived.”

Chu Tianfeng was stunned. He recalled Du Jingjing once saying that the eighteenth leader of the Tianmu Sect, Master Tianxuan, had first discovered the spirit spring and moved the sect there, only for the sect to be wiped out overnight by the Huangshan and Hengshan Sects. He’d felt sorry for Tianxuan then, but now it seemed the man was a bandit—he’d stolen the spring himself.

“So you stayed in the soul spring for over a thousand years?” Chu Tianfeng marveled at the thought.

Alone—no, not alone, but a solitary ghost—dwelling in a cold cave beneath the water for a millennium. He could imagine the bitterness of it.

“Yes,” Siya nodded.

“What do you want me to help you with?” Chu Tianfeng felt a wave of sympathy for Siya. If it wasn’t too troublesome, he wouldn’t mind lending a hand.

“If one day you go to the Inner Earth World, I would like you to take me home,” Siya suddenly knelt in midair.

“You know the way in?” Chu Tianfeng gestured for her to stand.

Siya remained kneeling outside the cave. “I only know where the exit is, but it’s dangerous. I suggest you wait until you reach Nascent Soul stage, or are able to break high-grade arrays, before going.”

“Nascent Soul? High-grade arrays?” Chu Tianfeng could only smile bitterly.

Arrays were ranked as low, middle, high, and supreme. Array masters were likewise ranked.

In his past life, he had been a high-grade array master, skilled in both setting and breaking them. But that was in his previous incarnation—now, he wasn’t even a low-grade array master.

Of course, with the right materials, he could quickly regain his former skill. Unfortunately, Earth not only lacked spiritual energy, but also resources. Finding the necessary materials would be difficult.

“Yes,” Siya sighed. “I was only at the Golden Core stage back then, and didn’t know much about arrays. That’s why I was so badly hurt.”