Chapter Fifty-Two: Everything Is Under Control
On the other side.
The Mass Grave Mound.
Following the guidance from the jade slip, Chi Yushu silently led over a thousand members of the second squad to infiltrate the fog-shrouded cemetery from the outskirts.
Passing by broken and ancient tombstones and withered trees shaped like ghostly claws, Chi Yushu came to a solemn halt atop a grave where not even the chirping of birds or insects could be heard.
Wu Qiu glanced around in confusion and asked, “Senior Brother Chi, haven’t we been here before? There wasn’t anything strange about this mound last time.”
Luo Yingying shivered slightly and looked around, saying, “That’s right, Senior Brother Chi. The resentment and gloom here are so dense, even the demonic cultivators wouldn’t linger long.”
“Chief Chi, the junior brothers and sisters have already checked; there’s indeed nothing unusual around,” reported the five-person scouting team Chi Yushu had sent out.
“The location recorded on the jade slip does have some basis, but like us, it seems the demonic cultivators have fooled us,” Wu Qiu said, shaking his head with some regret.
The five returned to the second squad and asked, “Chief Chi, where do we go next?”
Luo Yingying rested her chin in thought, “Senior Brother Chi, you have so many jade slips. Why don’t we split up and check all the locations at once? I think many of the sites recorded are inaccurate; there’s no need to waste too much time here. What do you think, Senior Brother?”
Finishing her suggestion, Luo Yingying looked up at Chi Yushu.
But Chi Yushu hadn’t been listening at all. With a flash of the Azure Chime Sword, a surge of green light erupted, blasting open the mound in front of him.
As everyone gasped in shock, Chi Yushu swiftly struck three other secluded mounds at the southeast, east-west, and southwest corners.
A disciple cried out in disbelief, “Chief Chi, desecrating graves will bring down heavenly retribution!”
They had never imagined Chi Yushu would do such a thing.
Most of these graves were for mortals born to cultivators. The path of cultivation separated cultivators from ordinary people, and it was forbidden to harm or mock mortals. Too much wrongdoing would invite the displeasure of the heavens and severe punishment during tribulations.
Chi Yushu remained calm. “There’s no need to worry. I know what I’m doing.”
Wu Qiu frowned deeply. “Senior Brother, do you suspect the demonic cultivators hid a passage inside the graves? Only disciples of the Stele Coffin Sect would use such a sinister trick.”
“Exactly, maybe what’s hidden below are Stele Coffin Sect disciples we overlooked.”
Five mounds now stood open, and deep within them lay five yellow coffins carved with dragons and phoenixes.
Chi Yushu spoke indifferently. With a flick of two fingers, a green light shot out like a living thing, shattering the five coffins. Out tumbled shriveled corpses with empty eyes.
A wave of corpse rot stench spread. Wu Qiu, Luo Yingying, and several disciples pinched their noses and stepped forward to look.
“Senior Brother, there’s nothing here, and these corpses have been dead a long time…” Luo Yingying retreated in discomfort.
Who would have thought that the ever-meticulous Senior Brother Chi had also made a mistake regarding the demonic stronghold? This was truly troubling.
Wu Qiu’s brows remained tightly knit. Having spent so many years alongside Chi Yushu, he doubted his senior brother would act without certainty.
He swept his spiritual sense over the corpses again and again. As he was about to lose hope, on the ninth sweep, he sensed a peculiar anomaly.
Just as his companions and Luo Yingying all stepped back and Wu Qiu prepared to jump into the pit, a flash of green light streaked past, and a sword pierced straight through a corpse’s chest.
Wu Qiu was utterly shocked.
The members of the second squad found it even harder to believe.
“Senior Brother Chi, why are you desecrating the corpses?”
Before Chi Yushu could explain, Wu Qiu suddenly flew back, shouting, “Be careful, everyone! These corpses are Stele Coffin Sect demonic cultivators! Senior Brother Chi was absolutely right!”
As he spoke, everyone saw the withered corpse, impaled through the chest, begin to ooze strange, fresh blood.
Faces changed drastically. Shields and magical tools were raised in unison.
All the mounds exploded, and one by one, corpses with glowing green eyes leapt out.
Chi Yushu sent the Azure Chime Sword soaring into the sky, whispering an incantation. The sword burst into a boundless emerald radiance, enveloping the entire blurred graveyard.
Sheets of green light shot out, felling corpse after corpse, each one bleeding fresh blood that no dead body should possess.
Wu Qiu and the entire second squad watched in awe.
Chi Yushu’s swordsmanship surpassed anything they had imagined.
So this was the true strength of the Nine Sword Peak’s foremost disciple.
…
Qu Yiqiu lounged lazily on a moon-shaped bed of yellow pear wood, intricately carved with dragon patterns, breathing in the gentle spiritual aura that slowly nourished her meridians.
She was still within the collapsed mine, but her surroundings had changed from the barren state when she first arrived.
The moon bed, sought after by countless scions at auctions, was famed for its ability to gently nourish the body simply by lying on it—a luxury item she had displayed with complete nonchalance.
Hovering an inch above the bed was a complete set of Incense Bamboo Noble Tea utensils.
The teapot, levitating in midair, tilted to pour out a stream of clear spring water.
Steam curled in the air, tea fragrance lingered, and the sound of pouring was like a trembling harp string, stirring the heart.
Qu Yiqiu sipped her tea, brewed with this precious set, utterly unworried about being discovered here.
She had it all calculated. Of the jade slips she handed in, at least eighty percent were accurate demonic strongholds.
If any of the thirteen squads used the jade slips to locate strongholds, they would continually ask Yuan Zhengqing for more, aiming to quickly rack up military merits for their own teams.
She expected that in no more than five days, she’d earn four hundred thousand merit points and leave this place.
“Little Yan, care to try some of this Wellwater Tea freshly brewed in the new set?” she called to the patrolling Little Yan outside.
“No, this tea isn’t very good. Master, hurry and recover so you can take us out of here!” Little Yan propped his head on one hand, his grape-sized eyes gazing blankly into the distance, sitting listlessly atop his round eyeballs.
Qu Yiqiu shook her head—Little Yan’s tastes were too particular!
She herself thought this tea was a treasure, too precious to finish in one sitting.
It seemed her days of poverty on Xiaoping Peak had left a deep mark on her psyche.
As the master, she couldn’t let her subordinates outdo her in discernment.
Draining her cup in one gulp, Qu Yiqiu sat cross-legged on the bed, guiding the tea’s spiritual aura to nourish her meridians.
Chi Yushu had been right: breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Refining too quickly placed a heavy strain on her body.
But Qu Yiqiu had already taken these issues into account.
Her original plan was to use the spiritual spring in her space to flush her meridians day after day, gradually broadening and strengthening them.
Yet this journey to Qunan City had revealed something even better than the spiritual spring.
The gentle wood aura from the yellow pear moon bed was more nourishing to a cultivator’s body, crafted from rare, top-grade millennia-old spiritual wood.
It was especially suitable for those with damaged meridians or hidden injuries.
Combined with the Wellwater Tea brewed from the spiritual spring in the Incense Bamboo Noble Teapot, the speed of her body’s recovery and nourishment had multiplied.
Thank you, Anqi, Shishan Eighteen Sons, Ci Xi, Zeng, Patriotic Devotion, Lime, Towel and Facial Cleanser, and Mu Lulu for your recommendation votes~~~ Thank you all for your support!
(End of chapter)