Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 140 He finally understood how to be an official.

After clearing away the rubble, we walked through the ancient and dilapidated gate of the underground palace.

On the other side was an even darker, empty hall.

Pei Xia wielded his Qi Sword as it flew through the hall. After roughly surveying the surroundings and confirming that there was no threat, he slowly withdrew his spiritual power.

The light also dimmed somewhat.

Pear looked up at him: "So cautious?"

Pei Xia was reducing the consumption of spiritual energy, which was a very cautious move for his inner cauldron.

Pei Xia nodded: "I felt something was wrong just now. The spiritual energy environment here is too thin."

Although the Nine Provinces Spirit Sea is formless and sounds somewhat like an abstract concept, it is essentially "existent," which means that the Spirit Sea is not uniform or all-pervasive.

Just as some blessed lands are rich in spiritual energy, there are also barren places where spiritual energy is so thin that it seems nonexistent.

This underground palace is clearly the latter.

Pear's face lit up with excitement: "Could it be some kind of treasure?"

Pei Xia didn't say anything.

That's quite possible. After all, King Xiao went to great lengths to dig a tunnel that was over a hundred miles long. It's hard to say that it was purely for archaeological purposes.

This hall was much larger than the one on the riverbank, with a dome nearly five zhang high, and the stones on the ceiling were still intact.

Besides these, there are neatly arranged stone tables and chairs, most of which have broken after countless years.

"Like a place to eat... a cafeteria?"

Pei Xia was somewhat puzzled. If it really was a canteen, then it meant that a large number of people must have lived here back then.

Are there a large number of people living in underground palaces?

Pei Xia kept a watchful eye on her surroundings as she continued forward, hoping to find something else.

Unfortunately, even after walking to the very end of the hall, I couldn't find anything else.

“There’s a door there,” Pear said, pointing to the end illuminated by the light.

There is a stone door that looks fairly intact.

Pei Xia walked closer and tried to push it, but it wouldn't budge.

Just as he was about to roll up his sleeves and put his strength into it, Pear grabbed his arm.

As the girl hopped around, she reached out and brushed away the dense dust covering the stone door. As the dust settled, a clear array pattern was revealed.

The two vegetarian masters from Weishan stared at the formation for a while, and then slowly tilted their heads.

never seen it.

This is truly an incredible sight. Even though Lu Li didn't have the means to break the Five Binding Formation that Han Youzhi had previously broken, she recognized the Rooting, Mountain-Suppressing, Sea-Calming, Wind-Locking, and Thunder-Punishing Formations.

The fact that it could baffle two descendants of Weishan suggests that this place, like the underground palace, is quite old.

“Ancient array techniques look complicated and intricate, but that’s mostly because the technology is outdated, so they’re long and drawn out, just to bluff people. If you just pour spiritual energy into them, they’re almost always right,” Pear said, looking up at Pei Xia. “That’s what my master said.”

Pei Xia, of course, unconditionally trusted his master's wife. He placed his hand on the door and silently channeled his spiritual power into her.

Sure enough, the patterns on the complex array began to light up one by one, and the heavy stone door began to tremble.

Due to the passage of time, there may have been some delay; it took about three breaths before the stone door slowly opened.

Pei Xia flicked the spiritual energy at her fingertips, just about to see what the scene was like across the street.

In the darkness, a sharp glint reflected the brilliance of spiritual energy, piercing straight toward Pei Xia's face!

The sword's edge carried a sharp, invisible force, as if slicing through the murky darkness.

However, even as the stinging sensation hit her face and the hair on her forehead was blown by the wind, Pei Xia remained unmoved.

The sword tip came to a steady stop in front of him. "Fast, accurate, and with a very steady hand. If Xu Shangxin had half of your skill, I would be much more at ease."

Pei Xia smiled, the light from her fingertips slowly moving forward, illuminating the face hidden by her bangs—it was Ye Lu.

Ye Lu stared in astonishment at the person in front of him: "Young...Young Master?"

Pei Xia reached out and flicked his sword: "We've already left the Prime Minister's residence, so there's no need to call me young master anymore."

Ye Lu took a few steps back, confirmed Pei Xia's face again, and the undeniable presence at her feet, before finally letting out a long breath.

He looked at the sword in his hand: "Why didn't you dodge? What if I had actually stabbed you?"

"If you don't know who's behind the door, you can't kill them. Otherwise, what if you kill your colleague?"

Pei Xia spoke with great certainty, and Ye Lu clicked his tongue in amazement: "Impressive, no wonder he is the son of the old Prime Minister Pei."

Only Lu Li, standing at his feet, rolled her eyes in the dim light where no one was watching, muttering under her breath, "You're just unlucky; you can't even avoid a sword right in front of you."

During the fierce battle in the stone passage, Pei Xia recognized Ye Lu with her keen senses, but Ye Lu did not recognize Pei Xia because of the distance.

However, upon meeting in the underground palace, Ye Lu quickly understood what was going on.

But then, a deeper look of confusion appeared on his face: "Didn't you escape from Beishi City? Why are you still working for Luo Xian and spying in Youzhou?"

As he spoke, his body, which had just relaxed, tensed up again.

This person was also capable of infiltrating the Beijing Normal University as a spy. Even with Pei Xi's tacit approval, his intelligence and vigilance were extraordinary.

Ye Lu's first thought was, could it be that he was just putting on an act back then?

Fortunately, Pei Xia also understood his thoughts. Based on their conversation in the stone passage, he had already realized that there was some misunderstanding.

He waved his hand and said, "I came here as a fugitive, intending to go to Yuezhou. But you've set up checkpoints east of Xiaguan to catch vegetarian masters, so I couldn't get through even with pears in my arms. Then a local introduced me to a senior who said he had a way, so I came along."

However, Pei Xia did not expect that after he said this, Ye Lu's expression became even more strange.

The boy placed his hand on the sword, and an aura similar to Xia Xuan's was brewing within it—it was sword energy.

“We have never set up any checkpoints,” he said.

Ye Lu's words surprised Pei Xia: "Capturing a sorcerer to refine medicine! Who in the entire Youzhou martial arts world doesn't know that now?"

"Alchemy?" Ye Lu frowned deeply. "The royal court said it would do its best to mobilize martial arts practitioners and hire them to concoct medicines for the front lines, but this is a recruitment, and everyone who comes is doing so voluntarily. Where did this idea of ​​setting up checkpoints and arresting people come from?"

Pei Xia's eyes widened: "What a joke! I went to investigate that brightly lit checkpoint. I watched them arrest Su Shi and leave. Let me tell you, Han Youzhi has made a fortune during this period."

At first, both of them thought the other was lying.

But knowing each other to some extent, they looked at each other for a moment and simultaneously thought of a possibility.

Pei Xia slapped her forehead, while Ye Lu turned her head away and clicked her tongue loudly.

The cruel official sought credit.

Ye Lu finally straightened up and said with some shame, "It might be the prefect of Zhu County. Before I came, my boss told me that Zhu County sent more than twenty vegetarian teachers, which was far beyond my expectations. It turns out that they were forcibly conscripted."

Such things are rare in the cold northern barbarian lands, so it's no wonder they couldn't think of it.

Mainly for the sake of maintaining stability, Youzhou's administrative system has remained largely unchanged from the old Ling Kingdom in recent years. These people are quite adept at mixing the real with the fake.

Pei Xia was also annoyed, because of this, he had been trapped in this dark underground palace.

He sighed and followed up by asking Ye Lu, "Then why did you come to Shidao?"

“Oh, well,” Ye Lu didn’t think there was anything to hide, “The royal court wanted to transfer some local troops from Zhu County to fill in the gaps in the southern front, but the local authorities reported that they couldn’t because of the recruitment of Su Shi, there were quite a few Ling Kingdom spies in their territory. They needed manpower to investigate and maintain stability, so the higher-ups sent their leader to lead us to catch these flies…”

As Ye Lu spoke, his voice gradually grew softer.

"Hiss..." He gasped, "Could it be?"

(End of this chapter)