Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 141 Ancient Stone Carvings and Murals
That is Ye Lu, who actually lived in Beishi City and had some understanding of the officialdom of Ling Kingdom.

Even a foreigner wouldn't understand what happened at this point.

Pei Xia patted his shoulder: "Zhu County is in the central part of Youzhou. There is no need for border defense. The local armed forces are probably not serious soldiers."

So when they heard the royal court summon them to the front lines, all sorts of trivial matters immediately arose.

Moreover, this deception and cover-up were carried out with the unity of the local people.

Who knows, if you count around in that unit, you might find out which official is sending their son, the son or nephew of a wealthy merchant, to take care of them, or whether they are distant relatives of the prefect.

"The royal court has given orders, and we dare not disobey, so we lied and said that there were spies infiltrating and that we needed manpower to control them..." Ye Lu rubbed his temples. "And we can just say that the situation became chaotic because of the recruitment of Su Shi. Anyway, we have merit in recruiting, so the higher-ups can't give us a hard time."

The two exchanged another glance. So, after all that fuss, it turned out that a bunch of corrupt officials had trapped them all in the underground palace by sheer coincidence.

Pei Xia stretched out her five fingers and slowly clenched them in front of Ye Lu's eyes: "When we get back, we'll make them into red bean paste!"

Ye Lu inwardly agreed, but still slapped his hand away: "A prefectural governor is a powerful official, I can't kill him."

"Hey, speaking of which, what are you doing here?" After explaining her situation, Pei Xia casually asked Ye Lu, "Weren't you staying in Beishi City?"

Ye Lu shrugged: "The whole city is in turmoil, a great battle is imminent. The royal court needs me to bring back detailed information about the current situation in Beishi City, so they sent someone to replace me. I haven't been back for long. I just finished reporting in Hanzhou last month, and then this job came right away."

The intelligence agency of the Northern Barbarians was called "Heishi". Its structure was not as tight as that of the Insect and Bird Bureau of the Great Barbarians. It is said that it was only established after the occupation of Youzhou.

Ye Lu was clearly one of them, which explains why the barbarian group that encountered each other on the narrow path was so powerful.

"Is that square-faced guy your boss?"

"Yes, it's Banba Ling, who led this mission. He's one of the seven most skilled deer-carrying warriors in our Black Shi."

Speaking of this, Ye Lu turned to look at the darkness behind him, his expression somewhat worried: "I wonder how he is doing now."

During the time Ye Lu was away from Beishi City, his cultivation improved again, and he has reached the Tongxuan realm.

Even so, worrying about one's own superiors is truly an attitude that outweighs its value.

Pei Xia was even more curious about how they got here: "Did you know about this secret passage beforehand?"

“Uh…” Ye Lu considered it carefully this time, as it might involve some secrets of the higher-ups.

But then I thought about it again, and Pei Xia was already here, so there was really nothing to hide: "Yes, before we came, we went to pray to the elders of Xiaotianshan as usual, and were told that there was a secret passage here, and that we should be careful."

Pei Xia then thought of the mysterious and complex Five Constraints Formation: "I remember there wasn't a Master Su among you, was there? How did you break the formation at the entrance?"

"Oh, the person who set up the formation is the one who escaped from Little Tianshan. We took the magic weapon to break the formation when he left."

Ye Lu's honesty finally helped Pei Xia sort out her thoughts.

Then I thought, the defector Su Shi from Xiaotianshan found King Xiao, who was still in Youzhou at the time, and King Xiao dug this stone road. Could there be any connection between them?
While pondering to herself, Pei Xia looked at Ye Lu with a sincere expression: "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what you've told me."

Ye Lu nodded.

His professional competence is beyond doubt, and his character is indeed straightforward.

To put it bluntly, Pei Xia, despite having other options under Luo Xian's powerful influence, still managed to escape Beishi City with Xu Shangxin. Overall, her stance was relatively clean.

After exchanging information, their old acquaintance quickly led them to become companions.

The hall where Ye Lu was located was equally tall and spacious, but the difference was that there were very few pieces of furniture and utensils used by people here. Instead, it was filled with square stone gardens.

So much time has passed that these fields have all become desolate, and in the completely dark underground, some kind of low-growing plants grow.

Pei Xia led Lu Li and Ye Lu through these densely packed fields, silently wondering if this was a place where grains and vegetables were grown.

After walking a while longer, I began to hear the clear sound of water.

Ye Lu pointed to a cracked wall where a huge boulder had collapsed, exposing a large rock with a large hole through which rushing water was flowing, roaring as it plunged into an unknown abyss. "That's where I came out. Luckily I had a sword, or I would have been in serious trouble."

Ye Lu still looked somewhat shaken when he talked about this.

Falling into the underground palace wasn't a good outcome either, but compared to actually plunging into the endless river of the abyss, it was already a miraculous escape.

Aside from Ye Lu's square-faced boss, his other colleagues were not necessarily as lucky.

Needless to say, Pei Xia's side is even worse. Among those masters, there is only one at the fifth level. Unless his supernatural abilities happen to be able to deal with this situation, he will be doomed.

However, Ye Lu took a very open-minded view of this matter. He even took the initiative to say, "Finding an exit first is more important."

This is what a professional spy does: getting intelligence back alive is Ye Lu's top priority.

Pei Xia then took the opportunity to ask him about the underground palace.

After all, if this was indeed suggested by the fugitive Master Su to King Xiao to dig it up, then perhaps Little Tianshan would have additional knowledge about this place.

Unfortunately, Ye Lu could only shake his head this time as well.

With no other option, the three of them had to continue forward.

At the end of the hall, there was another stone door exactly the same as the previous one. Pei Xia poured spiritual power into it again, and the ancient array stubbornly lit up, causing the stone door to rustle.

This time, the space on the other side is much narrower.

This appears to be a narrow passageway, wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side, which is quite cramped compared to the previous hall.

But as Pei Xia and the others went further in, the passage gradually widened.

The further you go in, the more the walls on both sides expand outwards. When you get deep inside, you can no longer see the stone walls on both sides with the naked eye.

As the echoes of their footsteps lingered for longer and longer, a darkness as deep as black water began to envelop them tightly.

"Wait," Pei Xia suddenly spoke up, "there's something ahead."

Ye Lu did not doubt Pei Xia's judgment and immediately placed his hand on the hilt of his sword: "The enemy?"

"no……"

Pei Xia's keen senses and eyes were fixed on what was ahead, and the spiritual energy in her hand suddenly expanded.

His vast inner cauldron amplified the range of this spiritual light, instantly revealing everything before them.

It was a huge stone mural, over ten feet tall.

The three of them looked up together, and in the very center of the mural was a clear map, but because it was a stone carving, it was covered in dust.

Lu Li's eyes widened: "It's Kyushu!"

Indeed, the map in the very center of the stone carving is the present-day continent of Kyushu.

Looking out from Leyang, which is located in the center of the world, to the west is Shuzhou, the base of Ling Kingdom, and to the south is Canglu, where Weishan was formerly located. Further south and east of Canglu is Zhenhai Prefecture, which faces Guizhou across the Sea of ​​Flowering Flowers. To the northeast of Zhenhai Prefecture, bordering Zhenhai, Canglu, and Leyang, is the land of Qinzhou, which is now devastated.

Pear pointed far away to the area north of Shuzhou and Leyang: "Youzhou, we're here!"

Youzhou and Hanzhou, which are further north, are the two largest of the Nine Provinces. The second largest is Yuezhou, which is located on the East Sea. Yuezhou is connected to Maizhou, separated by the East Sea. With its vast territory, it can almost be considered another continent.

Ye Lu was somewhat puzzled: "What's the purpose of carving a map of the Nine Provinces deep within this underground palace?"

Pei Xia raised her eyebrows and glanced at the other parts of the huge stone wall: "The focus is not on the Nine Provinces in the middle, look at the four corners."

Upon hearing this, Ye Lu turned his gaze, his eyes slowly becoming puzzled: "What...is that?"

(End of this chapter)