Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 143 is a bit too rich, isn't it?

A demon beast's inner core?
Pei Xia took it from Lu Li's hand with some surprise.

Was it left behind by a monster that died here?
No, there were no remains or traces of anyone having been here. Moreover, the spiritual energy here is so thin that there are very few animals, let alone any that would receive spiritual energy to become demonic beasts.

It is also unlikely to be from outside.

Having already become a demon beast, a local overlord even in the deep mountains and forests, why would it need to hide in such a place?

"Could it be something left behind by people who used to live here?" Pei Xia muttered to herself.

That's possible. Although the inner core was radiant with spiritual light, its surface was covered with dust, indicating that it had been there for quite some time.

He glanced at Lu Li: "You're lucky."

Pear snatched it from his hand: "Mine!"

Monster cores are quite valuable, especially for cultivators, as they can be used for alchemy, weapon crafting, or as the core of some simple formations.

Pei Xia even took the demon core of the worm-like monster with her when she left the Lingxiao Sword Sect, intending to give it to Li Zi to practice on when she broke through to the sixth realm.

Unfortunately, they ran out of money for the journey and had to sell it.

I never expected to find one here for free.

After putting away the demon beast's inner core, the three followed the square-faced man's footprints and entered the corridor on the other side.

The stone path was wide enough for more than a dozen people to walk side by side. Large footprints could be seen along the way. This expert from the Northern Barbarian Black Shrine, who had reached the Council Hall, chose to turn back.

Then we entered another fork in the road.

Pei Xia and the other two hadn't walked far along the fork in the road when a spiral staircase suddenly appeared before them.

We're already in the underground palace, do we really have to go further down?

However, the current situation did not give them much time to hesitate—the square-faced man had explored from the other side of the stone path, in other words, he must have already searched the direction he came from.

Pei Xia and her two companions had come from the dining area. They were certain that there was no way out on their side, so their only option now was to follow in the man's footsteps.

The stairs were very high, but fortunately Pei Xia and Ye Lu were both martial artists and agile.

Pei Xia, in particular, held Lu Li under her armpit with one hand and slid down the slope with light steps.

The spiral staircase was very long; Pei Xia felt as if she had descended another twenty-odd feet before finally stepping back onto flat ground.

Just as I stepped off the stairs, I heard the sound of water droplets falling from the dim light in the distance.

Pei Xia snapped her fingers, and the Qi Flying Sword, carrying a dazzling light, flew into the distance.

This appears to be a cave; it's unclear whether the underground palace is still under construction or if this area was intentionally left undeveloped.

The stalactites on the top of the rock face resembled drooping sharp teeth, with droplets of water dripping down from the tips of the stones into the dark pool below, creating ripples with each drop.

Ye Lu carefully walked to the water's edge and examined it: "It's running water."

Of course, this doesn't prove anything. They originally came from the underground river, and even if this pool is indeed connected to the outside world, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the exit.

Pei Xia then looked at the open space beside the pool.

The area was covered with messy footprints.

One of them was very large, clearly belonging to Ye Lu's superior, while another, much smaller footprint was mixed in.

The two footprints overlapped and intertwined, dense and messy, and the surrounding rock layers were clearly recently disturbed...

"It must be Han Youzhi; the two of them had a fight here."

As Pei Xia spoke, she squatted down and carefully examined the indentations in the stone beneath their feet caused by the force of their struggle.

This depth is not right, it doesn't match the strength of a cultivator in the Transformation Realm. Could it be that they are both injured?
It's quite possible that I myself was also badly injured by the stone pillar when I came down. If it weren't for this regenerated and refined physical body, I would probably have been seriously injured upon landing. These two, especially Han Youzhi, must have escaped from a deeper part of the underground river, and the process was probably even more dangerous.

“The good news is that they are both still alive,” Pei Xia stood up and looked at the ground in the distance, where the dust and gravel had been completely blown away by the gusts of spiritual energy from their battle. “The bad news is that we can’t track them down now.”

Ye Lu also sighed. Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to curse Zhu Jun and his gang of corrupt officials in his heart once again.

"The most urgent thing is to find them first, at least to clear up the misunderstanding, and to prevent them from fighting again," Ye Lu said.

Already injured and trapped in the underground palace, now is definitely not the time for internal strife.

The two searched around the cave and eventually found two exits.

Both of these are stone gates built of bluestone, clearly man-made, but no formations have been set up, and the doors are already open.

The idea of ​​splitting up flashed through Ye Lu's mind, but considering extreme situations, such as him encountering Han Youzhi and Pei Xia encountering her superior, it would be impossible to explain the situation even if ten people tried.

“Let’s go this way,” Ye Lu pointed to the stone door beside him. “The marks on the underground stone slabs are still quite fresh, so it must have been one of them who opened it.”

Pei Xia had no objections and turned to call out to Li Zi.

As a result, Lu Li shouted first again: "Oh, Pei Xia! Another one!"

With her rear end sticking out, she pulled out a shimmering, ethereal demon beast core from near the edge of the pool.

This one is even smaller than the previous one, about the size of a pigeon egg.

As everyone knows, the smaller the demon core, the better. The smaller it is, the more concentrated it is, proving that it is closer to a demon crystal. The one that Lu Li dug out from the Mengshan worm last time was as big as a goose egg.

Pei Xia frowned and took the demon core from Lu Li's hand.

Because it was soaked in water, this demon core was free of dust, appearing bright and translucent. The radiance of its spiritual energy was also noticeably more solid, indicating that it indeed contained a more refined spiritual energy.

Pei Xia, a little uneasy, infiltrated her spiritual energy to investigate.

There's nothing wrong with the items.

But precisely because of this, he frowned even more.

One is fine, everyone has their lucky breaks sometimes.

But if you keep stepping in dog poop, you should consider whether someone is plotting against you.

Just as Pei Xia was pondering this, Li Zi snatched the inner core from his hand again and happily put it into the small pocket on her clothes.

She shook herself, listening to the two inner cores clinking together in her pocket, her little face full of satisfaction: "That was awesome!"

Well, might as well take it. We're going to keep moving forward anyway, and since there's nothing wrong with the stuff, we might as well take it.

Pei Xia picked up Lu Li and turned to follow Ye Lu.

The stone door had indeed been recently opened, because once you walked into the corridor behind it, you could quickly see clear footprints in the sand and dust.

He was broad-minded and dignified, and was Ye Lu's superior.

What made Ye Lu somewhat uneasy was that bloodstains could be found every now and then next to these footprints.

This was not the case before, indicating that he was injured after fighting Han Youzhi by the pool.

The three quickened their pace and finally walked out of the narrow corridor and into a low-ceilinged room.

Pei Xia was about to use her spiritual power to illuminate the darkness when she suddenly discovered several bright spots of light in the darkness.

Lu Li, who was being held in Pei Xia's arms, immediately widened her eyes and exclaimed, "Demon crystals! Pei Xia, they're demon crystals! There are several!"

(End of this chapter)