Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 6 – The Underground Space

“Alright, if I really planned to eat you I wouldn’t have needed to dispel your poison.” Qin Yu let go. The chicken overlord fluttered down, but before it flew too far away it started to walk back with a dejected expression.

Qin Yu smiled. “I guess you’re smart enough. There are pill toxins all over this place. If I don’t help you dispel them, just where can you go?”

The chicken overlord waved its wings around, as if to say that it didn’t understand.

Qin Yu didn’t lower himself to the chicken overlord’s level. He went straight to the point, “I’m going to ask you, for this last month, where did you hide away and what did you eat? Don’t lie to me. Of course, if you are tired of living, you can ignore my good intentions.”

The chicken overlord was swirling its eyes around, but when it heard the last sentence it suddenly froze. With two loud clucking sounds, it stretched out its wings and pointed towards the direction of the exit.

Qin Yu frowned. He hadn’t chicken make such sounds, a sharp and grating call like a crow. But now was not the time to think about this. From the chicken overlord’s response, it should have found something.

“Lead the way.”

The chicken overlord rapidly flew over the stone steps, its wings fluttering with extreme speed. Luckily, Qin Yu had taken the body tempering pills and he was no longer the sickly weakling he was before, so he managed to follow right behind with ease. As he arrived at the entrance, he noticed the bloodstains on the walls and ground once more. The sight filled his heart with sadness again.

He looked around, not discovering anything. He glanced towards the chicken overlord, a questioning light in his eyes.

The little fellow smugly clucked twice more. It unfolded its wings and flew upwards before sneaking into a hole in the wall.

Soon, its cries echoed out from the hole.

Qin Yu’s complexion changed. He never thought that there was another mystery to these holes which had been dug by others. He reached his hand inside, probing it. Two feet in, he discovered that there was more space within; the hole actually curved in another direction. In the dark environment it was simply impossible to discover this.

It was good that the chicken overlord was here, otherwise, even if he lived in the disposal department for a hundred years he still might not have found this place.

Where did this hole lead to?

Qin Yu moved back to the side. Soon, the chicken overlord came flying out, a plant seed in its beak. It politely placed the seed in his hand. The seed was dry and had a coating that hadn’t completely fallen off yet; it was clear that it was a new seed.

Smelling it, he could make out the fragrance of soil. Qin Yu’s eyes brightened.

Wherever this hole led to, that place could clearly grow plants.

The Pill Disposal Department was located deep underground, and yet there was actually such a hidden place here. No matter how he looked at it, this place was sure to be extraordinary!

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He definitely had to go in.

But, this hole…

A helpless look colored Qin Yu’s face.

The chicken overlord paced back and forth, pride and arrogance in its face. Its small eyes swept over Qin Yu often and smug satisfaction filled them. It was as if it were trying to say, ‘So what if I tell you where the place is? It’s not like you can go in. Cluck cluck cluck cluck!’

‘Of course, if you were to ask me what it's like, it would be irresponsible for me to tell you. You’ll have to guess! Cluck cluck cluck!’

Qin Yu’s eyes turned icy cold. He cracked his fingers and raised a hand towards the chicken overlord, his complexion darkening. “If you want to keep on living then be obedient and listen to me!”

Even though the chicken overlord had its own spiritual wisdom, its intelligence was only equal to a five or six year old child’s. So, as it was being threatened by Qin Yu, it could only follow directions. It flew in again and again, moving its wings in accordance with his instructions to reveal what he saw.

The comprehension ability of a chicken and a youth were naturally not the same. The process of discovery was filled with difficult twists and turns. At the start, the chicken overlord was able to look down on Qin Yu with a condescending look, as if it were trying to signal that he was hopelessly stupid. But afterwards, it could only roll its eyes in helpless disbelief, gasping each time.

Qin Yu took a sharp stone and began to make a rough sketch in the ground. He drew according to the information he obtained, his eyes becoming increasingly bright.

Now he could determine that this hole was a crack that sloped diagonally downwards, and it led to a mysterious place where plants could grow. And according to the angle and approximated length of the hole, this place wasn’t too far from the disposal department.

In other words, it was possible there was another entrance to the disposal department!

He picked up the chicken overlord which had fallen to the ground, paralyzed with exhaustion and with its tongue sticking out. Then, he strode back towards the disposal department. His eyes slowly peered around before falling on the entrance to the resting room. Without a doubt, this stone chamber was the closest room to the underground space.

Besides the first time he arrived, Qin Yu hadn’t come here again. His eyes swept over the room and he frowned. This was called a resting room but there was only a stone bed, a stone table, and a few lone crumbling stone stools.

He laid down the chicken overlord. Then, starting from the entrance, he gently rapped at the stone walls, trying to determine if there was a hidden space behind from the sounds. But as he continued rapping against the walls, all he found were solid walls, none of them hollow at all. There definitely wasn’t a hidden tunnel here. He moved the dirty bed and continued to rap at the walls but didn’t find anything, like before.

Besides the walls, there was only the ground. The ground had been polished smooth and didn’t have any hidden corners. If there really was a secret passage in the ground it would have long since been discovered by now.

Qin Yu wrinkled his eyebrows. Had he misjudged? According to his calculations, the crack did extend to this area.

He sat down on a stone stool and gently rapped his fingers against the tabletop. Inadvertently he saw a dent in the table. From the look of it, someone had lifted a stone stool and smashed it against the table, resulting in this dent. The several pieces of stone stool in the corner of the room confirmed this.

This stone table was truly made of exceptionally hard materials. After being struck by the stone stool, it had only been dented a little. Subconsciously, Qin Yu seemed to think of something. He stood up, took a few steps backwards, and looked left and right.

The stone table was formed from a single block of stone. Looking at the traces around it, it hadn’t been moved in years, as if it had melded together with the ground into one uniform whole.

And, this table was a bit large.

If he hadn’t entered this room with suspicions then he definitely wouldn’t have thought that this stone table was questionable. But after this thought appeared, he began to think more and more how strange this table was. The bed and stools in this room were in such poor shape, so how could there be a table made of such excellent material in here? Wasn’t that just strange?

Qin Yu stared at the stone table, his eyes becoming increasingly bright.

He definitely had to thank Third Senior-apprentice Brother Wei Wei for leaving behind so many body tempering pills for him. Otherwise, even if he found this questionable point on the room, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it with his past physique.

He grasped the table with both hands. With a shout, all the muscles in his body began to tense. Ever since taking the body tempering pills, this was the first time that Qin Yu used the full force of his strength. According to his calculation, his current strength was equal to that of a racing horse. This was the strength of a racing horse! But even after using all his strength, the stone table only shook a little before not moving anymore.

As if it really did grow out from the ground!

Hu - !

Hu - !

Qin Yu took great gasping breaths, sweat streaming down his helpless face. Even so, he grew increasingly excited. It was originally only a suspicion, but now he was nearly positive that there was a path leading to that mysterious space hidden beneath this stone table.

After a moment, his breathing returned to normal. Qin Yu coldly sneered and turned around. This was only a stone table! It wouldn’t dodge his attacks nor would it strike back. No matter how hard the material was, how could it stop him?

He shoved open the thick stone door and held his breath. His eyes swept around until they settled on a black iron rod. As he held it, he guessed it was around 200-300 jins heavy.

Even with the little blue lamp with him, Qin Yu didn’t plan on staying in this Pill Disposal Department for too long.

When he returned to the resting room, he ripped apart large pieces of rags and wrapped them around the iron rod’s head. Then, with a loud shot, he clenched his teeth and smashed downwards!

Bang –

With a loud explosion, the iron rod violently trembled, making deep humming sounds. Qin Yu’s arms were shaken and numbed so much that he nearly dropped the rod. But, the effects of this rod were too amazing. Tiny cracks appeared on the surface of the stone table where he had smashed.

After a brief moment of rest, Qin Yu raised his hand and brought the rod crashing down again!

Bang –

Bang –

The dull bangs echoed out like thunder. Luckily, he was deep underground so he didn’t need to worry about anyone else noticing him. The stone table was hard, but facing Qin Yu’s completely unreasonable method it had no choice but to indignantly turn into a pile of crushed stone. When there was only two feet left of the stone table’s pedestal base left rising up from the ground, Qin Yu dropped the iron rod and grabbed the base with both hands.

Kacha –

Kacha –

The squeaking friction sound made the scalp turn numb. The stone base was like a piece of bamboo being pulled up, and with a loud popping sound it tumbled to the side.

Hu –

A gust of wind blew out from the hole, stirring dust into the air. Qin Yu narrowed his eyes as he smelled a strange fragrance. Impressively, within the black cave opening that extended downwards before him, he could make out a weak glow in the distance.

But for Qin Yu, this was more than enough!

His eyes swept over the opening. The crudely hewn stone had a ladder of steps dug into the side of the wall. Although it was simple, it caused Qin Yu’s heartbeat to accelerate.

The chicken overlord had already confirmed that there weren’t any dangers within the mysterious space. Qin Yu didn’t hesitate. He used his hands and lowered himself into the entrance, climbing downwards with the ladder steps.

After around 10 meters, the ladder reached its end. Qin Yu looked down and saw that he was still three to four meters from the ground; this wasn’t enough to injure him. He let go and in the next moment he steadily dropped to the ground.

He glanced around. Even though he was mentally prepared, he was still dumbfounded by what he saw.

This was a deep underground space, and for some unknown reason there was a thick layer of soil on the ground. This place had been opened and developed by someone, and a great number of herbs had been planted here; this was a small medicine field. Because there was no one to take care of the field, a thick layer of leaves and seeds had formed over it as well as many dead roots. Several colorful fruits were scattered about, still emitting a sweet fragrance.

Although Qin Yu was a little new cultivator at the Energy Refining realm, he was lucky enough to work near a medicine garden. From what he heard and saw over seven years, he recognized nearly all the spirit grasses grown there.

Now, as he swept his eyes around, he could see snake orchids, thousand safflowers, azure cloud vines, peat lotus seeds, and other such precious spirit plants. Moreover, each one had grown for a long time and was several times more precious than those rare spirit plans that were specially cared for in the Eastern Mountain Sect’s medicine garden. This medicine field was around a thousand feet in width and length; it was simply a hidden treasure!

But in the next moment, Qin Yu’s face twisted into an incomparably fierce visage. He turned and roared, “You bastard, I’m going to kill you!”

The chicken overlord had already sensed a foreboding situation and had fled without a trace, hiding off somewhere unknown.

Qin Yu finally knew why the chicken overlord had developed spiritual wisdom and why it had managed to stay in this environment for an entire month even with the pill toxins in the air. He even knew why it had grown so much recently! That damned brainless chicken had eaten these precious spirit plants as its food!

In his excitement he had only briefly glanced around and hadn’t clearly seen the situation. But now as he looked more carefully, his heart ached and his eyes began to darken.

Those fruits lying on the ground should have been azure cloud fruits. In order for these fruits to flower and bloom, they required at least 60 years. They were natural healing treasures and had amazing effects for healing injuries. It was even said that they could reform lost limbs.

Within the Eastern Mountain Sect’s medicine garden, there were two azure cloud vines that were being prepared to bear fruit. But, they had snow kept off them in the winter and fertilizer was applied to them in the summer. They were cared for as if they were the graves of the sect’s ancestors. Now, most of the fruits on the ground had been nibbled up. They were left on the ground to rot, leaving behind only their shiny skins.

As for the snake orchid, it had already taken the form of a python, meaning that it had grown for at least 400 years. There might not be a spirit grass of this level in the entire Eastern Mountain Sect; it was absolutely a priceless treasure. But now, it resembled a bare pole with almost all its leaves eaten cleanly off. The few remaining pieces had also been nibbled on!

The peat lotus seeds with their thick and deep earthen aura were spiritual plants formed by the heavens and earth. They could be used to refine pills and that reason alone made them treasures. However, they also possessed the effect of purifying the mind and calming the heart; for a buddhist cultivator they were incomparably precious treasures. But now, several of those lotuses were empty, as if they had been raided upon by bandits.

Qin Yu covered his face and closed his eyes, not daring to continue looking lest he faint. He was even more afraid that he would turn around in a frenzied rage and grab the chicken overlord, tearing it to pieces!

However, he soon composed himself. These destroyed spirit herbs and plants were emitting spiritual strength. If he delayed any longer he truly feared they would turn into a pile of waste.

Qin Yu didn’t utter a single word. He carefully searched the field. From time to time his heart would ache, as if he were being stabbed again and again!