Volume Three: Rising Fame - Chapter 80: The Underground Space

"It actually ran away?!"

Li Yu used his spiritual power to disperse the thick fog surrounding him, but he found nothing. His expression instantly turned grim. To be played for a fool by a strange beast—if word of this got out, where would he hide his face?

"Do you sense anything?" Li Yu asked.

Beneath him, Can Yishuang poked her head out of the soil. She shook her head. "This fog has a property that obstructs investigation; I can't sense where the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger went after entering it. However, I did notice something unusual about the ground here!"

Unusual?

Li Yu's expression shifted. If this beast was so cunning, why had it acted so foolishly earlier, letting him chase and strike it? Surely it couldn't have underestimated his strength and been caught off guard? Thinking about it carefully, could the beast have done this on purpose to lure him to this specific location? If that were truly the case, he really needed to consider whether it was time to leave this place immediately.

"What is unusual about the ground?" Li Yu pressed.

"The ground here is hollow..." Can Yishuang's voice grew lower, then suddenly rose, her head popping further out. "I see it! The traces of the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger are also underground. There’s a hole right next to where it landed earlier; it must have gone down through there!"

Li Yu stroked his chin. No matter how heaven-defying the beast was, it couldn't have predicted his every move, could it? How would it know he was going to throw it in that direction? Or was it possible that after he threw it, the beast pretended to flee and then accidentally fell in? If that were the case, could the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger actually be stupid enough to have been stuck by him because of its own clumsiness?

In truth, one could hardly blame the beast. If Li Yu hadn't utilized or released the spiritual power within his Thunder Vents, he would have appeared to the beast as nothing more than an 'ordinary' fifth-rank cultivator.

Guided by Can Yishuang, Li Yu arrived at a patch of dense grass. He didn't rush in, but instead pushed aside the surrounding mist to observe the environment. It was a very ordinary spot; the grass only reached waist height. Had Can Yishuang not pointed it out, he would never have stepped foot here. Finding nothing else strange, Li Yu stepped into the grass.

"It's right here!" Can Yishuang stood beside Li Yu and pointed.

"These marks must have been left when the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger fell through," Li Yu noted. He had studied this subject in detail, so identifying basic traces was effortless for him. The grass around the opening was dense, with only one side showing signs of breakage. However, because of the height of the grass, some stalks had fallen over to cover it, making it essentially impossible for an ordinary person to notice.

Li Yu parted the grass and looked into the hole. It was quite large and pitch-black, with no visible bottom. However, judging by the grass roots growing along the walls, nothing had moved in or out for a long time, which likely ruled out the possibility that the beast had specifically lured him here.

"So, this Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger is actually stupid enough to have fallen into a hole by itself?!" His voice was filled with astonishment. A tiger like that? Even at the peak of the fifth rank, so what? Wasn't it just a disgrace to all tiger-kin?

Li Yu thought for a moment. "Besides that Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger, did you see anything else?"

"Space, a very large space!" Can Yishuang used her two small hands to draw a large circle, illustrating its size. "And there's a lot, a lot of water!"

'Is there nothing else?' Li Yu hesitated. Should he kill the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger or not? He quickly made up his mind: Kill it! Otherwise, if others found out he had been played for a fool—ahem—it would be one thing for him, but what about the others? He couldn't guarantee their safety while traveling, and as long as the mountain fog remained, he still needed these people to cooperate!

Having made his decision, he didn't hesitate further. He leaped and dove into the grass hole.

"So deep, at least fifty meters?"

The hole didn't lead straight down but slanted inward. Li Yu pondered whether this might be a cavern leading into the mountain. If there were no other exits, then the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger was essentially a tiger trapped in a cave, waiting for him to catch it like a turtle in a jar.

"Clatter!"

A stone was dislodged by the youth, tumbling and rolling until it finally splashed into the stagnant water below. Li Yu used the power of his Spirit Domain to hover above the ground. "This place is truly strange. No, the whole mountain is strange!"

The interior was pitch black, but after Li Yu channeled spiritual power into his eyes, it became as bright as day, revealing everything in a single glance. Having entered along the slanted tunnel, he found that the end opened into a vast space with a pool of water fifty meters below. Looking up, the ceiling was another fifty meters high; in this hollow space, excluding the unknown depth of the pool, the distance from the water to the ceiling was a full hundred meters!

"Thump!"

Li Yu tossed a stone into the water. The sound was dull, and the depths of the pool remained invisible. Li Yu stopped hesitating and flew toward the center. Since there were no signs of the beast outside, it had to be in here.

Meanwhile, outside the mountain, Ying Feiguang and his group were once again navigating the thick fog. Surrounded by his men, he said coldly, "One of the teams sent by the Imperial Palace went missing, but because all other teams returned with complete information, the Emperor felt the danger did not warrant special concern. He did not send a second search party, instead choosing to use this place as the venue for the Hundred Schools Conference." He spoke slowly of imperial secrets.

"Looking at it now, that team must have disappeared here. I just don't know if they are trapped or have already fallen."

A youth beside him asked, "Your Highness, was there no record of this in previous imperial archives?"

"None!" Ying Feiguang shook his head. "True secrets are held by the direct descendants of the previous dynasty. This secret realm was only recently incorporated into the Great Ming's hidden treasury. So many years have passed; who knows what strange changes might have occurred?"

"Your Highness, what was the... cultivation of those teams?" the youth asked, seemingly unwilling to let it go.

Ying Feiguang hesitated before answering. "The Night Guard, five per team, all at least fifth-rank! The leaders were mostly late-stage fifth-rank."

As expected, the faces of those nearby changed upon hearing this. Since Ying Feiguang had said it, there was no reason for him to lie, but a team of five, all fifth-rank—had they all been killed by this eerie mountain?

"Could they have been greedy for the Snow-Blowing Ghost Crystals here..."

"Is your head made of pig brains?" Ying Feiguang glanced sideways at the speaker and said bluntly. However, he knew that once this news was out, these people had lost their composure, which was why they would say such things. If they had truly been greedy for the crystals, the crystals would have been gone by now. Moreover, the loyalty of teams sent by the Imperial Palace was beyond doubt; they would never betray the Great Ming for treasure.

Therefore, the fact that they hadn't returned on time and had remained in the secret realm meant that something major had happened. In the best-case scenario, they were trapped somewhere. Ying Feiguang squinted and looked up at the mountain peak, but surrounded by fog, he could barely see a meter in front of him.

"Sigh..."

Seeing Wen Xiangxuan slowly wake up, Xing Chengping let out a long sigh. "I don't know how much longer it will take for the young master to return!"

"Where did the young master go?!" Wen Xiangxuan's expression changed. This eerie mountain was filled with dangers, and without Li Yu, she truly didn't know how to survive. When she first reached the fifth rank, she thought she had the capital to roam the secret realm, but the higher she stood, the more clearly she could see Li Yu's dominance. His Spirit Domain, whether in size or density, was incomparable. After reaching the fifth rank, she felt even more awe toward him. Perhaps Xing Chengping felt the same way, otherwise, he wouldn't have sounded so worried just now.

"He went to chase that strange beast," Xing Chengping replied. "Before he left, he told us to go back to the cave and wait for him."

"What about Can Yishuang?" Wen Xiangxuan scanned the area and noticed the other girl who usually followed Li Yu was also missing, causing her heart to tighten. Fortunately, she saw Xiong Xiu'er standing on the other side and finally relaxed.

"You should recover first."

"Mm-hmm!" Wen Xiangxuan responded, taking a pill from her robes and placing it in her mouth.

...

"Whoosh... whoosh..."

A sporadic breeze blew. After flying for four or five minutes, Li Yu saw an isolated island at the edge of his vision! Deep within the cavern's water pool, he saw an island with signs of life!

"Exquisite craftsmanship of nature!" Li Yu's eyes were full of wonder. The island was about several dozen square meters. Unknown plants covered the island, swaying in the faint breeze as if they were alive. Many of the plant leaves glowed on their undersides; each time the wind blew, the plants would lean, scattering colorful light in all directions. Even the ceiling of the cave reflected these bizarre and kaleidoscopic scenes.

In the center of the island stood a low but lush tree, its spreading branches extending to the edge of the island, with some leaves drooping into the water.

"Should we go over? I see the traces of that Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger!" Can Yishuang whispered.

Li Yu shook his head. He stared at the island; even from nearly a hundred meters away, he could clearly see water trails leading deep into the island. This must be where the beast had climbed ashore after crossing the water.

"No rush. Don't you know that the more beautiful a place is, the more dangerous it is?"

"That rule applies to women, too!"

Can Yishuang: "???"

Li Yu circled the island from a distance and shook his head, his eyes growing solemn. "Have you noticed? After the water trails lead inside, there are no traces of them coming back out," Li Yu whispered. "But look, the island is only so big. We can see the end at a glance, and circling it shows the whole picture. So, where is the Soul-Devouring Golden Wave Tiger?"

Can Yishuang, who was being supported by Li Yu's spiritual power, nodded upon hearing this, finally noticing the unnatural detail.