Main Text, Volume Two, Chapter Eighty-Five: Devil's Hill!?

Yumu plunged downward like a falling star. Though he had already advanced to the Core Formation stage, he had not yet learned the art of flight, and so he was descending in nothing but free fall.

If this went on, he would be smashed to pieces. Ye Yu, flying nearby, was so anxious she nearly jumped out of her skin, but with her limited ability, even flying on her own was a struggle, let alone helping Yumu and the others.

At that moment, Yumu actually gave her a carefree wave. Then his lips moved slightly, and a bamboo hat appeared on his head. In the next instant, the hat expanded rapidly, growing until it was as large as a tabletop.

The hat was like a parachute, slowing Yumu’s plunge, though the tremendous impact nearly wrenched his neck off.

Yumu rubbed his neck, which felt as if it had been stretched long, and flashed Ye Yu a charming smile.

After descending a little farther, around the mid-cliff, Yumu finally spotted a place to land. They could not wait to go all the way to the foot of the mountain; treating Yan Xiaosan’s injuries came first.

After signaling to Ye Yu, Yumu kicked off the cliff wall and dropped toward a platform. The instant his feet touched it, he rolled with the momentum, his stout bear-like body serving as a great cushion of flesh, while Yan Xiaosan in his arms was not affected in the slightest.

After landing, Yumu briefly surveyed the surroundings.

The resting place was a very smooth platform, and it was unclear whether it was naturally formed. It was a single massive slab of stone, remarkably flat, and made of a highly unusual rock unlike anything around it.

At the far end of the platform was a cave. It also seemed natural, but it was pitch-black inside, making it impossible to see anything.

"This is an excellent place for healing and refuge," Ye Yu said as she landed on the platform, fully agreeing with Yumu’s choice of hiding place.

Though the mother monkey’s eyesight had been impaired, if her companions came looking, hiding was still the safer course.

Sure enough, just as the two entered the cave, roars from monkeys and the rumble of falling stones came from above.

It seemed the mother monkey’s helpers had truly arrived.

Ye Yu did not dare delay and immediately set up a barrier at the cave mouth to prevent the aura of the devil crystal from leaking out.

As soon as Yumu entered the cave, he sensed something was wrong. The yin energy here was extremely heavy, and there was faintly a trace of deathly qi as well.

He immediately said to Ye Yu, "Watch the cave entrance closely. I’ll treat Xiaosan’s wounds first."

Hearing this, Ye Yu could not help asking in surprise, "Have you got our roles mixed up?"

Yumu glanced at her and said, "Do you still have any spiritual pills left?"

Ye Yu shook her head. She had already used up the only two medicinal herbs she carried today.

"Do you have a way to make him recover quickly?" Yumu asked again.

Ye Yu still shook her head. She was an apothecary, not a physician.

"Then nothing is mixed up. You’re still better off as security for the moment."

"You..." Ye Yu flushed with anger, then after a long pause managed to say, "At the very least, I can keep him alive until..."

Before she could finish, Yumu took out a peach from somewhere. He pried Yan Xiaosan’s mouth open, crushed the peach, and fed the juice into his mouth.

"Wow, so fragrant!" Yan Xiaosan licked his lips and woke up at once.

Ye Yu could hardly believe her eyes. This was too miraculous. The effect of that peach was almost comparable to a pill of rebirth.

This...

Yumu’s actions completely overturned Ye Yu’s understanding. Did heavenly spiritual treasures like this really exist in the world? And he was covered in them?

Yan Xiaosan did not know what had happened. He sat up, and found that his injuries had already improved greatly. Though he still could not fight, at least normal movement was no longer a problem.

In truth, his injuries had not been as severe as the ones Yumu had suffered earlier, but his constitution was far inferior to Yumu’s, so his recovery was much slower.

After Yumu used the Spring-Revival Art on him twice more, Yan Xiaosan’s condition had basically stabilized; with some further rest, he would naturally recover.

Yumu avoided Ye Yu’s burning gaze and pretended to meditate, but in fact he had already planted his roots into the soil and begun restoring his spiritual power.

Seeing Yumu cultivate, the other two did not dare disturb him. They each took some pills and began their own practice.

After about the time it took to eat a meal, the three finished cultivating. Aside from Yan Xiaosan, Yumu and Ye Yu had both fully recovered their spiritual power.

The remaining injuries on Yumu’s body had already healed during his advancement, and after this round of cultivation he was in peak physical condition. Especially now that he had advanced to the Core Formation stage, all of his abilities had improved; if he met Ye Yun again, he would be able to fight him.

Just as Yumu was about to lead the two out of the cave, he noticed that Ye Yu seemed to have something on her mind, as if she wanted to speak but found it hard to say.

"What is it?" Yumu asked curiously.

"This..." Ye Yu hesitated. In the end, she clenched her silver teeth and said, "You may not believe me, but while I was cultivating just now, I suddenly felt as if something inside this cave was calling to me."

Upon hearing this, Yan Xiaosan laughed. "Sister Yu, maybe you were too nervous and started imagining things. This cave is so gloomy and creepy; how could anything be calling you?"

Ye Yu nodded, then shook her head. "But that feeling was really very real. Why would anything here be calling me? Maybe I really was hallucinating."

Still looking uncertain, she slowly walked toward the cave entrance.

"Wait," Yumu suddenly said.

At that, the two stopped and looked at him in curiosity.

"What is it?"

"To be honest, I don’t feel anything calling to me, but I can be certain that something is definitely in this cave."

"Ah!" The two immediately felt a chill creep up their backs.

One was a woman, the other a child, both of them especially sensitive to such a sinister place. Add to that the atmosphere Yumu and Ye Yu had created, and the sense of terror only deepened.

What could be lurking in this gloomy cave?

Yumu looked at the still-shaken pair and said, "I don’t think the two monkeys outside will leave so soon. Rest here for a while and keep an eye on their movements. I’ll go explore the cave."

Unlike Ye Yu and the others, after cultivating the Ghost King Body, Yumu had developed instead a strange longing for places like this.

By proposing to scout the cave, he could first dispel the doubts in Ye Yu’s heart, and second, take the chance to temper himself. Perhaps he might even gain something unexpected.

Ye Yu hesitated slightly, then said, "I’ll go with you."

"This..." This time it was Yumu who hesitated. Although Ye Yu possessed a dark spirit body, her abilities would be of little use here, and taking her along would only be a burden.

Unexpectedly, Yan Xiaosan also spoke up. "I’m going too."

Though Yan Xiaosan was afraid, he was unwilling to sit back and do nothing in their current situation.

Yumu immediately said, "You should stay. First, you’re injured. Second, someone needs to guard the entrance. If anything happens to us, you can serve as backup."

Only then did Yan Xiaosan nod and agree to stay behind.

Ye Yu took out a light crystal, illuminating the cave. Yumu, having cultivated the Ghost King Body, was no longer hindered by darkness, so he led the way while Ye Yu followed closely behind, and the two went deeper into the cave.

"Huh? There are corpses here!"

Not far in, they found two dead bodies lying on the ground.

One had clearly been dead for a long time and had already turned into a white-bone skeleton. The other appeared to have died not long ago, but it was already bloated and swollen, with yellow-green putrid fluid oozing from its body, nauseating beyond words and foul beyond endurance.

Holding their breath, they went around the corpses. Yumu wanted to inspect them carefully, but Ye Yu frowned so deeply she refused even to look, hurrying onward.

Afraid she might come to harm alone, Yumu had no time to continue examining the rotting corpses and quickly followed after her.

Who would have thought that before he had gone far, strange noises would sound behind them? The two hurriedly turned back, and in their startled eyes, the two corpses slowly rose to their feet.

"Ah! Are they corpse wraiths?" Ye Yu cried out.

Yumu shook his head. "These are creatures of the ghost realm: a skeleton monster and a zombie. They’re not corpse wraiths."

After cultivating the Ghost King Body, he had learned much about dark creatures from his ghost servants. Corpse wraiths were undead puppets made by dark cultivators refining corpses, akin to external incarnations.

But these two corpses contained ghost spirits within them!

Hearing this, Ye Yu paled even further. "The ghost realm! Ghost creatures? Outside there are demons, inside there are ghosts, and there’s even bull-spirit grass. Could this be Demon-Ghost Slope?"