Chapter 51: Re-entering the Ruthless Person's Cultivation Ground

The three arrived at the top, moving through the lush vegetation, and soon stopped in front of the "entrance."

Called an entrance, it's more like a dog hole—similar to digging a downward-sloping depression in flat ground, very narrow, allowing only single-file passage.

"Are you sure this is the entrance? It looks a bit odd."

"Absolutely not wrong!"

Yang Zhu muttered, feeling a bit unreliable.

"This wouldn't be the hole you dug... excavated back then, would it?"

Ye Fan also frowned, realizing something mid-sentence, and immediately corrected himself.

Woof! The big black dog was incredibly sharp, reacting instantly, opening its bloody maw and biting down.

"You damn dog, can't you stop biting people all the time?"

Ye Fan winced in pain, raised his hand and threw a few punches, but Heihuang's black fur was as smooth as silk, honed to a terrifying degree.

Even with his Holy Body, he gained no advantage; although a few punches hurt the opponent, his own arm went numb.

"Although you're talking nonsense."

Heihuang bared his snow-white teeth, his expression grim.

"How did you discover someone had been here?"

This place is very concealed; even if one passes by, it's easy to overlook, ordinary people would hardly notice it unless they came specifically for it.

"I just went in a bit and found that the spot where I had blocked it with stones when I left back then has been pushed over."

Just thinking about this Heihuang makes his teeth itch with anger; back then, for the treasure, he risked great danger to break in, nearly dying inside, yet got nothing.

"I'd rather bury that thing for several more years than let it fall into others' hands."

"If that person later picked up the treasure, he might truly go mad."

"Are we really going in? Inside is extremely dangerous; one misstep could cause an accident."

Heihuang confirmed again that even after so many years, the shadow of being trapped still hasn't faded.

His bald tail was due to that incident, once making him doubt whether his handsome, suave, debonair appearance had been affected—"You're usually so capable, why are you scared now?"

Ye Fan let out a light laugh; it was still the first time he'd seen Heihuang look fearful.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you, but that's a ruthless person—when ruthless, they even train themselves..."

"With us here, what's there to fear?"

After probing the entrance with his soul and finding nothing abnormal, Yang Zhu led the way; due to the narrow passage, they could only go single file, not side by side.

The passage bore clear signs of artificial excavation; as Ye Fan said, it was Heihuang's doing.

Inside the entrance it sloped downward, seemingly leading into the interior of Broken Mountain, not straight but winding, as if deliberately avoiding something.

After walking several kilometers, the view suddenly brightened, like a light curtain.

Passing through the light curtain, the road suddenly opened up.

They arrived at a surface resembling a mine cavern, several zhang wide, with both floor and walls naturally formed.

It's very dry here, with many protruding "white stone blocks" on the ground; these were originally source blocks, but now they've lost their essence and are no different from ordinary stone.

"This was originally a massive ore vein, and it looks like the yield could be astonishing."

Ye Fan observed carefully and drew this conclusion.

The cultivation ground was set up near the source ore to better absorb essence, making closed-door cultivation twice as effective.

"An entire source ore vein has long been depleted, at least tens of thousands of years."

Heihuang muttered that if the source ore weren't depleted, even without entering the cultivation ground, just harvesting the source blocks would be enough to fill one's coffers.

They followed the ore vein deep underground, walking thousands of li without reaching the end, and Ye Fan couldn't help but marvel at the wealth here.

Even Yang Zhu was astonished; though it didn't match the nine dragon veins of Purple Mountain, it was far beyond ordinary source ore outside—"From the hands of a ruthless person, indeed extraordinary."

Yang Zhu muttered to himself, speeding up, originally thinking the cultivation ground would appear at the end of the source ore, but who knew the big black dog stopped midway.

"Do we have to go in from here again?"

The three stopped at a spot, looking at the "dog hole" on the cave wall, Ye Fan felt a black line across his forehead.

"Otherwise you'd think this was still dug out by me after expending a lot of energy."

Saying that, the big black dog was still quite proud of its masterpiece.

"Looks like there's another one ahead."

At that moment, Yang Zhu noticed another entrance several dozen meters ahead of the "dog hole"; they approached hopefully and found it was indeed another entrance.

Compared to Heihuang's dog hole, this entrance is far more "advanced"; although still not wide enough for two to walk side by side, a single person can move freely.

"How does this feel somewhat familiar..."

This entrance is extremely level, even perfect; Yang Zhu seemed to see the technique of an old acquaintance.

Back when he was with Duan De, the hole he dug out was just as perfect.

Nothing else, just practiced skill! "Ah-choo. Ah. choo!"

Somewhere in the Eastern Wasteland, an unnamed mountain range transmitted a few sneezes from the ruins.

"Damn it, who's badmouthing the Daoist Master?"

The scoundrel Daoist cursed, continuing to wave his purple-gold treasure shovel.

……

Heihuang, seeing this, was utterly displeased, wearing a look of contempt: "It's not that impressive—just a bit better than what I dug."

"That's a 'bit'? How can you boast so much?"

Ye Fan rebutted.

These two really love to argue; each finds the other unpleasant, almost wanting to fight.

"Let's go."

Since he had guessed who made the passage, Yang Zhu felt much more relieved. The unscrupulous Taoist's lack of orthodoxy is a fact, but his skill in this regard is beyond doubt.

Just as he had thought, their journey went very smoothly, almost straight to the goal.

After walking several hundred meters, they emerged from the passage again into a vast underground world.

This place is extremely spacious, at least several hundred zhang wide, like a great hall, and unusually quiet.

In the center of this space stands a huge dao field, over a hundred zhang across, with a mighty presence.

Along the edge of the dao field, nine white jade pillars stand evenly spaced, each pillar carved with countless patterns of flowers, birds, fish, insects, and various plants, lifelike.

The white jade pillars tower, each like a Divine Needle of Stabilizing the Sea, reaching the underground ceiling, at least several tens of zhang high.

The base of the dao field is of unknown material—a black stone that glints with gold; even after tens of thousands of years it remains lustrous, showing no trace of time.

Its surface is not smooth; it is etched with dense pattern lines, as if carved by a blade, deeply sunk into the stone.

At the very center of the dao field lies what appears to be a wooden board? It lies still there, like a cushion.

Besides these, there is nothing else in this underground spot.

"Don't move around carelessly; this place may look harmless, but a single mistake could trigger the great formation, after which you won't be able to get out."

The big black dog looked at the familiar place ahead, its fur bristling involuntarily, its expression wavering between gloom and brightness.

If you have tickets, feel free to toss them over; otherwise I feel like I'm about to collapse…

(End of chapter)