Chapter 263: Restless Mind

After the few of them finished recounting their own experiences, they each drank their tea in silence.

Xu Chen, meanwhile, sighed endlessly.

For this group of unlucky fellows to have inexplicably fallen into this godforsaken place was indeed incredibly heartbreaking and desperate.

By comparison, his own experience was even more absurd.

However, the others had fallen in while treasure hunting to get rich, whereas he had fallen in while showing off and courting death; he could be called a god-tier master of courting death, unmatched by anyone.

But no matter how they had fallen in, they were now grasshoppers on the same string; if they wanted to survive and escape, they could only put their heads together. At least in Xu Chen's view, this place was not an absolute dead end, but already held a glimmer of hope.

After all, the cultivators of the Taiyuan Sect back then must have successfully brought out the Nether Soul Flower deposited by the Demon Lord Youtong through the ancient passage.

Although the Taiyuan Sect had vanished into thin air and the method was nowhere to be found, this passage should still exist, otherwise Chen Yang and the others would not have fallen in for no reason.

And the exit, if nothing went wrong, was in the Yelang Ancient Kingdom they spoke of.

Thus, Xu Chen poured a cup of tea for everyone again and said, "Everyone, don't be discouraged. Actually, I have a clue; perhaps it is our chance to return?"

Upon hearing this, everyone was incredibly pleasantly surprised and all put down their teacups to look at Xu Chen.

"Junior Brother, speak quickly, what is this clue?" Chen Yang asked eagerly.

So Xu Chen briefly recounted what the Demon Lord Youtong had experienced, though he omitted some of his own mind-boggling operations within it. After the group finished listening, they were all suddenly excited and overjoyed. True Monarch Guiling said, "In that case, the Taiyuan Sect truly did have a way to enter and exit the netherworld back then."

Xu Chen nodded and said, "A person of the Demon Lord Youtong's status would certainly not lie. However, the Taiyuan Sect has been gone for thousands of years, and the Demon Lord Youtong did not know this method, so we still have to rely on ourselves to find a way."

"What are you all talking about? Eh, what a fragrant scent of Spirit Tea... Hmm, no, there is also the aroma of Spirit Wine..."

Just as the group was excitedly discussing Xu Chen's clue, a voice of immense surprise suddenly came from outside the cave. Soon, a middle-aged man wearing animal skins and with disheveled hair and a dirty face walked in timidly.

"Bang~"

Lu An slammed his fist onto the stone table, jumped up, pointed at the middle-aged man's nose, and cursed, "Wang Daolin, you son of a bitch, you actually dare to come back!"

Chen Yang and Zhong Hui also jumped up with faces full of rage, rolled up their sleeves, and lunged straight at him.

"Bang bang bang bang..."

"Ah, don't hit the face~"

"Slap slap slap slap..."

In the blink of an eye, the middle-aged man who had just entered was pinned to the ground by Lu An, Chen Yang, and Zhong Hui, who were punching and kicking him in a violent beating.

The middle-aged man curled up on the ground, protecting his head with both hands and screaming incessantly.

The action was so fast that Xu Chen watched, dumbfounded.

True Monarch Guiling, however, sat upright, holding his cup and sipping tea slowly, as if he saw nothing.

"Move aside, let me beat him to death!" Fourth Senior Brother Chen Yang was actually a hot-tempered one; he pulled a red bone club as thick as an arm from his waist and raised it high.

"Spare me, I won't dare to run off alone again!" the middle-aged man begged loudly in fear.

"Alright, stop it, all of you!"

Seeing the red light beginning to emerge from the bone club in Chen Yang's hand, True Monarch Guiling put down his teacup and spoke.

"Boom~"

Chen Yang resentfully put away the bone club and gave a fierce kick. Amidst the rolling of Yuan Qi, the middle-aged man let out a miserable shriek and was kicked flying out of the stone chamber. He landed heavily dozens of feet away with a thud and lay there for a full ten breaths before he finally walked back slowly, disheveled and limping, standing at the entrance with his head bowed, mumbling and not daring to speak.

"Wang Daolin, although we are not of the same sect, let alone master and disciple, having drifted in this place for decades, helping one another is only right and proper. Your actions today are unforgivable, but for the sake of our past ties, I will spare you this time. If there is a next time, do not blame me for being heartless and abolishing your cultivation!" True Monarch Guiling said coldly.

"Yes, yes, I will never dare again. I beg the Senior and fellow Daoist Friends to spare me this time and give me a chance to turn over a new leaf!"

The middle-aged man answered cautiously, his pale, withered face full of terror, so wretched it made one sigh.

Xu Chen had been somewhat angry before, but at this moment, he found he couldn't bring himself to be angry anymore.

This was a dignified powerhouse of the Danyuan Realm; in the outside world, he would be a Sect Leader or Elder of an Immortal Sect, a titan who could suppress a region.

But now, he had become this pathetic mess.

It was evident how intensely drifting in the Minghuang wasteland could erode a person's Dao heart.

"Sigh, forget it. Life is not easy, and death is not something one is willing to accept. I was the same back then. Wang Daolin, since you are willing to return, you should have thought about what to do in the future. I won't say anything more. Today, we were fortunate to meet Little Friend Xu, which is why we can all escape back. Sit down. This is the Spirit Tea brought by Little Friend Xu; you should have a cup too. If we cannot escape the Minghuang, at least you can die without regrets!"

As he spoke, True Monarch Guiling personally poured a cup of Spirit Tea with his own cup and placed it on the stone table.

Wang Daolin dodged the murderous, angry glares of Chen Yang and the others, moved slowly to the side of the stone table, squatted down, and held the Spirit Tea with both hands. After taking a sip, two lines of tears rolled down his dust-covered cheeks. He took another sip and actually sat on the ground, wailing and crying bitterly.

Seeing this, the anger on the faces of Chen Yang, Lu An, and Zhong Hui slowly faded away without them realizing it. Finally, Chen Yang gave Wang Daolin a fierce kick on the butt and roared, "To think you're a damn Danyuan Realm expert, so cowardly, you're not even worth a fart. If we were outside, you would have been beaten to death eight hundred times over. You son of a bitch, all you know is drinking, why don't you thank my Junior Brother!"

Wang Daolin took the kick, but his hands held the teacup steadily, not spilling a single drop. Upon hearing this, he turned his head cautiously, looked at Xu Chen with teary eyes, and choked out, "Wang Daolin thanks the Daoist Friend for the Spirit Tea. I thought I would never be able to drink such peerless deliciousness in this life again!"

Xu Chen also waved his hand impatiently and said, "It's just a cup of tea, not worth thanking!"

Only then did Wang Daolin lower his head and slowly finish the cup of Spirit Tea in small sips. After carefully placing the teacup on the stone table, he hesitated for a long time before plucking up the courage to look at Xu Chen and say, "Daoist Friend Xu, do you still have Spirit Wine on you? Could you let me have a cup too?"

"You son of a bitch, you think quite beautifully!" This time, before Xu Chen could speak, Chen Yang and Lu An lunged forward again and pinned Wang Daolin to the ground for another violent beating.

However, after the beating, Xu Chen still satisfied his wish and poured him half a cup of Spirit Wine, though it was a lower-grade, ordinary second-rank Spirit Wine.

But even this half cup of Spirit Wine caused Wang Daolin's Dao heart to collapse. In the end, he even licked the teacup clean, then sat on the ground, still holding the cup and weeping with reluctance.

True Monarch Guiling and the others had their faces twitching.

Xu Chen couldn't bear to watch anymore and could only persuade him, "Daoist Friend Wang, why be like this? It's just a mouthful of Spirit Wine."

Wang Daolin cried like a child, choked back tears, and said, "Daoist Friend, you don't know, in this godforsaken place, I've been thinking about this mouthful until I'm almost crazy. Back then at Qingcheng Mountain, the Peach Blossom Immortal Brew brewed by my Little Junior Sister Peach Blossom was top-tier Spirit Wine. The water from the Zhangren Spring, the flowers from the Flat Peach Garden, plus the brewing by my Little Junior Sister's fair, tender hands, and cellared for forty-nine days with spirit flowers and jade dew—that taste was infinitely wonderful..."

"Clang~"

Before Wang Daolin could finish speaking, he was slapped out of the cave by the long-suffering True Monarch Guiling.

Xu Chen:...

This is a Danyuan Realm powerhouse? He's a complete idiot.

They've fallen into this situation, and he's still full of thoughts about Spirit Wine and his Little Junior Sister Peach Blossom.

But it could also be seen that this guy was a lovesick fool. That he could persist in living until today without his Dao heart completely collapsing was likely not unrelated to this Little Junior Sister Peach Blossom.

Wang Daolin's return broke everyone's interest in drinking tea and chatting.

By now, it was already incredibly dim outside. In the pitch-black firmament, countless stars were twinkling, and there was even a bright crescent moon. Although it was hazy, it made Xu Chen feel deeply emotional.

"I never expected that the Underworld would actually have a moon and stars!"

Sitting on a rock outside the cave, looking up at the stars and moon in the sky, Xu Chen felt a deep sense of familiarity and was filled with myriad emotions.

Chen Yang sat beside him, also gazing silently at the sky and sighing, "In the blink of an eye, eight years have passed. I often miss every blade of grass and tree of our sect; I never expected that I would be able to run into our Junior Brother here—it is truly a great stroke of fortune."

Xu Chen was likewise filled with sighs, and at the same time said with some worry, "I wonder how Seventh Senior Sister and Eldest Senior Brother are faring in the Yelang Ancient Kingdom? I am truly afraid that they might have fallen in here as well."

Chen Yang gave a bitter laugh and said, "No one knows that; I hope their luck isn't so bad!"

Thus, the two junior and senior brothers sat facing each other in silence until the moon climbed to the center of the sky, at which point both returned to the stone chamber to rest and sleep.

Ever since leaving the Feng Clan, Xu Chen had not had a single good night's sleep.

However, right now, he could not fall asleep no matter what.

He worried about the changes in the great formation of Black Wind Ridge, worried about the safety of the Taiyuan Sect, worried about Eldest Senior Brother and Seventh Senior Sister, and also worried about whether Thirteenth Senior Sister had succeeded in her Foundation Establishment; in short, he had drifted to a place where life and death were uncertain, yet he was still preoccupied with everything and could not let go.

Tossing and turning, he even worried about whether Youtong had escaped danger.

Thinking of Youtong, he naturally thought of Feng Feiyi again.

"Sigh!"

Xu Chen let out a long, melancholy sigh, feeling restless and uneasy; in the end, he could only climb up, sit cross-legged, and begin to practice his cultivation.

To pursue learning is to increase daily; to pursue the Dao is to decrease daily.

In cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao, the greatest fear is having too many attachments, for otherwise, one's mind will be restless.

At present, hope still remained, but it was ethereal and uncertain; no one knew whether a passage to leave could actually be found.

(End of this chapter)