[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-watching-the-immortals-fall":3,"chapter-watching-the-immortals-fall-watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-69":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Watching the Immortals Fall",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2259942,4410,"Chapter 69: Cave","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-69",69,"\u003Cp>Ji You had no idea his reputation outside had been utterly ruined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something about one fiancée, two fiancées, everywhere there were fiancées.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t know someone was waiting for him right now, eager to see what his nonexistent fiancée looked like…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, he was crouching low, following Yuanchen through a narrow, dark cave, his chest tightening from bending too long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This jade tablet... is it a Gao De plaque?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the darkness, Ji You groped forward, sensing the surrounding energy had become wildly agitated, like the calm before a storm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, the cave echoed with continuous tearing sounds, accompanied by bursts of ecstatic cries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You didn’t know what the disciples of the immortal sects had seen on the mountain, but breakthrough energies kept surging upward, as if true immortal fortune truly lay here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet enlightenment, as the term implies, hinges on the word “awaken.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He believed there might be triggers to awaken enlightenment, but to claim something could bypass awakening entirely and grant enlightenment through external force was inherently illogical.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s like studying: you may take pills to enhance memory, but you still must see with your own eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unless there existed some incomprehensible force within the Qingyun Realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Yuanchen, who walked ahead, suddenly called out, “Brother-in-law.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You, using the glow of the jade disc, looked ahead and saw blood-red rock ahead—two distinct stone types formed a sharp boundary where they met, like oil separating from water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The rock outside the mountain is ordinary stone, but what’s wrapped inside… may not be anything ordinary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You muttered to himself: “Hurry forward, get it done fast, then you pay and I retreat—money and goods settled.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen pouted: “Where’s my sister?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t even think about using your sister to lure a brilliant genius like me back home.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing this, Yuanchen sulked behind him, and soon the two passed through the cave and entered a vast, silent stone cavern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what chilled them was that bones lay everywhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news was that more than half of these bones weren’t human—by shape alone, their differences were clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially one enormous bone, resembling a femur, thicker than Ji You’s entire body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Di people…” Yuanchen murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen looked up at him: “Legend says there was a colossal race in ancient times, dwelling in the Ten Thousand Mountains beyond Jiuzhou, but they were eventually devoured by the descendants. Still, one tribe among the barbarians seems to retain a trace of this race’s bloodline—though they must enter a frenzy to awaken their giant form.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When the Northern Garrison Army seized the Northern Plains, they encountered such a barbarian unit, but their physiques were no longer as formidable as their ancestors’.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You frowned: “Barbarians aren’t a single race, but a general term?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen turned to look at him, and Ji You felt the condescension of a high schooler eyeing a middle schooler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You chuckled: “I’m from Fengzhou, Yuyang County—a place where you eat today’s meal and wonder about tomorrow’s. Only Master Chen’s house had a few tattered books, none even with illustrations. What do you expect me to know?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen blinked: “There are places that poor? No wonder Brother-in-law’s so obsessed with money.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can’t help it. I’m terrified of being poor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen turned back to the femur: “Actually, this isn’t a secret. The ancient war was so brutal that other tribes fled beyond the Northern Plains to the barbarian continent to escape it. So ‘barbarians’ aren’t just one race—they’re all non-human races.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You pondered: “Aren’t there also demon races?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Correct. But during that war, the demon races sided with humanity, so they’re not counted among the barbarians.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Ji You was thinking, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Yuanchen by the shoulder as he walked ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sudden loss of support made the tendons in his arm bulge, yet the explosive force he generated was just enough to halt Yuanchen’s full weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen’s feet dangled in midair, sweat instantly beading on his forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t noticed ahead—there was no ground anymore. He was suspended over a deep pit below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had Ji You not grabbed him in time, he would’ve fallen straight in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Yuanchen was pulled up, and with the jade disc’s light, he looked down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pit below was filled with corpses—tangled, layered, piled one atop another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the ancient bones earlier, these were humans—or rather, cultivators.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the corpses had their abdomens slit open, leaving a massive hollow at the center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before coming here, Ji You had been nothing but a naive college student, clueless about judging time of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, this ruin seemed to lack the natural process of “decay”—even the best detective would be useless here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But from the dried bloodstains and the thick layer of dust covering the clothes, these corpses weren’t recent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news: none of these people were alchemists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You crouched down, pointing at the hollows to Yuanchen: “What’s missing from this spot?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Spiritual core…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen swallowed hard, a chill running down his spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alchemists are also physicians—they understand human anatomy well. After Qi Refining, cultivators generate a spiritual core, which resides here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even he had never seen a living spiritual core being surgically extracted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How much pain must that cause…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Yuanchen didn’t cultivate the Dao and hadn’t formed a spiritual core, he still possessed an internal elixir. Just looking made him ache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to look at Ji You—and found the other’s expression unchanged, utterly unmoved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You, in turn, looked back at him, thinking: Why are you staring at me? I don’t have one of those either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What can you do with a spiritual core once removed?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Once removed from the body, it becomes a spirit pearl—probably nothing special. Or perhaps there’s something I don’t know.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Book Academy once had disciples go missing; later, five corpses were found in a cave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid panic and prevent other immortal sects and noble families from developing ulterior motives, the governing office never disclosed details publicly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, Ji You could faintly recall those missing Heavenly Book Academy disciples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Keep moving. Find whoever’s here fast—can’t earn money if you’re dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You drew his longsword; spiritual energy drifted like smoke over the blade, casting a cold gleam through the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lower three realms refine the body, following the path of spiritual energy tempering the flesh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only at the final stage—the Ascended Refinement realm—can one condense a spiritual core, completing the lower three realms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That means those who died here were at least Ascended Refinement, possibly even fully perfected in the lower three realms—same as his own cultivation base.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These thousand taels of gold were earned with real difficulty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the two pressed forward, they saw countless iron cages lining the entire cavern, densely packed, the walls scarred with claw marks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides the cages, there were also cushions, incense burners, and other items—by quantity, many people had been here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But like the corpses in the pit, all the cushions and incense burners were coated in a fine layer of dust, undisturbed for at least half a month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ruin once called the “Unknown Place” had long been occupied, then plagued by evil, until immortal fortune emerged…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then its inhabitants fled early, leaving behind only a vast conspiracy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Ji You pondered, Yuanchen’s jade disc suddenly flared with radiant light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spiritual energy’s resonance rapidly spun the disc, locking onto the southern wall of the cavern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuanchen clutched the disc and sprinted forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, a thunderous boom echoed from the mountain peak—the surrounding peaks began to shake violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1270,"2026-06-19T15:28:39.995Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","af3be8d6b8144817ed29dfdeaf8736eb136ec1f97579470b50901c169219e3de","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-70","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-68",430,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwatching-the-immortals-fall-cover.jpg"]