Chapter 4277: Hidden Underground (First Update)
Chapter 4277: Chapter 4277: Hidden Underground (First Update)
"If you have some spare time, remember to visit the Yuantian Academy and search for the whereabouts of the Gengjin Rune."
Su Yan frowned deeply, the clues were too few, and he couldn’t deduce anything. He only knew the scheme had started, and the situation at the Emperor Abyss Palace was extremely dangerous.
In the previous lifetime, the Samsara Master was in the light, and the Emperor Abyss Palace was in the dark; Dishi Tian had the upper hand.
But in this lifetime, the situation reversed.
The Samsara Master is hidden in the dark, the Emperor Abyss Palace is openly visible, and Dishi Tian feels as if the Dragonslayer Heaven Sword is hanging over his neck, unable to eat or sleep well.
Now, Su Yan couldn’t do much but wanted to find the Gengjin Rune quickly.
It’s said that the hiding place of the Gengjin Rune is near a ruin called Yuantian Academy.
The Source Beast guarding the Gengjin Rune is named the Golden Lion, with immense power.
Su Yan wasn’t confident enough to deal with it, so he could only request the Emperor Abyss Palace to take action.
This was also his condition for joining the Emperor Abyss Palace!
...
At this moment, Ye Chen, along with Li Qingmo, was heading to the Yuantian Academy.
According to Li Shiyue, the Yuantian Academy was specially created by the Samsara Master in the past life to train disciples of the Yin Yang Divine Palace.
If Ye Chen went and took charge of the Yuantian Academy again, he would gain enormous benefits.
Upon leaving the Li family this time, Ye Chen handled the corpses of the Li family members but didn’t burn the corpses of the disciples from Divine Elephant Mountain, intentionally leaving some traces.
He wanted to confuse the Emperor Abyss Palace, making Dishi Tian think this setup was targeting him.
But in reality, the existence of the Yin Yang Divine Palace was to resist the Ten Thousand Ruins Divine Palace!
This secret must not be exposed.
If the superiors knew, death would be inevitable.
And the best way to keep a secret is naturally to release a smokescreen.
As long as the true secret of the Yin Yang Divine Palace isn’t exposed, the situation remains under Ye Chen’s control.
Thinking about Dishi Tian’s sleepless nights and anxiety due to the Samsara Master’s layout, Ye Chen felt incredibly satisfied.
The blood debt from the past life was almost time to be repaid!
Within a few days, Ye Chen and Li Qingmo arrived at the Yuantian Academy.
However, the scene before them left the two utterly astonished.
The so-called Yuantian Academy had now become a ruin, with lush grass overgrowing, and broken walls and ruins everywhere.
The plaque of the Yuantian Academy had fallen to the ground, covered with dust, indicative of the passage of many years.
"I didn’t expect the Yuantian Academy to be abandoned."
Ye Chen immediately fell silent, stepping into the ruins of the Yuantian Academy.
Looking around, the earth veins here still retained abundant spiritual energy.
Ye Chen planned to later establish the Six Paths Sect here.
"Lord Venerate, there’s a statue of your past life here."
Li Qingmo pointed ahead, as she and Ye Chen had arrived at the square ruins of the Yuantian Academy.
In this square reduced to ruins stood a statue of the Samsara Master, covered with mottled green moss, showing the passage of time.
Ye Chen squinted his eyes, looking at the statue in front, and vaguely, he caught a hint of a living person’s presence!
"Someone has been here!"
Ye Chen’s eyes burst with sharp light, instantly becoming vigilant.
In this ruin, someone had appeared before, and the presence hadn’t completely dissipated; he could clearly sense it.
"Could it be the Emperor Abyss Palace?"
Li Qingmo also became wary. She and Ye Chen had just left the Li family, avoiding the Emperor Abyss Palace’s watchful eyes; could they have already chased this far?
"Impossible, even if the Emperor Abyss Palace is exceptionally powerful, it couldn’t chase this far so quickly."
Ye Chen shook his head; the presence here clearly had no connection to the Emperor Abyss Palace.
"Then who could it be? Could there be someone else here?"
Li Qingmo glanced around, but all she saw was desolate ruins. The Yuantian Academy had completely fallen into disrepair, with no one in sight.
Ye Chen frowned deeply, also feeling strange.
Step, step, step.
At this moment, footsteps came from outside.
Ye Chen turned to look and saw a young man carrying a huge sword walking over.
"Hello there, are you here to attend the enrollment ceremony of the Yuantian Academy too? My name is Qin Tianyu, interested in joining?"
The young man with the sword had a killing aura surrounding him, seemingly focused on slaughtering sword techniques, yet his attitude was courteous and cheerfully greeted Ye Chen and Li Qingmo.
Ye Chen observed this Qin Tianyu, and though he had a heavy killing aura, it was just the aura of divine power, not specifically targeting him, so he felt a bit relieved. He said, "Brother, isn’t the Yuantian Academy already abandoned? What enrollment ceremony would you be talking about?"
Qin Tianyu seemed a little surprised, saying, "Don’t you know the entrance? Then what are you doing here? The Yuantian Academy is a secret place; outsiders couldn’t know its location without an insider’s introduction."
Before Ye Chen could reply, Li Qingmo spoke from the side, "I looked through the ancestral manual and read the records stating the Yuantian Academy has a deep martial arts foundation, which is why I came here with my family’s Lord Venerate, but I didn’t expect this place to be in ruins."
"Lord Venerate?"
Qin Tianyu glanced at Li Qingmo, then at Ye Chen, feeling quite amazed.
Although Li Qingmo wore a mask, hiding her face, her mid-stage Qiankun Realm aura was not hidden.
And Ye Chen was merely at the Heavenly Repair stage.
Li Qingmo calling Ye Chen the Lord Venerate was truly unexpected for Qin Tianyu.
However, Qin Tianyu didn’t pry further. Seeing that the two had no malicious intent, he slightly smiled and said, "The Yuantian Academy is actually still operating, but to avoid others’ watchful eyes, it has already moved underground."
"Underground?"
Ye Chen was quite astonished.
"Let me show you."
Qin Tianyu chuckled heartily, coming to the statue of the Samsara Master and kneeling in reverence, before producing a token.
This token was engraved with ancient runes, and upon releasing it, the earth shook, and the statue of the Samsara Master moved away, revealing a secret hole entrance, dark and deep, leading to unknown places.
"It’s actually a hidden grotto."
Ye Chen’s eyes lit up; he hadn’t expected a secret entrance here.
Could it be that the Yuantian Academy had really relocated underground to avoid being noticed?
"Let’s go."
Qin Tianyu smiled faintly and led the way into the secret hole.
Ye Chen and Li Qingmo exchanged a glance and followed suit.
Boom!
Once the three entered, the statue of the Samsara Master automatically returned to its original place.
On the surface, the Yuantian Academy still appeared as a ruin.
No one would have thought there was actually a hidden grotto below.
Ye Chen and Li Qingmo followed Qin Tianyu downwards; initially, it was all dark, but soon they saw light.
This secret tunnel continued to descend, with countless forks branching off, and even more forks within those, almost like a maze-like world.
If someone entered here without guidance, they would certainly get lost and face an unknown death.
Ye Chen was secretly impressed by how utterly hidden the true location of Yuantian Academy was; even if enemies pursued, they couldn’t easily find it.
After navigating numerous forks, Ye Chen and Li Qingmo eventually followed Qin Tianyu and arrived underground.
Here under the world’s surface was a vast Underground City with wide streets, bustling crowds, and all manner of shops and taverns lining the streets, the clamor akin to that of the outside world.