"My name is Yang An. I haven’t had the pleasure of learning your name, Senior Sister."
After ordering the Corpse Slave to guard the house, Yang An left with his twelfth senior sister, heading toward the exit of Corpse Saliva Valley.
On the way, Yang An introduced himself first before looking at the twelfth senior sister walking with him.
Although this senior sister probably already knew his name, introducing himself first before asking for hers was the polite thing to do.
’After all, you don’t slap a smiling face.’
"Wen Yin."
Wen Yin replied in a very flat tone.
Yang An nodded slightly. ’It seems this Senior Sister Wen Yin is the cold and aloof type. Not much of a talker.’
’But that’s fine, too. If I’d run into a chatterbox or someone overly familiar, I really wouldn’t have been able to talk about much with them. I’m just a rookie who has barely started cultivating, after all.’
After that, the two walked the rest of the way in silence. They were not far from the entrance of Corpse Saliva Valley when Wen Yin suddenly stopped.
"Senior Sister Wen Yin, aren’t we heading out?"
Seeing the valley entrance right before his eyes, Yang An was confused by Wen Yin’s sudden halt.
Wen Yin turned, but only partially, facing Yang An from the side.
"Does Junior Brother intend to walk to Yulan City on foot?"
’Does this Senior Sister Wen Yin like looking at people from the side?’
Yang An gave her a strange look. ’But I have to admit, it’s got a certain style.’
"If we’re not walking, are we taking a horse and carriage?"
I’ve heard that once you reach the Primordial Feeding Realm, you gain the ability of temporary Sky Control, but it can’t be used for long-distance travel.
Yang An himself was only in the Fake Food Realm. If not walking, his only options were a carriage or a horse.
But for the life of him, Yang An couldn’t see any other living creatures in Corpse Saliva Valley besides the old geezer, the disciples, and some Corpse Slaves.
Hearing Yang An’s voice coming from the side, Wen Yin stiffened. She turned slightly, hesitated, then finally turned to face the other way.
As if she had finally gotten her bearings, she said:
"Junior Brother, follow me."
With that, she walked away.
Yang An watched her retreating back, puzzled, but quickly hurried to catch up.
Soon, Wen Yin led him to a stone stele, a look of relief flashing across her face for a brief moment.
’What’s she doing?’
Following behind Wen Yin, Yang An grew more and more confused.
Before them stood an Inscriptionless Stone Stele, only about a person’s height, that seemed to be made of ordinary rock.
But then, Wen Yin reached out, placing her slender, jade-like fingers gently on the Stone Stele.
She didn’t seem to do anything, but in the next moment, Yang An suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble.
The ground where they stood, a one-zhang radius around the Stone Stele, suddenly began to sink.
’Is this... an elevator?!’
His field of vision sank lower and lower as the ground rapidly descended. Yang An was a little surprised.
’It seems to be some kind of mechanism, but I have no idea where it leads.’
Soon, after only a few breaths’ time,
Yang An felt the ground beneath him come to a sudden stop, followed by a loud THUD. The impact caused him to sway for a moment.
They had clearly arrived in some kind of vast, empty cavern. It was pitch-black all around, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
VMM!
Yang An instinctively summoned his Bone Relic Buddha Radiance. A Light Wheel radiating solemn, holy light appeared behind his head, instantly illuminating the surrounding space.
Although he could see in the dark, having a source of light made him feel more at ease.
"Hm?"
Wen Yin whirled around to look at him. When she saw that the light source was coming from behind Yang An’s head, her expression turned strange. She seemed uncomfortable but didn’t say anything and turned back around.
Yang An immediately realized that his Buddha’s Radiance could also harm other Cultivators. With an apologetic look, he quickly controlled the Buddha’s Radiance, reining in its power.
He eased up only when the light grew soft and was no longer blinding, becoming a simple tool for illumination.
"Senior Sister Wen Yin, where are we?"
Using the Buddha’s Radiance behind his head and his ability to see in the dark, Yang An curiously scanned his surroundings, confirming that they were indeed in a very spacious cavern.
Even though he had lowered his voice as much as possible, he could still hear a faint echo.
"This is the dungeon."
Wen Yin answered faintly.
’Dungeon?’
Yang An’s brow twitched.
’Why is there a dungeon here? Don’t tell me the Life Crane Sect has captured a bunch of people and locked them up here?’
’But what does this have to do with us going to Yulan City?’
After answering his question, Wen Yin walked on without looking back, forcing Yang An to hurry and keep up.
The extremely spacious area seemed to be a passageway, growing darker and deeper ahead. The two walked on, one behind the other.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they seemed to have reached the depths of the dungeon, and Wen Yin stopped.
Yang An stopped right behind her and looked ahead curiously. But a single glance was enough to completely terrify him.
There, several zhang ahead in the darkness, was a gigantic and grotesque human face staring right at them!
It was an androgynous face, a terrifying ten-plus meters high and several zhang wide. Puffy layers of fat were piled on it, hanging down in fold after fold of wrinkled flesh.
Two relatively small eyeballs peeked out from within this mountain of flesh, staring straight at the newly arrived Yang An and Wen Yin. A smile instantly spread across the enormous face, revealing two rows of large, fearsome teeth in its gaping maw.
As soon as he got a clear look at the thing’s face, Yang An jolted in fear and subconsciously took a few steps back.
The moment he saw that thing, he nearly had a heart attack.
If he hadn’t seen his senior sister in front of him remaining perfectly calm and motionless, he probably would have been long gone by now.
’What the hell is this thing? It’s even scarier than that damn Elder Life Crane!’
What he didn’t see, however, was that for a brief moment, even Wen Yin, standing in front of him, had shuddered, clearly startled as well.
But as the senior sister, she couldn’t lose face in front of a new junior brother, so she forced herself to appear perfectly calm and composed.
"There’s no need to be afraid, Junior Brother. This is just a Demon Fiend that our Life Crane Sect has subdued."
’A Demon Fiend?’
Yang An, his heart still pounding, didn’t dare to step forward. Hearing Wen Yin’s words, he finally breathed a small sigh of relief.
For a second there, he had almost thought it was a person.
’If its face alone is that big, can you imagine how huge its body would be if it were human?’
’It’s so damn terrifying!’
"Senior Sister Wen Yin, what on earth is this thing?"
He did his best to calm himself, but his heart was still racing.
The shock of seeing that face for the first time was no less than a high-speed train charging straight at him.
"This is an Earth Worm Mother. It is a Demon Fiend that Master subdued a century ago and imprisoned here.
It gestates a large number of Earth Worms inside its body that can travel rapidly underground. Since our Cultivation Levels are still low, if we want to get to a faraway place quickly, we have no choice but to use the Earth Worms."
"Yulan City is a full thousand li from here, a small border city in Han State. Even with a horse and carriage, it would take several days at least. But with an Earth Worm, it only takes three hours!"
’So it’s a giant bug!’
Yang An took a closer look and realized that it was just a bloated, obese human face. Behind the face, he could vaguely make out a portion of gray flesh slowly writhing.
’So disgusting...’
"Senior Sister, I have a question."
"Feel free to ask."
"Since Master assigned us the Yulan City matter two days ago, why didn’t he have us set out then?
If he had, we might have already reached Yulan City by now and wouldn’t need to use the Earth Worm."
Yang An asked, confused.
’Although I don’t know how the Earth Worm will take us to our destination, I’m sure it won’t be pleasant.’
’If I’d known it would be like this, why did that old geezer insist on making us wait two days to leave?’
’Does he enjoy cutting things this close?’
’He has no concept of planning ahead at all, that old geezer!’
"Master has his own considerations. As for my personal opinion, providing charcoal in a snowstorm gets you more than adding flowers to a brocade."
Wen Yin said very calmly.
Hearing her explanation, Yang An could only nod. The logic was sound, and he couldn’t refute it.
Seeing him fall silent, Wen Yin turned expressionlessly and walked toward the Earth Worm Mother.
"Junior Brother, don’t dally. It’s time for us to go in."
"Go in? Go in where?"
Hearing the words "go in," Yang An froze for a second and asked, staring at Wen Yin’s back.
"Into the Earth Worm Mother’s stomach, of course."
"..."
"But, Senior Sister... you’re going the wrong way..."