Chapter 58: Stepping Out of the Cave

  Even cultivators, who relied on inhaling and exhaling spiritual energy, still had to take fasting pills. Martial artists were known for their prodigious appetites—there were even stories of someone ing aire ox in a single day.

  After fighting several life-ah battles back-to-bad using Qi Boosting Pills to overtax his body, An Jing had only been able to repe lost nutrients with the Red Armuards’ Jade Dew. By now, he was so hungry that his vision was blurring, and his stomach kept ing, desperate to digest something.

  “ these Spirit Light Vines be eaten?”

  Rubbing his stomach, An Jing shook his head to clear it. His gaze fell on the Spirit Light Vines, which had grown dim but still looked rather chewy. Instinctively, he swallowed and said, “Maybe they could at least fill my belly a little…”

  “Anything that glows is probably poisonous.”

  Even the Sword Spirit could not be certain. After all, It was a Sword Spirit, not a cultivator; It had no experience whatsoever with eating. “It’s best not to eat them. Even using Internal Energy to remove poison requires water, and we ck water.”

  “Mm, I uand.”

  Of course, An Jing was not really about to chew on random vines. His gaze shifted to the deeper recesses of the path. “That demonic creature’s vines were very moist; there must be water in the pce it occupied.”

  Following the dire from which the vine-like demonic creature had e, An Jing soon discovered a small, dark cave.

  In these subterranean ruins, there was bound to be an underground watercourse or perhaps even a hot spring. The area where the vine-like demonic creature usually resided was a stactite cave with stant dripping water—extremely humid. At its ter was a formed by clumps of fallen vines, and on both sides grew many Ghost Umbrel Mushrooms.

  From a dista looked like a ring-shaped pit of dark green, surrounded by white fungi.

  Those Ghost Umbrels beside the rge sounded poisonous by name, but if An Jing was not mistaken, these mushrooms were only called “drumstick mushrooms.” Their fvor was said to be delicious, ri nutrients, and quite pleasant iure.

  “We have something to eat, and this water… if we only drink a bit, it should be fine.”

  He collected some underground water with excessive mineral tent from the stactites to quench his thirst. At this point, An Jing no longer cared what had nourished these drumstick mushrooms. In any case, they were all gifts from Lord Imperial Heaven.

  After gathering some of the rger, undamaged mushroom caps, An Jing goward the demonic creature’s and made a soft excmation: “Ah, so the corpse is here.”

  The ’s source of vines was a corpse, long since decayed to bare bones. Yet the skeletal remains were bright and translut, like jade.

  “It’s the Divine Marvel ‘Jade-Marrow Bone,’” said the Sword Spirit. “This cultivator who fell into demonic corruption must have had quite a high level of body-refining cultivation, having fully perfected this Jade Bone Divine Marvel.”

  “Lucky for us, only his head fell into demonic corruption. If his entire body had been corrupted, he’d have bee a ‘Jade Bone Demonic Corpse,’ and we probably wouldn’t stand a ce.”

  “His bone age was just over twenty. He had a det method of cultivation, and his overall cultivation level was not weak. The force behind him must have been signifit. It’s pretty strange he died here.”

  The Sword Spirit’s evaluation was quite objective. An Jing cast a thoughtful g the skeletowined by vines and said quietly, “There’s definitely something in these ruins, something that keeps drawing cultivators here.”

  “Unfortunately, our current strength isn’t enough to get involved.”

  Shaking his head, An Jing did not dwell on it further. He simply took the mushrooms a.

  Ba the first cavern:

  Ohe vine demonic creature was dead, its vines quickly withered and dried, losing all vitality—perfect firewood.

  Given that An Jing was a Heaven?Ordained Fate martial artist at the Internal Energy stage, starting a fire was child’s py. He picked up two stones, struck a spark, and lit the vines. Pale-yellow fmes sprang up, instantly brightening the dark cave.

  The clothes on the corpses also made good tinder, so before long, An Jing had built a small fire. By its flickering light, he roughly ed the ingredients and began roasting the drumstick mushrooms.

  Without any seasoning or oil, simply roasting the mushrooms would not taste good to the average person, no matter what.

  But An Jing had survived the Frost Camity, where eveing a handful of warm dirt was difficult. He had once swallowed frozen bark and grass roots with snow. pared to that, piping hot, fully cooked mushrooms were a gourmet delicacy.

  He ate them with genuine reverence. Around twenty mushrooms were enough to somewhat fill his stomach.

  His Internal Energy circuted instinctively through his body, quickly abs the nutrients aing him stave off the dizziness.

  At least now, An Jing no longer felt the urge to gnaw on moss or drool at the sight of Spirit Light Vines.

  “That’ll do. Time to set out.”

  As soon as he felt better, An Jing cpped his hands and stood. Because he had ehe privileges of a leader in Hanging Fate Manor, he usually never cked for meat. He still had body fat to spare, so going a few meals without eating was hardly fatal—he would merely revert to the weakness he had known in his days on the run.

  Yet the step was to leave these ruins, so of course, he had to preserve his bat capability.

  The reason was simple.

  Although the first cavern was retively safe after the vine demonic creature was eliminated, An Jing could not be sure there would be no new monsters or demonic creatures deeper within the ruins.

  Moreover, this pce cked water and a reliable food source.

  While Ghost Umbrel Mushrooms and cave water could sustain him for a few days, they would quickly run out—hardly a long-term solution. And in evading the demonic sect, the Heavenly Demons, and the Great authorities, An Jing expected to remain in this strange world for quite some time. He had to think further ahead.

  He ability: at least water and food. Sihe first cavern did not satisfy these needs, he had to leave, the soohe better.

  “I hope I won’t have to use these.”

  Before departing, An Jing first collected some fire starters and stored them in ay magazine.

  He also gathered a rge supply of dried vines and the almost-rotten clothing from the corpses—great fuel for a fire. In a pinch, it could serve as tinder or ordinary firewood.

  An Ji on to collect a sizable quantity of bullets. After verifying his gear was in order, he picked out a still-funal rifle from among the corpses and slung it across his back.

  This time he was fleeing for his life, so he did not o remain hidden at Hanging Fate Manor. A pistol’s power was too limited; now, with a rifle, he had an option fed attacks.

  Meanwhile, the bck jade skull left behind when the vine demonic creature dispersed—so sturdy even the Death Bde could not pierce it—was fasteo An Jing’s waist.

  Ohe Demonic Qi had faded, the obsidian-like jade bone was reduced to a mere piece of spiritual material. Carrying it was no trouble—worst case, he could remove the skullcap and fashion it into a heart-proteg mirror.

  Having done all this, he followed the path he came from, heading toward the cave’s exit and the outside world.

  The way back was dark.

  He walked through a lengthy bck passage, perhaps a naturally formed cavern or the el of a now-dry underground river—damp and stifling.

  As he made his way through this water-shaped rock tunnel deep beh the earth, he instinctively employed Mysterious Steps. He moved without a sound, and only his soft, solitary breathing echoed along the passage.

  In the darkness, An Jing’s eyes glowed a faint crimsoing him see the road ahead. For the most part, it was natural terrain, but he occasionally glimpsed some man-made steps and carvings along the way.

  And corpses.

  (End of Chapter)

  aeterism