Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

Chapter 352: Chapter 340: Underground River Course

The Yin Soul and Zhao Lin walked one after the other, following the winding riverbed.

From a distance, it looked like a great river. But upon getting closer, they discovered it contained no water—its surface was merely covered in a layer of white, salt-like crystals. The river had long since dried up.

The area was devoid of vegetation, the terrain wide and open. The slightest sound would travel a great distance.

Zhao Lin had the Yin Soul lead the way while he followed behind. He kept a close eye on it to prevent it from suddenly escaping, while simultaneously emitting ultrasonic waves to monitor his surroundings for any movement.

After walking for some time, a basin appeared before them.

The basin was filled with gullies of varying depths, like wrinkles on the earth’s skin. Some were only a few feet deep, while others were so profound one couldn’t see the bottom. He had to use his ultrasonic waves just to get a rough estimate of their depth.

The Yin Soul led Zhao Lin to the edge of a deep gully and stopped. It raised a tentacle, its meaning clear: "It’s inside."

Zhao Lin understood. He released his Divine Sense to probe the gully and, after confirming there was nothing else inside, unceremoniously grabbed the Yin Soul’s bell-shaped cap. Propelling himself with jets of energy from his acupoints, he slowly flew down into the chasm.

This was the first time he had used his flight ability since beginning his cultivation.

The light in the Yinfeng Realm was already dim, and it was pitch-black inside the deep gully.

Zhao Lin carefully avoided the rock walls on either side as he slowly descended. After a good while, his feet landed firmly on the ground.

"Go forward fifty paces. There’s a passage on the right."

the Yin Soul said in a low voice.

Zhao Lin nodded. In truth, he had already detected the opening ahead, even without the Yin Soul’s guidance.

The ultrasonic waves he’d emitted took a long time to reflect back, indicating that the passage was extremely long.

Zhao Lin surmised that an underground river must have once flowed through here, carving out a natural subterranean corridor.

"Let me ask you, are there any Demon Beasts, other Yin Souls, or anything else at this place you spoke of?"

Instead of eagerly rushing to find the Spirit Grass, Zhao Lin spoke to the Yin Soul in a threatening tone.

It was common knowledge that rare Spirit Grass was usually guarded by Demon Beasts. And while Yinfeng Grass wasn’t considered particularly precious, he had to warn the creature just in case.

"Let me be perfectly clear: if you dare to trick me, even if I can’t escape the fallout, I will kill you first."

"I wouldn’t dare."

the Yin Soul said hastily.

Zhao Lin said no more. He grabbed the Yin Soul and walked onward, feeling the yin energy grow steadily denser. This was indeed a place suitable for Yinfeng Grass.

Before long, the Yin Soul said, "We’re here. It’s on the right."

Zhao Lin stopped in his tracks and cast a Lighting Skill. He was stunned by the sight that met his eyes.

The rock wall was covered in ferns and moss, with stalks of Yinfeng Grass interspersed among them.

A rough count revealed well over a hundred stalks!

In addition to the Yinfeng Grass, there were also three stalks of Star Peony Grass, which emitted a faint blue halo under the glow of the Lighting Skill.

’More than five hundred Spirit Stones!’

Zhao Lin’s heart pounded. Such a haul on the very first day was an absolutely incredible start.

’Life is unpredictable. If my cultivation hadn’t been so low as to attract the thousand-year-old Yin Soul’s attack, I never would have found a place like this.’

He was about to start harvesting when he remembered the Yin Soul was still at his side. He took a rope from his storage bag, tied it around the Yin Soul’s tentacles, and held onto one end himself.

The Yin Soul didn’t dare to resist, letting Zhao Lin tie it up.

Zhao Lin took his iron ruler and carefully used its sharpened, mace-like tip to pry a stalk of Yinfeng Grass loose, then placed it in his bag.

The Yin Soul watched for a moment before asking in confusion, "Sir, why don’t you just pull them up by hand?"

"My body has too much yang energy. If I touch it directly with my hands, the medicinal properties will dissipate."

"I... can do it,"

the Yin Soul offered tentatively.

Zhao Lin paused for a moment. A Yin Soul was a being condensed from yin energy and a soul—a body of pure yin. He was just about to agree when a problem occurred to him. "You took the Three Yang Pill. Won’t that interfere?"

"It won’t. Yin and yang cancel each other out, so there’s no yang energy left in my body."

"Good!"

Zhao Lin released the rope and let the Yin Soul get to work, standing by to supervise.

The Yin Soul was extremely deft. Its hundreds of tentacles danced about, swiftly collecting the Yinfeng Grass without causing any damage.

All Zhao Lin had to do was hold open his storage bag and watch as the Spirit Grass flew inside, stalk by stalk.

"Thanks."

After all the Spirit Grass was collected, Zhao Lin offered a casual word of thanks. The moment he said it, he himself froze for a second. The words had slipped out, a force of habit.

After all, this was the very same Yin Soul that had tried to extract his soul just half a day ago.

Extraction wasn’t the same as devouring—it wouldn’t have been fatal, but it would have severely damaged his Divine Sense, all but eliminating his chances of ever reaching Foundation Establishment.

The Yin Soul fell silent and leaned against the rock wall, its tentacles twisting uneasily. It seemed to fear that Zhao Lin, having gotten what he wanted, would now discard it—killing it with a single blow of his iron ruler.

Zhao Lin knew what it was worried about. He deliberately ignored the subject and asked, "Besides this place, are there any other spots that have Yinfeng Grass or Star Peony Grass?"

The Yin Soul replied, "I only know of this location. Any other places would only have a few stalks, and they’ve probably been picked by others already."

Zhao Lin frowned slightly. "The Yinfeng Realm is this vast, and this is all the Yinfeng Grass there is?"

If that were true, it would be a joke for the sect to send over a hundred cultivators in here.

The Yin Soul replied hastily, "This particular territory only has this much. As for other places... I am not sure."

"This particular territory? What do you mean?"

"There are many thousand-year-old Yin Souls in this world—no fewer than twenty. Each one stays within its own territory, and we don’t normally interact with one another."

"So you have your own territories."

Zhao Lin understood now. His tone softened. "In that case, let’s go."

The Yin Soul hesitated for a moment, then worked up the courage to ask, "Sir, can you let me go now?"

Zhao Lin said calmly, "Not yet."

"But..."

The Yin Soul was alarmed, thinking Zhao Lin was about to kill it. In a trembling voice, it said, "You promised you’d spare my life if I found the Spirit Grass for you."

"I did say I would spare your life. But I didn’t say I’d do it right now."

Zhao Lin had no intention of killing the Yin Soul, but he wasn’t about to let it go either.

The Yin Soul’s Divine Sense had an extremely wide detection range. Having it around was like having an extra layer of security, allowing him to avoid other cultivators in time.

He had harvested over a hundred stalks of Yinfeng Grass, but he still had too few Star Peony Grass.

Only Star Peony Grass could be exchanged for merit points.

Besides, the main purpose of this trip was to gain experience for taking on higher-level missions in the future.

"Alright. I trust that you are a man of your word, Sir."

The Yin Soul complained bitterly to itself, but it also breathed a secret sigh of relief.

The man and the soul retraced their steps along the underground river channel and returned to the surface.

Just as they were about to leave the abandoned riverbed, the clang of metal on metal rang out from nearby, followed by the faint sound of shouting.

The Yin Soul pointed to the other side of the riverbed and whispered, "Someone’s fighting over there. It’s those two cultivators from before."

Of course, Zhao Lin had also heard the loud noise, and he could tell it was the sound of magical treasures colliding.

"Let’s get out of here!"

Zhao Lin gave a dismissive wave, grabbed the Yin Soul, and bolted. He had no interest in sticking around to watch the show.

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