Chapter Forty-Six: Master is not human!

It has been an hour.

Ye Chi paced back and forth by the boulder, clutching the brocade pouch Ya Feiyu had just given him. He unconsciously tightened his grip, the veins on the back of his hand bulging slightly, his anxiety visibly palpable. If his cultivation weren't so low, who would want to stay here alone, letting Ya Feiyu venture out on his own?

The moment Ya Feiyu left, he started timing in his mind. Before he knew it, an hour had passed. Every minute and second felt as long as a lifetime. Ya Feiyu had been gone for far too long. Could someone with such high martial arts skills have been delayed for so long by some inexplicable matter? Ye Chi frowned, his heart pounding, and he pondered anxiously.

He naturally didn't think Ya Feiyu would get into trouble, but what if... what if?

Ye Chi simply couldn't sit still any longer.

He recalled the route Ya Feiyu had taken and followed the path. He didn't see any golden light, nor could he understand why Ya Feiyu's movements seemed to be deliberately guided by something. He just wandered around aimlessly. Fortunately, he had a fire-type spiritual root, and his spiritual power was enough to allow him to summon the palm flame for illumination, so he didn't fall too badly.

He is an intuitive animal, so he goes with the wind; wherever the wind blows him, he goes too.

As they ventured deeper, the air grew increasingly stagnant. The windless space felt particularly oppressive, as if something heavy was pressing down on their chest, making it difficult to breathe. Ye Chi walked on. His senses weren't as acute as those of a powerful cultivator like Ya Feiyu, but he still vaguely sensed something was amiss—he clearly had a palm flame illuminating the way ahead, and the temperature of the burning spiritual energy wasn't low, so why was his current environment so dark and cold?

This situation was so natural that he didn't even realize anything was wrong at first!

This place is definitely not safe. Ye Chi quickly took a few steps back, wanting to retreat, but then he heard several loud crashing sounds of huge objects falling to the ground and collapsing from the darkness. Ye Chi realized something and looked back in despair. Sure enough, the only path he had come from was blocked by huge rocks, and not a ray of light could get through. The flame in his palm flickered weakly for a few seconds before turning into sparks. No matter how much he increased his spiritual power output, it only reignited for a few seconds before resolutely dissipating.

Without the palm flame for illumination and without any source of warmth, Ye Chi belatedly realized that he was somewhat afraid.

The thick darkness, like a ferocious beast, climbed up his limbs and silently robbed him of his senses. Ye Chi gritted his teeth, biting his tongue until it bled, and only when he tasted the metallic flavor in his mouth did he regain his composure. He realized there was no turning back, so he might as well go straight down the dark path.

Having made up his mind, he continued forward, unmoved by the eerie, cold wind that swept past him.

He didn't bother to think about it further; there was clearly no way out from here, so where was the wind coming from?

Just walking.

As the saying goes, perseverance pays off. He walked deeper into the cave, and suddenly a glimmer of light appeared before him. Overjoyed, Ye Chi didn't act rashly. He immediately slowed his pace, his steps as light as a cat's, approaching as silently as possible. The light had a purplish hue; something was definitely wrong. His intuition was ringing, making him tense, yet he refused to let go of this clue.

The boy was small enough to perfectly hide behind the boulder. He approached the passage through which the light shone, stealthily hiding behind a rock, cautiously peeking out his head, looking as sleazy as possible.

His cautious approach ultimately paid off, because the place was indeed as unsafe as he had anticipated.

The purple light emanated from a cave in the ground. Its purple color was not naturally generated, but rather the result of being tainted by demonic energy.

The cave was bottomless, emitting light, yet its depths remained unseen, like a black hole where light could only linger around it. Around the cave was another gruesome scene—corpses lay strewn everywhere. The stench of blood wasn't strong, as most of the bodies had been decomposing for some time; some were mummified, others were reduced to bones, leaving only skin and bone, so there wasn't much of a smell anymore. Ye Chi squinted, observing the corpses. They appeared to be quite old, their bones slightly yellowed, and most were damaged.

...It looked quite bad, reminding Ye Chi of the mass grave at Linglong Pavilion.

But compared to the mass grave, this place has an even more indescribable eerie atmosphere.

Ye Chi's heart stirred slightly. Although he felt a little afraid, he couldn't control his curiosity and wanted to go forward to investigate, especially the mysterious cave, which aroused his thirst for knowledge. On the other hand, he was also genuinely afraid of trouble. After all, this place was not like the real world he grew up in. Things that would be identified as "paranormal phenomena" by experts in reality could really happen here, or even be considered commonplace.

During this time, he also read some general knowledge books and successfully passed several tests by relying on his memory. Based on his current knowledge, he had never seen any descriptions of underground caves.

It's best not to act rashly on things that aren't even recorded in common sense books, before you've confirmed whether they're truly safe.

Moreover, this thing doesn't really look safe.

Ye Chi silently suppressed his curiosity. Just then, he heard voices coming from near the cave.

"Are you sure there won't be any problems?" The voice was clearly that of a young boy, but extremely hoarse, making it impossible to recognize his true voice. Ye Chi wondered if all demonic cultivators had bad voices. "Destroying the Golden Lotus Tree will definitely attract the attention of the cultivation world, right?"

The other man chuckled softly, "That's precisely why we need to make them pay attention here, so we can slip away and our plans elsewhere can proceed smoothly. We're just a smokescreen, meant to draw their attention. When everyone's looking this way, who's going to know the bomb's going to explode behind them?"

"...You're right."

"Heh, you're still too kind. But I understand. Those who just switched from so-called prestigious sects are all a bit 'saintly' in some way, especially since you came from that... Qinglian Sect. Isn't that sect notorious for its saintly people? Hahahaha! Especially that Peak Master Tianxue, unbelievable! That arrogant face of his, I really want to fucking kill him. That face is more suited to serving men. When the Demon Clan unifies the cultivation world, I'll be the first to throw him into a brothel, hahahahahaha!!!"

The boy remained silent, standing quietly to one side. Ye Chi, on the other hand, was quite taken aback by the arrogant remark, muttering curses as he couldn't help but try to figure out who the speaker was. The two men were dressed in long black robes, hooded, with their backs to him, so he couldn't see their faces or builds. He could only tell who was speaking by their height. The shorter one was the boy, and the taller one was the man.

In short, it was all for naught. Ye Chi cursed inwardly, "Are all demonic cultivators suffering from chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)? Why do they have to dress like this everywhere they go?!"

After a long silence, the boy spoke: "Are you sure that woman will really help us?"

"Why not?" the man said disdainfully. "That bitch is difficult to deal with, but she is the wife of the first Demon Lord. If she doesn't help us, who else can she help? After all, her husband was punished by the 'righteous path,' and no one hates the prestigious sects more than her."

When the man spoke of the word "righteous path," he became particularly sarcastic. The boy didn't say anything, but squatted down beside the cave. "But what if Ya Feiyu is different?"

"What do you mean by that? Are you still thinking about him?"

The boy shook his head: "I don't like him."

The man shouted, "He doesn't like you, yet he makes such sarcastic remarks?"

“I just… know some things I shouldn’t know.” The boy said, standing up from beside the cave. Ye Chi couldn’t see his face, but could only guess that he was looking at the skeletons. He slowly said, “That woman does not have any good feelings towards humans, but what if Ya Feiyu is different from other humans? What if he has enough qualities to attract her? You know her personality. If you can arouse her interest, she doesn’t care about anything. That’s how you convinced her in the first place.”

"Damn it, what do you mean?!"

"It doesn't mean anything."

The man paused. What the boy said wasn't wrong, and since he had once been a member of the Qinglian Sect, his words about Ya Feiyu carried extra weight. So, after calming down, he asked in return, "Are you saying that Ya Feiyu... might not be human?"

The boy said with certainty, "He is not human."

"Damn, how did you know that?"

“I just know everything very well.” The boy didn’t answer directly, but said ambiguously, “So, that woman probably won’t help us, because you’ve misunderstood Ya Feiyu’s identity from the beginning.”

The man cursed, "Since you knew, why didn't you tell me in the first place?! And what race is he? I'm warning you, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me everything!"

The boy fell silent, staring at him quietly. After about three minutes of silence, the man spoke again, his voice trembling slightly: "Hey, hey, what are you looking at? I didn't go too far, did I..."

His words broke the tense atmosphere, and the boy lowered his head, his voice low: "It's hard for me to explain."

"But you only need to know one thing."

"That woman will definitely not help us."

What are they saying?

Ye Chi was completely stunned when he suddenly learned too much information.

Is Ya Feiyu not human? He did have a suspicion about this, but he didn't have enough evidence to confirm it. Even the original novel didn't mention it. Yet the boy before him seemed so certain, and considering what he'd said before… he probably did know something. So, what exactly was this person's identity?

Just then, the boy turned his head, his face shrouded in shadow beneath the brim of his hat, but Ye Chi knew clearly that they were looking at each other.

Have you seen enough?

"Outsiders".