Evil Spirit Activated

On the morning of the second day of physical training, thirty-two hours had already passed in total. The massive expenditure of energy during that time, combined with the lack of anything edible, had left everyone except Yu Jing in mediocre physical condition. Men Qian, the Medical School disciple who had never trained physically, was in the worst shape; his heavy dark circles showed that his mental state was especially poor.

Yu Xiaoxiao was not seriously affected. Her physiological habits had long been disrupted by her usual training. Jiang Pengyu, meanwhile, relied on his daily exercise and physical fitness to hold on, maintaining an ordinary condition.

There were two problems now:

First, Zhang Xingyue, who was in a deep coma, still had not awakened. If everyone went to search the basement, Zhang Xingyue would be left here alone.

Second, Men Qian's condition was worrying. Moreover, once they encountered the evil spirit's true form in the basement, Men Qian would become a burden.

This was not some Grand Cathedral. From the moment the physical training began, it had already been destined that only some of them would survive. In the end, they decided to leave Zhang Xingyue in the room while taking Men Qian with them to the underground area. A doctor with such talent would not be useful only during this physical training; throughout their future lives at the Ability Institute, everyone could help one another.

"Leave it to fate. We're barely keeping ourselves afloat as it is!"

Jiang Pengyu walked at the rear. Before closing the door, he took one last look through the gap at Zhang Xingyue lying on the bed inside, sighed faintly, and shut the door.

Everyone descended the inn's stairs and arrived in the lobby on the first floor. Outside, the sky was still covered in dark clouds, and the heavy rain had not weakened at all compared to before. Yu Jing motioned for everyone to wait a moment, then walked out of the inn alone and spread his arms, replenishing the water his body needed through the raindrops. At the same time, he used his right arm to absorb all the vitality from the three nearest trees around him, restoring his body to peak condition.

"Let's go!"

Having made up his mind, Yu Jing led everyone toward the room where the Oldest One had originally stayed. The four of them entered and once again conducted an extremely thorough inspection of the room.

First, directly beneath the bed where the Oldest One had lain, they pried up the wooden boards and discovered an iron plate secured with a lock. The fact that it led deep underground beneath the inn was now beyond doubt.

Yu Jing tried to send plants through the keyhole, but they were immediately repelled by an unknown force. Although they could forcibly break the lock, they feared disturbing the evil spirit below. Thus, everyone began searching for the key.

"Found it."

Less than five minutes later, Jiang Pengyu's voice came from the blood-soaked bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, which reeked of blood, Jiang Pengyu removed the mirror from above the washbasin. Behind it, inside a loose wooden board, they found a rusty key.

Yu Jing thought to himself, No wonder the old woman attacked the soldier Hu Zhi in the bathroom first. Was it to make sure the key to opening the passage to the basement wouldn't be discovered?

He inserted the key into the lock sealing the iron plate over the underground passage. Carefully, he turned it open, and the iron plate rose slightly.

"I'll do it!"

Jiang Pengyu gripped the iron plate with both hands. Perhaps because it had been there for many years, he had to expend considerable effort before finally lifting it open.

In an instant, a pungent, rotten stench surged out from below.

"Bzzzt, bzzzt!" The ceiling light hanging above them flickered violently before going out. The light on this overcast day had already been insufficient. Apart from the first step, which was covered in black moss, they could not see anything clearly below.

E-class evil spirit activated

In the room at the Dihua Ability Institute monitoring this physical training session, several eye-catching red warning messages appeared on the screen displaying Yu Jing and the others.

"This is an outstanding evil spirit with growth potential. It was captured alive three months ago and was used for this physical-training exercise despite its unstable condition. The remaining four have fully met the enrollment standards of my Dihua Ability Institute based on their current performance. I request that their lives be safeguarded. I will intervene when they reach a critical moment between life and death."

Standing there, Lu Chuan made this request to the Dihua administrative center. By his calculations, this was only the second day of physical training, yet these people had already triggered the evil spirit. Not to mention, they still had to venture deeper into the lair where it had brutally slaughtered humans during its lifetime. Surviving seven days was absolutely impossible.

However, the administrative center did not give a conclusion for a long time. In Lu Chuan's view, that was already a relatively good result. Otherwise, given Dihua's usual rigid and conventional conduct, his request for an exception would have been rejected immediately.

"This reform of the physical training was jointly discussed and decided upon by Dihua's central administrative office, senior management, and the core members of the Disciple Association. Improvements are indeed needed in certain areas during its initial implementation... The four facing the evil spirit possess qualified aptitude, but they still need to undergo an assessment between life and death. After discussion, it has been decided that Commissioner Lu Chuan may intervene if the following circumstances occur."

"First, the growth-potential evil spirit is detected to have advanced to D-class during the process."

"Second, only one member of the team facing the evil spirit remains alive."

"Only those two?" Lu Chuan looked stunned.

"Because we believe newcomers should possess the means to deal with the lowest-level evil spirits. The Medical School newcomer has special protective measures and does not require your rescue. If you, Commissioner Lu Chuan, act under any circumstances other than those stated above, we will strip you of your commissioner position!"

Inside a room at the Deep Mountain Inn

After everything they had experienced the previous night, however, the group was no longer afraid. They each lit the candles they had prepared in advance, then entered the underground passage in order: Jiang Pengyu, Yu Jing, Men Qian, and Yu Xiaoxiao. This arrangement ensured Men Qian's safety to the greatest possible extent.

"What a heavy smell."

It was not only Yu Jing; everyone here found the intense stench of decay almost unbearable. It was impossible to describe with words.

They had assumed the basement would not be very large, like the family basements often mentioned in foreign films.

But as they ventured deeper, they discovered that the stairs had more than fifty steps. The candlelight could not reach the edges of the underground area, and the lower section was supported by simple wooden beams.

They had expected the bottom of the stairs to be covered with heaps of rotting corpses. Instead, there was only damp earth, and not a single body could be seen.

"Where is the smell coming from? Deeper inside?"

Much like the layout of the inn above, the basement extended in one direction. At the far end of that passage stood an iron door resembling the entrance to a prison.

"Let's go. Everyone, be careful."

Yu Jing passed his right hand over his eyes, causing plant tissue to pierce into his retinas. This function had originally been used to examine his physical condition, but Yu Jing now used it to detect spiritual matter.

The true nightmare was about to begin...