Heavenly Craft

Before Yang Xiao stretched a boundless, pitch-black Underground Dark River.

All sorts of vile, filthy things floated on the surface of the dark river.

Every kind of foul, disgusting stench rushed straight into their noses!

"Ugh!"

Even Zhang Long, who had been mentally prepared, could not help his stomach churning like rivers and seas overturning, so nauseated he could hardly stand it.

Zhang Long hurriedly took out masks made of golden cloth and gave one to Yang Xiao.

The two quickly put on the thick masks, yet they could still smell wave after wave of fishy stink, leaving them sick with disgust.

"Brother, why do I feel like this place is somewhat similar to the—sewers beneath the inner city?"

Yang Xiao asked tentatively.

"Old Zhao, you really are smart."

"That's right. This is the sewer system beneath the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom!"

"Whether it's the Vermilion Bird Tower, the five major districts of the entire inner city, the outer city, or even the Great Yan imperial palace."

"All the swill dumped from the buildings above ground ultimately gathers into this enormous underground sewer, then follows this Underground Dark River deeper and deeper below."

"No one knows where this Underground Dark River truly ends..."

Zhang Long forced down his nausea and gave a simple explanation.

It turned out that this Underground Dark River had existed since ancient times. For thousands of years, through dynasty after dynasty, it had always been the underground sewer where swill was dumped.

Several hundred years ago, the Great Yan Founding Emperor had endured the disgust and followed this Underground Dark River, descending like divine troops from the heavens to launch a surprise attack on the former dynasty's royal palace, winning success in a single battle.

After the Great Yan Dynasty was established, to prevent later generations from causing chaos by imitating him, the Founding Emperor sealed off a large number of passages connected to the Underground Dark River and vigorously developed the Blood Qi Martial Dao.

In the several hundred years that followed, countless amounts of swill containing the filthy flesh and blood of fierce beasts were dumped in great quantities, making this Underground Dark River foul and fishy beyond measure.

By now, even martial experts who had changed their blood twice did not dare remain in the Underground Dark River for too long.

Trying to use this underground passage to secretly launch a surprise attack on the Great Yan imperial palace was naturally even more impossible.

"Brother, since this Underground Dark River stinks so badly, how are we supposed to get to the Sacred Pool?"

Yang Xiao could not help being curious.

The moment his voice fell.

Splash~

The pitch-black, stinking water ahead suddenly shook violently.

A massive crocodile slowly rose to the surface from beneath the filthy, foul water.

This crocodile, as large as a carriage, had a bloodthirsty and chilling gaze, its whole body giving off faint black qi.

It slowly swam to the shore and stared coldly at Yang Xiao and Zhang Long.

But after Zhang Long took the token from his waist and raised it high.

The red gleam in the crocodile's eyes receded, its eyes turning wooden and hollow as it slowly opened its huge mouth.

Inside its mouth, there was actually a whole other world!

"Old Zhao, what are you standing there for? Let's go."

Zhang Long put away the token and was the first to step into the crocodile's mouth.

"This Peace Sect really has something to it!"

Yang Xiao forced down the shock in his heart and followed behind Zhang Long.

Inside the crocodile's mouth, it was pitch-black.

But with the faint light from outside, the two could still see that there were quite a few sturdy protrusions inside the crocodile's mouth, like stools, just enough for people to sit on.

The two sat down casually.

The crocodile's mouth slowly closed.

That long-lost yet familiar feeling of weightlessness instantly surfaced in Yang Xiao's heart.

"Why does the feeling of this crocodile sinking feel somewhat similar to when I rode the pitch-black iron cage in Vermilion Bird Tower, falling down to the underground Scripture Pavilion?"

Doubt could not help rising in Yang Xiao.

But before Yang Xiao could think too much, he "saw" through the spirit cicada that the crocodile had begun swimming swiftly.

How was this any crocodile!

This so-called crocodile was clearly a crocodile skeleton artificially pieced together from the shattered bones of various fierce beasts, joined by mortise-and-tenon structures!

Around the crocodile skeleton, all sorts of black, disgusting flesh and blood had piled up, wriggling back and forth like maggots.

However, just like Li San and those two saber-carrying guards, the tens of thousands of strange pieces of flesh and blood on this "crocodile" skeleton were sealed shut by a layer of crocodile skin, leaving no clues visible from the outside.

"This is actually real crocodile skin?"

Yang Xiao tried touching the scaly hide inside the crocodile and was instantly somewhat incredulous.

The entire crocodile skeleton had actually been sewn together from a complete crocodile hide?

Yang Xiao even "saw" similar crocodiles constantly swimming past through that pitch-black, lightless, filthy, nauseating underground river.

There were so many of them that Yang Xiao could barely take them all in; his eyes swam in a blur.

"The Peace Sect's development of this Underground Dark River probably goes back far beyond these few centuries of the Great Yan Dynasty. Otherwise, there's no way it could have reached such a terrifying scale..."

As the crocodile moved forward, the more Yang Xiao "saw," the more alarmed he became.

Originally, when it came to the approaching Grandmaster Dao Discussion, Yang Xiao had not thought highly of the Peace Sect at all.

But now, Yang Xiao suddenly realized just how astonishing the foundations of a force that had been passed down for thousands of years, with "rebellion" as its goal, truly were.

"No, on the day of the Grandmaster Dao Discussion, I must find a way to leave, lest gods fight and mortals suffer!"

Yang Xiao was thinking this.

Splash—

The "crocodile" that had been swimming swiftly through the underground river began to slow gradually and drift upward.

Very soon, the "crocodile" slowly opened its mouth.

A faint glimmer of light spilled over from the shore.

"Old Zhao, the Sacred Pool is just ahead. You're my Dao Protector, so in a moment, listen more and watch more. Try not to speak, lest too many words bring mistakes!"

Zhang Long was the first to rise, his tone grave.

"Don't worry, big brother. This little brother understands."

"Zhao Hu," whom Yang Xiao was impersonating, hurriedly nodded.

The two left the crocodile's mouth one after the other and stepped onto the shore again.

Yang Xiao looked around, and only then discovered that before him was still an underground passage.

A hundred paces ahead was a corner, and everything around them was pitch-black; he could not see anything else at all.

Yet through the Spirit Cicada Transformation, Yang Xiao could still "see" that within a radius of a hundred zhang, there were an astonishing number of corner-side banks like the one before him, packed together in dense clusters.

At every corner-side bank, "crocodiles" rose one after another from the stinking black underground river and opened their mouths.

All sorts of youths, in groups of two, came ashore in succession.

They walked past the corners and gathered at a large oval platform.

"Old Zhao, let's go!"

Zhang Long brought Yang Xiao along and soon reached the corner ahead.

Two six-foot burly men with gold wrapped around their heads appeared eerily before the two of them. Expressionless, they blocked the path, one hand pressed to the hilt of a blade.

This time, Zhang Long was already familiar with the procedure. He was too lazy to say a single unnecessary word and directly raised his waist token.

The two burly men released their blade hilts and vanished eerily.

In Yang Xiao's mind, however, he "saw" that all the flesh and blood wrapped in white bones and human skin had actually separated eerily from the skeleton, then swiftly drilled into the nearby wall.

After that flesh and blood embedded itself into the wall, it actually broke from a whole into parts, swiftly swimming through the wall, gathering at another corner, attaching itself to other white bones, and turning into an entirely new saber-bearing guard.

"So the guards in this Underground Dark River aren't stationed at every corner. Instead, all the corners in one area share a pile of flesh and blood."

"Wherever guards are needed, that flesh and blood quickly takes shape and goes over to inspect."

"And the times when these crocodiles surface are staggered in sequence, not at the same time, to ensure that two corners in the same area won't receive visitors simultaneously."

The more Yang Xiao watched, the more shocked he became. It all felt inconceivable.

In the Great Yan imperial court's definition, everyone in the Peace Sect was a demon—bloodthirsty and cruel, fond of spreading monstrous words to mislead the masses and control people's hearts.

But from Yang Xiao's own contact with them, it was true that the Peace Sect was cruel and bloodthirsty.

Yet the design of this Underground Dark River was simply too ingenious, stealing the work of heaven itself, so uncanny it was beyond belief.

Very soon, Yang Xiao followed Zhang Long's footsteps and passed through the corner.

The two walked forward for a long while more, and then their vision suddenly blurred as the entire world grew bright.

A vast oval platform large enough to accommodate ten thousand people appeared before them.

Around this oval platform were pitch-black, sturdy protrusions resembling prayer mats, wrapped in the leather of some unknown fierce beast, ring after ring advancing toward the high platform in the center.

At this moment, several hundred youths had already gathered here, each seated separately and all very quiet.

Yang Xiao followed Zhang Long and casually found a place to sit.

Zhang Long seemed somewhat nervous. He did not dare make a sound and was extremely quiet.

Yang Xiao had wanted to keep a low profile to begin with, so naturally, he was happy to enjoy the peace.

As time passed, youths of all kinds continued arriving from different corners.

In the end, after three hundred youths waiting for blood replacement had gathered here, along with three hundred Dao Protectors, no one else entered.

Then, an excited ceremonial cry suddenly resounded through the entire venue:

"The Great Sage Teacher has arrived!"