The feeling of despair lasted only a short while. Ye Yang quickly pulled himself together, requested an extended leave, entrusted Little Crow to Sister Wu’s care, and threw himself back into a whirlwind of activity.
Wu Rong had calculated that with their best efforts to stall, Shen Ming’s physical body could hold on for about half a month. Ye Yang wasn’t ready to give up that easily. He was determined to find a way to save Shen Ming.
After the Fu Ye incident, Ye Yang had come to fully understand that the golden droplet was none other than Xuanwu’s divine blood. Shen Ming had given him a long lifespan, immense power, and a rich, colorful life—essentially reshaping his entire existence.
Hadn’t he left the deep sea, left behind that comfortable, monotonous life, precisely to repay that kindness?
In the secret realm, he had managed to repay a portion of that debt. But that was far from enough. Now was the time for him to strive and repay Shen Ming.
That very evening, Ye Yang set off with full momentum.
He first confirmed with Old Li and Yu Bei every method they had tried. Then he racked his brain searching through his inherited memories, asked everyone he knew, and finally made his way to the demon realm, hoping to try his luck in the Underground Floating City.
—
From the Luoyang City teleportation array, head west until you reach the largest and wealthiest market in the entire demon realm. Beneath this very market lies the demon realm’s biggest gray zone—the Underground Floating City.
Walk into a fabric shop in a corner of the market, twist and turn through it, hop through a few small spatial folding arrays, and then head down a ways. Suddenly, Ye Yang’s view opened up completely.
The Underground Floating City has no ground—only a sky. Countless cabins of various shapes, sizes, and styles float mid-air, evenly distributed along eighteen fixed, invisible aerial tracks. Their positions shift every half-day.
There’s no sunlight underground, only a dim, eerie glow. The ceiling of the underground city is studded with countless luminous pearls, and every cabin is also encircled by night pearls.
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Ji Qing said, guiding Ye Yang onto the tracks like a host.
He had been hunted so fiercely recently that he’d left the country. But the outside world was too different from Huaxia. With no other options, he’d returned and gone into hiding in the black market of the Underground Floating City. He was the one who’d pointed Ye Yang here.
They stepped off the tracks and entered a cabin. In one corner of the cabin, an ordinary candle burned, providing light in the most traditional way—but the goods sold here were anything but ordinary. This was an information shop.
“The thing you’re looking for—I really don’t have it.” A plump, chubby mole rat shrank in the shadows beyond the candle’s reach, adjusting his thick monocle and speaking in an aged, weathered voice.
“There’s no great difficulty in stopping the loss of life force in general. But stopping the loss of life force of Xuanwu? Impossible.”
Ye Yang’s expression sharpened. The old mole rat immediately said, “Don’t be nervous. The whole demon realm has heard about what happened recently. For someone in the information business like me, not recognizing you, sir, would be the strange thing. And the question you asked is so… well, I guessed right away that something was wrong with Lord Xuanwu.”
Ji Qing added reassuringly, “Don’t worry. He won’t tell anyone about Xuanwu’s condition. He’s been in this business for centuries—he won’t ruin his own reputation.”
Only then did Ye Yang disperse the spiritual energy he had subconsciously gathered in his palms. “Sir? Don’t call me that,” he said, a little embarrassed.
Ji Qing laughed heartily. “You probably don’t know how famous you’ve become. Get used to it fast. This kind of thing will only happen more often.”
“Really…?” Ye Yang was half-doubtful but quickly pushed the thought aside. He hadn’t found what he was looking for here, and he didn’t want to waste any more time.
Outside the door, Ji Qing said, “That old mole rat is the most knowledgeable person around. If he doesn’t know it, probably no one else does either…”
Ye Yang knew what he meant, but: “I still want to try.”
Over the next half-day, they visited several more information shops. Sure enough, they found nothing.
“Thank you for your help today, Brother Ji Qing. I’ll come back and hang out with you when I have time.”
Ji Qing sighed softly, patted Ye Yang on the shoulder, and soon waved goodbye, returning to his own place.
Ye Yang stood not far from the exit of the Underground Floating City, suddenly unsure of where to go next. He gazed at the distant tower. His heart felt empty one moment and flooded with a thousand thoughts the next—just like the unfathomable abyss beneath his feet, impossible to tell whether it contained nothing at all or was teeming with shadows and phantoms that shunned the light.
The Underground Floating City has only one fixed structure—the tower where the city lord resides. It is said that from the top of the tower, everything underground can be seen. Every cabin is clearly visible, unobstructed—who enters and leaves, and when, all laid bare.
This tower grows out of the dark abyss. No one has ever seen its full form. No one has ever seen the city lord of the Underground Floating City.
Another legend says that those invisible floating tracks are the remains of a battle between the Candle Dragon and a certain kind of spiritual creature—a creature so powerful that it fought the Candle Dragon to mutual annihilation. No one knows what that other spiritual creature was, or how it came to clash with the Candle Dragon.
The time came. The cabins on the floating tracks suddenly began to move in unison. The drifting blue light multiplied—blue light being the sign of activated spirit talismans.
Apart from the entrance Ye Yang had used, regular customers of the Underground Floating City could navigate using spirit talismans. Those who lived here could also use talismans to return home.
Ye Yang exhaled. I should head back to the hospital first.
He stepped back onto the invisible floating tracks. Suddenly, a person came flying toward him from the opposite direction.
The floating tracks are not straight—they have many irregular twists and turns. A human cultivator, for some reason panicked and reckless, was crashing about without looking where he was going. He launched himself from the roof of one cabin onto the floating tracks, moving at incredible speed, and shot out directly from Ye Yang’s blind spot.
Ye Yang was caught off guard and slammed into hard.
The cultivator who hit him wasn’t very advanced and was immediately sent flying backward. Ye Yang instinctively reached out and grabbed him. Just then, shouts of pursuit came from behind. The already panicked cultivator grew even more frantic and, on reflex, shoved back—
Ye Yang’s luck had probably run out in the secret realm. The shove must have used twelve parts of the man’s strength, because Ye Yang was pushed right past the protective barrier at the edge of the floating track and fell straight off!
In the Underground Floating City, no one flies. All floating tracks have barriers on both sides to prevent falls, precisely because this place is so eerie—flight is impossible, and once you fall off the track, you plummet into the abyss below.
No one knows what lies at the bottom of that abyss, because those who have seen it have never come back up…
—
Early the next morning, Wu Shuwan was pecked awake by Little Crow. With her hair a complete mess, she tried hard not to get angry and not to hold it against a child.
But this kid just wouldn’t stop!
“Hiss—ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” Several strands of hair were yanked out by the roots. Wu Shuwan was furious. With lightning speed, she grabbed Little Crow.
“Jiiii—wa wa wa wa wa!!”
“Hmm?” She paused. “You say Ye Yang is in danger?”
She let go of Little Crow. “Don’t panic. I’ll find him.” Little Crow stood on her shoulder, his neck stretched out a mile long, his tiny beady eyes fixed on Wu Shuwan’s phone.
She asked around. No one knew where Ye Yang was. His messages went unanswered, his calls wouldn’t connect. Checking his phone, it showed out of service range. Even his messenger fish showed no response. He was completely unreachable.
Xing Tian hurried over. “Don’t worry. Ye Yang has a life tablet at headquarters. It hasn’t shown any unusual activity, so he’s not in immediate danger of dying.”
Sister Wu was still worried. “Where on earth did that little guy go? Aside from the Kunlun barrier, is there anywhere the messenger fish can’t reach?”
Xing Tian fell silent. Indeed, where could it be? Even he couldn’t think of an answer.
The matter quickly reached Director Tu. He grew anxious too and immediately went to headquarters. Yu Bei, Old Li—one by one, they were called out. Old Li was intercepted just as he was preparing to return to Kunlun. Even Yan Yungui, who had gone to the United States to find his junior apprentice brother, was caught up in the commotion. The YCG, which had only just calmed down, was in an uproar once more…
—
Ye Yang had no idea how many people were worrying about a mere little demon like him. He didn’t even have time to think about it. He was staring in shock at the “person” before him, unable to tell for a moment whether he was trapped in an illusion or already dead.
He didn’t even have the presence of mind to be concerned about being stuck motionless in the swamp.
“…Are you alright?” Teng Hua hadn’t expected to frighten him so badly. She quickly stepped back two paces to show that she absolutely meant no harm.
“…Let me process this.” Ye Yang was utterly confused. It took him a long while to figure out what had happened.
Some unknown time ago, he had accidentally fallen into the abyss beneath the demon realm’s Underground Floating City. The abyss was pitch black, and he couldn’t use his spiritual energy. Like an ordinary person falling from a building, he plummeted uncontrollably.
Then he suddenly felt a bone-deep, penetrating cold. The soles of his feet touched something damp, cold, and sticky. Dim light appeared around him, like moonlight half-covered by clouds.
Looking around, Ye Yang found that he had fallen into a swamp. Most of his body was stuck. Every move he made caused him to sink further.
He still couldn’t mobilize his spiritual energy. There was no spiritual energy whatsoever in the surrounding air. When he tried to force it, that bone-chilling cold shot straight into his body. Soon, his fingertips grew stiff and purple from the cold.
Then something even more surreal happened. Teng Hua—who was already dead—appeared.
“So, you’re Teng Hua. The one from Teng Village who was worshipped as the mountain god…”
“Yes, yes, yes! My little benefactor remembers me! That’s wonderful!”
If Teng Hua hadn’t brought it up, Ye Yang wouldn’t have recognized her. Only after her reminder did he recall—she was a person connected to a mountain god mission he had once undertaken.
At that time, Teng Hua had already died. Only because her obsession ran so deep had she retained a wisp of her essence in the living world. Shen Ming had had someone help send her back to the Underworld… “Wait!”
Ye Yang’s eyes widened. “So this is—”
“Yes, yes, this is the Underworld.” Teng Hua nodded emphatically, then said with a touch of admiration, “Little benefactor, you’re amazing! To be able to cross into the Underworld in the flesh—that’s truly extraordinary. No wonder you’re my benefactor!”
Ye Yang: “…” Great. I haven’t even saved Shen Laoshi yet, and now I’m in danger of losing myself!
Teng Hua, completely oblivious, was still delighted. “I’ve never seen anyone do that! Little benefactor, what did you come here for? Is there anything I can help with? I’m considered a minor underworld official now—I do have a little bit of authority, you know~”
Hearing Teng Hua’s last sentence, Ye Yang suddenly had a wild idea. For a moment, he forgot his own predicament, and his eyes lit up.
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