One by one, everyone discovered that their cultivation was in a state where it was about to break through! The internal energy within them was vast and mighty, ready to charge through the gates any moment.

In that bottleneck which had always been too strong to break… It seemed like mottled cracks had actually formed?

How did this happen?

Could it be that digging tunnels in the underground could actually raise their cultivation?

Everyone was extremely puzzled.

The one who was the most perplexed was naturally Chu Yang. “Wow! Digging a tunnel had actually raised my first-grade Supreme Martial Artist cultivation? This this this…”

Everyone shivered and shook.

Could it be true?

At once, everyone turned their glance to the pitch-black tunnel and the heavy rocks, their eyes becoming burning hot.

Digging underground tunnels could actually raise a person’s cultivation!

Naturally, they couldn’t break through their cultivation here. Once they did, there would inevitably be great movement. As such, the only thing they could do was to suppress it. However, all of them were absolutely confident — The bottleneck was already open! The moment they got out, they would become second-grade Supreme Martial Artists right away!

Thanks to this sense of excitement, everyone’s drive surged tremendously!

Right away, they started digging with all their might.

Chu Yang secretly chuckled inwardly, though he kept his face stern and straight.

The huge increase in their cultivation naturally didn’t happen without a good reason!

Chu Yang had very carefully mixed a tiny cup of Xue Leihan’s celestial wine evenly into the wine that they had been drinking recently. Even if one were to taste the wine carefully, he wouldn’t be able to discern it. However, their cultivation became stronger day by day. Almost two months had passed by now… Their cultivation improving by one grade wasn’t something to be surprised about.

Especially when… quite a few of them were already on the brink of breaking through.

What Chu Yang never thought would have happened was something that took place in the future…

Later on, when these people arrived at the south-east, as there wasn’t any fighting to be done for the time being, for the longest time, they weren’t able to break through in their cultivation. And so, these fellows actually got into an underground tunnel digging frenzy…

It caused the underground area of Flat Mountain Ridge to become accessible to and from all directions. It was only when Chu Yang returned to Flat Mountain Ridge one day that he discovered that the underground area of Flat Mountain Ridge had already become an underground maze…

Innumerous underground tunnels stretched out in all directions, practically no different from a spider web…

Cough, but this comes later, so we won’t talk about it anymore!

Nine ground moles labored diligently underground, completely unaware of the passing time as well as the occurrences in the world above…

Finally, one day… Wei Wuyan reported, “We’ve already dug for two and a half months.”

Chu Yang got a shock at once. “According to our average progress of 65 kilometers a day, how far have we dug?”

“Two and a half months would make 75 days. At the rate of 65 kilometers per day… that would make it more than 3,500 kilometers by now, right?” answered Wan Renjie uncertainly.

“You’re really… too dumb!” Cheng Duying said contemptuously, “You can’t even do such simple math; it’s clearly 4,200 kilometers!”

Realization dawned upon Wan Renjie. “Oh, oh.”

Interrogation Officer One frowned. “That doesn’t seem right…”

Holding a small rock in his hand, Bao Buhuan wrote nervously on the wall as he calculated, producing loud scratching sounds. “65 65 65 65… 65…”

As he calculated, Bao Buhuan became stupefied. “There are too many 65’s… The sight is making me dizzy…”

Chu Yang was, of course, the smartest one among them. After calculating silently in his mind, he smacked his thigh and said, “You silly goons! You were too absorbed in your excitement; we’ve dug too far!”

“Huh?” Everyone was dumbfounded.

“There are only 3,850 kilometers from Jiuqu Ridge to the point where we get out of the northwest. But right now, if we were to calculate based on 65 kilometers a day for 75 days, we’ve dug a total of 4,825 kilometers! We’ve exceeded by 1,400 kilometers!”

“It’s 1,475 kilometers!” Wei Wuyan corrected him.

“Get lost!” Chu Yang shouted furiously.

Wei Wuyan rolled his eyes and looked toward the heavens.

“Someone has gotten angry from embarrassment…” Everyone burst into raucous laughter.

“Alright!” Chu Yang raised his hand and stopped them. “Let’s prepare to go out! Those who haven’t had enough of being here can stay here.”

Instantly, everyone shook their heads vehemently, as though they were rattle-drums.

“Since that’s the case…” Chu Yang’s face, which was covered in mud and dirt, gradually blossomed into a stunning smile, as though a flower. Just that when accompanied by the mud, it looked as wrinkly as a ‘chrysanthemum’. “Let’s go!”

“Ouuuu~~~~” Everyone let out a strange howl!

At last! They were going to see the light of day again!

And under very safe circumstances this time!

…

Ling Hanyu had already been here for more than a year.

Ever since the Super Clans started to move after receiving the news that the Li Clan might have a Nine Tribulations in their clan, Ling Hanyu had requested to be dispatched and led a team here. The moment they arrived, they carried out harassment tactics. For a long period of time, it was highly effective.

In the beginning when he arrived, they had been 950 kilometers behind where they currently were. Now, after gradually eating away at the territory, they had already devoured 950 kilometers of the Li Clan’s territory.

A few affiliated clans in the area had also been wiped out.

Ling Hanyu was always very smug every time he thought of this.

Ling Hanyu was in no way a cultivation madman. His aptitude could be considered top-notch among the Ling Clan’s younger generation. However, his laziness was also well-known.

That was the reason why when all the other brothers were already Martial Saints — some of the faster ones had even reached Supreme Martial Artist level — he was still bumming around at Monarch level.

However, even though his combat ability wasn’t high, the methods he employed in doing things were harsh and vicious.

In addition, he was someone who was hungry for achievements.

He could be considered a unique one.

“Everyone thinks that the reason why we’re suppressing the Li Clan is because of the Nine Tribulations Sword Master. However… it is only when one increases the clan’s territory at the same time as he suppresses the Li Clan that he is someone who has truly given outstanding contribution to the clan!” Standing under a tree, Ling Hanyu gazed at the meandering and undulating mountains covered in snow in front of him, his countenance rather smug.

“The current conditions may look tough, but once the general trend of events within the clan is set in stone and they start rewarding people according to their contributions, who would be able to compare with my contribution toward the clan?”

“With my achievements and sacrifices made here, I will hold a great advantage in the campaign for the position of clan leader! When the clan elects a leader, they typically consider only how far-sighted he is, what he plans for the future and how wise he is… Not much emphasis is placed on combat ability. How can spending all my time and effort poring over martial arts my entire life ever compare to holding actual status and power and living free and easy for the rest of my life?”

“As for the Li Clan suddenly going mad and killing so many of the Ling Clan members a few days ago… so what? Necessary sacrifices must eventually be made.”

“Without sacrifices, where am I going to get my bargaining chips?”

“The crazier the Li Clan is, the better it is!”

“I want to hold power and take control of the clan! I won’t ever be like that idiot Ling Hanwu, suffering his entire life because of a woman and even sacrificing his life in the end… Women, to me, are mere decoration and play toys.”

“Since olden times, which person of great merit and achievement has ever lost himself in lust?”

Ling Hanyu was full of self-satisfaction and smugness. His eyes were filled with loftiness.

Behind him, in the eyes of everyone who stood far away, Fourth Master Ling was in the midst of grieving over the loss of a heroic soul. But none of them knew what he was truly thinking.

Because Ling Hanyu had always chosen to contemplate in this graveyard where heroes were buried, everyone felt that Fourth Master Ling was a person who cherished emotional ties and valued brotherhood… What a good leader he was…

Right at this moment.

The look in Ling Hanyu’s eyes changed.

Because something seemed to be happening in the terrain in front of him…

The underground seemed to be wriggling?

What was going on?

Ling Hanyu widened his eyes. The next moment, on the snow ground approximately three meters in front of him, there was a sudden pop and a hand broke through the surface!

A blackened hand thoroughly covered in mud!

It twisted a little in mid-air as its joints actually produced a couple of cracking noises…

Dark spots suddenly filled his vision and Ling Hanyu almost passed out on the spot.

Think about it — he was all alone in a graveyard in the evening when the sun was setting. Right at this moment, a hand suddenly broke out of the ground without any warning whatsoever…

My god, did they have to do something this terrifying!

Especially to… someone with a guilty conscience like Ling Hanyu! He was right in the midst of making use of dead people to create a good name for himself!

And yet at this particular moment…

Frightened out of his wits, Ling Hanyu was about to turn and make his escape when he realized that it was as if his legs were rooted to the ground, unable to move at all.

Right at this point, voices actually drifted over from underground. “I can smell the human world… Wow, this feels so awesome!”

“I smell it too… It’s truly different from the underground… Hehehe…”

“Damn, it really felt awful staying underground for so long…”

“After I go out, I must have a huge feast! I’ll eat anything that comes within my sight!”

“I’ll eat even things that are still alive!”

…

When this conversation reached Ling Hanyu’s ears clearly, Fourth Master Ling felt his entire body instantly turn cold and his mind becoming a chaotic mess. He didn’t even know what date it was anymore…

You can smell the human world now? So all of you weren’t in the human world previously? Then where were you?

Different from the underground?

Have a huge feast? Eat whatever you see? Then… what if you see me?

There wasn’t a trace of the great ambitions he had left in Ling Hanyu’s mind anymore. He trembled all over like a leaf as he felt his lower body lose control. All of a sudden, he couldn’t keep it in control anymore. At once, there was a scalding hot sensation in his pants…

“F*ck, what’s that smell…” The monster underground grumbled. “It can’t be that we’ve dug our way to the toilet?”

“Surely we won’t be that unlucky?” replied another monster.

“F*ck, won’t we know if we just go up and take a look?”

“But what if a pool of sh*t lands on our heads? That’s not going to feel good…”

When he heard this, Fourth Master Ling, Ling Hanyu, lost control of both the front and back of his lower body…

Oh my god, it’s really happening…

“You go up first…”

“No, I think it’s better that you go up first…”

On the surface, that lone blackened hand and forearm moved about wildly…

Ling Hanyu dropped onto his bottom, losing his mind altogether.

A voice said furiously, “We’ll go out together!”

Then, in the next moment, as Ling Hanyu watched on all flabbergasted, a pitch-black human head popped out of the burial ground!

His face was completely blackened and his hair was matted. He looked strange and weird. Only his eyes were actually clearly black and white!

The moment the head popped out of the ground, his eyes met with those of Ling Hanyu, who was sitting on the ground.

“My god! That gave me a huge fright! There’s someone here!” This lone head on the surface said. Then, that lone hand on the other side actually waved and asked, “Kid, who are you?”

“I am… Mama… Mama… Mama…” All of a sudden, Ling Hanyu burst into tears, large tear droplets and mucus dripping on his face. “Don’t eat me…”

With big round eyes, the head stared weirdly at this fellow. Suddenly, he flew into a rage. “Who are you calling Mama?!”

Underneath, a voice said in astonishment, “Really?”

Then, with a whoosh, another head popped out of the ground at the side. Aligned with each other, the two heads stared at Ling Hanyu as they sized him up. “This kid is calling you Mama? Hahahaha… really?”

“Let me see, let me see…”

At once, the others fought with each other to be first and heads started popping up one by one on the surface of the burial grounds…