Over the next half hour or so, Yu Xian shuttled between different tunnels.
Along the way, he picked up no less than a ton of gold, as well as several dust-covered weapons. Weapons that could remain well-preserved in an environment like this clearly could not be ordinary arms.
During this time, he took the wrong path several times as well, but whenever he reached a dead end, he simply switched tunnels and continued exploring.
In truth, he had no idea where he was now or how far he was from the surface. In any case, through the resonance between his bubbles, he knew he had been continuously moving downward.
These tunnels appeared level, but in fact sloped slightly downward.
Whichever path he chose, it steadily extended downward.
Codename Sharpshooter: "Full of energy in the middle of the night—what are you up to?"
Seeing this codename, Yu Xian knew the person watching was Hua Qiang, Chief of the Combat Division. He chuckled and replied, "Hello, Chief! I'm raking in gold on Mars right now!"
As he spoke, he reached out and plucked a golden bead straight from the adjacent wall.
Hua Qiang's eyes nearly bugged out. Gripping his phone, he typed in astonishment: "Wasn't Mars's gold picked clean long ago by those gold prospectors? Where on earth are you right now?"
"No idea. Probably inside some pit, but this place connects in every direction to far too many mines. Hard to say exactly where," Yu Xian chuckled breezily.
Hua Qiang was speechless. If it had been him stranded in an unknown location, he would have been on edge long ago. How could he possibly be as relaxed as Yu Xian?
He began to understand why the chat earlier had been flooded with "Must be nice being a spatial ability user, so carefree." Yu Xian truly was boundless.
Next, he saw countless Spirit-Melting Gu insects on the screen.
In the dead of night, he leapt right off his roof in fright. Only after landing back on the ground did he ask in shock, "Little Yu, what sort of heinous sin did you commit? Why are there so many Spirit-Melting Gu insects hounding you?"
"Chief, I really don't know! I was just passing by, and they've been chasing me ever since." Yu Xian had originally intended to ask Hua Qiang how to control Spirit-Melting Gu insects, never expecting Hua Qiang to suspect him of wrongdoing first.
Hua Qiang looked thoroughly puzzled. "Even though Spirit-Melting Gu insects have a terrifying reputation, they're actually among the milder breeds of Gu insects. If you didn't do anything, there's no reason for them to keep chasing you."
Codename Science Popularizer: "Chief, there is actually another possibility: the Spirit-Melting Gu insects have a master who ordered them to stop all intelligent life from entering the depths of the pit."
Reading Science Popularizer's words, Hua Qiang mused, "In other words, Yu Xian might run into the Gu master who deployed these insects?"
An enemy meant a fight. His eyes lit up, his battle lust stirring.
Despite being an archer, he was actually a battle maniac. Aside from the bow, his deadliest specialty, he was proficient in the eighteen types of weaponry. Across all of Qilin, the people who could best him in combat did not exceed the fingers on one hand. Otherwise, how could he possibly serve as Chief of the Combat Division?
A Chief of the Combat Division who couldn't fight would be the ultimate joke.
He hadn't been able to breach the Xingtian zombie king's defense simply because the Xingtian zombie king was too formidable, not because he was weak.
In reality, against an ordinary Dragon-rank, he could dispatch them in a single arrow.
Codename Science Popularizer: "He won't necessarily encounter the Gu master. Shadow Gu are typically concealed within a Gu master's shadow or beneath their cloak. Yet that Gu master placed the Shadow Gu outside, which means in all likelihood, the Gu master is already dead.
"Furthermore, this mine shaft has clearly not seen a single visitor in a very, very long time. If Yu Xian hadn't stumbled in by accident, chances are no one would have come for ages.
"Even if someone did come, they would most likely die either to an ambush by the Shadow Gu or under the onslaught of the Spirit-Melting Gu insects. People who could stroll through as effortlessly as Yu Xian are truly few and far between."
Just then, a new development occurred on Yu Xian's end.
The Spirit-Melting Gu insects, which had been relentlessly pursuing him, abruptly retreated. The tunnel plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Though Yu Xian possessed night vision, he still took out several high-intensity light bulbs and turned them on. Instantly, the entire tunnel grew bright once more—only previously it had been bathed in crimson light from the Spirit-Melting Gu insects, whereas now it was illuminated by cool white light.
"Looks like something's up ahead."
Yu Xian did not rush forward heedlessly. Instead, he directed an eyeball bubble to scout ahead.
Fool around when it was safe, but exercise caution when caution was due. After all, only an idiot would charge blindly forward in a situation like this, and he wasn't about to make such a rookie mistake.
As the eyeball moved swiftly forward, the narrow tunnel in Yu Xian's vision gradually broadened.
Then, a massive gate of barren stone appeared before him. Slumped beside the edge of the gate was a skeleton. From its posture, it was evident that the person's heart had been shattered before finally collapsing here.
The eyeball bubble passed through the stone gate and discovered an immense interior space, presumably an outer courtyard. Many weapons still hung on the walls to either side, evoking images of the numerous people who had once practiced martial arts here.
Beyond the courtyard, a formal portal appeared before the eyeball bubble. Inscribed above the doorway were three characters: Torrent Society.
"This is actually the territory of the largest patriotic organization from six hundred years ago—the Torrent Society!" Yu Xian muttered in shock upon seeing those words.
Hua Qiang exclaimed in surprise, "What? You're saying that place belongs to the Torrent Society?"
"Yeah, should be no doubt about it," Yu Xian replied with a nod.
Before the emergence of the Xingtian warriors, the Torrent Society had been an organization formed by a group of patriotic Transcendents. Not only were they dedicated to cracking down on Transcendent criminals, but they also supplied the nation with vast amounts of Transcendent resources.
Barren stone had in fact been among the materials supplied by the Torrent Society. Even now, Barren Stone City still housed a Torrent Society Memorial Hall.
Back then, the Torrent Society had been active for about seventy years before mysteriously vanishing without a trace. No one knew where its members had gone, and no further word of them was ever heard.
To this day, people still speculated about the fate of the Torrent Society. The prevailing theory was that every member of the society had entered the Abyss, while others guessed they had ventured into deep space to explore the sea of stars.
Who would have thought the Torrent Society actually had a base on Mars? It might even be their headquarters.
Yu Xian steered the eyeball bubble through the gates of the Torrent Society. The sight that met his eyes caused them to widen in shock: countless skeletons sat cross-legged all over the hall. Some had run daggers through their own hearts, some had shattered their own skull caps with a palm strike, and others had pierced their own foreheads with their fingers.
At the dead center of these skeletons, two corpses showing no sign of decay whatsoever knelt on the ground. A man had run a blade through his own abdomen, impaling the woman clinging tightly to him from behind as well. Thus they had died, kneeling and huddled together.
"So... the Torrent Society didn't go into the Abyss, nor did they explore the sea of stars. They... all died right here," Yu Xian murmured in shock, gazing at the two corpses encircled by the sea of skeletons.
The Torrent Society had left behind plenty of video footage, so at a glance he recognized the two figures in the center as Hong Zheng, the president of the Torrent Society known as the Divine Blade, and his wife, Cui Xianzhen, known as Thousand Butterflies.
What on earth happened here? Why did they commit suicide?
Chapter 129