Chapter 51

At some point, the corpses at the bottom of the pile had turned into nothing but bones, and these bones were rapidly disappearing at a visible rate. Just as Lu Yaohang was surprised, the pile of corpses collapsed with a rustle.

With the corpses at the bottom gone, the pile could no longer support itself, and the culprit was revealed—a layer of black ants. They were just common black ants, not any kind of demonic beasts.

Yet they displayed astonishing strength. Not only did they bite and carry away the flesh and bones of the corpses, but they also tore the clothes into tiny pieces, as if they were some incredibly delicious food, all of which they carried away.

In just a short while, the pile of corpses had completely disappeared, saving them a large amount of corpse-dissolving water. The ants had cleaned up more thoroughly than the corpse-dissolving water; even if a high-level cultivator came, they wouldn't be able to tell what had happened here.

Bai Zhen's gaze toward Lu Xiaodeng changed. This girl was different from the ones he usually knew; probably no one else had expected her to have so many peculiar things. It was a waste for her to be in the Yunjian Sect. If she were in a sect that specialized in poisons, even if she couldn't cultivate, she would likely be an important figure in the sect.

"Xiaodeng, what exactly are those fragrant meat noodles?" Seeing the black ants carry everything away, even Lu Yaohang couldn't help but ask. Even if cultivators had spiritual energy protecting them and wouldn't be injured, they would still feel a bit uneasy.

"They are the meat of demonic beasts that Senior Sister usually takes me to hunt. I mixed them together and added some plants that ants love, and then refined them into this. By the way, Senior Brother Bai, don't you love eating meat? You can try these fragrant meat noodles. Add some water, and you can make them into cakes. They have a very strong meat flavor." Lu Xiaodeng suddenly remembered that Bai Zhen loved eating meat and said that the meat contained spiritual energy which could enhance one's strength, so she generously offered to give him some to eat.

Bai Zhen quickly refused, "No, thank you, I don't eat noodles." Only a fool would eat such a thing. It was one thing not to have seen the effect, but after seeing it, who could still eat it?

Lu Xiaodeng said with a hint of regret, "Alright, I'll keep them for myself then."

"Alright, let's go take care of the real business now. The sect is probably waiting for us." After confirming that everything had been cleaned up without a trace, Bai Zhen said. Since there were no outsiders around, he didn't mind speaking directly, even if Lu Xiaodeng heard.

To her surprise, killing people wasn't the real business. Lu Xiaodeng stared at them with wide eyes, wondering what they were going to do next and whether she should help.

Lu Yaohang picked up both Lu Xiaodeng and the cauldron, and followed Bai Zhen to a small dock by the lake. Then she injected spiritual energy into the water-lubricating jade pendant given to her by the sect leader, and a light blue spiritual energy shield appeared around her, enveloping both her and Lu Xiaodeng.

Bai Zhen, however, used nothing and simply jumped into the water with a splash, indicating that he had some other ability to move freely in the water. Lu Yaohang then took Lu Xiaodeng underwater with her. After the surface of the water calmed down, the entire Green Lake Village seemed to be in a deep sleep, becoming incredibly quiet.

Lu Xiaodeng curiously looked around. It was her first time diving so deep, and everything seemed fascinating. The lake wasn't very large, and there were no demonic beasts, only some fish swimming around, which quickly fled when disturbed.

The three of them kept diving down, and the lake bottom was unexpectedly deep. Even if it wasn't night, it would still be pitch black. Bai Zhen took out a night-luminescent stone to lead the way, illuminating about six meters around him. After diving a bit more, the muddy lake bottom finally came into view.

There was nothing strange here; the lake was like a funnel, with the bottom being quite small. Bai Zhen swam to the stone wall on the village side. The three spirit swords behind him flew up and stacked together, transforming into a large sword. He then attached a spirit talisman to the sword's hilt and pointed it at the stone wall, and the large sword stabbed into it smoothly.

This was just an ordinary stone wall, and the spirit sword disappeared into it, leaving only a small hole. Bai Zhen focused on controlling the spirit sword with his divine sense, and at a certain moment, he triggered the spirit talisman on the sword.

Originally, the lake water should have rushed into the hole created by the spirit sword, but now the water remained calm, no longer rushing in. Bai Zhen's sword also emerged from the water, and he put away two of them, keeping one in his hand to start digging the stone wall himself.

Lu Yaohang wanted to help, but he refused, telling her to just watch over Lu Xiaodeng. She then stood by and watched.

The stone wall was as soft as tofu, and he easily dug it out, quickly creating a cave about six meters deep. He then called out, "You two come in."

Lu Xiaodeng tried to enter, and the cave entrance was just wide enough for her cauldron to pass through. She felt a bit embarrassed; if her body could shrink, she wouldn't have to trouble Bai Zhen to dig such a wide hole, which would save a lot of effort.

When she and Lu Yaohang entered, they saw a light blue barrier at the entrance of the cave Bai Zhen had dug, which was probably the spirit talisman he had attached to the sword's hilt. The talisman had transformed into a barrier, keeping the lake water out, preventing it from flooding in due to the wall being dug through.

The barrier only blocked water, not people, so Lu Xiaodeng easily passed through it. She found herself in a huge underground cave. The cave was lined with night-luminescent stones, illuminating everything. She saw a teleportation array and a pile of bags on the ground. The teleportation array was covered with large pieces of broken stone, with many patterns that looked like magical array designs.

Looking up, she saw that a large part of the cave ceiling above the teleportation array had collapsed, as if it had been destroyed, and the stones were piled up, posing a danger of a complete collapse. Seeing that these things didn't reveal much, she turned her attention to the bags on the ground.

"What's inside these bags?" She curiously walked over and opened one, immediately gaping in shock. She quickly opened another and shouted, "Senior Sister, the bags are full of crystal fruits! We've hit the jackpot!"

Lu Yaohang came over and saw that the bags were indeed full of crystal fruits. She looked up and roughly counted, seeing that there were about three to four hundred bags. If they were all crystal fruits, this spirit-gathering place was indeed quite large.

Bai Zhen's clothes were soaked by the lake water, so he used his spiritual energy to evaporate the water and walked toward a passage in the stone wall. Just as he reached the entrance, he stopped and turned to Lu Yaohang, saying, "Junior Sister Lu, I'm going to get the crystal clusters and crystal cores. You come with me. Xiaodeng, you stay here and bring the bags to the teleportation array, and wait for us. Don't touch anything else."

"Me? Okay." Lu Xiaodeng was a bit surprised but happily agreed.

Lu Yaohang also wanted to see what the crystal cores looked like. Bai Zhen asked her to come along because the items they were going to retrieve were too valuable, and he couldn't return to the sect alone without a proper explanation. Moreover, if they were to take some benefits, it would be better for both of them to have some, so neither would betray the other.

Leaving Lu Xiaodeng alone here wasn't a concern; all the people in Green Lake Village had been killed, and no one would come in the middle of the night. When they attacked, the people had destroyed the teleportation array leading to the spirit-gathering place, completely blocking the way down, which was why they had to dig a passage through the lake.

Seeing them enter the dark passage, Lu Xiaodeng hummed a tune, placed the cauldron next to the teleportation array, and started picking up the bags on the ground, opening them to check the contents. If they contained crystal beans, she threw them aside; if they contained crystal fruits, she put them in the cauldron.

Bai Zhen had clearly told her to bring all the bags over and place them there, so they could be taken back to the sect later. She, however, was stuffing the cauldron as much as she could. If the contents could be thrown away, she would have emptied the cauldron long ago.

Just as she was happily stuffing the cauldron, she suddenly heard a buzzing sound and stopped to look for the source. Suddenly, a large pile of rocks fell from the cave ceiling, and about ten people jumped down from above, instantly summoning various magical artifacts, which illuminated the cave with a rainbow of colors.

Lu Xiaodeng was standing on the cauldron, stuffing loose crystal fruits into the gaps, as the large bags were already full. Seeing these people suddenly appear, she was stunned, her hand still in the gap.

The group was on high alert, thinking there were many people here, but they only saw a girl stealing crystal fruits. They were also stunned and immediately one of them picked up a trembling man, asking coldly, "Is this one of your people?"

The man was dressed in gray, just like the villagers who had been killed. His face was bruised and swollen, and he looked like a pig's head. He scanned Lu Xiaodeng with his swollen eyes and said without hesitation, "No, we don't have anyone like her here. We all wear the same clothes, and there are no women. The disappearance of my clan must be related to her."

Lu Xiaodeng looked at them in confusion. Apart from the man in gray who was terrified, the other eleven were clearly cultivators. She couldn't tell their cultivation levels, as she usually relied on the sect uniforms to distinguish them. She had to focus on the magical artifacts they were using.

Rubbish, junk, all rubbish. Her mind quickly concluded as her eyes scanned over them. She didn't pay attention to their quality, just seeing that they were all rubbish. No, this wasn't the right way to look at it. Lu Xiaodeng quickly refocused and finally saw clearly.

Three of them were holding spirit artifacts, and the rest were using magical artifacts, all of which looked very strange and had a sinister aura, not something good people would use. She was startled, wondering if she had coincidentally encountered evil cultivators who had come to kill people here.

So, she said, "I'm not a thief, don't kill me."

Everyone was speechless. She had already stolen so many crystal fruits and was still stuffing loose ones into the gaps, yet she still dared to say she wasn't a thief.