Gan Zhining got straight to the point. "Qin Yu and I are a team. He’s now trapped inside the Blood Wolf Cave in Dingyuan County. We heard a master from Yuanchu Mountain once took you there, so we’d like to ask for your help in rescuing him."
"These are our identification orders from the Demon Suppression Bureau. We’ve already reported to the Governor’s Office. You won’t be punished by the Court for leaving Wolf Valley Pass now," Bai Jingjie said.
"The round trip will only take a few days. We implore you to help," Gan Zhining said, cupping his fist.
"Yan Zhen, Qin Yu, and I formed an alliance in the Imperial City Hunting Ground. We swore to share weal and woe. Now that he’s in trouble, how could I refuse to help? Besides, the Governor’s Office of the Demon Suppression Bureau has already given its permission."
Chu Lingguang hadn’t expected this.
’So it was Qin Yu who’s in trouble.’
’And in the Blood Wolf Cave, of all places.’
He had been there twice, and the blood wolves had long since vanished. ’Why would Qin Yu be trapped there?’
"Thank you!"
The two men’s faces lit up with joy.
Time was short. After giving some instructions, Chu Lingguang left Wolf Valley Pass with them and hurried toward the Blood Wolf Cave.
"Why do you two think I can save Qin Yu?"
The three of them rode their Han Gao Steeds through the jungle.
"It was Qin Yu who told us to find you."
"He said that besides you, no one could help him," Gan Zhining and Bai Jingjie said one after the other.
Chu Lingguang grew more puzzled. ’Qin Yu is so confident... could he know about my increase in strength? Did Yan Zhen tell him?’
Yan Zhen, Qin Yu, Hu Yanlin, and even Tuoba Yunhong all served in the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Yan Zhen had seen him at Wolf Valley Pass and could sense the change in his strength. He also knew that Chu Lingguang had wiped out the pirates at Xiazigou and that his Mental Realm had reached the fourth level.
’Perhaps he told Qin Yu about it.’
’Of course, it’s also possible that Qin Yu has been keeping a close eye on me all along.’
「A few days later.」
Chu Lingguang arrived at the Blood Wolf Cave with Gan Zhining and Bai Jingjie. Along the way, he learned from them that Qin Yu wasn’t trapped because he had run into a large pack of blood wolves.
Instead, he had dug up a stone stele deep within the cave.
The stele emitted a powerful, peculiar wave that had him trapped as if in a mire. He could barely manage a few words and couldn’t do anything else.
Because of this, Gan Zhining and the others had immediately requested help from their superiors.
However, the war effort was strained, and demons were causing chaos everywhere, so no reinforcements were available on short notice. That was when Qin Yu thought of Chu Lingguang. While training at Mountain Rain Peak under the guidance of Zhang Tao and Li Mao, Qin Yu had accidentally learned that Chu Lingguang possessed a Sea of Consciousness Power many times stronger than that of his peers.
Since he was trapped by the peculiar wave from the stele, he figured Chu Lingguang might have a way to get him out.
So, unable to get support from his superiors, Qin Yu had sent his two partners to Wolf Valley Pass to find Chu Lingguang, which led to the current situation.
"Sirs."
The Blood Wolf Cave was secured by a group of personnel from the Demon Suppression Bureau.
There were over a dozen of them in total.
Most of them were at the Qi Sea Perfection realm.
"What’s the situation inside?" Gan Zhining asked.
"It’s tricky. Our men can’t get in. Earlier, two of our brothers tried to go in to bring Lord Qin some food, but after just a few steps, they were caught by a strange force. If we hadn’t been quick on our feet, those two might have ended up paralyzed in there just like Lord Qin."
"Lord Qin hasn’t been able to eat or drink for days. He’s holding on by sheer willpower alone," the Demon Suppression Bureau members reported one after another.
"Commander Chu..." Bai Jingjie said, clasping his hands.
"You all stand guard out here. I’ll go in and take a look."
Chu Lingguang knew what he meant.
Since he had come to rescue Qin Yu, he had to go inside and see for himself, no matter how dangerous it was.
Before entering, Chu Lingguang first released a powerful Spiritual Sense Fluctuation.
He had expected to instantly get a clear picture of the entire cave, having been here twice before.
But he found the inside of the Blood Wolf Cave was a complete blur, as if shrouded in a layer of fog. His Spiritual Sense Fluctuation could only penetrate it slowly.
"Qin!"
Chu Lingguang walked in slowly.
A moment later, a pulling force emanated from within.
A curtain of light formed from his Sea of Consciousness Power appeared before him. Although his Sea of Consciousness Power couldn’t produce formidable Telekinesis like that of the young man from Yuanchu Mountain—allowing one to move objects from a distance and kill without a trace—it was still capable of blocking an ordinary Wave Power.
This was especially true now that all his Qi Sea Power had transformed into Spiritual Power and his Dantian had become a Star System.
The Spiritual Sense Fluctuation he released from his Sea of Consciousness felt as if it could pierce a Star System. And although it couldn’t resonate with the Spiritual Power within his Star System, it seemed to have been strengthened invisibly.
The special wave emitted by the Ruby from Xiazigou couldn’t even affect his daily life anymore when he wasn’t actively defending against it.
So, in the eyes of the others, that special wave with its seemingly infinite pulling force was rendered completely useless against Chu Lingguang.
He just kept walking deeper inside, as if nothing was wrong.
A short while later, Chu Lingguang finally saw Qin Yu.
He was standing rigid in the depths of the Blood Wolf Cave.
Standing inside a shallow pit.
"Hm?"
Chu Lingguang finally felt a pulling sensation here.
"Qin!" Chu Lingguang called out.
Qin Yu couldn’t answer, only blink his eyes.
Chu Lingguang looked at the stone stele in the ground that Qin Yu had unearthed. When he saw the characters on it, he froze.
The characters on the stele seemed to be alive, formed from vine-like joints. He could even see what looked like veins and muscle fibers on them. One end had already pierced into Qin Yu’s foot, as if it were fusing with his body.
’The heart is in the vine.’
Chu Lingguang recalled those words again.
’Could this stele be the heart Yang Lijun spoke of? The thing the voice from the Jade Box mentioned?’
’If that’s the case... how could Qin Yu have possibly found something that even the young man from Yuanchu Mountain couldn’t?’
’If Qin Yu had just dug it up randomly...’
Chu Lingguang didn’t believe it for a second.
At that moment, Chu Lingguang clearly realized that Qin Yu probably hadn’t requested help from his superiors at all. Instead, he had sought out Chu Lingguang directly. Because if his superiors saw him fusing with such a bizarre object, he would lose his chance to go to Yuanchu Mountain to train.
’Only by finding me could he ensure I would help him keep this a secret.’
"Qin, let me see if I can move your foot," Chu Lingguang said.
He then lifted Qin Yu’s right foot.
He discovered that the entire sole of the foot was covered in vine-like tendrils that resembled blood vessels.
The degree of fusion was far more severe than Xie Xiaohuan’s.
Chu Lingguang had encountered such vines before.
Back then, the vine had constantly tried to burrow into his body.
Although it hadn’t succeeded, he knew that for it to reach a state like Qin Yu’s, it would take at least some time and for the fusion to be complete.
"Qin, if I force you out of here, this vine will probably come with you," Chu Lingguang warned.
He had discovered that not only was the vine fusing with Qin Yu, but it was also using the wave emitted by the stele to create a special pulling force, paralyzing Qin Yu and forcing him to passively accept the fusion.
This vine was far more powerful than the one on Xie Xiaohuan.
’It can even utilize the stele’s power.’
Qin Yu remained motionless, just blinking his eyes forcefully.
So Chu Lingguang wrapped his arms around his body and tried to pull him from the ground. But he found that vine tendrils were sprouting from Qin Yu’s other foot as well.
It was as if he were a human-shaped vine that had already taken root here.
"Hmph!"
Chu Lingguang was furious.
He pressed both hands onto the stone stele.
A fiery red power erupted from his palms, forming a searingly hot force. This was a Divine Power he had recently awakened.
His hands could melt steel.
He could even shatter Profound Iron with a single palm strike.
"SIZZLE!"
The stele made a sizzling sound, and the vines nestled in the crevices of the characters shot away like scalded earthworms.
"Soul-Suppressing Stele!"
Chu Lingguang saw that the stele had only three words inscribed on it: Soul-Suppressing Stele!
’Soul-Suppressing!’
’It sounds quite domineering.’
’I’ll have to find some time to study it properly.’
But the priority right now was to get Qin Yu out of here.
"CRACK!"
Just then, as if all the vines had hidden beneath the stele, Chu Lingguang also grabbed Qin Yu’s body and forcefully lifted him out of the pit.
He heard the sound of roots snapping like blood vessels.
He also saw Qin Yu, who could previously only blink, contort his face in pain.
「At the same time.」
The stele in the ground loosened.
It was as if it were being pulled up by the roots in the earth.
A layer of blood-red mist billowed out.
Alarmed, Chu Lingguang immediately went on guard. He covered the stele with his Spiritual Sense, even trying to penetrate the ground beneath it to investigate. What he saw was a pool of boiling blood plasma.
In the middle of the plasma was a massive heart, wrapped in countless vines, letting out a rhythmic THUMP-THUMP.