My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 166 Substitute
Inside a dimly lit underground space.

The ground suddenly loosened and then collapsed with a loud bang.

Zhang Ye and his two companions were immediately humiliated.

The three of them shoved the dirt off their heads and climbed up into the burrow in the dark.

"Pah! Zhen Fan, quick! Light the lamp!" Zhang Ye spat out the dirt from his mouth, ignoring the dust on his face, and shouted loudly.

Fifteen minutes later, Kui Tuo glanced sideways at Zhang Ye: "Taking something out of a bag, huh..."

"Shut up!" Zhang Ye's face turned red, and even his thick beard couldn't hide it.

He glared at the chest full of swords, shields, and armor, his face contorted with rage.

"Li Wenlin has grown incredibly audacious, hiding so many weapons. Is he planning a rebellion?!" Zhang Ye was so angry his liver ached.

My dream of getting rich shattered without any warning.

"Big brother, come quick!" Zhen Fan suddenly shouted.

"There's a treasure?!" Zhang Ye, who had just looked dejected, suddenly rushed to the corner with a face full of excitement.

Krishna followed closely behind.

The three looked at the patterned stone ground beneath their feet, then at the tools scattered around them, and exchanged bewildered glances.

The tools were a variety of items: hooks, candles, shovels, crowbars, bronze mirrors, red ropes, and a small box of gunpowder.

Zhang Ye exclaimed in astonishment, "Li Wenlin not only wants to rebel, but he also robs tombs?"

Immediately, an uncontrollable smile spread across his face: "Isn't this my chance to make a fortune?"

"The large tomb has been found, with all the tools and even boxes for storing valuables prepared."

"This entire tomb of wealth is nothing more than a...woo...woowoowoo!"

Before he could finish speaking, Kritu covered his mouth.

"Shut up!"

……

The underground secret chamber of Tianyi Zhai.

Chen Mu stopped talking.

He narrowed his eyes, his powerful presence surging forth. His muscles rapidly expanded, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a burly man standing at 1.9 meters tall.

Cui Cui exclaimed in amazement, "You are incredibly strong!"

Chen Mu ignored him and suddenly unleashed all his strength, trying to raise his hands, but he was quickly suppressed by the omnipresent power around him.

Cui Cui breathed a sigh of relief, her gaze towards Chen Mu growing increasingly surprised: "Don't struggle anymore, unless you master spiritual light, it's all useless."

Just as he was about to try again, he suddenly felt a comfortable sensation under his skin, like the itching sensation when he first woke up.

At the same time, the skin changes rapidly, and a cool sensation spreads.

It resembles a silk net rapidly gathering and weaving.

As things change, the invisible pressure around me is gradually decreasing!

What was once confined like ice is now like a soft, viscous gel.

"Cloud Mirage Armor Technique!" Chen Mu was overjoyed.

He quickly controlled his expression, adopting a gloomy look.

In reality, however, he actively adjusts his breathing and uses the Spirit Armor Technique to modify his skin.

……

At the entrance of Tianyi Zhai, Bai Miaojin stood quietly in the thick fog.

A figure quickly broke through the thick fog and arrived. The two stood five meters apart.

"Sikou Qing, alive." Zuo Sheng put down the person he was carrying, looking warily at the imposing figure in front of him, a sense of danger rising in his heart.

Bai Miaojin calmly looked at Zuo Sheng, then raised her hand and threw out two jade gourds.

Zuo Sheng tore his sleeve, caught the gourd through his palm, examined it for a moment, and then wrapped it up and put it into his bosom.

"Are we even now?" Zuo Shengsong asked softly, letting out a sigh of relief.

"We're even." Bai Miaojin nodded calmly.

"Farewell!" Zuo Sheng clasped his hands in a fist salute, turned and disappeared into the mist.

……

"Are we just going to let him go like that?" Cheng Yi walked out of Tianyi Zhai. "Aren't you afraid he'll reveal your secret?"

Bai Miaojin calmly said, "He has no need to, nor would he dare to."

"Are you that confident?" Cheng Yi said in a deep voice, "I only believe that the dead can keep secrets."

Bai Miaojin glanced at Cheng Yi: "No need to test him. I won't touch him, much less you."

"The connection between Qingfeng Temple and us goes back much further than you know."

Cheng Yi sneered coldly. Bai Miaojin ignored him.

They dragged Sikou Qing into the room and placed him next to the unconscious Shangguan Yu.

Then he took out a palm-sized yellow gourd from his sleeve.

"This gourd?" Cheng Yi's pupils contracted. Wasn't this Wu Yin's personal magical artifact?

“As I’ve said before, we have a deep connection with Qingfeng Temple,” Bai Miaojin said calmly, then opened the gourd.

Two wisps of white mist flew out of the gourd and entered the two people's bodies.

The two unconscious individuals suddenly began to convulse violently.

Bai Miaojin turned to look at Chengyi and tilted her head in greeting.

Cheng Yi looked at the two of them with a serious expression, then took out the Heartless Bell and shook it violently.

With a chime of a bell, two plumes of white smoke, noticeably larger than before, shot out.

Bai Miaojin immediately shook the yellow gourd and collected the two puffs of white smoke into it.

A thought struck Cheng Yi, and he suddenly asked, "Is there any ordinary person who can withstand the Heartless Bell?"

"No." Bai Miaojin gently shook her head.

Cheng Yi's brows furrowed slightly.

Was it really a mistake on my part back then?

"I'm leaving," Cheng Yi said sincerely.

“There’s one more person,” Bai Miaojin said, turning her head.

"You want to renege?!" Cheng Yi held the Heartless Bell and stared coldly at Bai Miaojin.

Bai Miaojin looked calmly at Cheng Yi: "Are you sure you want to fight me?"

……

In the underground space.

Chen Mu remained expressionless, silently activating his Spirit Armor Technique, hoping to reduce the binding force around his body.

Seeing Cui Cui constantly scrutinizing him, Chen Mu couldn't help but feel a jolt in his heart.

He immediately looked back calmly and asked, "Why did you choose to coexist with a ghost?"

Cui Cui continued swinging her legs, smiling as she asked, "Have you ever heard the story of the water monster in folk tales?"

"To break free from constraints, you need a substitute."

Cui Cui shrugged, looked up at the black ball of threads behind her, and a rare look of gloom appeared on her usually cheerful and charming face: "I've been here for too long."

Chen Mu couldn't help but look at the clump of dark silk.

A faint black and red light shone through the tiny gap.

Upon closer inspection, Chen Mu saw a black and red smoke cloud about the size of a basketball, expanding and contracting within it, beating incessantly like a heart.

That's Cui Cui's true form?!

He's trapped here by the Yinming Silk and the Four Directions Altar?!
"Wasn't this part of your original plan?" Chen Mu asked, squinting.

Cui Cui smiled and said, "Meeting you was a completely unexpected joy."

"I need someone of the same caliber."

"Ordinary cuties don't have that potential."

“Although I have specially bred it, it is still domesticated and has more potential than your wild one,” Cui Cui said with a smile.

"What if we can't extract the symbiotic spirit from my body?" Chen Mu asked tentatively.

He really didn't!
"That's impossible. The Heartless Bell is most adept at captivating souls and spirits, especially effective against vengeful spirits. It won't make a mistake." Cui Cui didn't care at all.

A heartless bell?!

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat.

A long-forgotten memory suddenly surfaced in my mind.

"Without understanding the profound mystery of the universe, how can one know that lotuses can be planted in fire? Bring the white tiger home to raise it, and it will produce a bright pearl as round as the moon..."

Qingfeng Temple, Ancestral Master Hall!
That's it!

"However, it seems that their initial sincerity involved secretly using the 'Heartless Bell' on me. And then..."

"what!"

At that moment, two figures suddenly jumped in from the top opening.

"Is it him?" Cheng Yi asked, his face grim.

Looking at the sincerity of the man dressed as a Taoist priest, holding a familiar copper bell in his hand.

Chen Mu couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile.

Hey!
Isn’t this a coincidence?!
(End of this chapter)