My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 284 Underground
One day, two weeks later.

The basement of the wooden house.

Chen Mu stood at the end of the tunnel, and a dark crack about half a person's height appeared before him.

A refreshing breeze swept over me, and I could faintly hear the sound of flowing water.

Chen Mu asked in surprise, "Could this crevice be connected to an underground river?"

Chen Mu was overjoyed: "If we can find a way along the underground river, then we won't have to go through the trouble of digging a tunnel."

Despite having this idea, he didn't rush to drill down.

The earth's spiritual energy has nurtured all sorts of strange and exotic beasts and monsters; who knows what kind of eerie beast might be lurking beneath?

Chen Mu immediately dug a large rock from the nearby rock and blocked the entrance to the cave.

"Since we've already dug this far, there's no rush. We can slowly explore forward using the Five Ghosts and Yin Spirits."

……

Five more days passed, and Chen Mu slowly widened the crack, digging down little by little until he finally arrived at a pitch-black space.

The splashing sound of water grew louder and louder.

Chen Mu activated the Qi Restriction for a hundred miles, and a fluorescent algae lamp the size of a human head slowly floated up.

A bright white light illuminated this underground cave that had existed for who knows how many years.

The cave is long and narrow, generally oriented north-south. Its area is roughly the size of two basketball courts, and the cave ceiling is about two or three stories high.

Strange stalactites are scattered around, and below them is a stream more than two meters wide.

The water flow originates from a crack in the rock at the top of the north side, then disappears into a crevice in the rock about one person's height below the south side.

"By widening the gaps in the rocks by following the water flow, a tunnel can be dug out very quickly."

Chen Mu made up his mind that if Leng Yuechan really came for revenge and a great battle broke out, he would simply burrow underground.

The sense of crisis that Leng Yuechan had previously brought dissipated almost entirely.

……

As the days and months pass, the weather grows increasingly cold.

According to the Liang calendar, it is already January.

Overnight, the entire Pengyue Mountain was suddenly covered in heavy snow.

A cold wind was blowing outside, but Chen Mu's wooden house was warm and cozy.

A stone stove was placed under the east-facing window, with wisps of firelight flickering through the gaps in the stove lid.

Beside the stove, Shang Huan looked around.

The exceptionally thick cylindrical stone chimney, the two transparent pipes leading to the floor below, and the gurgling sound of boiling water coming from the chimney all piqued Shang Huan's curiosity.

He stepped on the warm floor again and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "You have this skill too?"

"How about I get one too? I'll give you white jade money!" Shang Huan said arrogantly.

"I'm busy." Chen Mu didn't even glance at Shang Huan, focusing instead on preparing the dishes at the kitchen table by the stove.

"You're asking about the Cold Moon Pool Dojo because you want to go there, aren't you?"

"As long as you make me one set, I'll take you there, and I guarantee you won't lose out!" Shang Huan said confidently.

Suffer?

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat: "Is there some intricacies involved?"

He really wanted to go to the dojo. He wanted to lay the groundwork for revealing his cultivation level and wanted to find out beforehand.

"Of course there's a difference!" Shang Huan said smugly.

"The Pengyue Mountain Taoist Temple is located on Shuanggu Mountain on both sides of Lengyue Pool. It consists of layers of caves carved into the cliff face."

"The closer a level is to Cold Moon Pool, the denser its spiritual energy will be."

“The amount of spiritual energy in the same cave varies. Even within the same cave, it can change at different times of day.”

“With these differences, some people can make a profit,” Shang Huan chuckled.

"I can help you find the most vibrant training ground for the same amount of money."

"Make me a set, you won't lose out, will you?"

Chen Mu's eyes darted around, glancing at Shang Huan, before he said calmly, "No time."

"Hey!" Shang Huan looked puzzled.

He immediately turned and glared at Old Hao, who was smiling and smoking by the stove. "It's just what you think," Old Hao shrugged.

"Xiao Mu just made me a set yesterday." He exhaled a puff of white smoke contentedly. "As for the conditions, you should know."

"You old geezer! You ruined my plans!"

……

The Buddhist Academy.

The entrance to the Library Cave.

Outside, snow was falling heavily, but inside, it was as warm as spring all year round.

As usual, Fu Zi sat behind the counter with droopy eyelids, looking at the jade slip.

A round-faced middle-aged man in his forties stood in front of the counter and whispered, "Supervisor Song returned yesterday, and it is said that he still came up empty-handed."

“The Cold Moon Toad is good at invisibility and can also burrow underground, so it’s not so easy to find.” Fu Zi said dismissively.

“I had someone distract Liang Shaojian and sent the cook to deliver meals to Supervisor Song in Liang Shaojian’s place.”

"According to the cook, she seemed to see a lump under the skin of Supervisor Song's neck, a lump that looked like a worm crawling on it."

"But when she looked at it more closely, it was gone again, and she wasn't sure if she was seeing things."

Upon hearing this, Fu Zi looked up, thought for a moment, and said, "It's probably true."

"The 'moor worm' is an ancient, exotic insect, and it's not so easy to control."

"I suspect that Song Wuji's cultivation had already run into problems back in the Tongtian River Lower Temple."

"Otherwise, he wouldn't have lost to Yang Huan of Chongshan Dao so quickly."

Fu Zi narrowed his eyes: "We have to help Supervisor Song find that Cold Moon Toad."

"Does the Imperial Academy intend to make them both suffer heavy losses, or even perish together?!" The round-faced middle-aged man's eyes lit up.

“But the Cold Moon Toad is hard to find,” the middle-aged man frowned.

Fu Zi couldn't help but smile: "After serving as the head of the Scripture Transmission Academy for decades, he's still somewhat useful."

"Once I refine a batch of demon-summoning incense and combine it with the spiritual energy of Cold Moon Pool, I won't have to worry about the Cold Moon Toad not coming."

"Congratulations, Chief Abbot!" the round-faced middle-aged man flattered with a smile. "The position of Supervisor of the Lower Academy of Moon-Holding Mountain is undoubtedly rightfully yours, Chief Abbot Fu."

Fu Zi smiled and waved to send the round-faced middle-aged man away, then sat alone behind the counter watching the snow.

"The abbot? Useless thing."

"What I want is Cold Moon Pool!" Fu Zi clenched his fist.

"As long as I absorb the Yin-Yang mixed earth spirit energy from Cold Moon Pool, I will definitely be able to condense my apertures to perfection and smoothly enter the Yin-Yang Refinement stage!"

“It’s a pity that Cold Moon Pool is too small, only enough for one person to cultivate.” Fu Zi resumed his expressionless expression: “Then we can only ask Brother Wuji to die.”

……

clang!
A sound like the ringing of a bronze bell suddenly rang out in a huge underground cavern.

Chen Mu sat cross-legged on the Five Ghosts Black Cloud, floating in mid-air, staring at the calm water below.

Not long after, a series of splashing sounds followed.

All sorts of strange and wonderful underwater creatures floated up from the boundless underwater lake.

"There really are fish?!"

Half a month has passed since the first underground cave was discovered.

Chen Mu followed the water flow, digging a hole in the crevices of the rocks, and finally found this huge underground lake.

This place is fifty or sixty miles away from Pengyue Mountain, which is beyond the distance of the previous land reclamation.

"As long as you find a rock crevice that resembles the way you came, you can quickly break through the exit by drilling against the current."

"With this, the underground escape tunnel is now truly complete!" Chen Mu breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Catch fish! Catch fish!" He stared at the increasing number of underwater creatures turning their bellies up, his face beaming with joy.

The fifth-tier cooking skill he acquired using the "Mythical Beast Unraveling Techniques" allows him to easily find edible fish and mythical beasts.

Anything that was unpalatable or unfamiliar was fed to the Five Ghosts Bag.

"We're not worried even if prices are high."

"This entire underground lake is teeming with aquatic life, all waiting for me. Haha..."

(End of this chapter)