My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 465 Carrying the Mountain
At the foot of a small hill on the edge of a range of mountains.

Watching Bai Qing and more than a dozen auxiliary soldiers disappear into the mountains, Chen Mu withdrew his gaze.

In the past two days, he has already sent out five or six search teams like Bai Qing's.

They don't need to find the person; finding some clues is enough. The actual tracking will be handled by him and Shen Yan.

However, the staff has only been deployed for two days, and there has been no response yet.

Coming to his senses, Chen Mu vanished into the breeze and in the blink of an eye arrived at the top of the small hill, where a square, box-like mud-sculpted bungalow appeared before him.

Shi Dechun was leading several people to clear weeds and move stones, repairing and leveling the open space in front of the house.

Chen Mu didn't plan to wander around. He chose this small hill as a temporary base, and the box-shaped bungalow was his observation post.

The sudden collapse of the Hai-character camp has left him somewhat bewildered, completely unaware of what exactly happened.

He learned his lesson and decided to have Old Man Shi lead a few sharp-eared and sharp-eyed auxiliary soldiers to stay here permanently, not to gather much useful information, but just to make sure they didn't miss any major changes.

Chen Mu then turned to look at the mountainside.

Hundreds of the Yin spirits of the Yuan Cultivation Tribe were cutting down trees and digging soil there. They had cleared a space nearby, and neatly stacked logs with branches removed were piled up into small hills. Clay sculptures about half a person's height were also neatly arranged.

With three thousand Yin spirits, there were too many for Chen Mu to build houses for them.

Fortunately, many of them were auxiliary soldiers from the Ministry of Works, skilled in constructing various barracks buildings. There was also a bricklayer who was said to be proficient in building wooden buildings, and he came in handy this time as well.

The pile of wood and earth on the open ground was the material they had prepared. As long as Chen Mu opened the gates and swallowed up Thousand Lantern City, these auxiliary soldiers would build their own barracks.

Let them be as relaxed as they want.

Besides, with so many people gathered together, they need to do something to divert attention. If they're too idle, they might cause trouble.

……

Inside a mountain stream that resembles a narrow slit in the sky.

The dark rocky cliffs on both sides were riddled with countless deep holes. Inside one of the rock caves, which was about the size of two bedrooms, white lanterns adorned the surrounding walls, illuminating the dark cave.

Deep inside the cave was a large stone chair, where Hu Cheng, the commander of the Yin Feng Division of the Auxiliary Army, dressed in gray clothes, sat.

His hair was half-gray, and he was short and thin. At that moment, he was carefully checking and calculating a booklet recording supplies. He looked more like an accountant than a general.

At this moment, Lu Jiuxing, the general of the Medicine and Stone Department, dressed in a black outfit with silver threads, rushed in excitedly.

"Great news, fantastic news! I sensed the aura of the gates of hell. Although it was only fleeting, I was able to roughly pinpoint the direction."

He had dealt with the Underworld for many years and was extremely familiar with the energy of the Gates of Hell, so he could detect its energy immediately.

"And then?" Hu Cheng asked casually without looking up.

"Of course we should go find it! Once we find it, we can return to the main camp!" Lu Jiu said, looking completely bewildered.

"The military supervisor has vanished without a trace, 100,000 ghost soldiers have disappeared abruptly, and the commander-in-chief, Lan Zhang, is also missing. Haven't you ever wondered why?" Hu Cheng turned the pages of his book without even glancing at Lu Jiu.

"Wasn't it a water ape that attacked?" Lu Jiu was a little confused.

"You believe it?" Hu Cheng lowered his head, rolled his eyes, and glanced sideways at Lu Jiu.

"I believe you," Lu Jiu said matter-of-factly.

Hu Cheng: "..."

Forget it, there's no point in arguing with a complete idiot. If this guy weren't an idiot, I wouldn't have brought all these people from the Medicine and Stone Department with me.

“If you can sense the Gates of Hell, I have the Yin Wind Flag in hand, so naturally I can also sense the Soul-Summoning Banner,” Hu Cheng said calmly.

"But don't you think about whether there's any danger there?"

"If even General Lan and Supervisor Shen can't stand up to us, how can we possibly do so?"

"To retrieve the Soul-Summoning Banner and the Gate of Hell, one must first possess sufficient power," Hu Cheng sneered.

Lu Jiu grinned and scratched his head: "Then what do we do?"

"Take a look at this scroll of scripture first." Hu Cheng handed over a brownish-yellow animal skin scroll.

"The Classic of the Mountain-Bearing Mountains?"

"Indeed, a method to regulate Qi and gather Yin spiritual power."

“I’ve checked its origins, and it’s probably the work of General Lan Zhang.” “Our General Lan is exceptionally talented and intelligent, a rare find in a century. He’s only been in charge of the Soul-Summoning Banner for a few years, yet he has already grasped its mysteries.” Hu Cheng said with emotion.

"This scripture borrows from the way the soul-summoning banner operates, using people as mountains instead of the soul banner, and gathering the strength of the masses to carry the mountain, which is quite mysterious."

"With it, we can fight and run, and only in this way can we remain invincible." Hu Cheng pointed to the animal skin scroll, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his thin and gloomy face.

……

Thousand Lights City, in the small courtyard.

All morning, Chen Mu was scooping up the Weak Water and nurturing the perfect prototype of its expression.

Around noon, as the power of a thousand Yin spirits gradually dissipated, Chen Mu had no choice but to stop practicing the Calming Heart Sutra.

Chen Mu waved for Hong Xiu to lead everyone down to rest, glanced with satisfaction at the gleaming divine embryo, lay down in the rocking chair, and asked Shen Yan about the path back to the Underworld.

As Shen Yan shook the mud off his trousers after loosening the soil in the vegetable garden, he calmly said, "The best method is naturally to recruit many Yin spirits and use the Jade Gate Incantation to jointly refine the Ghost Gate. As long as the refinement is deep enough, we can summon them back from afar."

"With the Gates of Hell, it might be difficult for us to return to the Underworld, but we can easily return to the main camp in Jigu City," Shen Yan said calmly.

Chen Mu nodded slightly: "Anything else?"

"The next thing is to go to the Yin Wind Department and find a way to tell Hu Cheng about the Jade Gate Curse."

"This way, we can also summon the Gates of Hell and return smoothly to the main camp or the underworld." Shen Yan shrugged, not hiding anything.

“But we can’t find the Yin Wind Tribe now. Even if we do find them, how do you plan to deliver the Jade Gate Curse? Will you let me out of Thousand Lantern City?” Shen Yan glanced at Chen Mu.

Chen Mu pulled up the corners of his mouth, revealing a polite smile.

Shen Yan rolled his eyes, with an expression that said, "I knew it would happen this way."

"The Jade Gate Incantation is the core ritual of the Ghost Gate Pass. In the entire Hai-character camp, only I know the detailed incantation."

“Hu Cheng is timid and cautious. He would probably not dare to touch anyone unless he thoroughly investigated that person’s background.”

Chen Mu seemed thoughtful, then continued, "What if neither of those options works?"

"Then the only option is to capture a large number of demons and monsters to sacrifice to the Netherworld, and use the power of the River of Oblivion to artificially activate the Yellow Springs Crossing to cross the void and return to the Netherworld."

"But without the protection and positioning of the Gate of Hell, the relocation process is extremely dangerous, and the landing point in the underworld is uncertain. It is not impossible for them to fall directly into the depths of the River of Oblivion."

"That does sound dangerous," Chen Mu said gravely.

Afraid of danger?
Then hurry up and find someone, and then intensify your practice of the Jade Gate Mantra!
Shen Yan remained calm, but a surge of joy welled up inside him.

As long as I can lure the Gate of Hell here, with my years of experience in cultivating the Gate of Hell, if this little bastard in front of me makes the slightest mistake, I will have the opportunity to use the Gate of Hell to teleport through the void and completely escape his control!
Moreover, Lan Zhang is no longer a pure evil spirit, and the Soul-Summoning Banner has probably escaped his control. Now, the Gate of Hell and the Soul-Summoning Banner are mutually restrained and locked together, so summoning back the Gate of Hell will simultaneously summon back the Soul-Summoning Banner.

Lan Zhang's rebellion was partly due to my negligence in supervision. But as long as I bring back these two ghost artifacts to the city lord, I will be blameless!

“So…” Chen Mu looked at Shen Yan with a questioning expression.

"So you need to find more Yin spirits and at the same time cultivate the Jade Gate Mantra to prepare for the deep refining of the Ghost Gate Pass." Shen Yan tried hard to suppress his eagerness and spoke calmly.

"That makes sense." Chen Mu nodded in agreement.

Then he got up and called on the more than a thousand spirits who had gathered outside the courtyard to chant the Three Paths Mantra at the same time.

He then plopped down in the rocking chair, and as he chanted, the Mind-Peace Sutra slowly began to circulate.

Shen Yan's face twitched.

Are you even listening to me?
I'm telling you to practice the Jade Gate Mantra!
What's the point of you practicing the Pingxin Sutra?
That thing takes time and patience; what good will practicing it for a day or two do?!
Shen Yan was furious inside, but to prevent his ulterior motives from being exposed, he had to keep a calm expression on his face, which made his chest ache.

Chen Mu had already closed his eyes and was concentrating on guiding the Weak Water, so he was unaware of Shen Yan's inner turmoil.

He did think Shen Yan made a good point.

But I just couldn't resist how fun the Pingxin Sutra was!
The more than three thousand Yin spirits are gaining accelerated powers, and the completeness of the divine embryo is visibly increasing.

The embryonic form of the divine fetus shone brightly every day, just like a guiding light.

The sheer increase in his personal spiritual power was so overwhelming that he couldn't resist it.

The Jade Gate Curse?
A little spell...

Just practice whenever you have free time.

(End of this chapter)