58: Immortal Bones, Thousand-Handed Centipede.

That old handyman, Yao Yan, very humbly led Li Yan.

"Senior Brother, please follow me."

"This lowly one will light the way for you."

The old handyman clearly understood the vast difference in status between him and Li Yan.

They were handymen captured by Quiet Void Taoist, destined to work their entire lives in this sunless Gu Cavern.

Li Yan was an Inner Sect Disciple, and at a young age, he possessed a Cultivation that even Yao Yan couldn't discern; he was truly a favored son of heaven.

When he was young, Yao Yan also didn't believe in fate, thinking he could surely carve out a path for himself.

But now, he had grown accustomed to striking the rock walls day after day in this dim underground, excavating things from beneath the earth.

When a person reaches a certain age, they should accept their fate.

He acted extremely humble in front of Li Yan, clearly understanding that there was a natural chasm of strength between him and an Inner Sect Disciple.

In contrast, there was the young handyman, Yao Chen, who was born in the cave.

He carried an iron pickaxe and followed behind Li Yan, curiously asking, "Senior Brother Li Yan, you look so young, like you're not much older than me."

Seeing this young child's lack of manners, Yao Yan reprimanded him, "Impudent! When speaking to a Senior Brother, you must be respectful!"

"I..." Yao Chen hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping. He was born in the Gu Cavern and knew nothing of the outside world, lacking the smooth demeanor of the old handyman.

Though Li Yan still maintained his aloofness, he waved his hand, "It's fine. It's normal for young people to be curious about the outside world."

Mainly, he wanted to extract more secrets of the underground from these people.

He could also learn more from their fragmented words.

Seeing Li Yan say this, the young handyman Yao Chen excitedly asked, "Senior Brother Li Yan, are the houses outside all made of wood? And with tiles?"

"Does the world above the cave also have day and night? Can the Golden Crow's daily rotation illuminate the earth? Are these all true?"

Clearly, the young man who had lived his entire life in the underground cave could only imagine the outside world.

Humans cannot conceive of things they have never seen; never having witnessed the rising sun, he could only imagine the world above ground.

Li Yan merely replied indifferently, "Yes, these are all true."

Even just receiving this answer from Li Yan, the young Yao Chen was incredibly excited.

"It seems Uncle Yan really didn't lie to me! The world above ground is really like that!"

The old handyman Yao Yan was torn between laughter and tears, "You brat, you never believe what I say."

Li Yan, meanwhile, was thinking about how to find out from them what Quiet Void Taoist was making them dig for.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Yan casually asked, "Speaking of which, how is the recent excavation progress?"

As soon as he heard Li Yan asking about their work, Yao Yan immediately answered cautiously.

"Reporting, Senior Brother, these Immortal bones are getting harder and harder to find. Sometimes we spend several months just to find a few fragments of a Cultivator's bones."

"It's not that we're lazy; these Immortal bones are truly difficult to dig."

Listening to the old handyman Yao Yan's explanation, Li Yan raised his sleeve, "Grandmaster doesn't want to hear your explanations. He only wants results, not the process."

At these words, the old handyman Yao Yan sighed inwardly—that's more like it!

Quiet Void Taoist's attitude towards them had always been like this.

Before, he had been a little suspicious of Li Yan's identity, as Quiet Void Taoist had never allowed outsiders to come down.

Li Yan's cold, arrogant demeanor was fitting for his identity.

As for Li Yan's inner thoughts, he was pondering.

The old ghost Quiet Void was having them dig up the corpses of ancient Immortals in the Gu Cavern?

But this was also normal.

Current Cultivators couldn't even compare to a single strand of hair from an ancient Immortal.

Many things had to be obtained through grave robbing and excavation, dug out from ancient tombs or battlefields.

For example, this Storage Ring; current Cultivators couldn't even forge a Storage Ring.

The Storage Rings on Li Yan's hand, and those worn by Quiet Void Taoist and other Cultivators, were all antiques dug out from some coffin or ruin.

The few Storage Rings he wore himself had changed hands countless times.

It wasn't hard to see that current Cultivators, to obtain High Grade Magic Treasure and Cultivation Technique, the best way was grave robbing and excavation, especially those ancient battlefields, such as Broken Sword Valley.

Li Yan looked at the surrounding stone walls, his eyes narrowing, muttering inwardly.

"Quiet Void Taoist has gone to such great lengths, excavating here for over a hundred years."

"This place is either the tomb of an ancient Immortal or an ancient battlefield..."

"And since they can dig out fragmented Cultivator bones from the stone walls, then this place is more likely the remains of an ancient battlefield."

If it was an ancient battlefield, then he would gain a lot.

Things left behind by ancient Immortals were treasures wherever they were placed.

During ancient times, Spiritual Qi was abundant, and many Magic Treasure were forged at that time.

However, in the current era, Spiritual Qi is scarce, and many ancient forging techniques for Magic Treasure have long been lost.

To describe this situation, it felt to Li Yan like...

It was like people in the Qing Dynasty digging up cannons forged by the Ming Dynasty two hundred years prior to use against foreigners, a magical and absurdly true story.

While he was thinking, as the group rounded a corner, Li Yan saw a village appear ahead.

At the entrance of the village, a small stone wall had been built, and the stone wall was covered with Talismanic Incantations to ward off evil spirits.

Gu Ku Village had carved out a large hole in the underground, appearing easy to defend and difficult to attack.

At this moment, two village guardians holding lanterns stood on the stone wall. Seeing that the approaching person was Yao Yan, they opened the stone gate.

Entering the village, the construction within the village also had distinct underground cave characteristics, with holes carved into the stone walls, and within these holes, a three-room, one-living-room layout was carved out.

The stone walls in the village were embedded with glowing crystals, serving as illumination.

Although this was deep underground, the omnipresent glowing crystals decorated the place like a paradise.

"Old Yan, who is this young man?"

"A new laborer?"

As a few people joked, Yao Yan reprimanded them, "Impudent!"

"This is Senior Brother Li Yan, an Inner Sect Disciple of Jingxu Sect."

Hearing Li Yan's identity, and seeing him wearing the Jingxu Sect Daoist robe with a waist token hanging from his waist, these village guardians were so frightened that they immediately knelt down, "We were blind, please forgive us, Senior Brother Li Yan!"

Li Yan's expression was calm, radiating an Aura of authority without anger.

"Ignorance is no sin."

Yao Yan politely gestured inside, "Senior Brother, those items are in the village chief's house, please!"

"Mm."

Just as Li Yan was about to step into the village to retrieve the treasures they had dug up, the voice of Corpse Puppet Su Mo echoed in his mind.

"Master, there's a situation."

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Li Yan always kept Su Mo on the periphery, hidden in the shadows.

Corpse Puppet Su Mo existed between life and death; her Aura could not be detected by anyone, making her an excellent assassin.

Su Mo continued to report to Li Yan, her emotionless, soft, and sweet voice resonating in his mind.

"Outside the village entrance, there's a Thousand-Hand Centipede."