102. The Underground Seal

"Take the young man who just went in, for instance. He looks younger than you, but he is one of Mr. Qian’s honored guests. Last time, I saw Mr. Qian personally escort him out, and he even had his secretary drive him away.

"Not only that, but yesterday when Mr. Qian’s son was leaving, he made a point of coming over to greet me and said that Villa Number One had been given to someone else. He even showed me a photo of the man in question, and it was the same young man just now." The older guard spoke at an unhurried pace.

"What? The Qian family even gave away Villa Number One? That’s the finest villa in the whole estate, worth twenty or thirty million! Brother Zhou, do you think that kid might be Mr. Qian’s illegitimate son? Otherwise why would the Qian family give him a villa?" Xiao Liu asked curiously.

"I advise you to keep your gossip to yourself, or you won’t last long here," Old Zhou said, glowering at him with a cold snort.

Chen Fengyun went straight to the front gate of Villa Number One, entered the password Qian Qingping had told him, changed it at once, and stepped inside.

It was called a villa, but in truth it was more like a small estate. Beyond the building itself there was a lawn several hundred square meters in size in front, and a courtyard of two or three hundred square meters in the back.

The villa had three stories and a Western-style design. On the side of the ground floor stood a small swimming pool, and on the other side there were all sorts of leisure facilities, including a billiard table, a ping-pong table, and exercise equipment.

"Let me see where that hidden underground spirit vein is." Last time, Chen Fengyun had been in a hurry. He had only sensed that there was a faint concealed spirit vein beneath the villa, but he had not searched carefully enough to determine its exact location.

He spread out his divine sense, enveloping the entire villa estate, and then slowly sank his perception into the earth. After about ten minutes of careful searching, he discovered the spirit vein’s location in a corner of the back garden.

That corner held only a few flowers and plants. Chen Fengyun summoned his flying sword and controlled it to plunge instantly into the ground. Spinning like a drill bit, the sword bored downward.

A muffled boom suddenly echoed from below. The flying sword trembled as though it had struck some kind of obstruction, and the ground beneath his feet quivered twice.

"A formation? There’s actually a formation barrier underground. Could something be hidden down there?" Chen Fengyun was stunned. A sweep of his divine sense revealed that some kind of restriction was blocking his perception.

His spirits rose at once. Perhaps there was a cave dwelling or tomb left behind by an ancient cultivator hidden within that barrier. If so, there might be cultivation manuals and resources he needed.

However, as his divine sense followed the edge of the restriction and continued its search, he discovered that the barrier covered a vast area, and the part near Villa Number One was only its outer edge. Because there were cracks in the barrier, traces of spiritual energy were leaking out. That was how Chen Fengyun had noticed something unusual.

He kept searching around the perimeter of the restriction with his divine sense and eventually found that the center of the whole formation lay several miles away by Huanhua Creek, beneath a river bend formed where the currents converged.

"Since it’s daytime, it wouldn’t be wise to make too much of a commotion. I’ll go and investigate this underground restriction tonight and see what’s really inside," Chen Fengyun thought to himself.

He withdrew the flying sword, restored the little hole it had drilled in the earth, and then set up the spirit-gathering formation flags in the back garden to collect the faint spiritual energy leaking up from below. To his surprise, it was barely enough for cultivation.

Chen Fengyun cultivated in the back garden for most of the day. Since both of his parents ate lunch at work, he did not go home until a little after five in the afternoon. Even so, those hours of cultivation increased the amount of spiritual energy in his dantian somewhat.

Though the gain was slight, this was Chen Fengyun’s first true session of cultivation, and he could not help but sigh that cultivation was simply too slow. It was nowhere near as fast as upgrading with attribute points.

Still, that half day of cultivation calmed his mind considerably. In the past, because his cultivation had risen too quickly, he had inevitably become somewhat restless. But after spending so long in meditation, his temperament had improved a little.

"Even in ancient times, when the world was rich in spiritual energy, cultivation was never easy. Among ten thousand people, it is already difficult enough for one to have the talent for cultivation, let alone become a great expert."

By the time his parents returned home, Chen Fengyun had already finished preparing dinner. After eating with them, he used the excuse that some classmates had asked him to hang out and that he might be back a little late, then headed toward Huanhua Creek.

The streets in summer were bustling with activity, crowded with people. Many pretty girls wore light, revealing clothes, becoming a major sight along the road and leaving certain lonely men staring in a daze while secretly drooling.

Chen Fengyun walked through the crowd at an unhurried pace, yet each step carried him several meters forward. The people around him never noticed him at all, as though he did not exist.

As he walked, he occasionally glanced at the scenery along the street. Ordinary girls simply could not catch his eye. Only when he happened upon a rare beauty would he spare her a second look.

Of course, if Chen Fengyun had wanted to, with his absurdly powerful divine sense he could have seen right through those girls’ clothes and made them appear naked before him. He was not that twisted, though, and he had no such perverse interest.

Huanhua Creek had been famous since the Tang Dynasty, because the great poet Du Fu, known as the Sage of Poetry, had once lived beside it and written many poems about it, giving the place considerable renown.

The river bend Chen Fengyun was looking for lay in a somewhat secluded corner. Nearby were scenic spots such as Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage, but by night the area grew rather quiet, and he saw few pedestrians around.

Half an hour later, Chen Fengyun reached the spot where he had found the center of the restriction during the day. Around the river bend stood towering ancient trees and dense climbing vines.

He formed a protective barrier around his body, then leaped into the bend of Huanhua Creek, sending up a faint spray before heading down toward the depths of the river.

The deepest part of this bend was actually five or six meters deep, forming a giant hollow. When Chen Fengyun reached the riverbed, he clearly sensed the presence of the restriction.

"Whatever kind of barrier it is, it must be operated by a formation and maintained by drawing on the surrounding spiritual energy or some other power. If I can absorb some of the restriction’s energy, then its force will weaken, and with my own mastery of formations, I should be able to get inside."

Chen Fengyun had no intention of draining the entire restriction dry, because he did not know what lay within it. If the barrier were to collapse and cause serious consequences, that would be the last thing he wanted. So he planned to weaken its power first, then enter the formation and see what was going on inside.