Chapter 30: The Miniature Grotto-Heaven

Because, within his divine sense, he could clearly perceive a fist-sized stone wedged between two large rocks, yet his eyes saw nothing—between those two boulders, there was only empty space.

If not for Chen Fengyun’s spiritual perception, if he hadn’t been scanning this place with his mind, no one would have noticed that there was a stone there at all; it was as if it didn’t exist.

“How odd—this stone can actually turn invisible. What on earth is it?” Chen Fengyun was not only astonished but also increasingly curious. With such a peculiar stone, he simply couldn’t believe there was nothing special about it.

“There really is something strange—my hand can’t even touch it.” Indeed, when Chen Fengyun reached out to feel the stone, his hand passed right through where his mind sensed the stone to be, touching nothing at all.

“This must be something extraordinary.” Instantly, Chen Fengyun locked onto the stone with his spiritual sense, then channeled spiritual energy into his hand. This time, when he reached out, he felt a fist-sized stone beneath his fingers, and at that moment, his cultivation system began to shake violently.

“Absorbing special energy.” Chen Fengyun was secretly pleased. Since he could touch it, he should be able to draw out its unique energy. Perhaps, when that energy was gone, the stone would become visible.

Sure enough, before long, his cultivation system had absorbed the special energy from the stone, awarding him ten attribute points, and a gray stone appeared before his eyes.

The stone itself seemed unremarkable, yet even after Chen Fengyun had drawn out its special energy, his spiritual scan revealed that it was still radiating a dazzling light from within—evidence that something valuable remained inside.

“No one can know there’s something valuable hidden inside, so I can’t take it to the cutting yard.” Glancing around, Chen Fengyun quietly summoned his flying sword and shaved the outer layer of the stone into fragments, leaving only a piece slightly smaller than an egg, which he slipped into his pocket.

He then left the stone yard and entered a nearby restroom, where he carefully sliced open the last layer of stone shell. Inside, he discovered a pearl-sized gray orb, which did not emit any radiance.

“Unripe miniature cave-heaven detected. It can be refined and cultivated into a small cave-heaven.” At that moment, his cultivation system transmitted a message, informing Chen Fengyun that the gray orb in his hand was, in fact, an immature miniature cave-heaven.

A blessed land—a cave-heaven. Chen Fengyun had read about these in many cultivation novels, and they also appeared in ancient Chinese legends as abodes of immortals. He had never expected to encounter one in real life.

“I never imagined I would find a miniature cave-heaven. No wonder it could turn invisible and contain so much special energy. So, it’s actually a spatial treasure.” Strictly speaking, however, a miniature cave-heaven was not truly a magical artifact, but a natural pocket of space. Yet its uses far surpassed ordinary storage treasures, for within a cave-heaven one could cultivate spiritual plants, even raise spirit beasts, and in larger ones, sects could be established for cultivators to practice within.

Nonetheless, Chen Fengyun did not immediately refine the miniature cave-heaven, uncertain whether the process might cause some unusual phenomenon and attract unwanted attention.

Just as Chen Fengyun emerged from the restroom, he caught sight of an elderly man with a goatee nearby, accompanied by the burly man who had earlier led the confrontation outside the shop with Geng Chunming and Xu Dalin.

Sweeping his spiritual sense over them, Chen Fengyun realized the goateed man’s aura was familiar—he was one of the two tomb raiders whom he had previously encountered in the small town beneath Mount Qingcheng.

At that time, Chen Fengyun had tailed the man known as Eighth Master, eventually obtaining a flying sword and spirit stones from him, as well as the location of an ancient tomb they had robbed—thus leading Chen Fengyun to Yuanhua Zhenren’s abode and considerable fortune.

“That Eighth Master was quite skilled, and this man, being his associate, must also be a tomb raider and no doubt equally formidable. But why is he here—has he come to gamble on jade too? And he’s with Han Ye’s men. Could Han Ye be a tomb raider as well?” Suspicion crept into Chen Fengyun’s mind.

He pretended to select three stones in the yard, but upon returning to the cutting area, discovered that Zeng Yiyue and her two companions were nowhere to be seen, causing his brow to furrow.

Though he’d spent some time searching for the miniature cave-heaven, it had only been a little more than ten minutes. By all rights, Zeng Yiyue and the others should still have been there—why had they vanished?

“Something’s wrong—something must have happened.” Chen Fengyun quickly noticed the three stones Zeng Yiyue had chosen were still nearby, as were the two picked by Geng Chunming and Xu Dalin. A sense of unease settled over him.

Instead of calling Zeng Yiyue directly, he withdrew to the back of the crowd and swept the entire antique park with his spiritual sense. Sure enough, he located the three women in a nearby building—they had been locked up.

“So it’s Han Ye’s men. But what’s the point of locking up Zeng Yiyue and her friends? Could this be revenge for what happened earlier?” Recognizing the burly man from the confrontation outside the jade shop as one of their guards, Chen Fengyun understood who was responsible, though he couldn’t fathom their motive.

Moments later, not far from where the three women were held, Chen Fengyun’s senses detected something unusual beneath a nearby building: an enormous underground chamber, at the center of which stood a fighting ring. Two men were locked in fierce combat upon it.

“So, there’s an underground boxing ring beneath this antique park—and tonight, taking advantage of the influx of wealthy guests drawn by the jade-gambling event, they’re holding matches.” Chen Fengyun mused.

“Wait, something’s off. If this were just an underground boxing match, there’d be far more spectators.” He soon realized that there were only about twenty-odd people watching the fight.

These spectators were divided into two groups. On one side was Zhao Jianguo, accompanied by seven or eight others, including a tall Russian and a short, stocky Asian man of unknown nationality.

On the other side of the ring stood a group of more than ten, led by a middle-aged man of around forty, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and puffing on a pipe, with the goateed elder at his side.

Chen Fengyun noted that Zhao Jianguo’s expression was tense, though he maintained his composure. Occasionally, however, when his gaze swept to the bespectacled man across from him, a chill flickered in his eyes.

“No matter. I should focus on rescuing Zeng Yiyue and her friends and getting them out of here.” Chen Fengyun had no intention of getting involved in Zhao Jianguo’s conflict; his only concern was to secure the women’s safety and leave.

Yet, just as Chen Fengyun reached the building, he saw Zeng Yiyue and her companions being escorted out by several burly men, who led them into an elevator and down to the underground level.