Chapter 93
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Chapter 93: Title
The sewer featured raised pathways on both sides with a slightly depressed central channel where wastewater flowed.
Zhang Ye stood on the embankment, enduring the sewer’s odor. Considering it was only cleaned annually, he counted himself fortunate not to have been overwhelmed by the stench upon descending.
He quickly noticed anomalies—the perpetrator clearly hadn’t bothered to conceal evidence.
At the three-way junction, a dried bloodstain marked the ground.
Though faint, the crimson trail guided him forward until he halted abruptly.
His flashlight beam revealed a map etched on the wall—a schematic of Hanzhou City’s sewer network for this exact sector.
Zhang Ye photographed it with his phone’s light. Unfamiliar with these tunnels, he needed this visual guide to navigate upward.
Strangely, the expected trash and rodents were absent. "Odd for sewers to be this pristine," he mused, recalling the filthy garbage pile near the manhole cover aboveground.
Time became fluid in the echoing tunnels. When he checked his phone, twenty-five minutes had passed with diminishing clues. Doubt crept in—had he chosen wrong?
A rustle.
He pressed against damp concrete, ears straining. The skittering suggested no large creature—certainly no human. Unless… perhaps a crawling infant?
Zhang Ye knew Master Han Zhou’s case intimately. Over twenty missing persons reports had flooded the city recently—and those were just documented cases. The vanished homeless left no paper trails.
Annual disappearances barely registered statistically. Elderly with dementia comprised most cases, yet solitary adults also evaporated inexplicably.
His breath stilled as the sound approached. Fingers brushed the nunchucks at his waist. In these eight-meter depths, caution reigned.
A gray blur shot toward him—a rat rivaling house cats in size. Such vermin would baffle any predator.
Alone?
Zhang Ye’s nunchucks flashed, striking with extra force. The dazed rodent hung limp as he bolted sideways.
Sewers bred swarms. A lone cat-sized rat seemed improbable—he’d be overrun if more appeared. Survival demanded strategic retreats.
In a quiet alcove, he examined his catch. The creature’s grotesque features defied nature: serrated fangs, spade-like claws. No ordinary pest.
"Mutation or spirit cultivator?" He tapped his phone, querying the Spiritual Network’s registry. No matches under rat demons.
"Either undocumented or entirely new." Pinioning the tail underfoot, he channeled spiritual energy into the twitching form.
In the next moment, the spot where the rat made contact began dissolving as if doused with sulfuric acid, its fur melting away in large patches.
"What’s this?" Zhang Ye crouched to inspect the corroded area. As he discerned the writhing mass beneath the fur, spiritual energy surged instinctively from his palm, reducing the creature to ashes.
Beneath the matted fur squirmed countless pale-gray worms. Many had lain dormant until his spiritual energy disturbed them, jolting them awake. Though most perished in the blaze, the surviving swarm could send any onlooker with trypophobia into hysterics.
When several worms attempted to leap onto him, even the battle-hardened Zhang Ye instinctively hurled spiritual flame at the insectoid mass. The construct of worms masquerading as a rat disintegrated into cinders.
Spiritual flame, formed from a cultivator’s own energy, varied in potency between individuals.
"Disgusting. What in the world were those things?" Zhang Ye straightened, eyeing the smoldering residue. He couldn’t determine whether this had been a living rat or merely a worm colony wearing rodent flesh.
Hesitation gripped him. Continuing meant risking encounters with larger hordes – numbers his current cultivation couldn’t withstand.
Atop the World Tree,
Ye Linlang observed the sewer scenes through her monitor’s omniscient view, lips quirking as she tracked Zhang Ye’s progress. "Boldness matching his skills," she remarked.
These sewers had initially housed harmless rat demons until abyssal creatures infiltrated during the invasion, swept through storm drains by rain and shadows. The two original rat demons, being the strongest spirit cultivators present, became prime targets.
Within a day, the mid-tier one spirit cultivator fell victim to parasitism. The invader – originally called hellworm – had been an insignificant infernal creature with evolutionary potential before abyssal corruption transformed it.
Two days sufficed for the abyssal worm to fully subsume its host. The rat demon became an empty vessel, body and soul reshaped for the abyss.
By the fourth day,
The Hanzhou City Special Bureau branch became aware of the crisis. Zhang Wutong’s team faced different circumstances than Zhang Ye – while the latter encountered offspring of the progenitor abyssal worm controlling gray rats, the former dealt with the surviving original rat demon.
One demon turned puppet, the other fled to surface realms. Its refusal to seek Bureau assistance stemmed from reasons yet unknown…
Eastern Sea City · Special Bureau · Spirit Management Division
"Abyss-infected spirit cultivators? Verified?" Zhu Xin’s grip tightened on the dossier. Most infections involved humans – their complex hearts vulnerable to corruption. Spirit cultivators resisted such infiltration, and even malignant ones valued self-preservation.
Infection equated to suicide.
"Why bring this to me? Shouldn’t Headquarters handle it?" She glanced at her secretary. "They’ve already filed reports, I presume?"
"Indeed. Our copy was forwarded due to spirit cultivator involvement."
"Should we consult their kind? Once infected…"
"You’re the division chief. The decision rests with you."
"Every mission’s hotter than a smith’s forge." Massaging her temple, Zhu Xin lifted the receiver. When the connection clicked, her voice adopted formal cadence.
"Your Highness Ao Ming? We require consultation regarding spirit cultivator affairs. Documents will arrive momentarily. A meeting would be preferable."
Her secretary initiated the file transfer as Zhu Xin spoke. The dragon race seldom left their deep sea domains.
Post-Awakening, oceans underwent 80% purification naturally. The remaining 20% fell under draconic stewardship – none tolerate filth in their homes, even partially cleansed dwellings.
Zhongxia’s environmental policies intensified upon realizing seas and lakes might birth spiritual items or spirit cultivators. Pollution prevention became interracial diplomacy – who knew if Mountain Gods or Water Sovereigns watched?
Zhongxia’s deities existed in quantum uncertainty since the Awakening. The Ghostly Emperor’s emergence proved divine presences could manifest unexpectedly. With all things potentially ensouled, humanity grew cautious – not entirely detrimental.
Overfishing ceased in Zhongxia’s waters under draconic vigilance. Beyond the Nine Provinces, all seas answered to the dragon race. Fusang’s whaling fleets recently foundered mysteriously, casualties absent despite total destruction.
Subsequent voyages met tempests and freak waves, even capsizing warships. Zhongxia’s citizens applauded the ecological justice. Only after Fusang conducted Daoist rituals and swore conservation oaths did calm seas permit fishing.
The Kingdom of England faced similar reckoning. Post-industrial nations saw environments heal through Awakening-purification. English spirits punished deforestation – legend warns against plucking petals before their gaze.
African territories weathered their own environmental upheavals…
Each race governed ancestral lands with distinct customs. Trespassers gambled with fate.
With only three dragons existing – the youngest unfit to rule – the Dragon Lord managed oceans while Ao Ming served as Spirit Management Division’s acting president, handling terrestrial spirit affairs.
Abyss-corrupted spirit cultivators? After Zhu Xin’s briefing, Ao Ming resolved to investigate Hanzhou personally. As the dragon prince departed, Special Bureau reinforcements converged on the city.
