Chapter 1001: Hidden Tunnel

Whoosh~

As Bai Ning felt himself calm down again and began chatting with Hui Ying about the special cave that they were going to, Xuan Hao arrived directly above the large caravan that was heading in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom before listening in on what the two were talking about. Not taking long before he got a general understanding of what was happening.

"So... He just wanted to take part in this adventure and was scared of being turned away if he informed me about it... Haaa... Considering the fact that there is some ancient blacksmithing notes on the line, I understand why he wouldn't thin twice about doing something this dumb, but what about the rest of the disciples, did none of them inform any of the elders secretly?" Muttering this to himself as he glanced around at the rest of the disciples from the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head after discovering that there weren't any elders of the Star Shattering Sect hidden among them.

Given that a few of the disciples present were older and had a lot of experience in the outside world compared to Bai Ning and Hui Ying who were still relatively young when compared to most inner sect disciples, Xuan Hao honestly felt quite surprised that none of them had informed the elders about this excursion outside the sect.

To be honest, what are they all thinking? Didn't a single one among them think that this might be some kind of trap to lure them out of the sect? Especially so when considering the place, they are heading towards is located right next to the Frozen Wastelands filled to the brim with demonic cultivators...

Not knowing what to say as he thought about this to himself while looking over the close to thirty inner sect disciples who were present inside of the large caravan heading towards the Azure Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao could only shake his head in disappointment before deciding to follow the caravan in case something happened.

After all, if someone had truly tried to lure out the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect, demonic cultivator or not, they were simply asking for a beating!

...

"Looks like we are going to pass through the border of the Azure Sky Kingdom soon. Although there isn't any kind of border patrol, when I talked to Elder Song, he mentioned that there would be an elder at the Nascent Soul Realm wandering around the area to ensure that no demonic cultivators snuck through and entered the core territory of the sect."

"Really!? If that is the case, I doubt we will be able to enter the Azure Sky Kingdom without the elders finding out about it...!"

Unaware of the fact that his master was already present above them, Bai Ning and Hui Ying were chatting with each other inside one of the carriages when a few loud voices could be heard coming from outside the carriage. Not to mention, they also realized that shortly after the loud voices echoed out, the large caravan came to a sudden stop.

"Do you think we should go out and see what is happening? From what was said earlier, it seems like we will have to find a way to avoid the elder patrolling the border with Azure Sky Kingdom."

"Indeed, it looks like that is the case, let's go outside and take a look."

As both Hui Ying and Bai Ning wanted to find out what was going to happen now that some of the people in the caravan wanted to try and sneak through the border now that they had found out about the fact that there was actually a Nascent Soul Realm elder of the sect patrolling the border from time to time, they soon got up before making their way out of the carriage-

""Huh!?""

However, the scene that met them after leaving the carriage was nothing like what they had expected, as they watched the group of twenty or so people from the Explorer Union gathered together to use their power to dig into the ground before revealing a large underground passage leading a few dozen meters below the ground before going straight in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom.

Not only that, but the passage was also very well maintained, with several magical stones illuminating the dark tunnel that was just big enough to fit a carriage inside of it.

"What in the world is this!? No, more importantly, why do any of you know that there is such a large underground tunnel here of all places!?" Feeling taken aback by the sudden appearance of such a large underground tunnel that seemed to stretch on for several dozens of kilometers in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom, one of the older disciples close to the Peak of the Core Formation Realm narrowed both of his before turning to question the person in charge of the group of people from the Explorer Union.

"This is a passage that was used in the past by merchants during the battle between the Azure Sky Kingdom and the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Even after the war ended and both kingdoms ended up getting destroyed and ultimately replaced by your Star Shattering Sect, it was abandoned and mostly forgotten about, outside of a few bandits using it from time to time to escape through.

As members of the Explorer Union, we know about this passage because the Explorer Union also used it to transport goods and other things to a branch inside the Azure Sky Kingdom during the war."

Not missing a single beat after hearing the clear suspicion in the voice of the older disciple from the Star Shattering Sect, the person in charge of the group of people from the Explorer Union quickly explained the history of the underground tunnel and where he had learnt about. Understanding very well that it wouldn't benefit him in the slightest to not do this.

"Hm... I see but given the length of the tunnel and the fact that there is no connection to the ground above, the air quality inside of it will definitely not be something that a normal mortal could survive inside of. Especially if both entrances are sealed like this."

"That is true, which is why the weakest person here is at least in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even if there is no air to breath, we can use the qi from the world around us to breath instead."

"Indeed... And given that this is a few dozen meters underground, unless the elder from our sect actively searches for us, there will be no way for him to notice us underground... Okay, everyone, we are going underground to avoid the detection of the elder!" Nodding his head in agreement with what the person from the Explorer Union said as he couldn't find anything wrong with it, the older disciple from the Star Shattering Sect, who had taken a leading role due to him being one of the strongest disciples present, signaled for everyone to move underground.

At least, given the size of the tunnel, it was more than big enough for the carriages and other things to fit inside of the tunnel when going in a single line. Although it would slow them down to some extent, it would not be anything significant-

Rumble~!

And soon enough, the carriages and supplies being pulled by demon beasts formed a single line before moving into the tunnel going straight in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom.

""...""

Having moved back into their carriage after seeing the conversation take place and the tunnel they were slowly moving towards, Bai Ning and Hui Ying didn't say anything, but a part of them felt uncomfortable with entering this hidden tunnel.

The only thing that made them not think too much about this, was the fact that the tunnel was located close enough to the ground that they would be able to dig their way up to the surface and escape in case anything ended up happening to them inside the tunnel.

...

"There is actually a tunnel here?"

Just as surprised as his two disciples about the sudden appearance of a tunnel in such a weird location that went below the border separating the Azure Sky Kingdom and what could be considered the core territory of the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao decided to use his divine sense to scan ahead of his disciple and the rest of the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect to figure out if this was a trap of some kind-

"Nothing?"

But after reaching the end of the tunnel at the other side of the border, Xuan Hao found that there weren't any traps inside the tunnel. Instead, it only contained a small bandit group with a few Foundation Establishment Realm bandits and a single Peak Foundation Establishment Realm Expert in the lead, that would soon be unlucky enough to run into the group his disciple was a part of.

Not really anything that would be considered dangerous given that Bai Ning would be able to beat this group of bandits up by himself, let alone now that there were more than sixty fellow disciples who had at least reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, a few even having reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm...