"Lead the way."

"Yes!"

Chu Mo bowed slightly to accept the order. He then straightened up and glanced at the silent Qin Lie, a mocking expression on his face, before turning to lead the Crown Prince in White Clothes toward the back of Divine Weapon Ridge.

The Crown Prince in White Clothes glanced at Qin Lie, who had yet to move. "What’s the big deal about a nephew?" he said coolly. "Once I bring you back to Daqian, you can remarry and have children. With the status I’ll grant you, you’ll have no trouble starting a new family line."

Qin Lie was silent for a moment before responding in a low voice.

"Yes, thank you, Crown Prince!"

-----------------

「Divine Weapon Ridge, the back mountain.」

A mountain hollow opened to a patch of sky thirty zhang wide, forming a funnel shape. At its lowest point was a three-zhang-wide fissure. Grayish-white rocks jutted out around it like jagged teeth, their edges washed by a thousand years of rain to a greenish, rust-like patina reminiscent of bronze.

Xu Yunfan, still carrying the unconscious Zhan Yan, pulled out the silk cloth Lv Cheng had given him from his robes and considered his options.

With his mining skills, his abilities of Seeking Dragon and Distinguishing Veins and "Prospecting and Land-Reading" laid the contours of the mountains and Earth Veins bare before him. He naturally knew that the fissure in the funnel below was extremely deep.

Divine Weapon Ridge had a custom of borrowing Molten Lava Earth Fire. Only by using the Fire Attribute of the Earth Fire could they forge Divine Weapons. This secret path was not just an escape route; it was a forging ground.

Xu Yunfan hesitated no longer. He leaped down, still carrying Zhan Yan, dropped into the sinkhole, and shot into the fissure. His sudden entrance startled dozens of hanging noctule bats, the sound of their flapping wings echoing hollowly off the hundred-zhang-deep walls of the pit.

After descending nearly a hundred zhang, Xu Yunfan finally landed.

The moss at the bottom of the pit glowed with an eerie, faint blue. Each step squeezed out a purplish-green liquid.

The cave entrance resembled a giant mouth propped open by a stalagmite. A set of half-finished, man-made steps was embedded in the natural rock formation. Maidenhair ferns grew from the cracks in the stone steps, their leaves coated in ash from some long-forgotten dynasty.

At first, the secret passage was so narrow that he had to turn sideways to pass. As Xu Yunfan’s back scraped against the uneven rock wall, his green robes became coated in dark red dust—the hematite particles unique to Divine Weapon Ridge.

After navigating three natural bends, the cave suddenly opened up like the belly of a giant python. Dozens of stalactites, each as thick as a man’s embrace, hung from the ceiling. Xu Yunfan reversed his grip on the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer. A surge of Strength erupted from him, and Thunder Fire blazed to life on the hammer’s head. The firelight reflected off the water dripping from the stalactites, revealing their molten, golden-red hue.

The water on the ground was ankle-deep. As Xu Yunfan waded through it, he was surprised to find that the floor was paved with neat green bricks.

A few blind, white fish swam in the cracks between the bricks. The cold light glinting off their scales illuminated the stark chisel marks on the left-hand rock wall.

They were likely marks left by the artisans of Divine Weapon Ridge a thousand years ago, who had carved out the path with Crane-beaked Hoes. This formed a stark contrast with the water-eroded ripples on the right-hand wall.

The farther he went, the stronger the smell of sulfur became, and the more intense the heat grew. Before he knew it, the ambient temperature had risen to over fifty degrees Celsius.

Xu Yunfan’s expression remained unchanged. To him, this scorching heat was no different from a warm breeze.

Rounding a bend in the tunnel, the light from the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer suddenly revealed a dead end.

The secret passage ahead had collapsed. It was completely blocked by countless huge boulders.

He untied his sash to secure the unconscious Zhan Yan, then went forward to investigate. He immediately understood that there must be a passage on the other side.

This collapsed tunnel must have been like this for at least thirty years. It was most likely an accident that occurred after Divine Weapon Ridge was attacked and wrecked.

Xu Yunfan bent his fingers and knocked on the rock wall. The sound was like striking a stone chime, a deep, resonant THUD.

His fingertips traced the characteristic dark red veins of the hematite ore, then suddenly stopped. He straightened his fingers and thrust them into a crack in the basalt layer.

Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength poured from his knuckles, and spiderweb cracks immediately spread across the hard rock. With his Profound Steel Hundred Forgings Horizontal Training Body, he didn’t need a pickaxe at all; his fingers were harder than Refined Iron.

As rock powder cascaded down, his ten fingers blurred, digging through the stone like a mountain-boring beast.

Under his fingers, the blue-black basalt crumbled into coarse gravel, which tumbled down mixed with sulfur crystals.

Suddenly, he touched a soft, muddy layer that had long been soaked by groundwater until it was as soft as mush.

Xu Yunfan switched from using his fingers to a claw grip. He locked the web of his thumb onto the edge of a Dragon-Breaking Stone and exerted his strength. A hundred-jin boulder was moved behind him as easily as placing a piece on a chessboard.

He continued this way, each massive stone moved aside with the ease of taking a few steps. After clearing about three hundred paces, he suddenly hit a waterline. As his fingertips broke through the slick mudrock, the gust of air from his palm startled the cave-dwelling blind snakes.

The pure white creatures shot out from the cracks in the rock. The instant a snake’s scales brushed against Xu Yunfan’s wrist, he grabbed it by its vital point with a reverse grip and flung it forward like a pathfinding dart.

When the snake’s body struck a hollow slab of rock, the echo carried the unique hum of a nine-bend Earth Vein.

’The 7:45 PM position.’

Xu Yunfan silently recited the secrets of his mining technique, Seeking Dragon and Distinguishing Veins. As Blood Qi surged, his right middle finger suddenly shot out three inches, the knuckle protruding like a Vajra Pestle.

When this move, "Earth-Boring Dragon," broke through the final half-foot of rock, a blast of scorching air and sparks rushed into his face.

He turned his head to avoid the billowing sulfurous smoke. His fire stick illuminated a piece of scorched, blackened cloth wedged in a crevice. The pattern was clearly the brocade produced by the Cangzhou Thirteen Docks.

The end of the collapsed section was suddenly clear. Xu Yunfan flicked his finger, shaking the rock dust from his temples.

Zhan Yan, who was being dragged behind him, suddenly grunted. A sharp-edged piece of white quartz had pierced his shoulder blade. The stone’s surface was flecked with verdigris—traces left behind by years of friction against bronze.

Xu Yunfan’s expression didn’t change. ’Zhan Yan has impressive Horizontal Training Kung Fu; this is nothing to him.’ He crushed the quartz and sniffed it. The powder was mixed with half a qian’s weight of Profound Iron dust, which glinted with a cold, faint blue light under the fire.

After carrying Zhan Yan for several dozen more steps, signs of artificial construction suddenly appeared in the tunnel ahead. The walls on both sides bore the neat chisel marks of a Crane-beaked Hoe, and the ground was littered with completely weathered wooden stakes.

Xu Yunfan’s boot kicked a broken bronze bolt, and his eyebrows rose slightly.

’Bellows.’

’Compared to the bellows developed by the Mechanical Hall of Celestial Craft Cave and the Celestial Craft Department, this is far too crude.’

After winding his way through the tunnel for a while longer, Xu Yunfan suddenly stopped. His boots crunched over the quartz-littered ground. He channeled Strength into his hammer, and a burst of fire erupted, illuminating twelve diverging paths that spread out like a spiderweb.

The entrance to each tunnel was set in a different type of rock.

The third from the left was spotted with the green of Malachite, while the fifth had stalactites formed from condensed hematite slurry.

He flicked a finger against the central rock pillar. The sound waves refracted within the openings, producing seven different echoes.

The smell of sulfur at the ninth fork suddenly turned acrid—the toxic miasma produced when Earth Fire is about to die out.

His fingertips brushed across the wall of the third fork. He felt the fish-scale chisel marks characteristic of the fifth generation of artisans, but the cracks were embedded with recently flaked-off dregs of Profound Iron. It was obvious this tunnel was still in use in recent years.

’Kan for water, Li for fire...’

Xu Yunfan bent down and pressed his ear to the ground. He could hear the faint sound of water coming from three of the twelve Earth Veins.

"Take the one farthest to the left."

Zhan Yan’s faint voice sounded at that moment.

A flicker of emotion crossed Xu Yunfan’s face. He looked down at Zhan Yan, his expression one of pure, pleasant surprise.

"Master, you’re awake?"

Zhan Yan let out a breath and forced himself free from Xu Yunfan’s grip, struggling to his feet with the help of the wall.

His expression was a little strange.

"I’m not dead yet. What did you give me earlier?"

(Thanks to Xianyun Bu and Huang Da D for the tips. Thank you all for the recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Thank you for your support!)