Headman Hu had gone down into the mines repeatedly himself; how could he not know the map in his hands was wrong?
Unless he had given them the wrong one on purpose.
What were his intentions?
Willow whispered, "I heard that reporting the mine crisis to Panlong City wasn't Headman Hu's idea at all, but was spread by two merchants. Headman Hu was forced to report it in the end, so he was rather displeased with their taking initiative."
Behind them, a squad member spoke up. "Sister Willow isn't wrong. The smell here is foul—a bit coppery and rotten."
Another added, "It also feels a bit warm."
With no sunlight penetrating, the bottom of a mountain like this ought to grow cooler the deeper one went. Some subterranean caves had chilling winds howling year-round, where nearby residents went to escape the summer heat, needing to put on long coats if they lingered.
Yet this passage grew hotter the further they walked, and the air was stifling. Willow's nose was already beaded with fine sweat, and several grown men beside her had begun wiping their brows.
Could there be geothermal heat below?
How could that be? If anyone dared open a mine above a volcano, wouldn't that be dragging everyone to their deaths?
Panlong City wouldn't possibly open a mine without surveying for something like that.
He Lingchuan suddenly raised his fluorescent grass and held it close to the tunnel wall. "When did the tunnel walls start looking like this?"
Everyone looked closely. The dark stone walls had faded to an ashen white at some point, wrapped in countless root-like stems that resembled blood vessels.
Pressing a hand against it, they discovered the wall was no longer icy cold. Instead, it was quite warm and even slightly supple.
Door Plank said, "We haven't seen any support pilings in a long while."
Mines had low safety margins; after miners carved out tunnels, they often reinforced them with wooden beams and timber frames. Walking along, they had seen them every few paces without paying much attention, but along this recent stretch, not a single one seemed to have appeared.
"We've been walking for over a quarter of an hour, and there seems to be no end in sight, just this same passage leading forward," said a squad member behind. "Could it be a ghost wall?"
"With origin power protecting us, illusions and spells shouldn't easily affect us," Door Plank said in a deep voice. "Let's keep going. Strange, if it's a labyrinth, how could there be no forks?"
He Lingchuan remained silent.
The strangeness of this mine shaft was inextricably linked to the ferry ghost whelps. The two he had hunted down back in Panlong City had been tough to fight, but they couldn't conjure tricks like this.
Could even the origin power in their bodies fail to dispel this illusory array?
Sure enough, Dong Rui had been right. "The later a ghost whelp is born, the greater its power. Stay sharp, everyone."
Ahead lay an upward slope. Upon climbing to the top, they found a fissure opening only three feet high, resembling a flat mouth.
To get through, one had to crawl flat against the ground on hands and knees.
Willow, being the slimmest, lowered her voice. "I'll go first."
With that, she braced her hands and slipped through the fissure with a swoosh, agile as a fish. If an enemy were lying in ambush nearby, they might not even find a chance to strike.
Having passed through, she looked left and right, raising the fluorescent grass high. "All clear. Come across."
Only then did the others crawl through one by one.
He Lingchuan deliberately stayed behind to bring up the rear.
When his turn came, the darkness behind him was absolute; not a single teammate remained at his side.
Being on all fours meant he could not draw a weapon to defend himself, so everyone had to push through as quickly as possible.
Just as He Lingchuan dropped onto his belly, his calf tightened—something seized him and yanked violently backward!
Anyone else having their leg grabbed by a ghost would instinctively scramble forward for dear life.
Not He Lingchuan. He pushed forward with his left hand, accelerating his slide backward!
The creature's pulling force was already immense, and with his added acceleration, it was a double-speed backward slide.
It was like an angler pulling desperately on his rod, only for the giant fish in the sea to leap out with the momentum and slam headfirst into his forehead.
Anyone would be stunned.
The black hand dragging him hadn't expected its prey to be so slick. Surprised as it was, it didn't forget to rake its claws across him.
It wasn't large, standing only three feet tall, perfectly suited to this low, cramped passage. Yet its claws had grown nearly a foot long, capable of sinking deep into stone; slicing through mortal flesh and bone would be child's play.
If He Lingchuan didn't turn around, it would strike at his spine; if its prey did turn, even better—it would deliver a gut-ripping gift package.
Yet it forgot one crucial detail: short stature meant short limbs.
He Lingchuan was a strapping man of six feet, and his legs alone were longer than the creature was tall.
Accelerating backward like that, he drove a vicious kick straight into its belly!
Before the monster's claws could even touch his backside, it squealed and was sent flying over seven feet, slamming into the cavern wall.
He Lingchuan landed and spun, saber already in hand, a faint, cold gleam flashing in the darkened space.
Fierce, yet devoid of wind noise.
The creature knew danger when it felt it. It rolled over to dodge, nimble as a rat chased by a cat.
Yet it still felt a chill and a spike of pain at its knee joint.
Everything below the joint was severed clean off.
It screeched, its voice resembling an infant's wail. The piercing volume, amplified by echoes off the cave walls, made He Lingchuan's eardrums ache.
Yet that did not stop his second strike.
The first blade was ferocious; the second was brimming with full might and spirit.
Keeping this thing alive served no purpose—he aimed to kill with a single blow.
To his surprise, the creature seemed to know how lethal he was. Before its screech finished, it tilted backward and vanished without a trace in an instant.
He Lingchuan's blade struck the cavern wall with a thud, sinking three feet into the rock.
Hearing the commotion, Willow and Skinny hurriedly crawled back, leaving Door Plank and the other patrolmen to guard the other side.
"It appeared?"
"I took off one of its legs." He Lingchuan took out his bundle of fluorescent grass and drew close to the rock wall. "It escaped through here."
"Here?" There wasn't even a crack in the stone wall.
Even if there were, it was merely the slash mark He Lingchuan had just carved.
"It retreated into the stone wall like jumping into water." He Lingchuan flicked up a severed vine with the tip of his saber, and dark red liquid gushed out of it.
All three caught the heavy stench of blood.
Willow was astonished. "The mountain wall bleeds?"
Skinny pointed at the severed vine. "This looks like a blood vessel."
All three fell silent for a few breaths, then spoke at the same time:
"This is real blood, not an illusion!"
"This definitely isn't a mine!"
"Turn back!"
He Lingchuan immediately shot down Skinny's suggestion to turn back. "They laid a trap for us; there probably isn't a way back anyway, and it would just waste our strength. Our only way out is forward."
To say nothing of this bizarre labyrinth, even if one encountered a ghost wall in the wilderness, turning back was the worst thing one could do.
Most perils lurked behind, waiting for you to turn your head.
He then asked Willow, "The stuff flowing from the vine—is it human blood?"
Willow sniffed carefully, even dipping a finger to taste a bit. Smacking her lips for a while, she said, "A bit like it, but not quite."
"What's different?"
"The metallic taste is too strong. Even though blood naturally tastes like rust."
"Let's move through," He Lingchuan said, pointing at the fissure. "I'll still bring up the rear."
This time, when everyone crossed the fissure, nothing untoward happened.
"At least we can be certain the monster here is a ferry whelp." In that brief clash, He Lingchuan had seen its face clearly. What was more, having fought its sibling before, he knew these creatures had only three fingers on each hand.
"Broken Saber, aren't you being too reckless? What if that monster ripped out your heart from behind?" Skinny grumbled. "If you fell in battle, wouldn't I be forced to take over as squad leader?"
He Lingchuan glanced at him. "You don't want to?"
"Uh..." Saying no would make him sound hopelessly unmotivated, wouldn't it?
He Lingchuan pulled a broken shovel head from behind his back and waved it before him. "Didn't I tell you all to bring one of these?"
The low huts outside the cave were miners' quarters. Lacking in luxuries, they held tools in abundance. Having tangled with ferry ghost whelps more than once, he knew these things loved targeting vitals like eyes, throat, heart, and belly. Thus, before entering the cave, he had made his squad members snap off shovel heads to tuck away—toss it if not needed, use it as an improvised chest guard to ward off disaster if trouble arose.
Willow had scoffed at this because she already wore a compact chest guard obtained through merit points, crafted of fine quality.
He Lingchuan decided then and there that once they got back, he would head to the Pengcheng Office to exchange for a set of high-defense armor.
Door Plank couldn't help asking, "Where on earth are we?!"
"This isn't an illusion. It's likely a lair created by the ferry ghost. They're most accustomed to fighting here and can move freely or vanish into thin air at will," He Lingchuan added. "Just now, when my blade chopped into the stone wall, I could actually feel it violently contract, as though recoiling in pain."
As soon as he spoke, odd expressions appeared on everyone's faces.
Skinny let out an odd cry. "Don't tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking?"
Willow snapped, "These are newborn whelps! What other lair would they be most accustomed to?!"
The mother's womb, of course!
Which meant...
Door Plank's grip on his greataxe tightened, and he turned to stride forward. "Let's chop up those little monsters right away. We really can't stay here."
A squad member behind suggested, "If this place is... that place created by the ferry whelps, if we start wrecking it on a grand scale, won't they be forced to show themselves?"
Door Plank nodded. "Great idea!" Raising his arm, he hacked four or five times into the cavern wall with his axe.
Willow watched him, hesitating to speak.
Fresh blood poured from the rock, and he too felt what He Lingchuan had described—the sensation of the stone wall shrinking back in pain.
Immediately afterward, the entire passage began to shake violently, as though the mine tunnel were on the verge of collapse.
"Enough, move!" Willow shoved Door Plank. "Don't get crushed to death in here!"
The tunnel began to constrict and writhe, which was worse than a cave-in—standing in the wrong spot could squeeze someone to death.
Everyone broke into a frantic sprint. Several times along the way the passage squeezed shut; Door Plank, being the tallest and broadest, was nearly pinched in two, only spared when He Lingchuan and the other squad members dragged him out with all their might.
Otherwise, he would have been squashed into mincemeat.
Willow glared daggers at him. "'Great idea,' huh?" Couldn't this brute think before acting instead of blindly following whatever someone else suggested?
Knowing he was in the wrong, Door Plank rubbed his nose, not daring to utter a peep.
It was unclear whether the ferry whelp had been frightened off after being slashed by He Lingchuan; otherwise, it surely would have seized the chaos to flaunt its presence and make trouble for them.
Fortunately, the exit lay just ahead. Just as He Lingchuan reached the mouth of the tunnel, he felt empty air beneath his feet, his body plunging downward.
Damn it, this—
Luckily, he was prepared. Bracing with his waist and legs, he forcefully checked his forward momentum.
Thrusting the bundle of fluorescent grass downward, the space before him suddenly opened up into a remarkably vast cavern.
At least within the range reached by the light, no end could be seen.
Chapter 308