A World Within

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Four chapters today (2/4).

Please keep reading to the last page.

Time was tight, and every second counted.

The Chen Clan urgently mobilized more than a hundred men in two companies from Luori Medicine Market, most of them at the Soul Ancestor and Soul King levels, while the Chen Clan's Duke Residence had Chen Zhang personally assemble fifty core combatants.

The Ximen Family, Yang Family, Ma Family, and Li family moved just as quickly, each drawing elite hands from those stationed in the capital. An elite joint force of roughly five hundred people secretly finished gathering in Soul Fighting City within a single day.

Mo Yuzheng and the intelligence networks of the other four families went into full operation. Combining the Ximen Family's Fire Blade Pavilion's partial understanding of the Underground World—they did indeed have some underground channels—with the Chen Clan's preliminary probing of the Northeast Region's underground network, they worked through the night to compile a fairly detailed report on the forces in Huagai District, along with a briefing on the Bone Excavation Group's stronghold location, general defensive structure, and possible routes.

At dawn the next day, before the sky had brightened.

At the edge of Huagai District, deep inside an inconspicuous abandoned warehouse, the ground quietly slid open to reveal a deep, dark entrance.

Five hundred elite Soul Masters filed in soundlessly, stepping into abandoned mine tunnels filled with the smell of mold, rust, and lingering Soul Tool energy.

The mine tunnels were deathly silent. Only the sound of dripping water, the deliberately lowered breathing of the group, and their footsteps echoed within.

An invisible pressure permeated the air.

The Bone Excavation Group was by no means a flock of defenseless sheep. These veterans and desperadoes who lived by the blade would undoubtedly have filled the place with lethal traps and hidden sentries.

Click! An extremely faint mechanical sound rang out from the bend ahead.

"Careful!" Qin Luguang barked, and the Blood Shadow Demon Spear instantly pointed forward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—! Several alloy crossbow bolts coated in deadly poison shot out from holes in the darkness!

Fifth Soul Skill - Stone Armor Shield! Zhu Yanfeng reacted with extreme speed, and an enormous earthen-yellow shield instantly condensed in front of him.

Clang, clang, clatter! The crossbow bolts struck the stone shield, letting out dull impacts.

Battle abruptly erupted deep within those ice-cold mine tunnels thick with killing intent.

The sharp blade of the Chen Clan alliance had already stabbed toward the heart of Iron Jaw Barton!

The Chen Clan's allied forces advanced quickly through the dim mine tunnels, and the resistance they met suddenly grew fierce.

The Bone Excavation Group had clearly been prepared for this. The traps were no longer simple poisoned arrows, but interlocking killing formations.

The ground silently collapsed to reveal clusters of spikes; thick green poisonous fog gushed from overhead vents; the side walls exploded with a roar, firing out self-destructing Soul Tool puppets...

Screams and the booming of soul skills echoed through the narrow tunnels, while the Scent of Blood and the smell of char mixed with dust until it was suffocating.

Though the Chen Clan elites were quite powerful, they still paid a price under such dense and sinister ambushes.

Several Soul Ancestor-level Brocade-Clad Guards were pierced through by ground spikes and fell screaming. One Soul King deputy Company Commander was blown into a bloody mess at close range. Others were corroded by the poisonous fog, their skin rapidly rotting away. Although their companions dragged them back, they had already lost the ability to fight.

Zhu Yanfeng's Stone Armor Shield narrowly blocked fatal attacks several times. Qin Luguang's Blood Shadow Demon Spear spun into a blood-colored wheel of light in the cramped space, shredding every incoming flying blade and bone dart. The gale stirred up by the spear tip tore through the air with a sharp howl.

Chen Zhang's eyes were cold. The Seven Kill Sword in his hand breathed out sharp Soul Power, constantly piercing through the obstacles ahead, while his Starry Sword Eyes glimmered faintly in the dark tunnels, warning them in advance of the most dangerous illusion traps.

At last, the path ahead suddenly opened up!

The mouth of the narrow, oppressive tunnel was like a torn curtain of darkness. Zhu Yanfeng stepped out first, and even he could not help pausing slightly at the sight before him.

This was an unimaginably vast underground space!

The dome rose more than several hundred meters high, studded with specks of glowing ore like an upside-down river of stars, providing light faint yet sufficient for sight.

Its breadth was like a small underground plain, with an estimated diameter of several li.

In the distance, one could even see an underground river flowing with fluorescent liquid and a "forest" formed from strange glowing fungi.

The air was no longer murky. It carried a deep, desolate vastness that belonged to the depths of the earth.

They were standing at the edge of one of the enormous tunnel mouths, a sloping stretch of jagged gravel beneath their feet.

The most eye-catching sight was several hundred meters opposite them: a fortress built against the mountain, made of huge stone blocks and shaped like a mound.

It resembled a rather large ancient castle, clinging to the cavern wall, with thick walls and numerous arrow towers. Only a single huge stockade gate reinforced with metal and hardwood stood at the front as the main entrance, and the terrain was incomparably treacherous.

This was clearly the Bone Excavation Group's lair—the den of Iron Jaw Barton!

Along the rock walls surrounding this huge cavern, several more enormous tunnel mouths similar to the one they stood at were distributed like the mouths of giant beasts, leading into unknown depths of darkness.

Behind Chen Zhang, the Chen Clan elites filed out as well, and they too were shaken by this uncanny underground marvel.

Qin Luguang, Xia Yun, Zhu Yanfeng, Ding Bingming, Jian Hezhi, Chen Xiaojun, and the others followed closely after.

"Uncle Lu Guang, you picked a fine place. Your scouting was frighteningly accurate," Chen Zhang said, unable to stop himself from nodding. "The terrain here is perilous. Taking it will certainly be difficult, but once it's captured, using this as a foundation to radiate out to the surrounding dark cities would make it an impregnable headquarters!"

Ding Bingming barked in a low voice, "Fifth Master, there are figures moving on the walls opposite us. The Bone Excavation Group's men have seen us!"

Jian Hezhi stroked his beard, his eyes filled with wonder as well. "I never imagined that beneath the small Huagai District, such a place of this scale would be hidden... If I had not seen it with my own eyes, it would truly be hard to believe."

He had originally planned to return to Chang'an City, but a suppression battle of this scale naturally made a powerful expert like him, half support and half Control Type, stay behind to assist.

The Blood Shadow Demon Spear in Qin Luguang's hand angled toward the ancient castle in the darkness, and he let out an ice-cold sneer. "The Bone Excavation Group? Three thousand desperadoes? Heh!"

Zhu Yanfeng's towering figure stood at the front, earthen-yellow Soul Power faintly surging around him as he said in a ringing voice, "Compared with the three Heavenly Wolf Strategic Passes of the Heavenly Wolf Gate, this mountain stronghold falls far short. Being big doesn't mean its bones are hard!"

Xia Yun stayed calm and looked around. "We'll wait a moment. The Ximen Family and the Yang Family still haven't arrived. Pushing in recklessly would be too risky."

Just then, an extremely grating, hoarse voice, like rusted sheets of metal scraping over gravel, rang out from the highest point of the ancient fortress hundreds of meters away. It pierced the vast underground space and reached every member of the allied forces with perfect clarity:

"Hmph! Where did you mangy birds come from, daring to barge into my Iron Jaw Fortress? Tired of living, are you? Here to deliver yourselves as blood food?!"

Chen Zhang stepped forward and infused his voice with Soul Power. It was not loud, but it was steady and forceful as it pressed toward the other side. "'Iron Jaw' Barton? I've heard much about you. Unfortunately, after today, the name 'Bone Excavation Group' will be history! Your days of occupying Huagai District Dark City and throwing your weight around are over!"

That metal-scraping voice rang out again from the other side, carrying even deeper mockery. "Brat, you've got quite the mouth! I've fought and killed down here for thirty years, and what I relied on was my fists and my brothers!"

"You think you can chew through my Iron Jaw Fortress with that handful of men? Dream on! I'd like to see which is harder—the bones of you Masters from above, or my fists!"

Chen Zhang smiled faintly and said in a clear voice, "Above ground or below, the principle remains the same. Today, the mighty dragon will crush you, the local snake!"