Three Questions

"Little Junior Brother, don't rush into this. I need to take it back and study it carefully." As he spoke, Qi Ruming picked up an empty box and looked at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen immediately nodded. "Third Senior Brother, take it and study it as much as you like."

"Good!" Qi Ruming put the box away. "By the way, Master, Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Sister, and the others went out to take care of something. What should the two of us eat?"

To be honest, Lin Chen's cooking had completely won Qi Ruming over.

The taste was just so addictive.

After one meal, he was already looking forward to the next.

"Then let's make something simple: Golden Egg Fried Rice. How about that?" Lin Chen said with a smile.

Qi Ruming nodded eagerly. "As long as you make it, Little Junior Brother, I'll love it."

Lin Chen tidied the table and noticed that the Cloth Rabbit had somehow ended up on top of it. He hurriedly hung it from his waist.

Half an hour later, steaming Golden Egg Fried Rice was served.

It came with a pot of milky-white fish soup.

The taste was simply out of this world.

Qi Ruming's taste buds were conquered once again.

With their master away, Qi Ruming finally let loose and ate without the slightest regard for his image.

"I never thought such simple ingredients could make something this delicious. Little Junior Brother, I'm truly impressed."

After the meal, Qi Ruming sat around chatting for a while, then left.

After thinking about what had happened last night, Lin Chen decided to go check out the Heavy Mountain Path.

He Yiliang had been at the Qi Condensation Ninth Layer, and Lin Chen was at that level now too.

But Lin Chen was stronger, so he should be able to take a look without running into danger.

And if things went wrong, he still had the Thousand-Mile Escape Shuttle. He could simply flee for his life.

After getting everything ready, Lin Chen summoned the Thousand-Mile Escape Shuttle.

He infused it with spiritual power, transformed into a streak of light, and vanished into the horizon.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Chen was already hovering above the Heavy Mountain Path.

From high above, the Heavy Mountain Path really did look like a giant mountain-cleaving blade, carved into the mountainside.

Its thick spine was the Heavy Mountain Path he had walked before.

The entire blade was embedded in the mountain.

"With such a huge area, where am I supposed to look?" Lin Chen slowly descended.

Dense forests lined both sides of the Heavy Mountain Path. From the sky, there was no way to see anything.

But if he searched on foot, how long would that take?

Lin Chen simply took out He Yiliang's iron box, pulled out the Small Mirror, and asked, "He Yiliang, can you guide me to where your body is?"

He waited for a long time, but nothing happened.

Just as he was about to put it away, a red dot suddenly appeared on the mirror.

As he moved, the dot shifted farther away or closer.

Lin Chen quickly figured out what it meant.

It was clearly a locator.

Holding the Small Mirror, he searched back and forth.

Soon, he had pinpointed where He Yiliang was.

It was an extremely hidden cave, its entrance facing upward like a skylight. No one could tell how deep it was.

Without the Small Mirror's guidance, he never would have found it.

At that moment, Lin Chen wondered how He Yiliang had found this place.

Had he wandered here in his sleep too?

Even standing at the edge of the entrance, Lin Chen could feel the icy wind blowing out from inside.

It was even colder than the pool behind Sect Leader Peak.

It was the kind of cold that froze you to the soul.

Fortunately, he had opened his Sea of Consciousness and gathered his Spiritual Sense. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to stand it.

"I'll go down and take a look!"

Lin Chen stepped onto the shuttle's light and slowly descended into the cave.

Since he was already here, there was no reason to turn back.

The cave was cold and dark, and glittering ore grew out of its walls.

It flickered like a multitude of blinking eyes.

Lin Chen went up to the wall and used his Flying Sword to pry off a glittering piece of ore.

"This is mica ore, an essential auxiliary material for forging weapons."

Lin Chen had learned about some materials from Qi Ruming.

As it happened, he had seen this kind of ore before.

He recognized it at a glance.

"This must be an abandoned mine."

Without further hesitation, Lin Chen quickly descended.

He dropped more than a hundred meters before his feet finally touched the ground.

He put away the Thousand-Mile Escape Shuttle, took out a luminous pearl, and looked around.

Just as he had expected, this was an abandoned mine.

At the bottom of the shaft, mine tunnels branched out in every direction, spreading like a spiderweb.

Scattered bits of ore lay across the ground, covered in a thick layer of dust.

It looked like the mine had been abandoned for a long time.

Lin Chen took out the Small Mirror. The little dot on it was still there.

It was blinking rapidly.

That meant Lin Chen was already close to his target.

He picked a direction and followed the widest main tunnel.

The main tunnel was still cold.

What puzzled Lin Chen was that the chill was mixed with a will of agitation, bloodlust, and slaughter.

If an ordinary cultivator entered this place and was struck by that will, he would surely go mad.

And the source of that will lay deep within the mine.

"Doesn't the Green Mountain Sect know about this place?"

Lin Chen was baffled.

This was clearly inside Green Mountain Sect territory. Why would they allow such a dangerous place to exist?

After walking more than a hundred meters, the ore on the walls grew more and more plentiful.

In some places, the deposits even formed continuous veins.

The mine could clearly still be worked, so why had it been abandoned?

Another question came to mind.

At that thought, Lin Chen suddenly stopped.

From the moment he entered until now, he hadn't seen a single footprint.

How had He Yiliang gotten in?

"Wait..."

Lin Chen remembered that He Yiliang had said he'd been sucked inside.

At that thought, Lin Chen's eyes flew wide open.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

A sudden rumble sounded behind him.

Lin Chen could feel the space behind him abruptly compress, then expand in an instant.

It turned into a powerful rebounding force that slammed into him with a bang.

Lin Chen was flung forward against his will.

He shot ahead at incredible speed, the wind roaring in his ears.

In the blink of an eye, he reached the end of the tunnel.

He crashed hard into the wall ahead.

But the pain he expected never came.

Lin Chen stared in astonishment as his body passed through the wall and entered another space.

The next moment, he hit the ground.

He rolled several meters before finally coming to a stop.

Ignoring the pain, he scrambled to his feet.

A vast space spread before him.

Glittering ore was everywhere, gathered in veins that shone with a bright luster.

It was a mine!

A Spirit Stone mine!

Lin Chen was stunned.

Even with his Five Elements Waste Spirit Root, he could feel the incredibly dense spiritual energy all around him.

Just one breath of it would increase the spiritual power in his body.

"How many Spirit Stones would this be worth?"

Before Lin Chen's delight could even settle in, a voice interrupted him.

"Another delicious soul."

The voice was filled with icy cruelty, along with a hint of delight.

Lin Chen hurriedly stopped daydreaming and looked toward the voice.

A Red-Haired Man, his limbs and neck bound in black chains and his body suspended in the air in a spread-eagle position, grinned at him.

Beneath him was an ancient Formation, still glowing brightly.

Streams of sealing power flowed along the chains and into the man's body.

Sizzle!

Like electric currents, they coursed back and forth across him.

"Who are you?" Lin Chen asked, swallowing as he stared at the strange man, smoke rising from his body.

"Me?"

The Red-Haired Man hadn't expected Lin Chen to remain unafraid and even dare to ask him a question.

"It's been so long since I've had anyone to talk to. I'll let you live a little longer, little brat."

As he spoke, he opened his mouth and spat. Space compressed in an instant, forming a Space Wall that burst forward.

A corpse fell from the distance and landed at Lin Chen's feet.

He looked down. It was He Yiliang.

He looked peaceful, with a smile still hanging on his lips.

But he had long since drawn his last breath.

"See that? He was a sacrifice just like you. But his soul had already rotted away, so it wasn't as delicious as yours."

Sparks and lightning crackled over the Red-Haired Man, but they did nothing to stop him from speaking.

"You have three questions now. Once I answer them, you can join him." The Red-Haired Man licked his lips.

Three questions?

Was this guy seriously sick in the head?

Since he wanted questions, Lin Chen would make them count.

With that thought, Lin Chen asked calmly, "First question: who are you?

"Second question: where did you come from?

"Third question: where are you going?"