Three Questions

"Little Junior Brother, don't rush into this for now. 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, feel free to take it and study it."

"Good!" Qi Ruming put away the box. "By the way, Master, Senior Brother, and Second Senior Sister all went out on business. What should the two of us eat?"

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

That flavor—it was utterly addictive.

One meal made him crave the next.

"Then let's keep it simple—Golden Egg Fried Rice, how about that?" Lin Chen said with a smile.

Qi Ruming nodded repeatedly. "As long as Little Junior Brother makes it, I'll love it."

Lin Chen cleared the table and noticed the cloth rabbit had somehow climbed onto it. He quickly hung it back at his waist.

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

Paired with a pot of milky-white Fish Soup.

The taste was simply incredible.

Qi Ruming's taste buds were conquered once again.

Without the Master present, Qi Ruming completely let loose, eating without any regard for appearances.

"I never imagined such simple ingredients could produce such an exquisite flavor. Little Junior Brother, I truly admire you."

After the meal, Qi Ruming sat around chatting for a while before leaving.

Lin Chen thought about last night's events and decided to go check out Heavy Mountain Path.

He Yiliang had also been at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation back then, and Lin Chen was there now too.

But his strength was a bit greater. Taking a look shouldn't pose much danger.

If things went south, he still had the Thousand-Mile Escape Shuttle—he could just flee.

After packing everything up, Lin Chen summoned the Thousand-Mile Escape Shuttle.

He activated it with spiritual power, and turning into a streak of light, he vanished into the sky.

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

Looking down from high in the sky, Heavy Mountain Path truly resembled a giant mountain-cleaving blade, slashing into the mountain's body.

The thick spine of the blade was the Heavy Mountain Path he had walked before.

The entire blade was embedded within the mountain.

"Such a huge place—where am I supposed to look?" Lin Chen descended slowly.

On both sides of Heavy Mountain Path were dense forests. Searching from the sky revealed nothing at all.

But if he landed, how long would it take to find anything?

Lin Chen simply took out He Yiliang's iron box, retrieved the small mirror, and asked.

"He Yiliang, can you give me a hint? Where is your body?"

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, sometimes closer, sometimes farther.

Lin Chen quickly figured it out—this was clearly a locator.

Holding the small mirror, he searched back and forth.

Soon, he pinpointed where He Yiliang was.

It was an extremely hidden cave, its opening facing upward like a skylight, its depth unknown.

Without the small mirror's guidance, he would never have found this place.

At that moment, Lin Chen wondered how He Yiliang had discovered it.

Had he sleepwalked here too?

Standing at the cave's edge, he could already feel the cold wind blowing out from within.

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

The kind of cold that could freeze the soul itself.

Thankfully, he had opened his sea of consciousness and condensed his spiritual sense—otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to bear it.

"Let's go down and take a look!"

Lin Chen stepped onto his flying light and slowly descended into the cave opening.

Since he had come, there was no reason to back down.

The cave was cold and dark, with glittering ores growing on the walls.

They flickered on and off, like countless blinking eyes.

Lin Chen approached the cave wall and pried off a glittering ore with his flying sword.

"This is Mica Stone, a necessary auxiliary material for forging weapons."

Lin Chen had learned some knowledge about materials from Qi Ruming.

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

He recognized it at a glance.

"This should be an abandoned mine vein."

Lin Chen hesitated no longer and quickly descended downward.

After sinking over a hundred meters, his feet finally touched the ground.

He put away the Thousand-Mile Escape Shuttle and took out a night pearl to survey his surroundings.

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

After the vertical shaft, the mine tunnels branched out in all directions like a spider web.

Scattered ore fragments lay on the ground, covered in thick dust.

It seemed it had been abandoned for a long time.

Lin Chen pulled out the Small Mirror, and the small light spot on it was still there.

Moreover, it was flashing rapidly.

This meant Lin Chen was close to his target.

He found his bearings and walked forward along the widest main tunnel.

The main tunnel was still cold.

What puzzled Lin Chen was that this coldness was mixed with a will of violence, bloodlust, and slaughter.

If an ordinary cultivator entered here and was struck by this will, they would surely go mad.

And the source of this will was deep within the tunnel.

"Does the Green Mountain Sect not know about this place?"

Lin Chen was baffled.

This was clearly within the Green Mountain Sect's territory, so why would they allow such a dangerous place to exist?

After advancing over a hundred meters, more and more ore appeared on the walls.

In some places, it even formed continuous patches.

This could obviously still be mined, so why had it been abandoned?

Another question arose.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen suddenly stopped.

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

How had He Yiliang gotten in?

"Wait..."

Lin Chen remembered that He Yiliang had said he was sucked in.

At this thought, Lin Chen's eyes widened abruptly.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

A sudden boom came from behind him.

Lin Chen could feel the space behind him suddenly compress, then instantly expand.

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

Lin Chen was involuntarily flung forward.

At an extreme speed, the wind whistled past his ears.

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

He crashed heavily into the wall ahead.

The expected pain never came.

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

The next moment, he was already falling to the ground.

He rolled several meters before stopping.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he scrambled to his feet.

Before him appeared a vast space.

Glittering ore was everywhere, forming vein-like patterns that radiated a bright luster.

This was a mine vein!

And it's a Spirit Stone vein!

Lin Chen was stunned in that moment.

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

Just one breath would increase the spiritual power within his body.

"How many Spirit Stones is this?"

Lin Chen's joy had just arrived when it was interrupted by a voice.

"Another delicious soul."

The voice was filled with cold cruelty, with a hint of pleasant surprise.

Lin Chen quickly snapped out of his fantasy and followed the sound.

He saw a red-haired man suspended in midair in a spread-eagle position, black chains binding his limbs and neck, grinning at him.

Beneath him was an ancient formation, still glowing with radiance.

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

Crackle!

Like electric currents, they surged wildly across him.

"Who are you?" Lin Chen swallowed hard as he looked at the strange man, whose body was smoking.

"Me?"

The red-haired man hadn't expected Lin Chen to be unafraid, let alone bold enough to ask him a question.

"It's been so long since anyone talked to me. I'll let you, little brat, live a while longer."

As he spoke, he opened his mouth and spat. The space instantly compressed into a wall of air that exploded forward.

A corpse tumbled from afar and landed at Lin Chen's feet.

He looked down—it was He Yiliang.

The man's expression was peaceful, a faint smile still on his lips.

But there was no life left in him.

"See that? That's a sacrifice just like you. Only his soul had already decayed—not as tasty as yours."

Sparks and lightning danced over the red-haired man's body, but it didn't affect his speech at all.

"You have three questions. Once I answer them, you can join him." The red-haired man licked his lips.

Three questions?

This guy must have some kind of illness.

Since you want to ask, I'll hit you with a hard one.

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

Second question: where do you come from?

Third question: where are you going?"