An Unexpected Discovery in the Underground Passage

Huo Yuhao pushed open the door, and the night wind rushed in.

He had to leave. If he stayed any longer, there would be no way out but death.

[Thought Palace, formulate an escape plan.]

The pure-white palace unfolded in an instant, and a three-dimensional map of the entire White Tiger Duke's Manor appeared before him. Every patrol route and every shift change had been precisely marked.

[Plan One: Climb over the wall. Success rate: 23%. Risk: Easily discovered.]

[Plan Two: Leave hidden among cargo wagons. Success rate: 41%. Risk: Requires assistance from an insider.]

[Plan Three: Use the underground drainage system. Success rate: ???]

Wait!

Huo Yuhao suddenly remembered that when he had investigated with his Spirit Eye Martial Soul before, he had discovered a strange network of underground passages. Their paths seemed to extend beyond the manor!

He immediately activated his Spirit Eye Martial Soul, his vision piercing through the ground and deep underground.

Sure enough!

Three meters beneath the northwestern corner of the manor, there was a spacious stone passage that extended all the way to the barren mountains beyond the estate.

[Thought Palace, analyze the structure of the underground passage.]

[Analysis result: This passage was constructed long ago. The stone-cutting craftsmanship is exquisite and was not the result of temporary excavation. Deduction: It was originally a mine shaft or underground warehouse system.]

This was his escape route!

Huo Yuhao began packing his things: dry rations, a waterskin, a change of clothes, as well as the gold soul coins and precious blueprints his mother had left him.

He tightly wrapped everything in cloth and slung it over his back.

"Next, I just need to find the entrance."

He quietly slipped out of his room and, under the cover of night, made his way toward the manor's northwestern corner.

There was an abandoned woodshed there that no one usually visited.

Huo Yuhao slipped into the woodshed, activated his Spirit Eye, and carefully searched the ground.

Before long, he found something unusual.

Beneath an apparently ordinary stone slab was empty space!

He moved the slab aside, revealing a pitch-black entrance.

"Is this what they mean by heaven never sealing off all paths?"

Huo Yuhao gave a bitter smile and jumped down.

The passage was even wider than he had imagined, wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Faintly glowing moss grew along the walls, providing weak illumination.

He followed the passage for about an hour before a fork suddenly appeared ahead.

[Thought Palace, analyze route options.]

[Left passage: Slopes upward, leading to the surface.]

[Right passage: Continues forward, descending deeper underground.]

[Straight passage: Leads to the barren mountains outside the manor.]

Just as he was about to choose the straight passage, Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eye suddenly caught something.

Deep within the right passage was a massive space!

And within that space, there were actually energy fluctuations from soul tools!

"What's going on here?"

Curiosity overcame caution, and Huo Yuhao decided to take a look first.

He walked down the right passage for over ten minutes, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

A vast underground cavern appeared before him. At its center stood a complete stone house!

All around the stone house were various strange-looking instruments and devices.

"Holy shit, what is this place?"

Huo Yuhao cautiously entered the stone house.

What he saw inside completely stunned him.

The workbench was covered with precision tools, while all kinds of blueprints and notes hung on the walls. In the corners were piled large quantities of rare metals and soul tool components.

This was a complete soul tool laboratory!

And judging by the sophistication of the equipment, its owner was undoubtedly a top-tier soul engineer!

[Thought Palace, scan laboratory information.]

[Detected a large quantity of soul tool fabrication notes... Parsing...]

[Parsing complete: The notes were written by a sixth-level soul engineer specializing in stealth-type and support-type soul tool fabrication.]

A sixth-level soul engineer!

That was the equivalent of a Soul Emperor-level existence!

Huo Yuhao was so excited that his hands trembled. This was practically a fortune falling from the sky!

He immediately began flipping through the notes.

"Basic Theory of Soul Tool Crafting..."

"Metal Smelting and Soul Power Infusion Techniques..."

"Method for Crafting Concealment Cloaks..."

Every single notebook was an invaluable treasure!

[Thought Palace, activating knowledge absorption mode.]

Huo Yuhao's mind instantly entered a state of ultra-high-speed processing. The complex theoretical knowledge was rapidly broken down, understood, and stored.

So that was how it worked!

The core of soul tools was to convert a soul master's soul power into various functions through specific circuits and materials!

And this conversion process could be fully explained and optimized using the principles of Earth's physics!

"Electromagnetic induction, conservation of energy, mechanics of materials..."

The more Huo Yuhao read, the more excited he became.

The principles behind crafting these soul tools bore astonishing similarities to Earth's technology!

He could completely use modern scientific knowledge to improve and innovate upon these soul tools!

Just then, he discovered a special item in the corner of the workbench.

It was a black cloak that looked completely ordinary, but the instant Huo Yuhao touched it, it actually turned transparent!

[Thought Palace, analyzing item attributes.]

[Item Name: Phantom Cloak]

[Function: Once activated, it can block soul power detection and provide optical invisibility.]

[Duration: Depends on the user's soul power level.]

[Creator's Note: This is the masterpiece of my lifetime. Unfortunately, I had no chance to pass it on. I hope whoever is fated to find it will use it well.]

Huo Yuhao nearly jumped up.

This cloak was practically a divine artifact tailor-made for escaping!

Without hesitation, he draped the cloak over himself.

In an instant, he felt his body become incomparably light, and even the sound of his breathing was mysteriously erased.

"With this, my chances of escaping have risen to at least ninety percent!"

But Huo Yuhao did not leave immediately.

Since he had discovered this treasure trove, he naturally intended to make full use of it.

He began scavenging the laboratory for anything useful.

Several pieces of rare metal, some basic soul tool components, and most importantly—materials for crafting explosive soul tools!

According to the notes, as long as specific metal powders and soul power crystals were mixed in the right proportions, they could produce explosive devices of tremendous power.

Following the instructions, Huo Yuhao carefully made three fist-sized explosive spheres.

"This thing should be powerful enough to blow down half a wall."

He put the explosive spheres away, then began setting up a deception.

After returning to his room, he used blankets and pillows to make a human-shaped figure. From outside, it looked as though someone was sleeping in the bed.

Then he set up a simple mechanism on the door. The moment someone pushed it open, it would trigger an explosive sphere.

"If anyone dares come looking for trouble with me, I'll give them a big surprise."

Everything was ready.

Huo Yuhao stood before the window and gazed at the place where he had lived for more than a decade one last time.

The courtyard under the moonlight was still as familiar as ever.

But from tonight onward, it would no longer be his home.

"Mother, I will avenge you."

He spoke softly, then turned and walked toward the underground passage that led to freedom.

With the Phantom Cloak on him, precious blueprints tucked against his chest, enough gold soul coins, and formidable knowledge of soul tools—

This time, he was no longer that illegitimate son who could be bullied by anyone.