A Net Woven Deep Underground

Before long, all twenty-three laborers, including Li Shun, were brought into Changle Marquis's floating residence.

Changle Marquis sat high at the front of the hall, concealed behind layers of pearl curtains.

Looking at the skeletal, impoverished laborers before her, she expressionlessly clapped her hands lightly.

Then, dish after dish of exquisite delicacies was carried in by the maidservants, flowing forth like water.

"Eat." Changle Marquis's cool voice drifted faintly from behind the curtains.

At first, intimidated by Changle Marquis's intangible aura of magnificence and authority, everyone fell silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to move. Yet in the end, they could not resist the temptation of the peerless food before them. After a brief standoff, they began wolfing it down and feasting to their hearts' content.

Looks like a last meal before the execution, Li Shun muttered inwardly, though his mouth did not stop moving either.

Unlike the food one could buy on the streets, the delicacies bestowed by Changle Marquis were not only perfect in color, fragrance, and flavor through the School of Totality—once swallowed, they turned into wisps of warmth that continuously spread through their limbs and bones, making their entire bodies feel as though they were soaking in warm water, utterly comfortable.

This strange warmth even gave Li Shun the faint illusion that he had grown younger after eating just one meal.

When his gaze inadvertently swept across the other laborers around him, his heart suddenly tightened. It isn't an illusion, but...

Their aged appearance has truly faded considerably. Something that prolongs life?

Li Shun hurriedly shoveled several more mouthfuls into his mouth. Even with Changle Marquis's power, this meal must have cost quite a bit. I just wonder why she seized us laborers and brought us here...

Just as Li Shun's thoughts drifted, he suddenly felt a prickling sensation on his back. He sensed Changle Marquis's gaze behind the pearl curtains settling upon him as if it had substance.

His heart leapt, but his reaction was exceedingly swift.

Most of his consciousness instantly hid within the Square Inch space, leaving only a small portion behind to control his body and continue eating mechanically.

A moment later, that immensely oppressive gaze indeed shifted away.

This woman's perception... is terrifyingly sharp. Or perhaps all powerful figures in Great Qian possess the divine ability to perceive fluctuations in thought?

Though Li Shun had no idea what realm Changle Marquis had reached, that did not stop him from quietly becoming more vigilant.

From now on, whenever he faced someone of such unfathomable strength again, he had to hide his mind deep within the Square Inch space at the first opportunity.

Lest the many secrets upon him be exposed.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, several maidservants silently carried gossamer-like crimson garments before each of them.

"Put them on."

How could the laborers dare disobey? They hurriedly and clumsily draped the red garments over themselves.

Though these clothes feel as light as nothing when worn, there's a current of warmth circulating and radiating from them on its own.

Feeling his body gradually warm, Li Shun pondered inwardly.

Once everything was in order, the massive doors of Changle Marquis's floating residence suddenly began to open slowly amid a dull rumble.

Led out in a stream by the maidservants, the laborers stepped from the residence trembling with fear. Yet the instant they looked up and around, they all stood dumbfounded.

At some unknown time, this flying residence had silently left Cold Mountain County. What lay before them now was a deep, pitch-black mine tunnel hidden amid bleak, frigid mountains.

"Everyone, you have eaten mountain delicacies and sea treasures, and you have put on the Langhuan Blaze Robes. Now, it is time for you to serve the Marquis," the lead maidservant announced as she looked upon them.

"Your task this time is to enter the underground mine before you and search for traces of Cold Mountain Grass..."

The lead maidservant explained at length.

When they heard that they were to enter the mine, the faces of the laborers from the School of Totality turned deathly pale. But upon hearing that their task was to search for Cold Mountain Grass, they could not help but sigh in relief.

After all, they had spent nearly their entire lives with Cold Mountain Grass, and were incomparably familiar with its scent.

Only Li Shun knew that this task was far from so simple.

I myself have a surplus of a hundred Cold Mountain Grass plants. How could the dignified Changle Marquis of Great Qian possibly lack Cold Mountain Grass? It seems this underground mine must be hiding something, and it is intimately connected to the distribution of Cold Mountain Grass. Li Shun's thoughts became crystal clear.

"You may rest assured. What you have just eaten will ensure that you neither hunger nor thirst for two months. Furthermore, the Marquis has specially arranged for a music attendant to accompany each of you closely. With the School of Totality's care, they will surely keep you safe and sound."

As soon as the lead maidservant finished speaking, a group of music attendants dressed in snow-white robes, their figures graceful and light, quietly came to stand beside the laborers.

Most of these laborers had not had contact with women for nearly half their lives. Their eyes immediately went wide, their gazes sticking to the beauties at their sides as though glued there, unable to move away for a long while.

"All right, begin."

"If your actions this time satisfy the Marquis, then perhaps, in a moment of happiness, the Marquis may directly bestow the music attendants upon you." The lead maidservant's words excited these old men as though they had been injected with chicken blood.

The pitch-black mine entrance ahead no longer seemed grim and terrifying, but instead resembled a broad road leading to wealth and glory.

Without even waiting to be urged, they scrambled to enter in a stream.

Yet what the laborers could not detect was that as they continued onward through the dark mine passages, threads of red light as fine as gossamer were silently imprinted along the paths they traveled. These red lights seemed to have been left behind by the Langhuan Blaze Robes.

As the laborers delved deeper and spread out, countless red threads interwove and extended beneath the earth, like a vast and eerie blood-red spiderweb slowly spreading through the tangled underground of Cold Mountain.

At the same time, within the magnificent main hall of the floating residence, a miniature red web formation likewise hovered before Changle Marquis.

The red threads upon the formation wriggled, extended, and expanded like living creatures. From time to time, a faint silver-white point of light would suddenly flare at the end of one of the red threads.

That was the signal sent by a music attendant, indicating that a stalk of Cold Mountain Grass had been found.

There was not the slightest ripple on Changle Marquis's stunning face as she quietly watched the red web continue to spread underground.

Ten days later, the thirteenth day of the third month.

Deep within the mine.

"Why can't you walk again?" a delicate-featured music attendant asked with a frown.

Li Shun bent over and replied with a bitter smile, "Miss, please do not blame me. When a man gets old, his waist gives out. Especially in these narrow underground passages, where I must bend over every time I walk. I could endure it at first, but after so long, I truly can't bear it anymore!"

"Besides, didn't the Marquis order us to search for traces of Cold Mountain Grass? These past days, we have already found and marked five or six stalks. No matter how you put it, our efficiency isn't slow, is it?" Leaning against the cold, damp stone wall, Li Shun pounded his lower back as he defended himself.

"But lately, you've only been wandering around the outer layers of the mine. You haven't gone deep underground at all!" the music attendant said indignantly.

At her words, a dark gleam flashed through Li Shun's eyes, but he put on a look of surprise. "What do you mean, miss? Isn't our task to search for Cold Mountain Grass? Why must we go deep underground?"