Cold Mountain Fell in a Day

The one at the head was none other than Cold Mountain County's chief runner, Sun Wu.

"Chief Sun, are we really sure this is all right?"

"Yeah. The county magistrate has repeatedly stressed that the mine is a forbidden site of the imperial court."

Listening to the timid words around him, Sun Wu immediately rebuked them coldly. "What forbidden site? Over the years, haven't plenty of us Cold Mountain folk snuck in here to scavenge ore? When have you ever seen anyone punished for it?"

"Today is the first day of the new year. The constables guarding the mine entrance have all gone home to rest. This is our one and only chance."

Another laborer at his side asked, "Are there really new Cold Mountain Grass shoots down in the mine?"

"Who knows? We're treating a dead horse as if it were alive. The weather has turned colder lately, so we ought to be able to find some. If we still can't..." Sun Wu sighed.

"Next year, I'm afraid we won't be able to give the imperial court an explanation."

The moment those words fell, the crowd erupted into chaos.

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Exactly. Didn't the county magistrate say he would report to the imperial court and request a reduction or exemption?"

Sun Wu sneered and shook his head, too lazy to puncture that paper-thin lie.

He plunged headfirst into the dark mine tunnel.

The laborers behind him gritted their teeth and could only file in after him like moths flying into a flame.

There were also quick-witted people in the crowd. With a roll of their eyes, they hurriedly turned back toward the city to call their friends and relatives.

Gradually, this illegal mining party grew larger and larger like a rolling snowball.

A strange dark cloud foretelling calamity silently spread across the skies above Cold Mountain County.

Though the constables left behind had also caught the scent of the restless undercurrents within the city, the county magistrate, county deputy, and county commandant—the three great figures—had all vanished together.

For a time, they had no idea what to do and could only watch helplessly as matters unfolded.

Li Shun naturally sensed that something was wrong as well.

His expression grave, he immediately sat cross-legged and entered meditation.

He released all forty-seven midges at once.

In an instant, dozens of utterly different fragmented viewpoints exploded in his mind, battering his soul until his head spun and his vision blurred.

Fortunately, he made a snap decision and cleanly withdrew his main consciousness into the Square Inch space.

The fleshly body left behind instantly became an empty shell devoid of life.

The midges, carrying only the faintest wisp of his obsession, had completely lost their master. Guided by insect instinct, they all beat their wings and rose into the air.

Like dust, they scattered into every corner of Cold Mountain County.

Outside Cold Mountain City.

The battle between Fang Xun and Cheng Yishu was nearing its end.

Cheng Yishu had already been weaker to begin with, and Fang Xun had caught him off guard first.

He was now barely clinging to life.

Fang Xun, meanwhile, had also suffered grievous injuries.

"What a... nuisance."

After completely ending Cheng Yishu's life and burning away his corpse, Fang Xun collapsed into the snow, gasping harshly.

As he frantically circulated his inner breath to tend to his wounds, he cast a cold glance at the woman who was stepping through the snow toward him like a wandering ghost.

"Brother Xun, are you truly abandoning Yu Niang?" Yu Niang murmured dazedly, her face stricken with misery.

A trace of disgust flashed through Fang Xun's eyes, but he forced out a gentle sigh. "Yu Niang, don't let your thoughts run wild. Didn't your husband tell you to take Huan'er and spend the New Year peacefully in Cold Mountain, then bring you mother and son to the capital to enjoy prosperity after the first month?"

"How could your husband abandon you?"

Yu Niang's steps abruptly froze.

She slowly raised her head and stared fixedly at that hypocritical face she had looked upon for half her life. Her lips split into a bleak, miserable smile uglier than tears.

"Fang Xun, I served you for most of my life. Which of your words came from the depths of your heart, and which were poison that pierced the gut? Do you think I couldn't tell?"

"You treated me like worn-out shoes. I accepted that. But Huan'er..."

Yu Niang's sorrowful face suddenly twisted, her features becoming as savage and terrifying as an evil ghost's.

"Huan'er carries your blood! You beast—you would even ruthlessly silence your own flesh and blood?!"

Fang Xun's expression changed. "Yu Niang, listen to my explanation..."

But Yu Niang seemed to have completely lost her mind. She could no longer hear a single word.

She burst forth with a terrifying speed no living person should possess and crashed fiercely into Fang Xun's arms. At the same time, her once-thin body swelled at a visible rate like an inflated skin pouch.

"Yin and yang reversed... You bitch, have you gone mad?!" Fang Xun cried in panic.

Instinctively, he tried to break away and retreat, but Yu Niang's withered hands clamped into his flesh like iron pincers.

They tightened tighter and tighter, impossible to struggle free from.

"Since we could not be together in life, then let us reunite after death..."

Yu Niang's body had been stretched to the point of cracking inch by inch by the violent energy within.

Blood sprayed wildly, and the words spilling from her throat sounded like a curse from the infernal depths.

The next instant, accompanied by a shrill boom that shattered the wind and snow, her fleshly body, swollen to its limit, exploded with a thunderous blast.

Already gravely wounded, Fang Xun could no longer withstand such a close-range explosion.

He could only barely protect his heart before being blasted away like a scrap of torn cloth, crashing heavily between the pool of blood and white snow.

The lower half of his body had been blown to pieces. He clearly would not survive.

At the brink of life and death, the invisible barrier that had long clouded his mind suddenly collapsed like morning dew.

In his mind, now restored to clarity, every scene of how he had stepped into the abyss bit by bit over the past year flashed wildly past like a revolving lantern.

Two streams of remorseful tears finally rolled from his clouded eyes.

Yet even more overwhelming was the towering hatred and resentment of having been fooled and manipulated.

Tragically, his throat had been utterly crushed. He could not even release one last mournful howl before death.

He could only stare at the heavens with eyes wide and round like a dead fish.

The wind and snow fell ever more urgently and violently.

In but a moment, they had completely buried Fang Xun's head and shattered remains.

At the same time, in the underground mine beneath Cold Mountain.

"Chief Sun, there really are many Cold Mountain Grass seedlings here!"

"Quick! Move your hands. Dig up as much as you can..." Sun Wu's face glowed red as he proudly directed the excavation.

Without warning, the solid earth suddenly trembled.

At first, only a few bits of gravel fell away amid an almost imperceptible shaking.

Then, the tremor erupted with geometrically multiplying force, carrying the momentum to destroy heaven and earth.

As if an earth dragon had turned over, as if heaven and earth were collapsing!

"Run—"

Before the word could leave his mouth, the vault overhead came crashing down, instantly crushing the hundreds of living people in the tunnel into pulp.

The disaster was far from confined underground.

As Fang Xun's soul was utterly extinguished, the pitiful seal he had maintained over countless mine tunnels also dissipated.

The mountain tottered on the verge of collapse, pressing down toward the county city below.

And that city, whose underground had long since been hollowed into a thousand holes, let out a desperate roar first. Its entire foundation sank violently as though it had fallen into a quicksand abyss.

Beneath the calamity of collapsing mountains and sinking earth, all of Cold Mountain County became ruins in an instant!