Gu Qinghe didn't keep trying to pry the door open.
"Who are you?"
The person behind the iron plate took a few ragged breaths.
"Sun Erhe... the man who drove the corpse cart last night."
The enforcement disciples guarding the drainage channel all drew their swords.
Sun Erhe, missing for an entire night, had actually been hiding in the Old Herb Cellar!
Gu Qinghe leaned close to the hole.
"Prove it."
"Last night, corpse cart number seven left the peak. Its left rear wheel was missing a piece. There were four corpse bags on the cart: numbers two, six, nine, and twelve. Zhao Chong was in bag nine, and Ma Quan's body was stuffed into cabinet fifteen."
Every detail matched the records in the Corpse Room.
Li Sanshun asked, "How do we open the iron door?"
"There are three copper bolts at the bottom. Pull the left and right ones at the same time. Don't touch the middle one. It's connected to the Ignition Array. Pull it by mistake, and it'll burn through the cellar."
Gu Qinghe had two disciples dig away the medicinal mud in front of the door.
Three rusty copper bolts soon emerged. Thin copper wires were wrapped around the middle one, running beneath the iron plate.
The fire outside was drawing closer.
Gray smoke seeped into the drainage channel, and the stone walls began to heat up. If they delayed any longer, the fire aboveground would reach the cellar even if they didn't trigger the mechanism.
"On three, we pull together."
Gu Qinghe gripped the left bolt while another disciple grabbed the right.
"One, two, three!"
They pulled at the same time.
The bolts slid out half a foot, and the iron plate shifted inward.
Sun Erhe worked the mechanism from inside, and at last the iron plate moved enough to leave a gap wide enough for someone to squeeze through sideways. The stench of rotten medicine that had built up over the years came rushing out.
The two enforcement disciples took one breath, then backed away, covering their noses and mouths.
Li Sanshun, however, faced the fumes and took a breath.
[You have inhaled one mouthful of low-grade rotten medicinal fumes.]
[Air quality: Poor.]
[Life energy increased by 0.01 points.]
[Detected components: Corpse-Bone Vine, Breath-Closing Powder, Hemostatic Medicine, Red Saltpeter Powder, Fire-Marrow Sand.]
Both Red Saltpeter Powder and Fire-Marrow Sand could ignite.
There really was an array buried here!
Li Sanshun turned sideways and slipped through the iron door.
The Old Herb Cellar stood considerably higher than the drainage channel. More than a dozen rows of iron shelves filled the place. Iron chests used to store Corpse-Bone Vine were piled on them, and many of their lids had rusted through. Withered vines dangled from the broken openings to the floor.
Sun Erhe leaned against a stone pillar, his hands bound behind his back. Half a Broken Blade stuck out of his left leg, and his clothes were already soaked through with blood.
A large iron chest sat in the middle of the cellar.
Stones weighed down its lid, and a thin bamboo tube poked through a gap. Zhao Chong lay inside with the tube in his mouth, his body covered in Corpse-Bone Vine.
His chest showed no sign of rising or falling.
"Is he still alive?"
"The Breath-Closing Powder hasn't worn off yet." Sun Erhe nodded toward the iron chest. "Don't lift it. An Array Disk is underneath. Move the chest, and the whole cellar will go up in flames."
Gu Qinghe led the others inside and first cut the ropes binding Sun Erhe.
But Sun Erhe didn't dare move his leg.
"There's a pressure plate beneath my knee, too. They left me here so I'd die alongside Zhao Chong."
A disciple pushed away the Corpse-Bone Vine beside his leg and found a square stone plate. Copper wires ran beneath it, with the other end connected to the bottom of the iron chest.
The two mechanisms were linked.
Save one, and the other would trigger.
Gu Qinghe took out a Message Talisman. It had barely lit up before turning to ash.
"There's an isolation array in the cellar. The message can't get out."
"Don't touch the copper wires on the floor."
Li Sanshun walked through the gap between the iron shelves.
The smell in the cellar was too muddled. Corpse-Bone Vine, blood, and medicinal dregs were all mixed together. An ordinary person could never tell where the ignition powder was buried.
He pulled the cloth from his face and took several breaths.
The poison had barely scorched his throat before his life energy restored it. It hurt, but he could endure it.
[Detected traces of Red Saltpeter Powder.]
[Detected traces of Fire-Marrow Sand.]
[Detected the scent of lamp oil vapor.]
Li Sanshun went to the right side of the iron chest.
The smell of lamp oil was strongest there.
He cleared away the White Sand Soil on the ground, revealing a ceramic pipe as thick as his thumb. It wound around the iron chest and connected to the pressure plate beneath Sun Erhe's knee.
"The Ignition Array runs through this ceramic pipe."
Gu Qinghe inspected the inside of the pipe.
"It's filled with lamp oil. We can't simply cut it. A spark getting inside would still set it alight."
"Then we'll draw the oil out."
Li Sanshun pulled the spare bamboo tube from the gap in the iron chest where Zhao Chong's tube was, then put one end into the ceramic pipe and the other into an empty medicine bottle.
A disciple poured water into the bamboo tube.
The lamp oil was lighter than water, so it soon flowed out the other end and into the bottle. After two bottles of oil had been drawn out, only water remained in the ceramic pipe.
Only then did Gu Qinghe bring down her sword.
Crack!
The ceramic pipe snapped.
The ignition line connecting the two pressure plates was broken.
Sun Erhe still didn't dare get up.
"There's a spring latch under the pressure plate. If I lift my leg, the copper pin will strike the flint."
Li Sanshun brought over a piece of iron weighing about the same, then had two disciples hold Sun Erhe up.
"On three, lift your leg, and I'll put the iron in its place."
"What if you're too slow?"
"Then we all burn together."
"You're real good at comforting people."
Sun Erhe bit down on his sleeve.
"Three!"
The two disciples lifted him.
Li Sanshun shoved the iron into place.
The stone plate sprang up half an inch, then was pressed back down by the iron. The copper pin underneath scraped the flint, giving off a few sparks, but they failed to reach the now water-filled ceramic pipe.
Sun Erhe collapsed onto the ground, blood still running from his trouser leg.
The first witness was safe!
Gu Qinghe gave him a Hemostatic Pill, then turned to the iron chest in the center.
The chest couldn't be moved, and the lid was connected to the mechanism. The only way to save Zhao Chong was to open it from the side.
Gu Qinghe used her short sword to cut through the rusted wall of the chest.
A piece of iron fell away.
Li Sanshun reached in and pushed aside the Corpse-Bone Vine. Grabbing Zhao Chong by the shoulder, he dragged him out through the opening.
Zhao Chong's body was icy cold, and his pulse was so faint it was almost impossible to feel.
Gu Qinghe pried open his mouth, pressed a Detoxification Pill beneath his tongue, then used her spiritual energy to disperse its medicinal power.
After a dozen or so breaths, Zhao Chong's throat gave a cough, and he spat out a mouthful of black, medicinal-tasting water.
He was alive!
Both key witnesses had been found!
When Sun Erhe saw Zhao Chong wake, he braced himself against the stone pillar and sat up.
"Leave quickly. The people who captured me said someone would come back to inspect the cellar after the Herb Garden caught fire. If they don't find the bodies, they'll activate the Array Disk themselves."
Gu Qinghe had two disciples carry Zhao Chong and assigned another to carry Sun Erhe.
Just as they reached the iron door, the sound of a mechanism turning came from beneath them.
Red light flashed at all four corners of the cellar.
The Array Disk beneath the iron chest had started up. Fire-Marrow Sand flowed along the Array Patterns, heading straight for the Corpse-Bone Vine piled around the room.
"Someone outside has activated the Ignition Array!"
Gu Qinghe drew her short sword.
"Back to the Abandoned Well!"
The group rushed out of the cellar and ran along the drainage channel toward the well.
They hadn't gone far when a huge boulder crashed down from above, blocking the Abandoned Well's exit. Six masked cultivators appeared by the well right after it.
One of them stepped on the stone slab and called down into the well.
"Did you find them all? Good. Seal the well and ignite the array!"
Before you continue