Open for Me!

Li Sanshun was just about to pull the door ring when the person behind the stone door hurriedly stopped him.

"Don't open it! There are falling rocks pressing against the back of the door!"

Gu Qinghe raised the mine tunnel map. The collapse zone originally had two ventilation shafts, but now they were completely blocked by rubble, leaving only the gap in the door for air to pass through.

There was also a Pulse-Locking Array added beside the door.

Array spikes were driven into the rock wall, covered on the outside by a Mine Sealing Order from six years ago. If they forced the door open, the array would trigger and collapse the mine ceiling behind the stone door.

Bai Cheng had been here, yet he hadn't saved them.

He had wanted the people inside to be buried alive.

Li Sanshun squatted by the wall and took a breath along the door gap.

[Mineral vein spiritual energy detected.]

[Pulse-locking iron sand detected.]

[There are three living human auras behind the stone door.]

[One of them has a weakening aura.]

"Who is injured in there?"

It took a moment for a response to come from behind the door.

"Old Luo got his leg crushed by a rock. He can't hold on much longer!"

Gu Qinghe took out the Miner Roster.

The three people who went missing six years ago were named Luo Dashan, Yuan Fu, and Chen Jiumu; all of them were veteran miners from the Ding-Character Furnace.

The names and the number of people matched.

"Did Bai Cheng go inside?"

"He reached a hand in through the food delivery slot, trying to poison the water. Old Chen stabbed him with a piece of iron, and he ran off."

The blood on Bai Cheng's sleeve matched as well.

Gu Qinghe examined the food delivery slot beside the stone door. Half a packet of black medicinal powder was jammed inside, stained with blood on the outside.

"He sealed the ventilation shaft and activated the Pulse-Locking Array. In half an hour at most, the mine ceiling will collapse."

Yuan Fu, behind the door, pounded on the stone slab twice.

"Deacon Gu, forget about this door. Go to the Ding-Character Furnace and find Xu Zhenchuan! He's going to destroy what's at the bottom of the furnace!"

Gu Qinghe shoved the Major Case Order into the crack of the door.

"You all retreat to the very back of the stone chamber."

"We can't. Old Luo is pinned behind the door; we can't move him."

Sounds of moving rubble came from inside the stone door, but they soon stopped.

Gu Qinghe circled to the left side of the collapse zone and used her sword blade to scrape the iron sand off the rock wall.

The Pulse-Locking Array had eight array spikes. If one was pulled incorrectly, the entire mine ceiling would press down.

"Can you break it?" Li Sanshun looked at her.

"It will take the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

"They can't afford to wait that long."

The air seeping through the door gap was becoming thinner. Old Luo had already gone quiet, and the other two were still calling his name.

Li Sanshun pressed against the rock wall and took another deep breath.

The air in the mine tunnel was thick with dust, making it painful to inhale. However, the mineral vein spiritual energy buried in the stone layers seeped into his body with every breath.

[Absorbed low-grade mineral vein spiritual energy.]

[Life energy restored.]

[Immortal technique energy restored.]

Breathe again!

[Immortal technique energy restored to full.]

Earth-element energy poured into the rock wall, and the positions of the rubble behind the door appeared in Li Sanshun's mind one by one.

The stone door could not be pulled.

He could break in from the side.

"Gu Qinghe, step back."

Li Sanshun walked to the right side of the stone door and pressed his hand against the rock wall. The earth-element energy spread along the cracks, supporting the load-bearing stones inside.

The rubble in the mine ceiling stopped shifting.

The Pulse-Locking Array began to operate, and the eight array spikes drilled into the rock layer simultaneously. Stone chips fell in succession, and the ground beneath their feet began to shake.

"Open for me!"

Li Sanshun punched into the rock wall.

The stone layer cracked by half a foot.

The second punch landed, and the crack extended to the door frame.

The third punch smashed straight through the rock wall!

A foul stench that had been trapped for years rushed out of the opening.

Li Sanshun turned his head and coughed a few times, then reached his hand into the breach. The earth-element energy coiled around the rubble inside, sending it out piece by piece.

Gu Qinghe wasn't idle either. She sliced away the stone layer along the breach, widening the opening until it was large enough for one person to pass through.

The two of them climbed into the stone chamber.

It was only about ten paces wide. In the corner was a subterranean spring, and by the wall were piles of empty grain bags and porcelain bottles that had held Inedia Pills.

Luo Dashan lay behind the stone door, a piece of ore pinning his left leg. Yuan Fu and Chen Jiumu stood guard beside him; their clothes were tattered beyond recognition, and their hair hung down to their shoulders.

After six years of imprisonment, all three were gaunt and unrecognizable.

Li Sanshun lifted the ore, and Gu Qinghe dragged Luo Dashan out.

The leg injury was severe, but he was still alive.

She fed him a Pulse-Protecting Pill and used wooden boards to set the broken leg.

"This place won't hold for long, let's get out first."

Yuan Fu shook his head and pointed to the stone wall beside the subterranean spring.

"We can't get out. Xu Zhenchuan locked our Miner Fire Contracts inside. If we leave the Ding-Character Furnace by more than three miles, the Fire Contract will burn our lives away."

Gu Qinghe cut open Yuan Fu's sleeve.

A "Ding" character was branded on the inside of his arm, surrounded by tiny red veins. Chen Jiumu and Luo Dashan had them as well.

Li Sanshun smelled the red veins.

[Ding-Character Furnace Fire Contract detected.]

[Fire Contract is connected to the three men's essence and blood.]

[Control array is located beneath the Ding-Character Furnace.]

Xu Zhenchuan had kept the three of them with no intention of ever letting them go.

They were the three living keys to opening the bottom level of the Ding-Character Furnace.

Li Sanshun hoisted Luo Dashan onto his back.

"Then we go to the Ding-Character Furnace to break the Fire Contract first."

Chen Jiumu grabbed his clothes.

"We can't go back the way we came. Before Bai Cheng ran out, he said Xu Zhenchuan had already entered the West Mountain. If he's guarding the furnace entrance, we'll all die."

"Have you seen Xu Zhenchuan with your own eyes?"

"I have."

Chen Jiumu fished a small copper plate from his tattered clothes. The plate was only half-complete, with half of the character "Zhen" left on it.

It was exactly the missing handling mark from the cliff-fall ledger.

"Six years ago, Xu Zhenchuan was still managing old scrolls in the Archives Room of the Law Enforcement Hall. He took Gu Changyue's private seal and brought us to open the Ding-Character Furnace."

Yuan Fu took up the story.

"He made us melt down fifty-eight catties of Blood-Vein Black Iron to cast token blanks. After the work was done, he locked us in here and sent people to deliver Inedia Pills every few months."

Gu Qinghe took out the Law Enforcement Peak Roster and flipped to the page for the Deputy Hall Master.

"Is it him?"

Chen Jiumu grabbed the roster and pulled it in front of him. After just one glance, he pressed down hard on Xu Zhenchuan's name.

"It's this bastard!"

The person who had forged Gu Changyue's private seal six years ago had been found.

The forged cliff-fall case file, the imprisoned miners, the diverted Blood-Vein Black Iron—they now had living witnesses for it all.

A few rocks suddenly fell outside the mine tunnel.

The Pulse-Locking Array was pressing down again.

Li Sanshun carried Luo Dashan on his back and led the others out through the breach. Gu Qinghe supported Yuan Fu, while Chen Jiumu led everyone through a narrow passage behind the stone chamber.

This path led directly to the lower level of the Ding-Character Furnace.

At the end of the narrow passage, Chen Jiumu stopped in front of a cast-iron floor.

There were fifteen rectangular grooves on the floor, fourteen of which were already empty.

The last one was still sealed at the bottom of the furnace.

Li Sanshun took out the half-piece of the Blood Token and placed it into an empty groove to compare.

The size was a perfect match.

"How many did Xu Zhenchuan cast back then?"

"Fifteen."

"He took fourteen, so why is this last one still here?"

Chen Jiumu pointed to the seal at the bottom of the furnace.

"Because the last one had the wrong serial number engraved on it."

Gu Qinghe took out the Miner Fire Contract, preparing to break the seal.

Chen Jiumu stopped her.

"Deacon Gu, you'd better look at the serial number first."

"What is engraved on it?"

"The Imperial Old Infant Case, Number Fifteen!"