Fang Han pressed on until he found the Dan Character Passage.
Its entrance was narrower than that of the Ku Character Passage, and the rubble was piled higher, blocking more than half of it.
Fang Han swept the Qi Observation Art over it and found that space remained deeper inside. The passage had not collapsed completely.
He released a burst of Dark Strength from his palm, reducing the rubble at the entrance to dust, then turned sideways and squeezed in.
"Looks like once I get through here, I'll reach the Xiao Family Patriarch's Pill Room."
Fang Han smiled faintly at the battered passage.
The torches on the passage walls had long since gone out. Copper lamp brackets hung crookedly from the stone, warped by the explosion.
Some had twisted like strands of dough; others had torn free of the walls and shattered on the ground.
Fallen stones lay heaped along both sides of the passage, forming uneven mounds.
In places, the rubble nearly reached the ceiling, leaving only the narrowest gaps.
But with Dark Strength clearing his way, Fang Han advanced almost without obstruction. Stones blocking his path shattered, and Force Qi pushed aside the collapsed heaps.
The deeper he went, the stronger the scent of pills grew.
That medicinal fragrance was crisp with a trace of sweetness, distinct even amid the smells of sulfur and scorching.
Something stirred in Fang Han's heart, and he quickened his pace.
Before long, he reached the end of the passage.
A stone chamber lay beyond. Half had collapsed; the other half remained in good condition.
Rubble and earth had completely buried the collapsed half. Great cracks split the stone walls, and debris had poured through them into a small mountain.
In the intact half, the walls were whole and the floor level. Even