Please Recommend. Two chapters today, 3,000 words. Night lay thick as ink, pressing heavily over the vast silhouette of Iron Jaw Fortress.
The clamor and lights aboveground were cut off by thick layers of rock, while the world below sank into deeper silence and darkness.
The air was filled with the smells of earth, rock, and rust, and a damp chill.
Two powerfully built guards pushed open a heavy prison door cast from black iron, accompanied by the slow, piercing creak of a winch.
The dim yellow light spilling through the gap outlined a slender figure.
Ye Sirong wore a blue leather battle skirt that allowed easy movement, with a plain white cloak over it, making her cool bearing seem all the more otherworldly.
Carrying a heavy, tiered food basket in one hand, she followed Zuo Jinhua with unhurried steps into the passage gradually being swallowed by darkness.
The passage ran deep, winding downward.
On either side, roughly hewn rock walls glistened faintly with moisture.
The lighting was sparse and eerie: most stretches relied solely on Black Oil Torches set into iron rings on the walls; at certain wider or more important junctions, embedded Blazing Fire Crystal Clusters gave off a steady orange-red glow, offering a little warmth that still could not dispel the chill.
Footsteps echoed through the empty passage, where even the echoes of their own breathing could be heard clearly.
They continued downward, passing through one heavily guarded checkpoint after another, and the air grew increasingly stagnant with the depth.
At last, they stopped before an exceptionally thick darksteel prison door, with a huge character for "A" carved into its lintel.
Zuo Jinhua stopped. "Open the door."
The four Darkfire Guards of the Ximen Family stationed outside naturally recognized Zuo Jinhua, but only after carefully confirming Ye