"Investigate. Find out who it is."
The advisors, as if granted a pardon, readily agreed and scrambled out of the study. Meng Qi stood alone in the empty secret room, his fingers unconsciously stroking an inconspicuous jade pendant at his waist. He squinted, his gaze passing through the half-open window to the old, leafy locust tree in the courtyard, and murmured to himself.
"Ten years have passed... and some people still won't settle down."
The Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range stretch three hundred li south of the capital, their terrain precipitous and their forests Shrouding the Heavens, shrouded in a milky-white miasma year-round. Ordinary people would feel dizzy, nauseous, and vomit after entering the mountains for no more than three li; those who ventured five li would bleed from all seven orifices and die instantly. Therefore, this place was also known by the locals as "the Ghosts' Dread."
Before dawn the next day, Snow Empress Mu Canglan left the capital through a secret passage and traveled south at a rapid pace. In the afternoon, they arrived at the entrance to the northern foot of the Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range. Mu Canglan stopped in a secluded crevice at the foot of the mountain, took out two small celadon bottles from his cloth bag, and handed one of them to Snow Empress.
" Miasma-Repelling Pill. Place one under your tongue before entering the mountains; it will protect you from miasma for three hours." He uncorked his bottle, poured out a dark pill, and put it in his mouth. "Spit it out after leaving the mountains; do not swallow it."
Snow Empress took the medicine bottle and put a pill under her tongue. The pill melted in her mouth, and a cool, bitter taste slid down her throat into her chest and abdomen. Immediately, it felt as if her meridians were wrapped in a thin layer of ice, and even her breathing became clearer.
"Let's go." Mu Canglan took the lead and slipped into a narrow path almost completely covered by weeds after they entered the crevice in the rock.
The path was winding and rugged, with slippery moss and tangled vines on both sides. The deeper one went, the thicker the miasma became, and the milky white fog compressed the line of sight to less than three zhang. Mu Canglan's steps were unwavering, and he didn't even need to stop when he encountered a fork in the road. He quickly chose a direction, as if he had walked this path a thousand times before.
Snow Empress followed behind him, observing the surroundings and silently memorizing the terrain along the way. She noticed occasional traces of human carving on the stone walls—recessed grooves, broken iron chains, and dilapidated wooden stakes for the plank road, clearly remnants left by the Spirit Vein Bureau during its mining operations. Time had covered these traces with moss and soil, but the outlines remained, faintly outlining the appearance of this mountain that had once been extensively mined.
"There's a stretch of poisonous vines ahead." Mu Canglan suddenly stopped after traveling for more than half an hour and pointed ahead. Snow Empress looked in the direction he was pointing, and in the milky white miasma, she could vaguely see clusters of dark green vines Entanglement the trees on both sides. The vines were as thick as a child's arm and covered with fine thorns. The vines were so dense that they formed a natural barrier.
"These poison vines were planted later by Liu Yanzhao's men." Mu Canglan took out a small cloth bag from his pouch, which contained a dark red powder that emitted a pungent, fishy smell. " The Seventy-Two Caves used to have Vine-Repelling Powder that would make the poison vines repel automatically when sprinkled on it. But Liu Yanzhao's men must have modified the poison vines' behavior, so I'm not sure how effective this old formula is anymore."
He sprinkled some powder on the nearest vine. The dark red powder stuck to the vine, and as expected, the dark green vine trembled slightly, wriggling and retreating to the sides, revealing a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.
"It works." Mu Canglan breathed a sigh of relief, "But if we walk too fast, the powder's effect won't last long."
The two of them slipped into the gaps revealed by the retreating vines. Mu Canglan kept throwing Vine-Repelling Powder in front, while Snow Empress followed closely behind, keeping a distance of about ten feet. The poisonous vines on both sides made a faint hissing sound when they were touched by the powder, like the sound of a group of snakes curling up in fright. The dark green vines trembled and curled backward.
The poisonous vine trail was much longer than Snow Empress had imagined. The two of them traversed the gaps between the vines for nearly half an hour, consuming an astonishing amount of Vine-Repelling Powder; Mu Canglan's bag was almost empty. Just as Snow Empress was secretly worried that the powder would run out, the view ahead suddenly opened up—the poisonous vine trail had come to an end, replaced by a relatively open valley flatland.
In the center of the valley stands a massive stone building, built against the mountainside and half-embedded within it. At the entrance, two heavy iron gates are tightly closed, their surfaces adorned with intricate spiritual runes. On either side of the gates stand two Puppet Armor, forged entirely from dark Xuantie, with shimmering crystal cores embedded in their joints. Their eight hollow eye sockets stare unanimously toward the valley entrance.
Mu Canglan pulled Snow Empress and quickly crouched down, hiding behind a boulder. He held his breath and observed for a moment, then whispered, "The four patrol Puppet Armor and the spirit pattern array on the iron gate should be a detection array. It will be triggered as soon as we get within five zhang."
Snow Empress peeked out from the edge of the boulder, examining the four Puppet Armor. The craftsmanship of the Xuantie puppets was extremely exquisite; their joints moved almost silently, yet their stance was as stable as a rock. Their perception range covered the entire valley entrance, and any living thing that approached would be detected immediately.
"Can we go around it?" Snow Empress asked in a low voice.
Mu Canglan shook his head. "There's only one entrance to the entire valley, and it's surrounded by cliffs on three sides, covered with interconnected sensor arrays. Climbing over the cliffs is even more dangerous than going through the main entrance."
Snow Empress pondered for a moment, her gaze falling on the spirit pattern array on the two iron doors. The patterns looked somewhat familiar to her—they originated from the same source as the access control array of the Spirit Vein Bureau's secret vault, with only a few nodes slightly modified. She had received systematic array training at the Spirit Vein Bureau and knew the weaknesses of this type of detection array.
"Cover me." She tucked the hem of her white shirt into her belt. "I'll break the detection array on the door. You keep an eye on those four Puppet Armor. If they make any unusual movements, sprinkle the poisonous Vine-Repelling Powder powder in their faces. I'm not sure how effective the poisonous vine powder is on the Xuantie puppets, but it should at least interfere with their sensory cores for a moment."
Mu Canglan grabbed her wrist. "Are you crazy? Breaking the formation with four Puppet Armor surrounding you, even the slightest mistake..."
"This is the only way I can do." Snow Empress pulled her hand away from his. "Once the Puppet Armor is alerted, all the hundreds in the armory will be activated, and then none of us will be able to escape. You stay here to provide backup, do you hear me?"
Seeing the unwavering determination in her eyes, Mu Canglan finally released his grip. He took out the last half-bag of Vine-Repelling Powder from the cloth bag, held it in his palm, and nodded to the Snow Empress.
Snow Empress's figure glided across the ground like a white leaf. Her movements were silent, her breathing was kept to a minimum, and each step was precisely placed between the rocks and the soil where it would not make a sound. In just a few breaths, she approached the iron gate, only three zhang away from the four puppet Puppet Armor.
The four Puppet Armor did not react at all. Their sensory cores captured the aura of living beings based on the fluctuation of Spiritual Power. However, the Snow Empress contracted the Spiritual Power around her to the extreme the moment she approached the iron gate, as if a candle flame had been blown out or a stove had been sealed off. From the perspective of spiritual perception, she was almost equivalent to a stone.