The mine

The carriage quickly left the inner city, where several fine horses used by the government were waiting at the city gate, led by white-clad servants.

Xu Qi'an and his group switched to fast horses and passed through the streets and bustling markets of the outer city. They left the outer city in just half an hour. The six riders immediately sped up and rushed to Mount Dahuang.

"The official horses are really fast. They're almost fifty yards. Could my horse in my past life have run this fast?" Xu Qi'an muttered to himself.

The differences often mentioned in novels stem from variations in the amount of Spiritual Qi.

This conjecture makes sense, because Qi cultivation is an instinctive method of Qi Refinement.

The group arrived at the edge of Mount Huang at noon, stopped by the official road, tied the horse ropes to the tree trunks by the roadside, ate some dry rations, and then took a narrow mountain path into the mountains.

The six people ran as fast as they could, and a quarter of an hour later, they arrived at the river flowing at the foot of Mount Huang.

After searching along the river for a while, they found several blurry footprints, about three feet long and one and a half feet wide, with four toes.

Lü Qing and his two colleagues took off the packs from their backs, took out the explosives, and distributed them to Xu Qi'an and the other two:

"We'll drop explosives downstream, centering on the claw marks. You guys go upstream and see if you can force the monster out of the river."

This was a pre-planned strategy.

The Great Feng Dynasty maintained very strict control over gunpowder, keeping the formula a secret and monopolizing all the materials needed to manufacture it.

Even the Nightwatchers and the quick-witted officials like Lü Qing only had a rudimentary understanding of the composition of gunpowder.

It was detected by smell.

Both sides lit the explosive charges and threw them into the river.

"Boom!"

A muffled explosion rang out, and river water splashed several meters high.

Soon, the explosives ran out. The group stood on the bank, watching the rolling turbid waves, and waited for a long time, but did not see the monster emerge from the river.

"If only we had the help of the Warlock from the Bureau of Astronomy," Xu Qi'an remarked.

The Qi-Watching Technique to observe Yao Qi can pinpoint the location of demonic entities.

Song Tingfeng scoffed and said in a low voice, "The Warlock of the Bureau of Astronomy are far more noble than us Nightwatchers; they only answer to the Emperor. Don't expect them to bother with such a trivial case."

Warlock of the Bureau of Astronomy very noble? I don't think so. You haven't seen the look of reverence on their faces when they look at me.

Xu Qi'an nodded.

The two met up, and Song Tingfeng shrugged. "It seems it's not coming out. My suggestion is to go into the mountains and take a look. If there really is something in the Great Huangshan Mountains."

Xu Qi'an added, "First, check the area where the gray villagers are collecting limestone."

Lü Qing nodded thoughtfully.

Two groups of people entered the mountain in separate batches, one in front of the other, several dozen meters apart.

Song Tingfeng gestured towards Lü Qing's retreating figure, saying, "That female constable from the prefectural government has quite the figure. Look at that buttocks, firm and strong, and her legs are powerful. The girls from the Imperial Academy of Music are pretty, but they're still too delicate."

I agree. And women who practice martial arts often have defined abs, smooth curves, and taut thighs; they might even have faint abdominal muscles. This reminds me of my wife, Tifa. Xu Qi'an pondered, "But she seems to be used to binding her chest, which isn't good; it could deform her breasts."

Song Tingfeng was taken aback, then burst into laughter. "You noticed it too, huh? I've been missing an interesting companion like you. Zhu Guangxiao is a taciturn fellow who's never said a word."

For men, telling dirty jokes is always a fun and time-killing pastime.

Zhu Guangxiao glanced at him, then remained silent.

The gray-haired fishermen mainly collect from the main peak of Huangshan Mountain. The group could see the exposed rocks on the mountainside from afar, which looked like white spots on a person's face.

Years of mining have left this towering main peak riddled with holes.

The two sides searched aimlessly in the mountains for a long time but found nothing of value.

While drinking water together, Lü Qing said, "Dahuangshan not only has high-quality limestone, but also abundant vegetation, which can be cut down on the spot to be used as dye. It is very convenient for the limestone farmers to open kilns. They can dig and fire as they go, and the limestone will break down as it is fired."

"There is a river at the foot of the mountain, making water transport convenient. Firewood is saved and the ash is of high quality; labor is reduced and profits are substantial."

Another constable from the government office added, "That's why the taxes are heavy; we can't cut off our livelihood by collecting ash."

So they went to the government office to complain. Xu Qi'an was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Exorbitant taxes and levies breed displaced people; the people's hard-earned money is the most delicious food."

Everyone fell silent instantly; no one dared to speak.

Song Tingfeng coughed and changed the subject. "The demon doesn't come out of the water, so we don't have enough manpower to search the mountains. Officer Lü, do you have any suggestions?"

Although he had just been lusting after her body, Song Tingfeng did not look down on her because of her large breasts and perky buttocks.

Lu Qing considered carefully and said, "We will split into three groups, two people per group, to find the village chiefs of the nearby villages; we will return to the capital to gather manpower for the mountain search; I will go to the prefect and ask him to find Warlock from the Bureau of Astronomy to help us."

"That would be too much of a waste of time," Xu Qi'an waved his hand and said, "Choose one person to go find the village chiefs of the nearby villages, and the rest will stay here."

Lü Qing frowned.

Xu Qi'an glanced at her. "If we don't find anything, I'll be responsible for going to the Bureau of Astronomy to find Warlock."

He spoke with such certainty. Would the Warlock of the Bureau of Astronomy really listen to him?

Lu Qing scrutinized Xu Qi'an for a moment, nodded slightly, and sent a companion to fetch someone.

Less than half an hour later, the constable at the peak of the Essence Refining Realm returned with an old man.

"My surname is Zhang, and I am the village head of Waihegou Village outside Dahuangshan." The old man gave a slightly awkward bow, his tone excited:

"We've finally waited for you, gentlemen! If you hadn't come soon, the villagers would have gone hungry."

This matter dragged on for almost half a year.

Lu Qing stared at him, his gaze sharp and his expression stern. "I ask you, where did those last ten or so people who went into the mountains die?"

"To the south," the village chief pointed to the south of the mountains, "It's accessed from the opposite direction of the river."

Song Tingfeng's heart skipped a beat. "Are there kilns for burning ash over there too?"

After their exploration, they discovered that the most concentrated area of ash burning was not far from the river. The ash-burning households would definitely not dare to choose this spot to burn ash, as they would have to take a detour into the mountains.

Because once the monster comes ashore, no one can escape.

The village chief nodded. "A few scattered spots, not as many as here."

"Take us there," Lü Qing said in a deep voice.

"Yes!" The village chief seemed quite afraid of the female constable.

The group headed south, but the mountain path was rugged and extremely difficult to climb. They also had to keep an eye on the old village chief, so they didn't walk very fast.

"This is it." The village chief stopped on the narrow path and pointed ahead to a clearing that had been excavated.

The area was littered with rubble, the vegetation had been cut down, and there were several cave-like kilns used for burning ash.

The group searched the area but found no valuable clues; it had already been cleared out.

Song Tingfeng and Lü Qing exchanged a glance and both shook their heads.

Xu Qi'an said, "Let's go into the brothel and take a look."

The group used whatever materials were available to light torches, drew their swords, and cautiously entered the earthen kiln.

They initially thought it was just a kiln used for burning ash and wouldn't be too deep, but as they walked, Xu Qi'an and the others realized something was wrong.

This isn't a brothel at all; it's clearly a tunnel dug out by people. It took us the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to get to the end.

Song Tingfeng squinted and said, "There's no need to dig this deep for a kiln. It's obvious they're carving out something; there are no signs of smoke or fire on the stone walls."

Lü Qing summoned the village head and demanded, "What's going on?"

The village chief was bewildered and stammered, "I... I don't know."

Holding a torch, Xu Qi'an observed the rock face and then carefully examined the ground for a moment. He then picked up a palm-sized piece of white ore.

Is this what they're mining?

This doesn't look like limestone.

Xu Qi'an exerted force with his palm, his energy surging, and with a "crack" sound, the white ore was crushed into powder.

He held up a torch and sprinkled powder into the flames.

Call!

The torch instantly burst into flames, a bright yellow tinged with a dark purple.

Saltpeter?!

Xu Qi'an's pupils contracted.

The sudden burst of flames startled everyone inside the cave, and the sound of swords gathering energy echoed through the air.

Seeing that Xu Qi'an was behind it, Lü Qing asked with a hint of anger, "What are you doing?"