New Observations at an Old Haunt

Three days later, the two stood at the entrance to the western mountain pass.

Instead of entering Maple Leaf Town, Lu Yuan took a long detour around the northern hills, deliberately avoiding the main road. Mo Chen followed behind, occasionally grabbing a handful of dirt to rub, or listening to the wind.

The scene before me was even more dilapidated than I remembered.

Two low, rocky hills flank a gentle slope, on which a dozen or so dark caves of varying depths gape open, as if haphazardly gnawed by a giant beast. The rocks at the cave entrances are weathered to a ghastly white, covered with dark green moss and withered vines. The wind that escapes from the caves carries a damp, earthy smell and a faint rusty odor.

Several rows of low stone houses lay scattered below, most of them collapsed. The roof rafters were rotten and broken, revealing darkness inside. Wild grass sprouted from the cracks in the walls, growing to waist height.

Mo Chen clicked his tongue.

"It's desolate enough." His voice was dry. "Could anyone really live there?"

Lu Yuan didn't answer. He squatted down, pressing his palm to the ground. His Soul Power was barely perceptible as he extended it.

Barren.

It was so thin it looked like it had been sifted dozens of times, leaving only residue. For Soul Master who relied on Soul Power for cultivation, this was a hopeless situation.

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up.

With less Soul Power, there is less interference. This may not be a bad thing for his research, which requires precise control and a stable environment.

He got up and brushed the dirt off his hands.

"Let's go in and take a look."

The two stepped into the ruins.

Lu Yuan walked very slowly. Dozens of thin, pale blue grass tendrils, as fine as hair, snaked along the ground and rock walls, silently disappearing into different mine shafts.

He was examining the structure.

The interior is more complex than the exterior. Some caves are deep with a network of branching passages, and the rock walls are relatively stable. Some caves are shallow but dangerous, with obvious cracks in the ceiling, and loose rocks falling down in a rustling sound.

Mo Chen didn't follow him into the cave. He wandered around the ruins of the stone house, now holding a small hammer in his hand, tapping here and there. He tapped the remaining beams, door frames, and broken stones on the ground. Occasionally, he would pick up a piece, squint at it in the light, then shake his head and throw it away.

"What are you looking for?" Lu Yuan retreated from a cave entrance.

"Check for any remaining slag." Mo Chen didn't even look up. "If the mine could be opened back then, there must have been a vein underneath. Even if it's dried up, there should still be some traces. If we can find any useful metal residue, it'll save us trouble making tools later."

He paused.

"But it looks like it's going to be tough. All the valuables have already been stolen."

Lu Yuan nodded and continued to observe the terrain.

The wind mainly blows in from the northwest entrance, swirls in the depression, and flows out from the southeast gap. There are several low-lying areas where turbid rainwater has accumulated; the water quality is not good, but it is not stagnant.

Water is a problem, but it can be diverted.

The seclusion is quite good. The entrance to the valley is narrow, sandwiched between two huge weathered rocks, like a natural bottle neck. It's difficult to discover the hidden world inside from the outside. The surrounding rocky mountains are not high, but the rocks are exposed, the vegetation is sparse, and the view is open.

Lu Yuan's mental assessment.

Safety, concealment, and modifiability... the first two are barely passable. The last one depends on how it's specifically implemented.

Mo Chen found a small metal strip embedded in the foundation of the wall among the ruins of the row of stone houses further inside. It was heavily rusted, but it was still vaguely visible that it was used for structural reinforcement. He knocked off a small piece and weighed it in his hand.

"It's iron, mixed with something else, so the hardness is alright." He scoffed. "Unfortunately, there's too little of it; it's rusted through, making remelting a difficult task."

The two spent an hour or so roughly exploring the valley. The sun was high overhead, shining brightly on the desolate landscape, and the air was filled with the dry, dusty smell.

Lu Yuan stood at the deepest part of the valley, facing the last mine shaft he hadn't looked at closely.

This cave is in the most remote location. The entrance is mostly blocked by dead thorns and fallen rocks, leaving only a narrow gap that is barely enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. It is dark inside and has a cool, musty smell.

"This looks like it's collapsed." Mo Chen leaned closer and used the handle of his hammer to poke at the rubble at the entrance of the cave. "There are more cracks in the ceiling than in the other caves. We have to be careful going in."

Lu Yuan hummed in response, a faint blue light flashing at his fingertips. Several thinner strands of Blue Silver Grass, clinging to the ground and rock walls, silently slipped into the crevices and spread into the depths of darkness.

He closed his eyes to feel the feedback.

The cave was deep. The interior space was larger than expected, but the collapse was severe. The first half was almost completely filled with rubble and mud, leaving only a narrow, winding crevice for barely any passage. After the grass passed through the collapsed area, the space opened up a bit more. The rock walls were damp, and the sound of dripping water was clearly audible.

The structure is fairly stable... um?

Lu Yuan frowned slightly.

When the grass whiskers detected a rock wall on the left, they returned an extremely faint fluctuation of Soul Power. The fluctuation was so weak that it could only be barely detected in this near-vacuum environment of Soul Power. What made it unusual was its stability.

Exceptionally stable.

The surrounding Soul Power was barren and scattered, like dust floating in stagnant water. But the fluctuations emanating from that small patch of rock were like smooth pebbles polished to the bottom of a pool—weak, yet possessing a clear and stable inner rhythm.

Out of place with his surroundings.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes.

"There's something inside." His voice was calm, but Mo Chen sensed something different.

"Soul Beast? Or..." Mo Chen gripped the hammer tightly.

"It doesn't seem like a living thing." Lu Yuan shook his head. "The Soul Power fluctuations are very unusual. Let's go in and take a look."

He squeezed into the narrow gap first. Mo Chen spat, tucked the hammer behind his waist, and followed him in.

It was much cooler inside the cave than outside. The air was murky and smelled of earth and mildew. The gravel underfoot was sharp and uncomfortable, and fine sand kept falling from above. The two carefully moved forward, using the faint light filtering in from the cave entrance.

The landslide area was difficult to traverse. In some places, one had to crawl across using both hands and feet, while in others, one had to squeeze sideways along the slippery rock face. Mo Chen, whose left arm was injured, struggled to walk and muttered curses under his breath.

After going about twenty feet deeper, they passed the most severe landslide area. The space ahead suddenly widened, like a natural rock cavity. The light was almost gone, with only a faint blue light gathered at Lu Yuan's fingertip barely illuminating the surrounding area for a few steps.

The cavern was small, with a thick layer of dust and gravel on the ground, and the rock walls were covered with traces of water erosion, making it damp.

Lu Yuan stopped and looked down at the rock wall on his left.

This is it.

He walked over, Blue Silver Grass tendrils emerged again, gently clinging to the rock face. The ripples became clearer. Faint, but surprisingly stable.

Mo Chen followed and examined the rock face by the blue light. The surface of the rock wall was covered with collapsed rubble and withered vine roots, and there was nothing particularly special about it.

"Let's dig it open and take a look," Lu Yuan said.

The two men began to clear away the surface debris and roots. Dust flew everywhere, causing Mo Chen to cough. As the covering was cleared away, a small, relatively intact section of the rock wall was revealed.

The color of the rock face is off.

It wasn't the grayish-white or dark brown of the surrounding area, but a somber dark red, like congealed and oxidized blood. Lu Yuan reached out and touched it; it was slightly warm to the touch.

Mo Chen moved even closer, almost pressing his face against it. His breath suddenly caught in his throat.

"Wait..." His voice changed as he pulled a short staff from his pocket. A soft white light shone from the tip of the staff, illuminating the dark red rock wall.

The light illuminated the texture of the rock face.

It wasn't man-made; it looked more like a natural formation. Fine, dark red lines of varying shades meandered and intertwined on the rock face, forming a complex and regular pattern. The lines were slightly raised above the rock surface, giving a distinct tactile feel.

Mo Chen stared at the patterns, his eyes widening. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he gasped sharply.

"This... this is..."

He turned to look at Lu Yuan, his face a mixture of disbelief and almost horrified excitement.

"Red-Patterned Rock?!" Mo Chen's voice echoed in the narrow rock cavity, "The quality is pitifully low, the veins are so faint they're almost invisible... But how could this be in this godforsaken place?!"

Lu Yuan remained silent. He lightly brushed his fingertips across the dark red natural patterns, sensing the faint yet remarkably stable rhythm of Soul Power within them.

Red-Patterned Rock. He remembered this term from his past life. It's a rare type of rock that usually forms only deep within ley lines where fire-attribute Soul Power is extremely active. The patterns are natural "imprints" left by the long-term immersion and sedimentation of ley line Soul Power, possessing the characteristic of stably guiding specific attribute Soul Power.

It is an important base material for the core of certain advanced Soul Tool or special cultivation formations.

But this place is an abandoned mining area where Soul Power is scarce.

Lu Yuan looked up, his gaze falling into the deeper darkness of the cavern. The Blue Silver Grass tendrils silently extended in that direction.

If there is any Red-Patterned Rock here, even just a small piece of the lowest quality, it means one thing—

Deep within this seemingly lifeless mine, a spark of fire may still be lurking, one that has not yet been completely extinguished.