Work Quietly Begins

As daylight streamed in from outside the cavern, Mo Chen woke up from the cold. He was curled up in a corner, his tattered coat offering no protection. Opening his eyes, he saw Lu Yuan already busy at the foot of the opposite rock wall, carefully clearing away the rubble at the base of the Red-Patterned Rock with a rusty iron chisel.

The movements were light, yet steady.

Mo Chen rubbed his face, got up, squatted down, picked up a flat stone, and started digging. The two worked silently, with only the scraping sound and the rustling of falling gravel. After half an hour, they had cleared a three-foot square area at the base of the rock wall. Dark red lines extended from the rock wall to the ground, like tree roots sinking into the soil.

"That's all for today." Lu Yuan wiped his sweat. "I'll go outside and set up a perimeter. You organize the junk we brought and see what tools you can piece together."

Mo Chen nodded, without asking any further questions.

Lu Yuan emerged from the mine shaft; the sun had already climbed over the low hill to the east. He squinted to adjust to the light and slowly walked along the edge of the valley.

Blue Silver Grass emerged from the palm, spreading along the ground. Its tendrils, like countless tiny tentacles, burrowed into cracks in the rocks, climbed the cliffs, and reached into the broken windows of abandoned stone houses. It did not absorb Soul Power, but only transmitted vibrations and auras—when someone approached, when Soul Beast passed by, or when the grass rustled in the wind.

The most primitive form of surveillance net.

He walked slowly, his mind highly focused. He had to memorize the "anchor points" of every blade of grass, covering all possible directions he could infiltrate. At the same time, he scattered some dried thorn vine seeds at several key intersections, using his weak Soul Power to encourage them to grow naturally. Behind two low slopes with open views, he built simple markers with rubble—they looked like they had collapsed naturally from the outside, but he could recognize them at a glance.

It took nearly two hours to complete the loop.

Back at the cave entrance, Lu Yuan leaned against a rock and rested for a while. He took out a dry biscuit, broke it in half, and chewed slowly. The biscuit was hard and choking. He ate it carefully, even picking up the crumbs from his clothes.

Food supplies must be conserved.

The inside of the rock cavity has changed.

Mo Chen somehow acquired several relatively flat stone slabs, leveled them with gravel, and pieced them together to form a makeshift workbench. On the workbench lay all his belongings: a greasy notebook, half a charcoal pencil, fragments of Soul Marrow, a bluish-white jade fossil, and junk he had scavenged from the ruins—a rusty iron saw with missing teeth, half a mine cart bearing, a few metal strips, and even a small Anvil with a chipped corner.

He was squatting in front of the platform, holding the bearing section up to the firelight.

"The material is alright, but it's badly rusted." Mo Chen didn't even look up. "We need to find a way to remove the rust, otherwise the precision will be unacceptable."

Lu Yuan walked over and picked up the iron saw. The saw was heavy and rusty, but the teeth were still somewhat sharp.

"It works." He weighed it in his hand. "It's enough to clean the surface of the Red-Patterned Rock."

"The tools are too crude." Mo Chen clicked his tongue. "I've seen the design drawings for your shunt. The parts require high precision. Relying on these pieces of junk..." He shook his head.

Lu Yuan did not refute. He walked to the rock wall and pressed his palm against the dark red patterns.

Soul Power slowly probed in.

Weak, yet stable. The Soul Power of the remnants of the earth fire veins flows slowly along the natural patterns like lukewarm water. Its attributes lean towards fire and earth, carrying a heavy warmth.

He closed his eyes and sketched out the structure of the "Soul Power Guidance and Diversion Device" in his mind.

The core is Red-Patterned Rock base—using natural patterns as primary guiding channels. Key nodes are inlaid with Soul Marrow fragments to act as "amplifiers" and "stabilizers." Then, finely detailed diversion runes are etched into metal to connect each node...

It is theoretically feasible.

But every step requires precise control of Soul Power and handling of materials. And all they have are broken tools and half-baked skills.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes.

"If the precision isn't enough, we'll rely on repeated testing," he said. "If once isn't enough, we'll try ten times; if ten times isn't enough, we'll try a hundred times. If we don't have enough material, we'll start with the smallest test piece."

Mo Chen looked up at him, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"You're quite optimistic."

"Even if I can't think straight, I have to do it." Lu Yuan turned around and picked up the bluish-white jade fossil. "I have an idea about this."

He walked to the corner of the rock cavity and placed the fossil in the center.

"The energy of the Soul Marrow Fragment is too pure; direct testing could easily lead to loss of control." Lu Yuan's fingertips glowed faintly as he gently touched the edge of the fossil. "But this fossil has a natural stable field. We can use it as a 'buffer pool'—first, draw the Earth Fire Soul Power here, filter it through the fossil's stability, and then transfer it to the test specimen."

Mo Chen's eyes lit up, and he leaned closer.

How to attract it?

"Use this." Lu Yuan took out a small packet of inferior Soul Stone from his pocket. They were the size of grains of rice and looked dusty. He picked out three and arranged them in a triangle around the fossil.

Soul Power condensed at his fingertips, and he began etching runes onto the surface of the first Soul Stone.

Their movements were as slow as a snail's pace.

The output of Soul Power must be stable and even; even a slight increase or decrease will cause the runes to malfunction. Inferior Soul Stone have a loose structure and will shatter at the slightest carelessness.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Lu Yuan's forehead.

Mo Chen held his breath, his eyes fixed intently.

Time passed slowly. Only the faint hum of flowing Soul Power could be heard in the rock cavity.

Finally, a very faint golden line appeared on the surface of the first Soul Stone —it was complete.

Lu Yuan exhaled, his fingers trembling slightly. He didn't stop, picking up the second one.

The second attempt took even longer. He failed twice, and the Soul Stone shattered into powder. Lu Yuan's face turned pale, but his eyes remained unchanged. He replaced the Soul Stone and continued.

Mo Chen's palms were sweating as he looked at it. He suddenly got up, walked to the workbench, and grabbed the bearing section and a rusty file.

"You do your thing," he muttered. "I'll try to smooth this thing out."

The file scraped against the metal, making a harsh noise.

They each did their own thing.

As darkness fell, Lu Yuan finished etching the runes onto the three Soul Stone. He slumped to the ground, his back completely soaked, his Soul Power almost depleted.

Mo Chen's progress was even slower. The rust on the bearing surface was too thick; after filing for an entire afternoon, he only managed to create a relatively smooth area about the size of a palm. Several blisters formed on his fingers, which broke and oozed blood.

The two ate dry biscuits from their water pouches in silence.

tired.

But the light in Mo Chen's eyes did not go out.

"Tomorrow," he said hoarsely, swallowing the last bite of his biscuit, "I'll try to straighten those metal strips. Maybe I can make a needle for engraving runes."

Lu Yuan nodded and handed him the water pouch.

"The perimeter security is in place. The eastern and northern entrances are marked so that anyone approaching can be detected in advance." He paused, "But it only protects against ordinary people. If Soul Master deliberately hides, they might not be detected."

Mo Chen swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Enough. This godforsaken place is too much for Soul Master to bear."

Even so, both of them knew in their hearts that the hidden danger was always there. But right now, they couldn't afford to worry about it.

The cave was even colder at night. The two huddled in a corner, wrapping their coats tighter around themselves. Mo Chen soon began to snore, while Lu Yuan kept his eyes open, watching the few starlight points that peeked through the cracks in the rock wall.

Lost in thought, I fell asleep.

The days that followed were slow and repetitive.

Every day at dawn, Lu Yuan would go out to check the guard post and collect anything usable—a few vines, a stone slab, and half a broken pickaxe.

When they got back, they spent time in the cave with Mo Chen.

Mo Chen's craftsmanship was gradually recovering. He used a broken hammer and bearings he had picked up as anvils and managed to straighten several crooked metal strips. He then used sharpened stone fragments and his Soul Power to manipulate them, managing to grind out two barely usable engraving needles—the tips were as thin as hair, and although they were easy to break, they were better than nothing.

Lu Yuan continued his relentless battle against the runes.

Etching the channel guided by the earth fire Soul Power was more difficult than expected. The patterns on the Red-Patterned Rock were natural, but not all patterns were suitable. He had to first use his Soul Power to explore the path, find the main vein where the Soul Power flowed most smoothly, and then use a carving needle to etch the auxiliary runes little by little along the main vein.

Seven of the engraving needles broke.

His Soul Power was exhausted countless times.

Once, he was so focused that he lost control of his output. Suddenly, a rune lit up with a dazzling red light, the patterns on the entire rock wall trembled violently, and the earth fire Soul Power surged back.

Lu Yuan groaned, staggered back several steps, and felt a tightness in his chest.

Mo Chen threw down his hammer and charged forward.

Are you alright?

Lu Yuan waved his hand and took a while to recover.

"There's a natural knot in the pattern that I couldn't detect," he said, his voice hoarse. "We need to readjust the rune's direction to bypass it."

Mo Chen stared at the gradually dimming red light on the rock wall without saying a word. He turned around, walked back to the workbench, picked up the engraving needle, and continued grinding.

Neither of them mentioned giving up.

Evening of the tenth day.

In the center of the rock cavity, the Red-Patterned Rock base has been cleaned and polished. The dark red veins gleam with a warm luster under the firelight.

On the surface of the base, there are three rice-grain-sized fragments of Soul Marrow, arranged in a triangle. Between the fragments are finely etched metal runes—the lines are as thin as spider silk, connected end to end to form a complete circuit.

At the end of the rune were three inferior Soul Stone.

The entire device was only the size of a palm; it was crude and rudimentary.

But this was the result of ten days and nights of tireless work.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen stood in front of the base, neither of them moving.

The cavern was so quiet you could hear each other's heartbeats.

After a while, Lu Yuan slowly squatted down and extended his right index finger. A faint blue Soul Power shone from the fingertip.

He looked at Mo Chen.

Mo Chen nodded, his face extremely tense.

Lu Yuan breath and gently touched the core rune in the center of the base with his fingertip.

The moment they made contact, blue Soul Power was injected.

Buzz--

An extremely slight tremor. The veins of the Red-Patterned Rock glowed with a dark red light, like blood flowing through blood vessels. The Soul Power of the remnants of the earth fire veins was activated, slowly converging along the natural passage and flowing through the first fragment of Soul Marrow.

The shattered crystals emitted a milky white halo.

The light flowed along the metallic runes, splitting into two, then into three. The three fine streams of light flowed precisely to the three inferior Soul Stone at the ends.

On the surface of the Soul Stone, the receiving runes lit up one by one.

The light was weak, as dim as a candle flickering in the wind. Moreover, it was unstable, sometimes bright and sometimes dim.

But they did light up.

Three streams of Soul Power, which had been diverted and initially stabilized, slowly overflowed from the end of the Soul Stone. They were so faint that they were almost imperceptible, but they were indeed present.

Mo Chen stared at the three faint points of light, his dirty face twitching slightly.

He opened his mouth, and a hoarse sound came from his throat.

"... can light up."

Two words, almost inaudible due to muteness.

Lu Yuan didn't speak. He withdrew his finger and stared at the three stubbornly flickering lights for a long time.

Then, he reached out and patted Mo Chen on the shoulder.

The force wasn't heavy, but it was very steady.

Mo Chen's shoulders trembled, but he didn't flinch. He lowered his head and fiercely wiped his face with his hands, which were covered in blisters and calluses.

When I looked up again, my eyes were red, but there were no tears.

Deep within the abandoned mine, the darkness was as thick as ink that could not be dissolved. Only a palm-sized device in the center of the rock cavity emitted three faint, flickering, yet stubbornly unextinguished lights.

Like Spark.

Lu Yuan stood up and looked out of the cave.

It's getting dark again.