Beneath the Fissure

Lin Xiao sheathed his sword and stood up, as lightly as a cat.

Lu Yuan closed the pocket watch with a click. "Let's go," he said calmly. Lin Xiao grinned, said nothing, and his figure flashed to the mine entrance. Lu Yuan followed, and as he passed Lu Qinghe, his father pressed his hand heavily on his shoulder, a very short press.

The two disappeared into the darkness, their footsteps quickly fading into the distance.

Inside the cavern, the glow of the Soul Power lamp flickered slightly. Shen Moxin took off her glasses to wipe them, while Mo Chen stared at the unfinished parts on the table, his fingers stroking the carving knife. Su Yan and Li Wangye stood guard inside the entrance, their backs taut. Bai Zhi sat by the stone chamber door, the seed bracelet on her wrist dangling.

Lu Qinghe sat down on the stone bench where Lu Yuan had sat, his hands folded and his back straight.

Waiting to begin.

The chaotic Soul Power in the Thousand Needle Stone Forest will enter a low point after midnight. This is Lu Yuan's deduction and also the time window for the plan.

But "low point" is only relative.

As soon as he stepped into the outer edge of the stone forest, the array plate in Lu Yuan's hand began to hum. The Soul Marrow fragment embedded in the core expanded into a pale golden halo, about five feet in diameter, its edges constantly twisting and flickering under the impact of chaotic Soul Power. He held the array plate in his left hand and pressed his right index finger lightly on the rune node, his Soul Power output precise to an extreme degree.

Lin Xiao took the first three steps.

He didn't turn around, but every step he took landed on the "safe points" calculated by Lu Yuan. These points changed in real time with the flow of Soul Power. Every three breaths, Lu Yuan would whisper a direction and number of steps, and Lin Xiao would move over in advance.

The two walked among the stone pillars, their shadows stretched and distorted.

"Seven steps to the left front, raise your head high." Lu Yuan's voice was very low.

Lin Xiao did as instructed. As soon as his foot landed, a pale gray turbulent current of Soul Power swept across the spot where he had just been standing, carrying away pebbles. After the turbulent current passed, the surface of the pebbles was covered with a layer of white frost.

Lin Xiao glanced back, his amber pupils contracting in the darkness.

"Go straight for fifteen steps, and stick to the right side of the third stone pillar." Lu Yuan didn't pause.

The speed was not fast, but steady. The rhythm of the array's glow gradually synchronized with Lu Yuan's breathing. The Soul Power distribution map in his mind continued to update, fine-tuning the route.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, Lin Xiao suddenly raised his hand.

The movement was very subtle. Lu Yuan immediately stopped, reduced the input of his Soul Power, and the halo dimmed by a third.

Lin Xiao tilted his head, his nostrils twitching slightly. After a few breaths, he turned his head and mouthed, "Patrol."

The two ducked behind a thick stone pillar. The pillar's surface was covered with honeycomb-like holes, and the wind whistled through it, masking their breathing.

Half a minute later, footsteps came from the southeast.

More than one person. Their footsteps were synchronized and light, accompanied by the soft clanging of metal armor plates.

Lu Yuan held his breath. The array's light shrank to cover only the two of them, the pale gold almost invisible. He pressed his index finger on the node, Soul Power to the minimum maintenance level.

The footsteps drew closer.

Through the hole, one could see several dim, yellowish halos of Soul Power lamps moving about. In the lamplight, four figures, dressed in gray-blue outfits and with swords at their waists, could be seen.

The leader was a square-faced man whose Soul Power fluctuations were roughly equivalent to Soul Elder. He carried a lantern in one hand and held a palm-sized, round Soul Tool in the other, its surface inlaid with dull crystals.

The group stopped twenty paces away from the stone pillar.

The square-faced man raised the Soul Tool and slowly rotated it around. The crystal emitted a pale blue halo, its brightness fluctuating like breathing. After rotating half a circle, the halo suddenly stabilized and pointed towards the stone pillar.

Lu Yuan's heart tightened.

Lin Xiao's muscles tensed, and his right hand reached for the hilt of the dagger. He didn't move, his vertical pupils fixed on the Soul Tool.

The square-faced man stared at it for a few moments, then frowned. He took a few steps forward, and the crystal's glow returned to its alternating light and shadow. He shook his head and put away the Soul Tool.

"This godforsaken place is a complete mess of Soul Power, like a porridge," the square-faced man spat. "The detector keeps malfunctioning."

A younger disciple chimed in, "Senior Brother Wang, we've been searching for seven or eight days now, is it really possible we've found that ' Soul Marrow '?"

"If the higher-ups say there's something, then there has to be." Senior Brother Wang said impatiently, "Enough nonsense, continue patrolling. The elders instructed us to keep a close eye on the stalagmite forest in the southeast corner."

The procession moved on, their footsteps fading into the distance.

Once the sound had completely disappeared, Lu Yuan slowly exhaled. The array plate's glow returned.

Lin Xiao loosened his grip on the dagger hilt, his palms slightly sweaty. He licked his canine teeth. "That detector... it almost found us."

"It wasn't almost," Lu Yuan shook his head, carrying the array plate as he walked out. "They did detect an anomaly, but the interference was too strong, and they mistook it for environmental noise."

He glanced in the direction the patrol had disappeared. "The stalagmite forest in the southeast corner... definitely a key point."

"Shall we go?"

"Let's go." Lu Yuan adjusted the direction. "Avoid the patrol route and cut across the rocky slope on the west side. Time is running out."

The second half was even more difficult.

The closer he got to the core, the more violent the chaos of his Soul Power became. The array's aura was compressed to less than four feet, its flickering accelerated, and sweat beaded on Lu Yuan's forehead. His Soul Power was being consumed 30% faster than expected.

Lin Xiao's warning frequency is also increasing.

The invisible turbulence rising from the ground, the fragments of Soul Power floating in the air—once, just as the two had rounded the stone pillar, a small vortex of Soul Power exploded three zhang behind them, sucking up the flying debris.

It all depended on Lin Xiao's beast-like intuition.

Lu Yuan glanced at his pocket watch every fifteen minutes. The discrepancy was accumulating.

They avoided the second patrol, arriving a quarter of an hour late. Crossing the dense area of turbulent Soul Power, they were another quarter of an hour late. When the hidden crevice finally came into view, they were a full quarter of an hour late.

Half an hour is enough to be fatal here.

The crevice, less than two feet wide, lies at the bottom of the gap between two giant rocks. Standing five steps away, one can feel the gentle, pure fluctuations of Soul Power gushing out, completely out of place with the surrounding violent environment.

Lin Xiao crouched down, his palms close to the ground. His amber vertical pupils shone with an astonishing brightness.

"That's right, that's the taste." His voice was trembling with excitement. "Clearer than last time. There's something down there, and quite a lot."

Lu Yuan did not respond immediately.

He first observed his surroundings. The crevice was well-hidden, and the shadows of the boulders on both sides almost completely concealed the entrance. However, the distance from here to the stalagmite forest in the southeast corner was less than two hundred feet in a straight line. Any slight fluctuation of Soul Power could be sensed from there.

The array's aura stabilized somewhat. Upon approaching the crevice, the surrounding chaotic Soul Power seemed to be neutralized by gentle fluctuations, and the pressure lessened.

Lu Yuan took out a small leather bag and untied the rope. Inside were specially made tools: a short-handled pickaxe with runes engraved on the blade; a small jade box with a stabilizing array engraved on the inner wall; and several hollow metal probes.

"As planned." Lu Yuan spread out his tools. "I'll stabilize the environment and take samples. You stay alert. Be quick, keep the sample size to a minimum, no more than three breaths."

Lin Xiao nodded, and in a flash, he leaped onto the top of the boulder on the left, crouching low to scan the darkness.

Lu Yuan squatted down in front of the crevice. He took out a hollow probe and carefully inserted it into the crevice. The end of the probe was connected to a thin transparent tube, and the other end was connected to the jade box. This was to minimize the leakage of Soul Power.

Ready.

He took a deep breath, gripped the pickaxe in his right hand, and pressed his left hand lightly against the core of the array plate. He poured in his Soul Power, which increased the brightness of the halo and expanded the stable area to six feet, enveloping the entrance to the crevice.

Right now.

Lu Yuan raised his pickaxe, aimed at the weakest point at the edge of the crevice, and was about to strike—

A muffled, deafening explosion suddenly erupted from the southeast!

It sounded like a structure collapsing and Soul Power going out of control. Then came faint cries of alarm and angry shouts, which were distorted and fragmented by the stone forest two hundred feet away.

Lu Yuan froze.

Before he could react, an even stronger surge of Soul Power spread out from the direction of the explosion like a tidal wave!

This violent and chaotic fluctuation, bearing obvious signs of "human intervention," instantly shattered the original Soul Power rhythm of the Stone Forest. Like pouring cold water into boiling oil, the entire Soul Power environment of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest exploded.

The array plate in Lu Yuan's hand emitted a piercing buzzing sound!

The shattered Soul Marrow crystals flickered violently, their pale golden halo flashing erratically, and the stable area visibly shrinking. Five feet, four feet, three feet... the chaotic Soul Power, like countless invisible tentacles, frantically squeezed this fragile shelter.

Atop the boulder, Lin Xiao's expression changed drastically. He lowered his voice and shouted urgently, "Something's happened over there! The chaos is escalating!"

Lu Yuan gritted his teeth and frantically poured his Soul Power into the array plate, barely managing to maintain the stable area at about two feet. However, fine cracks had already appeared on the surface of the shattered crystals, and it wouldn't last much longer.

Deep within the crevice, the gentle and pure Soul Power fluctuations became unstable, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, as if affected by a distant explosion and beginning to stir.

The hands of the pocket watch ticked away.

Half a breath, one breath, two breaths...

The chaotic shockwaves continued to spread in the distance, and more shouts and hurried footsteps could be faintly heard as people gathered towards the explosion site. The Cloud Mist Sect members were alerted, and the perimeter of the entire Stone Forest was instantly tightened.

The plan was completely disrupted.

Lu Yuan stared at the crevice in the rock so close at hand, at the pure Soul Power that seemed to be calling to him. The pickaxe was still raised in his hand; if he lowered it, he could obtain the key resource that might heal Mo Chen and allow the team to leap forward.

But not far away, danger is brewing.

The array disc hummed more and more rapidly, and the cracks in the broken crystals spread.

To take or not to take?