The Kindling Magic Array

The next morning, Yuye and her brother prepared breakfast: Corn and pan-fried duck.

The pork among the orcs has a strong, unpleasant smell, while the chicken and duck are relatively clean and refreshing.

The edges of the duck meat were seared until slightly charred, then Su Ming rolled it up in a vegetable leaf. The oil seeped into the leaf, which was then pressed down with Corn.

Surprisingly, the taste was quite pleasant.

Yise also came downstairs.

She paused slightly when she saw Su Ming.

"Good morning." She nodded and greeted him.

"Good morning," Su Ming replied.

Yise sat down at the table to eat. Her movements were brisk and decisive, though a blush involuntarily crept onto her face.

It's clear that the person really wants to pretend nothing happened, but their body language isn't cooperating.

Consequently, the scene in the attic last night inevitably replayed in Su Ming's mind.

For a moment, the air between the two became strange. Yuye perked up her cat ears, looked left and right, her expression full of confusion.

"Sister, is it because I cooked it badly?" Yugan whispered.

Su Ming rubbed his Yugan head, picked up his phone, and started sending text messages.

"Jielusi, I need some advice, how should I handle this situation?"

He briefly recounted the events of last night.

"Scumbag!" Jielusi scolded without any politeness.

After a short while, Jielusi replied:

"You know Yise's attitude."

"Shouldn't Scholar Bay Owl be so unreasonable?"

Su Ming didn't understand at all.

"I was asking about how to defuse the awkward situation with Yise, why did you bring up the Bay Owl?"

After thinking for a moment, Jielusi bravely typed out the rest. "Anyway, after you become king, you'll conventionally marry two concubines."

"Why not do it earlier--"

Jielusi prayed silently that she would never be found out by the Bay Owl that she had instigated it.

"Wait... to become king?" Su Ming asked in surprise.

What is this?

"Isn't your transitional government going to disintegrate?" Jielusi asked curiously. "Won't a formal kingdom be established after that?"

Clearly, there is a serious communication barrier between the two.

Su Ming steered the conversation back to the beginning and asked the same question from the start.

After some discussion, he realized that his refusal to serve as Prime Minister of the First Sunrise Republic had been interpreted in a completely different way by various factions:

Once things have stabilized, he will ascend the throne and become emperor.

Jielusi told Su Ming that although many people still had reservations about this, on many levels, Su Ming was already the de facto new king of a major power.

Those who oppose him cannot defeat him. And many more have already chosen to bet on this.

"Lady Katharine, didn't you agree to join as a subject?" Jielusi asked. "Didn't Star Sand and the Final Bone Mad Machines reserve their positions as national-level churches and guilds?"

Su Ming was immediately stunned.

Out of concern for the interests of his hometown, he was indeed very focused on controlling First Sunrise's lifeline. Whether it was the military, industry, or key resources, he kept them all in his own hands.

But the option of becoming king in another world never appeared in Su Ming's mind.

However, from another perspective, options outside of this path would also be impossible for the Tayans to understand.

No being from another world would believe that someone like Su Ming, who had such an advantage and had already reached the pinnacle, would have reached that point so naturally.

"Give me some time," Su Ming said, rubbing his face.

No wonder he felt that many members of his team had subtly changed their attitude towards him recently, becoming more reserved and formal.

Jielusi realized something was wrong.

"You wouldn't have... never thought about this at all, would you?"

"Absolutely not." Su Ming admitted helplessly. "... Then you're even more of a scumbag!" Jielusi.

****

A faint sob came down the stairs.

It is Jinxiu.

Her two pairs of wings were covered with messy graffiti. Black eyes, crisscrossing lines, and symbols of unknown meaning were crammed together, giving the originally dreamy and ethereal Star Fairy an indescribable, infantile feel.

This was applied by Yise using magic crystal powder.

Even though Jinxiu was a semi-illusory being, she could not escape this revenge from the "artist".

"Waaaah!"

She burst into tears and threw herself into Su Ming's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Su Ming gently patted Jinxiu's little head.

"The fairy's Magic Power has a purifying effect; it will dissipate in a few hours."

Yise still offered an explanation, though his gaze towards Jinxiu remained angry.

Her Jinxiu little hands parted between her fingers.

"Really?" she asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I've applied Zhifo before, I have experience," Yise replied very convincingly.

After breakfast, Su Ming began discussing plans to leave Cloud Fang City.

"Use explosives to destroy the warning totems on the city walls?" Yise was somewhat surprised by this idea. "Would those Black Claw thieves really be that obedient?"

"Of course not," Su Ming replied.

"So the first step is to lure the enemy into collecting enough explosives."

Jinxiu also offered an explanation.

"My hypnotic manipulation has time limits, and it's not suitable for making targets perform tasks that require improvisation and a lot of mental effort."

"So at this step, I'll only need to apply some psychological suggestion, with Su Ming using incentives to entice him."

"But the next step is no problem," Su Ming continued. "We'll disguise the explosives, then hypnotize a group of orcs and transport them to the designated location."

This action can be completed quickly once the hypnosis wears off.

The warning totem is meant to guard against humans getting close, but it won't prevent orcs from moving things to the walls inside the city.

This is a place where you can exploit loopholes.

Just as he was discussing the details, Su Ming's phone started vibrating.

He quickly unfolded it, and a warning message popped up on the interface:

"Something unusual has happened in the Orc King's Palace!"

****

In the center of Cloud Fang City, all the palace gates in all directions were wide open.

This is the core stronghold of the Plundering Clock, and ordinary orcs are not qualified to set foot here.

But today, tens of thousands of orc laborers have poured into this place.

They tore down the inner palace walls and then demolished the palace. Shouts, the sound of stones being dragged, and the roar of magic mingled together, and the palace instantly became a huge construction site. In some of the more sturdy parts, Death Knell drew her short blade and did it herself. A thin, sharp light danced out, severing the key connections with a single stroke.

Several bell-ringing priests stepped forward and used Levitation Spell to lower the roof and beams to the ground.

"Hurry up!"

The Death Knell sternly rebuked the orcs, urging them to hurry.

A day ago, Su Ming's thunderous attack on the Blackstone Mining Area, with its explosive strikes and destructive efficiency surpassing even forbidden spells, shocked her to the extreme.

This also made her truly feel fear.

Previously, Death Knell had always believed that Jörmungandr could not possibly lose to these ants from lower planes. All their current struggles were futile and would eventually be overwhelmed by the torrent of high Magic Power.

But now, she realized the danger.

If the Supreme God's invasion plan fails, everyone in the advance team will meet a terrible end!

So, Death Knell finally mustered her strength and became more positive.

As the walls and foundations were demolished and large amounts of stone slabs were removed, dozens of underground passage entrances and shaft structures were exposed.

From the perspective of satellites and high-altitude drones, everything suddenly seemed strangely familiar. Although its area was smaller than the Blackstone Mining Area outside the city, its layout indicated it was a fully-equipped and functionally complete mining area. Despite its appearance, it was clearly hundreds or thousands of years old.

"This is also a mining area?"

Seeing all this, Su Ming was very puzzled.

Just how obsessed are orcs with digging volcanoes?

"We speculate that this place and the Blackstone Mining Area outside lead to the same underground facility," Katharine said. "Therefore, the Plundering Clock likely intends to continue its excavation plan from this side."

Repairing a collapsed passage is often less efficient than digging a new one.

The fastest way is to renovate existing access roads in the old mining area.

There is supporting evidence.

The Chihuo also spoke.

"Abidaqi appeared directly at the Blackstone Mining Area the night before last."

"But after reviewing the case for a long time and going through all the investigation records, we still couldn't find out when Abidaqi went there."

Su Ming understood. "So he got there through the underground passage of the palace."

"Even on ordinary days, members of the Plundering Clock go directly to the underground facility from here to 'go to work,'" Chihuo added.

Su Ming narrowed his eyes.

"Understood."

Since the other side is so incorrigible.

He gave the order:

"Assess the attack plan; prepare to blow up the mining tunnels here as well!"

"Yes!" the support team responded.

"Pansy, do we need to proceed to the launch position?" Magelaili asked.

"Set off immediately."

"Clear!"

**** On the orc side, with the extensive clearing of buildings, the entire palace was completely unrecognizable.

The shaman and warlock began casting spells to widen the entrance to the passage.

With a swing of his Death Knell, the bell cut the freshly dismantled stones into suitable stone strips, which were then carried in teams by the orcs into the tunnel for support.

The underground hoisting equipment salvaged from the neighboring Blackstone Mine was also put into operation. The palace's stone slab floor was torn up, mixed with Crushed Stone and compacted, and then a rail transport network was laid.

With the participation of tens of thousands of workers, everything is progressing rapidly.

The Death Knell suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

The silhouette of a high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft has appeared, only the size of a grain of rice in the field of vision, yet trailing a thin contrail.

"A lingering ghost." Death Knell murmured.

She sheathed her twin swords and went to the center of the palace.

Abidaqi was standing there; he saw the drone too.

"Now that this thing has appeared, Bone King and his forces' attack must be imminent," Abidaqi said with a sigh. "Their weapons are just too fast."

"Are you confident you can intercept them all?" Death Knell asked. Abidaqi sneered, "I'm waiting."

Around the corners of the palace, auxiliary magic arrays were already in place, and Abidaqi's weapon had been replaced with a magic book.

A large-scale area-of-effect spell is ready to be unleashed.

"The Supreme God, through divine pronouncements, issued many methods for countering Earth's weapons."

Abidaqi told the Death Knell.

"Let's give it a try today and make them suffer a little loss."

"It's good that you're confident." Death Knell felt relieved.

A technician came over and reported that a section of the passage at the bottom had collapsed, causing a large blockage.

The Death Knell Ringer nodded and left with several bell-ringing priests.

****

Su Ming watched the screen.

Key figures from the Plundering Clock have been identified and marked, leaving behind a wealth of statistical data. The Death Knell's attitude has become much more positive today.

Previously, her performance was exactly like that of a national football player; her daily step count was even lower than that of Abidaqi, the ancient elf.

Now, he has transformed into a village-level expert.

"Why is there a mine pit beneath the beautiful Cloud Fang Royal Palace?" Katharine murmured.

This feeling of tearing down one thing only to have a new one pop up is very frustrating.

Yise suddenly remembered something.

She hurried upstairs and retrieved the manuscript of "The Cangxiao Dynasty: The Flame of Succession Arc".

Yise turned to the relevant chapter.

According to the story here, 1,100 years ago, the Water Chestnut Island volcano faced a major eruption.

"The last Cangxiao Dynasty mobilized the entire nation to construct the ' Kindling ' magic array, ultimately averting this disaster."

Su Ming took the relevant documents.

According to the story, this massive suppression array, known as "Kindling," was built deep underground. The specific technology used is unknown, but the array took nearly a century to build, almost exhausting the Cangxiao Dynasty's resources, and ultimately successfully prevented the disaster.

But the orc kingdom was thus torn apart.

"I suspect this is the site where ' Kindling ' was built back then," Yise said, offering his speculation.

"That's quite possible," Jinxiu agreed.

She told everyone:

"There are many mines on Water Chestnut Island, but none of them match the records."

Therefore, the exact location of the Kindling Magic Array has always been a mystery.

"Perhaps this one, hidden beneath the palace, really is it."

****

Scholar Chloe went online upon hearing the news.

"The Kindling ' magic array?"

She frowned slightly. "The history of the orcs of Water Chestnut Island is the least I know."

"Because of the unique culture of the orcs, they had almost no paper history books, and the surviving materials are scarce and have significant gaps in their knowledge."

Chloe looked troubled.

Even with her extensive reading, she couldn't learn much about a people who lacked systematic records.

Chloe began to recall what she knew.

"But Cloud Fang City and Cloud Fang Royal Palace were established by the Cloud Fang Dynasty eight hundred years ago."

"It's not the Cangxiao Dynasty."

In terms of time, there is a three-hundred-year difference between the two.

However, Zijin offered a different opinion.

"Is it possible that the Cloud Fang Dynasty deliberately chose to build its palace on the ' Kindling ' magic array?"

This idea is actually quite feasible.

Zhifo also joined the discussion. "Very likely."

"The Cloud Fang Dynasty uses this method to hide and protect the ' Kindling ' magic array."

"The Plundering Clock wants to use the ' Kindling ' for something, which is why it built the Blackstone Mine on the outskirts."

Although it was mostly scholars and big names speaking, Yuya still bravely stepped in.

"I have a suggestion: let's find Night Song Comes from the West."

"This author has visited the Water Chestnut Island Ruins multiple times and has conducted in-depth research in this field."

Su Ming glanced at the manuscript in his hand; Night Song Comes from the West was the listed author.

He had only read a few passages, but he could sense that this was a writer with a strong sense of historical responsibility and an extremely serious approach to research.

"Then go find her immediately," Su Ming said.