Chapter 626: Mine Shaft

**Winds Rise Across Jiuzhou**

In the five-person team, Senior Brother Qin, who was leading, looked around as he spoke, "I remember there's an abandoned mine tunnel nearby. Strange, why can't I find it?"

Senior Sister Hu asked, "Are you mistaken?"

Senior Brother Qin replied, "No, I'm not. Back when Senior Brother Xie was still at the Cloud River Battlefield, he brought me here once. I remember it clearly; it's right around here."

The Senior Brother Xie he mentioned was somewhat familiar to them all. His cultivation was much higher than theirs, and he had already advanced to the True Lake Realm, having left the Cloud River Battlefield.

As Senior Brother Qin spoke, he led the others to descend. Puzzled, he looked around, finally fixing his gaze on a particular spot.

He walked forward, pushed aside the man-high grass, and then gently raised his hand to press against the stone wall ahead...

A strange scene unfolded: his outstretched hand, though seemingly pressing against the stone wall, felt as if it were pushing into empty space. As ripples passed over the stone wall, half of his palm was swallowed.

"It really is here!"

"This is... a concealment array?" Senior Sister Hu also noticed something amiss.

The fact that a concealment array had been deliberately set up in such a place undoubtedly indicated something significant. Furthermore, this area was within the last known location of Lu Yiye, and an irresistible thought suddenly popped into both their minds simultaneously.

They exchanged glances, both feeling a surge of excitement.

Lu Yiye is inside!

The concealment array at the cave entrance was set up by Lu Yiye!

Their hearts immediately pounded with excitement. Senior Sister Hu whispered, "Senior Brother Qin, what should we do?"

Although they had been searching for traces of Lu Yiye before, the current number of cultivators searching for him was immense, and they hadn't expected to be ahead of others. But luck is truly an unpredictable thing; they were the first to make a discovery.

Although they hadn't seen Lu Yiye, the presence of a concealment array at the entrance of a mine tunnel in this location was a clear indicator to anyone. Lu Yiye was currently severely injured and desperately needed a hidden and safe place to heal and recuperate. Somehow, he found this place, hid inside, and then set up a concealment array to block the mine entrance.

If Senior Brother Qin hadn't been here before and had some memory of the mine's location, they would never have discovered it.

Suppressing his excitement, Senior Brother Qin composed himself and gestured, "Let's go!" As he spoke, he was the first to approach the stone wall. As ripples passed over it, he disappeared completely.

Senior Sister Hu followed closely, and the remaining three also entered one by one.

Inside the mine tunnel, the light grew dim. Under Senior Brother Qin's lead, the group cautiously moved forward.

After only about thirty zhang, Ghost Shadow, who was at the rear of the team, suddenly felt an alarm in his heart. His heart began to pound violently, as if there was immense danger ahead. He quickly whispered, "Senior Brother Qin!"

The sound wasn't loud, but in the quiet environment, it was startlingly abrupt. The group was already being extremely cautious, hardly daring to breathe, and at this moment, they were all startled by Ghost Shadow's warning. Just as Senior Brother Qin was about to turn his head, a flash of fire suddenly appeared in his vision, followed by a violent surge of spiritual energy sweeping towards them from the front.

"Retreat!" he shouted, rapidly retreating, but was still swept back by the surging energy wave, sending him tumbling. The group behind him also rolled into a heap.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Amidst the rising dust, the group scrambled to their feet in disarray, seeing stars and hearing a ringing in their ears. It took a good while for everyone to slowly recover.

"Senior Brother Qin, are you alright?" Senior Sister Hu asked anxiously.

"Cough, cough, I'm fine." Senior Brother Qin covered his chest with a hand, which was covered in blood. He secretly felt lucky that Ghost Shadow had called out to him, otherwise he might have died just now. It was precisely because of Ghost Shadow's cry that he instinctively paused, thereby narrowly escaping disaster. Although he was injured now, it was nothing serious in the end.

"It's an explosion array!" Senior Brother Qin immediately made a judgment, "Get out quickly!" It was now certain: Lu Yiye was hiding inside! Both the concealment array at the entrance and the explosion arrays within the mine tunnel were set up by him.

When it came to explosion arrays, if there was one, there would be a second... Having suffered a loss, Senior Brother Qin no longer dared to advance recklessly.

The group retreated from the mine tunnel in disarray. However, just as they exited, several figures landed in front of them, and many streaks of light were converging on their location from all directions. When the explosion array erupted just now, it created a significant disturbance, attracting a large number of Wanmoling cultivators who had been searching nearby.

In just a short while, over twenty people had gathered here...

Senior Brother Qin sighed with regret. Originally, they were the first to discover Lu Yiye's whereabouts and had a chance to keep the bounty for themselves. But now, with explosion arrays set up in the narrow mine tunnel, they had to retreat. It was predictable that the news would soon spread, and more and more cultivators would gather here.

Someone came forward to speak with Senior Brother Qin, asking what had just happened. Although Senior Brother Qin didn't want to disclose it, he knew such things couldn't be kept secret. He could only lay out his suspicions and the information he currently possessed.

Moments later, the news that Lu Yiye was hiding in a mine tunnel in the outer reaches of Tai Mang Mountain spread rapidly, and a large number of cultivators converged on this location. The first cultivators to arrive were not high in cultivation, all below the sixth-level realm.

But as time passed, seven-level and eight-level cultivators gradually appeared. After most of the day, the first nine-level realm powerhouse appeared before the mine entrance.

Song Zhui and his group arrived relatively early. Upon receiving the news, they immediately rushed towards the location, flying without regard for their spiritual energy consumption.

However, when they arrived and looked, they saw cultivators' figures spread across the mountains and plains. There were at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, cultivators gathered there, and their numbers were still increasing. What struck him as odd was that although there were many cultivators gathered, they seemed to be taking no action, just waiting. A faint scent of blood hung in the air, suggesting someone was injured.

Song Zhui saw a few familiar faces. He flew directly towards one of them, landed before him, and cupped his fists, "Brother Zizai." This person was none other than Ning Zizai, whom Song Zhui had met earlier in the depths of Tai Mang Mountain.

"Brother Song has arrived too," Ning Zizai returned the greeting.

"What's the situation now?" Song Zhui asked.

Ning Zizai said, "It's largely confirmed that Lu Yiye is hiding inside, but we can't force our way in."

"Why not?" Song Zhui was puzzled. Since it was confirmed that Lu Yiye was hiding inside, even if so many Wanmoling cultivators directly charged in, Lu Yiye would surely die.

"Inside is a mine tunnel several li long, connecting to an emptied mine cave. Lu Yiye left a large number of explosion arrays within the tunnel. Some have already tried to rush in, but they either died or were injured. Even that person over there... didn't succeed." As Ning Zizai spoke, he gestured in a certain direction.

Song Zhui turned to look and saw a man sitting cross-legged on the ground. This man's physique was extremely robust; even seated, he was only a head shorter than the nearby cultivators. One could imagine how tall he would be if he stood up. With such a build and physique, he was undoubtedly a body cultivator, and certainly a very powerful one. However, at this moment, the body cultivator was covered in bloodstains, and his face was slightly pale, appearing to be seriously injured.

"Wei Zhong!" Song Zhui's eyes narrowed slightly.

Even as a cultivator from the first-rank sect Yuanhong Hall, he dared not underestimate this man named Wei Zhong. Song Zhui had some understanding of this person's strength; in a one-on-one fight, he wasn't sure he could win. Moreover, Wei Zhong was a body cultivator whose physique was inherently powerful, yet he looked like this after forcing his way into the mine tunnel. The fate of others must have been even worse. The narrow space undoubtedly amplified the power of the explosion arrays; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to injure a ninth-level body cultivator to this extent.

Many had tried to enter the mine tunnel before, but each attempt resulted in casualties. After this body cultivator named Wei Zhong was also forced to retreat, no one dared to try again easily. So now, all the Wanmoling cultivators were just waiting here.

"Waiting like this isn't a solution either." Song Zhui frowned. "Are there no artificers here? They could use their constructs to scout ahead, trigger arrays, and clear obstacles."

"We tried, it's useless." Ning Zizai shook his head. "The arrays Lu Yiye set up are manually controlled, not the trigger-activated kind."

If that were the case, artificers' constructs indeed wouldn't be of much use, and might even mislead the cultivators. Imagine: cultivators assume locations scouted by constructs are safe enough, but then step into them, and an explosion array suddenly activates, inevitably leading to another wave of casualties. The current situation was indeed awkward. Lu Yiye was severely injured and trapped in the mine tunnel by numerous Wanmoling cultivators. Yet, because of the various arrays he had set up beforehand, no one dared to venture deep inside, forcing them into a stalemate.

Although there was no need to worry about Lu Yiye escaping, prolonging this situation was not a solution. The longer it dragged on, the more his injuries would recover, and it would become much harder to kill him then.

As if sensing Song Zhui's thoughts, Ning Zizai said, "Brother Song, don't be impatient. Someone is already on their way."

"Who?"

"I wonder if Brother Song has heard the name Si Nan?"

Song Zhui raised an eyebrow. "Si Nan of Yunlang Sect?"

Ning Zizai chuckled softly. "It seems Brother Song has heard of him too."

Song Zhui nodded. "I've long heard that Yunlang Sect produced an extraordinary genius in this generation, but I never had the chance to meet him. So he's also nearby. If he comes, perhaps he can contend with Lu Yiye in array mastery."

Yunlang Sect was a fourth-rank sect. However, while only one rank separated a fourth-rank from a third-rank sect, there was a world of difference: third-rank sects had Spirit Sea Realm grand cultivators overseeing them, while fourth-rank sects did not. The structure of the cultivation world in Jiuzhou and the method of recruiting disciples often led to a phenomenon: the stronger a sect was, the more talented the disciples it recruited, thus making it even stronger. Therefore, for any sect, advancing its rank was not a simple matter.