249: Chapter 249 Exploring the Abyss Backflow, Ore Accumulation

Three days. The news of star-patterned gold spread among the refugees faster than the bone spears of the Haiyuan Clan.

On the first day at the hour of Mao, four lines formed at the Pier. The two on the left handed in Ore and Spiritual Plants to exchange for city entry passes; the middle one was for signing the contract to explore the trench; the one on the right was newly opened—for the assessment of Ore brought back by exploration teams. Commander Cai had flipped through at least a dozen pages of his registry—every page of the trench exploration sign-up section was filled with crooked names and thumbprints. He dragged out a new registry from the warehouse—the cover of the old one was already curling up from the sea breeze, and the corners of the pages were stained with ink and silt from the Loose Cultivators pressing their thumbprints.

The Loose Cultivators spontaneously formed dozens of exploration teams. Each team varied from five to eight people—some led by Cultivators from small Family backgrounds at the Foundation Establishment Stage, some with old fishermen at the Late Stage of Qi Refining as underwater guides, and some with Formation Masters from sunken military ships responsible for operating the underwater sensing Formation Plates. The captains squatted in a row in front of the announcement board—spreading out the rubbings of the mineral vein coordinates marked by Leng Feng on stone slabs, using charcoal pencils to draw lines back and forth between the entrances to the safe passages and the directions of the underwater undercurrents—calculating time, calculating Qi, and calculating retreats.

Old Mai Liu was promoted to team leader. Lu Changyuan posted a new notice on the announcement board—Old Mai Liu, having successfully explored the trench for the first time, was granted long-term protection status without a time limit and would serve as the deputy assessor at the Pier's Ore assessment platform. The deputy assessor position did not come with a salary increase—but for every batch of Ore identified, contribution points were calculated based on the number of pieces, with the appraisal fee paid from the public treasury. Old Mai Liu folded the notice and tucked it into his bosom—then continued to squat beside the assessment platform, flipping through the Ore poured out by the Loose Cultivators one by one to examine the fractures.

By that evening—there were at least six or seven piles of Ore, each half a person high, stacked on the Pier. The dark gray Cold Iron Mine was divided into three piles according to Grade—the High Grade had silver-blue patterns spreading from the core of the stone outward, with a pattern density visibly at least twice that of the Medium Grade; the Medium Grade made up the majority—the patterns were clear but not dense; the Low Grade was only a small pile—the patterns were so sparse that one needed to get close to the cold light stone lamp to see them clearly. The star-patterned gold was placed in a separate small wooden box—Su Qingli placed the box on the innermost cabinet in the Formation Affairs Room, with the cabinet door closed—faint, fragmented golden light leaked out from the crack in the door.

That evening, Chu Yunfei sent the first message toward the Royal Capital using an encrypted transmission talisman. The message content was less than ten characters: "Blue Moon Island has star-patterned gold—come quickly." After the transmission talisman was torn open, a spiritual power pulse flashed toward the southeast—pointing directly at the streets where Artifact Refining workshops gathered in the outer city of the Royal Capital.

The next day—someone brought back a whole piece of deep-sea Cold Iron raw Ore embedded in dark green quartzite, and the quality of the Ore fracture was even a grade higher than the samples exposed in the shallow mineral veins of the Dragon Burial Trench—the silver patterns were denser, the stone core was purer, and the edges of the fragments chipped off had a metallic luster. Someone picked up an entire century-old Starlight Coral in the direction where the shallow layer of the Dragon Burial Trench extended into the depths—the coral branches automatically emitted a very faint green light in the dark, the range of the light was only the size of a palm, but the color was exactly the same as the cold light of the Starlight Coral—it was the same species, just a different growth environment. Someone figured out the shift change times for the two remaining patrol lines on the flank of the Haiyuan Clan—they changed shifts every four hours, with a gap of about half a joss stick of time between shifts, and during this gap, no patrol units passed through the underwater area between the mouth of the Dragon Burial Trench and the mineral vein area—he wrote down the shift change time on oilcloth and brought it back to hand to Shen Qinghan.

On the large paper in front of Shen Qinghan—the intelligence network spread for at least several feet from left to right. The troop distribution map of the Haiyuan Clan was marked layer by layer on the paper: the density of the peripheral patrol lines was continuously decreasing—from seeing at least two patrol lines on the flank three days ago, to only one yesterday, to this morning—Su Qingli's Receiving Formation only captured sporadic spiritual power fluctuations in the flank direction, and neither the frequency nor the density formed a line. The Haiyuan Clan was not retreating—they were contracting. The speed at which troops were gathering from the periphery toward the depths of the Dragon Burial Trench was accelerating—all mobilizable patrol lines and assembled troops were squeezing toward the direction of the Seal's keyhole.

Shen Qinghan drew a separate timeline on the back of the large paper with a charcoal pencil—from the first time Old Mai Liu explored the trench three days ago, to the report of the last team to return this morning. The timeline marked at least twenty data points—each data point represented a sighting or an Ore sample. At the bottom of the timeline—she drew a downward arrow pointing to the location of the Seal's keyhole in the deepest part of the Dragon Burial Trench. Next to the arrow, she wrote two lines of text: "The Haiyuan Clan no longer cares about the periphery—they are hitting the door with all their might."

Lu Changyuan stood at the sea chart table—looking at this paper spread out by Shen Qinghan. He pressed his finger on the downward arrow at the bottom of the timeline—his knuckles pressed a shallow mark on the paper surface.

"In the direction of the keyhole—how deep can our exploration teams reach?"

Leng Feng took the observation lens off his waist—and placed it on the sea chart table—"The deepest team so far has reached two thousand two hundred zhang. Any further down—the troop density of the Haiyuan Clan is too high to get through. But between two thousand two hundred zhang and the keyhole—there is still a gap of nearly three hundred zhang. In this gap—after the main force of the Haiyuan Clan presses down, the flank will expose a gap of at least half an hour."

"No need to go to the keyhole. Let the exploration teams detour toward the Connection Node—avoiding the main force assembly area. Cut obliquely from one side of the Connection Node into the extended section of the shallow mineral vein. The patrol density of that extended section near the Connection Node was less than half of that in the direction of the keyhole originally—and now that the Haiyuan Clan is hitting the door with all their might, the patrol density will only be lower."

Leng Feng nodded. He picked up a piece of charcoal from Su Qingli's table—and drew a new line on the defense map of the Dragon Burial Trench spread out on the edge of the sea chart table. The line started from the north corner of the Pier—descended along the safe passage to one thousand two hundred zhang—then cut obliquely in the north-northeast direction, passing through the undercurrent area in the direction of the Connection Node—extending to greater depths. Leng Feng marked three mineral vein prediction points—"These three locations—are in the extending direction of the star-patterned gold vein. The depth is about two thousand five hundred zhang. If the star-patterned gold was really turned up from the depths by crustal movement—the deeper it is, the denser it will be."

Lu Changyuan looked at the line he drew—"Have Old Mai Liu pick three teams with the best swimming skills. Go underwater at the hour of Mao tomorrow—the target is these three points."

On the evening of the third day—an unprecedented noise erupted on the Pier.

A five-person exploration team returned from the deepest mineral vein point marked by Leng Feng—the captain was an old Loose Cultivator at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage named Duan Heng—who had been sailing in the Outer Sea of the Zhenhai Fortress for decades, his face etched with extremely deep wrinkles from the sea breeze. His waterproof bag contained more than just Ore—there was also a Loose Cultivator with a severed left arm.

The one-armed Loose Cultivator was dragged up from the water by two people—the stump of his left arm was wrapped in only a layer of bandage soaked through by seawater, the blood oozing from the bandage was diluted into a very faint pink in the seawater, and after surfacing, the blood threads turned dark red again. He was still conscious—his right hand clutching a black crystal the size of a fist, clutching it so tightly that his fingernails were embedded in the grooves on the crystal's surface.

"Move aside—" Duan Heng pushed away the crowd watching on the Pier—"We didn't find him on the mineral vein! When we were retreating from the mineral vein—at about two thousand seven hundred zhang on the stone wall, we saw a stone door—half of the door was embedded in the stone wall, and the other half was covered by sedimentary rock layers. There were Array Patterns on the door surface—the way they were drawn was the same as the Array Patterns of the Killing Array on the reef wall, but the patterns were at least ten times thicker. The Haiyuan Clan was surrounding that door—at least nearly a hundred of them, all elites above the Late Foundation Establishment Stage—they were pouring something on the door. It was dark red—not formation ink—it was human blood."

The Pier was quiet for about three breaths. Quiet enough to hear the extremely faint creaking sound of the one-armed Loose Cultivator's fingernails rubbing against the surface of the black crystal as he clutched it.

"This brother—" Duan Heng pointed to the one-armed Loose Cultivator—"He was discovered by a patrol of the Haiyuan Clan. When retreating, his left arm was grazed by the tip of a bone spear—the bone didn't break, but the flesh was torn open. He pushed us in another direction—and hid in a crack in the stone wall himself—then found the place where the stone door had been poured with blood from deep within the crack—the blood seeped into the Array Patterns on the door. The small piece of stone surface where the blood seeped into the Array Patterns cracked—he took advantage of the moment the crack collapsed and knocked a piece of stone off the door—it's this thing."

The one-armed Loose Cultivator opened his right hand. The black crystal did not emit any luster under the cold light stone lamp in the evening—it did not reflect light, did not emit heat, and had no spiritual power fluctuations. He placed it on the stone slab of the Pier—next to the pile of Cold Iron Mine and star-patterned gold poured out by the exploration team—the glowing Ore around the stone did not affect it in the slightest. It was like a dead stone.

Then, after about three breaths—the Receiving Formation plate in Su Qingli's arms emitted an unprecedented low-frequency hum. It was not a sharp alarm signal—but a very low, deep, continuous vibration, as if someone had pressed their ear against a huge iron plate after it had been struck. The spiritual power frequency value marked on the Formation Plate was fluctuating—the fluctuation curve had no pattern, but the center of the fluctuation was aimed exactly at the position of the black crystal on the table.

Su Qingli moved the Receiving Formation plate to the table—the hum jumped up a notch as the Formation Plate moved less than half an inch closer to the crystal. She moved the Formation Plate back—the hum dropped. She looked up—"Its spiritual power frequency is exactly the same as the new master fluctuation source. Not the same kind—it is the same thing. That fluctuation source—the Seal's Guardian Spirit—its spiritual body is likely attached to this fragment. Or rather, the other way around. This fragment is a small piece that collapsed after the Seal was washed open by blood—with this small piece missing from the Seal, the aura of the Guardian Spirit leaked out from the gap."

Lu Changyuan reached out and picked up the black crystal from the stone slab. The crystal felt nearly half as light as it looked—it was not the weight of Ore, but some kind of looser, more brittle mineralized organic matter. The surface was not smooth—it had a very fine granular feel to the touch, like the texture of charcoal powder pressed into rock layers a thousand years ago after it had recrystallized.

He turned the crystal over—there was a dark golden fine line spreading from the center to the outside on the bottom. The dark golden color was almost the same as the patterns on the bone armor of the Golden Core Abyssal Beast—but the direction of the lines was completely different. The bone patterns of the Golden Core Abyssal Beast were spirally diffused—this line radiated outward, and the end of each line was neatly broken off at the edge of the crystal—as if it had been snapped off from a larger whole by some force.

"This thing is sending a signal to the outside." Lu Changyuan put the crystal back on the table—"It doesn't emit it itself—but the Formation Plate can sense it. The moment it collapsed—the High Priest of the Haiyuan Clan would know. That new master fluctuation source would also know."

He called Leng Feng to his side—"From now on—all exploration teams are prohibited from entering waters below two thousand five hundred zhang. For those who have already gone underwater and haven't returned—recall them immediately upon receiving the signal. The Haiyuan Clan will know that a piece of the Seal outside the keyhole has been knocked off—they will strengthen the patrol density in front of the door, and anyone who approaches the stone door will be surrounded."

Leng Feng turned and walked toward the Pier—aiming the observation lens at the depths of the Dragon Burial Trench. Inside the lens—the dark purple corrosive mist shrank into a line on the distant stone wall. Under that line—the pulsation frequency of the new master fluctuation source was jumping up. Leng Feng put down the observation lens—"The direction of the abyss. The water is shaking."

Su Qingli looked at the frequency curve of the new master fluctuation source on the Receiving Formation plate—the curve was going up. From the stable low frequency of three days ago—to the stable medium frequency of today—to the jump up one notch after the black crystal was put on the table just now. Although it was still far from a high frequency—it was accelerating.

At this moment, Old Mo pushed open the door of the Formation Affairs Room. He had just woken up from a nap—there was still a red mark on his face from sleeping on the rattan, and fragments of old rubbing paper were stuck in his hair. He walked to the table—glanced at the pile of newly recovered Ore on the table—star-patterned gold, Cold Iron, Starlight Coral—his gaze barely stopped on each piece of Ore.

Then he saw the black crystal.

He stopped. Not his footsteps—but his breathing stopped. The ancient formation rubbing he was flipping through slipped from his fingers—the paper roll hit the stone slab with a very light, crisp paper-folding sound. He stared at that black crystal—stared for at least several breaths—then took a step forward—stretched out his right hand—his fingers hovering less than half an inch above the crystal—without touching it.

His voice was nearly half slower than usual. Every word was squeezed out from deep in his throat.

"This is not Ore. This is a core fragment of the Seal—the physical carrier of the blood ban in the inner layer of the ruins. The dark golden fine lines on it—are exactly the same as the marking method on the Seal's Formation Platform two thousand years ago. The Haiyuan Clan pouring human blood is not to break the door—it is to corrode the physical structure of the Seal. The blood seeps in along the Array Patterns—and will squeeze the crystals inside the crystal stone apart layer by layer from the seams. The crystal cracks—the Seal collapses—and the door opens."

He withdrew his fingers from above the crystal—looked down at the scattered rubbing paper on the ground—and did not pick it up.

"This thing in your hand—is a token to enter the ruins. A core fragment that fell off the door when the Seal collapsed—only it can be brought out of the range of the ruins after the blood ban is completely broken. Because it became a part of the Seal itself the moment the Seal collapsed—the method of entering and exiting is carved into its patterns. That door, which the Haiyuan Clan poured tens of thousands of people's blood on and still hasn't opened—you now have its key in your hand."

The Chart Room was quiet for at least ten breaths. The Spirit Stone debris in the cold light stone lamp was slowly being consumed—snap—snap—it sounded every few breaths. The noise of the exploration teams unloading cargo on the Pier drifted in from outside the window—the dull thud of Ore being poured onto the stone slab, the sound of Commander Cai knocking on the assessment platform with his pipe, the shouting of Loose Cultivators reporting their names and signing contracts—these sounds hung in the air together with Old Mo's sentence just now, each occupying its own frequency.

Lu Changyuan picked up the black crystal from the table. The crystal was slightly warm in his palm—not because the crystal itself was heating up, but because its patterns were resonating with the fluctuation frequency on the Receiving Formation.

He placed the crystal on the sea chart table—pressing it right in the center of Shen Qinghan's large intelligence paper. The dozens of data points on the paper spread from the top left corner to the bottom right corner—each stroke pointing in one direction—the Seal's keyhole—the door of the ruins.

"The key is in our hands. The door is under the feet of the Haiyuan Clan. What we need—is to squeeze a person in between the door and them before the door is washed open by blood."

Leng Feng walked back from the direction of the Pier—salt frost from the bottom of the observation lens tube was still on his armor plates. He looked at the black crystal on the sea chart table—looked for nearly a few breaths—then buckled the clasp of the sword scabbard at his waist.

"My Lord—going underwater?"

"Not now. Wait a few more days—until the people from the Chamber of Commerce arrive." Lu Changyuan pressed his finger on the blank page of the Ore Chamber of Commerce contract—the paper was pressed at the very edge of the sea chart table, and the tea next to it had been cold for nearly a few hours. "Before going in—first stabilize the supply circulation outside. Once the outside is stable—we can go in without being distracted by things behind us."

He picked up the black crystal—turned it over—and put it into the inner pocket of his sleeve. The stack of things in the inner pocket changed from nine items to ten—the black crystal was stuffed at the very bottom, its cold surface pressing against his forearm through layers of paper.

On the Pier—Old Mai Liu weighed the last batch of Cold Iron Ore received this evening basket by basket. Commander Cai wrote the cumulative storage number for today in the last cell of the registry—after writing it, he pressed a horizontal line at the bottom of the number with his pipe. The horizontal line was pressed heavier than usual—the charcoal powder seeped into the paper fibers, and the line could be vaguely seen from the back of the paper.

The tobacco in the pipe was still not lit.