102: Chapter 103 Blood Lure

The black-grey blood on the old nail crept forward another speck.

It was very slow, so slow that Qiao Ye initially thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. It wasn't until that damp glint squeezed out a second speck from below the nail tip that the color truly drained from his face.

"It's alive?"

Grey Pupil's cane rested horizontally before the old nail; his Sacrificial Fire did not burn it directly, instead tracing a thin grey-red line around the outer circle of the black-grey blood. The blood touched the edge of the Sacrificial Fire and immediately recoiled by half a fraction, like a bug that had been burned. Yet, after only a breath, it wriggled forward again, squeezing toward the door crack as if it had caught a scent of a path from behind the half-open ancient door.

Wen Zhao stared at the old nail, his left knuckles white from squeezing: "It was brought out from beside the first old boot print. The blood hasn't cooled through yet."

Instructor Han Tiecheng's iron fire order hung before the door, its fire seal pressed extremely low. The preliminary exploration of the half-door had just concluded, and those on the frontline had barely caught their breath, yet blood that had not yet dried was seeping out from behind the door. Giving chase now would easily result in being swept into the well wind.

Lu Jin said nothing, his gaze falling upon the thin sheet of the Grey Fire Well.

The tiny return line on the edge of the thin sheet was glowing; it pointed toward the second old boot print behind the door. The black-grey blood on the old nail also pointed there. Both lines indicated the same direction—the Outer Fire Well.

"Do not go deep," Lu Jin suddenly spoke.

Instructor Han Tiecheng looked at him.

"Only take the outer loop path." Lu Jin raised his hand, and black fire pressed down along the thread marks of the half-door anchor. "The boot prints will dissipate, and the blood will dry. By the time the next round of the three-party queue arrives, the marks under the bridge might be gone."

Wen Zhao immediately replied: "I can press the line to the break in the Lock Bridge." He paused, looking down at his three old nails, his voice dropping slightly. "At most to the break. Any further down, the old nails won't hold."

Qiao Ye hoisted his shield onto his shoulder; the shield face had just been repaired, with a layer of Work Rat nest grey glue embedded in the cracks, making it look uglier and thicker than before. "I'll hold the bridge."

Wen Zhao glanced at him: "Don't rush in all at once this time."

"When did I say I was going to rush?"

Wen Zhao pressed the old nail into the fire line box, not even looking up: "The hand you were holding the shield with just now had already shifted forward two inches."

Qiao Ye looked down and realized it was true. He moved his hand back but refused to admit it: "I was just finding my position early."

Ning Yanqiu stood to the left of the door, Master Crow crouching behind her shoulder, the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal retracted very low, revealing only a circle of cold white fine teeth at the cuffs. "I will suppress the gear shadows above the bridge. Let the Night Wing take the area below the Lock Bridge."

Wu Fu had already carried the short-winged Night Wing back to the rack. The little fellow had just been coated with ash, its eyes still bright, but its claws were too weak to grip the edge of the rack. Wu Fu pressed it back: "It's not going." She pulled another Night Wing from behind the Work Rat; this one had a grey shell wrapping its dorsal bone, and a corner of the fire-stealing sheet on its wingtip was missing, but its gaze was much steadier than the short-winged one. "Switch to this one."

Lu Jin looked at it: "Can it stick to the bottom of the bridge?"

Wu Fu stroked the Night Wing's dorsal bone, her expression extremely sour: "It can stick. If it gets burned to the wing bone, it will retreat."

The Night Wing gave a low cry.

Wu Fu glared at it: "Don't learn from that one just now, rolling back the moment you hear the well wind. Don't try to act brave for me."

Grey Pupil said indifferently from the side: "Does it understand what 'roll' means?"

Wu Fu looked up: "It understands when I'm angry."

Instructor Han Tiecheng's gaze swept across their faces, and the combat mission record on the iron fire order lit up again: "One quarter of an hour. You are only permitted to take the section from the outer edge of the Lock Bridge to the break. If you can't take it, retreat. If you do take it, also retreat."

The Temple Inspector frowned: "The Outer God's fine bone reaction is still present; continuing to open the door carries risks."

Instructor Han Tiecheng looked at him coldly: "Just now, it was you who wanted the side inspection. This time, write the side inspection clearly—the grey box stays in the outer layer, the Outer God's fine bone does not accompany the team, and if there is a reaction, record the direction first."

Lu Jin did not wait for them to argue further, directly pressing the door seal.

The royal court's ancient door opened from the half-line to the width of one person. Grey wind poured in, colder than before, as if sprayed directly from the bottom of the well. As soon as Qiao Ye's shield face touched the threshold, a layer of fine ash was scraped off the grey glue, and he cursed lowly: "Repairing shields in this place is all for nothing."

Wen Zhao crouched behind him, his three old nails in place—one pressing the threshold, one pressing the half-door anchor, and one pressing the black-grey blood line. The blood was tethered by the fire line at the nail tail, like a damp, shiny little bug, slowly stretching toward the inside of the door.

Lu Jin's black fire did not follow too closely, instead pressing the fire supply of the Outer Fire Well into a thin thread, as fine as a needle.

Wu Fu frowned: "So thin?"

"If it's too thick, it will be sucked away."

Grey Pupil said: "The well wind eats fire; let it go hungry first."

Wu Fu snorted: "I have no objection to starving it."

"Enter." Lu Jin raised his hand.

Qiao Ye was the first to step over the threshold. He did not rush forward, his right foot precisely stepping on the three-step anchor behind the door, his shield inserted at an angle, leaving a half-person-wide opening for those behind him. The grey wind scraped past the side of the shield, but the shield face was not pushed back.

Wen Zhao looked up from behind: "Right, that's the angle."

Qiao Ye gritted his teeth: "Can you say things like that a breath earlier in the future?"

"Even if I said it earlier, you would have still pushed forward."

"You really aren't afraid of me beating you up now."

"You can't spare a hand."

Ning Yanqiu entered the door from Qiao Ye's left, not stepping too deep, only sending the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal above the bridge. Master Crow spread its wings halfway, its cold white light acting like a thin hook, catching the fire-dividing gear shadows above inside the door. The gear shadows had originally been turning with the grey wind, but as the Cold Mirror light pressed down, they slowed by half a beat.

The Night Wing took advantage of this half-beat to slide out from under Qiao Ye's shield. It clung to the edge of the wide steps, following the route the black-grey blood had crept along. The blood line crossed the second old boot print and moved down a few more steps; the grey mist ahead dispersed, and a section of a black-grey stone bridge emerged from the end of the wide steps.

The Lock Bridge.

The bridge deck was only two people wide, with no railings on either side. Below the bridge was the Outer Fire Well, so deep the bottom couldn't be seen; circles of grey-red fire wind rotated against the well walls. With every rotation, a faint sound came from the bottom of the bridge, like many teeth slowly chewing on fire.

Qiao Ye took one look, and his shoulders and back tightened: "The bridge is this narrow?"

Wen Zhao pressed the first old nail to the bridgehead: "The bridge deck is narrow, but the bottom of the bridge is even more troublesome." He pointed his finger downward. "Did you hear that? There are empty grooves below."

The Night Wing had already stuck to the bottom of the bridge, retracting its wings, its claws hooking into a thin crack in the bridge's belly, moving forward while hanging upside down. It had only moved three feet when the well wind at the bottom of the bridge suddenly sucked in, and the grey shell on the Night Wing's back cracked instantly.

Wu Fu's expression changed drastically outside the door: "Retreat half a foot!"

The Night Wing retreated immediately. The well wind scraped past its wing bone, the damaged fire-stealing sheet on the wingtip lit up, blocking a mouthful of grey fire for it. After blocking it, the fire-stealing sheet lost another small corner.

Wu Fu's eyes were almost spitting fire: "This bridge bottom is stealing my wing bone!"

Grey Pupil stared at the bridge belly: "It is back-absorbing the fire line."

Lu Jin looked at that thin crack. For every inch the fire line on the bridge deck moved forward, the well wind at the bottom of the bridge took a bite from below. The set of fire grooves, relocation lines, and shield lines used on the outer line would be half-eaten if moved here. The tactics had to be changed.

"Do not lay fire grooves."

Qiao Ye was stunned: "Then how do I hold it?"

"Use the shield foot."

Wen Zhao understood the fastest, inserting the second old nail behind the shadow of Qiao Ye's shield: "Don't let the shield face catch the wind. Jam the shield foot into the bridge crack, and let your shoulders focus only on pressing the person, not the bridge."

Qiao Ye's expression was ugly: "Speak human."

"Treat yourself as a nail."

Qiao Ye understood. He turned the shield face sideways, no longer using the whole shield to block the grey wind, only jamming the shield foot into the first crack at the bridgehead. The grey wind rushed past both sides of the shield; he was swayed backward by the force, but the shield foot stayed jammed, and the bridge deck was no longer being dragged by the well wind from below.

Wen Zhao immediately placed the nails. The first nail locked the shield foot, the second nail locked the bridge crack, and the third nail pressed the black-grey blood line. The blood line crept forward along the bridge crack, but when it reached the fifth step, it suddenly broke.

Lu Jin's eyes narrowed: "The break."

The Night Wing sent back a short cry from the bottom of the bridge. It had discovered the break below the bridge belly—the bridge deck was still connected, but a section of the fire supply groove at the bottom of the bridge was broken, and that section faced the Outer Fire Well. The well wind was being sucked back up from the broken groove; no wonder the fire line on the bridge deck couldn't pass.

Ning Yanqiu raised her hand, the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal pressing downward, the cold white light shining onto the edge of the broken groove. There was a row of very small maintenance holes there, the holes looking as if they had been bitten by rat teeth, arranged very densely.

"There are hidden maintenance grooves at the bottom of the bridge," she said in a low voice.

Wen Zhao immediately noted it down: "Left by Old Rat-folk craftsmen?"

Lu Jin said: "Don't conclude yet."

The Night Wing crawled forward along the maintenance holes. The well wind sucked in again; this time, the Night Wing retreated half a beat slower. Its left wing joint was struck by the grey wind, emitting a very faint cracking sound.

Wu Fu gripped the edge of the rack hard outside the door, her fingernails almost embedding into the wood: "Come back!"

The Night Wing had a small piece of grey bridge debris in its mouth and did not retreat. Lu Jin's black fire pressed to the bridgehead: "Only to the end of the hidden groove."

The Night Wing gave a low cry and continued to move forward two feet.

Wu Fu bit down until her back molars ached: "Two feet! Any more and I'm dragging it back!"

Grey Pupil's Sacrificial Fire pressed out a wisp from the Frontline Fire Hall, sticking it to the Night Wing's back: "Protect its retreat path."

Wu Fu glanced at him, not retorting this time.

The Night Wing crawled to the end of the hidden groove, its claw tip gently flicking downward. A copper-black old piece at the bottom of the bridge loosened by half an inch. It couldn't drag it out, and the well wind under the bridge suddenly stopped.

The entire Outer Fire Well went quiet for an instant.

As if something was taking a deep breath.

The black fire in Lu Jin's eyes pressed down heavily: "It is gathering wind."

Wu Fu's face instantly turned pale.