103: Chapter 104 Nail Bridge

The area beneath the Outer Fire Well was terrifyingly quiet.

The tiny, gnashing sounds beneath the bridge had all ceased, leaving only the grey-red fire wind silently swirling against the well walls. It grew heavier with every rotation, like a beast crouching in the abyss, tightening its muscles and bones.

Qiao Ye pressed one knee onto the bridge surface, his shield foot jammed tightly into the bridge gap, a layer of white ash already accumulating on his shoulder armor. He caught his breath and whispered, "What is this wind... holding back?"

"Holding back the third breath." Wen Zhao's voice came from behind the shield, sounding severely hoarse. Blood was still oozing from the web of his left hand, torn open during the second suction. Now, the blood was seeping into the bridge surface along the grooves of the old spikes. "The Fire Well wind's suction gets fiercer with each breath. The first two were short, just testing your limits. The third one is what will truly try to drag people down."

Qiao Ye licked his dry, cracked lips. "You could have told me sooner."

"If I had told you sooner, would you have dared to hold it?"

"...I would have just changed my stance to hold it."

Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal pressed against the side of Qiao Ye's shield, the cold white light coating the shield's surface like a layer of thin ice. The edge of Master Crow's wings swept across the bridge surface, illuminating a very shallow arc—the spot where the third suction was about to burst forth.

"The wind vent is three inches to the left," Ning Yanqiu said.

Lu Jin didn't speak; he simply sent a wisp of fine fire from the Outer Fire Well to the back of the arc. He wasn't feeding the bridge, just creating a fire spike. Grey Pupil's Sacrificial Fire clung beneath the fire spike, and Wu Fu's worker nest layer filaments wound around it as well.

"If this filament breaks, you pay ten times the cost," Wu Fu said through gritted teeth.

"Five times."

"This is a life-saving price!"

"Six times."

Wu Fu nodded fiercely. "Deal."

Instructor Han Tiecheng spoke from outside the door, his voice as heavy as iron. "If you can't hold it, retreat."

Qiao Ye didn't respond. He pressed the shield another half-inch over the fracture groove; the friction where the shield foot met the bridge gap made a teeth-gritting sound. If he retreated, the bridge would be gone. If the bridge was gone, it could be repaired, but if the anchor line broke, who would come to nail it next round?

Wen Zhao looked at him and suddenly said, "Don't try to brute-force it this time."

Qiao Ye grinned, the white ash on his shoulder armor falling in clumps. "You just told me to be a nail."

"Even nails have a technique for being driven." Wen Zhao held the last old spike in his palm, the tip pressing against the fire pattern on his palm. "When the Fire Well wind comes up, loosen your stance by half an inch and let it pass over the shield surface. When the wind column reaches its fiercest point, slam your right knee down and lock the shield foot tight. Only lock it for that final moment."

Qiao Ye narrowed his eyes. "That sounds like suicide."

"It lasts longer than brute-forcing it."

"Fine," Qiao Ye took a deep breath, his lungs filled with the acrid taste of grey fire. "I'll trust you once."

Before the words had even faded, a thunderous explosion erupted from beneath the bridge.

The third suction had finally arrived.

The grey-red wind column spiraled up from the fracture groove like an invisible, gigantic palm, grabbing the Lock Bridge and dragging it downward. The bridge surface trembled violently, and the old stone skin on both sides of the fracture groove curled up piece by piece, emitting a wail before breaking.

Qiao Ye did not try to block it head-on.

He loosened his stance by half an inch.

As soon as he loosened that half-inch, the violent wind column rushed past the shield surface, sending sparks flying from his shoulder armor and instantly numbing half his body. When the wind column reached its fiercest point, Qiao Ye roared, his right knee slamming into the bridge surface like a hammer!

The shield foot locked tight!

Almost simultaneously, Wen Zhao's last old spike flew from his hand, the tip passing through the shield's shadow and precisely nailing into the edge of the fracture groove. Ning Yanqiu's cold white light suppressed the wind vent, Lu Jin's fire spike descended, Grey Pupil's Sacrificial Fire sealed the bottom, and Wu Fu's worker filaments bound the bridge!

Boom!

The grey-red wind column was forcibly pressed back beneath the bridge.

The Lock Bridge emitted a heart-stopping, muffled sound; the stone skin curling up on both sides of the fracture groove was tightly bound by the worker filaments and did not shatter. The bridge surface swayed three times, but ultimately did not continue to sink.

Qiao Ye knelt on one knee on the bridge, his shoulders covered in white ash, his hand gripping the shield shaking violently. He looked up, breathing like a bellows. "Three breaths... caught them all."

Wen Zhao pressed the old spike firm, his voice also hoarse. "Mhm."

"I didn't act recklessly, did I?"

Wen Zhao glanced at him, and on that face which usually held no expression, the corners of his mouth seemed to twitch. "Not this time."

Qiao Ye smiled, a smile uglier than crying. "I like hearing that."

Instructor Han Tiecheng snorted from outside the door. "Don't get cocky, the anchor line hasn't been connected yet."

Lu Jin raised his hand, and the half-gate anchor extended a line forward. The Frontline auxiliary nest layer split a fine branch from the gate tendon, passing along the shield shadow Qiao Ye was pressing down, and landed between Wen Zhao's three old spikes. The Post Station tactical layer lit up—from the outer edge of the Lock Bridge to the fracture, there was finally a line that could be returned.

Wen Zhao stared at the fire line box, letting the old spike vibrate once. The sound of the grey-red wind on the bridge surface changed from sharp to muffled, like a pinned beast still growling in unwillingness.

"Can people pass?" Lu Jin asked.

Wen Zhao didn't answer immediately. He listened carefully to the echoes of the old spike, and after a long while, said, "One person per breath. No walking side-by-side, no carrying heavy fire. When crossing the bridge, spirit fire must be suppressed to the lowest level."

Qiao Ye stood up, leaning on his shield, his knees making a sound of unbearable strain. "In other words, we can only line up to get scraped."

"It can be crossed."

These two words were enough.

Instructor Han Tiecheng immediately said, "Record."

The Black-Armored Recorder wrote rapidly. "Lu Jin's vanguard line at the Grey Fire Well outer ring Lock Bridge fracture, nailed down a temporary bridge line. Qiao Ye positioned at the Lock Bridge front pressure point, endured the Fire Well wind suction three times. Wen Zhao positioned at the bridge line recording point, three old spikes pressing the bridge. Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal pressing the tooth shadow above the bridge. Night-Wing Scout Hunter scouting along the bottom of the bridge, wing bones burned by Fire Well wind. This section of the outer ring road is passable by a single person with low fire."

Upon hearing the last sentence, Wu Fu's expression improved slightly. "You're writing down that the wing bones were burned too?"

"Yes," Instructor Han Tiecheng said.

Wu Fu said with a cold face, "Then write down the replenishment of materials later too."

Instructor Han Tiecheng glanced at her. "Let Lu Jin write it."

Wu Fu immediately turned her head to glare at Lu Jin.

Lu Jin said, "Six times."

She let him off the hook then.

However, the Night Wing was still hanging upside down beneath the bridge, not having returned.

Wu Fu's face, which had just relaxed, turned fierce again. "Why are you still hanging there?!"

The Night Wing let out a low cry from beneath the bridge, its claws still hooked onto that copper-black old shard. Just now, the third suction had ripped open the stone skin on the bottom of the bridge, loosening the old shard further. It was pulling it out bit by bit; the injury on its wing bones made it unable to drag anything too heavy, but it refused to let go.

Qiao Ye lay by the bridge edge and looked down, his pupils constricting. "There's something else under the bridge."

Wen Zhao wanted to go forward, but Lu Jin raised his hand to stop him. "Let the Night Wing drag it to the fracture."

Wu Fu gritted her teeth. "Its wing bones were just burned!"

"Don't let it go deep," Lu Jin looked at the shadow beneath the bridge, "just drag it out."

The Night Wing seemed to understand, and its claws clamped down hard. The copper-black old shard slipped halfway out from the dark groove in the bridge's belly, its edges scraping against the old copper rail, emitting a harsh, sharp sound. The Fire Well wind immediately prepared to suck again, but Grey Pupil's Sacrificial Fire suppressed it a step earlier, and Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal also pressed against the bridge bottom. With one fire and one mirror, they bought half a breath for the Night Wing.

Half a breath was enough.

The Night Wing clamped the old shard in its beak, tucked its wings, and plummeted, falling into the shadow beside the bridge, then crawled up along the shadow of Qiao Ye's shield. When it landed on the bridge surface, its wing bones were shaking violently, but it held onto that object in its mouth without letting go.

Wu Fu rushed in and scooped it up. "Do you Night Wings all like falling from high places?"

She pried twice before she could open the Night Wing's beak.

It was a copper-black nameplate.

It was only half a plate, its edges gnawed pitted and bumpy by the Fire Well wind, with several old copper nails like rat teeth hanging on the back. The surface of the nameplate was covered in the black ash of the Grey Fire Well, making the writing illegible.

Lu Jin raised his hand, and black fire brushed across the surface of the nameplate. Ning Yanqiu's cold white light followed and pressed down.

Beneath the copper-black, four old characters slowly revealed themselves.

The characters were crude, as if hammered in one by one with a blunt chisel—

Ding Gu Workshop.

Wu Fu had originally been applying ash to the Night Wing, but seeing these four characters, her hand froze in mid-air.

Grey Pupil also lifted his eyes.

Wen Zhao pressed the characters from the nameplate into a Line-Marking Nail, his voice extremely low. "There is an old workshop plate beneath the Lock Bridge."

Qiao Ye looked at the maintenance dark groove beneath the bridge, his Adam's apple bobbing. "So... is there really a workshop under this bridge?"

Lu Jin did not answer immediately.

Beneath the outer ring of the Grey Fire Well, the well wind slowly swirled against the bridge bottom. At the end of that maintenance dark groove, there were even deeper copper-black old rails, like a road buried in the well wall, leading to who knows where.

Lu Jin tucked the half-nameplate into the edge of the Frontline Fire Platform's worker nest layer.

As soon as the nameplate entered the fire, the empty bone frame behind the Nest King Platform, which hadn't yet fully grown, suddenly made a soft sound.

Dong.

Wu Fu's eyes lit up instantly. "It recognizes the workshop material!"

Grey Pupil's voice dropped, as if afraid of disturbing something. "Or it could be that the workshop... is recognizing the frame."

Beneath the Lock Bridge, deep in the outer ring of the Grey Fire Well, a very soft knocking sound suddenly came.

Knock.

It was as if something in the old copper rails, separated by many years, had knocked once on an axle.