70: Chapter 71 The Broken Bridge and the Secret Passage

In the vision transmitted back by the Night Wing, the tip of the old path beneath the bridge belly had just come into view. Lu Jin reached back and pressed down on Qiao Ye, who was about to rush out, his tone brooking no argument: "Qiao Ye, stay behind."

Qiao Ye already had his heavy bone shield in hand, his knuckles white from his grip. He was stunned upon hearing this, his voice rising a few notches: "Brother Lu! Isn't there a path under the bridge? We should just rush down and seize it, lest someone else picks it up!"

"There is a path, but you cannot go." Lu Jin's gaze was locked tightly onto the grey-line image transmitted by the Night Wing, his tone tight and heavy. "That path is so narrow you can only pass through it sideways. With your build, if you get blocked at the entrance, you won't even have room to turn back. It's pure suicide."

Qiao Ye opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but Lu Jin's next sentence left him speechless: "The Post Station was just seized, the main fire pillar is only half-stabilized, and the outer walls are still leaking wind. If you aren't guarding the main entrance, and someone takes advantage of the opening, the stronghold we worked so hard to seize will become someone else's property in the blink of an eye."

These words were too practical and hit the nail on the head. Qiao Ye held his breath for two seconds, then slammed his bone shield onto the ground, sending white ash flying everywhere: "Fine! I'll stay! You go steal that secret passage, and I'll guard this front entrance tight—not even a fly will be able to get in!"

On the other side, Wen Zhao didn't waste a single word. He silently produced two gleaming, cold-light Line-Marking Nails and handed them to Lu Jin, speaking at a rapid pace: "The wind seams under the bridge are chaotic, and the grey fire from the main fire pillar can't be channeled in. Take these two cold spikes. If you encounter a fork in the road ahead, spike the left path first before exploring the right. Don't be greedy for speed and rush the main path; it's easy to get ambushed."

Lu Jin took the cold spikes and casually tucked them into his sleeve. Just as his fingertips touched the chill of the spikes, Ning Yanqiu had already walked to the edge of the Post Station's high platform.

She no longer hid the unusually cold fragment disk in her sleeve, but held it between her fingers. A clear, cold light seeped from the edges of the fragment, bone-chillingly cold. As the night wind blew, a faint layer of white mist rose on the surface of the mirror, as if this fragment, separated by the layer of mist, was greedily "recognizing" the cold path beneath the bridge.

"I'm going down with you." Her tone was calm but carried an undeniable certainty. After speaking, she didn't even spare a glance for anyone else, just stared at Lu Jin, waiting for him to nod.

Lu Jin did not hesitate and immediately nodded to coordinate: "Bring only two Night Wings and four Burrowing Spear Rats. Use the side entrance, don't maintain formation, and stay as quiet as possible."

Wu Fu was crouching under the beams of the high platform, her fingertips stroking the wing bone of a Night-Wing Scout Hunter, reluctant to let go. Hearing this, she looked up and clicked her tongue, her tone full of heartache: "You're really willing, Lu Jin! These new eyes just hatched, and before they're even warm, you're throwing them into that black hole under the bridge. If they get broken, let's see where you'll find such good wing bone embryos again!"

Grey Pupil, however, did not stop them. He slammed his ritual staff onto the ground, and a faint grey fire lit up at the tip of the staff, his tone grave: "If the path under the bridge is a supply-marking path from the old Post Station, the wind vents, faults, and grey bridge eyes will shift over time. Bringing Night Wings to scout the path is the safest choice."

He paused, then added another sentence, his tone carrying a hint of warning: "But don't count on me to channel the Post Station's fire sequence down to the bridge bottom for you. Both the main fire pillar and the outer walls are consuming fire. Once you go down, you will only be able to borrow a small wisp of fire sequence to save your lives; the rest you'll have to rely on yourselves for."

"That's enough." Lu Jin was concise. He turned and walked toward the side entrance of the Post Station, with Ning Yanqiu following closely behind. The four Burrowing Spear Rats hugged the ground and followed silently.

The entrance to the old path beneath the bridge belly was even more hidden and narrower than it looked from above. It was hidden in the deepest shadow on the outer side of the broken bridge, half-buried by collapsed ash and half pressed tightly against the stone base. If the Night Wings hadn't swept through the wind seams, anyone standing on the ground would have mistaken it for a section of abandoned drainage ditch and wouldn't have thought twice about it.

Lu Jin raised his hand and released one Night Wing first. The grey-black shadow slid gently against the bridge belly, not even making a sound as it moved with the wind, like a ghost blending into the night.

The next instant, the Night Wing's vision was steadily transmitted back.

The old path was not long, but it curved outrageously, like a snake hidden in a stone crevice. The first half was an old vehicle channel half-buried by ash, so narrow that only one person could pass through sideways. Further in, the space between the bridge belly and the ground layer suddenly lowered, as if someone had deliberately bent the path downward to make things difficult for tall people. On the stone walls on both sides of the path, many short black-grey spikes were embedded, their heads worn smooth. Clearly, they were not meant to harm people, but rather served as markers to calibrate the direction for old material carts and small transport beasts.

"Someone repaired this; it wasn't dug out temporarily." Ning Yanqiu said in a low voice, her fingertips gently stroking the fragment disk in her hand. The white mist on the mirror's surface had thickened a bit more.

Lu Jin nodded, his gaze becoming increasingly grave: "It's a proper old construction road. Later, a section of the bridge collapsed, and it was pressed into its current state, only willing to let those familiar with the path pass."

The two of them crawled into the secret passage one after the other. The Night Wing scouted the path ahead, and the Burrowing Spear Rats hugged the ashen ground, vigilantly checking for movement within the stone crevices. Occasionally, the booming sounds of the point-seizing teams moving in the distance and the roars of beasts drifted down from the bridge, but once they entered the depths of the bridge belly, those sounds were muffled by the thick stone layers, becoming faint and distant. Only the hollow sounds of their own footsteps remained, echoing back and forth in the narrow secret passage, sounding particularly jarring.

The further they went, the more intense the chill became.

This wasn't the cold brought in by the night wind; the secret passage itself held a chill—the exact opposite of the warmth from the Post Station's main fire pillar. It was bone-chillingly cold, as if many years ago, someone had laid a layer of Cold Mirror skin that would never melt on this path under the bridge, freezing even the air stiff.

The fragment disk in Ning Yanqiu's hand also grew brighter and brighter.

At first, only the edges of the mirror glowed white. By the time they reached the second turn, the entire surface of the mirror suddenly seemed to be ignited by something from within. The cold light flowed out along her fingertips, inch by inch, illuminating a small section of the bridge belly ahead, making even the cracks on the stone walls clearly visible.

Her footsteps faltered slightly, and the chill on her fingertips grew heavier.

Lu Jin immediately turned back, his gaze landing on her pale fingertips, and he asked in a deep voice: "Can you hold on?"

"I can." Ning Yanqiu replied extremely quickly, her voice still steady, but the hand holding the mirror gripped it even tighter, her knuckles turning white. "This thing isn't recognizing me; it's recognizing the construction of this bridge bottom. It's following the path."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Night Wing scouting ahead suddenly retracted its wings and swept back in a rush, hugging the upper edge of the bridge belly. A hurried warning came through their mental connection—the path ahead had collapsed halfway!

Lu Jin's mental awareness sank, and he instantly saw the situation ahead: the path wasn't completely severed. It looked like the bridge deck above had been struck by a heavy object, pressing the space below into a low and narrow slanted opening. The path could vaguely be seen extending behind the opening, but three half-suspended black stones were stuck in the middle, teetering. If they touched the wrong spot, the entire section of the bridge belly would collapse with them, sealing the two of them inside.

What was more troublesome was that something living was hiding behind the collapse!

Two grey-brown Narrow-Backed Ground Lizards were pressed into the stone crevices, their heads low and tails long. Their scales blended in with the black ash at the bottom of the bridge; without looking carefully, one wouldn't be able to spot them at all. They weren't particularly powerful, but this secret passage was too narrow. Once they were dragged into a fight with them, and then encountered the falling debris, even if the two had heaven-defying abilities, it would be difficult to escape.

"I'll go clear the obstacle first." No sooner had Lu Jin finished speaking than he wanted to rush forward, but he was stopped dead by Ning Yanqiu raising her hand.

"Wait." Her tone was firm. She raised the Cold Mirror half an inch higher, and the mirror's light shone precisely into the stone crevice of the collapse.

Lu Jin had originally thought she just wanted to illuminate the position of the falling stones, but the next instant, the grey wind swirling chaotically above the collapse seemed to be grabbed firmly by an invisible hand and suddenly stopped for a breath—in that short breath, the center of gravity of the falling stones was instantly and clearly exposed before their eyes!

Ning Yanqiu's eyes narrowed, and she blurted out: "The one on the top left is a false pressure; the real load-bearing point is at the back right! Don't touch the center. Have the Burrowing Spear Rats cut the grey tendon on the back right first, and the falling stones will stabilize!"

This was no longer her simple position-scouting and reporting from before; she had forcibly pinned down that small, chaotic airspace for Lu Jin for a fleeting moment—this ability was fiercer and more accurate than before, and even a trace of surprise flashed in the depths of Lu Jin's eyes.

Ning Yanqiu clearly realized the change herself. She lowered her head and took a quick glance at the Cold Mirror in her hand, wasting no words, just raised her chin, her tone crisp: "Do it!"

The four Burrowing Spear Rats immediately darted forward, their movements as swift as arrows: the one on the far left bit down on the grey tendon at the back right, its sharp teeth gnawing down fiercely, while the second one burrowed from below to underneath the floating stone, forcibly propping up a gap for the ash to fall.

Taking advantage of this one breath of wind position that had been pinned down, Lu Jin lowered his body and sped past against the left wall. The black fire in his palm suddenly pressed out, forcing the two Narrow-Backed Ground Lizards away from the center of the collapse—as long as they weren't interfered with by them, he could successfully clear the falling stones.

One of the lizards was unwilling to give up and suddenly lunged back along the stone crevice, its fangs bared, looking extremely fierce. Ning Yanqiu turned the mirror's surface, and a clear, cold light swept past its eyes. It didn't wound it, but it forcibly knocked the lizard's lunge off course by half an inch.

That half-inch was lethal!

The moment the lizard lunged into empty air, Lu Jin struck back with a palm, his black fire surging, and slammed it into the collapsed ash to the side, where it instantly went still. The other lizard saw the situation was bad and, terrified, turned and burrowed into the stone crevice, not even having the courage to resist.

The collapsed opening was successfully cleared, and the path behind was indeed still there, even older and more regular than the previous section.

This deepest section of the bridge belly was no longer an ash path that had collapsed later, but a whole sunken gallery built with short black-cyan bricks. The ceiling of the gallery was extremely low, requiring one to bend over to pass through, but the walls on both sides were exceptionally smooth. Every three steps along the base of the wall, a small secret spike was embedded. Between the brick seams, one could still see very faint scratch marks and cart wheel ruts; clearly, many people had traveled through here in the past.

Ning Yanqiu shone the Cold Mirror onto the wall. What the mirror light revealed was no longer just the path—dense, fine markings began to emerge on the wall. They were not large characters written by a person, but rather engravings so fine they were almost invisible: some resembled craftsman marks scratched out by rat claws, while others were a few extremely ancient Cold Mirror alignment patterns, worn down by time until only a faint white trace remained.

Her footsteps stopped instantly.

Ning Yanqiu slowly crouched down, her fingertips gently tracing those white marks, bit by bit. For the first time, her voice became low, carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling: "These are old forward-marking patterns, not the patrol patterns used by the current main branch of the Ning Family. They are an older, forward-pressing, and break-field style—the kind my father used back in the day."

Lu Jin turned his head silently without speaking, just standing behind her to guard the path ahead, giving her enough time.

Ning Yanqiu did not look at him, her gaze locked firmly onto the wall. Her fingertip suddenly pressed onto one corner—hidden there was an even smaller engraved mark. It was not text, but an old camp-corner pattern that would only be used by the Cold Mirror Forward Marking Battalion, with an almost worn-flat serial number pressed along the edge of the pattern.

Her breath hitched slightly, and her fingertips trembled faintly: "I have seen this serial number before, inside my father's old arm guard, engraved on the very inside, covered by him with lacquer. I only discovered it by chance when I was a child."

As these words fell, the secret passage under the bridge instantly became deathly silent.

This was not some abrupt lecture on family history; even Ning Yanqiu herself had not expected that this accidentally discovered secret passage under the bridge would actually collide with the old line suppressed by her father, Ning Zhaochuan, back in the day—this was the first time she had found concrete evidence related to her father's former unit after searching for so long.

The Cold Mirror in her palm suddenly became increasingly bright, so white it was almost translucent, as if it were no longer her holding the mirror to shine on the wall, but the ancient craftsmanship within the wall using her hand to "recognize someone" from the outside—to recognize the descendant of this old Ning Family Forward Marking Battalion.

Lu Jin still did not urge her, just quietly guarding the side, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding stone crevices, alert to any unusual movement.

Two breaths later, Ning Yanqiu slowly stood up, the trembling of her fingertips gradually subsiding, her voice becoming steady again, but a trace of determination added to the depths of her eyes: "Continue walking; this path is correct. It will definitely be able to lead me to find more things."

Walking further in, the corridor under the bridge began to tilt downwards layer by layer. Occasionally, rubble fell from above, making a "click" sound. On the stone wall to the left, one could still see extremely fine ventilation slits. The wind drilled in through the slits, carrying a bone-chilling cold, indicating that this secret passage was already close to the cross-section of the next layer and could collapse at any time.

The Night Wing swept forward in circles along these wind slits, continuously transmitting the view from deeper within.

Very quickly, Lu Jin saw the end of the path—there was no exit, only a Cold Mirror wall half-embedded in the stone crevices.

The mirror surface had long since shattered, with only seven or eight irregular Cold Mirror shards still embedded in the stone wall, like an old mirror door that had been fiercely smashed. Below the mirror door, more rubble and white ash were buried, and one could vaguely see a square-disk-shaped object, pressed tightly underneath, its full appearance unclear.

"Stop." As soon as Lu Jin's voice fell, the four Burrowing Spear Rats simultaneously crouched to the ground, their bodies tense: "The front looks like a mechanism opening. Do not touch it randomly; it is easy to collapse."

But Ning Yanqiu seemed not to hear him and walked straight up. The Cold Mirror fragment in her hand, found in the Post Station basement, was shining brightly at this moment. As soon as it approached the mirror wall, it began to vibrate gently, like a fragment that had finally found its parent device, eagerly wanting to fit back in.

She raised her hand and slowly pressed the broken mirror onto the shattered Cold Mirror wall.

Click—a very soft, crisp sound, exceptionally clear in the deathly silent secret passage.

The fragments on the entire Cold Mirror wall actually lit up simultaneously! It was not fully lit; rather, following the point she had pressed, cold white mirror patterns rippled outward in circles. The mirror paths that had originally been broken were, at this moment, as if reconnected by an invisible hand, lighting up all the way along the wall and floor under the bridge, eerily beautiful and carrying an ancient majesty.

And under the reflection of the mirror light, things that were originally almost invisible to the naked eye were all revealed: at the base of the wall, on the mirror surface, in side crevices, and under the bridge crossbeams, there were densely engraved, tiny, tiny rat-shaped craftsman marks—like rats standing up, carrying tools on their backs, their tails bent in different directions. Some were material-moving marks, some were bridge-alignment marks, and there were even a few particularly fine ones that were simply engraved in the shape of wing bones.

"Rat-shaped craftsman marks..." Ning Yanqiu murmured. The coldness in her eyes completely dissipated, replaced by a trace of shock and realization: "This is not just the trace of my father's old forward-marking line; beneath this secret passage under the bridge, there is an entire set of even older Royal Court craftsman paths!"

Just at this moment, in the stone crevice at the very bottom of the mirror wall, that half-buried square disk was finally illuminated clearly by the mirror light.

That was not an ordinary mirror shard, but a palm-sized fragment disk, its corners broken, yet the disk surface still retained the complete Cold Mirror main pattern. Outside the central mirror-heart slot, a circle of extremely ancient Royal Court craft patterns was pressed, and on the outermost edge was a Ning Family old military pattern that had faded significantly—the two patterns were tightly locked together, indistinguishable from one another.

The moment Ning Yanqiu saw that circle of old military patterns, her fingertips tightened again, and even her breathing slowed by half a beat.

This was not a guess; it was concrete evidence—the old Forward Marking Battalion where her father had been back in the day had truly touched this place; the old Ning Family fighting style, which had been forcibly suppressed back to the "field control position," was originally not just about watching positions and reporting points from the back, but a ruthless move capable of truly controlling the battlefield!

Lu Jin did not make a sound. He could tell what this fragment disk meant to Ning Yanqiu—it was the dignity and truth she had always wanted to bite back from history for her father and for herself.

Ning Yanqiu slowly crouched down and reached her hand into the stone crevice, wanting to pry out that half-buried royal court cold mirror fragment. But the fragment disk was stuck extremely tightly, as if the mirror wall under the bridge itself used it as a lock, and it remained motionless.

She applied a little force, and the entire bridge belly suddenly made a "click" sound. Rubble from above fell down with a clatter, and the secret passage began to tremble slightly, as if it could collapse at any moment.

Lu Jin immediately stepped forward half a step, reaching out to pull her: "Do not pull it forcefully, the secret passage is going to collapse!"

"I know." A thin layer of sweat seeped from Ning Yanqiu's temples, but her gaze became increasingly determined. She did not try to pry it out with brute force again, but instead gently embedded the Cold Mirror fragment in her hand into the shallowest crack on the edge of the fragment disk.

It fit perfectly. It was as if they had originally been one set, never having been separated.

The next instant, the circle of Royal Court craft patterns on the outer edge of the fragment disk suddenly lit up. An extremely fine, cold white mirror line shot out violently from the center of the disk, first shining on the ground, then on the wall, and finally, along Ning Yanqiu's wrist, it curled back all the way into her palm.

Her whole body shuddered slightly. It was not that she was hurt; it was that the chill was too righteous, too old, and too complete. It sank into her body layer by layer along her wrist bones, faintly resonating with the aura of the Mirror Frost Crow behind her.

The grey wind that had originally been rushing about under the bridge suddenly became completely still at this moment.

Lu Jin could clearly feel that the small section of bridge-under airspace in front of Ning Yanqiu seemed to be fiercely pressed down by something. The grey did not move, the wind did not stir, and even two grains of rubble falling from above slowed for an instant in mid-air—this was the first time she had truly mastered this power of "pinning the airspace."

Ning Yanqiu's eyes suddenly fixed, and she raised her hand to press down gently. The stone crevice that had been jamming the fragment disk actually loosened by half a line on its own.

The next instant, the royal court cold mirror fragment was steadily brought out by her from the stone crevice under the bridge.

With the fragment disk in hand, the chill did not rush about chaotically; instead, it slowly sank down along her wrist bones, gentle yet powerful. The three Mirror Frost Crows that had been circling high up, watching the path behind her, also trembled almost simultaneously. A new, extremely fine white line quietly lit up on the edges of their wing feathers, and their aura was significantly stronger than before.

Ning Yanqiu looked down at the fragment disk in her hand. After a long while, she slowly exhaled, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible relief: "It is connected."

These three words were not loud, but Lu Jin heard them clearly—this was not simply obtaining a relic; it was the old forward-marking road she had always wanted to bite back for Ning Zhaochuan and for herself, which finally had a piece of true Royal Court craft bone, and had hope of seeing the light of day again.

Just at this moment, from far away under the bridge, a dull sound of collapse suddenly came, shaking the entire secret passage slightly, as if someone outside had already stepped onto another bridge section and was approaching here.

Lu Jin was the first to snap out of it, his tone urgent: "Leave first! The path has been snatched, and the item has been obtained. If we do not retreat now, once people seal the bridge entrance, we will really be buried in this secret passage!"

Ning Yanqiu nodded, but she did not rush to put away the fragment disk. She held the fragment disk forward, and the Cold Mirror light swept along the front right of the bridge bottom—the subsequent side-door line, which could previously only be barely seen with the help of the Night Wing, was now illuminated clearly by her sweep. Even the small section of airspace most prone to collapse was firmly pinned by the cold white mirror patterns, as if it were specially extending this stolen path for them by another stretch.

She looked at the side-door line illuminated by the mirror light, and for the first time, the corners of her mouth truly curved upward, a sharp light flashing in her eyes: "Now, we can get ahead of everyone else."