71: Chapter 72 First, seize the fire well

The second they seized this side path, Lu Jin did not stop, not even sparing a moment to look back. His tone was cold and decisive: "Night Wing, scout ahead. We're heading straight for the wellhead!"

Two Night-Wing Scout Hunters shot out like arrows from a bow, darting agilely through the narrow side path.

The path beneath the bridge, which Ning Yanqiu had just extended using mirror patterns, was low and narrow. After rounding a collapsed bend, the ground suddenly sloped upwards, and a completely different atmosphere rushed in on the grey wind—not the dead, stagnant smell of old bricks mixed with old fire from the Post Station, but a more vibrant, hotter, and heavier scent of well fire that made one's nose sting.

They had found the right place!

Ning Yanqiu immediately tightened her grip on the royal court cold mirror fragment in her palm, leaving only a sliver of cold light to guide the way, no longer letting it shine openly.

She knew better than anyone that this path was stolen, not taken by force. If the mirror light became too bright, it would be equivalent to signaling the teams outside who were eyeing the point like tigers, essentially inviting death.

While rushing forward, Lu Jin spread his divine sense outwards, and the movements at the Post Station became instantly clear: Qiao Ye was still guarding the main entrance stubbornly, his bone shield held horizontally, refusing to yield an inch; Wen Zhao was still crouching behind the fire line on the right slope marking lines, his cold nails ready to strike at any moment; Wu Fu and Grey Pupil did not dare to send troops here recklessly, only stabilizing the defense line of the Grey Stele Post while quietly moving a few of their lightest, most agile squads toward the Fire Well.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Grey Pupil's voice was the first to sound, his tone carrying a hint of certainty: "The smell of well fire is genuine. It's not an abandoned fire pit, but a real Fire Well that can still connect to the main path. As long as we can open it and repair it, it's a solid, tangible resource!"

Wu Fu had calculated the key even faster than him, her voice unable to hide her excitement: "With this well, the main fire pillar of the Post Station won't need to consume the hard fire from your side! We can support the secondary nests and try to expand to the branch nests. Without this well, the Grey Stele Post is just an empty shell that can't be defended!"

Lu Jin only gave a faint "Mn," but his eyes held an unmistakable sharpness.

From the very beginning, he hadn't been eyeing how many floating points this point-seizing battle could earn, but this Fire Well—once it fell into his hands, the entire outer fire sequence could truly start running, and they would no longer be constrained by others at every turn.

Just then, the Night Wing scouting ahead suddenly lowered its vision, and a hurried warning came through their divine sense: We've arrived!

Lu Jin and Ning Yanqiu stopped simultaneously, using the Night Wing's vision to see the scene ahead: the Outer Fire Well was not on flat ground at all, but hidden behind a partially collapsed ridge, like a Black Well that had been violently smashed into the ground, exuding an ancient and scorching aura.

The outer rim of the wellhead was embedded with three layers of old iron rings. The top layer had long since split in two, the second layer was scorched purple by the heat waves from the bottom of the well, shimmering with an eerie red light, and the bottom layer was still relatively intact, with many long-extinguished fire grooves left along the ring, faintly revealing the regulations of the past.

On both sides of the wellhead stood long-abandoned well-lifting rigs. The rig arms were broken in half, and rusted chains still hung in mid-air, their ends dragging into the darkness of the well, leading to unknown depths at the bottom.

Looking further, there was a grey-red slope licked by heat currents for years, and that slope was already crowded with people—two point-seizing teams had already arrived a step ahead!

One team was pressing hard on the main slope, relying on heavy hooks and tide-pressure tactics to fight the Line-Guarding Beast to the death; roars, the clash of weapons, and the screeches of beasts mixed together, forming a chaotic mess. The other team was much smarter, circling to the high ridge on the right and lowering grappling hooks, trying to probe the depth of the wellhead first and take advantage of the situation.

But no matter which team it was, neither had truly managed to touch the edge of the well—around the Fire Well, there were three layers of deadly defensive lines coiled, which were simply not easy to break through.

The outermost layer consisted of small fire-maned beasts burrowing in the ash around the well, their bodies wrapped in sparks, capable of burning through armor with a single bite. The second layer consisted of grey hook chains hidden beneath the ash in two circles around the well rim; as soon as anyone approached, they would suddenly flip up and tightly entangle the prey. In the innermost layer, a Black-Backed Well-Guarding Beast was lying on the semi-circle of the wellhead, its back like scorched, cracked stone covered in hideous patterns; with every breath, it exhaled scorching heat from the bottom of the well, exuding immense deterrent power.

"No wonder they haven't taken it down yet," Ning Yanqiu said in a hushed voice, her eyes locked tightly onto the defensive lines at the wellhead. "In this place, reaching the well edge doesn't count as winning. If you can't hold it and can't repair it, it's all wasted effort."

"It wasn't meant to be," Lu Jin said in a flat tone, but his gaze quickly swept over the two point-seizing teams, instantly seeing through their flaws. "That team on the main slope only knows how to charge head-on; the Outer Fire Well fears that kind of brute force the least. The team on the right high ridge released their grappling hooks too early; the grey hook chains haven't finished flipping yet. Whoever releases their hooks first is just feeding the chains to the wellhead, essentially courting death."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Jin decided on the strategy, his speed of speech extremely fast and unquestionable: "We won't seize the front. We'll go down from the back left and take the path behind the well!"

Ning Yanqiu looked up at him, a flash of realization crossing her eyes, and immediately asked: "Is there a secret passage behind the well?"

"Yes," Lu Jin immediately shared the Night Wing's vision with her. "The people who marked the old supply route built a section of path behind the well. It's not on the main slope, but hidden deep beneath the grey ridge on the back left."

That place was indeed concealed. On the surface, it looked like a narrow crack licked open by the hot wind, so inconspicuous that no one would give it a second glance. But as the Night Wing swooped from above, it could clearly see an abandoned old fire-guiding trench hidden beneath the grey crack.

Although the trench had long been useless, it could wind around the back of the well into the semi-circle, just enough to touch the base of the well-lifting rig—this was the most critical and easily overlooked breakthrough point.

Ning Yanqiu understood Lu Jin's intention at a glance, nodded quickly, and said in a firm tone: "You go lift the well. I'll lock down that small patch of airspace to the upper right for you, and won't let anyone come over to intercept you!"

She said "airspace," not "people," but Lu Jin understood instantly.

Once this path behind the well was exposed, the first ones to come and intercept them would definitely not be the idiots on the main slope who only knew how to charge, but the point-seizing team on the right high ridge who could understand the follow-up moves.

What she had to do was to nail down that small patch of airspace where it was easiest for hooks, arrows, and people to land, cutting off their retreat.

"Move!"

As the word fell, Lu Jin took the lead and leaped down the grey ridge, his figure as agile as a leopard, silently slipping into the grey crack on the back left.

Four Burrowing Spear Rats followed closely behind, with only two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards and a small group of Red-Eyed Rats trailing, not being greedy by bringing too many troops—the Fire Well was hot and empty, and having too many troops would only get in each other's way. To seize it, one had to seize the most critical opening and strike lethally in one blow.

The old fire-guiding trench beneath the grey ridge was even hotter than the secret passage under the bridge. After walking only a dozen steps, the walls on both sides were already glowing red. Stepping on the scorching grey bricks with the soles of his shoes, he could clearly hear a "sizzling" sound, and heat rose up along the soles, baking his skin until it hurt.

However, the layout of this trench was very old, and the bottom was actually embedded with a few account bricks that hadn't been completely burned. The brick seams extended all the way forward, clearly used back in the day for people to repair fire and conduct inspections right next to the well.

The Burrowing Spear Rats hadn't gone far when the one in the lead suddenly sank down. Its sharp teeth bit down fiercely, instantly gnawing open a diagonal crack in the partially blocked trench opening in front—outside the diagonal crack, it was right opposite the base of the well-lifting rig, only a few steps away from the wellhead.

Lu Jin poked his head out and looked, instantly figuring out the hardest part of this well: the well was not a dead well, and fire was still burning at the bottom, but the wellhead was pressed by a layer of old, heat-deformed well covers. The well covers weren't completely sealed, which was why the heat could keep surging upwards.

To truly take down this well, it wasn't enough to just kill the Well-Guarding Beast; one had to first lift the old well covers by half a layer to let the well fire rise smoothly, and then repair the cracks on the well rim to leave a stable path for the fire sequence.

Guarding, lifting, and repairing—these three steps were indispensable.

"Grey Pupil," Lu Jin said, his voice tight and heavy, with no superfluous words.

Grey Pupil immediately responded, his tone equally grave: "I'm here."

"As soon as I lift the well, you immediately take over the fire and stabilize the fire sequence."

"Understood," Grey Pupil's voice added a hint of warning. "But the moment you lift the well cover, the fire at the bottom of the well will rush up violently. The main entrance can't block it; you must guard the well rim yourself. Once you are overwhelmed by the fire, all previous efforts will be in vain!"

Lu Jin didn't respond. It wasn't an acknowledgement; it was simply that there was no time—the people on the right high ridge had already discovered the anomaly here!

"There's someone at the back left! They're sneaking behind us!"

As soon as the roar came out, Ning Yanqiu had already moved a step ahead.

She didn't bother with the group fighting on the main slope at all, only raising the royal court cold mirror fragment in her palm towards the upper right. The cold mirror light didn't envelop the area in a grand, sweeping manner, but like a sharp blade, it pressed down fiercely onto the narrowest airspace between the right high ridge and the well-lifting rig.

The next instant, three iron hooks that had just been swung from the high ridge were all instantly deflected—it wasn't that the hooks themselves flew off course, but that small patch of airspace seemed to be sealed by an invisible force, refusing to let anything pass through. The iron hooks struck the "cold wall," bounced back with a "clang," and slammed onto the high ridge, splashing up a shower of sparks.

"What the hell is this?!" someone on the high ridge cursed in frustration and threw out several more grappling hooks, but each time, they were blocked back by that layer of invisible cold wall, not even getting a chance to approach the well-lifting rig.

A fine layer of cold sweat instantly seeped from Ning Yanqiu's forehead.

This wasn't as easy as the work she usually did using the small mirror to scout positions. She was now truly nailing that small patch of airspace down tight, keeping it locked and stable, but for every extra breath she held on, the royal court cold mirror fragment in her palm sent another layer of bone-chilling cold into her bones, and her strength was draining away rapidly.

But it was enough.

At this moment, Lu Jin had already rushed under the well-lifting frame.

Two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards, one on the left and one on the right, slammed upwards, forcefully smashing a Fire-Maned Line-Guarding Beast that had crawled out from a grey crevice behind the well back into the ash. Its brains splattered, and it instantly stopped moving.

Four Burrowing Spear Rats followed the base of the old frame, drilling their way in, their sharp teeth gnawing frantically, quickly loosening half of the molten grey ridge pressing down on the well cover.

Lu Jin pressed his palm down, and black fire suddenly surged out. However, it did not rush toward the wellhead but instead flowed along the iron feet of the old frame and the cracked grooves of the well rim, slowly pressing downward—what he needed to test was not how strong the fire was, but whether this well could still be lifted and if it could withstand the impact of the fire sequence at the bottom of the well.

The next instant, a scorching heatwave surged from the bottom of the well, slamming back with such force that it nearly knocked Lu Jin's palm away.

In his Sea of Consciousness, Grey Pupil immediately shuddered, his voice laced with unconcealable excitement: "It's alive! This well is alive, and the fire sequence is very stable!"

Wu Fu also shouted excitedly: "Hurry! Lift it up for me! This well is truly capable of nurturing, and from now on, we won't have to worry about fire anymore!"

"What's the rush?" Lu Jin twisted his wrist, forcefully pressing the surging well fire back by half. His tone remained steady. "The wellhead is cracked too severely. If we let the fire rush up all at once, the first things to explode will be the well-lifting frame and the well rim. Then, no one will be able to get it."

While suppressing the fire, Lu Jin quickly issued orders, his speed brooking no delay: "Burrowing Spear Rats, break the left lock! Bone-Armor Furnace Guards, push the right side, arch the well frame upward!"

The leftmost Burrowing Spear Rat darted out in response, biting through the old, burnt-out clasp on the left side of the well-lifting frame in one go. With a crisp "click," the clasp broke, and the frame swayed slightly.

On the right, the two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards lifted their shoulders simultaneously, their bone armor gleaming with a cold light, and slammed upward, forcefully arching the already tilted frame by half an inch.

That half-inch was enough to change everything!

The heatwave from the bottom of the well let out a "boom" and surged upward violently. The entire Outer Fire Well instantly seemed to come alive!

Grey-red fire energy sprayed wildly through the cracks in the old well cover. The first wave did not shoot into the sky but instead rampaged around the well rim like an out-of-control fire dragon, forcing the Xuanhe Academy point-grabbing team on the slope, who were still trying to charge forward, to retreat in unison, screaming repeatedly. Many were scorched by the fire, their armor instantly catching fire, and they rolled down the hillside wailing.

"They've opened the well! Hurry! Don't let them occupy the well!"

As the roar fell, the entire slope fell into complete chaos. Every point-grabbing team knew that once the well was opened, the ensuing struggle would not be about "who touches the well first," but who could truly hold this resource foundation capable of long-term fire supply in their own hands—this was hard capital that could determine the landscape of the outer perimeter!

But Lu Jin was not carried away by this chaos at all; what he wanted was precisely this moment of chaos!

"Ning Yanqiu!" Lu Jin shouted her name sharply, his voice piercing through all the noise.

"Here!" Ning Yanqiu's voice carried a hint of trembling, yet it remained firm. She knew the most critical moment had arrived.

"Suppress the upper right airspace! Do not allow anyone to land, even if you have to hold on for just one more breath!"

"Understood!"

As soon as she spoke, the royal court cold mirror fragment in Ning Yanqiu's palm suddenly brightened, its cold white mirror patterns flaring up, and that small patch of airspace, which had already been pinned down, tightened even further.

On the high right ridge, the point-grabber at the very front, who was preparing to dive down using a grappling hook, had just lifted his foot off the ground when he slammed into an icy, hard wall. His body jerked sideways, and he smashed back onto the high ridge, suffering broken bones and screaming incessantly.

She was not killing; she was cutting off paths—cutting off all paths for those who wanted to come and intercept. And this was the very essence of the Ning Family's old front marking line, the most valuable and lethal part: it wasn't just about observing positions and reporting points, but a ruthless move capable of truly controlling the battlefield!

At the same moment, Lu Jin firmly executed his second step: "Work Rats, patch the wellhead! Hurry!"

Two teams of Nest-Paste Worker Rats rushed out from behind the back well ditch, moving at high speed. They were not carrying ordinary paste on their backs, but the forward-station repair materials brought earlier from the Post Station, along with a bag of unused Post Station fire-sealing material—Wu Fu had guessed back when she released the Night Wing at the Post Station that if this well were to be contested, it would likely need to be repaired as soon as it was lifted. So, she had specifically kept these most valuable repair materials tightly secured and brought them along, and they were now coming in handy.

Once the Work Rats reached the well rim, they ignored the roars and attacks from the nearby point-grabbing teams. They simply followed the cracked grooves that Lu Jin had just probed while suppressing the fire, frantically applying paste, embedding materials, and pressing bricks, their movements skilled and swift—this was not a complete repair, but it was enough to seal the three most lethal cracks first and stabilize the flow of the well fire.

Once the well fire had a path to follow, it immediately smoothed out. The grey-red fire energy, which had been spraying chaotically, paused for a moment, and then actually began to light up inch by inch along the circle of old fire grooves on the well rim. First, the outer left groove lit up, followed by the second circle. Although the third circle only lit up halfway, it was enough for all the point-grabbing teams to understand—this well had been connected by someone else first!

It was Lu Jin and Ning Yanqiu, who, relying on just two people and a small squad of troops, had forcefully snatched it right from under their noses!

The Xuanhe Academy point-grabbing team on the slope finally became completely unwilling to accept defeat. The leader, his eyes bloodshot, slammed his heavy hook down, aiming directly at the well rim, with an attitude of "If I can't have it, nobody can," intending to destroy the well rim directly and perish together.

The Night Wing high above saw his move a step earlier and immediately sent back a warning.

Lu Jin didn't even lift his head; he just shouted coldly: "Retreat left!"

The two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards withdrew their shoulders almost simultaneously, their figures flashing to avoid the impact point of the heavy hook. With a loud "boom," the heavy hook smashed violently onto the half-repaired well rim, shattering the paste and sending stone fragments flying.

But just a split second before the heavy hook landed, Ning Yanqiu's cold mirror light had already pinned down the small patch of airspace behind the hook's tail—the hook could land, but the person who was supposed to follow and use it for leverage could not dive down.

That Xuanhe Academy point-grabber was just half a breath too slow.

But half a breath was already fatal enough.

Lu Jin pressed back with his hand, and the black fire in his palm surged violently. Both Bone-Armor Furnace Guards stepped forward simultaneously, forcefully deflecting the heavy hook. The hook head grazed past the well rim along the fire, missing the center of the well, and instead drew out another burst of the fire that was continuing to rise from the bottom of the well—the well fire became even brighter, spreading steadily outward along the repaired fire grooves, illuminating the entire wellhead with a scorching red glow.

The Xuanhe Academy leader's body stiffened, his face turning as black as the bottom of a pot on the spot. Watching the increasingly bright Fire Well, he trembled with rage but dared not charge forward again—they had already lost their chance.

Qiao Ye was not here, and Wen Zhao was not here either. This Fire Well was something that Lu Jin and Ning Yanqiu, just the two of them leading a small squad of troops, had forcefully snatched—clean, efficient, and leaving no room for others.

The few point-grabbing teams behind who had originally wanted to pick up the scraps were now all hesitant; no one dared to easily step forward again. They all understood that for something like a Fire Well, once someone had truly completed the "lifting" and "repairing" ahead of everyone else, trying to forcibly snatch it would not just cost favors and floating points, but the very foundation of their entire team—it was not worth the loss.

And Lu Jin, from the very beginning, was fighting for exactly this—he was not trying to win a fight at the well, but to ensure that in the future, the entire outer perimeter would have fire to consume and a foundation to defend.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Wu Fu let out a breath, her voice full of relief and excitement: "It's done! It's really done! The Grey Stele Post can be sustained, and the sub-nests behind it finally have hope!"

Grey Pupil was more direct, his tone carrying a hint of approval: "This well has acknowledged us. From now on, it belongs to us. Whoever comes to snatch it, we'll fight them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the innermost circle of old ring fire patterns on the Outer Fire Well, which had been dark all along, suddenly flickered very lightly, emitting a faint red glow—unlike the Post Station, where the entire stronghold would immediately respond, this well was deeper and older; it acknowledged slowly, but it acknowledged more heavily. It was acknowledging its new master in its own way.

Lu Jin looked at the deep ring fire pattern that had just flickered to life. His tense shoulders finally relaxed slightly, and a trace of imperceptible relief flashed in his eyes before he immediately regained his sharpness: "Look down. Lifting the well is just the first step. The truly valuable old things are mostly at the bottom of the well."

The four Burrowing Spear Rats responded immediately and began to carefully drill down along the inner wall of the well—the bottom of the well was still scorching hot, and it was impossible for anyone to go down; they could only rely on them to explore and search first.

Not long after, the layer of burnt black ash at the very bottom of the well was pushed aside by them bit by bit, revealing a black board wedged between the well wall and the old chain. It was not large, its corners were all scorched, and its surface was still covered with a half-layer of stubborn charcoal ash. It looked like an old ledger board used for recording materials back in the day.

Lu Jin's heart sank slightly—this ledger board was definitely not an ordinary material record board.

"Pull it up." His tone was low, devoid of any extra emotion, yet carried an unquestionable command.

Two Work Rats immediately slid down along the chain and, working together, forcefully dragged the black board up from the bottom of the well. As soon as the board left the scorching heat of the well fire, the black ash on its surface fell off in rustles, revealing a few old, fire-browned characters underneath. The handwriting was incomplete, and many places had been burnt through, making it impossible to see the full sentences.

But just from those remaining few strokes, Lu Jin and Ning Yanqiu both recognized them at a glance—

— — Three Surveys.

— — Well Line.

— — Continue Fire.

In the bottom right corner of the ledger board, there was also a tiny, old fire seal of the Repair Marking Team. Although it was burnt and blurred, its outline could still be clearly seen.

As the wind blew from the wellhead, carrying the scorching heat, those old characters bitten by the fire felt even hotter than when the whole well had lit up just moments ago, as if they were hiding countless sealed secrets that were now, bit by bit, surfacing.