81: Chapter 82 Borrowing a Knife from the Military Court

When the black fire-slip was slapped into his palm, it was still hot.

Lu Jin looked down, and the second layer of characters slowly emerged on the back of the grey paper.

There was only a very short, old route on it.

No mission name. No forward station coordinates either.

The western edge of the Main Stele Area. The waste ash conduit.

Instructor Han Tiecheng didn't wait for him to ask; he started walking forward. "Keep up."

He didn't walk fast, but he didn't stop for a single step, as if he had already memorized this path in his heart.

Lu Jin followed him as they passed the stone platform before the bridge, the forward station's side camp, and the waste pile on the far western edge of the Main Stele Area. The further they walked, the fewer people there were, and the dimmer the lights became.

In the end, even the short tents with silver-pressed patterns from the temple side were left behind, leaving only a half-collapsed black stone slope and a cave entrance half-sealed by old iron bars.

The cave entrance wasn't large, but it was very deep and dark.

Before anyone even got close, that smell surged up.

Damp, fishy, and rotten, mixed with a hint of very old fire ash. It was like an old furnace that should have been burning, but was smothered in mud by someone, stifled for many years, and even now, it was still slowly seeping out.

Instructor Han Tiecheng stopped two steps outside the cave entrance and raised his hand to point at the section of old iron bars.

"There used to be a waste ash conduit along the outer edge of the Main Stele Area."

"It wasn't for people; it was for old fire ash and sacrificial waste. Later, when the Royal Court line was severed, this place was sealed once, and later still, someone dug it open from the inside."

His tone was very flat. But the last sentence was clearly heavier than the first two.

Lu Jin looked at the old iron bars that had been forcefully bent from the inside, his eyes darkening slightly.

"A Parasitic Nest?"

"Correct."

Instructor Han Tiecheng nodded. "That is a Parasitic Nest that grew by feeding on old fire ash. You can think of it as a pile of moving, dirty fire shells. Wherever it sticks, it rots; whatever it touches becomes contaminated."

He only turned his head to look at Lu Jin after saying this.

"The Temple wanting to seal your Spore Disaster has its reasons."

"The path of things you use is fierce and indeed prone to contamination. If the front line really mixed dirty fire, parasitic shells, and old sacrificial ash and fed it down, something would go wrong sooner or later."

"So you threw me here?" Lu Jin asked.

Instructor Han Tiecheng glanced at him. "I am lending you a blade."

He raised his hand and tossed over a black iron box only the size of a palm.

Lu Jin raised his hand to catch it, and there was a soft "clink" sound inside the box.

"Inside is a pinch of old Royal Court fire ash."

"The Parasitic Nest in the deepest part of the conduit grew because of this."

"You're going in tonight, but just burning it isn't enough."

Instructor Han Tiecheng tilted his chin toward the cave. "Clear the nest, bring out the fire ash, and wash this dirty path into one that can still be used."

"If you really want to keep the Spore Disaster line, don't just pile dirty things onto your soldiers. You have to know what can be fed, what should be peeled away, and what must be washed clean before you can talk about using it."

Lu Jin didn't answer immediately. He looked at the black iron box in his hand, then at the sticky, deep blackness at the cave entrance, and he already understood in his heart.

This task was indeed like grinding down a person. And it was indeed like borrowing a blade.

Everyone on the front line disliked this place for being dirty and thought this thing was evil. If the Military Court did it themselves, not only would it be laborious, but it would also be easy to get into a dispute with the Temple.

But if Lu Jin could wash this dirty fire into a path that could continue to be used, then his Spore Disaster line behind him would essentially have an extra layer of presentable front-line results.

"Time limit?" Lu Jin asked.

"Before dawn." Instructor Han Tiecheng answered very crisply. "If you die inside, I'll have people seal the cave."

"If you come out alive, put the thing in front of me."

He turned around after speaking. After walking two steps, he added, "Don't think about using Exploding Rats to blow it flat in one go."

"That's called burying a disaster, not washing it."

Lu Jin watched his back disappear behind the slope before buckling the black iron box shut.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Grey Pupil had already spoken first, his voice colder than the air in the cave.

"In this place, the fire is alive. The dirt is also alive."

"Can you move?" Lu Jin asked.

"I can move." Grey Pupil paused for a breath before forcing out the second half, "But we cannot let them touch the Priest Well."

Lu Jin nodded and issued orders directly. "Two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards. Two Burrowing Spear Rats. Ten Work Rats, carrying cleaning ash materials and empty ash boxes. Only release a small group of Red-Eyed Rats for reconnaissance first; they are not allowed to bite greedily."

With the force gathered, the entire team seemed very small. But this was actually more correct.

In this place, it's about seeing who gets entangled by the dirty fire first. Having too many people is actually a burden.

Lu Jin stepped into the cave, and the layer of black ash under his feet immediately made a soft "click" sound.

The sound wasn't crisp at all; it was full of moisture. It was like stepping on a layer of shell that had rotted and been re-dried.

The tunnel was very narrow, only allowing two people to walk side by side, but it sloped very deeply downward. Both sides were filled with old copper conduits and cracked ash-brick walls; in many places, one could still see the marks of fire slots left from when the ash used to pass through.

However, most of these fire slots were now plastered with a layer of sticky black parasitic shells. A small bump would occasionally swell up on the shell and then slowly deflate, as if something were breathing inside.

The Work Rats had only gone down three zhang when one suddenly stopped. Its front paws pressed against the section of old copper conduit on the ground, refusing to move further, while its whiskers trembled violently.

The next instant. The black film that had originally looked like a dead shell suddenly "popped" as a small grey-black bubble swelled out. The bubble wasn't large, but it landed extremely quickly, bursting with a "pop" on the Work Rat's back.

The Work Rat flipped over on the spot. It wasn't killed by the explosion. The moment the grey fur on its back touched the black bubble, it immediately seemed to be stuck by something, starting to turn black and damp, and it seeped into the flesh in almost a single breath.

"Retreat!" Lu Jin's voice suppressed the situation. The Bone-Armor Furnace Guard pushed its long shield forward, directly sweeping the Work Rat back. Grey Pupil's Sacrificial Fire fell simultaneously, burning directly onto the black film on the Work Rat's back that was burrowing inward.

Sss. A foul-smelling white smoke rose up. The Work Rat rolled on the ground in pain, but it didn't die after all.

Grey Pupil's voice had sunk to the bottom: "Remember this. This thing doesn't kill people first; it sticks to the line first."

Lu Jin's eyes turned cold. This was more troublesome than ordinary nest insects. Ordinary insects pounce. The Parasitic Nest entangles. It doesn't fear you standing firm. It fears you taking it back.

"Cleaning ash material, spread it under our feet first."

The Work Rats dared not delay any longer and immediately carried small ash pots to sprinkle forward. As soon as the fine grey-white material hit the ground, the damp, fishy smell in the tunnel indeed faded by half.

The two Burrowing Spear Rats also took the opportunity to burrow downward, specifically picking the most swollen black shells at the junction of the cave wall and the bottom conduit to root at. They didn't go deep, only loosening the surface shells before letting the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards scrape them off with the edges of their shields.

Walking and washing all the way. When they reached the seventh zhang, the tunnel finally revealed its true form.

Ahead, it had opened into a downward-sloping old ash well. The well wasn't deep, but it was very wide.

The four walls were filled with layers of copper conduits used for ash conduction back in the day, but now they were plastered into a single mass by dense black shells. Those shells were constantly moving, swelling and contracting inside, and in many places, grey-black tentacles like fine threads were hanging down.

In the very center, a large, womb-like parasitic sac bulged, and at the bottom of the sac, it was tightly wrapped around a lump of dark red, blackened old ash.

Royal Court fire ash. Lu Jin recognized it at a glance. Precisely because it was almost completely dead, the bone-like scent of the old fire was even more striking.

But even having died to this extent, the bone-like scent of that old fire was still different from other ash.

Grey Pupil saw it too, his voice carrying a hint of suppressed excitement for the first time. "That's it. The nest is eating it."

Lu Jin didn't rush to act. He looked at the four walls first. The artificial traces in this old ash well were too heavy.

Someone had once compressed all the dirty ash, waste shells, and residual fire from the entire conduit into this well. Later, an incident occurred, and the Royal Court fire ash wasn't cleared away; instead, it became the base material for the Parasitic Nest.

In other words. What Instructor Han Tiecheng had lent him this time, besides the dirty nest that could be cleared, was a living textbook that could be used to test "how to wash dirty fire back into something usable."

"It can be burned all at once," Grey Pupil said, "but the fire ash will also die along with it."

"Then don't burn it all at once." Lu Jin raised his hand and flicked out the pinch of old Royal Court fire ash from the black iron box.

As soon as the ash landed, the largest parasitic sac in the well immediately contracted violently. It was like a starved creature that had suddenly smelled a more authentic fire.

The next instant. The black shells on the four walls, which had only been swelling and contracting, all came alive at once. Countless grey-black fine tentacles slid down along the copper conduits, like a damp and fishy rain, pressing down on Lu Jin's side head-on.

"Bone-Armor!" The long shields closed. The first wave of fine tentacles smashed onto the shields, emitting a dense, sticky sound. The Burrowing Spear Rats also burst out from the middle layer of the well wall at the same instant, snapping the thickest roots on both sides in half.

But breaking them was useless. Those black tentacles would still crawl once they hit the ground, specifically looking for fire conduits and rat tunnels to burrow into.

"It's looking for the fire sequence." Grey Pupil shouted coldly, "Don't let it touch the Sacrificial Fire!"

Lu Jin was even steadier at this moment. He didn't let Grey Pupil press down with a large fire. He only let him guard one thing. "Set the Sacrificial Fire at three points. Don't burn the nest; cut the path first."

Grey Pupil understood instantly. Three points of black fire fell simultaneously. The left edge of the well mouth, the right edge, and the old main copper conduit at the very bottom all lit up at once.

Once the fire was set, the entire old ash well was immediately cut into three sections. The layer of black tentacles above was still pouncing downward. The parasitic sac in the middle was still swelling. But the main conduit at the very bottom that was sending out dirt was cut off first.

"Burrowing Spear Rats, open side ditches!" "Work Rats, move the cleaning ash to the left!"

Lu Jin issued two commands in succession, and the entire team immediately changed their approach, turning to start digging. This was the path Instructor Han Tiecheng wanted to see. What Instructor Han Tiecheng wanted to see was always whether one knew how to manage things.

The Burrowing Spear Rats gnawed downward from both sides of the well wall, specifically digging two thin drainage ditches for the filth. The Work Rats carried ash pots and poured cleaning ash material into the ditches along the way. As soon as the black sludge and broken shells falling from the well wall touched the ash material, they immediately turned white, then hardened, and finally formed a layer of brittle shell, which was gnawed to pieces by the Red-Eyed Rats in a few bites.

This couldn't be called washed clean yet. It was just peeling off the dirtiest layer first.

The Parasitic Nest clearly sensed that something was wrong. The sac in the middle suddenly bulged outward, and the Royal Court fire ash at the bottom of the well was forcefully lifted up by half an inch.

Following this, a dense, grey mouth suddenly split open under the entire black sac, spitting a mouthful of semi-coagulated black sludge towards Lu Jin.

Lu Jin didn't retreat but advanced instead, holding his long blade horizontally, and directly slapped the black sludge into the newly dug left drainage ditch. With a hiss, as the black sludge entered the ditch, the cleaning ash immediately exploded into a large cloud of white smoke.

Grey Pupil seized this moment and brought his sacrificial staff down hard. This time, the Sacrificial Fire was narrowed into a line.

The black fire pressed along the left drainage ditch, which had already been washed half-white, specifically burning the ditch and not the nest. The black sludge, fine tentacles, and broken shells still crawling in the ditch were forced by this line of Sacrificial Fire to retreat to the center.

Retreating back. They could only retreat into the area around that Royal Court fire ash that hadn't completely died yet.

"It's protecting the ash," Lu Jin's eyes darkened, "It hasn't completely consumed the ash; the ash is still resisting it from within."

Grey Pupil immediately followed up: "Then peel off the shell first!"

Lu Jin was waiting for exactly that. "Bone-Armor, pin the center!" "Spear Rats, push from underneath!"

The two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards pressed forward simultaneously, forcefully pinning the outer edge of the largest parasitic sac. The Burrowing Spear Rats burrowed along the two drainage ditches they had dug earlier to the bottom of the well, lifting the entire parasitic sac from the very bottom.

With this lift, the bottom of the sac was finally exposed. There wasn't a hint of flesh color there. It was all layers upon layers of black shell membranes stuck to the Royal Court fire ash. Like dead man's skin. Also like layers of dirty fire-garments.

Lu Jin didn't hesitate for a second. He pressed the black fire in his palm and carved downward directly against the outer edge of that fire ash. This blade was specifically for peeling the membrane, not touching the core at all.

As soon as the first layer of black shell was opened, a damp and hot scent of old fire suddenly emerged from within, causing the entire well to shake. The parasitic sac seemed to have had its heart gouged out, all the fine tentacles retracted simultaneously, and even the small bubbles still alive on the four walls began to burst chaotically.

"Burn the outer layer now!" Grey Pupil finally pressed down the second round of Sacrificial Fire. But the fire still didn't touch the core. It only followed the opening Lu Jin had carved, scalding the black membranes, fine tentacles, and parasitic shells that were retracting.

As soon as the fire touched them, the Parasitic Nest seemed to have been hooked by its vital point; the entire black sac rolled wildly, and the small shells on the well walls fell off with a clatter. The danger suddenly became real.

One of the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards had its right leg plastered by a large patch of black shells, and the leg armor was visibly turning black and brittle. The Burrowing Spear Rat on the left was also struck hard on the shoulder by a retracting black tentacle, flipping directly into the drainage ditch, and it struggled twice before crawling out.

But it was in this chaos. The thickest black membrane in the center was finally peeled to the bottom by Lu Jin. The Royal Court fire ash underneath finally revealed a hint of dark red. It wasn't bright yet. But it was alive.

Grey Pupil's voice dropped suddenly. "Enough. Don't burn it anymore."

Lu Jin immediately withdrew the fire. The next instant, he directly scattered the remaining half-can of cleaning ash material.

The grey-white fine material fell in large amounts onto the Royal Court fire ash that had just been exposed, and also onto the parasitic shells around it that hadn't died completely. As soon as the parasitic shells touched the ash, they first stiffened, then cracked, and finally fell off in whole pieces.

That lump of Royal Court fire ash seemed to have been gently patted awake from a dream by something; it first sank, then very slowly returned a breath of heat. It wasn't large. But it was authentic.

The entire old ash well fell silent for an instant. The Parasitic Nest didn't pounce again. The ash in the center that it relied on to live had been snatched back by half.

"Work Rats, collect the ash." As soon as Lu Jin's command fell, the few Work Rats that had been waiting in the back immediately rushed up, carrying empty ash boxes.

They didn't touch the dirty shells still black around the edges, but followed the circle Lu Jin had just peeled, shoveling the Royal Court fire ash in the center, which had turned from dead to alive, into the box little by little.

It was very fragmented. And not pure. But compared to that entire mass of dirty fire wrapped dead by the parasitic shells, it was already more than a layer cleaner.

Grey Pupil looked at the fire ash in the box, half dark red and half still black, and only slowly let out a breath after a long while.

"It's not washed clean yet. But it can be used," Lu Jin said.

Grey Pupil didn't refute. Because he also knew that if you really wanted to wash it through completely, this thing couldn't be done in one night. Many things on the front line, if you waited until you had washed them completely clean before using them, it would be too late.

This battle hadn't truly ended here. The small parasitic shells around the well walls were still there, and scattered black sludge still remained in the drainage ditches.

Lu Jin didn't get greedy for more, just following Instructor Han Tiecheng's words, "Take what can be taken, burn clean what cannot be taken."

Two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards guarded the entrance. Burrowing Spear Rats expanded the ditches. Work Rats sealed the conduits.

Grey Pupil, for the first time in such a pile of truly dirty fire, pressed the Sacrificial Fire to be extremely fine and stable, clearing the residual shells that still wanted to crawl back inch by inch. He wanted to truly clean every inch of the place that needed to be cleaned.

When they came out of the cave, the sky was already faintly grey. Instructor Han Tiecheng was standing outside the cave entrance. He didn't ask about the process. Nor did he ask how many had died.

He only looked down at the ash box the Work Rats had brought back, and then at the scorch mark burned into Lu Jin's shoulder armor by the black sludge, saying indifferently, "Still alive. Enough to answer for the mission."

Lu Jin replied, "Enough to answer for the mission."

Instructor Han Tiecheng didn't say it was acceptable, nor did he say it wasn't. He just stepped aside half a step. "Go back. Before you say anything else, figure out that bit of stuff you fished back."

Lu Jin didn't stop again, taking the ash box all the way back to the temporary sacrificial tent. The fire in the tent wasn't big. But Grey Pupil had already set the sacrificial staff in the center ahead of him.

Once the ash box was opened, the piece of Royal Court fire ash inside, which had been half-cleaned, was finally fully exposed. It was no longer a solid block of dead black. And it hadn't completely returned to true red either. But it could already recognize fire.

Grey Pupil looked at it, the cold light that had been suppressed in his grey eyes slowly sinking to the bottom, and then slowly brightening. After a moment, he only said one sentence. "This time, we can set up the formation."