9: Chapter 9 Throwing the Corpse into the Furnace

When that sacrificial flag reached into the fissure, the entire Dead Ash Mine lit up for a moment.

Fire patterns flowed down from the flag's surface like burning red snakes, crawling along the strata in all directions.

The tiny rat tunnels originally hidden in the ash were baked, emitting wisps of white smoke; the moisture in the cave walls evaporated instantly, and even the layer of warm ash mist on the outer perimeter of the altar was pressed downward.

A cold notification sound suddenly exploded over the Divine Domain.

[No. 9 Abandoned Well node contest initiated]

[Occupation conditions: Plant flag, hold point, expel opponent]

[Current contestants: Lu Jin, Lu Chengyan]

The surveillance light screens outside the Resource Building lit up simultaneously.

Projections pieced together a topographic map of the No. 9 Abandoned Well; as soon as the image stabilized, the students gathered around were all stunned.

"It actually started?"

"Lu Jin is still alive?"

"Even the main squad has entered the No. 9 Abandoned Well; what does he have to block them with?"

Lu Jingyao stood at the back of the crowd, arms crossed, his gaze as heavy as the magma deep within the Fire Well.

He didn't speak.

On the screen, the sacrificial flag had already pressed into the mine.

The person holding the flag was Lu Chengyan.

He was a notorious ruthless character from the Lu family's cadet branch, having awakened the Fire Marsh lineage. His kin were Flame-Marked Servants and Fire-Maned Mastiffs. His tactics were consistently straightforward: relying on the sacrificial flag to suppress the field and fire liquid to clear the way, specializing in fighting in this kind of fragmented terrain.

He stepped into the fissure and looked down at the pool of blood on the ground that hadn't dried yet, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"That trash Chuanze couldn't even burn through a rat nest."

He raised the flag and struck it down.

Thump!

The tail of the flag smashed into the ash ground, and fire patterns exploded outward in a red ring. The four Fire-Maned Mastiffs behind him raised their heads simultaneously, low growls squeezing from their throats. Twelve Flame-Marked Servants advanced in three rows: the front row held bone shields, the back row carried fire liquid bladders, and two in the middle each carried a black iron barrier-breaking stake.

Once the formation pressed in, the air in the mine tunnel changed immediately.

Hot, dry, bright.

The three things Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats feared most had all arrived.

A few Ambush Rats responsible for guarding the outer perimeter had just poked their heads out when they were drenched in fire liquid. As soon as the fire flared, screams instantly tore through the silence of the mine. The team of Flame-Marked Servants behind moved forward with shields; the edges of the bone shields were all wrapped in fire-resistant beast skin, specifically to prevent face-lunging and biting.

Lu Jin stood on the altar, his expression unchanged, but his palms were already clenched until they bled.

Lu Chengyan's team was much more troublesome than the bunch Lu Chuanze had.

The vanguard was there to test the path, but this team was there to plant the flag.

He raised his hand and knocked on the bone.

Thump.

The Digging Squad cut down along the right wall.

Thump-thump.

The Transport Team dragged the fire liquid bladders they had previously snatched and buried them toward the second collapse point.

Thump-thump-thump.

The Ambush Squad sank completely into the ash.

The Red-Eyed Rat stood at the edge of the altar, its ears twitching, and led the fiercest batch of Ambush Rats into the left fissure. It ran extremely fast, its tail sweeping, and immediately left a trail beneath the ash layer that was almost invisible.

Lu Chengyan saw it and sneered.

"Raise shields, press forward."

The four shield-bearers in the front row lowered their shoulders simultaneously, their bone shields joined together, pushing forward against the fire patterns. The Fire-Maned Mastiffs were placed between the gaps in the shields, their fangs exposed, their eyes full of restless red.

When the first batch of Ambush Rats darted out from beside their feet, the bone shields had already pressed right in front of their faces.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

A dozen Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats slammed into the shield surface, and a fire spear suddenly thrust out from behind the bone shields, piercing three of them in a row. A Fire-Maned Mastiff took the opportunity to pounce, collapsing half of the ash wall with one paw, crushing two Tunneling Rats buried in the wall directly.

The black stone pillar on the altar trembled slightly.

Lu Jin's brow felt as if it had been pricked by a needle.

That was divine power consumption.

The entire mine was now being supported by his will. Every command, every collapse, every perspective switch of a rat was consuming his divine power. The previous ambush had just finished, and he didn't have much left to begin with.

Lu Chengyan clearly noticed this too.

He stared at that broken altar, his voice carrying in along the fire patterns of the sacrificial flag.

"Lu Jin, for a trashy place like the No. 9 Abandoned Well, even giving it to you is a favor."

"Come out yourself, kneel and admit defeat, and I'll leave you a few rat seeds."

The black fire on the altar jumped silently.

Lu Jin didn't reply, just raised his hand and pressed down.

Above the main western tunnel, the ash layer that had long been hollowed out suddenly collapsed downward.

Boom!

The four shield-bearers' feet sank simultaneously, and the leftmost Fire-Maned Mastiff fell straight into the hole. The hard bone spikes buried underneath didn't kill it, but they slashed a large gash in its belly skin. More than twenty Ambush Rats instantly pounced in, crazily tearing at the wound.

Lu Chengyan's eye twitched, and he swept the sacrificial flag horizontally.

The fire patterns exploded with a boom, and the circle of Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats at the cave entrance were all swept away, burning and emitting plumes of black smoke.

"Barrier-breaking stakes, smash!"

The two black iron stakes were swung by the servants and hammered into the strata with two thumps. Red patterns poured down along the iron stakes, and the newly dug loose layer was forcibly baked hard; the second collapse trap was ruined by half on the spot.

Lu Jin's expression finally darkened.

The opponent had come prepared.

He knocked on the bone again, the sound half a beat faster.

The Digging Squad turned around and tunneled from beneath the shield-bearers' feet.

The Transport Team dragged the buried fire liquid bladders out, preparing to ignite the second layer of fire trenches.

The Ambush Squad counter-attacked from the ash fissures on both sides, specifically targeting exposed ankles and wrists.

For a moment, the entire mine tunnel became as chaotic as a pot of boiling ash soup.

For every foot the shield-bearers pressed in, a swarm of Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats would pounce out from under their feet and from the wall crevices.

Once the fire liquid was scattered, the front row of rats immediately curled into fireballs.

New ones pounced from behind, biting and refusing to let go.

Two Fire-Maned Mastiffs rushed past the collapse point, charging straight into the inner fork. They were large and had great momentum; the rat swarm couldn't stop them head-on, and they forcefully collapsed a section of the newly erected rotten wood support. The warm nest area instantly became chaotic; a few mother rats dragged their pups inward, their squeaks shrill and trembling.

A taste of blood surged up Lu Jin's throat, and his brain buzzed.

Divine power was nearly bottoming out.

The fire patterns on the two black stone pillars at the edge of the altar had dimmed by a layer.

Lu Chengyan had already seen this.

He raised the flag and pressed forward, his eyes full of certainty.

"Ten more steps forward, and this place will be mine."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Red-Eyed Rat suddenly rushed out from a gray fissure on his right.

It didn't pounce on the person.

It pounced on the flag.

It bit onto the fire-patterned cloth strip hanging from the tail of the flag and yanked it violently to the side.

Rip!

A small piece of the flag's corner was forcibly torn off by it.

Lu Chengyan was furious and kicked backhanded. The Red-Eyed Rat twisted in mid-air, its tail sliding along the flagpole, and when it landed, there was already a bloody mark on its shoulder and back, but it still dragged that piece of the flag into the ash.

A cold light flashed in Lu Jin's eyes.

Enough.

"Bring it over."

His command pressed down, and the Transport Team moved immediately.

Two dead Fire-Maned Mastiff corpses, seven broken bone blades, four scorched bone armor pieces, and that piece of the sacrificial flag stained with fire patterns were all dragged toward the wanji ember furnace. The servant corpses that hadn't been dismantled in time earlier were also dug out from under the collapse by the Tunneling Rats, dragging them by their legs and throwing them into the furnace mouth.

Seeing this scene, Lu Chengyan's brow furrowed sharply.

"Stop them!"

Just as his words left his mouth, the black furnace beside the altar lit up.

Lu Jin stepped to the front of the furnace, pressed his five fingers onto the furnace wall, his old wounds in his palms splitting anew, and blood surged into the furnace gaps.

Boom!

Black fire shot up to the sky.

[Sacrifice: Fire-Maned Mastiff corpse x2, Flame-Marked Servant corpse x3, broken bone blade x7, residual bone armor x4, sacrificial flag fragment x1]

[Battlefield smelting in progress...]

[Can generate temporary battle boon]

[Option 1: Ember Skin Fire Resistance]

[Option 2: Fire-Eating Fierce Fangs]

Lu Jin didn't even look.

"Fire-Eating Fierce Fangs."

The furnace fire rolled violently, and the second line of text burned into a stream of crimson-black fire, rushing into the entire mine along the altar's fire patterns.

All the Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats raised their heads simultaneously.

Their teeth shone with a layer of dark red in the black fire, and the edges of their front claws seemed wrapped in a circle of scorched, bright bone blades. The rat swarm that would usually scurry around when pouncing into fire only trembled for a moment, and then the fear in their eyes seemed to be stripped away.

They smelled the fire.

And they also smelled something they could eat.

Lu Jin knocked on the bone again, his voice cold and hard.

"Bite the flag."

"Bite the armor."

"Bite them to death."

The Red-Eyed Rat was the first to rush out.

Its shoulder and back were still bloody, but its speed was faster than before; in a flash, it pounced behind the knee of a shield-bearer. Its incisors, carrying a dark red sharp light, clamped down, tearing open the fire-resistant beast skin along with the calf muscle.

The shield-bearer knelt down, screaming in agony. As soon as the bone shield shifted just a fraction, a swarm of Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats surged up from below, climbing up the legs, waist, and shoulders directly to his face. A living person was drowned in the ash tide in the blink of an eye, with blood and fire spraying out together.

On the other side, just as a Fire-Maned Mastiff opened its mouth to breathe fire, an Ambush Rat had already pounced into its mouth, biting the root of its tongue and not letting go. Two Tunneling Rats crawled out from under its belly, using their newly formed fierce fangs to tear open the old wound, hot blood mixed with internal organs flowing all over the ground.

Lu Chengyan's expression finally changed.

He waved the flag, the sacrificial patterns flashing wildly, trying to suppress the rat swarm.

But the Red-Eyed Rat seemed locked onto him; it leaped three times using the collapse rubble, pouncing directly onto the flagpole. It didn't bite the person, just the flag. Dozens of Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats behind it pounced up along the flag's shadow, bite after bite, forcibly tearing a string of holes in the fire-patterned flag surface.

Lu Jin raised his hand, pressing the last bit of divine power into the altar.

The strata trembled.

The ash layer beneath the flag-bearer's feet, which had already been hollowed out, collapsed entirely.

With the space beneath his knees suddenly empty, the flagpole plunged forward, and half the flag surface smashed into the ash ground. The Transport Team seemed to have been waiting for this moment for a long time; they swarmed up to drag the flag, pull the cloth, and bite the pole. The fire-patterned sacrificial flag struggled twice, and finally, with a "snap" from the middle, it broke into two pieces.

Once the sacrificial flag broke, the fire pressure in the entire mine tunnel instantly dissipated by more than half.

For the first time, panic appeared in Lu Chengyan's eyes: "Retreat! Retreat outside!"

It was already too late.

Three shield-bearers in the front row had fallen, most of the servants were dead, and both Fire-Maned Mastiffs were lying in the ash, convulsing. The remaining people had just wanted to run when the second layer of fire liquid bladders, buried earlier, were kicked over by the Transport Team, and the Red-Eyed Rat darted forward dragging a piece of burning wood.

Whoosh!

The line of fire exploded along the ground, perfectly sealing off the retreat path.

Behind the wall of fire, Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats swarmed out from the rat tunnels on both sides, red teeth and black claws, wave after wave, tearing the ground into a scene of screams and blood.

Lu Chengyan had three rats hanging on his leg, only half a flagpole left in his hand, and his face was covered in ash and blood. He punched one away, and just as he looked up, Lu Jin's divine will had already pressed down on his head.

"Leave the flag."

"You can get lost."

Lu Chengyan gritted his teeth until they rang.

He wanted to curse, wanted to fight to the death, wanted to burn this trashy mine clean.

But at a glance, he saw that black furnace beside the altar.

Black fire licked the broken end of the sacrificial flag, like a mouth opening wide.

A chill ran down Lu Chengyan's back; his hand loosened, and the half-pole fell to the ground with a clatter.

He turned and ran.

When he ran out of the fissure, the long-dormant node crystal seal in the center of the No. 9 Abandoned Well finally lit up.

A red light shot up into the sky.

Outside the Resource Building, all surveillance light screens simultaneously displayed a line of text.

[No. 9 Abandoned Well node current occupier: Lu Jin]

The crowd was silent for a moment.

Then the entire hall was as if lit on fire.

"Occupied?"

"Lu Jin?!"

"The No. 9 Abandoned Well was taken by him?"

"What did he use to win? That place was clearly being pressed into by Lu Chengyan's main squad just now!"

Discussions, exclamations, and gasps mixed together; even a few teachers stood up, staring at the screen for a long time without speaking.

In the light screen, the gray mist slowly dissipated.

The damaged altar was still standing.

Around the altar, a circle of Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats squatted, filling the fissures and earthen slopes, their crimson eyes staring unblinkingly at the camera. In the very center, the black furnace was still burning with fire, and in front of the furnace lay a pile of Fire-Maned Mastiff corpses, the broken flag, and broken bone blades, as if they had just finished a big meal.

Lu Jin stood on the altar, his school uniform hem covered in ash, his face deathly pale, but his gaze pressed the entire scene into silence.

At his feet, that Red-Eyed Rat stepped on the half-flag and slowly raised its head.

At the very edge of the crowd, Lu Jingyao finally moved.

He pushed aside the people blocking him and walked step by step toward the front of the light screen, the fire in his eyes sinking to a dark black.