41: Chapter 41 Tracing the Market and Exploring the Secret Passage

The two supported each other, stumbling back through the dead-silent, gloomy underground passage.

The air in the cavern remained cold and damp, and A-Tu's heavy breathing collided with the stone walls, creating a series of hollow echoes.

Every step Lin Chen took felt like a rusty, dull knife sawing at his left rib, yet his expression held a newfound, tangible steadiness compared to when he first arrived.

This steadiness came from the few chips in his Storage Pouch that could determine life and death.

Finally, a flicker of orange firelight appeared ahead; they had reached the main cave.

Su Qingyao was crouching by the fire, brewing some hemostatic herbs. Hearing the dragging footsteps, she stood up abruptly; because she rose too quickly, she nearly kicked over the clay pot beside her.

When she saw A-Tu's shoulder, half-supported by Lin Chen, which was a bloody mess with edges tinged an eerie purple, she instinctively held her breath, pressing her fingertips against her lips until they turned white from the lack of blood.

What followed was a period of suppressed, frantic treatment.

Su Qingyao skillfully cleaned A-Tu's wound, which still contained toxins, with strong liquor and applied freshly pounded herbs.

After changing the dressing, she washed her hands to the side and walked back to Lin Chen, her fingers gripping the edge of the half-empty white porcelain medicine bottle so tightly that her knuckles stood out clearly.

She didn't ask anything, merely locking her gaze—which was cold yet filled with extreme worry—onto Lin Chen's blood-stained back.

Lin Chen did not turn back to meet her gaze; he knew all too well the weight of it.

He took a deep breath, enduring the soreness of his overdrawn Spiritual Qi in his Meridians, and spread out the items he had obtained from the secret chamber on the flat bluestone slab: the miscellaneous beast skin notes, the Jade Slip recording insights into ancient Formations and the Earth Vein Attraction Technique, and the palm-sized, jet-black, yet dilapidated Formation Plate.

On the other side, the former Foundation Establishment Formation Master Liu Yuan was like a starving wolf that had smelled blood.

The moment his originally cloudy old eyes touched the contents of the ancient Formation insights Jade Slip, a terrifying brilliance erupted from them.

His withered fingertips moved rapidly across the dusty stone slab, his nails scraping against the rock with a teeth-grinding hiss, while he muttered to himself, completely immersed in a frenzied deduction.

"The secret passage can serve as a backup, but using it forcibly now carries too much risk."

Lin Chen's low voice rang out in the cave, interrupting the crackling of the campfire.

He grabbed a piece of dry, hard coarse flour cake, took a bite, and gulped down two mouthfuls of freshly drawn Spirit Spring water.

The cold, sweet spring water flowed down his throat, slightly relieving the dryness in his Meridians; this was the routine he intentionally maintained—the more desperate the situation, the more he needed to keep his body in the most alert rhythm.

He swallowed the dry food, his gaze like two cold knives cast upon the dilapidated Formation Plate and the Jade Slip.

"Let's try another path first."

Lin Chen extended his right hand, his thumb, which was rubbing the rough stone ring, pressing heavily on the stone slab. He intended to use this dilapidated Formation Plate as a catalyst, combined with the ancient Formation, to set up a fake messaging Formation in the secret chamber that could briefly amplify Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Hearing this, Liu Yuan stopped his nails from scratching and looked up.

Lin Chen turned his head to look at him, his tone brooking no doubt, "There is no need to truly send a message; we only need to direct the Spiritual Qi fluctuations toward Luoxia Valley to create the illusion that we are forcibly sending a message for reinforcements."

"If Deacon Ya Jiu and his people notice this and tighten the blockade here, the pressure on the true escape route will be lessened."

The general direction of the plan was set, but when it came to the details, they immediately hit a wall.

Liu Yuan twisted his sparse beard, knitting his brows as he calculated the conditions for setting up the Formation, "To stabilize this violent earth energy, we must use Green Peak Stone Powder to solidify the Foundation, and to harmonize the Spiritual Qi, we need a large amount of Mica Crystal fragments."

"Although these two are common Materials for setting up basic Formations and should be sold in the market, we have none on hand."

The cave fell into a dead silence.

Everyone was trapped in this impassable Shiyuan Valley; who could send a Clone out to make purchases?

Just then, the Mortal guide Old Man Shi, who had been huddled in the corner puffing on his dry tobacco pipe, hesitantly gave a dry cough.

"This old man knows a few herb gatherers who often run to Liuyun Market; perhaps I could entrust them to bring these back?"

"It's just that their asking price isn't cheap, and they must keep their mouths shut."

The clue about strangers entered Lin Chen's awareness for the first time, and he immediately evaluated the viability of this plan in his mind.

Greedy Loose Cultivators meant they could be driven by profit.

Lin Chen was silent for a moment, then took the Storage Pouch from his waist that he had stripped from the captured Qi Family disciple earlier that day. With a clatter, he poured out a few Low-Grade Spirit Stones with dim luster, as well as some miscellaneous Materials such as Yao Beast fur.

"Try it."

Lin Chen pushed these items toward Old Man Shi.

"After finding the person, just say that these Materials are needed to repair an ancestral Magical Artifact; do not reveal the location."

Lin Chen paused, his eyes becoming deep, "If the other party asks, just say it is needed by the Lin Family, thirty miles east of Luoxia Valley."

This was the first time he had actively mentioned the name of the Lin Family to the outside world.

The logic in his mind was very clear: the Qi Family's siege against them was a covert operation. Fabricating a Family with a precise location could not only cover their true intentions but also give the Loose Cultivators and shops in the market a sense of wariness, thinking this person had a Foundation behind him.

Taking advantage of the night, Old Man Shi slipped out of the encirclement via a hidden route known only to Mortal herb gatherers.

A day later, he found the herb gatherer Old Xu, with whom he often cooperated.

Old Xu was a Loose Cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining; besides gathering herbs, he was also a dealer in selling intelligence.

Old Man Shi handed over the Spirit Stones and the list of requirements.

However, Old Xu weighed the Spirit Stones in his hand, but his face showed difficulty.

"The Lin Family?"

"The wind has been a bit tight in Liuyun Market recently; the Qi Family and several shops have put out word that they want to investigate a newcomer surnamed Lin."

"As for the Green Peak Stone Powder and Mica Crystal you want, they happen to have been stockpiled by the Li Family's Huichun Hall. Buying in small batches is fine, but for large quantities or specified high quality, you have to pay more, and you have to wait."

Old Man Shi did not dare to stay long, and after noting down the information, he hurriedly brought it back to the cavern.

After listening to Old Man Shi's report, Lin Chen did not speak immediately. His right fingertips subconsciously rubbed the rough stone ring on his thumb, the frequency of the friction two beats faster than usual.

This subtle action indicated that his brain was undergoing high-intensity logical restructuring.

Qi Family blockade, market cargo control, Li Family's Huichun Hall, investigating those surnamed Lin.

He keenly realized that the Qi Family's blockade was not just in the mountains and forests of Shiyuan Valley; it had already extended to the material level of the market.

This was a bloodless strangulation.

Yet, in this extremely dangerous situation, a fatal flaw was revealed: the other party did not fully understand their background.

If the Qi Family had truly grasped their status, there would be no need to investigate with such fanfare in the market.

This large-scale control of goods was more about probing and applying pressure.

Since he couldn't buy good Materials, he had to make do with inferior substitutes obtained at a high price.

Utilizing the insights from the Jade Slip and combining them with that small bag of stone powder with many Impurities, Liu Yuan barely repaired a portion of the ancient Formation's functions.

Although it could not be fully activated, it could already weakly trigger earth energy.

Liu Yuan lay on the dusty ground, placing the dilapidated Formation Plate between the Spirit Spring and the eye of the ancient Formation. Based on the principles of the Earth Vein Attraction Technique, he laid out an extremely simple amplification circuit.

A few hours later, he stood up, panting, and pointed to the formed Formation patterns on the ground to explain, "Once this Formation is injected with Spiritual Qi and activated, it will simulate a Spiritual Qi fluctuation with an intensity equivalent to a full-power Spell from a Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, directed toward Luoxia Valley."

"But it can only last for three breaths, and since the Formation Plate is already dilapidated, it will inevitably be completely destroyed after one use."

Lin Chen looked at the Formation Plate on the ground and nodded without hesitation.

"Once is enough."

"What we need is not for the message to succeed, but for them to believe that we are trying to send a message."

Late at night, the harassment Spells from the Qi Family Cultivators outside the valley ceased, and the cold wind wailed as it passed through the cracks in the rock wall.

Lin Chen stood alone in the secret chamber, took a deep breath, and slowly injected the trace of Spiritual Qi he had recovered into the core of the Formation Plate.

"Hum!"

The dim crystal on the Formation Plate suddenly lit up with a blinding radiance at this moment.

Immediately, a strong, directional Spiritual Qi fluctuation, like a wild Dragon, shot up into the sky from within the valley, tearing through the tranquility of the night sky and shooting straight toward Luoxia Valley.

Three breaths later, the light suddenly extinguished, and with a few crisp cracking sounds, the Formation Plate cracked into several pieces of scrap metal.

But this violent fluctuation was enough to span several miles and be precisely captured by a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

On the mountain ridge, the night wind was cold and biting.

Deacon Ya Jiu, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. The eyes behind that pale mask narrowed slightly at this moment, staring intently toward the direction of Luoxia Valley, where the fluctuation had come from.

"They are indeed trying to send a message."

Deacon Ya Jiu snorted coldly, his black robe flapping in the wind, "Willing to destroy a Magical Artifact? It seems they can no longer hold on."

He pondered for a moment, then turned to give an order to Head of the Qi Family, Qi Yue, beside him.

"Send more men to strengthen the blockade and patrols in the direction of Luoxia Valley."

"Keep the people in the valley trapped, but attacks can be temporarily slowed; let's see what other tricks they can play."

In Deacon Ya Jiu's judgment, the opponent had played their trump card; this was merely a death struggle at the end of their rope. The real threat lay in the reinforcements that this message might attract.

The bait was cast, and the enemy's defensive line inevitably shifted its center of gravity.

Taking advantage of the brief window when Deacon Ya Jiu's attention was drawn by the illusion, Lin Chen took A-Tu, whose injuries had stabilized slightly, and snuck into the secret cave again.

The two of them, aided by the faint light of a fire stone, crawled forward along the narrow, upward-sloping stone passage.

The stone passage was extremely oppressive, and cold groundwater dripped onto the back of his neck; the bone-chilling cold made Lin Chen increasingly alert.

After struggling to crawl for about half an incense stick of time, a faint light and fresh air smelling of rotting leaves finally appeared in the previously pitch-black field of vision ahead.

The end was half-hidden by dense vines and rubble, and Lin Chen carefully parted the gap to look out.

Outside was a long-abandoned open-pit mine, overgrown with weeds, and the sound of a gurgling stream could be faintly heard in the distance.

He did not immediately poke his head out; instead, he narrowed his eyes, committing the terrain features of the exit location and the surrounding environment to memory.

Confirming that the path to survival was clear, the two immediately returned along the original path.

Just on the inner wall of the stone passage while returning, A-Tu, who was walking behind, suddenly touched a stone with an unusual texture.

He pried hard, and the loose stone fell off, revealing a secret compartment only large enough for one hand to reach into; inside was hidden an oilcloth bundle covered in years of dust.

Lin Chen took the bundle and carefully unwrapped it.

Inside were, surprisingly, several old, yellowed account books, as well as a dilapidated Jade Slip with a mottled texture, engraved with the ancient seal script for "Qin."

By the faint light, Lin Chen quickly flipped through the account books.

These were some ledgers recording large-scale medicinal herb trade transactions from many years ago.

In those dense ink marks, he clearly saw the words "Qin Family of Liuyun Market" and "Huichun Hall of the Li Family."

Lin Chen put away the bundle, his deep eyes flashing violently in the gloomy passage.

The previous owner of Shiyuan Valley, Hermit Dan Ya, was definitely not just a Formation Master cultivating in seclusion; it seemed that many years ago, through this secret passage, he had had deep entanglements of interest with the forces in the market.

The Li Family, who were now blockading the medicinal herbs, had long been on these old ledgers.

The key to breaking the situation had clearly shifted from this sunless valley to that bustling, chaotic Liuyun Market.

Three days later, under the cover of the gloomy weather outside the secret passage, Lin Chen changed into a worn-out gray robe stripped from a dead Loose Cultivator, applied a layer of disguise powder to his face to change his skin tone, and prepared to step alone into that chess game full of undercurrents.