46: Chapter 46 Beneath the Broken Stele

As the cold mist rolled over Sect Master Di Kun's boots, his fingertips, pressed against the corner of the animal-hide map, did not move.

The black markings at the edge of the Spiritual Pool were still being suppressed within three feet by the medicinal liquid, and the pool water lapped gently against the stone steps, each splash carrying a faint, fishy scent.

The Seal-inscribed wooden box rested under his palm, and a very faint scratching sound came from inside the lid, as if something were clawing at it with fingernails.

"Seal the Founders Hall."

Sect Master Di Kun raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the blade marks left by the Cleanup Squad, "From now on, anyone who approaches within ten steps of the Spiritual Pool, except for those I name, will be treated as a traitor to the Sect."

The handymen who were just about to crowd around stopped in unison.

Some still had the relaxed look of having survived a disaster on their faces, but upon hearing these words, their shoulders tensed up again.

The lamplight in the Founders Hall was pressed low by the wind, and the broken portraits of the Ancestral Masters on the walls swayed in the light and shadow, like a row of silent dead men.

The Chuunibyou Player stood out, holding a broken spear, his robe hem still stained with black blood.

He slammed the butt of the spear against the ground, his voice kept very low, yet loud enough for those in the outer corridor to hear clearly: "Retreat, all of you! When the Sect Master says to Seal the hall, it is sealed. Anyone who wants to scout the path for Han Lishan must first get past my spear."

"Don't scare them away." Sect Master Di Kun glanced at him.

The Chuunibyou Player immediately changed his tone, raising his hand to shoo people away: "Did you hear that? Temporary plot control, non-mission personnel must leave the area, don't hang around the respawn point."

The handymen didn't understand the second half of the sentence, but they understood the words "leave the area." Several people supported the wounded and retreated toward the outer corridor, their footsteps crunching over broken bricks and blade marks, making faint sounds.

The Life-Skill Player crouched by the pool, his medicine chest spread open, the bitter smell of medicine overpowering the fishy stench of the pool water.

His fingers were scorched red by gray smoke, yet he still used medicine tweezers to clamp onto the tail of the black formation nail.

The black lines around the nail body were pressed down layer by layer with talisman paper, but the edges of the talisman paper had already begun to char.

"Sect Master, two days at most."

He didn't look up, instead tossing a piece of porcelain into the shallow water by the pool.

As soon as the porcelain touched the black markings, the white glaze immediately cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and the center was stained gray-black.

"The medicinal powder can only suppress the outer layer. If this drags on any longer, this thing will sink to the bottom of the pool. By then, when the second batch of Disciples arrive, their Physical Body reconstruction will first take a mouthful of dirty water."

The Life-Skill Player paused for a moment, peeled off the charred talisman paper, and replaced it with a new one, "Whether they can form is one thing, and even if they do, it might not be stable."

The Speedrunner leaned against a broken pillar, his short blade spinning half a circle in his palm before stopping.

He stared at the pool water, the corner of his mouth twitching: "The respawn point is contaminated, and we spawn with a debuff? This version is too hellish."

The Tower Defense Player used iron tongs to pin down the spare black formation nail along with the box, the veins on his arm bulging: "Stop joking around; if the pool explodes, we won't even have a hellish version to play."

The Sect Protection Elder stood inside the threshold of the Founders Hall, his sword not yet sheathed.

He carried the scent of old wood and cold iron, his white hair matted into strands by dust, his fingers gripping the sword tighter than usual.

Sect Master Di Kun took the animal-hide map corner off the box lid and spread it out before the Broken Stele in the center of the Founders Hall.

The map corner was very old, its edges curled by dampness, and the four characters "Broken Spiritual Vein Core" were darkened by the interplay of light and shadow.

Sect Master Di Kun then had the Speedrunner bring the Broken Stele rubbing, the Underground Hall location map, and the rough sketch of the old abandoned mine tunnels, pressing them all onto the same bluestone slab.

"Connect the Founders Hall, the Underground Hall, and the abandoned mine tunnels." Sect Master Di Kun's fingertip pointed to the dark vein line on the east side of the map corner, "Estimate based on actual distance, not the scale on the map."

The Speedrunner immediately crouched down.

He used his short blade as a ruler, the tip of the knife moving between the tattered maps. The sense of urgent focus common to players emanated from him; as he measured, he drew lines on the bluestone with a charcoal pencil.

"The Founders Hall is on the central axis of the mountain belly, the Underground Hall is to the southwest, and the old abandoned mine tunnels are further north... Wait, this abandoned mine tunnel didn't lead toward the mineral vein back then; it was slanted to insert directly beneath the Founders Hall."

The Tower Defense Player leaned in to take a look: "Are you sure? This tunnel has long been abandoned, and the mine map is already rotting like this."

The Speedrunner used the charcoal pencil to heavily circle three points: "I reverse-calculated it based on the number of steps, the slope, and the height of the old mine entrance. The Founders Hall, the abandoned mine, and the Broken Stele Ancient Mine—connecting these three points creates a diagonal line. It's not a path; it's a Spiritual Vein cut into several segments."

The voices in the hall suddenly quieted down.

The Sect Protection Elder stepped over the broken bricks, his sword tip hanging at his side. He stared at the charcoal lines on the bluestone, his expression hardening bit by bit.

"A hundred years ago, before the Taichu Sect declined, someone did indeed spread a rumor." The Sect Protection Elder's voice was tight, "They said that in order to extend the Sect's Luck, the Ancestral Masters had dug for something deep within the mountain belly. The previous generation of Elders just dismissed it as slander by outsiders, claiming that our Sect was destroyed solely because external enemies took advantage of our weakness."

Sect Master Di Kun raised his hand and pressed the Broken Stele rubbing onto the animal-hide map corner.

The moment the markings on the rubbing overlapped with the dark vein lines on the map corner, several broken patterns pieced together half a formation ring under the lamplight. The formation ring was incomplete, yet it pointed exactly toward the Broken Stele in the center of the Founders Hall.

The Life-Skill Player saw that half-formation ring, his medicine bottle stopping in mid-air: "The entrance is in the hall?"

"Beneath the stele." Sect Master Di Kun took the sect leader token out of his sleeve.

The surface of the sect leader token had tiny cracks; after opening the Underground Hall a few days ago, its luster had dimmed significantly. Sect Master Di Kun's thumb rubbed over the edge of the token, and the pale silver Sect mark on the back of his right hand grew slightly warm.

The Sect Protection Elder immediately blocked him by half a step: "Sect Master, the Broken Stele in the Founders Hall is the suppression object for the Sect's legal orthodoxy. If an old broken vein is truly sealed beneath it, breaking the Seal will affect the entire mountain belly."

"If we don't open it, the pool will be ruined in two days." Sect Master Di Kun looked toward the Spiritual Pool, where the black markings were gently pushing up at the edge of the medicinal liquid, "By the time Han Lishan arrives, we won't even have the chance to touch the stele."

The Tower Defense Player stuffed the Seal-inscribed wooden box into a stone groove, propped it up with two broken bricks, and wiped the dust from his face: "I'll guard the upper level. Give me half an hour, and I can turn the outer corridor into a three-stage kill zone. If Han Lishan comes early, he'll at least get a mouthful of wooden spikes and iron nails first."

"You stay above." Sect Master Di Kun nodded, "Prioritize using traps to delay, don't seek to kill. If the outer gate is breached, protect the Spiritual Pool first."

The Chuunibyou Player gripped his broken spear and tapped it against his chest: "Leave the handymen to me. Anyone who dares to spread rumors, I'll let them know what it means to say the Sect's will cannot be blasphemed."

The Speedrunner glanced at him sideways: "If you spoke normally, they might be even more afraid."

"This is called Aura."

"This is called a stable condition."

The tense atmosphere pressing down on the Spiritual Pool was broken slightly by these two lines, but Sect Master Di Kun did not smile. He refolded all the rubbings and pressed them next to the groove in front of the Broken Stele.

When the Dark Souls Player walked over from the side path, his steps were still a bit unsteady. The cloth strips on his left arm were soaked with blood, his shoulder dipping slightly as he walked, but the corners of his mouth still carried that spirit of someone who, after being beaten to a pulp, still wanted to re-enter the fray.

"Sect Master, take me to the lower broken vein."

The Sect Protection Elder frowned: "With your injuries, if you encounter another battle, you might not even be able to hold your sword steady."

The Dark Souls Player raised his right hand, which he could still move, and shook his short sword: "It's fine, I'm mainly responsible for dying to show the mechanics."

Sect Master Di Kun looked at him.

The smile on the Dark Souls Player's face faded a little, and he scraped a pebble on the ground with his toe: "Fine, no suicidal trial-and-error. Watching for moves, luring monsters, positioning—I can do the work."

"Follow." Sect Master Di Kun pressed the sect leader token into the notch on the side of the Broken Stele, "If you dare to trade your life recklessly, I will kick you out of the party first."

The Dark Souls Player immediately stood straight: "Received, this punishment is worse than death."

The Loose Cultivator Gu was supported by someone outside the hall, his chest wrapped in thick cloth, his face as pale as old paper. He did not cross the blockade line, only handing an old miner's lamp to the Speedrunner.

"The lower level of the abandoned mine is damp, regular fire starters won't last." He coughed twice and pointed to the bottom of the miner's lamp, "There is fish oil here; it has a heavy smell, but it burns. Don't step where the moss is black; that's a hollow layer."

The Speedrunner took the miner's lamp and weighed it in his hand: "Thanks, Old Gu. I'll bring you some dungeon drops when I get back."

The Loose Cultivator Gu didn't understand, pulled at the corner of his mouth, and the pain from his wound made him immediately lower his head.

In Sect Master Di Kun's field of vision, semi-transparent text appeared silently.

Sect old broken vein Seal detected.

Broken vein exploration mission can be initiated.

Objective: Investigate the state of the Taichu Sect's old Spiritual Vein core, clean up the source of contamination, and stabilize the Spiritual Pool's Origin.

Failure consequence: Spiritual Pool's Origin will continue to drain, and the stability of subsequent Disciple reconstruction will decrease.

Sect Master Di Kun stared at the last line and tapped his index finger on the sect leader token.

As the thought of confirmation fell, the pale silver mark lit up from the back of his hand, snaking along the sect leader token into the cracks of the Broken Stele. The patterns on the Broken Stele that had been dormant for many years were lit up little by little, like a fuse buried in ash being blown open again.

The floor of the Founders Hall trembled slightly at first.

Immediately after, the bluestone slab behind the Broken Stele sank down by an inch. The dust that had accumulated for a hundred years in the stone crevices was shaken up, rushing toward the portraits of the Ancestral Masters on both sides; the surface of the portraits was bent by the dust, and the broken wooden frames creaked.

"Step back half a step," Sect Master Di Kun said.

The Sect Protection Elder held his sword horizontally in front of him, the Speedrunner retreated while holding the lamp, and the Life-Skill Player buckled his medicine chest onto his back. The Dark Souls Player used his short sword to brace himself against the ground and stood to the right rear of Sect Master Di Kun.

A dull mechanical sound came from beneath the ground.

"Click, click, click."

The bluestone slabs in the center of the Founders Hall shifted one after another, and the cracks expanded outward from the foot of the Broken Stele. Several old bricks that had been loosened by the Cleanup Squad collapsed directly, hitting the stone steps below and shattering into a pile of gray-white powder.

A black stone staircase was revealed.

Damp Spiritual Qi surged up from the depths of the staircase, first curling up the hem of Sect Master Di Kun's robe, then rushing over everyone's faces. The Spiritual Qi was mixed with a smell of decay and a very faint scent of blood, like an old wound being torn open again.

The Life-Skill Player covered his mouth and nose, his brows knitted tight: "Many things have died down there."

The Dark Souls Player looked down at the black staircase, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up: "New map unlocked."

Sect Master Di Kun did not look at the staircase immediately.

His gaze fell on the Broken Stele. After the stele body was opened by the sect leader token, an old crack was revealed at the base, with black ash caked inside, as if someone had smeared blood and mud together to Seal it shut back then.

This life-saving thing for this broken Sect had actually been buried beneath his own feet all along.

Sect Master Di Kun pulled out the sect leader token, the edge of the token bringing out a bit of damp black mud. He wiped away the mud stains with his sleeve, turned, and stepped toward the black stone staircase.

The flame of the miner's lamp was bent by the cold wind surging from underground, and several silhouettes stretched out on the floor of the Founders Hall, sinking inch by inch along the cracked stone opening.