357: Chapter 357 No one objected

Hearing the System's voice, Qin Lin opened his eyes and accessed the System panel. On the holographic screen, that speck of light was still flickering—faint, intermittent, like a candle flame about to go out.

120 kilometers, not far.

Northeast of the Murong Clan ruins, that place used to be a secondary residence of the Murong Family, built upon a small Spiritual Vein, with several levels of secret chambers underground.

If any survivors of the Murong Family were hiding there, they might still be alive.

Qin Lin tapped the "Proceed to Target" confirmation key on the control console.

The Ark turned and flew toward those coordinates.

A few minutes later, the scene outside the window changed from greyish-black to a landscape of low hills. The hills were covered in rubble and fissures. The energy from the rift was much denser here, and the air was filled with visible black patterns that writhed in the air like snakes.

[Target Location: Approximately 20 meters underground]

[Vital Signs: Extremely weak]

[Suggestion: Use Gravity Tractor to clear the ruins]

Qin Lin opened The Ark's weapon System interface, selected the Gravity Tractor, and adjusted the power to the minimum.

A gravity field shot out from the bottom of The Ark, silent and invisible, moving the rubble on the hills away piece by piece.

The clearing work continued for over ten minutes. After the last boulder was moved, a pitch-black opening was revealed.

The opening was not large, about half a meter in diameter, with rough edges as if it had been smashed open from the inside by something.

Qin Lin, wearing a protective suit, descended to the opening, with Murong Xue following behind. It was very dark inside, with only the lights on their helmets illuminating the path ahead.

The tunnel was very narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. The walls were covered in cracks, and some were still oozing a black liquid.

After walking for about a dozen meters, the tunnel widened, revealing an underground space of about twenty square meters.

A person was curled up in the corner.

He was wearing the standard combat attire of the Murong Family, and his clothes were soaked through with blood, making it impossible to tell their original color.

He was lying face down, with a pool of dark red blood beneath him.

Murong Xue rushed over and turned him over.

Qin Lin walked to her side and looked down at that face.

It was a young face, in his early thirties, with regular features, but it was covered in blood, his lips were purple, and his eyes were tightly shut.

There was a fist-sized wound on his chest, with the flesh flipped outward, revealing the black bone beneath.

It was not an ordinary injury; it was a wound eroded by disaster energy.

"Murong Qi."

Murong Xue's voice trembled.

"Uncle Qi, it's me, Murong Xue."

The man's eyelids moved, and he slowly opened them.

His pupils were already dilated, but the moment he saw Murong Xue, a faint glimmer of light appeared in them.

"Young... Young Miss..."

His voice was hoarse, his breath as thin as a gossamer thread.

"Uncle Qi, why are you here? Where is my younger brother? Where is my mother?"

Murong Xue held his hand, tears streaming down her face.

Murong Qi's lips moved, his voice intermittent: "Young Master... was taken away... I don't know... where he went... Madam... Madam..."

He coughed a few times, blood foam spilling from the corners of his mouth.

"Madam is imprisoned in... the Forbidden Zone Prison... The traitors... of the Murong Family... have defected to... the Heavenly Wolf Sect..."

Qin Lin crouched down and opened the medical scanner.

[Target: Murong Qi, Male, Age approx. 35]

[Status: Spiritual Power exhausted, internal organs ruptured, eroded by rift energy, estimated survival time: less than 30 minutes]

[Suggestion: Cannot be treated, can attempt to extract memory information]

Qin Lin turned off the scanner and looked at Murong Xue.

Murong Xue also saw the scan results; her hands were trembling, but she did not let go of Murong Qi's hand.

"Uncle Qi, hold on, we will take you to The Ark. There is a Medical Room, it can cure you."

Murong Qi shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Young Miss... I can't make it... Being able to see you... one last time... is enough..."

He fumbled a jade medallion from his bosom and handed it to Murong Xue.

"Madam's... life medallion... is still flashing... She... is still alive... Go... save her..."

Murong Xue took the jade medallion, on which the three characters "Murong Wan" were engraved.

A faint light was flickering on the surface of the jade medallion, like a star about to go out, but it was still flickering.

"Forbidden Zone Prison... Heavenly Wolf Sect..." Murong Qi's voice grew weaker and weaker, "Young Miss... leave quickly... they... will... come after you..."

His hand slid from Murong Xue's grasp, and his eyes closed.

Murong Xue knelt on the ground, holding Murong Qi's body, crying silently.

Qin Lin stood behind her, saying nothing.

After a long time, Murong Xue let go of Murong Qi, stood up, and wiped away her tears.

Her eyes were red, but her gaze was bright.

"Qin Lin, I want to save my mother."

Qin Lin nodded.

"Okay."

The Ark left those hills and flew toward the target direction.

Qin Lin entered the coordinates provided by Murong Qi into the control console. On the holographic screen, those coordinates were located deep in the inland of the Central Region, thousands of kilometers away.

That was the area where the rift energy was most dense, and it was also the territory of the Heavenly Wolf Sect.

After flying for a long time, The Ark finally approached the target area.

On the holographic screen, a 3D structural diagram of the underground prison was being generated.

It was a building constructed underground, with three levels, the deepest part being about eighty meters below the surface.

The prison was protected by an energy barrier, the strength of which was equivalent to a full-force strike from a Golden Core Stage Cultivator.

Two high-rank Cultivators were guarding the entrance of the prison, and there were over a dozen mid-rank Cultivators patrolling inside.

Qin Lin projected the real-time feed from the probe onto the holographic screen.

The image was very dark, with only the dim yellow light from the spirit fire lamps on both sides of the passage.

The passage was very narrow, and the walls on both sides were covered in runes. The runes were glowing; they were the Restrictions meant to reinforce the walls and prevent prisoners from escaping.

At the end of the passage was a row of prison cells. The cell doors were made of black metal and were also inscribed with runes.

The probe flew past the first row of cells, where several tattered Cultivators were imprisoned, both men and women, all in very poor condition.

In the second row of cells, there were more people imprisoned.

In the third row of cells, the innermost one.

Murong Xue's mother was there.

She was wearing a white dress, which had been stained greyish-brown by blood and dust.

Her hair was loose, with a few strands sticking to her face. Her face was very pale—not the paleness of being nourished by Spiritual Qi, but the pallor of excessive blood loss.

Her features were seventy percent similar to Murong Xue's, with picturesque eyebrows and eyes, a high nose Bridge, and thin, rosy lips.

Even with her face covered in blood and grime, and even while imprisoned in the dark, sunless underground prison, she still possessed a beauty that made it impossible to look away.

She was older than Murong Xue; her skin was not as firm as Murong Xue's, and there were fine lines at the corners of her eyes, but she possessed a charm of a mature woman that Murong Xue lacked.

Murong Xue stood beside Qin Lin, looking at her mother's face on the holographic screen, tears streaming down again.

"Qin Lin, save her."

Her voice was hoarse, carrying a sobbing tone.

Qin Lin nodded.

"I will save her."

He turned and walked out of the Bridge, arriving in the living room, and called all the women capable of fighting together.

"Murong Xue's mother is imprisoned in an underground prison in the inland. I intend to go and rescue her. The Ark's weapon System can easily take out the guards, but there are other innocent survivors in the prison, and I don't want to harm the innocent. Therefore, I plan to use the Gravity Tractor to directly break open the top of the prison and rescue her."

No one opposed.