"A mobile Iron Tortoise is still better than seventy percent of the sects in Lingnan. If it weren’t for your lack of a Divine Weapon, with a bit more time, you could probably rank as the seventh-greatest Sect in the world."

As he spoke, Xiong Kun pulled a roll of rhino hide from his inner robes. When he unrolled it, its mutton fat jade scroll ends glowed with faint red streaks in the morning light—it was a Profound Daoist Sect deed that had been soaked in cinnabar.

"An area of thirty li around the Ghostly Wail Abyss, containing six Earth Fire Eyes and three Cold Iron Ore Veins."

Xiong Kun’s hand, as large as a cattail fan, pressed down on a spot on the rhino hide. Beneath his finger, the two words "Celestial Craft" suddenly lit up with golden patterns. "From this day forward, this territory belongs to the Celestial Craft Cave to manage."

As Hong Baichuan took the deed, the rhino hide felt faintly hot.

His gaze swept over the seal with a coiled dragon pattern at the bottom of the deed, and his brow furrowed. "The official seal of the Lingnan Dao’s Jiedu Envoy..."

"What’s that piece of junk for?"

Xiong Kun waved his hand dismissively. That Jiedu Envoy of Lingnan was a real bore. The Profound Daoist Sect would just inform him after the fact. ’Could he really jump up and object?’

"We’ve received word from the Sect Leader. The Celestial Craft Fortress can now be deployed to the Ghostly Wail Abyss."

Hearing the news from Mo Han, the various Hall Masters and Chief Stewards all breathed a sigh of relief. Although they knew it was a sure thing, they couldn’t relax until it was officially confirmed.

Zhan Yan let out a breath and gazed at the bottomless Ghostly Wail Abyss in the distance. After a long moment, he said, "It’s a shame about that Thunder Fire Pool under Guniu Mountain, though."

Upon hearing this, Mo Han stepped forward with a smile. "Don’t worry about that. Hall Master Zhu Xu of the Celestial Craft Department has already gone down to the bottom of the cliff to take measurements. There’s a bronze door hidden here, left behind by the Mo Family, that the Profound Daoist Sect knows nothing about.

The fact that Mo Family disciples could conduct their craft here means there must be a Refining Land underground that’s every bit as good as the Thunder Fire Pool."

Wan Chen, standing nearby, added, "The disciples below will pinpoint the location soon. Once we set the Celestial Craft Fortress down, we’ll have truly established our footing here."

A smile appeared on Mo Han’s face. "We still have a lot to do. There are six sects in Shuzhou, and as the newcomers, we’ll have to pay each of them a visit."

Three hundred zhang down in the Ghostly Wail Abyss, a cold, gray mist rose from the surface of an underground river, dyeing the flame of a fire stick a ghostly green.

Qi Huan gripped the hidden latch of his Mechanical Sword Box. The surface of the Profound Iron box was covered in fine beads of moisture. Every three steps he took, condensation dripped from the fish-scale-patterned plates on the box, the sound echoing with an unnerving beat in the deathly silent abyss.

Phosphorescent moss growing in the rock crevices stained the cave walls an eerie blue. When these fungi, which hadn’t seen daylight in a thousand years, burst under their boots, they splashed out a fluorescent green liquid.

Qi Huan raised a hand, signaling the team to halt. He stared at the fluorescent substance on Yan Qi’s boot. The uncanny green was creeping up the grain of the leather, spreading like living ink bleeding across rice paper.

"Don’t scrape it with your blade!"

He shouted, stopping a disciple who was about to draw his dagger. A glass cover popped out of his sword box, and he used it to contain a sample of the moss.

"This should be the ’Ghost Painting Skin’ recorded in the Southern Wilderness Anomaly Record. It melts on contact with blood and is an extremely potent poison. I thought the Tang Sect had harvested it to extinction, but to think it still exists down here in the abyss."

As he spoke, a glowing, cotton-like mass suddenly fell from the cavern ceiling. The moment it hit the surface of the Yin River, it burst into thousands of firefly-like insects, illuminating the entire underground river with a clear, blue-green light.

By this eerie light, the group finally saw the Yin River’s true nature. Translucent, blind fish drifted in the dark red current, their spindle-shaped bodies filled with a network of lava-like veins.

As the searchlights of the Sixteen Guards swept across the water, a black shadow suddenly shot out like lightning. Yan Qi’s crossbow arrow was a split-second too late, only managing to pin a three-inch-long, transparent antenna.

The shrimp’s main body had already vanished back into the water, but the severed antenna was still writhing on the rock like a snake.

"It’s the Earth Vein Claw Shrimp, mentioned in the Mo Family’s Pleiades Record."

"Three hundred years ago, when the Mo Family built their Mechanical City here, they specifically bred these creatures to clean the wa—" The man’s words were cut off by the sound of clashing metal from the other side of the Yin River.

Sixteen searchlights swung around in unison. The moment their beams pierced the dense fog, everyone’s breath caught in their throats.

On the riverbank thirty paces away, the wreckage of half a Bronze Mechanized Beast was entwined with glowing vines. The face armor on its beastly head, carved with a Taotie Pattern, was mostly corroded, revealing crystal clusters growing between the internal gears.

Even more chilling were the several skeletons pinned beneath the beast’s claw. Judging by their attire, they were the seventeenth generation of the Hidden Blade Pavilion’s Po Junwei, who had vanished eighty years ago.

Qi Huan investigated for a moment, then shook his head slightly. "They must have been left here during the period when generations of Celestial Craft Cave disciples were exploring the Mo Family’s mechanisms."

"Senior Brother Qi, it’s 7:45 PM."

A disciple behind him, carrying a folding crossbow, kicked aside a skeleton half-buried in the silt. His Profound Steel Shin Guards scraped against the cave wall, striking sparks.

"Those bastards are probably up in the fortress drinking celebratory wine right about now, huh?"

Yan Qi, the youngest of the Sixteen Guards, suddenly scoffed. "You think we’re still the Hidden Blade’s elite? Haven’t you seen how they’ve been treating us? When the Celestial Craft Fortress was launched, besides the Mechanical Hall, our Hidden Blade Pavilion was the first to charge to the front. Wherever there was danger, that’s where we went. But have we gotten a single shred of respect for it?"

"What Hall Master Bao did..."

Yan Qi paused, unable to resist a glance at the calm-faced Qi Huan. Seeing no reaction, he continued indignantly, "Why should we disciples be dragged into this? If the Hall Master of the Mechanical Hall or the Weapon Casting Hall had been the one to turn traitor, would Xu Yunfan...?"

The young man deliberately swept his searchlight over everyone’s breastplates. The spot where a gilded tiger head emblem should have been inlaid was now just a mess of mottled scratches, and they still hadn’t been given a chance to get it repaired.

’Those dogs from the Weapon Casting Hall are taking their anger about what Bao Yan did out on us.’

"Silence!"

A three-inch blue blade shot from the top of Qi Huan’s sword box, cutting through the mist. All complaints came to an abrupt halt.

But he clearly heard an extremely quiet mutter from the back of the group: "...Even for surveying the Earth Vein, we have to rush to be the vanguard. It’s just their way of keeping an eye on us..."

The six longswords inside the sword box began to hum in unison—the telltale resonance of the Hidden Blade Pavilion’s secret art, the Thousand Waves Sword.

Although Qi Huan didn’t say anything more, he was clearly displeased by their conversation.

The Sixteen Guards dropped to one knee in unison, the sound of their Profound Iron Masks striking the rock echoing far down the Yin River. They didn’t dare say another word.

Qi Huan stared at his distorted reflection on the cave wall. He suddenly remembered over a month ago, when his master had been beaten to death by Xu Yunfan and dragged into the Punishment Hall. He recalled the corner of a purple robe embroidered with a four-clawed python—the insignia of the Great Zhou Royal Family’s Hidden Guard. The image was like a venomous snake coiled around his spine, as vivid now as the day it happened.

Every time he thought of it, his temples would begin to throb.

’Oh, Master!’

’You’ve truly brought me nothing but misery!’

Qi Huan sighed internally, suppressing the turmoil in his heart as a shadow fell over his eyes.

"There’s no need to mention this again. After all, it was our Hall Master who caused this mess. The disciples of the other halls suffered heavy casualties, so it’s only natural they’d take their anger out on us. Besides, plenty of our own Hidden Blade Pavilion disciples died or were injured too. Give it some time. Once they’ve had a chance to think things through, it won’t be like this."