While everyone was busy, a blue-robed commander from the vanguard mountain-clearing camp came hurriedly, frowning, to find N/A.

N/A was a Qianhu, and at this moment, down in the well, he held the highest rank.

The commander wore a strange expression on his face: “Sir, something odd happened up front. The brothers aren’t sure how to handle it and wanted to hear your opinion.”

N/A didn’t bother to avoid the convict laborers working nearby, and asked directly, “What is it?”

Henry Lang shuffled his feet, seizing the chance to slack off, and pricked up his ears to listen in.

N/A had a sour face but wasn’t truly malicious, pretending not to notice.

The two forward camps were in charge of chiseling the stone wall. First, they burned the rock with firewood, then doused it with cold water to make the mountain stone crack. At first, it was no different from usual, but as they dug, suddenly there was a burst of crackling sounds from the stone wall. The seemingly solid rock was instantly covered in fine cracks, and the entire mountain face suppressing the ominous stone vein became mottled and shattered like a spider web.

From the cracks, a faint, lustrous glow seeped out.

The workers were greatly puzzled. Under the blue-robed commander’s direction, they carefully cleared away the rubble. It turned out that at this point, only a palm-thick layer of stone remained. Under the assault of fire and water, the whole stone wall began to fracture.

N/A raised an eyebrow: “So, you’ve reached the end?”

The commander gave a wry smile and shook his head, thinking, if we’d reached the end, would I be here? I’d have run up to report the achievement already.

“After clearing away all the rubble and dust… what stands before us is a massive, flawless white jade wall!” The commander, afraid others wouldn’t believe him, emphasized his words: “Not a single blemish, not a single crack. An entire slab of jade blocks our way, and the ominous stone vein disappears beneath it!”

Hiss…

Everyone around, whether blue-robed or convict, gasped in unison.

The tunnel they’d already dug, regardless of height, was several hundred paces wide—no less than an ordinary river. Gold has a price, but jade is priceless. Such a huge, flawless piece of jade—there’s nothing in the whole Dahong realm that could be traded for it!

The commander looked at N/A’s astonished expression, seemingly satisfied, and continued, “This jade wall is too large and too valuable. We dare not make a decision. Work has stopped, and I was sent to ask for your instructions.”

N/A muttered, “You don’t dare decide, but I’m supposed to?” Then he returned to his usual demeanor, coldly asking, “Is that jade wall also part of the stone vein?”

The commander shook his head: “We’ve already checked carefully. The jade wall and the stone vein aren’t one and the same. The stone vein passes beneath the jade wall, with a palm-wide gap between them—there’s no contact at all.”

N/A simply stopped asking: “Take me to see it…”

But before he could finish, suddenly—bang!—all the torches and lamps in the mine went out at once, without warning!

Henry Lang felt sudden darkness before his eyes. In that instant of blindness, he almost lost his footing. The convict laborers around him cried out in alarm, and chaos threatened to erupt.

N/A thundered, his voice like spring thunder: “No one move or speak! Blue-robes, light the lamps!”

The Jiulong blue-robes had long held authority. At his shout, the convicts immediately quieted down. Then came the sound of frantic scraping as the blue-robes in the crowd pulled out fire strikers and flints, but no matter how hard they tried, not a single spark could be struck!

Henry Lang couldn’t help edging closer to N/A…

Amid the frantic striking of flints, there seemed to be another strange sound, as if something was quietly approaching.

N/A’s commanding voice rang out again: “Silence! Listen for direction! Blue-robes, follow orders—if anything approaches, kill it at once!”

Before he finished speaking, a sudden cry came from up ahead! Instantly, the entire mine exploded into chaos!

Shouts of anger, cries of alarm, screams of pain, the whoosh of blades being drawn and swung—countless harsh sounds mingled together, like an invisible furious dragon rampaging through the mine! Amidst it all, there was a chilling crunching sound, low but clear, repeating over and over: crunch, crunch, crunch…

Henry Lang felt a gust of wind rush past him, something lunging from the side. In a panic, without thinking, he dropped his weight and punched out. Thud—a muffled sound. Henry Lang cried out again; his punch felt like it hit stone, jarring his wrist nearly to the breaking point.

“Hmph, your punch is too weak!” came a familiar voice. A faint, ethereal glow slowly brightened beside Henry Lang.

Chapter Four: The Xiangchan Barbarians

The glow grew brighter and brighter, and in a moment became a dazzling golden wheel, illuminating everything around!

N/A, the Qianhu, was standing right beside Henry Lang. At some point, he had taken the longbow from his back. With the bow fully drawn, a slender arrow—no thicker than a hair—was nocked to the string. That golden light was radiating from the arrow’s tip.

A group of Jiulong blue-robes rushed out, forming a protective circle around N/A, and enclosing Henry Lang as well.

With the light blazing, the Jiulong blue-robes quickly regained their composure, and the restless convicts quieted down. At this point, anyone who dared to cry or run would surely be cut down by the blue-robes.