Henry Lang was completely dumbfounded... Thinking about where he had just thrown his punch, it should have landed right on N/A's N/A, and he was even more confused—if you want to draw your bow, just do it, why come running over to my side?

N/A looked stern, but was muttering under his breath: "If I'd known, I should have brought Qingmo's lantern down..." His tone sounded a bit regretful. Then he took a deep breath and shouted a string of secret commands to direct the blue-robed men to form up: "Rabbit runs, eagle flies, three stars in the east, ignore the satchel and think of the sky!"

The nine-dragon blue-robed men under his command immediately sprang into action, ten in a squad, eight in a group, seemingly chaotic yet perfectly organized. As soon as N/A finished speaking, they had already formed up according to their leader's orders. No matter which direction someone tried to break through, a hundred long blades would instantly become a rolling wall of steel, slaughtering the enemy into mincemeat.

N/A's face was ashen, longbow in hand as he slowly advanced, about to give the order to investigate further, when suddenly, the torches that had just gone out flared back to life, and the fire-starters in the blue-robed men's hands all returned to normal.

With the sudden brightness, the chewing sounds also vanished. Yet, instead of relaxing, everyone in the cave tensed up, their bodies going rigid in an instant!

Henry Lang's mouth hung open as he stared blankly ahead... A hundred paces in front of him, there was not a single person left.

Just moments ago, there had been a large crowd of convicts working ahead of Henry Lang and the others, and deeper inside, two main camps had halted their mining after discovering the jade wall. But now, a hundred paces away, there was nothing but emptiness!

The darkness and chaos had lasted no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and the more than two thousand people at the very front had all been wiped out!

Tools, swords, water flasks... all scattered messily on the ground...

At the edge of his vision, a huge jade wall stood indistinctly, its divine light swirling in the torchlight, dazzling to behold. Yet the jade wall was not as flawless and lustrous as the blue-robed leader had described; instead, it was dotted with what looked like many impurities.

Henry Lang squinted to look more closely, and was immediately shocked—those "impurities" embedded in the jade wall were actually a jumble of clothing!

There were coarse cloth shirts and pants worn by the convicts, and even the inkfish-embroidered robes of the nine-dragon blue-robed men!

Only the clothes remained, with no sign of their owners. Anyone could understand: two whole main camps, over two thousand people, had all been devoured by this ghostly jade wall in the darkness.

N/A's expression kept shifting. He blocked the commander who wanted to charge forward in desperation, and gave a stern order: "Everyone withdraw and regroup outside! No chaos or shoving during the retreat! Blue-robes escort the convicts—kill any who cause trouble."

The convicts felt as if they had been granted amnesty; no one wanted to stay in this cursed place a moment longer. They immediately dropped their wood and water, turning to flee toward the cave entrance.

The nine-dragon blue-robed squads spread out, breaking up the mass of convicts and leading them out in waves.

N/A personally brought up the rear, never relaxing his grip on the longbow, the arrowhead always aimed at the jade wall, retreating step by careful step.

Henry Lang didn't run with the others, but instead stayed by N/A's side, retreating slowly. He had just punched this harbinger of doom and was afraid that as soon as they left the cave, N/A would tear him to pieces, so he tried to curry favor by moving slowly.

N/A knew exactly what he was thinking, and said in a low voice, "Once we're out, I'll skin you alive! I guarantee you'll survive seven days after being skinned!"

All of Henry Lang's cleverness was useless now. In the tense silence, his lips trembled as he stammered, "I was so scared just now, I couldn't move at all, I... I didn't mean to hit you in the face... Sir, I'm sorry. Please forgive me..."

N/A seemed amused, glancing at him sideways: "What nonsense! If you dare tell anyone you punched me after we get out, I'll kill you."

Henry Lang was overjoyed, nodding eagerly in agreement, carefully following at N/A's side, step by step, until the jade wall finally disappeared from view. Only then did N/A put away his longbow, casually wiping the sweat from his brow, and, not bothering to say another word to Henry Lang, leapt swiftly up toward the wellhead.

Henry Lang suddenly realized he was the last one left in the retreating group, and hurriedly broke into a run, sprinting for his life. Before long, he could already see the exit in the distance.

But just as Henry Lang was overjoyed and running with all his might, a sudden clamor erupted from outside.

Countless people were screaming, wailing, and the blaring of war horns... When he finally made it to the surface, he was shocked to find the ground had become a slaughterhouse!

At a glance, Henry Lang couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice, "N/A!" His mind was in chaos—no matter how he tried, he couldn't understand how such things could exist in the mountains of Kunei!

N/A were not things, but a tribe of wild savages. Their bodies were so tough that blades and spears could hardly harm them, their claws and fangs as powerful as wild bears. They couldn't run, only leap. When they moved, they lay flat on the ground, pushing off with their hind legs like giant, ferocious toads, able to leap seven or eight zhang in a single bound. With such strength, a single collision could make an ordinary person cough up blood and die.