Immortality starts from the liver proficiency

Chapter 161 The Weeping Abyss
"A capable Iron Turtle is better than 70% of the sects in Lingnan. If you didn't have any magical weapons, I'm afraid you would be able to rank seventh among the world's sects in the future."

As he spoke, Xiong Kun took out a roll of rhinoceros skin from his inner collar. When he unfolded it, the mutton-fat jade shaft was stained with blood in the morning light. It was the Xuanzhen Sect's inscription soaked in cinnabar.

"The Ghost Crying Abyss is thirty miles in radius, with six underground fire eyes and three cold iron ore veins."

Xiong Kun pressed his palm, as big as a palm fan, on a certain spot on the rhino hide. Under his finger, the word "Tiangong" suddenly appeared with golden lines. "From today on, this land belongs to your Tiangong Cave."

When Hong Baichuan took the deed, the rhinoceros skin felt slightly hot.

He glanced at the seal with coiled dragon pattern at the end of the deed, and frowned suddenly: "The official seal of the governor of Lingnan Road"

"What do you need that for?"

Xiong Kun waved his hand without caring. The governor of Lingnan was really boring. Xuanzhen Sect would just inform him afterwards. Could he really jump up and say no?
-
"The Sect Master has sent a message that the Tiangong Fortress can be landed in the Ghost Crying Abyss."

After hearing the news from Mo Han, the heads of various departments knew that the matter was almost certain to succeed, but when it actually came to fruition, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhan Yan exhaled and looked at the bottomless Ghost Crying Abyss not far away. After a long pause, he finally said, "It's a pity about the Thunder Fire Pool under Guniu Mountain."

Upon hearing this, Mo Han stepped forward and said with a smile, "Don't worry about this matter. Chu Xu, the head of the Tiangong Department, has already gone down to the bottom of the cliff and is currently surveying. There is a bronze door left by the Mo family hidden here, so the Xuanzhen Sect naturally doesn't know about it.

The fact that the Mohist disciples were able to forge weapons here indicates that there is a training ground underground that is no less powerful than the Thunder Fire Pool."

Wan Chen said, "The disciples below will be able to determine the location very quickly. When the time comes, we can finally establish the Tiangong Fortress and truly settle down there."

Mo Han smiled slightly, "We still have a lot to do. There are six sects in Shuzhou, and we are outsiders, so we have to visit them one by one."
-
Three hundred feet below the Ghost Crying Abyss, the cold and steaming gray mist on the surface of the underground river dyed the fire starter a dark green.

Qi Huan grabbed the secret buckle of the mechanical sword box with his backhand. Fine water droplets condensed on the surface of the box made of black iron. Every three steps, condensed water dripped along the fish-scale armor plates, making a heart-pounding echo in the dead silent abyss.

The phosphorescent mosses growing in the cracks of the rocks dyed the cave walls a dark blue. When these fungi, which had not seen the sun for thousands of years, burst under the soles of everyone's boots, they would splash out fluorescent green juice.

Qi Huan raised his hand to signal the team to stop, looking at the fluorescent substance on the surface of Yan Qi's boots. The strange green color was climbing up along the leather texture, like living ink spreading on rice paper.

"Don't scrape with the blade!"

He stopped the disciple who was about to draw his dagger, and a glass cover popped out from the sword case to seal the moss.

"These should be the 'ghost painted skins' mentioned in the 'Southern Wilderness Strange Tales'. They melt when exposed to blood and are extremely poisonous. I thought they were exterminated by the Tang Sect, but I didn't expect there are still some at the bottom of this abyss."

As he was speaking, a ball of glowing flocs suddenly fell from the top of the rock. When it landed on the surface of the Yin River, it instantly turned into thousands of firefly-like flying insects, illuminating the entire underground river with a clear and green light.

With the help of this strange light source, everyone could see the true appearance of the Yin River. Translucent blind fish were floating in the dark red water, and lava-like veins were flowing in their spindle-shaped bodies.

When the Sixteenth Guards' searchlight swept across the water, a black shadow suddenly jumped up like lightning. Yan Qi's crossbow arrow was a step too late and only nailed a three-inch long transparent shrimp antennae.

The main body of the shrimp had retracted into the water, but its broken tentacles were still twisting on the rock like a live snake.

"It's the ground vein crayfish mentioned in the Mohist 'Xuan Ji Lu'."

"Three hundred years ago, when the Mohist School set up the Mechanical City here, they cultivated these creatures specifically to clean the water." His words were interrupted by the sound of metal collision coming from the other side of the Yin River.

Sixteen searchlights swiveled in unison, their beams piercing the dense fog, causing everyone's breath to pause. Thirty paces away, on the riverbank, the remains of a half-bronze mechanical beast lay entangled in glowing vines. The beast's visor, carved with Taotie patterns, had rusted away, revealing clusters of crystals growing between its internal gears.

What is even more frightening is that there are several dry bones under the beast's claws. Judging from their attire, they are the seventeenth generation "Pojunwei" of Cangfeng Pavilion who disappeared eighty years ago.

Qi Huan inquired for a while, then shook his head slightly: "It must have been left behind by the disciples of Tiangong Cave during the time when they were exploring the Mohist mechanisms."

"Brother Qi, it's three quarters past midnight."

The disciple carrying a folding crossbow behind him kicked away a skeleton half-buried in the mud, and the black steel shin guards scraped against the rock wall, sending out sparks.

"Those grandchildren should be drinking celebratory wine in the fortress by now, right?"

Yan Qi, the youngest of the sixteen guards, suddenly sneered, "You think we're still the elite of the Cangfeng Guard? Haven't you seen how they've treated us these days? When the Tiangong Fortress was launched, besides the Machinery Hall, our Cangfeng Guard was the first to rush out. Wherever there was danger, we went there. But has this ever been looked at directly by anyone?"

"What Master Bao did..."

Yan Qi couldn't help but glance at the calm Qi Huan when he said this. Seeing no reaction, he continued indignantly, "Why bother involving us disciples? If the leaders of the Mechanical Engineering Hall and the Weapon Casting Hall rebel, then wouldn't Xu Yunfan be..."

The young man deliberately swept the searchlight in his hand across the breastplates of everyone. Where the gilded tiger head pattern should have been embedded, there were only mottled scratches left, and there has been no chance to repair it yet.

Those bastards from the Weapon Casting Hall took out their anger on them for what Bao Yan had done.

"Silence!"

The three-inch green light that popped out from the top of Qi Huan's sword case cut through the mist, and all the complaints stopped abruptly.

But he clearly heard a very low murmur coming from the back row: "Even when exploring the earth veins, we have to rush to be the vanguard. Isn't it just to guard against us?"

The six long swords in the sword box made a buzzing sound at the same time. This was the humming sound of the Qiandielang Sword, which was secretly passed down in Cangfeng Pavilion.

Although Qi Huan didn't say much, he was already very unhappy with the conversation between the few people.

The sixteen guards disciples all knelt on one knee. The sound of the black iron mask colliding with the rocks could be heard far away along the Yin River. They did not dare to say anything more.

Qi Huan looked at his distorted reflection on the rock wall, and suddenly remembered that when his master was beaten to death by Xu Yunfan and dragged into the torture hall more than a month ago, the corner of his purple robe embroidered with a four-clawed python pattern, the emblem of the Great Zhou Royal Secret Guard, was like a poisonous snake coiled around his spine.

He still remembers it vividly.

Whenever he thought about this, his temples would throb uncontrollably.

Master!
You have really made me suffer!

Qi Huan breathed a sigh of relief, suppressed the depression in his heart, and his eyes were full of gloom.

"There's no need to bring this up again. After all, it was our Hall Master who was in trouble, and the other disciples in the Hall suffered heavy casualties. It's normal for them to take their anger out on us. Moreover, many of our disciples in the Hidden Front Pavilion also suffered casualties. After a while, they'll figure it out and won't be like this anymore."

(There are three more chapters to come, I’m typing away at the keyboard right now)
(End of this chapter)