Too many female prisoners, a special forces soldier transmigrates and marries wildly.

Outside the Iron Wall City, on the southwestern official road.

The autumn wind whipped up yellow dust as a well-trained cavalry of more than ten men galloped along.

Lin Feng, dressed in a black outfit and with the "Broken Mountain" sword slung across his waist, walked at the front.

Behind him, Su Xuanji changed back into men's clothing for easier movement, and beside him were two helpers sent by Linglong Pavilion—one was "Di Ting," a geomancer skilled in finding auspicious burial sites, and the other was "Suo Hun," who was adept at deciphering ancient mechanisms.

Horse hooves crunched through the fallen leaves on the official road as the group sped toward the blank area on the map.

According to the fragments of records that Su Xuanji found in the secret archives of Linglong Pavilion, "Moon Spring" is located deep in a dead zone called "Ghost Cry Gobi". There are no roads there, only dried-up ancient riverbeds and wind-eroded Yardang landforms.

After traveling for three days, the landscape gradually became desolate.

On the evening of the fourth day, the group rested under a sheltered rock face.

"Earth Listener" squatted on the ground and placed a bronze bowl filled with clear water on the gravel. The water in the bowl did not move at all, but he frowned: "Something's not right. According to the direction, we should have arrived at Moon Spring, but there is no earth vein energy at all, as if... it has been cut off by something."

"It's been cut off?" Su Xuanji frowned and walked to the rock wall to examine it carefully. "General Lin, look at the wind erosion marks on this rock wall."

Lin Feng approached and squinted in the last rays of the setting sun. The wind erosion patterns were chaotic and disordered, but about ten feet above the ground, there was an extremely neat, knife-cut horizontal mark.

"This was man-made." Lin Feng reached out and touched the mark, feeling a cold sensation on his fingertips. "Someone erected a huge stone wall here, blocking the way to Moon Spring. Over time, the stone wall and the cracks in the rock face were covered with dust and weeds, so the path was no longer visible on the surface."

"Blocking the way?" Di Ting exclaimed in horror. "Why would a wall be built to block the way in a former royal mine? Is there something unclean behind the mine?"

"Whatever it is, if it's blocking my way, I'll cut it down," Lin Feng said coldly. He drew "Severing Mountain," its blade gleaming with a cold, eerie blue light in the setting sun.

The crowd stepped back a few paces.

Lin Feng took a deep breath, exerted force with his wrist, and slashed out at the weakest point of the wind erosion mark!

There was no earth-shattering noise, only a very faint "click" sound.

The seemingly solid rock wall was actually cut open with a huge gap as neatly as tofu!

The wind and sand howled out from the cracks, carrying a rusty smell that had been there for a century.

"It's open!" someone exclaimed.

Lin Feng sheathed his sword and was the first to slip into the crevice.

Beyond the crevice lay a desolate, abandoned mine.

The last rays of the setting sun barely shone into the basin surrounded by high stone walls. The sight before him startled even Lin Feng, who was used to seeing mines.

This is not a naturally formed basin, but a mountain that has been completely hollowed out. At the edge of the mine pit, you can still see the traces of the plank roads that were carved out by man back then, like coils of rotting giant pythons wrapped around the deathly gray rock walls.

There was no water at the bottom of the pit, only piles of waste rock and several collapsed wooden well frames, which looked menacing in the twilight.

A strange smell permeated the air, like rust, mixed with some kind of rotting plant and... a faint smell of sulfur. There were no birds or beasts, no insects chirping; this land, surrounded by high walls, seemed to have been forgotten by time.

"Such ruthless methods." Su Xuanji squatted down, rubbed the soil under her feet with her fingers, and said in a solemn tone.

"The previous dynasty's imperial treasury decided to abandon a high-grade silver mine. It wasn't a simple closure; they completely severed the access with stone walls, leaving all the facilities and the ore vein to rot inside. This was to prevent anyone from finding it again, or... to prevent what was inside from coming out."

"What's inside?" Di Ting shuddered, looking around. "Miss Su, the 'man-made disaster' you mentioned last time, you wouldn't be referring to a man-eating monster in the mine, would you?"

"If it's a monster, then it'll be easier to deal with." Lin Feng's voice sounded particularly cold and hard in the empty mine.

He walked to the edge of the mine and examined the decaying walkways. "At the end of the previous dynasty, the world was in chaos, and imperial power changed hands. The most likely scenario is that the army or officials guarding this mine, in order to monopolize the mineral resources or prevent them from falling into enemy hands, took the most extreme measures—they not only sealed off the mine, but may have also... massacred all the miners."

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts sank. This meant that they would not only face natural obstacles, but also potentially man-made ones—blood feuds and resentments buried for decades.

"Look there." Lin Feng pointed to the bottom of the mine pit, where a relatively intact group of stone buildings stood. That was the mine's office area and smelting area back then. In the center of the group of buildings was a particularly sturdy stone fortress, with its doors and windows sealed shut with thick iron bars, like a small prison.

"That should be the old treasury or the core accounting office." Su Xuanji looked in the direction Lin Feng was pointing. "If we can go in, we might be able to find the old accounts, or even... the silver ingots that hadn't been moved yet."

"But how do we get down?" Soul Lock frowned. "Those plank roads all look rotten; stepping on them is certain death."

Lin Feng surveyed the terrain and pointed to a relatively flat pile of rubble that meandered down from where they were standing: "Take this zigzagging path of rubble. Be careful and stay close to me."

The team began their descent. Each step they took landed on loose gravel, producing a clattering sound that echoed through the deathly silent mine, sending chills down their spines.

The deeper you go, the stronger the smell of sulfur and decay becomes. Occasionally, skeletons, some human, some horse, emerge from the cracks in the rocks, long since weathered to a grayish-white.

As they reached the bottom of the mine, the oppressive feeling intensified. The surrounding rock walls were not ordinary rocks, but strange stones with dark red stripes, resembling congealed blood scabs.

"Something's not right with this stone." Di Ting leaned closer to the rock wall and tapped it with his hand. "The sound is dull, unlike ordinary ore. And look at the color..."

Lin Feng reached out and touched it, feeling a strange, slightly sticky sensation on his fingertips. He abruptly pulled his hand back, examining it closely in the last rays of daylight. His expression changed drastically: "This isn't stone! This is... a mixture of clay, slag, blood, and some kind of adhesive, artificially cast 'fake rock'!"

"An artificial rock wall?" Su Xuanji was greatly shocked. "Such a massive undertaking, just to enclose the mine? Was the previous dynasty's royal family insane?"

"It's not just surrounding it." Lin Feng looked around, his eyes sharp as knives. "This is a seal. The entire mine pit will be completely sealed off using the strongest artificial rock walls."

"Then we..." Soul Lock swallowed hard, "Aren't we inside the box now?"

Lin Feng didn't answer; he strode towards the stone building complex. The complex was covered in a thick layer of dust, tables and chairs overturned, as if the owners had just left. They found the old smelting furnace, with remnants of cooled silver slag still inside. They also found the dormitory, with even tattered bedding left on the beds.

Finally, they arrived at the stone fortress that resembled a prison. The heavy iron gate was ajar, the bolt long since rusted away.

Lin Feng pushed open the iron gate with the sheath of the Broken Mountain Blade, making a piercing "creak" sound.

The interior of the stone fortress was pitch black, filled with an even stronger musty smell and... a faint, almost imperceptible, sweet and fishy smell.

"Be careful," Lin Feng warned in a low voice, and stepped in first.