Slaying demons and eliminating evil, a martial saint among mortals.

As they approached the mine shaft, Gu Qianji suddenly stopped.

He looked around, his expression becoming more serious.

"Be careful, the closer we get to the mine, the more chaotic the demonic energy becomes. I reckon there's a formation down there."

Qin Lie immediately looked at him.

"Can we confirm now that there's a formation below?"

Gu Qianji raised his hand and pointed to a few trees next to him.

"See those cracks on the tree trunk? The demonic energy emitted by ordinary demons wouldn't be so orderly. This demonic energy is constantly circulating along a fixed route. Only formations can basically do that."

Qin Lie looked in the direction he was pointing. Several trees had fine cracks on their trunks, all at roughly the same height, and even the direction of the cracks was exactly the same.

If Gu Qianji hadn't specifically reminded him, he wouldn't have noticed these details at all.

Zhao Tieshan was somewhat confused.

"There's just an abandoned mine shaft behind it; how could someone have set up an array inside?"

Gu Qianji started walking again, observing her surroundings as she went.

"We can't be sure what the person who set up the formation wants yet. It could be a formation left over from a long time ago. Let's go in and take a look. We should know once we get inside."

The group walked a little further, and the woods ahead gradually thinned out.

A stone wall that had mostly collapsed soon came into view, behind which was a dark hole.

The entrance to the cave was blocked by a lot of rubble, leaving only a narrow gap in the middle that people could still enter.

There was also a broken wooden sign standing next to it, the words on it long since illegible.

Zhao Tieshan carried the oil lamp and walked to the front.

"This is it, this is the entrance to that mine."

Standing outside the cave entrance, Qin Lie immediately smelled a strong stench of decay.

The smell wafted out of the cave entrance, even stronger than the one they had smelled in the woods earlier.

Gu Qianji did not rush in. Instead, he took out a palm-sized array plate from his storage space and placed it on the ground in front of the cave entrance.

As soon as the array plate landed, the pointer on it began to slowly rotate.

At first, the speed wasn't too fast, but before long, the pointer spun faster and faster until finally only a blurry shadow could be seen.

Gu Qianji stared at the array plate for a while, and his expression gradually darkened.

Qin Lie noticed the change in Gu Qianji's expression and immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

Gu Qianji bent down to put the array plate back and wiped off the dirt on it.

"The formation below has already started operating, and judging from the current situation, it's quite large."

Qin Lie looked at him and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you a master of formations? With you here, what do we have to worry about?"

Gu Qianji glared at him after hearing that.

"I haven't even seen what kind of formation is below, how am I supposed to break it? I can't just stand here and try to break it from nothing, can I?"

As he spoke, he took out two more array stones and handed them to Qin Lie and Xu Qinghe respectively.

"You two, put the array stones away carefully, and don't stray too far from me once you go inside."

"This thing can sense my location. If I get separated inside, I can just follow the direction indicated by the array stones and we will naturally be able to reunite."

After giving his instructions, Gu Qianji looked at Zhao Tieshan.

"You stay outside and don't come in with us. We don't know the situation down there yet, and if something goes wrong, you won't be able to help."

Zhao Tieshan immediately shook his head after hearing this.

"Please allow me to come in with you, gentlemen."

"Although this mine has been sealed off for a long time, and my master used to forbid me from going near it, I still sneaked in a few times."

"There are many forks in the road, and some parts have collapsed. If I go in with you, at least I can guide you."

Gu Qianji stared at him for a while.

"Let me make this clear first: if we encounter any danger, we might not be able to take care of you."

Zhao Tieshan grinned, and the disfigured face on the right side of his face twitched as well.

"I know, it's alright. If something really serious happens down there, I won't be able to escape it even if I stay outside. I might as well go in with you guys and take a look."

Seeing that Zhao Tieshan had made up his mind, Gu Qianji did not try to dissuade him further. He then took out another array stone and handed it to Zhao Tieshan.

"In that case, stay close to us and don't wander off on your own, and definitely don't get separated inside."

The group lit torches and entered the mine one by one.

When you first go inside, you can still see many traces left from previous mining operations.

Rotten wooden stakes were stuck in the wall, and pebbles of varying sizes were scattered on the ground. Several broken wooden carts could also be seen nearby.

As we walked further in, the mine tunnel began to narrow.

In some places, only one person can pass at a time, and dirt and pebbles fall from above from time to time, making a soft rustling sound underfoot with every step.

Qin Lie looked up and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "What if this place suddenly collapses as we walk along?"

Xu Qinghe glanced at him expressionlessly.

"Shut your mouth."

Zhao Tieshan walked at the front. Although his left leg was injured, he was not much slower than Qin Lie and the others in this kind of place.

Each time they encountered a fork in the road, he didn't need to stop to identify the direction; he could simply choose the right one and lead the group deeper into the mine.

Not long after they started walking, a skeleton suddenly appeared ahead.

Zhao Tieshan raised the oil lamp and shone it forward.

"They must be miners who died here before. This place has collapsed many times in the past, and the people buried underneath have never been properly cleaned up."

Qin Lie did not go over immediately, but stood there staring at the skeleton for a while.

Xu Qinghe walked to the side and took a look.

"The cut on the arm is fresh, and there are signs that the soil next to it has been dragged around, so someone must have been here recently."

Upon hearing this, Qin Lie immediately drew his Snow-Shattering Blade and scanned his surroundings.

Zhao Tieshan's expression changed.

"Impossible. The mine entrance has always been blocked by rubble. Even if someone had come in, it would be impossible for them to reach this depth."

Gu Qianji squatted down, touched the soil next to the bones with his finger, and then picked it up to look at it.

"This person didn't come in through the same entrance we used; there must be another way down there. And judging from these marks, he might still be inside, not having left yet."

After he finished speaking, he stood up and gestured for Zhao Tieshan to continue leading the way.

This time, however, everyone slowed down, walking forward while keeping an eye on their surroundings, wary of any potential dangers.

After walking a little further, a soft sound suddenly came from deep inside the mine, sounding like something had fallen to the ground.

Qin Lie immediately stopped, and Gu Qianji also raised his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

The group stood there and waited for a while, but there was no further movement from ahead.

Gu Qianji bent down, picked up a small stone from the ground, and threw it towards the passage ahead.

After the stone landed, it rolled forward a few times. Just as it reached the middle of the passage, dark red lines suddenly lit up on the walls on both sides.

The next moment, more than a dozen sharp spikes formed from demonic energy appeared simultaneously and pierced towards the rock.

In the blink of an eye, the stone was smashed into pieces.

Qin Lie's eyelids twitched at the sight.

Fortunately, Gu Qianji was with them this time. If they had rushed in unprepared, it wouldn't be that rock that would be smashed to pieces now.

"Is this also a formation?"

Gu Qianji walked to the wall and stared at the dark red patterns for a while.

"It's just a simple warning array. Judging from the traces left around it, it wasn't set up for very long, maybe only three to five days at most. It seems our previous guess was correct; someone has indeed been here recently."

As he spoke, he reached out and tapped a few array patterns on the wall.

The dark red patterns flashed twice before quickly fading completely.

"The person who set up the formation is quite skilled, but this kind of thing is only good for dealing with ordinary people. It's far from enough to stop me."

Although she spoke lightly, Qin Lie could tell that Gu Qianji was very serious about her actions.

This old man is usually carefree, but when it comes to things related to formations, he becomes a completely different person, not missing even the slightest changes in his surroundings.

After breaking the warning array, Gu Qianji took out more than a dozen array stones from his storage space and threw them in different locations around the area.

After the array stones landed, a faint light screen quickly rose up, enveloping all of them.

"From now on, don't touch anything you see, especially you."

Qin Lie looked at him speechlessly.

"There are so many people here, why did you single me out?"

Gu Qianji scoffed.

"Because you look like the one who's most likely to touch things randomly."

After saying that, he didn't bother to explain further and turned to walk away.

As Xu Qinghe passed by Qin Lie, she nodded earnestly.

"I think Master Gu is right."

After walking around the array pattern, the group walked forward for a short while, and the mine suddenly opened up, revealing a large underground space in front of them.

The surrounding walls had clearly been artificially altered, and the ground was covered with dense array patterns. At this moment, a large amount of dark red demonic energy was flowing within the array patterns.

In the very center stood a black stone pillar more than three people tall, with a symbol carved on it that Qin Lie had never seen before.

As soon as Gu Qianji saw the stone pillar, he stopped in his tracks, and his expression became very puzzled.

"Wait a minute, why is this thing still running?"

"What is this? Do you recognize it?"

Gu Qianji did not answer Qin Lie's question. He quickly walked to the edge of the magic circle, squatted down and looked at it for a long time. Then he walked around the entire underground space.

Xu Qinghe also sensed that something was wrong.

"Master Gu, what kind of formation is this?"

After hearing Xu Qinghe's words, Gu Qianji stopped in his tracks.

"This is the sensing array that Duanfeng Pass set up on the outer perimeter before."