Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

Below the wellhead is not a well, but a sloping stone staircase, so narrow that only one and a half people can pass through. The sides are lined with old, dark blue bricks, and water seeps out from the cracks in the bricks, making it wet and slippery to the touch, like the esophagus of some kind of giant beast.

Ghost Servant led the way, followed closely by Ye Chen. Ayiguli and Han Song flanked them on either side. Two of the four veterans stayed at the wellhead to keep watch, while the other two followed down.

Only one flashlight was on, and the light was turned down to a very low level, a small, dim yellowish blob, like a candle lit in black water.

The stone steps spiraled down about three stories before the space gradually opened up in front of us.

The fishy smell in the air was gone, replaced by a very old, musty smell, mixed with the stench of kerosene lamps that had been burning for a long time.

Ye Chen knew that this was the "underground palace" at the very bottom of the Blackwater headquarters.

Wen Jiuhong has settled down here, keeping a low profile, and is much more patient than Wei Qing and Qin Wuyi.

After passing through a very low stone archway, the view suddenly opened up to nothingness.

It was a semi-circular hall with a low dome supported by rusty iron frames.

The hall was damp, and a few dim lamps hung on the stone wall, their wicks burnt.

There were some broken pieces of porcelain and a few pieces of rotten rope scattered on the ground.

The most conspicuous feature is the several dark rooms on the west side of the hall, sealed off by iron bars.

The fences varied in thickness, with the thicker ones being as big as a thumb and rusted red.

Ye Chen counted them; there were six rooms in total. Four of them were empty, one was filled with a pile of blackened straw, and another had a woman's gray scarf lying by the door, completely moldy.

"This is where they imprison people," Ye Chen said softly.

He walked to the dark room with the scarf by the door, squatted down and picked it up.

The scarf's original color was no longer discernible; only one corner was embroidered with the character "梅" (plum blossom) in extremely fine thread.

Ye Chen's hand trembled slightly, but he didn't let the person behind him see. He stared at the character "梅" (plum blossom), slowly folded the scarf, and put it into his cloth bag.

If Jiang Ruoxi saw this scarf, I wonder how much she would cry.

Her mother had indeed been imprisoned here. The Blackwater didn't just arrest Jiang Yuanshan back then.

Mei Ruxue was also detained by them, but she was later rescued by Jiang Yuanshan, who had risked his life to save her.

"There's a smell." The ghost servant suddenly leaned close to his ear and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"It's very faint, like the cold, yin fire in the ancient cave of Longyin Mountain. There are people below, right behind the wall."

Ye Chen looked up at the wall at the deepest part of the hall.

The wall was made of solid bluestone, bare, but a very thin draft of cold air seeped out from the base of the wall.

Ye Chen walked over, pressed his fingers against the wall, and slowly moved them.

He stopped at the far right and turned to Han Song, saying, "There's nothing behind this. It's an old-fashioned door with no mechanism. You have to use a bit of skill to push it open. Can you help me?"

Han Song walked over, and the two of them each pressed on a spot, exerting force simultaneously.

A stone slab about two feet square on the wall was slowly pushed aside, revealing a very narrow interlayer behind it.

The interlayer was chillingly cold, like a passageway to an ice cellar.

Ye Chen stepped inside.

The interlayer is extremely low, like a secret passage embedded in the mountain.

After walking a dozen steps, we saw a larger space. It turned out that there was a natural stone cave behind the hall.

Inside the cave, a tiny copper lamp burned, its flame blue, just like the cold, eerie fire in the Dragon Hidden Mountain cave hall.

Beside the blue flame, a person sat cross-legged.

The man was so thin he was unrecognizable, his white hair was disheveled like withered grass, he was barefoot, and a thin iron chain was locked around his ankle, the other end of which was fastened to an iron ring on the stone wall.

Hearing someone come in, he slowly raised his head, revealing a face that was almost deathly pale.

"Here I am." The man's voice sounded like it was squeezed out from a crack in the ground, dry and hoarse, yet carrying an indescribable calmness.

Ye Chen took a few steps closer, and his heart suddenly pounded as if something was hitting him repeatedly.

He looked at that face. It was too thin, so thin that it was just a skeleton holding up a skin.

But in his eyes and brows, he saw the outline that only existed in his dreams.

"Ye... Changfeng?" he heard himself ask, his voice trembling.

The man neither nodded nor shook his head.

He looked at Ye Chen, and a glimmer of light slowly appeared in his murky eyes, like a tiny bubble finally rising from the depths of stagnant water.

He moved his lips and said, "You look like your mother, her name is Mei Hanyan. I am her third sister's husband. I am not your father. Your father's name is Ye Changfeng."

Ye Chen was stunned.

Mei Hanyan?

Jiang Ruoxi's mother is named Mei Ruxue.

Mei Hanyan, like snow, with smoke in her mouth, they sound like sisters.

Jiang Ruoxi's mother's older sister.

Who is this person?

"My name is Mei Changjin." The man seemed to realize that he had spoken too quickly, and after catching his breath, he slowly said.

"I am Ruoxi's uncle, you should call me uncle, but the child shouldn't see me like this."

Ye Chen's mind felt like it was being filled with a whole river of water, churning violently.

He crouched down to be at eye level with the man.

In the firelight, he saw that the iron chain on Mei Changjin's ankle was embedded in his flesh, surrounded by old scratches from fingernails.

He has been imprisoned here for who knows how many years.

"Was it Wen Jiuhong who locked you here?" Ye Chen asked, his voice now calm.

Mei Changjin shook his head: "Wen Jiuhong came later. I was locked up here by Wei Qing's men. Several groups of guards have been changed since then. In recent years, only Wen Jiuhong has come to ask me a few questions occasionally. He can't control me or pry my mouth open. So he uses this blue flame to torment me. This fire is too poisonous and has damaged my lungs. I can't hold on for long."

Mei Changjin coughed a few times as he spoke, then looked up at Ye Chen, "Thank goodness, I didn't hold on for nothing. You've come. Ruoxi is still alive. I heard Wen Jiuhong say you've taken good care of her."

Ye Chen didn't respond to that. Instead, he took out the calming pill that Jiang Ruoxi had given him from his pocket and handed it to Mei Changjin's chapped lips.

Mei Changjin looked at it, then opened his mouth and took it in.

Ye Chen took his pulse again, his brows furrowing deeply.

This person's physical condition was worse than Su Qinghan had anticipated.

The poison of the Cold Yin Fire had already seeped into his bones. If it weren't for the extremely resilient internal force seemingly supporting him, he would have been dead long ago.

"You have to come out with us," Ye Chen said.

Mei Changjin smiled, a smile more painful than tears: "The key to this chain is with Wen Jiuhong. It's his stuff, and no one can unlock it. He deliberately hung me here so you would see me, feel sorry for me, and be unable to move. Child, don't fall for his trick."

Ye Chen looked at him and slowly stood up. He touched the withered sword.

The sword was slightly warm, as if it recognized this person.

Ye Chen drew his sword, stared at the iron chain, and said in a low voice, "No key is needed. There is no iron chain in the world that Ku Zhao cannot cut."

As he spoke, he raised his sword with one hand, the blade reflecting an extremely thin line in the blue flames, as if splitting the entire cave in two.

The sword fell, the chain broke.

Sparks flew, and the blue flame suddenly went dark.

Mei Changjin seemed to have not expected Ye Chen to be so decisive.

He looked down at his ankle, which had been empty for many years, and then looked up at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen sheathed his sword, squatted down with his back to him, and said, "I'll carry you on my back. Ruoxi is waiting for us. If you have something to say, tell her yourself when we get up here."

Mei Changjin remained silent for a moment, then finally reached out his thin, bony hands and placed them on Ye Chen's shoulders.

He was as light as a handful of straw, but when Ye Chen carried him, he felt he was heavier than the entire Dragon Hidden Mountain.

Guipu and Ayiguli led the way, while Han Song brought up the rear.

Ye Chen carried Mei Changjin on his back and walked step by step out from the depths of the inverted gourd.

The blue flame grew smaller and smaller behind them, like an old lamp that had been cast into darkness forever.

Mei Changjin, perched on Ye Chen's back, whispered, "The way you carry people looks just like your father."

Ye Chen choked up, but didn't speak. He just walked more steadily.