The night wind howled, rustling the withered grass of the wilderness.

Moria’s figure abruptly halted in mid-air, like a hawk caught by invisible threads.

He looked down at the silent, desolate land below, which was bathed in moonlight and turned a grayish-white.

Zhou Huai’s brows furrowed slightly.

Something was wrong.

The Soul connection between him and Qin Ming, that invisible thread, ended in this overgrown patch of open ground.

The sensation was incredibly clear.

But below, there was nothing.

There was no sign of Qin Ming, not even a trace of a living person’s Qi.

Moria’s body slowly descended, his feet silently touching the soft earth.

He took a step and carefully surveyed the surroundings.

There was nothing here but some weeds.

Zhou Huai closed his eyes, sinking his entire mind into the Soul connection, sensing it carefully once more.

That’s right.

The source of the sensation was right here.

And... it was slowly moving.

Zhou Huai opened his eyes and looked at the ground beneath his feet.

The only explanation now.

Qin Ming was very likely underground!

A flash of lightning seemed to strike Zhou Huai’s mind.

There was an unknown underground passage hidden beneath Donghai City.

Interesting.

The Zhou Family was becoming more and more interesting.

What exactly was hidden underground that made them go to such great lengths to open a secret passage?

It was done so covertly; the secret behind it must not be simple.

How to get in?

Zhou Huai’s brain raced.

Forcibly breaking open the ground would create too much commotion, inevitably alerting the enemy.

Unfortunately, none of his Clones were earth-elemental practitioners.

Otherwise, digging a tunnel and sneaking in would not be difficult.

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

He didn’t have one.

That didn’t mean the Guild didn’t.

...

The sky was faintly bright.

Eternal Night Guild, third-floor office.

“Knock, knock.”

Molly knocked on the door and pushed it open.

Behind her followed two men whose expressions were slightly reserved.

“Master, as per your request, I have found two earth-elemental practitioners.”

As soon as the two men saw the figure on the sofa, which seemed to blend into the shadows, their eyes immediately glowed with fanaticism.

Both knelt on one knee, their movements perfectly synchronized.

“Your demon servant, Shi Lei! Greetings, Master!”

“Your demon servant, Chen Mo! Greetings, Master!”

Zhou Huai, controlling Moria, waved his hand casually.

“Rise.”

He looked at the two men before him, whose faces still held a hint of honesty, and spoke in a low voice.

“I have a arduous task that I need you to complete.”

Shi Lei and Chen Mo immediately straightened their chests upon hearing this, speaking in unison.

“Master’s command, we will do our utmost!”

“We will go through fire and water, without hesitation!”

Zhou Huai smiled.

He stood up and led the two men out of the Guild, heading directly to the wasteland outside the city. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“It’s here.”

Zhou Huai, controlling Moria, pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

“From this position, dig down.”

“Dig a passage for me.”

Shi Lei and Chen Mo exchanged glances.

They had thought the arduous task the Master spoke of would be to assassinate a high-ranking member of some Guild or to challenge a dangerous Secret Realm.

They hadn’t expected it to be digging a hole?

However, the Master’s command was sacred.

It was not to be questioned.

The two acted without the slightest hesitation, immediately.

Shi Lei stepped forward first, raising the earthy-yellow staff in his hand.

He chanted incantations, and the gem at the top of the staff glowed with a gentle light.

Buzz—

The soil beneath his feet seemed to be pushed aside by an invisible large hand, automatically separating to both sides.

A deep pit, two meters in diameter with smooth edges, appeared out of thin air.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

Zhou Huai nodded.

“Not bad.”

“Continue downwards.”

The two thus began to work in shifts.

However, the distance between the underground passage and the surface exceeded Zhou Huai’s imagination.

Shi Lei and Chen Mo dug for an entire day.

From dawn till dusk.

They dug hundreds of meters deep, yet still saw no trace of any passage.

Even with the two taking turns casting Spells and consuming countless bottles of mana recovery potions.

Their faces were now pale, their lips cracked, and their spirits utterly listless.

Zhou Huai could only tell them to stop temporarily and rest.

The next day, they continued.

The third day, they were still continuing.

This went on for three full days of digging.

When the digging depth approached a thousand meters.

“Crack.”

Chen Mo, who was casting a Spell, suddenly had a tiny crack appear in the rock layer beneath his feet.

A bright beam of light suddenly shone in ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) from the other side of the crack.

“Master! We’ve broken through!”

Chen Mo let out a surprised cry, his spirits lifting.

Zhou Huai knew.

It had finally arrived.

Good heavens.

It was actually hidden nearly a thousand meters underground.

He became even more curious about what the Zhou Family was up to down here.

Chen Mo was about to use a Spell to enlarge the crack.

“Stop.”

Zhou Huai’s voice stopped him in time.

“You two have done well.”

“There’s nothing more for you here, go back and rest.”

He paused, then added.

“When you leave, cover the entrance well.”

“Yes, Master!”

The two bowed respectfully and turned to leave.

After all this was done, Zhou Huai no longer paid attention to them.

He controlled Moria and came to the small crack.

His body, like flowing ink, silently merged into the shadows.

Then, he slipped through the narrow crack.

Passing through the crack was a passage built of hard rock.

Moria’s figure constantly moved through the shadows in the corner of the wall, moving as fast as a ghost.

Soon, he arrived at the huge cave where Qin Ming had been earlier.

He hid in the shadow of a giant stone pillar, poked his head out, and looked down.

The next second.

Even Zhou Huai couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

“Holy crap!”

Inside the cave, there were actually thousands of people stationed!

They were like a group of tireless worker ants, bustling back and forth in the huge area.

He also saw mountains of crystals.

Zhou Huai’s breathing stopped for a moment.

Why were there so many people here?

And what was with all these magic crystals?

He had heard from Assistant Xiao Liu from the military department before.

Magic crystals were only produced in Secret Realms.

Could it be...

That a Secret Realm unknown to anyone was hidden a thousand meters deep underground?

Just then, Zhou Huai pinpointed Qin Ming’s location.

He was currently emerging from one of the deep mine tunnels.

His steps were faltering, and his clothes were torn in several places, revealing bloody, mangled wounds underneath.

Qin Ming was still carrying a magic crystal ore the size of a human head in his hand, and he heavily walked to the small mountain of crystals.

He threw the ore onto the pile, making a dull thud.

Then, as if all his strength had been drained, he sat down on a cold stone nearby, panting heavily.

Just then.

In the shadow beneath him, a low, hoarse voice suddenly spoke.

“Qin Ming.”

Qin Ming’s body trembled violently, and the exhaustion in his eyes was instantly replaced by terror.

But he quickly forced down the tremor in his heart.

He quickly scanned his surroundings; black-clad figures were patrolling nearby, and no one noticed anything unusual about him.

Qin Ming immediately lowered his head, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

He asked in a trembling voice, so low that only he could hear it.

“Master... have you come?”

“It’s me.”

The voice in the shadows remained calm.