Lv Wen said absentmindedly, his gaze fixed on the narrow passage.

"The C Pit has also been mined." Zhou Xun’s thoughts were also on the superior Jingyan salt.

Chu Ming nodded, standing in a safe corner, picking up fragments of stone from the ground, watching them casually.

He didn’t intend to remind Lv Wen and Zhou Xun.

The miners exchanging life for life was enough to prove that the vengeance for killing their father and insulting their mother was real.

And this was only what he saw on the surface. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

In the dark, how many grievances and unjust cases were there?

How many innocent people died at the hands of the ’lords’ of Jingyan County?

He was not a saint, nor was he a cold-blooded person, so naturally, he wouldn’t sabotage someone else’s revenge.

"Did you hear something?" Jin Yu’s fair ears twitched, looking up towards the ceiling with doubt.

"Rocks falling..." Meng Zhen pondered aloud.

"Not falling rocks, but..." a sharp light flashed in Chu Ming’s eyes.

"What is it?" Jin Yu asked.

Rumble——

Rumble——

What answered Jin Yu was an earth-shattering roar.

In an instant, the mountain shook, the ground trembled, the cave walls collapsed, and rocks came tumbling down.

Boom boom boom——

"Oh no, a collapse! A collapse!"

Lv Wen and Zhou Xun were terrified, fleeing like panic-stricken dogs.

"Protect me, protect me!" they shouted frantically.

However, at this moment, the entire cave was shaking, and the guards responsible for safety couldn’t even stand steady, let alone protect others.

Bam——

Boulders fell, crushing a guard to pieces right in front of Lv Wen and Zhou Xun.

The two were scared to death, their fear like a tidal wave crashing from their bodies into their souls.

They never imagined that they would be trapped in a collapse today, with their lives hanging by a thread.

Looking again at the corner where Chu Ming stood, rocks fell here too, but not as concentrated.

Meng Zhen and Jin Yu, after a brief moment of panic, quickly discovered the peculiarity of this corner.

Compared to other places that were continuously collapsing, this spot was as solid as a fortress.

Could it be just a coincidence?

Meng Zhen shattered a few falling rocks with a punch, looking at Chu Ming in surprise.

And Jin Yu, worthy of being a Primordial Qi Warrior in the late stage, casually used his Primordial Technique, not allowing a single stone to come near him.

"Help me... Lord Chu, help me..."

In just a moment, more than half the guards were dead or injured, and Lv Wen, shrinking in a corner, saw Chu Ming and the other two not half a zhang away, and hope was kindled in his heart.

As for Zhou Xun, he was already trapped under a boulder, his fate unknown.

"Lord Chu... help me..." Lv Wen pleaded bitterly.

Chu Ming looked on indifferently.

Half a zhang, a distance like a chasm.

The collapse continued, happening everywhere except for the corner where Chu Ming stood.

Boom boom boom——

Above Lv Wen’s head, several boulders fell simultaneously, and after the roar, there was no more sound of pleading.

After an unknown time, the cave was filled with an eerie darkness and the pressing presence of fallen stones.

The Sword Gourd Spirit spread out, the collapse had basically ended.

Lv Wen was dead, the dozen or so guards who followed inside were dead, and the miner who pried the boulders was also dead.

Zhou Xun, however, still had a breath left.

"Ugh, what bad luck." Jin Yu dusted himself off and tried to move the big stone in front.

It didn’t budge.

It’s not that his strength was weak, but because behind the big stone were countless others, filling the entire pit.

There was no room to move, regardless of his strength, it was useless.

Unless, the mountains were split.

"This place is not safe to stay for long, in case of another collapse." Jin Yu looked at Meng Zhen, and said, "Commander Meng, please lend me a hand."

Saying this, he suddenly thrust out a palm, shattering the boulders ahead.

To get out, they had to split mountains and break stones.

Meng Zhen paused for a moment, then said to Chu Ming, "Brother Chu, follow me."

As he finished speaking, he began pounding the stones ahead with Jin Yu, trying to force a path to escape.

Outside.

Rumble——

"Something major happened, Cave 1 has collapsed!"

"Several lords are still inside, hurry!"

Outside, constables and guards were in chaos.

In contrast to the panicked constables, the miners wore a different expression.

Some were still shaken, having just been driven out of the mine not long ago.

Some were gloating, thinking that a collapse falling on officials’ heads was truly a just act of heaven.

Meanwhile, Shen Yi, crawling out of the cave, had changed into a miner’s outfit and mixed into the group of miners.

He wasn’t shaken, nor was he gloating; he felt a heart-piercing pain.

"Xiaozheng, I will see this world on your behalf."

Taking advantage of the guards’ panic, Shen Yi slipped away from the group of miners, leaving the mining site.

He could no longer continue being a constable; a mine collapse was a deadly disaster for Martial Artists in the early and middle stages of the Blood Circulation Realm, and for ordinary people, but not necessarily fatal for those in the late stage and above.

Shen Yi knew that beneath the collapse, there must be survivors.

Once an investigation is conducted...

...

In the collapsed pit.

Meng Zhen and Jin Yu took turns pounding the boulders.

"Cough cough..."

A faint sound came from beneath the stones ahead.

There are survivors?

Meng Zhen shattered the rubble and rescued an Arresting Captain.

This Arresting Captain had refined seven or eight threads of Qi Blood, making him sturdier than an average person, but even he couldn’t withstand such immense pressure.

He wasn’t dead, but he’d surely be crippled.

If a late-stage Blood Circulation Realm Martial Artist ended up like this, what hope was there for anyone else?

As the two of them broke more rocks, they saw more and more severed limbs.

Chu Ming followed behind them, silent.

The Sword Gourd Spirit could sense that some Arresting Captains were still alive, even County Magistrate Zhou Xun was hanging on by a thread.

But his focus wasn’t on the situation inside the cave, but rather outside, or more precisely, on the constable Shen Yi.

This person might know something.

Hmm?

The Sword Gourd Spirit quickly dispersed, and suddenly his eyes glinted.

There was something neither outside nor inside the cave, but underground.

About three hundred meters below the pit, there was actually a presence hidden.

That aura was eerie and powerful, not like a Martial Artist—in fact, it wasn’t human at all!

An exotic beast?

Chu Ming’s heart stirred slightly.

According to the Mountain and Sea Great Wilderness Scripture, exotic beasts are evolved from beasts or mystical beings, possessing considerable strength or mysterious abilities.

Every part of an exotic beast is a treasure. Their bones and skin can be refined into weapons, like the Red Qilin Gloves his master Xiang Yue had given him, which were made from the exotic beast Red Qilin.

Its flesh and blood are akin to Treasure Medicine. Martial Artists who consume it can aid their martial arts practice, enhancing their Qi Blood, and some special exotic beast flesh has effects even comparable to Centennial Black Ginseng.

Chu Ming carefully sensed for a moment but couldn’t confirm that the underground aura was an exotic beast, nor could he identify what kind of exotic beast it was.

Forget it, let’s deal with the matter at hand first.

Three hundred meters underground, even if he started digging now, he couldn’t approach it in a short time, not to mention with Meng Zhen and Jin Yu nearby.

It’s best to come again when it’s late at night and no one is watching.

The whereabouts of the constable Shen Yi is the most important thing right now.

The Sword Gourd Spirit extended along the tunnel to the surface.

He detected that Shen Yi had disguised himself as a miner and found a chance to escape the mine. Soon, he was completely out of the Sword Gourd Spirit’s sensing range.

Fled?

Chu Ming’s brows slightly furrowed.

This constable is very cautious.

Trapped inside the pit, with Meng Zhen and Jin Yu opening the way, he wouldn’t be able to get out for a while.

Constable... Shen Yi...

Chu Ming retracted the Sword Gourd Spirit, memorizing the man’s appearance and features.

As long as he’s still in Xirong County, he won’t be able to escape, though it will definitely take a lot of time to find him.

Inside the cave, Meng Zhen and Jin Yu were working together to clear a path.

Outside, all the guards and miners sprang into action.

The collapse created by Shen Yi and Tie Zheng affected not only the Ren Pit but also caused large and small collapses throughout the entire area from Pit 1 to Pit 12.

The disaster was far more serious than originally planned.

Approximately half an hour later, a team in uniform and armed with weapons arrived at the mining site.

The Jingyan Guard, Martial Artists stationed at the mine by the West Glory County Inspectorate, with the weakest at the mid-stage Blood Circulation Realm and even some Strong Bone Realm Martial Artists.

At this moment, the face of Song Yan, the Salt Captain of the Jingyan Guard, was as dark as could be.

"Hurry up, get moving, dig, dig hard for me. If anything happens to the County Magistrate of Jingyan County or the County Magistrate, all constables and miners here today will be thrown into the dungeon!"

The miners, who had been slacking, were immediately terrified into feverishly digging at these words.

Song Yan wasn’t a member of the Zhou family, but he was an indirect relative of the Zhou family of Xirong County, and had far relations with County Magistrate Zhou Xun.

"Brother Xun, if you die, I’ll bury all these lowly miners with you in the pit!"

By noon, a large squad from the Jingyan County Criminal Defense Bureau arrived, with the Seventh-Grade Prison Chief Lv Dong personally participating in the rescue and excavation.

Lv Dong, the cousin of County Magistrate Lv Wen.

It was clear that the Jingyan County, with its Jingyan Mines, was actually under the control of a few major families in Xirong County.

"Lord Lv, what do you think, how much longer will it take to reach the pit?"

Song Yan, the Salt Captain of the Jingyan Guard, was impatient.

Lv Dong hurriedly bowed and replied, "Lord Song, this humble official believes it will take at most another quarter of an hour to reach the Ren Pit."

He was a mid-stage Strong Bone Realm Martial Artist, while Song Yan was a late-stage Strong Bone Realm Martial Artist, the Salt Captain of the Jingyan Guard, holding a position of Sixth Grade, even above the Prison Chief of the Criminal Defense Bureau.

"It’s been over half an hour since the collapse; I hope..." Song Yan’s voice was somewhat gloomy.

"Rest assured, my lord. During excavation, I observed that sounds occasionally come from below, suggesting that County Magistrate Lv and County Magistrate Zhou aren’t in grave danger."

"..."

The rescue continued.

A quarter of an hour later.

Suddenly, a ray of light shone through a small gap into the cave.

"It’s open," Meng Zhen said.

Jin Yu took a deep breath by the gap, then wiped the dust off his bald head and said, "Unlucky, really unlucky. The supposedly stable pit shouldn’t have collapsed!"

Before going down, he actually understood the situation inside the cave.

After a pause, he suddenly murmured to himself: "Once I get out, I will definitely find that miner!"

Clearly, Jin Yu suspected something.

Outside.

"We’ve reached it, we’ve reached it!" The miners participating in the excavation shouted.

Song Yan and Lv Dong rushed over upon hearing.

"County Magistrate Lv, County Magistrate Zhou, are you alright?" Lv Dong shouted through the narrow crack.

County Magistrate Lv? County Magistrate Zhou?

Below, Jin Yu curled his lips.

Your County Magistrate Lv is done for, and County Magistrate Zhou probably won’t last much longer either.

"It’s the voice of Prison Chief Lv..." A guard who had luckily survived was delighted upon hearing the voice from outside.

Apart from Chu Ming and the other two, there were eleven guards who had entered the cave with County Magistrate Lv Wen and County Magistrate Zhou Xun, of whom only two late-stage Blood Circulation Realm guards survived, seriously injured.

The two were rescued along with the rocks broken by Meng Zhen.

"Lord Lv, County Magistrate Zhou is pinned under a large boulder and needs urgent treatment..." one of the guards shouted through the crack to the outside.

County Magistrate Zhou Xun wasn’t dead, but the two guards and Meng Zhen attempted to move the boulder pressing on Zhou Xun several times without success, as there were more falling rocks behind it, blocking nearly all the visible space.

Meng Zhen could indeed smash the boulder, but he didn’t do so. Smashing it posed a certain risk to the life of the person trapped beneath, and he didn’t want to create more trouble.

```