Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

The sensation was not like a demon's attack, but rather like something was happening inside the mountain.

It was as if the entire mountainside beneath our feet had been disturbed by something in a very deep and distant place.

Chen Zhuo felt a slight numbness on the stone surface beneath his feet.

The lingering effect of the "stone" character in the body is like ripples spreading out on the surface of water after a stone has been thrown in.

All conversations at the scene stopped simultaneously.

The shaking stopped shortly afterward.

Chen Zhuo walked out of the stone fortress and looked up at the mountain path.

In the darkness of the long night, a very faint blue light pattern slowly emerged on the surface of the mountain.

A faint, cool light emanated from the texture of the mountain itself.

It meanders in the darkness along the veins and rift valleys, like a river that has been dormant for many years slowly awakening.

The light patterns were extremely dim; if it weren't for the long night obscuring the entire sky in pure black, they would have been impossible to detect with the naked eye.

The resonance of the mountain did not stop.

The profound tremor continued, like someone plucking the same string from a great distance.

Then two figures appeared almost simultaneously on the ridge outside the stone fortress.

Song Zhiyuan landed without a trace of worldly concern. The moment his toes touched the rocks, Chen Zhuo felt the "stone" character in his body suddenly jump.

Clearly, his master had a deep understanding of the character "stone".

The Stone Character Technique is the easiest defensive technique to learn in the Landscape School.

It was practically a must-have for every landscape-style literati.

Zhou Wenyuan lagged half a step behind, and the phantom image of the county magistrate's seal flashed past him.

His robe had several ripped marks from demons, but he showed no signs of fatigue, and his eyes shone brightly.

The two walked into the stone fortress side by side, turning their heads to look at the still spreading blue light pattern.

Song Zhiyuan's voice was very low, as if he were talking to himself: "The intersection of the mineral vein fault zones is highly consistent."

Zhou Wenyuan glanced at him, his lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

Then came a series of footsteps outside the stone gate, hurried and arrhythmic, like someone staggering as they ran.

Chen Zhuo turned around and saw a dog-headed, human-bodied creature stumbling into the stone fortress.

As soon as he entered, all eyes in the stone fortress turned to him.

At this moment, a demon clan member actually came to get involved!

The demon with a dog's head and a human body suddenly grinned and let out a strange smile.

A demon with a dog's head and a human body stood at the entrance of the stone fortress, grinning with a strange smile.

The soldiers of the Green Mountain Army inside the stone fortress simultaneously gripped their weapons, and several young scholars subconsciously took a half-step back.

Chen Zhuo sensed that aura emanating from the kobold.

A heavier, colder sense of oppression came straight at me, as if an invisible hand was slowly tightening its grip on the surrounding air.

Zhou Wenyuan and Song Zhiyuan both looked at him with serious expressions.

This is at least a powerful demon at the Core Formation stage!

The Core Formation Realm corresponds to Sequence Seven, which is one rank higher than Song Zhiyuan and Zhou Wenyuan.

Then a cat's head phantom materialized in the air.

In the ensuing silence, the kobold spoke first.

The voice was neither male nor female, like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing against each other.

"Is the way Qingshan County treats its guests to stand at the door in the cold wind?"

She raised the kobold's paw and pointed to the slowly spreading blue light pattern on the stone fortress wall.

"I discovered this thing first. You humans have been mining here for over a decade and don't even know what's buried underground."

Now I've laid the lid on things for you. Scholar Song, Magistrate Zhou, you won't even offer me a cup of tea?

Song Zhiyuan remained silent.

He turned around, facing the kobold, with his back to the blue light.

The mountain wind lifted the corner of his robe, and he gently pressed it down.

"Your projection here using the body of the kobold means that your true body is not far from Qingshan County."

Article 3, Section 7 of the Human-Demon Peace Agreement stipulates that demons at the Core Formation Realm and above are not allowed to enter human county towns and within fifty miles of them in any form without the joint permission of the local human academy and county government.

Those who violate this rule will be subject to the Human Race's right to initiate a Cultural Expulsion Order.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was as clear as if it were written on paper.

The dog-headed man tilted his head.

"Song, you have a good memory, but unfortunately you forgot one exception: if it involves the discovery and protection of ancient relics, both parties should negotiate and jointly handle the matter on the premise of ensuring safety."

"Isn't this a supplementary agreement that your Great Zhou Academy of Literature and the Demon Clan's Hall of Ten Thousand Demons jointly signed after the Second Human-Demon War?"

She paused for a moment, and seemed to smile slightly.

"I'm here to deal with the ruins, not to fight. If it really comes down to a fight, the two of you combined wouldn't be a match for me."

Upon hearing this, Song Zhiyuan remained silent.

Zhou Wenyuan spoke with a livid expression.

"So you've been operating the Gongyuanbang right under my nose! Duan Feng and Long Shen have been helping you collect mining records of abnormal ore and monitoring data on signs of relic spillover."

Taki even took advantage of his gang's operations to disguise the unusual minerals as ordinary gambling stones and distribute them among the people, hoping to divert the imperial court's attention from the Qingshan mine.

He thought he was doing something for you, but you were actually just waiting for him to help you confirm the exact coordinates of the entrance to the ruins.

Now that the ruins have been triggered, he's no longer of any use.

Elvis chuckled twice.

"As expected of the county magistrate, you're only realizing this now? Everyone thinks the Gongyuan Gang is under your leadership, but you've paid far too little attention to them."

Zhou Wenyuan's face remained expressionless.

"Now that Duan Feng has been captured, the mineral vein data and city gate records are all in my hands."

Elvis was silent for a moment, then tilted his head and turned to Song Zhiyuan.

"Scholar Song, you have been pursuing this historical site for eleven years."

From being rendered speechless by questions at the Imperial Academy of Shengtianfu, to poring over every page of the county annals at the Qingshan County Academy, to now, deep within the mountains beneath your feet lies evidence powerful enough to shake the entire literary and academic world of Dongshi.

Without me, you could only look at the light patterns outside today.

The core of the seal on the ruins is an ancient demon clan secret technique. If you humans want to break it, you will need at least half a year to reverse-engineer it.

Six months later, the Long Night had long since receded. Without the support of the Long Night's concentration, the entrance to the ruins would automatically seal itself. No one could predict the conditions for its next activation; it might take another half a thousand years.

Song Zhiyuan remained silent, and he did not ask how the Demon King knew this information.

He couldn't comprehend the power of the Core Formation Realm.

After Elvis finished speaking, he turned to Zhou Wenyuan.

"Magistrate Zhou, you need to achieve results."

The ruins not only contain ancient writing, but also a complete ancient energy supply system.

If this system can be restored in reverse, the Zhengqi Grand Array in Qingshan County will no longer require rotating literati to guard it during the long night.

The energy tower operates automatically, increasing the shield's strength several times over. Even the Shengtian Prefecture has to send people to learn from you.

Song Zhiyuan tucked his hand into his sleeve, shifted his gaze from the blue pattern, and stared intently at her.

What do you want?

"The Pages of Heaven and Earth!"