Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

"Li, why are you only eating a few bites? This is good food, eat more so you don't catch a cold from the mountain wind at night."

Seeing that Li Changqing hadn't touched the meat in his bowl, Zhao Laolang warmly urged him to eat more.

"Thank you for your trouble, sir. My stomach is weak, and I can't digest such a nourishing food if I eat too much of it."

Li Changqing smiled gently and placed the bowl aside.

He looked up at the sky.

There is no moon tonight; thick clouds obscure the starlight, and Wolong Ridge is shrouded in deep darkness.

In the distant military camp, the torches of the patrolling soldiers resembled a long, fiery dragon, moving back and forth along the mountainside.

"Master, there are many accounts to settle today. I'll go to the tent to sort them out first. Please enjoy your meal."

Li Changqing stood up, patted his blue robe, and turned to walk into his small, single-person tent at the back.

A dim oil lamp was lit inside the tent.

Li Changqing did not look through the account book.

He sat upright on the ground, listening to the shouts of the men outside the tent gradually fade into heavy snoring.

As midnight approached, the entire camp fell into the deepest stillness, with only the occasional crackling sound of firewood popping from the campfire.

Li Changqing slowly opened his eyes.

He did not blow out the oil lamp, but instead tucked the Xiangfei bamboo folding fan into his waistband.

Get up and take a step.

The heavy tent flap swayed slightly, revealing that the tent was now empty.

Outside the camp, two Shenji Battalion sentries, armed with muskets, were straining to keep their eyes on the dark forest.

A strange gust of wind...

The sentry on the left suddenly felt a gentle breeze brush against his face. He rubbed his eyes, raised his musket warily, and looked around.

"There's no wind at all. I think you're just tired from traveling these past few days."

The sentry on the right yawned and patted his companion on the shoulder.

They were completely unaware that in that brief moment, a figure in a green robe had strolled leisurely through the gap between them, silently crossing the heavily fortified defenses of the Ming army camp.

The "shrinking the earth to an inch" technique, a mysterious footwork that had long been ingrained in Li Changqing's instincts, was displayed in this dark mountain forest, truly achieving the feat of walking on snow without leaving a trace and shrinking a thousand mountains into a single step.

Before long, Li Changqing arrived once again in front of the huge cave that Wang Shouren had ordered to be sealed off during the day.

The entrance to the cave was heavily guarded, and several crouching cannons were set up on the main road.

Li Changqing did not disturb these dutiful soldiers.

His figure swayed slightly, and he seemed to merge into the dense spiritual mist, passing directly through one side of the rock wall.

Upon entering the cave, the pure spiritual energy rushed towards you as if it were a tangible substance.

The cave is extremely spacious, with large and small spirit stones embedded in the rock walls. They emit a faint glow in the darkness, making the underground passage appear like a dreamlike, bizarre and fantastical place.

Li Changqing followed the winding passage deeper into the earth.

Along the way, he saw the markings and excavation traces left by the engineering battalion during the day.

The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were very methodical. They did not recklessly destroy the vein of the mine for the sake of the precious stones in front of them. Instead, they used wooden stakes and iron chains to build simple walkways in dangerous areas.

"These craftsmen understand the importance of long-term, sustainable development more than the disciples of those cultivation sects."

Li Changqing silently praised him and continued on his way.

The deeper one goes, the wider the passage becomes, and the denser the spiritual energy becomes. It even condenses into drops of spiritual liquid on the stone walls, dripping into puddles on the ground with a crisp echo.

They traveled down for about several dozen miles.

Suddenly, the view opened up before them, revealing an enormous underground cavern.

In the center of the cave is an underground lake, hundreds of feet in diameter.

The lake water was a deep, dark blue, so calm that there wasn't a ripple.

In the very center of that lake stands a solitary white jade platform.

The stone platform is covered with intricate and ancient array patterns.

These patterns, weathered by time, are somewhat incomplete, but the subtle Taoist aura still stubbornly flows on.

Li Changqing stopped by the lake.

He looked at the white jade platform, a look of realization flashing in his eyes.

"It turns out to be the remains of an ancient teleportation array."

He opened his folding fan, the fan surface swaying gently in front of his chest.

No wonder this new continent, separated from the Central Plains by thousands of miles, still bears traces of Taoism.

It seems that in a very distant era, long before the Qin and Han dynasties, there once existed a glorious era of cultivation in this world.

At that time, cultivators could use such teleportation arrays to cross oceans and even star systems.

However, later, due to some unknown calamity, those powerful beings perished or departed, and the spiritual energy in the world gradually dried up.

Only these dilapidated ruins remain, silently recounting the glory of the past in the depths of this desolate underground.

Li Changqing lightly touched the ground with his toes, his body gliding across the wide lake like a falling leaf, landing steadily on the white jade platform.

In the center of the stone platform, a long-weathered skeleton sat cross-legged.

The skeleton was draped in a tattered Taoist robe, made of an extremely ancient material that was neither silk nor hemp.

The skeletal hands were clasped together at the dantian, and between the finger bones, a dull jade slip was loosely held.

Li Changqing looked at the skeleton and sighed softly.

"Death and the dissipation of one's spirit ultimately cannot withstand the long river of time. You may have once possessed the power to move mountains and fill seas, yet you can only grow old alone in this secluded cave. The courage of one person is ultimately no match for the changing tides of the world."

He reached out and slashed in mid-air.

The dull jade slip landed steadily in his palm.

When divine sense probed into it, the information recorded in the jade slip was fragmented and chaotic.

It is likely that an ancient cultivator escaped here via a teleportation array while fleeing some kind of great calamity.

However, they discovered that the formation was damaged in one direction and could no longer return to its homeland.

He attempted to rebuild his sect on this new continent, but due to the dramatic changes in the laws of heaven and earth and the invasion of those wild and ferocious beasts from the surrounding areas, he eventually exhausted his energy and passed away here.

This jade slip did not record any earth-shattering, peerless martial arts techniques, but only left behind a fragment called the "Gathering Earth and Returning to Origin Formation," as well as a few words of advice for future generations.

"The path of cultivation is defying the heavens. Without a foundation built over countless lifetimes, it is ultimately futile..."

Li Changqing looked at the proverb and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Senior sees things very clearly. Without a foundation for countless generations, a few spirit stones and a few secret manuals are indeed not enough to achieve great things."

He put the jade slip into his sleeve.

Although this "Gathering Earth and Returning to Origin Formation" is an incomplete piece, if it were given to the master craftsmen of the Imperial Observatory for further study and improvement, it could be of great use in strengthening the defenses of the Ming Dynasty's cities or inscribing it on the armor of warships.

Li Changqing turned to leave, but his gaze lingered on a groove on the edge of the stone platform.

Embedded in the groove was a fist-sized, bright red crystal.

Inside the crystal, a faint flame flickered, emanating an extremely dangerous and violent aura of destruction.

This is a "deadly fire bomb" left over from ancient times.

Judging from the location of the arrangement, it should be the last killing trap that this ancient cultivator laid out before his death, a trap to perish together with his opponent.

If anyone attempts to forcibly dismantle this white jade platform, the fire and lightning will be triggered, instantly blasting the entire underground cavern to smithereens.

"This old object is incredibly powerful. If Wang Shouren's clumsy sappers had dug it up, tens of thousands of soldiers would probably have perished underground."

Li Changqing shook his head.

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty should have died on the battlefield of conquering new territories, not in such pointless ancient traps.