A Compendium of One Hundred Demons: My Path to Immortality in a World of Demons and Monsters

The night was as dark as ink, but inside the Xiongnu camp, the blood-red light at the altar illuminated half the sky.

The dark red light pulsed incessantly, as if it were alive, and each rise and fall made the Qingyang defenders on the city wall feel uneasy.

Inside the clinic, Xu Yuan sat cross-legged, his Qi and blood, refined to the ninth level of Blood Refinement, surging like a river within his body.

But at this moment, his mind was not on improving his cultivation, but on the mysterious black iron piece in his hand.

"burial objects……"

Xu Yuan stroked the cool surface of the black iron sheet, his mind filled with countless thoughts.

He had tried various methods to explore the secrets of this black iron piece—blood recognition, warming with blood and qi, communicating with the soul, and even using the power of two great illustrated books, but all of them were like stones sinking into the sea.

Aside from occasionally heating up as a warning or at critical moments, the black iron plate showed no other reaction.

However, Xu Yuan's intuition told him that this black iron piece was no ordinary object.

The old ghost with golden eyes' apprehension and the shaman Guza's horror both indicate that this thing has an extraordinary origin.

"Perhaps, we should try a different approach..." Xu Yuan's eyes flickered as he recalled the records about the "Netherworld Palace" in the fragments of the Golden-Eyed Servant's memories.

The Underworld Palace, an ancient relic, is said to be the legacy of the Underworld True Lord!

Since this black iron piece is called a "funerary artifact," is it related to the underworld?

Xu Yuan held the black iron plate up to his eyes and examined it carefully by the candlelight.

The originally blurry patterns on the surface of the black iron plate seemed to become clearer after he broke through to the ninth level of Blood Refinement.

It was neither like runes nor writing; it was more like... a map?

Xu Yuan was shocked and quickly took out paper and pen to carefully trace the patterns on the black iron sheet.

The intersecting lines seem to vaguely outline the contours of mountains, rivers, and caves.

One of the cave markers was particularly conspicuous, and there was a tiny mark next to it—Xu Yuan actually recognized the location of that cave!

"It's an underground karst cave behind Black Wind Village..."

Xu Yuan's eyes gleamed. On the day he was suppressing bandits, he had chased Zhang Biao, the leader of the Black Wind Village bandits, into an underground cave.

Judging from the circumstances of Zhang Biao's escape at the time, he definitely wanted to escape from there and go to join the Xiongnu.

Therefore, this underground cave in the back mountain of Black Wind Village is very likely to lead directly to the rear of the Xiongnu, which is dozens of miles away!

Furthermore, the mountain spirit that suddenly appeared at that time, as well as the ancient relics that the Huns were searching for, all seemed to indicate that the underground cave was not simple.

After Xu Yuan managed to kill the mountain spirit by relying on the black iron piece, he didn't dare to linger and turned back.

Now it seems that this underground cave may be the key to breaking the deadlock!

"If the cave really leads to the rear of the Xiongnu..." Xu Yuan suddenly stood up and pushed open the door.

On the city wall of Qingyang County, Chen Hanchuan and Shen Qingyi were also awake, discussing the defense and deployment of the city.

Upon seeing Xu Yuan come up, the two exchanged a glance, both casting expectant looks at each other.

"Brother Xu, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"General Chen, Miss Shen, I have a plan that may break this deadlock," Xu Yuan said bluntly.

He then briefly recounted the story of the underground cave behind Black Wind Stronghold, but omitted the connection between the black iron pieces and the Netherworld, only saying that he discovered the secret passage when he was eliminating Zhang Biao.

Chen Hanchuan's eyes lit up after hearing this. He had also been present during the bandit suppression that day and naturally knew that Xu Yuan was not making baseless accusations. However, his eyes quickly dimmed again.

"Brother Xu, this plan is ingenious, but the risks are too great."

"Whether the underground caves truly lead to the Xiongnu's rear is still unknown. Even if they do, infiltrating alone would be like a lamb entering a tiger's den!"

Shen Qingyi also said worriedly, "The Xiongnu camp is heavily guarded, and that black-robed shaman is even more mysterious and unpredictable. Young Master Xu, you..."

"This is our last chance," Xu Yuan interrupted her. "The blood sacrifice is about to be completed, and we don't have time to wait for reinforcements. If we continue to sit and wait for death, the entire city's inhabitants will become sacrifices."

"Rather than waiting to die, it's better to fight for a chance to live."

He looked at the altar outside the city, its surface glowing with blood-red light, and said calmly, "Besides, I'm not entirely without confidence."

With his current cultivation level of the ninth level of Blood Refinement, coupled with the various attribute enhancements from the encyclopedia, he is now more confident in escaping from complex terrains.

Not to mention, he also had the mysterious trump card, the black iron plate, in his possession.

After a long silence, Chen Hanchuan finally gritted his teeth and agreed: "Okay! How many people do you need to cooperate?"

"No need." Xu Yuan slowly shook his head. "With the Xiongnu besieging the city, even if there are many people, they won't be able to get out. Instead, they will be more easily exposed. I alone am enough."

"General Chen only needs to defend the city well. If we succeed, the Xiongnu camp will be thrown into chaos, and we may be able to launch a coordinated attack at that time."

"But……"

"No buts." Xu Yuan's tone was firm. "Time is running out. I will set off immediately, and by midnight tomorrow at the latest, I will send out a signal regardless of whether it succeeds or not."

He then looked at Shen Qingyi: "Miss Shen, I entrust the city's formation to you. The power of the blood sacrifice mainly targets the soul, so please be sure to set up the relevant formations to protect the minds of the defending soldiers."

Shen Qingyi bit her lip, then nodded emphatically, "Young Master Xu... take care!"

"I will."

Xu Yuan said no more and turned to leave the city.

Instead of going through the city gate, he slipped out through a hidden gap in the southwest corner of the city wall, which had been breached during the Xiongnu's night raid a few days earlier and had not yet been fully repaired.

In the darkness, he disappeared into the night as silently as a raccoon dog.

His abilities of "Mountain Trekking" and "Concealing Breath" were maximized in the darkness, and the Xiongnu soldiers on night watch at the siege were completely unaware of his departure.

Xu Yuan precisely placed each step in the most concealed and effortless position, his figure like a ghost, quickly moving away from Qingyang County under the cover of night.

An hour later, he arrived at the foot of Black Wind Ridge.

Although Black Wind Stronghold has been destroyed, the buildings within it still exist.

Following the route in his memory, Xu Yuan quickly found the dry well in the backyard, which was the entrance to the hidden underground cave.

The dry well was hidden by dense vines, and would be difficult to find unless one knew in advance.

Xu Yuan pushed aside the vines, rolled down into the well, and was immediately greeted by a cold, damp atmosphere.

He lit a tinderbox he had prepared beforehand. In the firelight, the cave was filled with jagged rocks and stalactites hanging upside down like swords, giving it a rather solemn appearance.

Xu Yuan was in such a hurry when he chased Zhang Biao last time that he didn't pay attention to these details.

He immediately calmed his breathing and began to slowly venture deeper.

The cave winds its way through the cave, and the temperature gets lower and lower as you go deeper.

After walking about a hundred paces, a fork in the road appeared ahead.

There are still those three passages, each leading in a different direction.

When they were chasing Zhang Biao, the latter escaped into the rightmost passage.

But at this moment, Xu Yuan slowly stopped and took out a black iron piece from his pocket. It gleamed faintly in the darkness.

As Xu Yuan extended it one by one towards the three passages, the tiny mark on the black iron plate actually lit up with a faint light in the direction of the middle passage!