One of my fairy-like friends

Therefore, the highest level of cultivators who come here to mine is only at the Divine Palace level. However, even those at the Divine Palace level rarely come here. Generally speaking, those who can cultivate to the Divine Palace level are considered to have good qualifications. Who would come here to mine?

The Central Abyss is located in the middle of the four continents, and the closer one gets to the Central Abyss, the thinner the spiritual energy becomes. It is difficult for the Dao and the Law to operate here. The ground near the Central Abyss is not particularly hard, perhaps because it has been close to the abyss for a long time. It cannot be broken by the Dao and the Law. It seems to devour the Dao and the Law. One can only mine with physical strength unless one's cultivation is extremely high. However, even with high cultivation, one will be affected by the Central Abyss. Of course, if one is a human king who is close to the extreme Dao, or an emperor who is at the extreme Dao, one can ignore these problems and is not restricted.

Therefore, mining in these places is quite arduous, which restricts cultivators from approaching the area above Shenque, while those going down can only use brute force to mine the ore.

Unfortunately, on Yaoguang Star, only the area near the central abyss has the richest and most abundant minerals. In other places, it is very difficult to find such large-scale mineral veins.

If it weren't for the existence of the central abyss, the mineral veins in these places would probably have been completely looted by cultivators from the Human Realm long ago...

These cultivators, who are at the peak of cultivation, can move mountains and fill seas with a wave of their hands. When it comes to mining, they are much faster than these cultivators.

Unfortunately, they cannot get close.

“This is the place.” Huang Feiyan stopped and stood in front of a mine.

Mingyan also stopped and looked around. This mine was far from the surrounding mines, and he could not see anyone else or any signs of human activity.

Huang Feiyan extended her divine sense, then frowned, "Nobody's here..."

After the incident involving this batch of ore, the person in charge of the Huang family in Zhongjing City naturally investigated it. At that time, a miner returned to Zhongjing City to report the discovery, then went back to the mine, and then... nothing happened.

Because this mining area was sold by the Holy Yuan Dynasty to various holy land families, the Holy Yuan Dynasty does not govern this area. It is managed by the holy land families themselves. After the person in charge of the Huang family investigated with the help of magic, he found that apart from the miner who tipped them off, the remaining miners were still in the mine.

But that was a month ago; for a whole month, no one came out of the mine.

That's rather strange.

Even cultivators should not stay in the mine for too long. There are a lot of toxic gases in the mine, and staying in the mine for a long time will cause all sorts of problems for cultivators. Generally speaking, they should leave the mine after a maximum of seven days to recover before entering it again.

However, no one left for an entire month.

Chapter 142 Late

Mingyan stood at the entrance of the mine and felt a very slight breeze coming out of the cave. He frowned and told Huang Feiyan about his discovery.

"The wind indicates that there are other exits in this mine." Huang Feiyan had learned about this mine before coming. It was a natural mine, but not very deep. It was only recently discovered that it contained some very rare minerals, so excavation began.

Moreover, based on the previous exploration of the mine, the structure of the mine was very simple, with only one exit in front of them. The mine tunnel was curved and sloped downwards, with no other exits.

In other words, if there are other exits, they are likely either previously undiscovered or discovered during subsequent excavations.

“So, it’s possible those miners left through another exit…” Huang Feiyan thought for a moment, then looked at Mingyan, “What do you think? Should we go in?”

The Huang family wasn't particularly concerned about this batch of ore; it was just a drop in the ocean compared to their inventory. However, the miners in these mines were, after all, hired by the Huang family. Their disappearance was a matter of utmost importance—they had to be found alive or dead. Furthermore, the truth had to be thoroughly investigated, and compensation and accountability had to be pursued where appropriate.

Mingyan nodded, and the two of them stepped into the mine together.

The mine was somewhat damp, which differed from the description Huang Feiyan had seen earlier. According to the description, the mine should have been very dry.

Mingyan extended his divine sense, only to find that the distance it could travel was greatly reduced, making it impossible to probe very far.

Divine senses were useless; the line of sight was very short in this winding mine tunnel, so Mingyan paid extra attention to the direction of the wind.

The two did not move very fast, nor did they rush forward recklessly, but moved slowly forward.

Mingyan suddenly stopped. He smelled a faint scent of blood, frowned, and looked at Huang Feiyan beside him. "Feiyan, there's a smell of blood in here."

A breeze blew out of the mine, carrying a faint smell of blood, barely perceptible, along with a slight stench of decay.

Huang Feiyan frowned. "I hope it wasn't something that happened to the miners. Let's move on."

Both of them quickened their pace. Although they already had some guesses in their hearts, they might still be able to catch up if there were any survivors.

These crystals were placed on the walls on both sides of the mine tunnel, illuminating the mine shaft.

The deeper Mingyan went into the mine, the damper it became. He could even faintly hear the sound of water dripping onto the stone surface. Moreover, the deeper he went, the stronger the smell of blood and decay became.

The two continued forward until they came to a fork in the road. Huang Feiyan looked at Ming Yan, knowing that he would have a solution.

Mingyan stood at the fork in the road, carefully sensing the direction of the wind. The smell of blood and the stench of decay both came from the same direction. Mingyan quickly determined the direction and led Huang Feiyan toward the left passage.

Before long, several corpses appeared in front of Mingyan and Huang Feiyan. They were in different positions and fell in three different directions.

Huang Feiyan frowned, her heart sinking. She quickly approached and saw the other person's clothing and waist tag. She sighed, "It seems we're still too late."

"Are they the miners from the Huang family?"

"Yes, they are all miners hired by the Huang family." Huang Feiyan checked the others and nodded slightly. "However, there are only a few corpses here; there should be more than a dozen miners..."

Huang Feiyan felt there was still hope. Perhaps there were still people alive. If there were survivors, they would soon discover the truth.

Mingyan crouched down and examined the corpses. He found no obvious external injuries. He then used his spiritual energy to investigate and discovered that the hearts of the corpses were damaged to varying degrees. Judging from the terrified expressions on their faces, they must have seen something frightening before they died.

"They seem to have been scared to death." Huang Feiyan also noticed the common characteristics of these corpses. Their eyes were wide open, their mouths were agape, their bodies were already stiff, and their expressions were frozen.

Mingyan withdrew his spiritual energy and was about to suggest continuing forward when he suddenly turned around and looked behind him with a surprised expression.

"What's wrong?" Upon seeing this, Huang Feiyan immediately leaned against Mingyan, looking around warily and extending her divine sense so that she could sense anything that wanted to attack her immediately.

“Someone was watching us from not far behind us just now.” Ming Yan stood up, extremely alert. He had been sharp-eyed and sharp-eared since childhood, and after becoming a cultivator, his divine sense became even more sensitive. Just now, he vaguely sensed something behind him, and when he turned around, he did see a white hem.

"..." Huang Feiyan didn't think Mingyan was joking. She leaned against Mingyan and looked around warily. "Did you see something?"

"I saw a glimpse of white clothing when I turned my head just now." Ming Yan frowned. From the moment he stepped into this wasteland, Ming Yan felt that the yin energy here was extremely strong, and this feeling became even stronger after entering the mine.

The strong yin energy and the scarcity of human habitation, coupled with the lack of human presence and the suppression of yang energy, will give rise to ghosts. Could the thing that was following them just now be some kind of ghost?

"Let's leave here first, don't rush forward." Huang Feiyan made the decision. Although the two of them were quite strong, there was no need to go too far at this time. They should also call Yue Qingying and Ning Feixuan. The two of them had already broken through to the Divine Palace and were the strongest beings that this area near the Central Abyss could tolerate.

Mingyan nodded. If there were ghosts here, continuing forward without knowing their strength would be too risky. The two of them were here to investigate the miners' whereabouts; there was no need to...

"Is anyone there? Did I just hear someone talking? Is someone trying to save me?"

Mingyan and Huang Feiyan, who had originally planned to leave, exchanged a glance and tacitly abandoned their idea of ​​leaving, immediately rushing towards the direction from which the sound came.

Since someone is alive, the two of them naturally cannot just leave like this.

Mingyan wouldn't allow himself to do that, and as far as Huang Feiyan was concerned, these miners were hired by the Huang family, so she should also be responsible for them. Therefore, the two of them quickly moved forward and soon arrived at the place where the sound came from.

"The yin energy is so strong..." Huang Feiyan frowned. The intense yin energy was making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Not to mention Huang Feiyan, even Ming Yan felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Soon, their steps were blocked by a stone wall. Huang Feiyan and Ming Yan both frowned. The scene here... was truly a pitiful sight.

There are two half-bodies outside the stone gate.

Why two and a half? Because besides the two corpses outside the stone gate, there was another corpse trapped underneath, pressed down by the stone gate from above. Its torso had entered the gate, but its legs were still on the other side. The blood around it had already dried, indicating it had most likely been severed at the waist by the stone gate...

The two corpses outside the door, like the others, had no obvious external injuries and seemed to have been scared to death.

"Has someone arrived?" A man's voice came from inside the stone gate again. Huang Feiyan walked up to him. "Are you a miner hired by the Huang family?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The voice inside the stone gate was overjoyed upon hearing this. "Who...who are you?"

"I am from the Huang family." Huang Feiyan asked, "What's your name?"

"My name is Li Donglin!" the voice from inside the stone gate said hurriedly. "I'm trapped inside. Can you rescue me?"

Li Donglin... Huang Feiyan had seen this name on the missing persons list. She continued to ask, "Are you the only one in there?"

"Um... everyone else is dead..."

Ming Yan was carefully observing his surroundings. He felt something was off. Although the corpses were already rotting, they didn't have a strong smell of blood. Where was the blood smell coming from?

Mingyan looked at the corpse under the stone gate. There were obvious bloodstains near the corpse. Did he come from there?

A corpse, yet it has such a strong smell of blood... Strange.

Huang Feiyan tried to lift the stone door, but it was too heavy. She lifted it a little bit and had to put it down. She looked at Ming Yan and said, "You do it."

Mingyan nodded, walked to the stone door, grabbed the edge of the stone door with both hands, and lifted it up with force.

The stone gate was extremely heavy. Although Huang Feiyan was a Qi Sea Realm cultivator, the materials in these mines had been eroded by the central abyss for a long time, so the Dao and Dharma were useless to her, and she could only use brute force.

Brute force is not Huang Feiyan's forte, but for Ming Yan, strength is a strength of the Human King Physique.

So it didn't take much effort for Mingyan to lift the stone door.

However, the scene inside made Huang Feiyan and Ming Yan feel nauseous...

Chapter 143 Jade Peony

Inside the stone gate lies a ruin, with several stone pillars supporting it, carved with various auspicious beasts. Some of the pillars are broken and have fallen to the side.

Between the stone pillars, you can also see some colorful minerals piled up here.

At the center of the ruins, there was a stone coffin, and the stone chamber was opened a little, revealing a crack.

Mingyan's expression changed slightly. He sensed the source of the wind, which was blowing from inside the stone pavilion.

These were certainly not the reasons why Mingyan and Huang Feiyan felt nauseous.

There were more than a dozen corpses lying in the ruins, none of them intact. They were all torn to pieces, so badly fragmented that it was impossible to piece them together into a complete body.

Huang Feiyan looked around but didn't see anyone else. Her expression changed slightly. The two of them had clearly heard someone calling for help and had spoken to her through the stone door, but after opening the stone door, there was no one there.

Huang Feiyan looked at the stone chamber and felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly said, "Mingyan, we need to get out of here right now! Something's wrong!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Mingyan felt a chill on his neck. He tensed up and instantly summoned the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow to block his neck. He heard a piercing metallic scraping sound and felt a wetness on his neck. He quickly stepped back and touched his neck. His skin was scratched, but it was not serious.

Mingyan looked surprised and suspicious. He hadn't seen or sensed anything; he had just been attacked without warning.

Without Mingyan's support, the stone gate quickly collapsed, causing the mine shaft to shake.

Huang Feiyan quickly approached Mingyan. She clearly hadn't seen anything, yet Mingyan had been attacked. She said, "We need to get out of here quickly, something's wrong!"

Mingyan nodded, put away the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow, and turned around to find a strange woman wearing a veil standing behind them, as silent as a ghost.

Huang Feiyan was startled, and immediately a feather sword appeared in her hand. She drew the sword and pointed it at the unfamiliar woman. She couldn't sense the other woman's strength, but she was probably more powerful than her.

"Don't rush to make a move. I'm not a ghost." The stranger's voice was gentle as she smiled. "Besides, leaving that coffin open isn't a good thing. It's fine if we leave the mine, but if anyone enters the mine later, they'll probably be killed by that ghost again."

Ming Yan frowned. The unfamiliar woman was wearing a cherry-white gradient dress, with a cherry-red upper body that gradually transitioned from cherry-red to white below the waist.

Mingyan frowned at the hem of the skirt. "You've been following us? I noticed someone was behind us earlier? It was you, wasn't it?"

The stranger smiled slightly, "I've been observing you ever since you left Zhongjing City."

Huang Feiyan frowned. "Who are you? Why are you following us?"

The unfamiliar woman's face was covered by a veil, revealing only her fair forehead and a pair of peculiar cherry-colored eyes. She smiled and said, "I'm just curious about the person next to you. As for me, I'm nothing but a nobody."

"Your cultivation has reached the Divine Realm, hasn't it?" Ming Yan asked, frowning as he looked at the unfamiliar woman. He couldn't sense her cultivation level, but it was definitely higher than his. Ming Yan could feel an extremely powerful aura emanating from her.