Chapter 77: The Rock Crevice

Wu Yuan tilted his chin up slightly, pointing a claw toward the massive subterranean boulder looming in the darkness.

“I need a path connecting directly to that rock,” he commanded, his voice echoing in the tunnel. “Specifically, to the crevice running through it. That fissure is of critical strategic importance.”

In truth, Wu Yuan had been harboring a flicker of hope. He had theorized that the crevice might contain a vein of Earth Fire. If he could tap into geothermal fire here, he could transition from crude forging to true weapon refining—far more efficient than processing Spirit Bamboo.

But reality, as usual, enjoyed crushing his dreams. The boulder wasn’t a shell housing fire; it was a solid, monolithic protrusion of the deep bedrock. It was seamless, dense, and utterly massive. He had already sent rat squads to dig for Earth Fire nearby, but they had returned empty-pawed.

Another master plan shattered, Wu Yuan thought with a dry sigh. Looks like I’m stuck with cold forging for now.

He shook off the disappointment and turned back to the Pangolin. “When you open the passage, precision is key. Do not disturb the Purple Jade vein’s structure, and under no circumstances are you to damage the Ore Mother nearby.”

“First, we locate the Ore Mother,” Wu Yuan emphasized, raising a finger. “That is the supreme priority.”

“And the roots!” Little Yellow piped up, bouncing on his hind legs. “Don’t break the bamboo roots inside the jade! I think they help the tasty bamboo grow!”

Wu Yuan nodded. That was exactly why he had brought the gluttonous hamster along. Little Yellow’s familiarity with the bamboo forest’s ecosystem was a useful, if noisy, asset.

The Pangolin listened obediently. It squeezed its eyes shut, silencing its breathing to focus on the vibrations of the earth. A moment later, its long tongue flicked out, shimmering with a faint yellow spiritual light.

It opened its beady eyes. “Boss… me feel it. Earth Qi strongest there. That place… crevice place.”

“Good.” Wu Yuan’s eyes gleamed. “Can you open a path to the interior?”

The Pangolin didn’t waste breath on words. It simply turned and began to move. Its massive, armored body seemed to liquefy, twisting and weaving through the solid earth with the grace of a fish in water. It didn’t just dig; it phased through the soil, instinctively sensing the path of least resistance. Whenever a chunk of raw Purple Jade blocked the way, the beast found the thinnest point to breach, minimizing waste.

Wu Yuan followed close behind, marveling at the technique. For two hours, they navigated the subterranean maze, diving deeper until the Pangolin finally halted before a natural cavern.

Wu Yuan stepped forward and caught his breath.

The cave was a geode of immense proportions. The walls were lined with layers of high-quality, crystal-clear Purple Jade, transforming the cavern into a palace of violet light. The air was thick with purple Qi, so dense it felt like walking through mist. Even the surrounding granite had been stained a deep lavender by centuries of spiritual saturation.

But amidst the beauty lay a grim history.

Embedded deep within the translucent jade were the frozen bodies of ancient rat demons. Their faces were twisted in masks of terror, their claws outstretched as if trying to claw their way out. They were trapped like prehistoric insects in amber, preserved for eternity in their moment of death.

Wu Yuan’s gaze swept past the graveyard of his predecessors. His enhanced vision locked onto a faint, dark crimson flicker buried deep within the crystal formations—the original rock crevice.

“We’re in the right spot,” Wu Yuan murmured. “The highest quality jade always forms closest to the source. The Ore Mother must be near that red glimmer.”

The Pangolin raised a claw, ready to start excavating to pinpoint the Ore Mother’s exact coordinates.

“Hold on.” Wu Yuan stopped him.

He turned his gaze to Little Yellow. The hamster was currently preening in front of a smooth slab of Purple Jade, making faces at his own reflection and ignoring the serious archaeological work entirely.

Sensing the weight of a stare, Little Yellow turned around, blinking innocently. “Boss? Why you look at me? I dig slow, you know!”

“Oh, you don’t need to dig,” Wu Yuan said, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “But your contribution is still required.”

“Eh?”

Before the hamster could flee, Wu Yuan snatched him up.

“Prepare for deployment!” Wu Yuan announced. With a flick of his wrist, he spun Little Yellow like a top.

“Whoaaaaaa!”

The hamster became a yellow blur. After a few seconds of high-velocity rotation, Wu Yuan set him down. Little Yellow, completely disoriented, curled into a ball and rolled haphazardly across the cavern floor.

“So many stars…” Little Yellow mumbled, stumbling drunkenly. “Pretty… Boss, again! Wheee!”

Thud.

He slammed headfirst into a cluster of Purple Jade.

Little Yellow flopped onto his belly, butt in the air, and began pawing deliriously at the jade in front of him. “Stars are hiding in here! Come out, stars!”

Wu Yuan watched intently. His own spiritual sense couldn’t penetrate the dense energy of the jade, but he had noticed a pattern: Little Yellow, despite being a demon with cultivation, had a physiological equilibrium that was easily exploited. And wherever he crashed, there was usually something interesting.

It was a completely nonsensical method born of a spur-of-the-moment whim.

Shocking wisdom, Wu Yuan congratulated himself. I have turned a dizzy hamster into a divining rod.

The Pangolin lumbered over to where Little Yellow had crashed. It took a tentative bite of the Purple Jade, crunched down, and paused.

“Boss…” The Pangolin looked up, eyes wide. “Sweet. This jade sweet. Ore Mother… is here.”

Wu Yuan stepped forward, examining the rock face closely. “Indeed. Look at the striations. The spiritual patterns here are radial, exploding outward. Everywhere else, they just meander. This is the epicenter.”

The Pangolin looked at Wu Yuan with sheer reverence. “Boss… you too smart. Big brain.”

Wu Yuan chuckled, glancing at the hamster who was still giggling at the floor. “Don’t praise me. Praise Little Yellow. I simply used the result to deduce the process.”

Hearing his name, Little Yellow snapped out of his daze. He placed his paws on his hips, puffing out his small chest.

“I knew it!” He admired his reflection in the jade. “How can there be such an amazing hamster? Truly, I am the Boss’s most capable general!”

Wu Yuan shook his head, suppressing a laugh. He turned back to the Pangolin. “The Ore Mother is far enough from the crevice itself. We can excavate the passage without risking the source.”

The Pangolin nodded and went to work. With delicate precision, it shaved away the outer layers of Purple Jade blocking the crevice.

As the final layer fell away, both beasts held their breath.

The interior of the crevice wasn’t empty. It was filled with a thick, jelly-like substance glowing with a soft, ethereal light.

Purple Jade Marrow.

The earth energy radiating from it was staggering.

Fascinating, Wu Yuan thought, his mind racing with geological theories. Does the formation of Marrow require extreme heat and pressure? Or perhaps… He eyed the narrow confines of the rock. Perhaps it requires a natural sealing formation. A forbidding environment.

“Make a note of this environment,” he muttered to himself. “We may need to replicate it.”

Just then, a commotion echoed from the tunnel entrance. Big Old Black waddled into the cavern, his round belly swaying, leading a squad of energetic rat miners.

“About time,” Wu Yuan barked. “Get to work! Extract the Purple Jade Marrow inside the crevice. And be gentle! I want it in pristine condition.”

The Marrow wasn’t a solid block; it was interspersed with raw jade, creating a complex lattice that required surgical extraction. Wu Yuan watched with satisfaction. This was the joy of high-end resource extraction.

However, a logistical issue quickly arose. The crevice was barely half a meter wide.

Wu Yuan was too large. The Pangolin was a tank. Neither could fit.

“Big Old Black,” Wu Yuan said, gesturing to the tiny crack. “You’re up.”

The black rat looked at the narrow gap, then at his own ample girth. He gulped.

“For the glory of the Boss,” Wu Yuan encouraged.

Big Old Black gritted his teeth and shoved himself into the fissure. It was a tight squeeze. He sucked in his gut, scraping against sharp, jade-encrusted rocks that tore at his fur.

“Squeak!” Big Old Black winced, his face contorted in pain as he channeled all his might just to inch forward.

The rock here was unusually hard, resistant even to the Pangolin’s Earth Walk, and it dampened spiritual senses. It was brutal, manual labor.

Wu Yuan watched the struggle calmly.

Big Old Black clawed his way deeper, clearing out the precious Marrow bit by bit. As the tunnel deepened, something shifted in the darkness.

Wu Yuan’s eyes suddenly narrowed.