At the forefront stood none other than Sun Wu, the head yamen runner of Lengshan County.
“Captain Sun… are we really going to be fine doing this?”
“Exactly. The County Magistrate has repeatedly ordered that the mines are strictly forbidden grounds.”
Hearing the timid murmurs around him, Sun Wu immediately snapped in a cold voice, “What nonsense about forbidden grounds? Over the years, how many of us Lengshan folk have secretly gone in to scavenge ore? Have you ever seen any punishment handed down?”
“Today is the first day of the new year. The constables guarding the mine entrance have all gone home to rest. This is our once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
Someone beside him asked hesitantly, “Then… are there really still fresh Lengshan Grass sprouts down there?”
“Who knows? We can only treat a dead horse as if it were alive,” Sun Wu sighed. “The weather has turned colder recently. There should be some to find. But if we still come up empty…”
“Next year, I’m afraid we won’t be able to answer to the court.”
The moment those words fell, the crowd instantly fell into unrest.
“It can’t be that bad, right?”
“Yeah, didn’t the County Magistrate say he would report to the court and request a reduction?”
Sun Wu let out a cold laugh and shook his head, too lazy to expose that paper-thin lie.
Without another word, he plunged headfirst into the dark mine.
The laborers behind him gritted their teeth and, like moths to a flame, filed in one after another.
Among the crowd, a few sharp-minded individuals rolled their eyes, then quickly turned back toward the city to call for more people.
Gradually, the illegal mining party grew larger and larger, like a snowball rolling downhill.
An ominous, unseen shadow of calamity began to quietly gather over the skies of Lengshan County.
The constables who remained behind had already sensed the undercurrent of unrest within the city. Yet with the County Magistrate, Deputy Magistrate, and County Commandant all missing at the same time, they found themselves at a complete loss.
They could only watch helplessly as events spiraled out of control.
Li Shun naturally noticed that something was wrong.
His expression turned grave as he immediately sat down cross-legged and entered meditation.
With a single thought, he released all forty-seven gnats at once.
In an instant, dozens of fragmented and entirely different perspectives exploded within his mind, crashing into his consciousness and leaving his soul trembling and his head spinning.
Fortunately, he made a decisive choice. His main consciousness swiftly retreated into the Fangcun space.
The body left behind instantly became an empty shell devoid of life.
Meanwhile, the gnats, each carrying only the faintest trace of his will, lost all higher control. Driven purely by instinct, they fluttered into the air.
Like drifting dust, they scattered and slipped into every corner of Lengshan County.
…
Outside Lengshan City.
The battle between Fang Xun and Cheng Yishu was nearing its end.
Cheng Yishu had been weaker to begin with and had also suffered a preemptive strike from Fang Xun.
At this point, he was already on his last breath.
Fang Xun, however, was not in much better shape. He, too, had suffered severe injuries.
“What a… nuisance.”
After completely ending Cheng Yishu’s life and burning his corpse to ashes, Fang Xun collapsed onto the snow, gasping heavily.
While frantically circulating his inner breath to stabilize his injuries, he cast a cold glance at the woman approaching him step by step through the snow like a wandering ghost.
“Xun-lang… have you truly abandoned me, Yu Niang?” Yu Niang murmured softly, her expression filled with sorrow and longing.
A trace of disgust flashed through Fang Xun’s eyes, yet he forced out a gentle sigh. “Yu Niang, don’t let your thoughts run wild. Didn’t I already tell you to stay in Lengshan with Huan’er and spend the New Year in peace? Once the first month is over, I’ll bring you both to the capital to enjoy a good life.”
“How could I ever abandon you?”
Yu Niang suddenly came to a halt.
She slowly raised her head, staring fixedly at that hypocritical face she had looked upon for most of her life. The corners of her lips twisted into a ghastly, wretched smile, more painful than crying.
“Fang Xun, I’ve served you for the better half of my life. Which of your words were sincere, and which were poison that cuts through the gut… do you really think I can’t tell?”
“You treat me like worn-out shoes, and I’ve accepted that. But Huan’er…”
Yu Niang’s sorrowful face suddenly contorted, her features twisting into something as savage and terrifying as a vengeful ghost.
“Huan’er carries your blood! You beast, how can you be so heartless as to silence even your own flesh and blood?!”
Fang Xu’s expression changed. “Yu Niang, listen to me, let me explain…”
But Yu Niang seemed to have completely lost her mind. She could no longer hear a single word.
She burst forward with a speed no living person should possess, crashing fiercely into Fang Xun’s arms. At the same time, her frail body began to swell at a visible rate, like an inflated skin sac.
“Inverting Yin and Yang… you madwoman?!”
A trace of panic flashed across Fang Xun’s face as he cried out in alarm.
He instinctively tried to pull away and retreat, but Yu Niang’s withered hands clamped into his flesh like iron pincers.
They tightened relentlessly, leaving him unable to break free no matter how he struggled.
“If we cannot be together in life… then we shall meet in death…”
Yu Niang’s body was already cracking apart under the violent energy surging within her.
Blood sprayed wildly, and the words spilling from her throat sounded like a curse rising from the depths of the nether hell.
In the next instant, accompanied by a shrill explosion that shattered wind and snow, her body, swollen to its limit, detonated violently.
Already heavily injured, Fang Xun had no way to withstand such a close-range blast.
He could barely protect his heart meridian before being flung away like a torn rag, crashing heavily into the bloodstained snow.
The lower half of his body had been blown to pieces. There was no chance of survival.
At the brink of death, the invisible barrier that had long clouded his mind suddenly shattered like morning dew.
Clarity returned to him, and within his mind, scenes of how he had gradually fallen into the abyss over the past year flashed wildly like a revolving lantern.
From his muddled eyes, two streams of regretful tears finally fell.
Yet even stronger was the overwhelming fury and unwillingness born from having been deceived and manipulated.
Tragically, his throat had been completely crushed. He could not even let out a final cry before death.
He could only stare upward like a dead fish, eyes wide open, fixed upon the heavens.
The wind and snow grew ever more violent.
In just a few short moments, Fang Xun’s head and shattered remains were completely buried.
At the same time, beneath Lengshan, within the underground mines: “Squad Leader Sun, there really are a lot of Lengshan Grass seedlings here!”
“Quick! Move faster, dig up as many as you can…” Sun Wu’s face was flushed with excitement as he directed the excavation with great satisfaction.
Suddenly, the solid earth began to tremble without warning.
At first, only a few small stones fell alongside a faint vibration.
But in the next moment, the tremor erupted with exponentially increasing force, as though the world itself were collapsing.
It was like a dragon turning beneath the earth, like heaven and earth splitting apart.
“Run—”
Before the word could fully leave his mouth, the ceiling above crashed down, instantly crushing the hundreds of living workers in the tunnel into pulp.
The disaster did not end underground.
With Fang Xun’s soul utterly extinguished, the fragile seal he had maintained across the countless mine tunnels collapsed as well.
The mountain itself teetered on the brink of collapse, pressing down toward the county below.
And the city beneath, long hollowed out and riddled with tunnels, let out a despairing roar as its very foundation gave way, sinking violently like it had fallen into a bottomless mire.
Under the dual calamity of collapsing mountain and sinking earth, the entire Lengshan County was reduced to ruins in an instant.