My Martial Dao Has No Bottlenecks

Lin Fu was dead.

In the dungeon, Liang Cheng stared at the corpse on the torture rack, blood seeping from its mouth and nose, his eyes ice-cold.

Liang Cheng said nothing. He leaned over and pried open Lin Fu’s mouth. Sure enough, there was a tiny hole in a right molar—the Poison Sac had been broken.

"Search him."

Li Mu led his men forward and searched the body carefully.

Besides some broken silver and keys, they found an Iron Token, half the size of a palm, in a pocket hidden in his inner clothes. The token was jet-black, its front engraved with a twisted flame pattern. The back bore a line of small characters: Bingxu Seventh.

"Bingxu Seventh..."

Liang Cheng took the Iron Token and traced the characters with his fingertip.

"Take his body and the corpses of the other bandits to the morgue. Have the forensic doctor conduct a thorough examination. Zhao Yuan, take some men and gather intelligence. I want to know where they came from and where they usually hide."

"Yes."

Liang Cheng turned to leave. "Li Mu, if the forensic doctor identifies the poison’s origin, I want you to personally lead a team to investigate every apothecary in the Dongshan Mine area. Find the source."

"Yes!"

"Captain Chen."

Liang Cheng paused at the doorway. "I’ll need you to accompany me to Mine Tunnel Three. I want to see for myself what’s in there that was worth burning to the ground."

Surprise flashed in Chen Ping’s eyes, but he quickly lowered his head. "I obey."

Liang Cheng said no more. With a flicker of movement, he led Chen Ping out of the Guardian Station and headed straight for the mines.

He had to see for himself what was hidden in Mine Tunnel Three—what was so important that the Fire Worship Sect would go to such lengths, even risking the exposure of their deep-cover agents, just to conceal it with a fire.

...

At the entrance to Mine Tunnel Three.

The fire had been extinguished, but the area around the tunnel mouth was a charred wreck. The acrid smell of smoke still hung in the air. Zhao Yuan was directing his men to clear away rubble and burnt timber when he saw Liang Cheng return and hurried over to greet him.

"Senior Brother, the blockage at the entrance has been cleared. I sent men about thirty zhang in to investigate. Aside from signs left by the arsonists, we haven’t found anything else yet."

"I’ll go in and take a look myself."

"Huh?"

Zhao Yuan was worried. ’No one knows what the situation is inside,’ he thought. ’This involves the Fire Worship Sect. It’s extremely dangerous.’

Liang Cheng patted him on the shoulder without a word, took a torch, and walked straight into the mine tunnel. Zhao Yuan quickly followed with two Personal Guards.

The air in the tunnel was thick with smoke and dust that had yet to settle.

After about twenty zhang, they saw the remains of the deliberately constructed fire wall.

Liang Cheng kicked aside the charred wood, his eyes fixed on the ground behind the remnants of the wall.

There were clear drag marks on the ground, along with some scattered, partially burnt pieces of wood. He crouched down, picked up a piece of wood, and brought it close to the torch for a better look.

The cut on the wood was fresh; it must have been chopped recently. It was covered in dark reddish stains. Liang Cheng rubbed a stain between his fingers, then raised it to his nose and sniffed.

"Blood."

"Blood?" Zhao Yuan was taken aback. "It’s common for miners to get injured, but in this location..."

"It wasn’t splattered. It was deliberately smeared on."

Liang Cheng stood up and followed the drag marks deeper into the mine. "Someone deliberately soaked this wood in blood before lighting it. I fear this fire wasn’t just meant as a barrier. It’s more like some kind of ritual."

The farther they went, the narrower the tunnel grew. Some passages had been abandoned, crudely sealed off with wooden barricades. The drag marks disappeared in front of one of these abandoned tunnels.

Liang Cheng pushed aside the dilapidated wooden barricade. The sight within, illuminated by the torchlight, made his pupils constrict.

The tunnel wasn’t long, ending in a rough rock face. But on the ground before the wall was a dark-red, one-zhang-tall flaming sigil. At its center was an abstract, multi-eyed symbol.

Liang Cheng approached the sigil and carefully examined the rock wall. Its surface appeared normal, but as he reached out to press and tap it inch by inch, he heard a barely perceptible hollow sound near the upper-right part of the drawing.

He took two steps back, circulated his True Qi, and slammed his fist into the wall!

BOOM!

The six-inch-thick rock wall shattered, revealing an opening just large enough for one person to stoop and enter. A gust of cold, fetid wind rushed out from within.

Zhao Yuan gasped.

"The Fire Worship Sect actually dug a secret passage!"

Liang Cheng held the torch up to the opening. After confirming the draft wouldn’t extinguish the flame, he was the first to crawl into the secret passage. It was narrow, with rough, man-made tool marks. Scratches from long-rusted pickaxes were visible on the walls.

After a dozen zhang, the passage opened up into a grotto about three zhang square. In the center stood a clearly man-made stone platform.

The stone platform was caked in a thick layer of dark-red grime that gave off a potent reek, a mixture of blood and char. Bones were scattered around the base of the platform.

Some belonged to animals, but several fragments were clearly human.

On the wall directly opposite the platform, a massive, crudely-etched mural depicted countless small figures kneeling in worship before a great, rising flame. Within the flame was a blurry, multi-eyed silhouette.

"A Cult altar..."

Zhao Yuan’s voice was hoarse.

Liang Cheng’s expression was grim. He walked to the edge of the platform and scraped off a bit of the grime with the tip of his blade. In the torchlight, it revealed an unsettling, dark reddish-brown color.

"Human blood, mixed with mineral dust, built up in layers over and over again."

He scanned the grotto and drew his conclusion.

"This place has been used more than once."

"Senior Brother, look here!"

Another Personal Guard from the Martial Arts Academy called out from a corner of the grotto. A burlap sack lay on the ground. Liang Cheng walked over and slit it open with his blade. Inside was a type of ore he had never seen before. It was deep black, but its surface was covered with blood-red, vein-like patterns. It was cold to the touch.

"What kind of ore is this?"

"I don’t know, but it’s definitely not ordinary iron ore. The Fire Worship Sect was operating here in secret, and I’d wager it was for this."

"Bag up this ore and take it back to the Guardian Station. Carefully document all evidence in this grotto. Also, this discovery is to be kept strictly confidential. Above all, do not let the Lin Family know."

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