Chapter 132: The Method to Enter Underground

The night wind howled, whipping up the withered grass of the wilderness.

Moria's figure suddenly paused in mid-air, like a falcon reined in by an invisible thread.

He looked down at the silent, desolate land below that had been dyed grayish-white by the moonlight.

Zhou Huai's brows furrowed slightly.

Something was wrong.

The Soul link between him and Qin Ming—that invisible thread—had its endpoint right in this overgrown clearing.

The connection was exceptionally clear.

Yet below, there was nothing at all.

There was no sign of Qin Ming, and not even a trace of living breath could be sensed.

Moria's body slowly descended, his feet stepping silently onto the soft earth.

He stepped forward and carefully inspected the surrounding area.

Aside from some weeds, there was nothing here.

Zhou Huai closed his eyes, plunging all his focus into that Soul link, and perceived carefully once more.

That was right.

The source of the connection was right here.

Moreover… it was still moving slowly.

Zhou Huai opened his eyes and looked at the ground beneath his feet.

The only explanation now.

Qin Ming was very likely underground!

It was as if a flash of lightning had streaked across Zhou Huai's mind.

Beneath Donghai City, an unknown underground passage was actually hidden.

Interesting.

The Zhou Family was truly becoming more and more interesting.

What on earth was hidden underground that was worth them going to such great lengths to carve out a secret passage?

Done so covertly, the secret behind it definitely wasn't simple.

How should he get in?

Zhou Huai's brain spun rapidly.

To forcefully break open the ground would cause too much of a commotion and inevitably startle the enemy.

Unfortunately, not a single one of his Clones was an Earth-element Professional.

Otherwise, digging out a passage to sneak in wouldn't be a difficult task.

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

He didn't have one.

That didn't mean the guild didn't have one.

…

Daybreak was approaching.

Eternal Night Guild, third-floor office.

"Dong-dong."

Moli knocked on the door and pushed it open to enter.

Behind her followed two men whose expressions appeared slightly constrained.

"Lord, according to your request, I have brought two Earth-element Professionals."

The moment those two men saw that figure on the sofa that seemed to blend into the shadows, a fanatical light instantly burst forth in their eyes.

The two knelt on one knee, their movements uniform.

"Your Demon Slave, Shi Lei! Greetings, Lord!"

"Your Demon Slave, Chen Mo! Greetings, Lord!"

Controlling Moria, Zhou Huai waved his hand casually.

"Rise."

He looked at the two men before him who still carried a bit of simplicity on their faces, his voice low.

"I have an arduous task that requires the two of you to complete."

Hearing this, Shi Lei and Chen Mo immediately straightened their chests, speaking in unison.

"As the Lord commands, we shall give our all!"

"We will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Zhou Huai smiled.

He stood up, took the two of them away from the guild, and went straight to that wasteland outside the city.

"Right here."

Controlling Moria, Zhou Huai reached out and pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

"Dig downward from this position."

"Dig out a passage for me."

Shi Lei and Chen Mo looked at each other in dismay.

They originally thought the arduous task spoken of by the Lord would be to assassinate some high-ranking member of a guild, or to challenge some dangerous dungeon.

They didn't expect it to actually be having them dig the ground?

However, the Lord's command was sacred.

It was unquestionable.

Without the slightest hesitation, the two immediately took action.

Shi Lei took a step forward first, raising the earth-yellow staff in his hand.

He chanted incantations under his breath, and the gemstone at the tip of the staff lit up with a gentle glow.

Hum—

The soil beneath his feet seemed to be pushed aside by an invisible giant hand, automatically separating to both sides.

A deep pit two meters in diameter with smooth edges appeared out of thin air.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

Zhou Huai nodded.

"Not bad."

"Continue downward."

Just like that, the two began working in shifts.

However, the distance between that underground passage and the surface exceeded Zhou Huai's imagination.

Shi Lei and Chen Mo dug downward for a full day.

From early morning to dusk.

Having dug hundreds of meters deep, they still didn't see any trace of a passage.

Even though the two took turns casting Spells and gulped down who knows how many bottles of mana recovery potions,

at this moment their complexions were also deathly pale, their lips chapped, and their spirits withered to the extreme.

Zhou Huai could only let them temporarily stop and go back to rest.

The second day, they continued.

The third day, it still continued.

Repeating like this, they dug for a full three days.

When the depth of the excavation was already approaching one thousand meters,

"Crack."

The rock layer beneath the casting Chen Mo suddenly cracked open with a subtle fissure.

A bright beam of light abruptly shone in from the other end of the fissure.

"Lord! It's dug through!"

Chen Mo let out a pleasantly surprised cry, his spirit instantly reviving.

Zhou Huai knew.

They had finally reached it.

Good grief.

To actually hide nearly a thousand meters deep underground.

He became even more curious about what kind of trick the Zhou Family was pulling here.

Chen Mo was just preparing to use a Spell to enlarge the fissure.

"Stop."

Zhou Huai's voice stopped him in time.

"You two did well."

"There's nothing else for you here, go back and rest."

He paused, then added another sentence.

"When you go out, cover up the entrance well."

"Yes, Lord!"

The two respectfully bowed and turned to leave.

Having finished all this, Zhou Huai no longer paid attention to them.

Controlling Moria, he came before that tiny fissure.

His body, like a pool of flowing black ink, silently melted into the shadows.

Afterwards, following that narrow fissure, he drilled inside.

Passing through the fissure was a passage built from hard rock.

Moria's figure continuously shuttled through the shadows in the corners of the wall, his speed as fast as a ghost.

Soon, he arrived at the huge cavern where Qin Ming had previously been located.

Hiding himself in the shadow of a huge stone pillar, he poked his head out and looked downward.

The next second.

Even Zhou Huai couldn't help but curse inwardly.

"Holy shit!"

Within the cavern, thousands of people were actually stationed!

Like a swarm of tireless worker ants, they were busy back and forth across the huge venue.

He also saw the mountain-like piles of crystals.

Zhou Huai's breathing stalled for a split second.

Why were there so many people here?

And what was going on with these magic crystals?

He had previously heard the military's assistant Xiao Liu introduce this.

Magic crystals were only produced in Secret Realms.

Could it be…

Hidden beneath this thousand-meter-deep underground was actually an unknown Secret Realm?

Just at this moment, Zhou Huai locked onto Qin Ming's location.

At this moment, he was walking out from one of the deep mine shafts.

His footsteps were staggering, the clothes on his body had several gasps torn open, revealing bloody and mangled wounds underneath.

In Qin Ming's hands, he was still holding a head-sized magic crystal raw stone, heavily walking over to that small mountain of crystals.

He threw the raw stone up, producing a dull thud.

Afterwards, as if all his strength had been sucked dry, he flopped down onto a cold stone nearby, panting heavily.

Right at this moment.

In the shadow beneath him, a low and hoarse voice rang out abruptly.

"Qin Ming."

Qin Ming's entire body shuddered fiercely, the fatigue in his eyes instantly replaced by shock.

Yet he quickly and forcefully suppressed the palpitation in his heart.

Swiftly scanning his surroundings, the men in black not far away were patrolling back and forth, and no one noticed the abnormality here.

Qin Ming immediately lowered his head, using his sleeve to wipe the sweat on his forehead.

Using a voice only he could hear, he tremblingly asked.

"Lord… is that you?"

"It is me."

The voice in the shadows remained calm.