The heavy stone corridor of the Ashen Crucible was deathly silent, save for the frantic sound of footsteps.
Lin Wan swept her gaze across the desolate, ruined walls, her usually composed face marred by exhaustion and mounting anxiety. She clutched her weapon tightly, her Late Core Formation Qi flaring outwards like a beacon, desperately trying to lock onto any sign of life.
It had been nearly three days since they were separated. Three days since Mu Tie—Fang Lin—was swallowed by the Ore-Purification Centrifuge. She knew there would be terrifying gravity traps and crushing mechanisms that lay within. For an Early Core Formation cultivator, falling into that machine was a guaranteed death sentence.
Yet, a part of her refused to accept it. She was the one who had invited him to this expedition. If he died here, the guilt would stain her Dao heart forever.
Suddenly, the space twenty paces ahead of her rippled.
Lin Wan snapped her staff forward, Qi surging defensively. But as the spatial tear widened, a familiar figure stumbled out, landing heavily on the stone floor.
"Mu Tie!" she gasped, rushing forward.
Fang Lin coughed, spitting out a mouthful of dust as he forced himself to a knee. He looked terrible. His robes were shredded, his skin was covered in superficial cuts, and his aura was incredibly faint—a carefully calculated facade he had established the moment he stepped through the tear.
"Senior Sister Lin," he rasped, giving her a weak, entirely fabricated smile. "I thought I'd be wandering those tunnels forever."
Lin Wan fell to her knees beside him, her eyes wide with shock as she inspected his condition. "You survived? That's great."
Fang Lin let out a dry, hacking cough. "I got lucky," he lied smoothly, his face a perfect mask of exhaustion. "My physical body is much tougher than it looks. It kept me from being instantly pulverized. I managed to hold on just long enough to find a structural weak point in the centrifuge's outer wall. I smashed through it into some sort of abandoned ventilation tunnel and just kept walking until I sensed your Qi."
Lin Wan stared at him, her chest heaving as relief washed over her. She shook her head in disbelief. "You truly are a monster, Mu Tie. Anyone else would have been ground into paste."
"I'm just hard to kill," Fang Lin replied, accepting her hand as she helped him stand.
Inwardly, Fang Lin felt a slight twinge of guilt. He wasn't just unharmed; he had spent the last three days absorbing a Sovereign's spark, conquering the entire realm, and inheriting a wealth that would make even the Sect Masters weep blood. But he couldn't let her know that. The less she knew, the safer they both were.
"We need to rest," Lin Wan said firmly, eyeing his tattered robes. "Then we need to find the main inheritance. We've barely scratched the surface of these ruins."
Fang Lin's expression didn't change, but in his mind, he let out a wry sigh. *The inheritance is currently resting in my Spiritual Sea, Senior Sister.*
However, since he now owned the Ashen Crucible Core Token, his perception blanketed the entire realm. He could see every hall, every trap, and every secret room. He knew exactly what was empty and what wasn't.
"I agree," Fang Lin said, his voice steady. "But I think we should check the eastern quadrant. When I was in the tunnels, I felt a strange fluctuation coming from that direction."
Lin Wan's eyes lit up. "Lead the way."
As they walked, Fang Lin played the role of the ultimate Dungeon Master. Behind his back, his fingers subtly twitched, channeling a microscopic thread of the Four-Pillared Cosmic Force into the Core Token in his soul.
Instantly, the architecture of the ruins began to silently shift. Corridors realigned, traps deactivated, and doors opened just as they approached. He was discreetly guiding her toward a pristine, untouched side-hall.
But a completely empty hall wouldn't satisfy her.
With another thought, Fang Lin accessed the massive stash inside Ou Yezi's spatial pouch. He selected a mid-tier forging legacy—a jade slip detailing some advanced hammering techniques—along with a high-grade spirit weapon and a few rare, but not world-shattering, forging materials. Using his absolute authority over the realm, he teleported the loot directly onto a stone pedestal in the center of the side-hall right before they arrived.
"Look!" Lin Wan pointed ahead as they turned the corner.
The heavy stone doors to the side-hall were slightly ajar. They cautiously pushed them open, revealing the pristine chamber and the glowing items resting on the pedestal.
Lin Wan's breath hitched. She quickly crossed the room and picked up the jade slip, scanning its contents with her divine sense.
"A mid-tier forging legacy!" she exclaimed, her face flushing with excitement. "And these materials... this high-grade spirit weapon... Mu Tie, this is incredible! The expedition is a massive success!"
Fang Lin acted suitably impressed, widening his eyes and inspecting the items he had placed there mere seconds ago. "It seems my luck hasn't run out yet," he said, taking the spirit weapon and a small share of the materials while insisting she keep the legacy slip.
"We need to keep looking," Lin Wan said, her greed properly stoked. She turned toward the exit. "If a side-hall has a legacy like this, imagine what the main hall contains!"
Fang Lin's eye twitched. She wasn't going to stop.
If they kept wandering, she would eventually realize the rest of the ruin was completely empty. He needed to end this expedition now.
He didn't say a word. Instead, he simply clamped down on the Core Token in his soul.
*BOOM!*
The entire Ashen Crucible violently shuddered. The walls groaned, dust rained from the ceiling, and the stone floor beneath their feet cracked. A heavy, oppressive aura swept through the corridors, simulating the total collapse of the spatial realm.
Lin Wan stumbled, catching herself against the wall. "What's happening?!"
"The realm is destabilizing!" Fang Lin shouted over the grinding noise, injecting a perfectly calibrated amount of panic into his voice. "We took the legacy from the pedestal! It must have triggered a self-destruct array! We have to leave, now!"
Lin Wan looked torn for a fraction of a second, gazing deeper into the ruins, but the violent shaking of the floor made her decision for her. No treasure was worth being buried alive in a collapsing spatial pocket.
"Go! Back to the entrance!" she yelled.
Fang Lin didn't need to be told twice. He sprinted ahead, secretly keeping the realm quaking just enough to terrify her without actually causing any real damage.
Less than three days after they had entered the dead zone, the two cultivators burst out of the spatial tear and crashed into the desolate, grey landscape of the Northeastern Highlands.
Behind them, the spatial rift violently snapped shut, leaving no trace that the ancient ruin had ever existed.
Lin Wan lay on her back in the grey dirt, panting heavily, her clothes soaked in sweat. She looked over at Fang Lin, who was doing an equally convincing job of pretending to be exhausted.
She let out a sudden, breathless laugh, holding up the jade slip. "We made it. We actually made it."
Fang Lin looked at the sky, the heavy, poisonous clouds of the Dead Zone swirling above them. He patted the spot over his Dantian, feeling the terrifying weight of the Four-Pillared Cosmic Force and the absolute authority of the Ashen Crucible hidden within him.
"Yeah," Fang Lin muttered, a small, genuine smile finally crossing his face. "We made it."