The arrival of Arden and Ju Fufu greatly strengthened the mine's security forces.
However, even if all the attacking Ethereals were cleared out, that would only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. They had to find out as soon as possible why the Ethereals were attacking and cut off the source to fully resolve the problem.
Arden and Ju Fufu were strong fighters, but it was impossible for them to stay stationed at the Meffer Mine forever.
Moreover, while clearing the Ethereals, Arden noticed something off.
If a Hollow were compared to an environment, then Ethereals would be the animals of nature (Hollow). What kinds of animals (Ethereals) exist in what kind of environment generally follows certain rules.
But the Ethereals attacking the mine were not only far more numerous than usual, their types were also all over the place, giving Arden the distinct feeling that they had been artificially gathered and then deliberately lured to the Meffer Mine.
"Go."
Arden released a small bird folded from a talisman, letting it fly back to Yunkui Summit to report the situation to Master Yixuan.
At the same time, he asked her to dispatch more disciples so that while he and Ju Fufu went out to investigate, someone could help keep watch over the mine.
On the surface, Bu Lü and Yi Jing's disciples seemed fine, but in truth, Arden didn't completely trust them.
You can know a person's face but not their heart. Being cautious never hurt.
The next day.
"Senior Sister, Second Senior Brother!"
Pan Yinhu arrived at the Meffer Mine with several outer disciples who specialized in combat, along with incense burners used for casting spells.
Arden trusted this Panda Thiren fourth junior brother greatly. As for the third junior brother, Ye Shiyuan—setting aside his villain-boss-like appearance—that guy was mysterious as hell, disappears for nine days out of ten from Yunkui Summit, and no one knew what he was busy with.
Setting up the altar table, placing the incense burners, and lighting the incense, Arden held a peachwood sword and began casting.
There were many ways to search for clues behind the Ethereal attacks, but since he was a Daoist of Yunkui Summit, naturally he would rely on Daoist techniques.
Arden gripped the peachwood sword in one hand while forming hand seals with the other.
Whoosh—!
He ignited the talisman affixed to the peachwood sword, while chanting a path-finding incantation.
"Jiǎ zhèn yǐ lí (Thunder to the Northeast, Fire to the South)"
"bǐng xīn kūn, dīng qián (Earth to the Southwest, Heaven to Northwest)"
"wù kǎn jǐ xùn mén... qǐ! (Water to the North, Wind to the Southeast… Now Open the Gates)!"
The peachwood sword thrown into the air did not fall back down. Instead, it hovered, then—as if it had discovered something—transformed into a flying sword and shot toward a certain direction.
"Follow it!"
Arden and Ju Fufu followed the flying sword to search for clues, while Pan Yinhu, Bu Lü, and the other disciples stayed behind to continue guarding the mine.
…..
Chasing the peachwood flying sword away from the mine, Arden and Ju Fufu avoided Ethereals blocking their path when possible, and swiftly eliminated those they couldn't avoid.
Clang!
"Torrent Swordsmanship: Ascending Flow!"
Taking advantage of the opening created by Ju Fufu's defense and support, Arden unleashed the ultimate move of the Torrent Swordsmanship.
Splash—pfft pfft pfft!
Under Ascending Flow, sword qi transformed into high-pressure water blades, sweeping away all nearby Ethereals.
Huff…
After eliminating all the Ethereals, Arden let out a breath.
He felt they were already close to the target. As they followed the peachwood flying sword, the Ethereals they encountered became more numerous—and stronger.
"Brother Arden, look over there!"
With her keen senses, Ju Fufu was the first to spot the target.
"….."
Arden narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction she pointed. In the center of a small plaza stood a metal pillar emitting a faint glow.
The path-finding peachwood flying sword was circling nearby.
"Fufu, clear the way!"
Not only was there a metal pillar in the plaza—Ethereals were entrenched there as well.
…..
"Cultivate through countless tribulations, To prove my divine powers attained; The Great Sage, in awe arrayed, With boundless might and radiance displayed… By the decree of the Supreme Lord, I command this to be!"
In a sudden eruption of light, talisman after talisman shot skyward carrying divine might. That power then transformed into meteors, falling back from the heavens and crashing into the ground.
Boom boom boom boom…
Arden didn't know whether the Supreme Lord existed in the world of Zenless Zone Zero, or whether he could hear the decree. But seeing even extremely dangerous Ethereals unable to escape, blasted into fragments by the divine might, he was certain of one thing—Daoist arts from ancient myths had become reality in his hands.
After clearing the Ethereals in the plaza, Arden began examining the glowing metal pillar.
"This is… what is it used for?"
After checking for quite some time without figuring anything out, Arden asked Ju Fufu beside him.
"….."
Ju Fufu shook her tail silently. Clearly, she knew nothing about technology either.
"It looks kind of like… a Hollow Investigative Association Hollow information collection device?"
She voiced her guess.
The Hollow Investigative Association would set up information-gathering devices inside Hollows to grasp internal conditions, give early warnings of crises, and produce Carrot data. However, as far as Arden knew, after Porcelumex took control of this mining area, all equipment from the Hollow Investigative Association had been abandoned to prevent information leaks.
"A Hollow information collection device, huh… but why is it still operating? Hmm…"
Arden stroked his chin, thinking for a long time without reaching a conclusion.
"Forget it. Let's take it back and study it!"
Bringing it back to the Meffer Mine for professionals to examine was far better than two laymen guessing here.
Arden remembered that the Meffer Mine had quite a few technical personnel—they should be able to tell something.
As for how to bring back a metal pillar three to four meters tall and dozens of centimeters thick—clearly very heavy…
"Heave—ho!"
Ju Fufu planted her stance, wrapped both arms around the metal pillar, and exerted herself fiercely.
Screeech—!
An ear-grating sound of twisting metal rang out.
In ancient times there was the Flowery Monk uprooting a weeping willow; today there was the Tiger Thiren snapping a metal pillar with brute force.
This was also the reason Arden had never dared provoke Ju Fufu too much. No matter how hard or sturdy his own "pillar" was, it couldn't compare to metal—and it definitely couldn't withstand Ju Fufu's full-strength "attack."
And so, Arden cleared the way in front, while Ju Fufu followed behind with a steel cable tied around her waist, dragging the multi-ton metal pillar back to the Meffer Mine.
…..
Fortunately, most of the Ethereals had already been cleared on the way in. Otherwise, fighting while dragging such a burden would have been truly inconvenient.
Meffer Mine.
"Senior Sister and Second Senior Brother are back!"
"What is Senior Sister dragging?"
"That's a huge metal pillar!"
"She actually dragged that back—just looking at it, it's heavy!"
"As expected of a Tiger Thiren—what monstrous strength!!"
"….."
Ju Fufu's return while dragging the metal pillar immediately attracted a crowd of disciples and workers.
Hmph hmph!
Though a bit tired, basking in everyone's admiring gazes made Ju Fufu extremely pleased.
"Let's see who still calls me a tabby cat from now on!"
"Alright."
Arden reached out and patted Ju Fufu's cute head. "Hand the metal pillar over to the technicians. While they study it, let's rest up a bit. There's still plenty of work ahead."
Not only Ju Fufu, who had done the heavy lifting—even Arden, after swordplay and daoist arts alike, was feeling tired.
"Rawr~!"
Ju Fufu narrowed her eyes and rubbed her head against Arden's palm. Enjoying the petting, she couldn't help letting out an adorable sound.
"Senior Sister is so cute!"
Seeing this, the female disciples' eyes sparkled with hearts.
"Yeah! Just like a little kitty!"
"Honestly, Tiger Thiren and all that… Senior Sister is actually an Tabby Cat Thiren, right!"
"…."
All of Ju Fufu's efforts—instantly wasted!