Chapter 173

The chill seeping from the stone walls of the cave crept up past the soles of his boots, yet Ye Fan’s fingertips grew burning hot from the turbulent churning of his Inner World. The newly sprouted golden buds of the old peach tree throbbed within his Sea of Consciousness like a beacon, filtering the sounds amidst the toxic fog with crystalline clarity—at the third fork to the left, the dragging sound of iron chains was a third heavier than elsewhere, mixed with a woman's deliberately suppressed cough. "Here." He whispered close to General Lǐ's ear, the bronze Luopan compass in his palm suddenly growing hot. This was a positioning tool crafted from the twigs of the old peach tree in his Inner World, and right now its needle was spinning frantically before finally pinning hard against a half-person-high fissure in the left rock wall. General Lǐ understood instantly, pressing a hand against the edge of the stone crevice. His knotty muscles bulged with straining veins, and with a sharp *clack*, the entire rock wall slid open to the sides like a gateway. A smell of mildew mixed with the stench of iron rushed over them. A candle flickered in the corner, illuminating a bound figure sitting in a wooden chair.