I alone am the Honoured One!

Standing up, Zhao Tian glanced around at the cavern 'In the letter it is said, the way they came was closed... so I have to find that way.'

'If I can destroy the obstacle created by the earthquake, I can get out of here.'

He can easily escape here if he went into the artifact and as Fei Lingxi's ring is connected to his room in the sect, if she came outside with him, he would be directly teleported back to the sect.

But then he has to explain to Yao Jing how he disappeared from the forest and appeared in the Sect which is thousands of kilometers apart.

Another thing is, if he reported about the Astral mine to the Sect... they would ask him how he escaped the mine without a passage.

He can't say that he just teleported back into the artifact.

So first thing, he had to find the path that the outer disciples had once used and ensure his journey looked feasible from the outside.

'The only thing is... Yao Jing must be searching for me right now and that woman I saved in the cave, she might have woken up.'

With a faint sigh, he continued walking through the cavern and a spark of light energy is glowing on his palm showing the way forward.

He glanced around at the uneven walls and the astral stones stuck on them.

He continued down the uneven corridor, each step resounding in the cavernous silence, until he reached a section where the path abruptly ended at a formidable stone wall.

'So this is the way that was closed due to the Earthquake.'

He reached out and touched the stone wall as he used his astral sense.

He noticed many cracks and the slashes of swords over the wall which should probably be made buy the outer disciples.

The walls in the Astral mine are extremely tougher than normal stones making it hard to mine, so as outer court disciples, they are very weak to break the wall.

Zhao Tian took a deep breath and clenched his fist as he threw a powerful punch to the wall.

*THOOM* The whole cavern shook for a second and the wall burst, several cracks forming on its surface.

He was quite surprised as the walls is tougher than he expected.

Taking a soft breath, he channeled astral energy into his fist and he threw a flurry of punches to the wall with full force, vibrating the walls as dust and debris rained down around him.

ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!

*THOOM* *THOOM* With each of his punches, the wall began to crack and blast as the whole cavern began to shake intensely.

*THOOM* With a final pull of his hand, he threw a powerful punch blasting the stone to debris as they spilled to the other side of the wall.

He again gave a sturdy kick to the wall, breaking it into pieces as he stepped in, through the broken wall.

What the fuck?

However, he was startled to see the open space, where many eyes were watching him in shock.

-_-

There are large machines running inside the cave, and workers are standing there with powerful pickaxes in their hands, which could even break these walls.

Large, complex machines were set up along the walls, connected by long tracks and conveyor belts that carried chunks of raw astral stone from one station to the next.

'The cave is still active?'

He was surprised for a second as he glimpsed at the workers who were looking at him in shock, their bodies covered with dust.

Some workers started to back away, while others were cautious and took the pickaxes in their hands like a weapon.

"Is he the reason for the earthquake we felt just now..."

"Seems so."

They murmured amongst themselves and one young man working there, squinted his gaze.

'I should go and report this to the Leader.'

Looking at the workers, Zhao Tian's gaze squinted, 'Is there already a powerful sect in control of the mine or the royal family of the Jade Eclipse star?'

'And the people here are fairly powerful... so I can tell there is a powerful faction behind this.'

One old worker, a man with graying hair and a grizzled face streaked with sweat, finally broke the silence. "Who… who are you?"

His voice wavered, though he did his best to sound firm. "And how did you get here?"

The other people also tensed as they were actually working here illegally.

Zhao Tian didn't reply to the old man and turned his gaze to the large door, through which a woman clad in a black suit appeared.

She had long black hair and the suit was quite tight on her body showing her sexy curves and the shirt showed her bust cleavage.

Looking at the beautiful woman, Zhao Tian's eyes narrowed 'She is powerful...'

The woman raised an eyebrow, surprised by Zhao Tian's handsome face and she tilted her head, a teasing smile appearing on her lips "Oh well, aren't you a cutie...?"

As she asked, she turned her eyes to the large opening on the wall and her lips curled up.

She turned to look at the workers and gestured them to look into the hole.

"You, there," she said, her voice taking on an authoritative edge. "Go check out that hole. Looks like someone found a hidden pathway we didn't know about."

Some workers nodded and quickly rushed inside the cavern.

Zhao Tian's eyes followed the workers for a second 'Seems like they are still not aware of the Mother stone in the mine... this is going to create chaos.'

The woman looked at Zhao Tian "So, cute little brother, how are you going to explain the hole you put on the wall?"

Zhao Tian met her gaze with a calm expression, showing no sign of discomfort.

He shrugged casually, his voice steady. "Got caught in a landslide on the mountainside," he said smoothly.

"Ended up sliding through a narrow crevice and found myself stuck in the back end of this mine."

-_- Huh?
Continue reading at mvl

The woman's smile didn't waver, but her eyes sharpened, assessing him in silence. "Oh?"

She purred, her fingers lightly resting on her chin as though deep in thought. "And that brought you here, all the way into our precious mine, in the middle of a mountain range?"

She crossed her arms, her gaze narrowing. "Quite a tale. Care to elaborate?"

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I hope you guys liked this chapter!