Chapter 173: Cleverly Capturing the Stronghold to Obtain the Clue

"It should be right here." Lin Xue stopped, watching the point of light on the jade pendant grow brighter, "The yin qi is heavy, mixed with... an indescribable evil aura."

Zhang Jun narrowed his eyes, carefully surveying the surroundings.

"Looks abandoned, but something's off." He pointed to a brick crack in a nearby wall corner, "Look there, and the rust on that iron door over there is too uniform, like it was deliberately aged."

The two exchanged a glance, becoming even more cautious.

They moved like two falling leaves, silently clinging to the broken walls, feeling their way forward.

Lin Xue suddenly tugged Zhang Jun, signaling him to stop.

She pointed ahead at a wall that appeared intact.

Zhang Jun focused his gaze, and in the faint moonlight he indeed saw, in the cracks between the bricks, several extremely fine runes almost fused with the stone.

"A warning seal." Lin Xue's voice dropped to a whisper, "The technique is quite old‑handed; without the pendant's reaction, the naked eye couldn't detect it."

Both felt a jolt in their hearts, they detoured around that area and continued deeper.

Just as they were about to turn a corner piled with discarded machinery—

Buzz!

Zhang Jun's Yin Yang Jade Pendant suddenly heated up, vibrating until his wrist went numb!

An unprecedented intensity!

"Not good!" Alarm bells rang simultaneously in both their hearts!

Almost at the same moment—

Woo—!

A sharp, piercing alarm blasted explosively from the deepest part of the factory, violently tearing apart the night's silence!

Immediately after, from behind the wall that looked fine came a hurried, chaotic footsteps and panicked shouts.

"Who goes there?"

"On alert! All of you, move, damn it!"

"Quick! The data! Destroy all the data! Initiate self‑destruct!"

Clatter!

More than a dozen black‑clad, capable shadows swarmed out like a disturbed hornet's nest from a well‑hidden side door, weapons gleaming, eyes fierce enough to devour, they scattered with a shout and began combing the surrounding ruins carpet‑style. Their movements were practiced—clearly veterans.

What made Zhang Jun and Lin Xue's hearts skip was that they could clearly sense inside the stronghold, energy fluctuations turning chaotic; in several places came the sounds of paper igniting and metal being violently smashed.

"Damn, they're destroying evidence and preparing to flee!" Zhang Jun's gaze turned cold, his voice low, "We can't let them escape, nor let them destroy all the proof!"

Lin Xue reacted faster: "I'll go inside, you hold off the outside."

"Be careful yourself!" Zhang Jun didn't waste words; hesitating now would be suicide.

He condensed pure yang internal energy at his fingertip and flicked it at a distant stack of unstable‑looking iron racks.

Whoosh!

An almost invisible burst of qi shot out.

"Clang! Clatter——!"

The pile of iron racks collapsed as if hit by a locomotive, with a thunderous boom, the noise huge, carrying far in the dead‑still night.

"Over there!"

"Send two over to check!"

"Everyone else keep searching! Don't miss any corner!"

Outside, most of the shadow guards' attention was instantly drawn; seven or eight black silhouettes rushed toward the noise source.

In that opening, Lin Xue moved.

The half‑jade pendant in her hand glowed faintly, a pale blue halo enveloping her. Profound yin internal energy circulated, her form becoming like a ghost's, her breath vanishing entirely as she merged into the night and shadows.

She didn't take the secret door; instead she kept to the wall's shadow, like a weightless leaf, a few leaps bringing her to the stronghold's rear side. There was an inconspicuous vent, its iron rusted and blotchy.

Lin Xue flicked from her fingertip several threads of profound yin qi as fine as cowhair, silently slipping into the rust cracks, freezing and disabling the tiny ward runes inside. A gentle push slid the vent cover open soundlessly.

She lowered her body, slipped in like a slick, elusive fish.

Inside the stronghold it was even more chaotic. Few people were about, scrambling to burn documents and smash machines. Thick smoke rolled, accompanied by a pungent chemical odor.

Lin Xue's goal was clear; she lunged straight for the room with the strongest energy fluctuations, which looked like a control room or archive.

Just as she reached the doorway, she saw two shadow guards lifting a metal box, about to toss it into a nearby pool bubbling with strong acid. The box was covered in intricate encryption runes.

In another corner, someone was stuffing stacks of paper into an iron bucket, a match about to touch them.

No time left!

Lin Xue surged forward in a burst of speed, like a shadow skimming the ground!

Hiss!

Two strands of profound yin qi accurately wrapped around the wrists of the two guards lifting the box, the freezing cold reaching their bones and halting their movements instantly.

Lin Xue twisted her wrist, making a void grasp!

The metal box slipped from their hands and flew out, landing solidly in hers with a dull clang; it felt icy cold and heavy.

At the same time, she slightly opened the fingers of her other hand, emitting a suction force that yanked several pages from the hand of the person about to ignite them!

"Who goes there?"

"There's an enemy!"

The remaining shadow guards in the room finally reacted, roaring as they lunged at Lin Xue.

Lin Xue didn't bother fighting them; having secured the item, she didn't pause for half a second, turned and slipped out through the vent like a ghost, while her fingertip flicked, emitting an extremely subtle true qi fluctuation of a special frequency that only Zhang Jun could understand.

Outside, Zhang Jun was fiercely engaged with two shadow guards. He wasn't aiming to kill, just using footwork and clever force to hold them, deliberately creating a big commotion.

Upon receiving the signal, he punched hard to blast open his opponent, turned and ran at top speed toward the rendezvous point.

"The person is over here!"

Chase! Don't let him get away!

The remaining shadow guards and those who had just rushed back to regroup came after them in a fury.

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue met up, and without a word, they activated the Yin Yang Jade Pendant in their hands again.

Hum!

A ripple of energy, blending scorching heat and icy cold, spread out, instantly scrambling the aura around them and creating a blind spot in perception.

Taking advantage of this life‑saving cover, they darted like two loaches into the depths of the crisscrossing abandoned factory, vanishing after a few flashes.

By the time those shadow guards tracked them to the spot where they last disappeared, only a faint, chaotic residue of energy remained—who knew which way to pursue.

"Damn it!" the leader of the shadow guards slammed a fist into the nearby iron post, emitting a dull thud.

……

In the capital, in an inconspicuous corner even more obscure than Master Liu Sanye's modest courtyard, lay a makeshift hideout that had just been cleared out.

Zhang Jun carefully checked the surroundings, then casually set up a few simple alarms.

Lin Xue placed the metal box and a few sheets of paper on the table.

The box was made of an unfamiliar black‑heavy alloy, cold and hard, its encrypted runes flickering faintly; its protection level was terrifyingly high, and with their current abilities they couldn't open it for now.

"This thing is stubborn—forcing it would likely ruin whatever's inside." Zhang Jun rubbed his chin, "We need to find someone who knows how to deal with it… no, an expert in lifting seals."

Lin Xue picked up the few sheets of paper. The paper was special—impervious to water and fire—and the writing, done with ink mixed with a special mineral powder, was in a hurried, scrawled hand, clearly jotted down in haste.