"Tell him to be a little obedient, or he’ll get a spanking."
"He doesn’t understand anything yet."
Paper Kite rolled her eyes at Shen Wang.
"It’s precisely when they don’t understand that you need to spank them. Once they grow up, it’s too late."
Shen Wang saw his daughter approach: "Look, Xue’Er doesn’t even give me the chance to spank her."
Shen Chuxue wrinkled her delicate little nose: "Daddy, Xue’Er hasn’t done anything wrong, you can’t spank me."
She had memories of her past life, and being spanked would make her go crazy with embarrassment.
After all, she was once an Empress.
"You’re too clever, little girl, you don’t give me any chances."
Shen Wang shook his head helplessly, thinking of having his daughter recognize those giant skeletons, but couldn’t find a reason, so he let it be.
It’s best to keep the daughter’s secret hidden; prompting it would only make things awkward.
"You all stay here and soak up the sun for a bit, I’ll head to the ancestral hall."
Shen Wang arrived in the backyard, where more of the passage within the ancestral hall had been excavated.
During the excavation, he discovered two more giant skeletons, along with the skull of the previous skeleton not far away.
The three skeletons were about the same size; Shen Wang guessed they were from the same tier and likely died during the same period, buried here.
After tidying up the skeletons, the puppets transported them, penetrating the relatively low mountain body, until reaching the edge of the array’s coverage.
He began to narrow the tunnel, allowing only one person to pass through, aiming for maximum concealment.
Otherwise, if discovered, the enemy could infiltrate through the opening without much trouble, and the passage would be wasted, bringing nothing but hardship.
With three puppets excavating day and night, the first passage was completed by midnight, traversing ten feet underground from the ancestral hall before reaching the side of the mountain.
Shen Wang followed the tunnel, soon arriving at a pile of weeds at the foot of Fengming Mountain.
The location was steep and shadowy on the mountain, less than two fathoms from the base, nestled in a small hollow with grasses growing outside, inconspicuous.
He took out a talisman and placed it at the entrance of the cave for further concealment.
The talisman’s function was to evade cultivators using their spiritual power for reconnaissance, should one come directly here, seeing the talisman could suggest something obvious.
Shen Wang was confident that the Yun Family wouldn’t scour the mountains for such channels, instead opting for direct attack arrays.
Even if they found this passage, they’d still have to face the array, leaving him at ease.
Shen Wang ordered the puppets to start digging the second passage in another direction, while pondering another issue.
Now that he had a hidden tunnel, should he use these passages to covertly move in and out and exchange for supplies?
His only source of income was selling talismans, needed to purchase various resources, he couldn’t just sit and consume.
"The Spirit Crystal won’t last much longer; I need to find ways to acquire resources."
Shen Wang’s expression changed; with the upgrade to a top-grade array, the defensive strength of the entire ancestral residence rose to the point of resisting Nascent Soul attacks, but the consumption increased significantly.
The Spirit Crystals, initially expected to last for a few years, were bound to be drastically shortened.
The key issue was Lan Kui’s reckless use of Spirit Crystals for cultivation, causing considerable consumption, and at the current rate, it would only sustain for a year or so.
If the replenishment of Spirit Stones wasn’t timely, waiting until it becomes insufficient would be too late.
"Currently, the Yun Family shouldn’t be surrounding me with thousands of bandits, as long as I conceal my breath and movements, I might secretly go outside."
Shen Wang’s face shifted; apart from judging a change in the new situation, he was confident because of his daughter’s Star Source Concealment Technique, a top-level method for concealing breath.
He had already tried it; once the technique was run, he could hide his presence like an ordinary person, making detection difficult.
As long as he remained undiscovered, he could seize the opportunity to leave through the tunnel to earn Spirit Stones.
If he was detected, and only a Golden Core was blocking his way, he still had a chance to escape.
"Let’s go for it; the Yun Family doesn’t know this area like I do, as long as a safe route is dug out, they can’t stop me."
Shen Wang gritted his teeth, looking at the area outside the mountain, starting to sense the conditions around the mountain to pick the most hidden route.
"I’ll dig a route underground leading ten miles away, distance myself from beneath; I refuse to believe they could discover it quickly."
Shen Wang decided to continue digging a tunnel from the mountain, specifically to leave the Golden Core cultivator’s sensing range, while the Yun Family was still absent.
Cultivators’ spiritual thoughts cannot penetrate too many solid entities, like stones and soil, these could resist spiritual thoughts when thick enough.
Even if spiritual power is powerful, able to sense larger and deeper areas, he dug the tunnel at a depth of ten meters, making it undetectable by Golden Core Zhenren.
The only flaw is the physical tunnel that anyone could possibly find if the Yun Family becomes alert to his activity and uses overwhelming manpower, there’s a high chance of discovery.
If discovered, it’d be ruined, the enemy wouldn’t give another opportunity; he has only one chance, must be extremely careful to earn more resources before being discovered.
As for the enemy attempting to infiltrate via the tunnel, there’s no need for concern.
The entire mountain is covered by the array now, not just currently, even the previous Shield Mountain Array isolated up to three feet underground, Yun Conghui and others couldn’t have excavated if they wanted to.
Just being discovered would drive them to investigate deliberately, making it almost impossible to use such tunnels again for ingress and egress.
Shen Wang thought cautiously, made numerous preparations, especially monitoring the passage status.
He drew some Person Recognition Talismans, placing them around the areas he would traverse, which would instantly combust if anyone else entered, alerting him to intruders.
Uncertain of when the Yun Family might return, Shen Wang took up the White Crane Flying Sword and Black Death Blade to personally excavate, while the three puppets dedicated themselves to transporting earth and stone.
At over ten meters underground, Shen Wang dug strenuously, rocks behaving like tofu before the flying sword, rapidly sliced apart.
The excess soil was transferred to the backyard within the array, creating a new plot for vegetables.
With Shen Wang’s determined excavation, he managed two miles in a day, and five miles in two days.
The range ordinary Golden Core cultivators could sense wasn’t much beyond this.
To be extra cautious, Shen Wang insisted on digging ten miles.
As he planned to continue, commotion erupted from the direction of the ancestral residence, a talisman on Shen Wang ignited.
Shen Wang’s expression shifted, urgently pivoting to return through the passage.
Actually, on the second day of Shen Wang’s tunnel excavation, Yun Xuanting had already finished hosting a banquet, seen off Cyan Wind Zhenren and Yun Lingshu, then immediately returned.
Upon noticing no bandits remained on the mountain, he realized trouble had arisen, likely indicating the demise of Ge Changzhuang and Yun Conghui.
worried it was a trap; he specifically visited Black Water Stronghold, captured some bandits for questioning to discover his own dogs suddenly rebelling, coordinating with Shen Wang to ambush and kill Ge Changzhuang’s Yun Conghui.
This enraged him beyond measure; he believed Gong Yu would never dare betray him, yet his expectations were utterly dashed.
Furious, he returned to Fengming Mountain, looking to see if Gong Yu had also hidden inside; if not, he planned to hunt him down in rage.