# Chapter 179: Ghost Mine
In front of the mine shaft where the accident occurred, corpses lay strewn across the ground, fifty to sixty in total, all with ashen faces and wide-open eyes. Experienced source miners, their faces unchanged, made wide detours from afar, not a single one daring to approach. In the fifteenth mining district, panic reigned as everyone retreated, most trembling with fear.
From within that mine shaft, wisps of gray mist seeped out, and even from a great distance, one could feel a sense of oppression. "This is truly strange..." Ye Fan muttered to himself. He had long known that such incidents occasionally happened in source mines, but experiencing it firsthand still left him somewhat astonished.
An old man who had been mining source here for eight or nine years showed a hint of worry in his eyes, saying, "I have a feeling that this evil presence might be quite unusual this time."
Before long, cultivators from the Yaoguang Holy Land arrived, led by several middle-aged men, with the rest being younger disciples. "Who was mining in that shaft? Are there any survivors?" one of the middle-aged men asked.
"I was working above ground at the shaft." A young worker stepped forward, his expression extremely tense.
"Anyone else?" the middle-aged man asked again.
Another six or seven people came forward, each one terrified and uneasy.
"What did you see?" the middle-aged cultivator inquired.
"We didn't see anything. We only heard the screams from inside, and then we fled."
"What about Senior Brother Qin? Wasn't he patrolling here?" The middle-aged man furrowed his brow.
"That old immortal also fell in the mine shaft."
"What?" The middle-aged man's eyes widened. "Senior Brother Qin has fallen?"
"Yes..." The source miner was somewhat nervous. "At first, it seemed something was discovered below. That old immortal received the report and went down personally to investigate, and then the evil incident occurred. Everyone died."
Beside him, another person added, "Fortunately, we ran fast. Otherwise, even standing at the shaft entrance, we wouldn't have survived."
He didn't need to say it—everyone could see the fifty to sixty corpses at the shaft entrance.
The several middle-aged cultivators from Yaoguang Holy Land exchanged glances, all frowning. This was the last thing they wanted to see. Once a source mine became haunted by evil, it would be extremely dangerous.
At the shaft entrance, gray mist diffused, looking eerie and unsettling.
"Could it be that they dug up something alive?" one middle-aged man said.
Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed. If so, it would surely be an omen of great calamity.
"Apparently, not long ago, the Cao family dug into a ghost mine and unearthed a few blood-dripping bones, resulting in many deaths."
The conversation among the middle-aged cultivators stirred Ye Fan's thoughts. Underground source veins were filled with mystery and the unknown.
"Let me capture a wisp of that gray mist and see what it really is." One middle-aged man opened his mouth and spat out a small silver bottle the size of a thumb. It transformed into a streak of silver light, flew forward, emitted a soft glow, and began to absorb the gray mist.
*Crack!*
A shocking thing happened. The moment a wisp of gray mist entered, the silver bottle shattered, lost its luster, and fell to the ground.
"This is..." The middle-aged man's body trembled.
"A weapon refined by a cultivator in the Dao Palace Secret Realm couldn't even withstand a wisp of gray mist? What kind of thing is this?" Everyone was greatly alarmed.
The several middle-aged men all showed grave expressions. This was somewhat unusual, and they felt uncertain.
A full hour passed before the gray mist completely dissipated, vanishing into the world. Soon after, a chicken was thrown into the mine shaft. It kept squawking, and after a long time, it was still alive.
The middle-aged cultivators breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not as bad as we imagined."
"It seems it was just a burst of killing intent, not a ghost mine."
The several middle-aged cultivators walked forward, followed by a dozen or so young disciples. They stood at the shaft entrance, examined each corpse, and then peered downward.
"Move these corpses away and bury them in an abandoned mine," one middle-aged cultivator commanded.
All the source miners stepped back together. No one was willing to touch those who had died inexplicably.
Seeing this, the middle-aged cultivator frowned and said, "The killing intent has dissipated. There's no danger."
The source miners, their hearts pounding with fear, moved the dozens of corpses away and threw them into an abandoned mine.
The several middle-aged cultivators discussed among themselves, preparing to go down the shaft to investigate. "Why not let them clear out the corpses inside first, and then we'll go down..." one middle-aged cultivator suggested, glancing at the surrounding source miners.
The people around immediately trembled with fear and stepped back.
"What are you afraid of? That chicken was unharmed, proving it's safe inside. You're all grown men..."
Hearing this, Ye Fan wanted to spit in his face. If he wasn't afraid, why didn't he go in himself? Instead, he wanted the source miners to scout the way first.
A young disciple from Yaoguang Holy Land personally came forward to select people. Ye Fan was unfortunately chosen and forced to go down the shaft to move the corpses.
Inside the mine shaft, it was dim and dark. Even torches couldn't fully illuminate it. Corpses lay scattered on the ground in all directions. Some timid source miners, seeing this sight, immediately began to tremble.
Ahead, a faint light shone. A piece of source the size of a human head glowed brilliantly, embedded in the earth and stone. An old cultivator in his fifties lay stiffly on the ground, long since out of breath.
"The problem is here..." Ye Fan carefully approached. After seeing everything clearly, he drew in a cold breath.
Inside that head-sized piece of source was a claw, similar to a human hand, but covered in red hairs an inch long, even the palm not exempt. It was somewhat ferocious.
"This must be a creature from before the ancient times..." Ye Fan thought in shock.
"Ghost claw!" "Monster!" Everyone around screamed.
Ye Fan extended his divine sense to examine carefully and changed color again.
This had originally been a massive boulder. When the source miners chiseled it open, this piece of source was revealed. Within the stone layer were skeletal patterns connected to this source. "This..." He couldn't help but be shocked.
This should be a fossil. Only the palm had been preserved intact by the source, while the other parts had all turned to stone bones.
"This should be a humanoid creature. No, it actually has bat wings!" A humanoid creature with feathered wings was definitely not human.
At this point, he also understood why the gray mist had appeared and so many had died.
When the boulder was chiseled through, a corner of this source was damaged. A bit of flesh from that palm was exposed to the air, withered away, and the gray mist was produced from this.
"What kind of terrifying creature is this? A bit of flesh exposed to air and rotting has such fearsome power. Just a wisp of gray mist shattered the weapon of a Dao Palace Secret Realm cultivator. Truly unimaginable!" Ye Fan was horrified.
The only fortunate thing was that this piece of source was quite unusual, flowing with light and color, automatically gathering the essence of heaven and earth. The damaged area had already been sealed by the radiance.
At this moment, the cultivators above also flew in. Their spiritual senses were sharp, and perceiving no danger below, they no longer hesitated.
"This is... a claw with flesh!"
The several middle-aged cultivators immediately cried out in shock.
"A few years ago, we dug up a severed arm, also sealed in source, and sent it back to the holy land. The Supreme Elder once said that once such flesh is discovered, it must be reported immediately. It seems this is a matter of great importance."
These cultivators carefully cleared away the stones, moving that piece of source along with the boulder to the surface.
The Supreme Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land was alerted and came personally to this place. He carefully observed that palm and repeatedly examined the humanoid traces on the boulder. "Incredible!" He seemed very shocked.
"What kind of creature is this?" a young disciple beside him asked cautiously.
"Ancient times..." The Supreme Elder only said two words before suddenly stopping.
Clearly, the Supreme Elder's heart was very unsettled. It was a long time before he let out a breath. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he collected the head-sized source and the boulder. "Continue excavating here. If you discover anything new, report to me immediately. This is of great importance. I will record great merits for you." His expression was solemn, and then he vanished in an instant.
"Why didn't the Supreme Elder explain in detail? What kind of creature was that?"
"At the very least, it's a creature from before the ancient times, seemingly extremely terrifying and powerful."
"Were humans born at that time? What position did we hold?"
The doubts of those young disciples from Yaoguang Holy Land were also Ye Fan's questions. He very much wanted to know the answer.
"Could they research some secret technique or divine power from that claw?"
"That's hard to say. If the creature was powerful enough, that palm might indeed be a priceless treasure."
The several middle-aged cultivators were also discussing in low voices.
"I'm afraid even the great figures of our Yaoguang Holy Land don't truly understand."
"In this age, perhaps only the Primordial Ancient Mine holds the answer. There are beings there who have come to life from peerless divine source..."
"Don't speak of it. The Primordial Ancient Mine is a forbidden land. In the source mining region, you can't casually talk about it."
The Primordial Ancient Mine, at the center of this region, surrounded by the source territories of the various holy lands. No one dared to explore it. It was a land of ill omen.
For several consecutive days, seven or eight abandoned shafts were dug, but not a single piece of source was found. Ye Fan sighed at his bad luck—he had wanted to line his own pockets. Other source miners felt fortunate, as no misfortune had befallen them these days, and no ghost mine had been unearthed.
Just as people thought the storm had passed, on the seventh day, sudden screams came from beneath a mine shaft.
"What happened?" The cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land shouted from above.
These past few days, they had not left for a moment, always staying in this mining area. They dared not be careless with the task assigned by the Supreme Elder.
"Bones! A massive amount of bones has been discovered!" The people below were extremely terrified.
When source miners in other shafts of this area heard the news, they immediately rushed out and began fleeing into the distance.
Source miners often had to face evil incidents. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would first protect themselves. The fifteenth mining district fell into great chaos.
Ye Fan finally understood why so few source miners could survive ten years. With evil incidents happening every few days, even cultivators couldn't live for ten years.
"What's going on? Normally, such strange occurrences don't happen even once a year. Why have there been so many these past few days?"
Several experienced old source miners all had bad premonitions.
"I think digging up that claw last time wasn't the end, but just the beginning. This mining area is most likely a ghost mine. A tremendous evil is about to emerge."
"I have that feeling too. Something big is definitely going to happen."
"It's said that the Primordial Ancient Mine has been unsettled this past year. This might be an omen of great calamity."
Ye Fan's heart tightened. He felt that these old source miners, having faced such things for a long time, should have an instinctive intuition. Perhaps their premonitions might very well come true.
"Don't flee! It's just dry bones, no danger. Come back, everyone. Let's excavate this deep mine together."
The cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land ordered everyone to return, concentrating all manpower to begin excavating that deep shaft.
To encourage the crowd, they personally entered the mine shaft and directed everyone on-site.
However, when they witnessed everything below with their own eyes, they too drew in cold breaths.
Endless dry bones, all turned to fossils, impossible to count how many there were.
As long as you broke open the stone, there would be a large number of bones inside, making one's scalp tingle.
In the end, there was no stone to be seen, only stone bones. This place was like a burial pit.
Even the cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land felt chills down their spines. The atmosphere here was very wrong, growing increasingly cold and gloomy.
Just then, someone let out a scream: "We've dug up blood!"
In an instant, screams rose and fell one after another. Over a hundred people died on the spot.
"Heavens... a ghost mine! A tremendous evil!"
"I saw it! Heavens!"
At that moment, both Ye Fan and the cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land were horrified to the bone.
That's all for today's chapter.