Without rushing to urge the weary soldiers into action, perhaps Gu Mo lacks the capitalist spirit and awareness, and doesn't feel they are working for him.

So, he thoughtfully let the soldiers have a good rest until the afternoon, before having them, refreshed, engage in clearing the entire mansion... After all, many hands make light work, much better than the three of them searching aimlessly.

--- It wasn't even the three of them, actually it's just him who is consciously concerned with this issue, yet it's difficult to explain to the other two.

As for Fujikichiro, he naturally didn't know; while Hidechika, despite sensing some Demon Qi still lingering in the mountain's belly, was unaware of a secret passage leading inside the mountain hidden somewhere deep in his father's mansion and didn't think much of it... So only Gu Mo himself was certain about this matter, but couldn't explain it to them.

Even when searching himself, it's inappropriate to make it too obvious, and the workload was substantial.

So he could only hope that through a sweeping search by the soldiers, with sufficient numbers performing a thorough carpet search, they should be able to find the location of the hidden door and passage.

This matter proceeded even more smoothly than he had imagined. In the depths of an apparently ordinary room, a small squad of Iron Cannon Foot Soldiers discovered a wall that had been violently destroyed, with an obscured passage behind it... It seemed quite obvious; as long as one entered the room, they could see it, although if it was only a single person, they might have wandered the mansion for a long while before finding it.

The three, upon hearing the report, all rushed to this room and saw the destroyed wall.

It appeared there had been an exquisitely designed mechanism, needing only a light turn of the torch in the corner of the wall to directly flip the wall, thus entering into the hidden passage...

— But now all of these designs are meaningless.

Perhaps it was the work of the Demon Ghosts, this room was also in disarray, the mechanism wall itself was pierced through, revealing the darkness behind, an artificially excavated gallery with thick rock walls on both sides, so narrow that only two could walk side by side, leaving almost no additional space.

The gallery was long and narrow, and it was unclear where it led, and there was no trace of light.

"There is something in the depths of the mountain's belly that's attracting them..."

Fujikichiro volunteered, vying for the opportunity to show his skills, and walked in, torch in hand and accompanied by his Guardian Spirit, cautiously probing around, only to return moments later, his face grave.

"The Demon Ghosts on this mountain are likely attracted by that thing, whether they have intellect or not... It's just too deep inside, much larger than I imagined, I dare not go too far."

Whether or not they have brains, those entities can instinctively find this place because of the position in the mountain's belly, reaching the road locked away by the entire mansion. This shows that thing holds inherent and great significance to them.

Fujikichiro vaguely conceived something; he had speculated earlier, yet it ultimately wasn't good to speak further. Knowing but not clearly stating it. He was truly a wise person, not the kind who appears clever but is actually foolish, so he understood that reading too much into things rashly wasn't wise, and boastfully flaunting what he knew was even more foolish.

In such case, no matter if he guessed right or wrong, there would be no good outcome.

"Finding the source is beneficial; it's better than wandering aimlessly on the mountain outside like a headless fly..."

Gu Mo assessed the dark gallery behind the wall, nodded, and spoke.

"Indeed..." Fujikichiro replied dryly, forcing a smile. He hesitated slightly, glanced outside, the soldiers were patrolling or standing guard, leaving just the three of them inside this room, so he stepped closer, lowering his voice—

"Brother Gu Mo, Miss Ah Xiu... I think, ideally, we shouldn't bring too many people along here."

"?"

Gu Mo's expression remained unchanged, but Hidechika, who was examining the hidden door and passage, lightly tilted his slender, delicate brows.

"You see, this must be something Lord Dao San secretly constructed, indicating he doesn't want others to know. No matter what is hidden in the depths of the mountain's belly, it's definitely something very important..." Fujikichiro struggled to organize his words, feeling truly burdened.

Knowing yet pretending not to know.

While pretending not to know, he also had to find a way to cover for and clean up after his superior... Even though this matter was unrelated to him, it was purely an unexpected disaster, originally thinking he finally had a great opportunity to rise and shine, and upon arriving here he would have a chance to make a grand showing.

However, reality and ideals often diverge slightly.

For more than half a month now, he had no major opportunities to showcase his talents; the anticipated unfamiliar environment and local privilege groups causing difficulties didn't present itself, instead, the city was managed in an orderly manner, making it seem as if his presence there made no difference.

Conscious of the lack of indispensability, fearing his value wasn't noted and not receiving recognition, he had been working desperately hard. However, he still couldn't find any good methods, and at this moment, coincidentally a massive issue arose, potentially implicating him simply because he happened to hold office here.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.