The scratching stopped.
For three hours, the sound of a thousand legs testing the granite seal below had been a rhythmic torture. Now, silence.
Ji Han stood at the bottom of the spiral ramp, his breath misting slightly despite the fire burning ten meters up the slope. The temperature near the lower seal was dropping. The stone slab he had used to block the hole to the Yin Hollow was vibrating.
"They stopped," Lin Qinghe whispered from the upper landing, gripping a piece of firewood like a club.
"No," Ji Han said, his Perception +1.0 picking up a new, deeper sound. "They were testing the edges. Now they are gathering."
BOOM.
The granite slab jumped. Dust showered down from the ceiling. The Black Iron wedges Ji Han had jammed into the cracks groaned under the impact.
BOOM.
Something massive was ramming the door from below.
"The wedges!" Lin Qinghe shouted.
One of the iron shims popped out, pinging off the tunnel wall like a bullet. The slab shifted an inch to the right. A slice of absolute darkness appeared at the edge of the seal.
A hiss of freezing air screamed through the gap, instantly turning the moisture in the tunnel into snow.
Ji Han didn't wait. He stepped forward, the Frost-Iron Cleaver heavy in his hands.
"Hold the fire!" Ji Han roared. "Don't let it go out!"
He slammed his boot against the granite slab, shoving it back into place. But the force on the other side was relentless. It wasn't just one creature; it was a hydraulic press of living bodies pushing against the stone.
A claw hooked over the edge of the gap. It was pale, translucent blue, and hooked like a climbing axe.
Ji Han swung the cleaver.
CRUNCH.
The heavy black iron spine of the blade smashed the claw to powder. A screech echoed from below—a high-pitched, insectoid wail that made Ji Han's teeth ache.
But two more claws replaced the first. Then a head forced its way into the gap.
It was a beetle, the size of a dog, with mandibles that glowed with a soft, bioluminescent blue. Its eyes were milky white, blind and heat-seeking.
[System Notification: Enemy Detected.][Yin-Swarm Beetle (Level 0).][Status: Frenzied by Heat.]
"Level 0," Ji Han gritted his teeth. "Trash mob."
He didn't chop. He thrust the flat end of the cleaver into the beetle's face and pushed.
"Get. Down."
He channeled his Qi. Strength flooded his arms. He drove the beetle back into the hole, using its body as a plug. He felt the shell crunch, then the wet resistance as the creature was crushed by the horde behind it.
He stomped on the granite slab, kicking the iron wedge back into place.
BOOM.
The slab jumped again. The sheer mass of the swarm was lifting a two-ton rock.
"We can't seal it!" Ji Han realized. "Pressure buildup. If we block it completely, they'll break the floor."
He looked at the slab. If he let them in, they swarmed. If he blocked them, they broke the foundation.
"Controlled release," Ji Han panted.
He hooked the toe of his boot under the edge of the slab and pulled it back six inches.
The gap opened.
A beetle surged through instantly.
WHAM.
Ji Han brought the cleaver down like a guillotine. The frost-honed edge severed the beetle in half. Blue ichor sprayed the floor, freezing instantly.
Another one surged.
WHAM.
"Lin Qinghe!" Ji Han barked, not looking back. "I'm killing them. You drag the bodies up. We burn them. If the bodies pile up here, I lose my footing."
Lin Qinghe didn't hesitate. She scrambled down the ramp. She grabbed the back leg of the severed beetle. Her hands were wrapped in leather, but the cold burned through.
"It's freezing," she gasped, hauling the carcass away.
"It's fuel," Ji Han corrected. "They are made of Yin, but their shells burn. Feed the fire!"
The night became a gruesome assembly line.
The swarm was endless. They climbed over their dead, driven by a mindless hunger for the warmth of the fire above. They squeezed through the six-inch gap Ji Han allowed.
Ji Han became a machine.
Strike. Sever. Kick.
Strike. Sever. Kick.
His Qi reserves drained, but the Frost-Iron Cleaver was singing. The weapon was in its element. It absorbed the cold blood of the beetles, the blue serrated edge glowing brighter with every kill. The Black Iron spine drank Ji Han's Qi, becoming heavier, denser.
Hours passed. The pile of blue carcasses at the top of the ramp grew into a mound. Lin Qinghe was tossing legs and shells into the fire. The blue flames turned green, roaring with unnatural intensity. The heat in the tunnel rose, fighting back the creeping frost.
Finally, the pressure on the slab lessened. The rhythmic surging stopped.
The swarm had exhausted its front line.
Ji Han slammed the slab shut. He hammered the wedges back in with the pommel of his cleaver.
He slumped against the cold rock wall, his chest heaving. He was covered in blue frost and frozen gore. His arms shook with tremors he couldn't control.
"Status," he croaked.
"Fire is stable," Lin Qinghe called down. Her voice was steady, but he could hear the exhaustion. "The beetle shells burn slow and hot. We have... too much fuel."
Ji Han laughed. It was a dry, ragged sound.
They had feared running out of wood. Now, the enemy was delivering coal to their doorstep.
"They aren't just attackers," Ji Han whispered, looking at the sealed door. "They are resources. They are the supply drop."
He looked at his cleaver. The blue edge was pulsating.
[System Notification: Weapon Proficiency Increased.][Frost-Iron Cleaver Affinity: 10%.][Qi Condensation Level 2: 15% Exp.]
"Combat cultivation," Ji Han realized. "I don't just get stronger by breathing. I get stronger by killing."
He stood up, wiping the ice from his face.
"Get some sleep, Empress," Ji Han said, trudging up the ramp toward the green fire. "The sun won't rise for six months. We have a lot of beetles to process."