Chapter 110: Voluntary Confession

"Brother Du Long! Good news, great news!" Ouye Zi, who had gone out to survey the mineral vein, came running back excitedly as the sky began to darken.

"Brother Ouye Zi! Could it be that this is a rich vein?!" Du Long greeted him with equal excitement.

"Better than a rich vein! Heavens! This is not only a rare rich vein, it is a solid mountain of black profound iron!" Ouye Zi replied, his excitement still impossible to hide.

"A solid black iron mountain?" Du Long asked, puzzled.

"It means that inside this entire mountain, aside from a few meters of soil on the surface, there is a massive stone core! The entire stone mountain is composed of ore rich in black profound iron!" Ouye Zi continued, trying to suppress his thrill.

"Good heavens!" Du Long finally understood and exclaimed, "If such a mountain is solid black profound iron, how much could we possibly mine from it?!"

"In my decades of traveling across the Star Continent, I have seen solid iron mountains, but I have never seen a solid black profound iron one; it is completely unheard of!" Ouye Zi remarked with emotion. "The rarer the ore, the harder it is for such a formation to occur."

"This is truly a massive windfall! Relying solely on this solid black profound iron mountain is enough to refine supplies for every legion in the entire empire!" Du Long muttered to himself.

"No! Such a heaven-defying secret must not get out!" Du Long quickly realized the gravity of the situation and made a decision. "Brother Ouye Zi! Please keep your disciples in check; do not let this news spread!"

"I understand that, of course! Aside from myself and Lü Hai, the other disciples know nothing of this!" Ouye Zi had calmed down by now.

"In that case, only a few of us know," Du Long said, scanning those around him. "Xiao Feng! The same goes for you and Qinglian! You must not leak the situation here. Especially you, Xiao Feng, it is best not to disclose this to the Emperor for now. Rest assured, when the time is right, I will find a way to compensate the empire for its losses!"

"Mm! It is better that this remains secret! It saves us from every Tom, Dick, and Harry begging my father for black profound iron, which would be a huge loss for us!" Huo Feng clearly understood the logic.

"Exactly! From now on, a ten-mile radius around this mountain must be strictly controlled. No outsiders are allowed to enter or leave at will. The thousand men we brought will all stay behind to be responsible for the security and defense of this place!" Du Long said solemnly. "Also, Brother Ouye Zi! You must intensify your efforts on the second secret weapon blueprint I gave you. It would be best if you could use the black profound iron from here to manufacture a small batch of those secret weapons as soon as possible!"

"No problem! Even if you hadn't asked, I've been itching to start! Haha!" Ouye Zi replied with a chuckle.

Over the next few days, major construction began at the black profound iron mountain, with a garrison camp and a weapon factory being built simultaneously.

The weapon factory was eventually located inside a large cave at the base of the mountain. This natural giant cavern was perfect for a weapon factory, as they could extract ore directly from within to refine into black profound iron, while also expanding the cave's dimensions.

The garrison camp was established outside the cave, an encampment built with wooden palisades that tightly enclosed the area for several miles around the cave entrance. With a thousand soldiers working together, the efficiency was self-evident.

For several days, Du Long patrolled the camp and, under the guidance of the beautiful spirit guide, instructed the soldiers on how to build a more advanced fortification; he was kept quite busy and enjoyed it.

As for the construction inside the cave, he initially had no input. However, once Ouye Zi set up a proper weapon forging production line, the beautiful spirit guide couldn't help but offer a few suggestions, which Du Long relayed.

After hearing the suggestions, Ouye Zi’s eyes lit up. He immediately decided to modify several points on the forging line, which delayed the production start date by a few days. Ouye Zi, however, did not mind at all.

In his view, sharpening the axe would not delay the woodcutting; by making sufficient preparations today, his disciples would have a much easier time when they eventually recruited a group of blacksmiths to help, and the efficiency of forging weapons would increase many times over.

Once Du Long had no more suggestions for the construction inside and outside the cave, he informed Ouye Zi and Sun Lin, as requested by the spirit guide, and dashed toward the nearby marshlands.

The great lion carried Du Long and the two beauties to the edge of the marsh. After communicating with the spirit guide for a long time, Du Long finally spoke: "Alright! Xiao Feng, Qinglian! Now that it’s just the three of us, there are some things I must make clear to you!"

"What is it? Being all mysterious..." Princess Huo Feng replied with curiosity and doubt. Xia Qinglian blinked her beautiful eyes; while curious, she said nothing and listened quietly.

"I believe you have sensed it! There are many secrets about me that cannot be spoken of for the time being!" Du Long pondered for a moment before continuing, "I hope that when you accompany me on any thrilling endeavors, you will keep these secrets! Also, I will tell you what I can, but for the secrets I cannot yet reveal, I hope you will not press me."

"I am already your fiancée! Is there any secret you can't tell me?" Princess Huo Feng pouted in dissatisfaction.

"Sigh! Xiao Feng, there are many things I cannot say right now. When the conditions allow in the future, I will tell you everything! I knew someone as curious as you would be the hardest to deal with. If you cannot manage this, I will have to send you back to camp!" Du Long said with a helpless, bitter smile.

"Fine, fine! Since my husband has said so, I agree. As long as it's a secret you cannot answer, I won't ask. But there is one thing you must promise!" Princess Huo Feng compromised immediately upon hearing she might be sent back.

"What must I promise?" Du Long asked, puzzled.

"You are allowed to have other secrets! But if it involves other women, you must be completely honest! Otherwise, if you just dismiss it as a 'secret' while you're out..." Princess Huo Feng voiced her thoughts, but was interrupted by Du Long before she could finish.

"Understood! I will definitely do that. In fact, aside from you and Qinglian, I, Du Long, have no desire to have any entanglement with other women in this life!" Du Long sighed with a smile.

"Hee hee! That’s hard to say. It just means you haven't met a woman who truly moves your heart yet!" Huo Feng chuckled, unconvinced.

Having grown up in the imperial palace, she was long accustomed to the habits of men having multiple wives and mistresses and being fickle. Expecting a man to be constant to one woman was, to her, as likely as a sow climbing a tree.

"Believe it or not, in any case, I, Du Long, promise here today that as long as it concerns women, I will be honest!" Du Long said helplessly. "Alright! Sit tight. No matter what happens next, don't ask, just watch. And please, do not leak this! Especially you, Xiao Feng, do not tell your father or mother about what happens while you are with me!"

"So mysterious, I don't believe there are any heaven-defying secrets about you..." Princess Huo Feng was only halfway through her sentence when her face turned pale, and she exclaimed, "Ah..."

It turned out that while she was chattering away, the great lion, having received Du Long's command, suddenly leaped into the air and flew straight into the depths of the marsh. With the area for dozens of miles under the spirit guide's surveillance, there was no sign of any human, so there was no fear of the secret being leaked.

"This... how is this possible?! Little Lie actually possesses Spirit-level strength?! Heavens..." In mid-air, once Princess Huo Feng recovered from her initial shock, she whispered in disbelief.

"Little Lie! Say something!" Du Long said with a hint of amusement.

"Yes, Master! What would you like me to say?" Little Lie’s voice, feigning ignorance, echoed in the air.

"Heavens! It’s actually true..." Princess Huo Feng exclaimed again. Xia Qinglian, who was holding tightly onto Du Long's back, looked astonished but did not say a word.

"What... what is going on here?! Du Long! Tell me, what is this all about?! A Spirit-level demonic beast? How did it become your spirit pet?!" Princess Huo Feng muttered, somewhat neurotically.

"Now you know what a sensation it would cause if some of these secrets were revealed, right?" Du Long replied with a smile.

"I doubt anyone in the three great empires possesses a Spirit-level spirit pet! If this were known to outsiders, it would surely shake the whole world! Du Long, oh no! Husband..." Huo Feng began to act coquettishly. "Tell me! How did this happen?!"

"The reason is as I said before. At the time, Little Lie was fighting an alligator demon and was about to lose. I happened to have a medicinal pill that could help it recover from its injuries, while also boosting its strength to defeat its opponent! Out of gratitude, Little Lie decided to acknowledge me as its master!" Du Long, unable to withstand Huo Feng's pouting, explained roughly.

"Heavens! A pill that can have an effect during a battle between Spirit-level beasts—how high-grade must that pill be?! Where did you get it?! Don't tell me it fell from the sky again!" Princess Huo Feng said incredulously.

"You guessed right again! I found that pill in the spatial ring that fell from the sky!" Du Long replied with a chuckle.

"This..." Princess Huo Feng was stunned on the spot. Du Long's answer was very logical, and she didn't know how to refute it.

"Sigh! Silly girl! Believe it or not, that’s just how it is! You must remember our agreement; don't get to the bottom of everything! Also, never let it be known that Little Lie is a Spirit-level beast!" Du Long sighed.

"Oh! I understand! I know the gravity of the situation, this must never be leaked!" Although her head was full of questions, Princess Huo Feng had to accept Du Long's explanation; after all, she had already agreed to the three conditions.

"Actually, there is one more thing you don't know. If I hadn't subdued Little Lie back then, we would have been completely wiped out on the way to the third gold mine!" To change the subject, Du Long intentionally brought up another matter.

"What is this about? Tell me!" Seeing there was a story to be told, Huo Feng immediately perked up.

Du Long then roughly recounted how the Fan family had sent two Fourth-level spirit beasts to ambush them at Twin Ravines, intending to kill them all, and how Little Lie had intervened and killed all the opponents.

"Heavens! No wonder when we passed through Twin Ravines, we saw so many fresh human bones along the way! So that’s what happened! No wonder you wouldn't let your men investigate the origin of those bones!" Princess Huo Feng finally realized.