Cui Jian couldn't help but shook his head with a wry smile, and then said: "Just a few days ago, someone had the idea of Heiyan Earth Heart Fire, and chose to use money to target Lord Ma's cronies. It is said that they managed to get in, but the second time
When he and his cronies who were targeted were found on the street the next day, their hands and feet were chopped off, their eyes were gouged out, and their tongues were cut out."
Cui Jian couldn't help but feel frightened when he talked about that guy's miserable condition.
To lose one's limbs in Yandi City would be even crueler than death.
If you lose your limbs, you need someone to take care of you.
But who would support a burden?
What the officials did was simply to make him unable to live or die, and then used this to warn the people in the city not to think of using other methods to obtain the right to use the Black Flame Earth's Heart Fire.
"Who is this Lord Ma you are talking about?" Su Yu couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, this brother, this is your first time coming to Yandi City, so you may not know Lord Ma."
Cui Jian smiled and explained: "This Lord Ma, his name is Ma Zuliang. He is the prefect of Yandi City. Everything in this city naturally obeys his orders."
"And the government is responsible for leasing the use of the Black Flame Earth Core Fire."
"But just a month ago, the government stopped leasing the use rights of the Black Flame Earth Core Fire to external parties and left it to the government to operate it itself."
Su Yu frowned slightly and couldn't help but said: "Then do you know what the government is doing by occupying the Black Flame Earth's Heart Fire? For example, is it making some weapons or something?"
Cui Jian shook his head, and then said with a wry smile: "I don't know about this. The government is extremely strict."
"Even the blacksmiths hired by the government are only responsible for making iron embryos."
"As for what type of tools these iron embryos will be made into, even these blacksmiths have no way of knowing."
"However, this Black Flame Earth Core Fire is only used to make various weapons. It is probably because of the large quantity that the government had to stop leasing it to external parties."
Since the government canceled the lease rights to external parties, many blacksmith shops in Yandi City had to close their doors, and then they were hired by the government with high salaries to become part of the iron embryo making industry.
This also caused the martial arts warriors who came to Yandi City to use the Black Flame Earth Core Fire to make weapons complain, but they had no choice but to leave.
Do you still dare to go against the government?
Su Yu couldn't help but be a little curious. What was the purpose of the government having full control over the use of the Black Flame Earth's Heart Fire?
Another suspicion is that just because they secretly wanted to use the Black Flame Earth Core Fire, those two guys met an extremely harsh end.
This is done mainly for two purposes.
The first is to warn the people in the city not to think about using the black flames to make weapons.
Second, it is to warn the people below the government that if someone dares to accept benefits privately and allows others to use the Black Flame Earth Heart Fire privately, then there will be lessons learned from the past. Naturally, the people below will not think about getting benefits again and ruin themselves in vain.
Go in.
It's just that the government controls the Black Flame Earth's Heart Fire so strictly. What is its purpose?
According to Su Yu's guess, the government probably has some ulterior secret that controls the Black Flame Earth's Heart Fire so strictly.
Even the blacksmiths hired were only responsible for making iron blanks.
The purpose of this is nothing more than to prevent these blacksmiths from leaking the news, which would in turn lead to the secret being exposed.
But after finally traveling such a long distance, Su Yu naturally couldn't give up easily.
He led Cui Jian to a teahouse, signaled the waiter to serve a pot of good tea, and then continued to ask: "Is there a Hidden Dragon Realm warrior in this Yandi City?"
When using Black Flame Earth Core Fire, his true form can only be present, and then his bone wings can be strengthened.
If ordinary methods don't work, then he can only use some means.
Whether or not there are warriors in the Hidden Dragon Realm is very important.
He had no intention of finding out what corrupt and perverse things the government was doing with the Black Flame Earth Core Fire. He just wanted to use the Black Flame Earth Core Fire to strengthen his bone wings.
As soon as the strengthening is completed, it will naturally leave immediately.
If there is a Hidden Dragon Realm warrior in the government, it will undoubtedly greatly increase the difficulty for him to sneak in.
"A hidden dragon realm warrior?"
Cui Jian was startled when he heard this, then he laughed and said: "Brother, you think too highly of me. How can a common citizen trust this kind of news?"
"But based on my guess, there are probably Hidden Dragon Realm warriors in this Yandi City."
"oh?"
Su Yu raised his eyebrows and asked, "Tell me about your guess."
"In Emperor Yan City, there are many Yuyue Realm warriors from all over the world who come here to make weapons, but even these people did not dare to make any mistakes after hearing that the government had blocked the use rights of Black Flame Earth's Heart Fire.
"
Cui Jian chuckled and said: "If these martial arts warriors in the Yu Leap Realm didn't know that there were people in this city that they couldn't afford to offend, would they have surrendered obediently? It is estimated that they would have used their powerful force to enter the cave and use it openly.
Black Flame Earth’s heart is on fire.”
After listening to Cui Jian's analysis, Su Yu couldn't help but nodded.
What he said does have some truth to it.
In front of the Hidden Dragon Realm warriors, the Yu Leap Realm warriors are indeed not enough to look at.
"There are Hidden Dragon Realm warriors guarding the cave. It is indeed not an easy task for me to sneak in and use the Black Flame Earth Core Fire."
Su Yu couldn't help but curse in his heart.
After finally arriving at Yandi City, he encountered something like this, which undoubtedly made him feel a little depressed.
"well."
Su Yu sighed softly, and then said: "I finally came to Yandi City. I wanted to use the inner fire of the black flame to make a handy weapon, but now I am afraid I will be disappointed."
"Brother Cui, I finally came here once, so please take me to the cave to have a look."
Hearing Su Yu's words, Cui Jian's expression suddenly changed, and he shook his head hurriedly: "Brother, it's not that I won't take you, but the cave is already guarded by someone far away, and I can't bring you with me.
You go visit."
According to the information he received, even if he peeked into the cave from a distance, he might be arrested.
Cui Jian didn't want to end up like the two people before him, with his hands and feet cut off, his eyes gouged out, and his tongue cut out.
"That's it."
Su Yu chuckled and said, "Then tell me which direction this cave is in."
Hearing that Su Yu still refused to give up, Cui Jian couldn't help but persuade him: "Brother, it's not that I won't take you there, but the cave is now like a forbidden area, and outsiders cannot set foot in that area at all."
"But if you just look at it from a distance, as long as you are careful, you won't attract the attention of the government."
"You just walk along this street to the end, and then you will see two roads on the left and right. Go left for another five miles, and then when you see a checkpoint there, you have to stop, because there is another one mile outside.
, it’s the underground cave.”
After Su Yu got the exact location, he nodded with a smile and said: "Thank you Brother Cui for telling me. Brother Cui, don't worry. Since the cave is now a forbidden area, I will naturally not set foot in it. I will just stand and take a look from a distance.
Let yourself consider that your hard work was not in vain.”
"Brother, if you think so, then I'll be relieved." Cui Jian said with a smile.
After separating from Cui Jian, Su Yu walked straight in the direction Cui Jian said.
After about a stick of incense, Su Yu saw the existence of a checkpoint from a distance. A group of soldiers wearing armor were on guard, and the inside was brightly lit.
Su Yu released his spiritual consciousness, and then spread towards the back of the checkpoint.
Behind the checkpoint, there are almost three posts per post, five posts per post, and patrolling soldiers.
When the spiritual consciousness extends to sixty feet, it can no longer advance further due to problems with its own realm.
However, Su Yu had a general understanding of the current situation.
"People who don't know, think that there is a vein of top-quality Yuanjing here."
Looking at the dense checkpoints, Su Yu couldn't help but sigh.
It would be almost impossible to break in as an uninvited guest.
"According to what Cui Jian said, the checkpoint outside is still one mile away from the cave. There is no way for my consciousness to extend into the cave."
"I have to find a way to enter the inner area of the checkpoint, and then use my spiritual consciousness to observe what the situation inside the cave looks like inside the checkpoint."
Looking at the dense checkpoints, Su Yu frowned in thought.
At this moment, Su Yu saw a group of sentries coming from outside, then passed the checkpoint and exchanged defenses with a group of patrolling sentries outside the cave.
After the patrolling sentries were put down, they walked towards the outside of the sentry post.
"Yes."
Seeing this group of sentinels walking out, Su Yu's eyes couldn't help but light up.
I think this period of time will be the time to switch defenses.
He could completely dress up like a sentry, sneak in without anyone noticing, and then find a way to sneak into the cave after figuring out the situation inside the cave.
Thinking of this, Su Yu didn't hesitate at all and quietly followed the team of replaced sentries.
There were a total of five sentries in this team. In order to avoid taking action himself and causing an unexpected situation with a small number of sentries, Su Yu did not choose to take action immediately.
It wasn't until the five people dispersed on the street and walked towards their homes that Su Yu caught up with one of the sentries.
Before the sentry could react, Su Yu knocked him unconscious and dragged him into a deserted alley.
When he walked out of the alley again, his appearance had changed into that of the sentinel, and he was also wearing his robes.
Immediately, Su Yu headed towards the cave again.
With the help of the night, Su Yu used the movement and martial arts technique of "Treading the Sky" and successfully entered the inner area of the checkpoint.
Su Yu found a team of patrolling sentries, and after knocking down the sentry at the end, he joined the patrolling team.
After changing his appearance to that person, the people in front had no idea that the companion behind him had already changed.
With this skin, he also became a patrol officer.
While walking around and inspecting, Su Yu touched the door of the cave very easily.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Su Yu's consciousness spread towards the direction of the cave.
Inside the cave, there is a stone staircase that extends all the way down.
As it went deeper, the heat wave inside also burned Su Yu's consciousness.
"The temperature is so terrifying that even the consciousness will be burned."
Feeling the tingling sensation in his head, Su Yu couldn't help but secretly gasp.
When his consciousness spread fifty feet below, the scene before him made him startled.
In front of you is a huge square.
The entire square is filled with dense iron furnaces.
Inside the iron furnace, clusters of black flames emitting terrifying high temperatures were burning blazingly.
Next to each iron furnace, there is a simple table for the blacksmith to pound the iron blanks.
The sound of the hammer striking the iron embryo was like a symphony in the square, resounding densely.
A big man with his upper body bare, his right arm muscled, was hammering hard on the piece of iron in front of him.
When the iron embryo is extracted from impurities and beaten into uniformly sized pieces, it will be placed in water to cool down, and then someone will come and take away the iron embryo.
The big man, like a hard-working bee, took out the iron embryo from the iron furnace again, repeatedly removed the impurities inside the iron embryo, and then continued to shape it into iron embryos of the same size.
"Good guy, this has become an assembly line."
Su Yu couldn't help but sigh.
In this huge square, a rough count shows that there are at least five hundred blacksmiths hammering away at the iron blanks.
Su Yu couldn't help but secretly sighed.
With so many blacksmiths making iron blanks, what on earth is Ma Zuliang planning?
With this curiosity, Su Yu's consciousness naturally did not stay in the square, but continued to follow the person who took away the iron embryo.
Finally the man walked into a corridor with the iron embryo.
On the left and right sides of the corridor are secret rooms sealed by iron doors.
The man came to a secret room, opened a hole the size of an adult's head, and then threw the iron embryo into the secret room from the window.
"This is."
When Su Yu's consciousness extended into the secret room along the window, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
In the secret room, there is also an iron furnace the same size as the one in the square, with black flames burning inside.
In addition to the iron furnace in the secret room, there is also a man with shackled hands and feet.
The man's upper body was naked, and his chest and back were covered with dense whip marks, which were the marks left after being beaten and healed by the whip.
Obviously, this man should be a prisoner.
Under the bright candlelight, the man placed the iron embryo on the black fire in the center of the earth and began to heat it.
After the iron embryo is burned red, it is placed on the table and hammered into shape.
On the side wall, there are already several iron tools such as broad-backed knives.
Obviously, this man's main job is to shape iron embryos into the shape of weapons.
"The shape of this iron tool, if I remember correctly, should be the Qi Dao used by the Northern Qi army."
"I understand, this Ma Zuliang is making weapons for Northern Qi?"
"This also makes sense, why he has to strictly guard against it and control the information here so that it cannot be leaked."
"The blacksmiths outside are responsible for making the iron embryos, and then the prisoners shape the iron embryos into specific shapes..."
"And these prisoners have no chance to leave, so naturally they won't leak the secrets inside."
"Otherwise, if it is known that he made this kind of weapon for the purpose of exporting it to Northern Qi, even if he had a hundred lives, it would not be enough to kill him."
After Su Yu understood the whole story, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy.
No wonder Ma Zuliang looked down on leasing the Black Flame Earth Core Fire to outsiders. He obviously looked down on the crookedness and decided to take the export route.
In addition, Yanzhou is four to five thousand miles away from Tai'an City, and the emperor is far away. He is undoubtedly the local emperor here in Yandi City.
These prisoners who were imprisoned in secret rooms became his tools to make money, and they continuously created wealth for him.
After confirming the situation in the cave, Su Yu quietly left the patrol team and hibernated quietly at the entrance of the cave.
In the corridor of the underground cave, under the scan of his spiritual consciousness, he also found that there were many secret sentries guarding them.
If he didn't have any identity and didn't go down to the square of the cave, he would be discovered by the guys who were watching him in the dark.
"We have to hurry up."
"The patrol team has a total of five people. Now one person is missing. When they find out that there are few people, they will definitely launch a thorough investigation into the cave. I must complete the strengthening of the bone wings before I am found after the incident."
Su Yu thought to himself.
Under the current circumstances, he could only take risks.
As long as the bone wings can be strengthened, even if the opponent has a Hidden Dragon Realm warrior, he will have enough power to protect himself.
When the time comes, as long as he breaks out of the cave, he can cast the Golden Winged Kite and quickly leave the place of right and wrong.
Su Yu didn't have to wait long before he found a target.
It was a group of blacksmiths walking towards the cave, and beside the pair of blacksmiths, there were several soldiers escorting them.
The surveillance of these soldiers was obviously to prevent the blacksmith from entering and leaving other areas of the cave.
Su Yu was hanging at the back of the team. Before a soldier could react, Su Yu covered his mouth and dragged him into the darkness.
In just a few breaths, Su Yu had already changed into the soldier's clothes, disguised himself as the soldier, followed the team of blacksmiths, and walked into the cave together.
Walking into the door of the cave, a wave of heat hit his face, making Su Yu's breathing become hotter.
"Tsk, tsk, the temperature of this black fire is really terrifying."
Su Yu couldn't help but sigh.
With this robe and his disguised face, Su Yu successfully avoided the secret sentry in the corridor and made his way to the square below the cave.
After arriving at the square below the cave, this team of blacksmiths replaced another team of blacksmiths, and then began the orderly work of making iron embryos.
Su Yu's job at this time was to supervise this team of people in making iron embryos and prevent them from doing lazy and slippery things.
"Ouch."
Su Yu suddenly shouted while holding his stomach.
Several other colleagues couldn't help but look over.
"Brother Nie, how are you?" A person came up and asked involuntarily.
"Hiss~"
Su Yu took a deep breath, and then said quickly: "I'm afraid I'm hungry, so I have to go to the hut. Just keep an eye on me and I'll come back as soon as I go.
"Go quickly, go quickly, and remember to come back early. If Mr. Li finds out that one of us is missing a job, all the brothers will suffer."
Su Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon and I won't delay things."
With that said, Su Yu had already ran away with his buttocks between his legs.
"Haha, this guy."
When his teammates saw this funny scene, they all burst into laughter.
After leaving the attention of these people in the square, Su Yu flashed and walked straight to the hidden corridor.
At this time, a soldier was walking over here carrying an iron embryo.
"Bang."
The soldier opened a hole in the secret room and threw the iron embryo directly in.
When he turned around, Su Yu was already standing behind him.
"Who are you"
The soldier's expression changed, and before he could finish speaking, Su Yu grabbed his throat, preventing him from ever having a chance to say the next words.
With a slight exertion of his hand, the soldier fell into a baby-like sleep.
With a flick of his wrist, a bunch of keys hanging on the soldier's waist fell into Su Yu's hands.
According to his spiritual observation, each of the soldiers responsible for delivering iron embryos to the prisoners in this corridor would be responsible for ten prisoners.
And the keys to the secret rooms of these ten prisoners were also in the hands of this soldier.
"Squeak~"
Su Yu successfully opened the door to the secret room before other soldiers appeared in the corridor.
The prisoner who was burning iron rods in the secret room couldn't help but look a little shocked when he saw Su Yu walking in with the soldiers responsible for guarding him.
But before he could say anything, Su Yu followed him into the secret room and closed the door to the secret room again.
Su Shan stepped forward and patted the prisoner's neck, causing the prisoner to fall into a baby-like sleep.
Su Yu took out the dragon-slaying dagger from the space finger, and then quickly slashed the palm of his hand, and blood immediately burst out.
Immediately afterwards, the ripples of the Tiandao Jade shook, and the blood quickly squirmed and rose, turning into a clone of Su Yu.
After the clone appeared, he immediately took off the soldiers' robes and put them on, and quickly disguised himself as a soldier.
The whole process can be said to be done in one go.
"Squeak."
When Su Yu's clone opened the iron door again and walked out of the secret room, he was met by a soldier walking over with a piece of iron embryo.
"Yandong, what are you doing again?"
Seeing Su Yu come out, the soldier glanced at the iron gate behind him and couldn't help but frown and asked.
"Oh, nothing."
Su Yu chuckled and said, "I caught the guy here being lazy, so I had to open the door and go in to teach him a lesson. He's fine now."
The soldier was dissatisfied and said: "Why should such a guy teach him a lesson? If he dares to be lazy, just kill him. We have plenty of people."
Su Yu said with a smile: "I don't think it's troublesome. Anyway, the matter has been solved. Let's go, don't delay your work."
The soldier didn't doubt it, and the two of them walked towards the square outside the corridor again.
"Huh, it's so dangerous."
In the secret room, Su Yu couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
He was busy making various preparations just now, but his consciousness was not spread out, and he didn't even notice the soldier walking into the corridor.
If the soldier took one more look into the secret room, he might see him.
When the time comes, I might have to knock that guy out again and stuff him in.
Now that there was a clone outside to stall for time, Su Yu did not hesitate at all. He took out the extraterritorial meteorite obtained from the auction house from the space wrench and placed it directly on the iron furnace for calcination.
The main function of this iron furnace is to connect to the ground, which can control the inner fire of the black flames within the iron furnace and weaken the scorching effects of the inner fire of the black flames on people outside.
Otherwise, there is no iron furnace to restrict such a secret room, and it won't take long for the Black Flame Earth Core Fire to turn the entire secret room into a furnace.
Su Yu took off the baffle on one side of the iron furnace. This baffle was used to control the size of the Black Flame Earth Core Fire.
After more Black Flame Earth Core Fire poured into the iron furnace, the Black Flame Earth Core Fire in the iron furnace burned stronger and stronger.
Black flames rose in the iron furnace, and the temperature in the secret room quickly began to rise.
The extraterrestrial meteorite placed by Su Yu above the iron furnace also made a crackling sound, and had a dark, moist luster on its surface, with a faint tendency to melt.
"Tsk, tsk, the temperature of this black fire is indeed terrifying."
Su Yu couldn't help but sigh, this trip was finally not in vain.
He knew how hard this extraterrestrial meteorite was.
In just a short time, this extraterrestrial meteorite has a tendency to melt into molten iron.
"I just don't know what the bottom of this cave looks like. Is it really like the legend that it was Emperor Yan's natal flame that fell into the ground of Emperor Yan's city after his death?"
Looking at the blazing black flames in the iron furnace, Su Yu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
This was the first time he had seen such black flames in his life.
At first glance, it looks like a pool of transparent and dark ink that is constantly changing its shape, which is extremely strange.
After about a stick of incense, the extraterrestrial meteorite finally melted and turned into a pool of pitch-black molten iron.
"puff!"
Su Yu's energy surged, and the bone wings spread out behind him.
The bone wings, which were more than three feet long, filled the entire secret room.
Su Yu even had to make the bone wings deliberately curl up and fold in half before they could spread out in the secret room.
According to the relevant introduction of the Golden Winged Kite's martial arts, Su Yu asked the bone wing to stain the thick black molten iron.
"呲~"
The ball of molten iron refined from meteorites from outside the territory touched the bone wings, and the bone wings made a squeaking sound like ice and snow meeting fire chestnuts.
A burning smell suddenly filled the entire secret room.
When every inch of the bone wing was contaminated by the black molten iron, the bone wing suddenly changed a lot.
The bone wings that once appeared to be shiny and white are now like a corner of the night sky filled with stars, dotted with many stars, which is beautiful and beautiful.
Su Yu took out the extraterrestrial meteorite obtained from the Thunder Jue Formation in the Martial Saint's Mausoleum from the space wrench, and then followed the previous method and placed it on the iron furnace for calcination.
After waiting for this extraterrestrial meteorite accompanied by thunder to be refined into molten iron, Su Yu had the time to look at his masterpiece.
"I have to say that the appearance of this bone wing has indeed improved to a higher level now."
"At least flying in mid-air at night will not attract anyone's attention."
Su Yu looked at the wings that had transformed from bone wings into iron wings and couldn't help but sigh.
Then Su Yu knocked on Tie Yi, and only a slight sound came from his ears, while most of the sound had been absorbed by Tie Yi.
He took out the dragon-slaying dagger and slashed it hard, but it only left a white mark.
Su Yu's eyes couldn't help but light up. The strength and toughness of the iron wings strengthened by meteorites from outside the territory were several times stronger than before.
"Based on its current strength, Xuan Bing probably won't be able to break through its defense."
Su Yu's eyes flashed with a strange light and he murmured in a low voice.
He was very curious about how strong the bone wing would be when it was fully strengthened.
After another half an hour, the extraterrestrial meteorite accompanied by the power of thunder was finally refined into a pool of molten iron, with faint thunder arcs jumping endlessly on it.
Su Yu once again followed the previous method and used his iron wings to stain the pool of thunderous molten iron.
But when Tie Yi was just contaminated by the pool of molten iron, the thunder spread along Tie Yi towards Su Yu's body.
The thunder was so fast that Su Yu didn't even have a chance to react before he was affected by the thunder.
"Um"
Su Yu immediately froze on the spot, his long hair exploded, and black smoke emitted, looking as if he had been struck by lightning.
"What a risk."
After his body was under his control again, Su Yu opened his mouth and blew out a puff of black smoke.
"If I hadn't been promoted to the late stage of Iron Bone Realm and my physical strength has been greatly strengthened again, it would have been really dangerous just now."
Su Yu looked a little scared and murmured in a low voice with lingering fear.
The moment he was struck by lightning gave him the illusion that he had gone to hell.
"Just such a thunderbolt the size of a hair almost killed me. I can't imagine how terrible the disaster that the dragon suffered must have been."
Su Yu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
In the Sunset Mountains, each of the five heavenly tribulations was several feet in diameter. How sour and refreshing was the feeling when it hit the body?
Even Situ Zhong was immediately struck to pieces in form and spirit when he suffered the fourth heavenly tribulation.
Perhaps after being struck by this thunder, Su Yu became immune to the pool of thunderous molten iron, and then became much more relaxed, successfully integrating the pool of molten iron into his iron wings.
Seeing the faint flashing thunder arc on the iron wings, Su Yu's eyes couldn't help but light up.
"With the blessing of thunder, this iron wing is equivalent to having the effect of automatic counterattack."
Su Yu raised the corners of his mouth slightly and murmured in a low voice.
The first extraterrestrial meteorite is mainly used to strengthen the toughness and hardness of the bone wing.
The second extraterritorial meteorite gives Iron Wings the effect of automatic counterattack.
If the enemy doesn't pay attention and attacks Su Yu's iron wings at close range, they will be counterattacked by the thunder attached to the iron wings, and then fall into temporary paralysis.
When masters compete with each other, there is often a flaw, the distance between life and death.
When the opponent fell into a temporary state of paralysis, with Su Yu's current methods, half of the opponent's feet had undoubtedly stepped into the gate of hell.
"Then comes the final step."
Su Yu flipped his wrist, and there was already a pile of jet-black dragon scales in his hand, which he then placed directly in the iron furnace for calcining.
But this time, what surprised Su Yu was that even after burning a stick of incense, there was no sign of the dragon scales melting.
"Tsk, the second-level monster is different. With this strength, I'm afraid you have to use earth-level martial arts to cause damage to it."
Su Yu couldn't help but sigh.
After waiting for a stick of incense again, water ripples appeared on the surface of the dragon scales, and there were finally signs of melting, which made Su Yu feel happy.
But at this moment, a large number of soldiers wearing armor suddenly poured down from the top of the cave in the direction of the square outside the corridor.
When Su Yu's clone, who was having fun in the square, saw this scene, his heart sank.