Fatty made six attempts in total, but he never made it past the third stake. He remained eager to make another attempt, but they couldn't waste time so Shui dropped down a rope.
"You can at least climb this right, you damn fatty."
"Wait, maybe if I get rid of my fat then-"
Fatty wanted to argue that he could keep going, but when he looked up and saw the look on Shui's face, he knew that his chances had already been used up.
"Yes."
There were no problems with Fatty's strength so he was able to climb the rope without incident, but he couldn't say anything in response when Shui clicked his tongue after bringing him up.
"Be prepared for some serious training after this."
"Yes..."
Once Fatty was with him, Shui looked down again to tell Serina to use the rope, but she had already started climbing the stakes. It seemed she had learnt from Fatty's failure as instead of trying to land on the stakes, she chose to jump to grab the stakes. Once she grabbed a stake, she swung her body to land on top of it and then repeated the process. She strayed from his demonstration, but Shui gave a nod of approval before turning to Fatty again.
"Look at that. Since she wasn't confident in following my way she came up with a different way of climbing up here. Why couldn't you use your brain like that?"
"...Sorry."
Shui shook his head in disapproval but since he didn't want Fatty to get depressed he made up his mind to stop here. Once Serina reached them, Shui congratulated her and then they entered the cave. They ran through the cave at first, but that only lasted until they reached the first branching point. If he focused while using the Sage God Eyes then Shui was sure that he would be able to tell which route Sef took, but since there was something capable of blocking his senses deeper into the cave, he figured it was better to come up with a different way if possible.
"Which one do we pick?" Fatty asked.
Serina looked at both of the two paths available with a pensive expression before turning to Shui. There was no major difference between the two paths and Sef couldn't use spiritual sense so that couldn't be the basis of his decision. Since there were no signs of him taking a long rest, it was likely that he knew that he was being pursued. Therefore, he was either searching for the exit or a hiding place. As for how he would determine what path to use, Shui guessed that he used the only sensory technique that he should know, the Ore Seeking Art. If he was looking for the exit then the path with fewer ores seemed more likely, but Shui was unsure.
"Serina, if your brother had to choose between a direction with more ores and one with less ores, which do you think he would pick?"
Serina didn't understand what he meant at first, but that ignorance quickly dispersed as she decrypted his message.
"If he knows he's in danger then logically he should pick the direction with less ores, but knowing my brother he might end up picking the direction with more ores out of curiosity and passion."
Shui nodded at her answer and then verified it. He found traces of Sef's aura on the path with more ores, but before he pointed it out, he gave a task to Serina.
"Serina, try to use the Revolving Metals Art to detect which path leads to more ores."
"Ah, okay."
Cultivating the Revolving Metals Art had made Serina more sensitive to the presence of metals so though it wasn't as precise as the Ore Seeking Art, it was able to give her a decent idea of which path to choose.
"The left one."
The one Serina pointed out matched Shui's choice so he gave his approval.
"Good. From now on I want you to do this every time we find a branching point. Okay?"
"Yes!"
With Serina's guidance, they quickly made it deeper into the cave and Shui soon found one of the causes for his inability to find Sef's precise location. The deeper they ventured into the cave, the more precious ores could be detected, with many of these ores containing an impressive amount of nature energy. Honestly, as a forge master Shui wanted nothing more than to take these ores with him, but their presence didn't only bring benefits. They hadn't found adamantium yet, but the high concentration of energy-sensitive ores were enough to deflect and distort spiritual sense. It was similar to how it was hard for someone with a weaker cultivation to use spiritual sense to invade the body of a person with a stronger cultivation, their own natural energy defense would react and block it.
'Sef probably realized this so he kept choosing the paths with more ores. That way his pursuers wouldn't be able to pinpoint him.'
Of course, Shui's soul was abnormal for his cultivation so he could still use his spiritual sense to some extent, but both Serina and Fatty couldn't go past a few meters with theirs.
"Wow, I didn't know ores had this sort of effect when gathered!" Fatty exclaimed.
"Neither did I. I was starting to think that my brother was going crazy, but maybe he had this in mind."
Serina's comment would probably have made Sef sad, but Shui agreed with her. Still, he couldn't say Sef's decision was without flaw. Although these ores were certainly part of the problem, as he went deeper Shui became more and more certain that what lurked at the bottom of this cave was a secret that even he would have to risk his life to learn. Shui could only hope that they could catch up to Sef before he encountered it or the secret remained inactive.
Some time after the ore concentration became high enough to hinder their spiritual sense, Shui detected the two pursuers ahead. They were coming back from a bad end so they would meet at a branching point. Normally Shui would have to option of killing them with a spiritual attack, but the interference from the ores made that option unfeasible so their collision was inevitable.
"We're about to face two men who I believe were chasing after Sef. Even if we leave them they probably won't be able to find Sef but, Serina, what do you think we should do?"
Serina thought about her response while they continued to run. She naturally didn't harbour any good feelings for her brother's enemies, but she knew what her priorities should be.
"We have to catch up to my brother as soon as possible so it's enough if we stop them from following us. If they're still here when we come back, we can deal with them then."
Shui almost applauded when he heard Serina's response, but he settled with a smile.
"Very well."
Just as Shui said, it didn't take very long before they encountered the two. Fatty and Serina were able to detect them about the same time that they detected the group of three, but since Shui had already informed them they had an advantage. Fatty threw his hammer at them, forcing the two to separate and open a path.
"Wha,"
"Woah!"
While they were distracted by the hammer, Serina cast a wind spell to cut their legs. Their reflexes were quick enough to keep their legs attached, but they couldn't avoid deep wounds. And for the final move Shui used 'Lightning' to knock them unconscious. He could have increased the power to kill them, but like Serina said it was more important to catch up to Sef.