Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

This mine…


This mine had been formed after the peak Primal Daoist, ‘Daoist Firedragon’, had paid an enormous price in order to set up a large formation to collect elemental energy, so as to help himself break through. This mine had been forming for one hundred years. If it was completely mined out, the value of it would be comparable to half the assets of an ordinary Primal Daoist. Because Daoist Firedragon had broken through to the Earth Immortal level, his horizons had been expanded and he no longer cared as much. In addition, mining the elemental ore would simply be too difficult; even a Primal Daoist probably would be too lazy to go through the mining. Only, the likes of Wanxiang Adepts would go wild with excitement for something like this.

“Then what should we do?” Granny Shadow immediately asked.

“I’m not afraid of others. I’m only afraid of Snowdragon Mountain!” Ninefire’s face was filled with worry. “The Snowdragon Mountain of the Swallow Mountain area is just a branch clan. Behind it…is the true Snowdragon Mountain Sect! A major sect which has Primal Daoists standing guard over it. And, based on my calculations and the passage of time, the Zifu Disciples of the branch sect of Snowdragon Mountain should have already arrived in the nearby area!”





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Book 5, Chapter 15 - Snowdragon Mountain


Everything happened just as Ji Ninefire predicted. A thousand kilometers away from them…

There was a screen hovering in mid-air, and atop that screen, there were four figures, staring down below. Suddenly, a ray of light rose into the skies. It was a large, armored, muscular man who was standing atop a greatsword. This muscular man had a hint of a blue light glowing from his skin, and standing there in midair atop that greatsword, he looked like a Fiendgod.

“My fellow disciples.” The muscular man had a look of delight on his face. “I’ve finished my investigations. There is a large amount of elemental ore underground, with high quality elemental stones within the deposit. This is a very rich vein of elemental ore.”

“Oh?” A long-haired man who wore a black robe and had eight bloody trigrams in front and behind him nodded, then laughed. “Junior apprentice-brother Ju San, thank you for your hard work. Who would have expected that an elemental ore mine such as this would have been hidden within the territory of the Ji clan? Right. Junior apprentice-brother Ju San, have you found any traces of mining?”

The muscular man shook his head.

The black robed man nodded in satisfaction. “The Ji clan has never sold elemental stones to outsiders. It seems that prior to this, they hadn’t discovered this vein either. My fellow disciples, I’d like to trouble you to go in each direction and investigate carefully exactly how large this vein is, while I will investigate how deep it is. After finishing our investigations, we’ll gather here again.”

“Yes, elder apprentice-brother Ziqi.” Three men and women, including the muscular man, acknowledged, then each flew away on their own flying-type magic treasures, transforming into rays of light that flew towards four different directions to investigate.

The black robed man collected his flying screen while rushing towards the ground, smashing through it and burrowing deep.

…….

A long time later.

The three men and one woman who had left earlier had already returned, flying on their magic treasures.

“Elder apprentice-brother Ziqi still hasn’t finished exploring?” A green-haired man said in surprise. “It seems this mine really is quite deep.”

“Based on just what we’ve learned, this elemental ore mine has to have a circumference of four thousand kilometers.” A nearby woman whose hair was also emanating a green light said solemnly. “If it’s deep as well…then this mine is going to be an astonishing one.”

Right after she finished speaking.

Swoosh!

From below, a ray of light surged towards the heavens, then came to a halt. It was their black-robed elder apprentice-brother, Ziqi.

“Elder apprentice-brother Ziqi.” The three men and woman bowed respectfully. Actually, all five of them were Zifu Disciples and of the same generation. Logically speaking, there was no need for them to act like this. But this Ziqi’s power was definitely far above theirs.

“What an elemental ore mine. It is at least three hundred kilometers deep.” The black-robed man sighed in surprise.

“Three hundred kilometers?”

“That deep?”

“The four of us have found that this mine has a circumference of four thousand kilometers. For it to also have such an astonishing depth…this elemental ore mine is simply too…” The three men and one woman were all in a state of shock. Some mines were fairly shallow, and it made sense for a mine of a circumference of thousands of kilometers to just a few kilometers deep. But this one was three hundred kilometers deep!

The black-robed man shouted, “This elemental ore mine belongs to Snowdragon Mountain!”

“Right, it belongs to our Snowdragon Mountain!”

“We’ve rendered a major merit. The main sect will definitely reward us heavily.”

“Our chance has come!”

The five of them were all incomparably excited. They were easily able to tell the general size and scale of this elemental ore mine and knew the value of it. The value was inconceivably high! Most likely, even those Primal Daoists that stood at the very pinnacle of power in Snowdragon Mountain would care deeply about this place.

“Elder apprentice-brother Ziqi.” The green-haired woman frowned. “This place is very close to the City of Ten Thousand Swords. According to the laws of the Grand Xia Dynasty, this place should be considered as belonging to the Ji clan.”

“What the hell is the Ji clan?” Ziqi snorted coldly. “Dare they intervene in Snowdragon Mountain’s mine?”

The nearby green-haired man nodded. “No need to worry about the Ji clan. Snowdragon Mountain is definitely taking over this elemental ore mine! But no matter what, we can’t be too incautious. According to the laws of the Grand Xia Dynasty, this place is the territory of the City of Ten Thousand Swords, which means this mine belongs to the Ji clan. Our Snowdragon Mountain cannot openly violate the laws of the Grand Xia Dynasty!”

“Right.” Dong Ziqi nodded lightly.

True.

Even if they had to skirt the laws, they definitely couldn’t openly challenge the Grand Xia Dynasty! Even the Marquis Palace of Stillwater Commandery, which was almost as ancient as the Grand Xia Dynasty itself, wouldn’t dare to challenge the Grand Xia Dynasty!

“Right now, I’m only afraid of one thing.” The green-haired man frowned. “If the Ji clan were to send someone to ally with the army of the Grand Xia Dynasty and sign a contract giving this site up to the Grand Xia Dynasty…! If they were to directly sign over this mine to the Grand Xia Dynasty, then there would be nothing that we can do!”

“Apprentice-brother Hefang speaks reason.” A cold-faced, gray-robed man nodded. “We have to be careful.”

“We do have to be careful.” The muscular man said frantically, “The Ji clan definitely will realize that they aren’t strong enough to hold this mine. If they give up the mine to the Grand Xia Dynasty, then the Ji clan will at least gain thirty percent of it! This would also result in them having the Grand Xia Dynasty supporting them. We wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

“Sign an agreement?”

Dong Ziqi’s eyes were dark and gloomy. “It’s not that easy to do!”

The other four looked towards Dong Ziqi.