Chapter 271: Entering the Fire Vein
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Greensword Mountain, Sui Province.
In the dynasty of Jin, Sui Province was bleak and remote. Vast as the territory was, the soil was pretty barren. Even when all went well, the harvest of one field was merely a third of that of other provinces. Furthermore, this ruddy place mainly consisted of hills and was thus, inconvenient for transportation. Nor was it on any vital communication lines, so few merchants would pa.s.s by. Gradually, this place became the poorest province among the entire Central Plains.
Due to its poverty, this Sui Province had seldom attracted people’s attention and hadn’t cultivated a single decently well-known family for thousands of years. Even when it occasionally nurtured some brilliant talents, they always continued their life’s pursuits elsewhere and never came back to this ruddy place with no future for anyone.
Of course, that did not mean Sui Province was totally deserted. Its population was not large, but it was sitting among the Central Plains, and small potatoes could always be found. Plus, with vast land and plenty of hills, it became a paradise for bandits to hide.
The Greensword Mountain was not a huge one in Sui Province, and its look was nothing special either. However, it was common knowledge that there was a school called Redflame School in the Greensword Mountain. That school wasn’t large and never accepted disciples from outside, but it had many masters of martial arts. For normal schools, having one or two masters of Level Four or Five would already be impressive, whereas this Redflame School, apparently it had more than just one or two masters. After being established 60 years ago in the Greensword Mountain, it flattened all schools within hundreds of miles radius within one month. However, what powerful sects could this poor place possibly have?
Seeing this Redflame School was so fierce and tough, everyone went soft and never dared to look for trouble with the Redflame School anymore. Instead, they suffered anxiety all day long, worrying that this Redflame School would one day beat a path to their door.
Nevertheless, the Redflame School obviously didn’t aim to lord it over everyone and settled down after taking up the land within hundreds of miles, which also eased the surrounding schools as days quietly pa.s.sed by. But now, after 60 years since its founding, the Redflame School had become the most famous but also the most low-key and mysterious school in Sui Province.
“You’re saying this is the work of the Raging Fire Ancestor?” Standing on the woody peak of the Greensword Mountain and overlooking the entire area, w.a.n.g She asked in amazement.
“The Raging Fire Ancestor discovered this geocentric fire vein here 60 years ago and then led his subordinates here and occupied the Greensword Mountain, establis.h.i.+ng the Redflame School. Just because of the help from this geocentric fire vein, his cultivation kept progressing over the last 60 years, and until 10 years ago, he entered the phase of Level Nine.”
“What an astute old bloke! But, I guess many of your Sect of Flame are eyeing his geocentric fire vein!”
“Seven geocentric fire veins are all controlled by someone, but we won’t easily refuse those who ask us a for a favor. After all, the geocentric fire vein is connected to the geocenter, capable of creating as many Level Nine experts as you want. Also, not everyone will be able to ruin the fire vein by excessively extracting from the inside like this boy does!”
“I still can’t figure out whether you’re complimenting me or insulting me?” Junior Leopard forced a smile next to her.
“Whatever you like!” Prince Xiaoming glanced at him. “The geocentric fire vein is right underneath here. As far as I know, the man who is responsible for guarding this geocentric fire vein is the chief disciple named Chilei. He just entered Level Seven five years ago and is also a Venerable of my sect!”
“Shall we do him in?”
“What on earth do you have in your head?!” Prince Xiaoming glared at Junior Leopard forcefully, and cursed under her breath.
It truly gave Junior Leopard a sense of accomplishment to inquire from a Great Venerable of the Sect of Flame about whether he shall kill another Venerable or not.
“Chilei is just in Level Seven. We just need to be careful and he won’t even detect us. Although there are some others in the geocentric fire vein, they are not at that great a depth. With our cultivation, we don’t need to deal with them at all. As long as we reach the depth of the fire vein, no one will find us. Even if we cause a huge sensation, they will only take it as an unusual movement at the depth of the earth vein. By no means will they suspect us, and even if they suspect that there is something wrong in the vein, they won’t have the ability to come down!”
The entrance of this geocentric fire vein was not as easy to find as the one in Zhonghe City. Instead, it was concealed in a palisade surrounded by a vast expanse of buildings, hiding in the deepest part of the constructions.
“Unexpectedly, this Redflame School took up such a large area. It’s even several times larger than the old mansion of the Wu Family!”
“The Raging Fire Ancestor is one of the richest Venerables in the sect. He has controlled multiple commercial corps. Though Sui Province is pretty poor, it’s an easy job for him to build up a large manor!” Prince Xiaoming answered. Her figure then flashed into a wisp of wind and she slipped into the entrance.
“Never did I think that Prince Xiaoming had great potential in being a thief!” Seeing the swift body movement of Prince Xiaoming, Junior Leopard gave a smile and operated the Snake-like Breath Holding Skill before slipping in.
After entering, the two felt a hot burst of dry wind brus.h.i.+ng over their faces.
“What strong Fire Qi! Eh, has that guy already taken action?”
Not far from the entrance of the cave, a man dressed in a red robe was sprawled out on the ground. If not for the slightest respiration, Junior Leopard would have taken him to be a corpse.
“This is Chilei. d.a.m.n, unexpectedly, he would be stationed at the entrance today!” Prince Xiaoming looked a little upset.
“This is Chilei, a Venerable of the Sect of Flame, the chief disciple of the Raging Fire Ancestor, an expert of Level Seven!”
Junior Leopard’s heart made a tense throb. This expert of Level Seven was silently subdued by Prince Xiaoming in a blink. Junior Leopard believed that he himself wouldn’t be able to do such a neat job, unless striking furtively with his Snake-like Breath Holding Skill.
But on a second thought, his astonishment wore off a lot. “After all, Prince Xiaoming is an expert of Level Nine, and she’s determined to let go of her face to sneak attack. If that wasn’t enough to defeat this Chilei , she wouldn’t be qualified as an expert of Level Nine.”
“What shall we do now?”
“What else except get going! This guy won’t wake up in one hour. At that time, we’ll be down in the depth of the earth vein, so he won’t be able to touch us. But we have to act quickly. We must get the job done before Raging Fire Ancestor returns, otherwise…” At this point, Prince Xiaoming turned her gaze to w.a.n.g She. “Otherwise, we shall bother you to get closer to this old Ancestor!”
“I knew the unlucky guy would always be me!” w.a.n.g She gave a wry smile. “Fine, if we really get so unlucky, I will handle this Raging Fire Ancestor and lure him elsewhere so that the two of you can get out!”
The pa.s.sageways in this earth vein were different from those in Zhonghe City. The pa.s.sageways of the latter were comprised of countless sub-pa.s.sageways, but as long as you walked along the main pa.s.sageway, you would soon arrive at the rock flow underground. However, the geocentric fire vein in the Greensword Mountain was entirely different. Apart from a s.p.a.cious area at the exit, all of the remaining pa.s.sageways were of various sizes and were crisscrossing like a spider web.
“The road distribution in this geocentric fire vein is quite complicated. If you get lost in those pa.s.sageways, it’ll be very hard to find a way out. I heard that years ago, Raging Fire Ancestor had spent an enormous amount of effort to find this Underground Rock River. He guided me down here once, that’s why I know the way in and out!” Rounding corner after corner in the tricky pa.s.sageways, Junior Leopard began feeling a bit disoriented. As Prince Xiaoming went on about this geocentric fire vein, his brain seemed to become more dazed.
After turning countless corners and pa.s.sing through myriads of pa.s.sageways, the temperature around became higher and higher, red airflow rose everywhere. Soon, the temperature almost reached a hundred degrees, which forced w.a.n.g She and Prince Xiaoming to open their Gang Qi to defend the heat. Having no intent to flaunt his endurance, Junior Leopard also shot out his Poison Cold s.h.i.+eld, which generated a whiff of light Green Mist around him, drifting and whirling, bringing him cool wind and expelling all the heat away from him.
“What a nice celestial device! Where did you get it?”
Since w.a.n.g She and Prince Xiaoming were both experts of Level Nine who were precious to find even across the world, their insights were surely extraordinary. Both of them had perceived that what Junior Leopard had was an extremely uncommon defending celestial device. From the coldness exuding from deep inside, they knew it possessed not only great defensive power, but also a terrifying attacking force.
“I found it by luck. It’s operating great actually!” Junior Leopard smiled.
Prince Xiaoming and w.a.n.g She both cracked a smile almost simultaneously. They both took a dismissive att.i.tude towards the term “luck”.
However, since Junior Leopard had used luck to fob them off, he apparently didn’t want to detail this fortuitous encounter, and they didn’t have to get to the root of the matter merely for a celestial device. It was an unspoken survival rule in Jianghu that you shall never insist on getting to the bottom of another’s business, which was naturally known by heart for these two veterans in Jianghu.
In these two, w.a.n.g She had been closer to Junior Leopard and known more about him, especially his critical secrets. Normally, Junior Leopard would have nothing to hide from w.a.n.g She. But since w.a.n.g She acquired the general principles of Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique from Junior Leopard, some subtle changes occurred in their relations.h.i.+p. With his acute senses, w.a.n.g She felt that Junior Leopard was already out of the range of his control, heading in a more unpredictable direction. If it had been other people, they might feel a little mutinous about those changes, but w.a.n.g She didn’t mind this, after all, in this world, only a few people or matters were worthy of his concern. So long as his plan was intact, w.a.n.g She would never bother to care whether Junior Leopard had Fiery Eyes, or would become an enemy of the whole world later!
They strolled among those exceedingly intricate pa.s.sageways for more than four hours as the surrounding temperature got higher and higher. Just when Junior Leopard felt a bit impatient, Prince Xiaoming came to a halt.
“Well, just round two more corners and we shall be at our destination. There is a smelting chamber built by Raging Fire Ancestor, however, it’s just for his use and seldom accommodates others. Our destination isn’t the Underground Rock River, but somewhere deeper. Therefore, after we’ve crossed the Underground Rock River, everyone should mark his path in case we b.u.mp into some troubles when getting out!”
Junior Leopard and w.a.n.g She nodded at the same time. This was no laughing matter. If they got lost in the geocentric fire vein, they would face enormous danger even with their remarkable cultivation.
In general, the geocentric fire vein of Raging Fire Ancestor was much deeper than the one in Zhonghe City, and also more dangerous. Hot as the fire vein in Zhonghe City was, its temperature was not as high as this one. Ordinary experts of Level Four or Five could also go down to the smelting chamber in the underground rock flows and that was exactly why those smelting families were craving for the geocentric fire vein in Zhonghe City. As for the present one, if you didn’t have the cultivation of Level Seven or above, nor had any Gang Qi as a s.h.i.+elding device, you would have no chance to reach the geocentric rock flows, let alone smelting. Only those experts who had cultivated an Internal Qi of fire, like Junior Leopard, were tempted by this kind of geocentric fire vein, for in this environment, cultivation would progress with half the effort and fewer disturbances. Thus, when spotting this geocentric fire vein years ago, the Raging Fire Ancestor set up the Redflame School so anxiously and appropriated the entire area to himself.
After rounding a huge curve, the three finally caught sight of the smelting chamber constructed by the Raging Fire Ancestor. Without a second thought, they went straight across the Geocentric Rock Flows and picked the widest pa.s.sageway near them to head onwards.
“It’s here. It’s pretty secluded, but still leads to the rock flows!”
They walked on for nearly two more hours and finally found a s.p.a.cious place where wide rock flows were running down. Compared with the chosen location of the Raging Fire Ancestor, the rock flow here was more turbulent, and rocks were rus.h.i.+ng from high to low while splattering fits of gold rock flowages. Some of the rock flowages fell back into the flow and integrated with it again, but some others dropped onto the nearby ground, causing the spot they touched to melt, and then gradually solidifying to black stones which were firm but burning hot.
“I think even Raging Fire Ancestor won’t take interest in this d.a.m.n place!” Looking around, w.a.n.g She chortled with delight and said to Junior Leopard, “Junior Leopard, quickly, start your fist intent! From my view, the Earth Fire Yuan Essence under the rock flows must be plenty. You can go all out now.”
“Ho-ho, if the Raging Fire Ancestor ever heard your words, he would certainly strangle you fatally!” Junior Leopard’s laughter burst out.
“Stop joking around, get started now!” Prince Xiaoming said coldly. “Here, you don’t need to restrain your power!”
“Got it!” Junior Leopard nodded and gave a smile. He lifted his hands gently, and the Green Mist that had been enveloping him disappeared instantaneously.
“Hiss!” Although Junior Leopard had prepared for this, he was still stupefied by the overwhelming hot flow blowing directly toward his face. But soon after that, his Internal Qi circled a complete round in his body, and he strode out with one step.
“What a fascinating boy!” Watching Junior Leopard stalking toward the rock flows, a bright light flickered in w.a.n.g She’s eyes. He could not hide his surprised look.
“Well, did you just find that you’ve lost control over this boy?” With the reaction of w.a.n.g She, a hint of a smile flitted across Prince Xiaoming’s eyes.
“Control? Why should I control him?” w.a.n.g She said while shaking his head. “It’s fine that others don’t know about me, but how don’t you either? I’m not interested in controlling other people, at least not as interested as you!”
“You mean I want to control you?”
“Not that. Even if you want to, you can’t! What I intend to say is that controlling others is not so interesting. If you continue to think about it and spend too much effort on it, in the end, your own cultivation will be delayed!”
“Are you teaching me?”
“Not at all, just a little small talk with you!” Speaking of this, w.a.n.g She grinned. “Well, we’d better cut it out. Otherwise, we may get into a fight once again. Look at that bloke, he’s already got started!”
Prince Xiaoming again fell silent and looked up. Seeing that Junior Leopard had already been in the rock flows, Prince Xiaoming had an appalled expression flas.h.i.+ng through her eyes. This time, he didn’t practice his punching skill as what he did last time, but sat cross-legged in mid-air above the rock flows with a black sun blazing behind him. In comparison with the fist intent they saw the first time, the present black sun was much more compact and real, it also had more Qi Power.
Surging rock flows started bubbling. At first, the Earth Fire Yuan Essence was oozing out wisp by wisp from the rock flows. But then, as if driven by a strong power, the entire geocentric rock flows formed into spring-like streams at the bottom, emitting a rather intense Earth Fire Yuan Essence.
“d.a.m.n this guy! Thankfully I didn’t take him to my geocentric fire vein, or else that fire vein would be ruined!” At the sight of this, the corner of Prince Xiaoming’s mouth twitched unbiddenly. Then, without another word, she began initiating her Internal Qi to absorb the Earth Fire Yuan Essence which suffused throughout the air.
“The Earth Fire Yuan Essence! Ha-ha, so much Earth Fire Yuan Essence! Boy, be quick, get your Underground Fire Golden Essence out to absorb the Earth Fire Yuan Essence!” Seeing the environment permeated with the Earth Fire Yuan Essence, Green Spirit shouted emotionally.
“No, in a moment. I need to find a proper place!” Said Junior Leopard. He stretched out his hands, and the Black Sun Fist Intent behind him gave a fierce shudder, the geocentric rock flows underneath also shook with the abnormal vibration of the Black Sun Fist Intent. Then, the geocentric rock flows were separated to two parts by an invisible power, dense streams of golden liquid were exuded and they vaporized into thick Earth Fire Yuan Essence.
“Is the Earth Fire Yuan Essence enough for you two?” Junior Leopard called out loudly.
“Enough, it’s enough! You are really relentless. Are you going to completely exhaust his fire vein?”
“That’s also an option. But I don’t have time for that. If you two consider this enough, excuse me and I won’t bother you further!” Junior Leopard then got to his feet and strode out of the sphere of rock flows with one step.
“What are you going to do?”
“This place is not very large, and it’s a bit crowded with you two practicing here. If adding another one, it’ll be inconvenient. I’d better go and find another place!” Junior Leopard smiled. Then, his figure flashed by and disappeared out of their sight.
“What’s this boy up to?”
“No idea. Don’t mind his business, let’s focus on our practice. With his cultivation, he wouldn’t end up dying in here. Would he?” w.a.n.g She said with a smile.
“That’s not a funny joke at all!” Prince Xiaoming’s eyes flickered and then closed shut. “Just let him be!”
Junior Leopard got out of the Geocentric Rock Flows and wandered around for a while. Finally he found a relatively great place with rock flows where the s.p.a.ce was not large but enough to accommodate he himself.
After steadying his body, Junior Leopard swung his arm, and the hot airflow around him circulated more fiercely. In the end, a layer of red mist rose above him, enveloping the geocentric rock flows around there.
It was the Yin and Yang Dust Formation!
He was going to refine Pure Yang Celestial Devices there without anyone noticing. w.a.n.g She and Prince Xiaoming were no exception.