Chapter 1950: A New Opportunity

Also unknown who started the commotion: "Luo Xie, you lost, your spoils all belong to the Great Emperor."

The whole crowd laughed loudly.

Luo Xie pressed the back of his neck, muttering inwardly. In the Overturned Sea, the Great Emperor's combat power still didn't seem that outrageous; at least he could still exchange a couple of moves with the Great Emperor.

Luo Xie himself had also trained diligently without slack, yet how long had it been, and why was the gap with others widening again?

He Lingchuan patted his shoulder, nodding toward the crowd: "Win today's arena match, and tomorrow your opponent will be her."

Luo Xie followed his gaze, his expression slightly changing: "Miss Moyi?"

In front of the crowd stood a female warrior with arms crossed, tall and well-built, her skin slightly wheat-toned, eyes like a wolf's.

She wore two gold rings on her left ear, and a thick braid hung down her back,

He Lingchuan had just finished speaking when she lifted her chin at Luo Xie, giving a provocative smile.

This female warrior's name is Moyi Ze, hailing from the Mianhuo Tribe near the north of the Flash Gold Plains. This tribe worships the demon immortal Jieshui True Person, namely Liu Qingdao + Zhu Xiuer + He Lingchuan + Dong Rui, the giant lizard with a yellow base and dark red patterns subdued in the Overturned Sea.

After landing on the Flash Gold Plains, Jieshui True Person selected nearly a hundred warriors from his tribe's followers to join the Nine Abyss Great Emperor, and the leader of this unit is Moyi Ze.

On the first day they met, she fought Wan Qifeng to a draw. Anyone afterward who dared to slight her or pursue her got beaten until their face was bruised and swollen.

Luo Xie had seen this woman's performance on the battlefield, and only two words could describe her:

Fierce.

A round of teasing arose nearby, all good-natured mockery.

"If you lose, you have to be our Moyi boss's catamite!"

"Forget it, with his scrawny arms and legs, he'd snap in two just from a couple of hits."

Moyi Ze glanced at Luo Xie, turned, and left, the people behind making way for her.

The inspection of troops at Liuji Town concluded here, each leader leading their unit back to eat, with drills still scheduled for the afternoon—no rest for half a day.

Luo Xie, however, was singled out by the guards, because He Lingchuan had asked him to accompany him to Bai Ta Town fifteen li away for a meal.

Liuji Town is now entirely a military garrison, all commerce tied to military supplies. Luo Xie himself going to town to cook privately, he'd at least run into three or four acquaintances per meal, not to mention He Lingchuan.

But isn't it too far to run over ten li out just for a meal?

Of course he muttered to himself, yet his heart was thrilled. He had once fought side by side with He Lingchuan in the Overturned Sea; after coming out, He Lingchuan became the "Nine Abyss Great Emperor," his forces expanding rapidly from a dozen to hundreds of thousands, making their meetings rare.

Luo Xie felt no disappointment; in the Overturned Sea he was an unwelcome outer disciple of the Phantom Sect, deeply aware that status and respect must be seized by oneself—how much could others possibly give? So after coming ashore, whether cultivating or fighting, he trained far harder than his Phantom Sect peers.

Luo Xie clearly understood: following the Nine Abyss Great Emperor was a brand-new opportunity, one he must seize.

Besides bringing Luo Xie, He Lingchuan also invited Fang Chanran to come along, and Weng Xing thick-skinnedly tagged along for the meal.

After leaving Duo City, that vibrant, bustling feeling of life and energy vanished instantly.

Four people rode horses through forest dirt paths, seeing only endless yellow leaves, bare branches, and a desolate, rustling sound.

In the blink of an eye, deep autumn approached; Luo Xie even saw a little squirrel clutching a picked-up chestnut as it climbed a tree, hoping to store some dry food for winter.

After walking another half hour, the mountain road became extremely rugged, with a stretch still showing signs of a landslide—no one knows how long it's been neglected, the rubble pile not only overgrown with grass but now even the grass roots have turned yellow.

Bai Ta Town's location is excellent, right beside the main road, far less remote than Duo City.

But Luo Xie and the others, accustomed to Duo City's vigor as a military city, found Bai Ta Town desolate and lonely upon arrival, even the wind blowing through town felt especially chilly; outside town there was only one dog, so skinny it was nothing but bones, seeing people come it neither barked nor greeted, just tucked its tail and ran.

Don't let the town's small size fool you—there are still two inns, two eateries, and three or four makeshift food stalls set up temporarily.

This is because the Yangshan Merchant Guild has been mining nearby for the past one or two years, bringing some basic commercial activity here. Otherwise, relying on the main road alone, what use is it? Not even one merchant comes every three to five days.

The local houses are dull and gray, basically small; once you leave the main street, it's vast expanses of makeshift huts. These are wall-less, roof-tile-less structures propped up with just a few poles and some curtains, offering no warmth in autumn and no shelter from rain.

Yet even living in such huts counts as having property, because behind the street, in the broken garden and the relay station, there are still people sleeping outdoors on the ground, dressed in rags, skinny as monkeys, squatting in the sun to catch fleas; seeing He Lingchuan and company approach, they hurried over to ask, "Want to hire?"

If one could land a odd job, they'd have food for the next two or three days.

Since landing from the North Sea, Luo Xie has stayed in the military, rarely going out privately, so he knows little about Flash Gold's worldly customs. Now, upon seeing Bai Ta Town's appearance, his brow unconsciously furrowed.

He Lingchuan asked him: "After entering the town, what do you feel?"

Not a single word wrong, not a single character missing, not a single stroke off, not a single detail absent, not a single thing lacking—look!

He also replied bluntly: "Poor, broken."

He Lingchuan casually picked one of the two inns and walked in; today's menu was written on the board, the characters crooked and uneven.

In this small place, ingredients are incomplete; whatever the inn managed to get from hunters today, diners just have to eat what's available.

He Lingchuan got lucky—today the inn bought half a deer and three snow chickens from hunters, so he ordered them all: braised deer, roasted snow chickens, and also some stir-fried purslane.

Fang Chanran then asked He Lingchuan: "You came all this way—what treasure does this small town hide?"

"This was originally a mining town; behind the big mountain lie copper and iron mines, but ten years ago the ore reserves were exhausted, nothing could be dug out." The area around Duo City is all mining zones; after Bai Ta Town's mines were tapped out, it could only rely on passing trade, thus gradually declining. "A few days ago, a landslide in the mountains collapsed the old mine shafts, and someone discovered traces of new mineral veins."

"Is it also copper and iron ore?"

"No." He Lingchuan glanced at Luo Xie: "It's the kind of ore your mining team guarded in the Overturned Sea."

Xuanjing ore? Luo Xie startled—he had been deputy captain of the mining team in the Overturned Sea, but these two words didn't escape his lips, since they were sitting in the inn's backyard, separated from the outside woods only by a bamboo fence.

Four or five children poked their heads outside, from five to ten years old, faces yellow, bodies thin, heads large.

At this moment, everyone's food had already been served, meat fragrance filling the air. A few children crouched outside, swallowing their saliva, but dared not make a sound, let alone come inside.

"You seem to have said you had prospecting experience?" He Lingchuan's memory is excellent; even after the big battle, he still recalled his casual chats with Luo Xie.

The prospecting of xuanjing ore differs from that of other minerals.

"Yes, I started mining at age eleven." Luo Xie nodded, "In the Overturned Sea, that ore comes and goes intermittently—you know that. I've at least found new mineral veins three times."