Chapter 168: Red Refined Fire Copper Ore

After leaving Chen Zi Ya's home, Lin Zhangqing flew toward the mountains on his sword, an act witnessed by many villagers of Tongshan Village.

Of course, Lin Zhangqing did this deliberately; his goal was to let everyone know he had entered the mountains, so the villagers would stop bothering Chen Zi Ya's family.

After flying over twenty li, he landed and summoned Chu Yi down; through their contract, he communicated with it and learned that in the past seven or eight days, Chu Yi had seen a total of five cultivators.

The good news was that they were all Qi Refining Stage Cultivators; as for how many cultivators remained inside that formation, or whether there were any Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators, Chu Yi did not know.

Therefore, after consideration, Lin Zhangqing decided to capture one alive for questioning; after communicating with Chu Yi, he selected a location, took out the Array Disk for the Small Five Elements Illusion Array, and set it up.

This time, he specifically made adjustments, expanding the coverage of the Array Disk to its maximum, a radius of one hundred meters, and positioned it exactly where Chu Yi had chosen.

That's right, it was Chu Yi's choice; having observed for several days, it naturally knew which path those cultivators within the formation frequently traversed.

With everything now set up and the Purple Crystal Scorpion Swarm dispersed both inside and outside the formation, all that remained was to wait for the fish to take the bait; once anyone entered the formation, the scorpions would handle it, as Lin Zhangqing had no intention of engaging personally.

In any case, with the formation active, sound would not escape; this was precisely why Lin Zhangqing had specially arranged this formation—to ensure soundproofing, so that even if the cultivators inside screamed until their throats tore, no one would know.

At this moment, Lin Zhangqing was inside the formation, merely concealed by that Treasure Light Gauze, rendering him invisible to others.

Soon, more than two hours passed before a figure finally rushed over rapidly, carrying a person in hand; however, they were not emerging from within that formation but returning from elsewhere in the mountains.

But it made no difference; Lin Zhangqing only needed one live captive to understand the situation inside the formation.

The moment that figure breached the coverage area of the formation, Lin Zhangqing executed a Spell Incantation, officially activating the Small Five Elements Illusion Array, causing white mist to immediately drift up within the formation.

The cultivator who entered the formation immediately became alert, threw down the person in their hand, instantly retrieved one offensive and one defensive Dharma Artifact from their Storage Bag, and shouted loudly at the surroundings: "Who is it? Come out."

Unfortunately, Lin Zhangqing simply ignored him and handed him directly over to the Purple Crystal Scorpion Swarm.

Within the Mysterious Trace Array, white mist swirled; the cultivator was clearly an old hand rich in Dharma Battle experience, immediately pasting two Defense Spirit Talismans onto their body, gripping a Defensive Magical Artifact in hand, and beginning to move about within the formation.

One could say their response was extremely appropriate; unfortunately, they had encountered the Purple Crystal Scorpion, and when the Great Sun Purple Light Needle pierced through two layers of defensive barriers and stung their foot—

A wail of extreme agony erupted, echoing within the interior of the formation without escaping outward; the Purple Crystal Scorpion had succeeded.

Lin Zhangqing hurriedly stopped the Purple Crystal Scorpion from continuing its attack; otherwise, if the scorpion stung him a few more times and killed him, these past two-plus hours of waiting would have been in vain.

Approaching the cultivator, he saw a middle-aged man, appearing to be around forty years old, lying on the ground and convulsing.

Confirming that he had lost the ability to resist, Lin Zhangqing immediately stripped him of everything on his person and then bound him.

He then went to check the person who had been thrown to the ground earlier and discovered that this individual had fainted; seeing it was a villager dressed as a hunter, he knew in his heart that he had definitely not targeted the wrong person.

Returning to the middle-aged captive, not wishing to waste time, he cast a Water Ball Technique onto the man's face to wake him up.

With an expressionless face, Lin Zhangqing asked: "What is your name? Why are you here? What is the use of capturing these hunters?"

Upon waking and seeing the situation, the middle-aged cultivator realized he had been captured; estimating that he would surely meet a bad end, he simply clamped his mouth shut and refused to say a single word.

Seeing his demeanor, Lin Zhangqing knew he was a tough nut to crack; with a thought, he sent a Purple Crystal Scorpion to the root of the man's thigh and gave him a sting.

This time, the scream was even more piercing and shrill; Lin Zhangqing even worried whether the man's vocal cords would tear apart.

The man arched his entire body in pain, then crashed heavily back to the ground, cold sweat pouring from his body as he gasped in great gulps, taking quite a while to recover.

"Do you want another one?" Lin Zhangqing asked expressionlessly.

With a hoarse voice, the middle-aged cultivator said: "No more, no more, I will speak. My name is Bai Jingde; I am a Scattered Cultivator. We discovered a Red Refined Fire Copper Ore vein here and wish to mine it out as quickly as possible, so we capture any hunters we encounter to serve as miners."

Upon hearing "Red Refined Fire Copper Ore," Lin Zhangqing's heart skipped a beat; he certainly knew of this famous material, as Red Refined Fire Copper Ore was the preferred choice for refining First-Grade Alchemy Furnaces and Artifact Refining Furnaces.

Furthermore, Red Refined Fire Copper could be refined into Red Refined Crystal Copper, which served as the primary material for refining Second-Rank Spirit Weapon alchemy cauldrons.

Even Second-Grade Red Smelted Crystal Copper could be used as an auxiliary material to forge alchemy cauldrons at the Magic Treasure level.

Therefore, ever since hearing about the existence of a Red Refined Fire Copper Ore vein here, Lin Zhangqing had been contemplating how to seize it for himself.

He continued asking: "How many people do you have in total? What are their cultivation bases?"

The middle-aged cultivator hesitated for a moment, but to avoid further suffering, he answered: "Including myself, we have six people in total; we are all Qi Refining Stage Cultivators, with cultivation bases ranging from Qi Refining Sixth Layer to Qi Refining Great Perfection."

Lin Zhangqing frowned and continued: "So that means there are still five people inside the formation; introduce them all to me, and be detailed."

The middle-aged cultivator nodded and continued speaking: "Our leader, Chen Biao, possesses a cultivation base of Qi Refining Great Perfection; he owns a First Stage Peak Swift Wind Thunder Leopard spirit beast and a Spirit-Seeking Rat; it was this Spirit-Seeking Rat that discovered the Red Refined Fire Copper Ore vein.

Chen Hu is our leader's biological younger brother; he has the strength of Qi Refining Eighth Layer and owns two First Stage Late Period Swift Wind Wolf spirit beasts.

Then there is Liu Dongming, who acts as our strategist; whenever there is an issue, the leader always prefers to consult with him; he also possesses the strength of Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

Li Si Niang is our leader's mistress; she also has the strength of Qi Refining Eighth Layer; she rarely takes action during hunts and is mainly responsible for the team's logistics.

Li Youwang joined not long ago and usually stays close to Liu Dongming; he has the strength of Qi Refining Sixth Layer."

Hearing this, Lin Zhangqing's mind stirred; the remaining five people, combined with several spirit beasts, constituted a very strong force, yet Lin Zhangqing was still confident in his ability to capture them all in one net.

But the problem was, why did those two brothers, the leader and his sibling, look like Disciples of the Yuling Sect?

He continued asking: "Are those two brothers, your leader and his sibling, Disciples of the Yuling Sect?"

The middle-aged cultivator thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't know; I have never heard them mention their origins."

"Is it true that all the hunters missing from the nearby villages have been captured by you and taken to that mine to work as miners? What is the scale of the Red Refined Fire Copper Ore vein inside, and roughly when will it be fully excavated?"

"Yes; apart from one or two who tried to escape and were killed by the leader in front of everyone as a warning to the rest, all the others are in the mine.

Our leader judges this Red Refined Fire Copper Ore vein to be a small-scale Vein; as for when it will be fully excavated, I truly do not know.

However, our leader also fears that delays might bring unexpected changes, so he is already urging those miners to work desperately; it probably won't be much longer."

Lin Zhangqing nodded and continued asking: "Explain your division of labor, and also tell me the Spell Incantation for entering and exiting that formation.

Think carefully; do not try to deceive me, or else I will have the scorpion sting you once every day from now on."

The middle-aged cultivator shivered and hurriedly said: "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! Our leader personally remains stationed at the entrance of the mine cave; the Array Disk for the Concealment Formation is also located there, and the mined Fire Copper Ore is first stored with him.

The five of us each take turns patrolling for one day to ensure the safety of the mine cave, while also capturing any hunters we encounter to serve as miners."

After speaking, he demonstrated the Spell Incantation for entering and exiting that Concealment Formation once, which Lin Zhangqing committed to memory.

Fearing he might have fabricated it, Lin Zhangqing made him demonstrate it several more times; only after confirming it was identical each time did he render the man unconscious and store him inside the Spirit Beast Bracelet.

(End of Chapter)