Chapter 1416: Both Righteous and Wicked

Ye Liuyun also agreed to Qujing: "Alright, I'll wait for your news before acting!"

But after he finished speaking, he suddenly smiled.

"What?" Qujing asked, a little puzzled, what Ye Liuyun was laughing about.

Ye Liuyun said slowly: "I just want you to see the result with your own eyes! Otherwise, why do you think I have to wait for your confirmation? Do I need your help and consent?"

Qujing was startled by the words, then nodded. Though Ye Liuyun's words sounded harsh, they were the truth.

Ye Liuyun certainly has the strength to act directly without consulting him.

The reason Ye Liuyun said that was also to remind Qujing not to backtrack after the deed is done. Otherwise, just as he could eliminate the West Phoenix King, he could eliminate Qujing.

Before leaving, Qujing asked Ye Liuyun: "Did you already make this plan before coming here?"

Ye Liuyun looked at Qujing and laughed again: "You really think of me as a Demon! Haha, fine, do as you wish!"

Ye Liuyun also knew that his last extermination of four hundred thousand troops as food for the beast hordes had truly terrified them.

That impression cannot be undone.

But a Demon is a Demon; he doesn't mind.

He came here for resources and cultivation; he doesn't care about anything else.

And with the label of Demon, others dare not easily scheme against him. At least Qujing doesn't dare now!

Qujing left Ye Liuyun's residence in a daze.

He thought Ye Liuyun was both righteous and wicked.

Calling him righteous, he has never initiated harm against anyone. Calling him wicked, because once Ye Liuyun strikes, it's truly ruthless.

He could kill four hundred thousand people in an instant, something even he lacks the courage for.

Now he's plotting against the West Phoenix King's four hundred thousand army and the Mineral Vein. That's not something an ordinary Demon would dare imagine!

Yet Ye Liuyun dares to think that, and he even has the strength to do it!

Qujing also didn't know whether befriending Ye Liuyun was good or bad! It seemed that ever since he met Ye Liuyun, his fate had changed.

But after Ye Liuyun intervened several times to save him and his family, he couldn't help feeling grateful toward him.

In the end he had to shake his head hard, refusing to overthink. He only hoped the West Phoenix King wouldn't be too excessive today, allowing them to survive here.

But when the West Phoenix King arrived, he got an ominous foreboding.

The West Phoenix King greeted him with a forced smile, followed by four Tianzun Realm strongmen and twenty Earth Sovereign Realm Martial Cultivators.

Qujing couldn't help but ask the West Phoenix King: "Why did you bring so many strong Martial Cultivators with us to see the Mineral Vein?"

"Haha!" the West Phoenix King chuckled, explaining: "There are many accidents near the Mineral Vein; many miners were conscripted, so bringing them along makes it safer!"

That explanation seemed not unreasonable.

Qujing, helpless, gathered a few Leaders, Ye Liuyun, Qu Wanying and others, and followed.

His personal guards were left behind. In front of the Tianzun and Earth Sovereign strongmen, whether those people came or not made little difference.

Seeing Qujing had no guards, the West Phoenix King chatted with him even more enthusiastically along the way.

Ye Liuyun walked at the rear with Qu Wanying, reducing his own presence.

The closer they got to the Mineral Vein, the hotter it became, and even from afar they could see the firelight of the fire crystal vein.

"Is the fire crystal vein really this hot?" Qujing hesitated immediately.

"You don't need to go that deep!" the West Phoenix King coaxed.

"Oh, that's fine then!" Qujing, still clueless, could only go along with the West Phoenix King's words.

But as they walked, some corpses appeared by the road. Some bodies had been baked dry by the heat, turning into skeletons that were clearly ordinary human corpses.

Any Martial Cultivator's corpse, if the True Core remained, would be protected from decay by True Essence.

Moreover, those skeletons' bones had turned black. Ye Liuyun instantly recognized that they were corroded by Demon Qi.

These people died because they were saturated with Demon Qi and lacked a realm to resist it.

"What's going on with these corpses?" Qujing asked the West Phoenix King.

"They're just ordinary miners! Some died of exhaustion, others were executed for fleeing or causing trouble!" the West Phoenix King said indifferently.

Ye Liuyun also indeed saw some miners slain directly by blades.

But Qujing sensed Demon Qi on some corpses and deliberately examined them.

Then he asked the West Phoenix King: "These corpses seem infected with Demon Qi?"

The West Phoenix King frowned, but didn't immediately turn hostile.

He then smiled and explained: "There's a Magic Crystal vein here already! Though we don't mine that Magic Crystal vein, some Demon Qi does seep out. Those miners without a realm can't resist the Qi's corrosion, so they naturally die!"

He said it quite casually, as if those unrealm miners were destined to die.

"But rest assured, as long as you have the True Essence Realm, you can fend off this Demon Qi! Your soldiers will be fine!" the West Phoenix King added, to ease Qujing's worries.

Yet Qujing and the others, seeing more and more corpses along the way, couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Moreover, the deeper they went, the hotter it got, and the heavier the Demon Qi became. They all needed True Essence Body Shields to ensure they weren't burned by heat or assaulted by Demon Qi.

Further ahead they encountered a squad of soldiers escorting hundreds of unrealm miners, digging crystal cores among a pile of stones.

Those miners were each as bony as timber, and their bodies were already plagued by Demon Qi.

Even as they passed, some miners collapsed and wouldn't get up. The soldiers merely had others toss the corpses aside and kept mining.

The soldier leader, seeing the West Phoenix King arrive, immediately flattered him.

"How's today's harvest?" the West Phoenix King asked casually.

"The yield's decent today; since morning we've already mined over fifty pieces!" the leader replied.

"Still too few!" the West Phoenix King said dissatisfied.

"Prince, these miners have little cultivation; they can't go further forward, otherwise we could mine much more!" the leader explained.

"Hmm!" the West Phoenix King waved his hand, dismissing the minor leader, and continued leading Ye Liuyun and the others deeper inside.

Qujing and the others also didn't know where these miners came from, couldn't say anything, and could only silently follow.

But they now also know that this fire crystal Mineral Vein is not so easy to mine.

"Don't worry about it, these miners have a high death rate, it's because they haven't cultivated, they have no resistance to Demon Qi!" West Phoenix King walked while explaining to them.