Chapter 76: Chapter Seventy-Four: Boundless Desire

The entrance to the Nether Demon Mine.

In the small Shibao, the Gray Dwarves stationed here got drunk, each lying on the ground in a drunken stupor, snoring.

The only two Lizardfolk warriors on watch stood on Shibao, listlessly gazing at the misty mine tunnel ahead, occasionally enviously glancing at the four Wolf Tribe warriors guarding outside Shibao.

Being sent by the family to garrison here is truly an unlucky misfortune from not having accumulated virtue in a past life.

Not to mention the unfathomable dangers inside the Nether Demon Mine, just this damned bunch of Gray Dwarves, a group that drinks all day and, when drunk, swings their hammers wildly, smashing everything—being partnered with them is… ill‑omened.

Shi Meng sent four Wolf Tribe warriors here to meet Wu Tie; they crouched in the corner, weapons placed within easy reach.

They narrowed their eyes at the misty mine tunnel, leisurely chewing jerky.

"That kid, he won't have died in there, will he?" a Wolf Tribe warrior muttered vaguely: "Anyway, Sixth Uncle said, wait ten days; if that kid doesn't come out by then, he won't come out at all."

"How many days did the elders last when they first went in? Ten days?" another Wolf Tribe warrior shook his head, grabbed a handful of jerky and tossed it to the Ratfolk scout crouching nearby.

"You rat brat, dare to go in and scout? See if that kid is still alive."

The Ratfolk scout took the jerky, grinned at the four Wolf Tribe warriors, showing two big shiny front teeth. He plopped down on the ground decisively, striking a pose of "I'd rather die than move an inch".

The four Wolf Tribe warriors snorted in laughter together.

Amid the laughter, there was actually a hint of guilt.

More than a day ago, a tremendous roar came from inside the mine, followed by waves of heat bursting out.

This anomaly—no one knows what happened inside the mine.

However, neither the Ratfolk scout, the four Wolf Tribe warriors, nor the Gray Dwarves and Lizardfolk tasked with guarding here would dare venture in; dying inside would be far too costly.

Anyway, they had just sent the Ratfolk scout assigned to Shibao back to Big Stone City to deliver a report.

Such troublesome, dangerous matters should be left to the family's big shots to handle.

Smacking their lips, the four guys who had stuffed themselves with jerky and were dying of boredom were about to find some amusement with the Ratfolk scout when their ears twitched; they simultaneously grabbed their weapons and sprang to their feet.

Meanwhile, the Ratfolk scout reacted even faster; by the time the four Wolf Tribe warriors stood up, he had already darted off with the jerky into a pitch‑black corner of Shibao and vanished.

Outside the tunnel leading to the Nether Demon Mine, more than a dozen huge gray rock lizards, each a full ten meters long, flicked their long tongues as they came racing over; on the back of each gray rock lizard sat a robust old man in a long robe, powerfully built.

Behind these gray rock lizards were over two hundred sharp‑toothed hunting spiders.

On the backs of these pitch‑black, large‑bodied, wind‑swift hunting spiders each sat two warriors clad in armor.

On each spider's back were respectively a soldier wearing a full set of metal heavy armor and wielding a spear, and an archer wearing leather soft armor and holding a longbow.

The heavy‑armored soldiers controlled the spiders' direction of travel, while the archers held their longbows, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Each warrior's aura was quite formidable, their faces sharp, eyes gleaming; every one was a top‑tier elite pick.

A large force arrived at the mine entrance; more than a dozen elders leapt down from the gray rock lizards' backs, standing there in silent unison. Then nearly five hundred elite warriors drove the spiders forward, chiding them into neat ranks, forming a single line behind those elders.

The procession stood here motionless, making not a sound; only occasionally did the gray rock lizards shake their heads, flick out long tongues, and emit a 'hiss' of breath.

The four Wolf Tribe warriors gripped their weapons and cautiously stepped out of the mine.

Seeing these people standing outside the mine, the four Wolf Tribe warriors shuddered, walked up to the elder at the front, dropped to one knee, and bowed respectfully: "Elder."

The elder was quite burly, standing about 2.4 to 2.5 meters tall, with an extremely thick frame; visible bone joints protruded, and his whole body exuded a barbaric, overbearing aura.

It was obviously, however, that his age was not small.

His muscles remained bulging, but his skin was covered in brown age spots; in many places on his face the skin had sagged.

Especially, each strand of his hair showed a dry, pale yellow, giving off the withered‑grass vibe of decay.

His eyes were also a murky mess, the whites slightly yellowish, hinting at black, with countless fine red veins covering them, lifeless and devoid of any shine.

"What are you doing here?" the elder asked, looking down at the four Wolf Tribe warriors in a deep, resonant voice.

The four Wolf Tribe warriors lowered their heads, daring not to hide anything, and told the whole story of how Shi Meng had sent them here to meet Wu Tie. They also told the elder that Wu Tie was young but an Elemental Mage who had already mastered the power of wind and fire.

"A teenage Elemental Mage?" the elder's cloudy eyes twitched slightly: "Truly enviable… not his talent, but his age."

"A teenager, an Elemental Mage—he could someday break through to the utmost heights of the Chonglou Realm… perhaps even glimpse what lies beyond it."

"Youth, truly enviable."

"Young flesh, abundant vigor, the breath of youth…… these things…… we once had them and didn't cherish them, only when they were about to slip away did we realize how precious life is."

The elder muttered to himself: "However, to be taken notice of by Old Six is a talent…… since it is talent, and not the Shi Family's own talent, we must boldly employ it."

The four Wolf Tribe warriors looked up at the elder, bewildered.

"Why not 'the Shi Family's own talent, to be boldly used'?"

"In this world, shouldn't every family rely primarily on its own talent, using scarce resources on its own people?"

"What do you know?" the elder glanced at the four Wolf Tribe warriors and snorted coldly.

One Wolf Tribe warrior, a bit sharper, grinned at the elder: "Elder, are you here because of the anomaly just now in the mine?"

Sticking out his long tongue to lick his nose, the Wolf Tribe warrior grinned: "Just now it was terrifying—a 'boom' shook the whole mine, stones rained down… then waves of hot air blew out, singeing our fur."

The elder's eyes shifted slightly as he looked at the Wolf Tribe warrior, about to ask for more news, when he suddenly turned back and saw a force of roughly a hundred already a hundred meters away.

These people had no mounts, relying entirely on their own two feet to hurry.

Yet they leapt like flying, trailing afterimages, with a faint black mist swirling around their whole bodies.

They moved without a sound, their forms even hazy, as if blending into the dim surroundings; even with the elder's cultivation, he only noticed their approach when they came within about a hundred meters.

The elder's nearly bare, withered eyebrows twitched, and he muttered lowly: "First Steward, you came quickly."

About a hundred strong, dressed in black tight‑fitting soft armor with black metal masks, the squad's leaders even wore black cloaks, stopping a hundred meters out; only a man in a cloak walked slowly over, step by step, until he stood before the elder.

He threw back the cloak's hood, revealing a white‑haired man who looked even older than the Shi Family elder, his aura faint as a dying breath; he smiled and said softly: "We're not far from your Big Stone City…… having received the news, we naturally came at full speed."

"Besides, I am now the Chief Steward of the Mist Blade." the elder coughed a few times, smiling at the Shi Family elder: "So the title 'First Steward'… needs to be changed."

"Mm, Chief Steward, you arrived fast—very good." the Shi Family elder pointed at the mine, his voice deep: "What's going on with this Nether Demon Mine? I suppose you, Chief Steward, know. There's been movement here…… perhaps a great treasure has surfaced."

The Chief Steward burst into a bright smile, revealing two rows of gums where the teeth had almost all fallen out.

A trickle of saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth…… he was simply too old, his body unable to properly control little things like drooling.

"Or maybe it's just some demons and monsters showing up…… but it doesn't matter." the Chief Steward happily rubbed his hands: "The Vice Sect Master is very interested in these things—whether it's a great treasure or demons—so if we send whatever's inside to him, we'll surely be rewarded."

The Chief Steward's body trembled slightly; he looked at the Shi Family Elder and murmured in a low voice: "If you don't continue to drain your life essence, perhaps you could still endure for several decades... I can't hold on—I will die within three years at most."

The Changsheng Sect's longevity secret art—I must obtain the Changsheng Sect's longevity secret art!" The Chief Steward grinned, two strands of saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, falling onto his collar and soaking a small patch of his clothing.

The Shi Family Elder looked at the mine entrance with a look of deep apprehension.

After a while, he finally spoke in a low voice: "I thought the same... but I have witnessed the horror inside, so I invited you to come explore this damned mine."

If there are benefits..." the Shi Family Elder pointed at the Chief Steward.

We will share. That is only natural." The Chief Steward smiled even more brightly, more saliva continuously flowing from his mouth: "I am not one to hoard... but where are your brothers?"

The Shi Family Elder said nothing, merely striding toward the mine entrance.

The Chief Steward slowly nodded: "So you are the type who hoards everything. Hehe."

The four wolf-tribe warriors kneeling on one knee stared blankly at their elder, then at the Chief Steward.

After a moment, their simple minds finally grasped what had happened; they sprang to their feet, looking in terror at the Shi Family Elder and exclaiming: "Elder, you... you..."

The Chief Steward gave a "hehe" laugh.

Behind the four wolf-tribe warriors, a black shadow flickered into view each.

A flash of cold light, and the four wolf-tribe warriors suddenly stiffened, blood continuously spurting from their mouths, their bodies swaying a few times before collapsing heavily to the ground.

The Chief Steward waved his hand; among the subordinates who had followed him here, nearly half of their bodies turned blurry, gradually merging into patches of black smoke that hid near the cave entrance.

He led fifty-something subordinates, with a hint of urgency, quickly striding into the mine.

Of the more than five hundred warriors who followed the Shi Family Elder here, about two hundred were left to guard outside the mine, while the others formed neat ranks and marched boldly into the mine.

Among the Shi Family warriors left outside the mine, several warrior leaders emitted sharp whistles.

More than a dozen gray-rock lizards immediately lined up in a single file outside the mine, sealing the entrance tightly.

More than two hundred sharp-toothed hunting spiders climbed the rock face, hiding in the shadows high on the wall; moreover, some of those spiders concealed themselves in nearby mushroom patches and fern groves, straining to curl up their long chelicerae, only their eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.

Cave**, the fog-blade assassins brought by the Chief Steward are rapidly advancing.

In Shibao, the drunken gray dwarves were slain without even reacting; the two lizardfolk archers hadn't even time to grab their weapons before being easily killed by these assassins.

The Shi Family Elder and the Chief Steward walked shoulder to shoulder, step by step, toward the depths of the mine shrouded in gray mist.

The viscous gray mist curled around them thread by thread, like countless spiderwebs.

A wind blew from ahead, the chilling, bone-piercing gust causing both men to instinctively frown.

Yet within wave after wave of cold wind, waves of heat were also mixed in.

The cold wind and hot waves blew almost simultaneously, and the Shi Family Elder and the Chief Steward instantly broke into pleased smiles.

I can feel a tremendous power ahead." The Chief Steward laughed happily: "It's just that this gray mist and the yin wind are too annoying.

The Shi Family Elder drew a deep breath, flipped his palm, and a point of flame rose slowly from his palm; the lamp flame flared, and an antiquated, strange bronze lamp appeared out of nowhere in his hand.

The Juling Lamp." The Shi Family Elder glanced at the Chief Steward with a hint of pride: "Our Shi Family excels at opening mineral veins and digging tunnels… we inevitably encounter the miasma and poisonous gas that have accumulated underground for countless years.

This Juling Lamp is the supreme treasure of the giant clan's bloodline." The Shi Family Elder smiled proudly: "It excels at dispelling all kinds of yin cold and poisonous vapors.

The lamp light suddenly blazed, a surge of heat spreading outward; the mist in the mine shaft shattered, and the yin wind was blown away completely.

The Chief Steward's eyes flickered as he gazed deeply at the Juling Lamp: "What a fine treasure… actually, if we gain nothing this time, offering this treasure to the Vice Sect Master would also be excellent.

The Shi Family Elder said nothing.

The group thus proceeded step by step toward the demonic abyss mine.