Chapter 77

The huge Nether Demon mine pit, merely standing at the edge and looking down, evoked a heart‑pounding shock.

Chief Steward stood on a large stone, squinting at the increasingly dense gray mist in the mine pit, then stared unblinkingly at the fire pillar shooting up from the pit's bottom.

The viscous gray mist seemed sentient, strand after strand winding around the fire pillar spewing from the pit's center.

Strands of gray mist were bitterly cold and piercing, also carrying a terrifying evil force.

Strange wailing sounds came from the mine pit.

The fire pillar surged, waves of firelight spreading outward. Gray mist coiled around it, forming a gray qi column. As the mist flowed and the firelight rippled, countless illusions emerged within the gray haze.

Bizarre and magnificent, the Nether Demon mine pit now exuded an astonishing allure, like a poisonous sun‑flower, tugging at the hearts of Chief Steward and his companions and drawing them toward the pit's bottom.

"Truly remarkable. It must be a fine treasure." Chief Steward slipped his hands into his cloak, gazing at the fire pillar wrapped in the qi column and muttering to himself.

"That fire pillar?" The Shi Family Elder stood beside Chief Steward, his Juling Lamp shedding broad flames that occasionally spat green sparks; when they struck the surrounding gray mist, they instantly exploded into countless flickering flames, sweeping the mist clean.

The crackling of the bursting sparks was continuous, a pleasing 'patter' that gave a sense of firm reliability.

Even the subordinates Chief Steward had brought, threatened by the surrounding gray mist and Cold Qi, instinctively moved toward the Shi Family Elder, gathering within a hundred meters of him.

The Shi Family Elder looked at Chief Steward, raising his Juling Lamp with a hint of pride: "It tells me that fire pillar possesses immense power, a fine treasure. Moreover, its strength seems akin to ours; if we could devour that fire pillar… hehe."

Chief Steward, standing on the large stone, glanced down at the Shi Family Elder and murmured, "I mean the treasure that produces this gray mist."

He grinned, drool trickling from the corner of his mouth: "The fire pillar's power needs no saying. Yet this gray mist is no less formidable, wrapping the fire pillar tightly. Hehe… they're both fine treasures."

The Shi Family Elder nodded thoughtfully, accepting Chief Steward's words: "In that case, there are two fine treasures here."

Chief Steward chuckled: "Perhaps more… the Shi Family has dug so many mine tunnels and opened so many mining fields; they're bound to encounter some ancient oddities. If there are treasures inside, there certainly wouldn't be just one."

The Shi Family Elder laughed, lifted his Juling Lamp to the flame, and blew hard.

Strands of green fireworks roared from the lamp, like a small river flowing straight ahead. Where they passed, countless sparks exploded, forcibly carving a hundred‑meter‑wide passage through the sky‑filling gray mist.

Groups of three to five mutated dwarves appeared.

They happened to block the surging fireworks.

The green fireworks engulfed them; a mass of sparks clung to their bodies and detonated violently. Black bone shards were blasted, scattering firelight, the bones shattering and debris littering the ground.

Some mutated dwarves were blown to pieces, their bodies igniting with cyan‑white flames.

More mutated dwarves let out low growls, staggering step by step toward the Shi Family Elder and his companions.

Just as Wu Tie had encountered before, all the mutated dwarf slaves in the mine shaft stirred, emitting a tsunami‑like continuous howl, forming dense ranks and fearlessly charging forward.

"We're going down." The Shi Family Elder snorted coldly, raised his Juling Lamp, and blew out another breath.

The green fireworks surged like a river, instantly enveloping over a hundred mutated dwarves. Dozens were blown to pieces by sparks, their disintegrated bodies erupting in flames.

Another dozen mutated dwarves were severely wounded, their bone shards splitting and flames clinging to their bodies, burning.

Yet these mutated dwarves felt no pain, howling as they continued to lurch forward step by step.

Chief Steward gave a soft shout; his dozens of elite subordinates drew their longswords, black smoke curling from within them as their bodies swiftly merged into the dark mist, leaving countless afterimages as they advanced toward the mutated dwarves.

Flashes of cold light appeared in the air, accompanied by piercing clangs; the Fog Blade's heavy slashes struck true, hitting over a hundred mutated dwarves.

A piercing shattering sound followed.

What shattered was not the bone shards on the mutated dwarves, but the longswords held by the Fog Blade elites.

Each finely forged straight sword shattered; dozens of Fog Blade elites cried out in dismay, emerging from the black mist with afterimages as they retreated hastily.

Only a few Fog Blade masters cloaked in robes, wielding 'Yuan‑Bing' straight swords forged from rare materials and inscribed with various runes and formations, managed to slice through the bone shards on the mutated dwarves' surfaces, sinking deep into their necks.

With these martial artists' Chonglou Realm cultivation and the toughness and sharpness of their Yuan‑Bing swords, even without invoking secret arts, a single heavy chop could cleave a water‑tank‑thick iron pillar in two.

Yet the necks of these mutated dwarves somehow blocked their blades.

The straight sword lodged in a mutated dwarf's neck, cleaving it more than halfway but failing to sever the head.

After missing the strike, the Fog Blade master instantly withdrew his sword.

Despite their swift retreat, a shadow flickered in the gray mist, accompanied by a piercing ripping sound; several Fog Blade masters uttered shrill wails, black mist and afterimages spilling copious blood, and even half an arm flew away.

Several Fog Blade masters staggered out of the black mist and retreated to Chief Steward's side.

They bore various bloodstains; one master whose cloak had been torn lost the lower half of his left arm below the elbow. He silently employed a secret technique to staunch the wound, the surrounding flesh convulsing as it sealed the vessels, the bleeding spurting then ceasing.

"Not only these sluggish dwarves… there's something else in the mist." The gravely wounded Fog Blade master bellowed hoarsely.

"These lowly dwarf slaves, after mutation, merely grow bone shards on their surface while their flesh ossifies, becoming extremely hard to slay." The Shi Family Elder murmured, "But aside from them, when powerful warriors mutate, they become terrifying."

"Besides their sturdy bodies, they run like the wind, possess limitless strength, and their attack power becomes extraordinarily fierce."

The Shi Family Elder shook his head, then nodded: "Only the Juling Lamp can protect us… so follow me, don't act rashly."

Chief Steward's face darkened.

Regarding the dangers of the Nether Demon mine pit, the Shi Family Elder ought to have warned them earlier.

If he had informed the Fog Blade's faction early that the gray mist also harbored astonishingly fast, terrifyingly powerful mutated monsters, the Fog Blade assassins' adaptability would have prevented this dark loss.

But the Shi Family Elder didn't say…

"Everyone be careful… after all, where a great treasure lies, any danger is possible." Chief Steward heaved a heavy sigh: "Anything tied to ancient relics is never easy to handle."

He was quite wise, setting aside the suspicion that the Shi Family Elder had deliberately entrapped them.

The Shi Family Elder chuckled lightly; his Juling Lamp blazed with dazzling light, spewing countless sparks that shattered the mutated dwarves ahead.

In the gray mist, swift darting shadows occasionally appeared, emitting sharp whistles as they darted back and forth. Several times they tried to approach the group, but whenever they were a hundred or so meters from the Shi Family Elder, the sparks blasted them away.

These strange shadows were far stronger than the mutated dwarves; sparks exploding on them merely sent them tumbling, unable to inflict serious harm. They kept approaching, only to be blown away repeatedly; after a dozen such attempts they hid in the gray mist and never reappeared.

On the spiral path leading to the mine pit's bottom, only the Shi Family Elder and Chief Steward, leading a large contingent, advanced step by step.

The Juling Lamp shed broad flames in all directions; waves of mutated dwarves surged forward in ranks, only to be blown apart by sparks and collapse to the ground.

Chief Steward watched the tide‑like influx of enslaved workers, secretly astonished at the scale of the Shi Family's mine.

But soon Chief Steward exclaimed in shock: "You've explored this place before—surely you didn't fail to clean out these damned dwarves?"

Chief Steward blinked, staring fixedly at the Shi Family Elder.

The Shi Family Elder's expression shifted slightly as he gazed at his Juling Lamp and said in a low voice: "We've explored this place three times total—twice it was just my Shi Family, once it was the Shi and Lu families together. Each time we cleared out those damned fellows, but down below we encountered an unfathomable obstacle…"

Facial muscles twitching violently, the Shi Family Elder glared and shouted angrily: "Could it be that these damned things, after being destroyed, will still be reborn in this gray mist? Then…"

The Chief Steward let out a heavy sigh, then he actually laughed with delight: "It seems the source of this gray mist must be a remarkable treasure… capable of letting so many aberrant dwarves be reborn again and again—this treasure, how remarkable…"

Perhaps because the Shi Family Elder and the Chief Steward and their group made too much noise, a high-pitched, violent roar kept coming from the bottom of the mine pit.

Just as the Shi Family Elder and the Chief Steward had guessed, those big fellows that Wu Tie had smashed with the 'high-altitude dropping method' had already recondensed their bodies in the gray mist, now jumping about lively in the bottom of the mine pit.

They swirled around a large mass of fire in the center of the mine pit, occasionally reaching out to try to grab the blazing fire, but each time they were burned, letting out low, hoarse howls and stumbling back in disarray.

Hearing the commotion made by the Shi Family Elder and his group above the mine pit, these creatures, led by several ten-meter-tall aberrant giants, roared in unison.

When the Shi Family Elder and his party ventured deep into the Nether Demon Mine, a large troop approached from outside the mine entrance.

A handsome young man with a somewhat graceful, lady-like appearance and refined manners smiled gently, riding on the back of a huge white-jade-colored venomous spider, looking down from above at the warriors the Shi Family Elder had left outside the cave.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked, looking at the roughly two hundred warriors standing neatly outside the cave, and said softly: "Is anything happening in the Nether Demon Mine?"

The warriors the Shi Family Elder had left outside the cave instantly turned grim.

This handsome, graceful, lady-like young man ranked third among the core members of the Shi Family in his generation.

Second in rank was the plump, round Shi Second Uncle, Shi Fei.

Sixth in rank was the tall, mighty, savage and overbearing Shi Sixth Uncle, Shi Meng.

This Shi Third Uncle, Shi Lei… he normally oversaw the Shi Family's punishment office, ruthless both internally and externally, a figure so fearsome he was top-notch.

What he is most famous for is that one moment he's laughing and chatting with you, the next he can personally rip every bone from your body. You can absolutely describe him as 'perverse'—no mistake.

Although they had about two hundred warriors here, Shi Lei brought only a little over a hundred men, yet all the warriors felt waves of chill and cold in their hearts.

Everyone's attention was drawn to Shi Lei, each racking their brains on how to deal with this fierce god, yet they could not let him enter the Nether Demon Mine.

Just as Shi Lei stepped forward outside the cave to intimidate these warriors, the rock wall in the tunnel leading to the Nether Demon Mine writhed, and a huge doorway appeared.

Shi Meng strode out of the doorway, and behind him twenty-five stone giants each over ten meters tall filed out in single file.

Each stone giant exuded a fierce, menacing aura, with faint gray light flickering in their eyes; wherever they passed, the ground undulated like water.

These stone giants had clearly obtained some great supernatural ability to control earth and stone from their bloodline.

Hence the phenomenon of earth and stone jumping up and cheering wherever they go.

"Uncles, elders… this is where we place the 'May Seal' to completely seal off the Nether Demon Mine." Shi Meng crossed his arms, stood at the mouth of the Nether Demon Mine, and said in a low voice: "Don't let anyone inside escape… alright?"

"No problem… but after this, make sure there's plenty of meat and wine!" The tallest stone giant, nearly fifteen meters high, rumbled in a deep voice, extending a finger to lightly press on Shi Meng's head.

A group of stone giants grinned wickedly.

Shi Meng's face fell into weariness.

The twenty-five stone giants, arranged in groups of five, stood in a strange formation at the mouth of the Nether Demon Mine, murmuring lowly.

As their chant-like murmurs rose, the surrounding earth and stone simultaneously emitted a hazy, heavy gray light. Five small mountain phantoms appeared above their heads, quickly solidifying and then rapidly expanding.

Large patches of gray runes flashed across the surfaces of the five mountain peaks.

Gray earth and stone mist roiled, and the twenty-five giants turned into the mountain body, completely sealing off the entrance and exit of the Nether Demon Mine.

Streams of gray light flowed rapidly along the mountain body, gradually spreading to all the surrounding rock of the Nether Demon Mine.

The rock surrounding the Nether Demon Mine quickly became denser, harder, and tougher, as if a layer of gray ethereal light flickered within the stone.