Chapter 244 - 243: Ore Vein, "Ferocious

Having instructed the Heavenly King Group to extinguish the forest fire, Li Jing turned his head.

During the pause when he used Sky Control to slay the giant worm, everything that could burn in the valley was already reduced to ashes.

Throughout the valley, one could see dark-red flames clinging to the rocks, waving in the wind. They were apparently not willing to go out even though there was clearly no combustible material left.

Not far away, in the ravine torn open by his sword shadow, fire-attributed spiritual energy still gushed out continuously.

The intensity was no longer as fierce as it had been at the beginning.

But the scorching heat was still as strong.

On both sides of the ravine, the ground had shown serious signs of melting and liquifying under the high temperature of the fire-attributed spiritual energy, looking as if lava was continuously sliding into the ravine.

Seeing this situation, Li Jing lightly shook Qingfeng in his hand.

"Whoosh!"

A gust of cyan wind with Qingfeng at the center, swept out indiscriminately in 360 degrees.

Smoke and dust scattered, the unwillingly extinguished dark-red flames on the rocks were blown away and quietly extinguished by the gust of wind.

Inside the valley, hot air was rising.

After putting out the fire in the valley, Li Jing, holding his sword, came to the edge of the melted ravine and squinted down, whereupon his eyes lit up.

At the bottom of the ravine, about a hundred meters deep, a large number of irregular, fiery-red crystals huddled together, their exterior wrapped in a deep gray structure similar to that of ore.

The fiery red crystals emitted a fire-attributed spiritual energy so fierce that it seemed as if it could burn everything.

The deep grey structures around the crystals acted like a thermal insulation layer, separating the fiery red crystals inside and thus blocking them, allowing only a small amount of fire-attributed spiritual energy to penetrate.

The reason why a huge amount of fire-attributed spiritual energy had gushed out just now was mainly because Li Jing had destroyed part of the grey ore structure with his sword, exposing the fiery red crystals.

Li Jing could recognize only a few spiritual objects.

But it was obviously a high-intensity fire-attributed spirit mine that was wrapped in the ore structure.

This was a variant spirit mine vein.

Just as he confirmed this, Chen Yuran’s voice came through the communication headset.

"Li Jing, the fire outside is basically under control, and we’ve also collected some of the worm’s meat to send to the Linglong Tower for identification. How’s it going on your end?"

Upon receiving the transmission, Li Jing pressed the communication headset to respond.

"There seems to be a fire-attributed spirit mine vein underneath the valley. We need to get the people from the Research Institute here to survey and identify it."

"A vein?"

Chen Yuran exclaimed in surprise over the communication device.

"Understood, I’ll communicate with the research institute immediately and ask them to send a geologist."

Continuing to speak, she added,

"You first need to move the Linglong Tower into the valley. The other exploration teams should have entered the secret realm by now. The levitating Linglong Tower is very conspicuous, and we are currently not too far from the entrance of the secret realm. You were probably seen by other forces when you killed the giant worm. If unforeseen circumstances do not occur, exploration teams will approach soon. In case word gets out about the spirit mine vein here, it’s hard to guarantee that no one will harbor ill intentions or even ally themselves against us. We need to be prepared."

"Understood."

Li Jing responded. As he motioned for the Linglong Tower, which had been hovering outside the valley, to come down, he rose into the sky.

Gazing at the surrounding from above and confirming the size of the valley, Li Jing concentrated his thoughts.

Accompanied by his thought, the Linglong Tower by his side rose to a higher point in the sky, trembling slightly, and laid down a golden curtain that covered the entire valley, hiding the view within

Chen Yuran’s concerns were not unfounded.

Proper precautions must be seriously taken.

Being targeted by various forces in the Secret Realm wouldn’t be a good thing...

One or two exploration teams, nothing to fear.

But if the numbers increase, things could get complicated.

You have to know that just for this exploration of the Great Secret Realm, Hua Country dispatched fully twenty-five exploration teams, each consisting of at least ten thousand people.

With the addition of various research institutes from all over, combined, they total at least three hundred thousand people.

Having unlocked the third Origin, Li Jing already possesses the ability to face the Six Realm head-on.

But he never let it go to his head, thinking he could face hundreds of thousands or even millions of people all at once...

With enough ants, even an elephant can get bitten to death.

Furthermore, the true strength of an exploration team doesn’t lie in each individual, but in the power formed by countless people uniting together.

With him, Yulian and Jiu Li, as well as the Heavenly King Group’s twelve thousand people, it would be easy to take down two exploration teams.

But if more teams come, they will have to seek reinforcements from the other twenty-four Management Bureau teams.

When a call for help is sent out, it would draw more attention, making the situation even more chaotic.

Every exploration team that enters the Secret Realm has only one goal - resources.

A vein of fire-attributed spirit mine not far from the entrance of the Secret Realm, once exposed, is bound to stir up a lot of desire. It would be troublesome if they were held back.

Setting up a defense is one thing, but it is also necessary to completely conceal the valley.

Those who can’t enter the valley won’t know about the existence of the mine, and even if exploration teams approach, they might not dare to offend the Heavenly King Group.

The Divine Town’s capability to set up defensive boundaries can be put to use here.

The only problem is that this valley is somewhat large. The Divine town’s defensive boundary’s strength will be considerably limited if it’s made to cover such a large area. It is estimated to withstand at most the full force of two Fifth Boundary’s attacks.

But this is not much of a problem.

Compared to defense, the boundary serves a greater purpose in concealment.

Anyone who dares to smash the barrier, they just need to eliminate the person who smashes it.

That’s what it’s like to solve the problem at its root.

After setting up the defense, Li Jing returned to the ground.

Just then, members of the Research Institute who were staying in the Linglong Tower received a notification from Chen Yuran. They rushed out from the Linglong Tower suspended at the top of the boundary, one after another.

Among them were several white-haired scholars who looked so old but low in cultivation; they seemed to have been possessed by fabled heroes right now.

In a blink of an eye, these scholars lead the way by crashing to the ground from tens of thousands of meters in the air.

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

Several thuds could be heard one after the other.

Li Jing watched these old scholars land first, his heart pounding in fear.

The scholars from Jianghai Research Institute who came this time were all at least at the Three Realm level. Their level is not low, only the combat power is a little weaker.

They certainly wouldn’t die from a fall.

But watching the old scholars fall like this, Li Jing was truly worried they might land badly and end up sprawling on the ground.

By the standards of the Three Realms, they are at least a hundred and fifty years old, even if they have not retained their youth...

Scholars who are at least one hundred fifty years old don’t need more words for their experience and vision.

Just from the perspective of the research field alone, any of them is a ’national treasure’ level figure. If they slipped and had an accident, it would be tough to deal with.

The old scholars landed on the ground, smiled at Li Jing, and then went to the edge of the abyss one after another.

The younger academicians who landed after them all smiled cordially at Li Jing before coming to the edge of the gulf.

The Research Institute had greatly benefited from this trip with Li Jing.

Once they entered the Secret Realm, Linglong Tower made them feel secure.

Although Chen Yuran was tasked with contacting them, the academicians of the Research Institute were well aware of who the real "boss" was.

Converging at the edge of the gulf, they hurriedly pulled out various instruments and started constructing devices on the site when they spotted reddish crystals exposed within the rock structure deep in the gulf.

An older academician quickly approached Li Jing and said,

"Counselor Li, I’m Zhong Ling, the expert in Geology and Mineralogy and spiritual material identification in the exploration team. The ore vein underground is a bit deep, can I trouble you to pry a few pieces for us?"

Li Jing nodded upon hearing this.

"Okay, please wait, Scholar Zhong."

An academician with a double title is definitely significant.

Li Jing did indeed respect him.

More importantly, he worried if he didn’t help, someone among these research-obsessed folks might jump down.

Li Jing leapt into the ground and pried off two crystals with his Spirit Weapon Qingfeng.

The red crystals in his hand immediately hissed and produced a wisp of blue smoke.

Li Jing was a bit surprised at this.

This crystal felt much hotter than he expected when he held it.

If it wasn’t for his physical body comparable to a Fifth Boundary Big Monster, he wouldn’t have been able to handle it directly.

Returning to the surface with the crystals, Li Jing met with Zhong Ling who was waiting for him.

Before he could say anything, Zhong Ling exclaimed,

"This... is Fire Essence!"

Fire Essence?

Li Jing was slightly taken aback.

Fire Essence.

He’d heard of it, but hadn’t seen it.

However, he had seen Wind Essence.

What Spirit Weapon Qingfeng ate at the beginning was the high-quality Wind Essence he had exchanged from the Management Bureau.

A piece of Wind Essence was worth 12,000 merits.

Zhong Ling recognized immediately that the crystal he’d pried out was Fire Essence...

Did that mean there was an entire Fire Essence ore vein underground?

Whoa!

Li Jing took a deep breath.

In terms of value, Fire Essence was no less than Wind Essence.

But when used as a feeding material for a spirit weapon, Fire Essence had many replacements that produced similar results.

Besides, fire is a regular element of the five elements, not a variant attribute.

When feeding a fire-attributed spiritual weapon, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a fire-attributed spiritual material, as yang and wood element materials can be used as alternatives, there’s no need to use the expensive Fire Essence.

Wind Essence, on the other hand, was different.

Wind attribute was a variant attribute, and related spiritual materials were rarer, with even fewer suitable for feeding spirit weapons, which greatly limited the choices.

Gazing at the fiery red at the bottom of the gulf, Li Jing took a deep breath.

A Fire Essence ore vein...

How much money was that? How many merits would that be?

He struck gold just by entering the Secret Realm!

It was a pity it was Fire Essence.

If the ore vein was Wind Essence, Gold Essence or Water Essence...

Feeling a bit regretful, Li Jing gathered his thoughts.

Even if he discovered such an ore vein, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to claim it as his own.

Aside from his personal purposes, his visit to the Secret Realm this time was for the benefit of the nation.

Discovering a precious stone ore vein was an extremely important resource for a country.

In terms of value, it might not mean much to a country.

However, its role in advancing the Cultivation Civilization and its effects on other aspects were immeasurable.

Speaking of which.

As a member of the Management Bureau, his gains had to be turned in at the end of the exploration to calculate merits.

What type of spiritual material he discovered really didn’t matter.

Anyhow, he wouldn’t miss out on the merits this time.

How much he could scoop out depended on the reserves of the ore vein.

This time, it was a good start!

Looking at Zhong Ling, Li Jing said,

"Scholar Zhong, this Fire Essence is of high quality and extremely hot. Please take protective measures when touching it."

"Yes, I know."

Zhong Ling nodded heavily, put on a pair of specially made gloves, and carefully took over the two pieces of Fire Essence.

"Counselor Li, I’ll go back into the tower to identify these two pieces of Fire Essence first and check their specific quality. The exact amount of ore in the vein will be known later, you can ask Scholar Zhang Xiao over there for that."

With that, Zhong Ling couldn’t wait to fly off into the sky.

Li Jing watched him enter Linglong Tower, then turned to look at the busy academicians.

Well!

They all looked very familiar!

So...

Which one was Zhang Xiao?

While he was being confused, groups of members from the Heavenly King Group continued to enter from outside the boundary and head towards Linglong Tower in the sky.

Chen Yuran flew over and landed next to him.

"The fire in the surrounding area has been extinguished. I left Tong Gaojie’s team outside for surveillance. The rest of the people have returned and are on standby. We will arrange the specifics later."

Saying this, Chen Yuran glanced at the academicians nearby and looked down at the gulf before asking,

"What about this ore vein?"

"It’s a Fire Essence ore vein."

Li Jing answered truthfully.

"Fire Essence?"

Chen Yuran’s eyes widened, steadily leveling her gaze at the ravine below, and then looked over with envy.

"Your luck is really something. You just entered the Secret Realm for less than two hours and you stumbled upon a Fire Essence Vein. That’s a hefty amount of merit right there," she said.

"Just the basics," he replied with a grin.

"Professor Zhong Ling has taken two pieces of Fire Essence for quality testing. Professor Zhang Xiao and other professors are surveying the geology. It won’t be long before we have a clear understanding of the deposit’s reserves. Once the results come out, I’ll need you, Yuran, to organize manpower to start mining."

As he spoke, his expression became serious.

"As the preliminary exploration team, we need to complete the initial exploration within five days, return to the entrance of the Secret Realm to send out the news and then wait for the follow-up team from the Management Bureau. There’s a massive Secret Realm waiting for us to explore, so we shouldn’t linger here too long for a single ore vein. We need to exhaust this vein in a short period of time."

"Understood."

Chen Yuran nodded.

She came here in search of opportunities.

She didn’t wish for any material gains.

If possible, she didn’t want the exploration team to be delayed too long at the entrance of the Secret Realm because of a single ore vein.

As they were talking, Yulian and Jiu Li arrived by Sky Control.

The two of them settled down one after the other. Jiu Li glanced at the Linglong Tower hanging high in the sky and asked, puzzled.

"What’s going on here? Li Jing, why did you set up such a large defensive boundary?"

"There’s an ore vein at the bottom of the valley, a Fire Essence vein."

Li Jing shrugged.

Hearing the words "Fire Essence vein", Jiu Li was momentarily stunned, as was Yulian at her side.

Next, both women changed color and leaned over to look down at the bottom of the ravine.

Catching sight of a large lump of fiery red crystal wrapped in mineral matter, Jiu Li grabbed Li Jing’s sleeve.

"Brother Jing, I think we are quite a match, so... would you marry me? And I would be your subordinate?"

"..."

Li Jing.

"..."

Chen Yuran.

"..."

Yulian.

Jiu Li’s sudden words stumped all three of them right on the spot.

Facing three pairs of eyes, Jiu Li was neither red-faced nor flustered. She looked seriously at someone with an expression awaiting a response.

Seeing this, Li Jing couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his mouth, saying in a low voice.

"This is to be handed over to the national treasury. I can only get some merit at most."

"Ah? Really?"

Jiu Li blinked in disappointment, withdrew her hand, and flew up into the air as she left behind a sentence.

"Let’s pretend I never said anything. I’m going back to sketch. Call me when we explore again."

Watching Jiu Li return to Linglong Tower, Li Jing took his gaze back without a word.

Chen Yuran turned her head to look at Yulian, and couldn’t help but ask.

"That, has Brother Jiu... always been like this?"

Yulian bit her lip at the question.

"No, Ajiu is normally quite normal, it’s just that sometimes she can speak too quickly, she..."

Halfway through, Yulian realized she couldn’t wash off the stain. She silently chose to stop talking.

Yulian understood Jiu Li’s antics more deeply than Li Jing, having spent more than a month with her day and night in Jianghai.

After all, they spent almost every day together, and the two constantly battled wits to rush the draft.

Looking at Yulian, who stopped washing in the middle, Chen Yuran coughed.

"Brother Jiu is indeed quite genuine as a person, quite interesting."

"That she is, she’s a good friend."

Yulian jumped at the opportunity to switch the topic, turning to Li Jing to ask.

"What happened with that giant worm earlier? It seemed neither a spiritual beast nor a monster?"

"Hmm."

Li Jing nodded, saying,

"After I killed it, I used the Sky Eye Technique and saw a force within it that was similar to Evil Energy. It’s not Spiritual Qi or Demonic Qi."

"Evil Energy?"

Yulian was taken aback.

Chen Yuran furrowed her brows and interjected.

"Evil Energy, it should only appear in the bodies of Evil Cultivators..."

Before she could finish, Yulian, whose pretty eyes were sparkling, interrupted.

"Could it be a... ’Xiong’?"

?

Chen Yuran slowly typed out a question mark.

Li Jing also looked at her strangely.

Xiong?

For them, this word was relatively unfamiliar.

But any Present World People would have some understanding of the "Xiong" species.

Xiong.

The shortened term for Xiong (violent) creatures.

In the present world, Xiong creatures were like mythical beings.

Over five thousand years ago.

The Cultivation Civilization of the present world once flourished and reached its peak with countless dynasties coexisting.

It was even said that at that time there existed "Immortals."

But amidst this prosperous age, the Xiong creatures, derived from the species of monsters, emerged.

They were bloodthirsty, ruthless, extremely cunning, and in just a short hundred years, destroyed the flourishing age of the entire dynasty.

There are many theories on how the Xiong creatures ultimately met their demise.

Some records say that the cultivators united and sacrificed countless lives to exterminate them.

Other records say that real immortals from the upper realm, unable to bear the world’s imminent destruction, stepped in and destroyed most of the Xiong creatures with a Heavenly Punishment.

Another theory suggests that monsters evolve from spirit beasts due to some form of viral infection. After this metamorphosis, their lifespan becomes finite, naturally disappearing from the world thereafter.

In summary, throughout history, these monstrously evolved creatures, brief as morning glories, only existed for about a hundred years. But, they managed to obliterate the prosperous Cultivation Civilization, causing humanity to regress to its primitive state.

The practice of Immortal Learning had to recuperate for several millennia before regaining its former glory.

Around a thousand years ago, science arose and combined with Immortal Learning, leading to rapid development in the modern world.

Whether these monsters truly existed, honestly, no one can say for sure.

Nor could anyone definitively confirm that these monsters evolved from spirit beasts.

Even with various historical records present, the verifiable historical facts are extremely limited.

Nothing can be done about it.

Five thousand years is too ancient, both for humans and spirit beasts.

For most people and spirit beasts, these monsters are merely a distant fairytale.

Yet, its repetition and influence can incredibly reach the entire world.

Unlike local mythologies that are only known to the locals.

The moment Yulian mentioned it, Li Jing and Chen Yuran were somewhat taken aback.

However, there were indeed mentions of such information in the documents related to these monsters.

Monstrous creatures are almost like the embodiment of evil.

Although this information did not mention that the monsters’ power was akin to Evil Energy, it did at least touch upon ’evil’.

Recalling this, Li Jing couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

Whether monsters are as terrifying as recorded in the documents, he was unsure.

However, he clearly understood, that worm from earlier could offer experience!

"We will know what it is exactly once the Research Institute releases their detection and identification report," he casually said, turning to look at Yulian and continued speaking.

"Yulian, your theory might have some merit, but for now, it’s best if we keep quiet about these monsters. We are currently in the Secret Realm, where discussing the unknown is taboo. Talking about these monsters might stir up panic."

"I was just making a wild guess," Yulian shrugged, replying.

"While you both are busy here, I will go find Jiu Li, lest she is goofing off."

Saying this, she took off into the air.

Watching her leave, Chen Yuran turned her gaze back and said,

"If Yulian is indeed correct, our trip to the Secret Realm this time..."

Upon hearing her words, Li Jing chuckled, remarking,

"Don’t think too much about it. Even if they are monsters, so what? If they obstruct our path, we just kill them. That worm from earlier was merely a late-stage creature of the Four Realm. It was no big deal."

"..."

Chen Yuran was speechless.

Li Jing’s words offended her slightly.

It was only a late-stage creature of the Four Realm...

Wasn’t she just at the early stage of the Four Realm?

...

Shortly after, both the geologic survey report done by Professor Zhang and the identification report completed by Professor Zhong were released.

According to the geological survey, beneath the entire valley lied a huge Fire Essence Vein.

However, possibly due to the presence of that worm from earlier, more than half of the Fire Essence Vein has been consumed. Nearly half of the valley’s ore vein was completely hollow.

Regardless, the remaining Fire Essence Vein still totaled a whopping fifty tons.

Fifty tons might seem small for a common vein.

But remember, this vein comprised Fire Essence.

We are talking about Fire Essence, measured in tons!

Furthermore, the identification report from Professor Zhong indicates that the Fire Essence in this vein was of top grade with very high value.

Upon receiving the survey and identification report, Chen Yuran immediately assigned personnel to begin excavation.

Mining, to the Heavenly King Group members who predominantly had a cultivation level of at least the Three Realm, it was a piece of cake.

Every piece of the top-grade Fire Essence they mined and brought back equated to a merit!

The more they could mine, the better.

The mining operation thus commenced vigorously.

Li Jing did not participate.

If his subordinates were mining, it would be for merit.

If he participated, it would be as if he were stealing their merits unnecessarily.

Having identified the vein, a mass of merits is already destined for him.

If they returned with all of the Fire Essence, a portion of merits acquired by his subordinates would also be credited to him.

As he acted as a "supervisor" with Chen Yuran, suddenly, a message from Tong Gaojie sounded in his communication earpiece.

"Sir, an exploration team from White Hawk is here. Their leader has requested to meet with you both."

Upon receiving this abrupt communication, both Li Jing and Chen Yuran frowned.

White Hawk?

They were from a powerful influence in the distant west...

The vein has been concealed by boundaries, making it invisible to outsiders.

Usually, when someone sees this, they should tactfully avoid the area.

Why are the White Hawk exploration team insisting on meeting them?

They exchanged a glance, and Chen Yuran spoke up.

"White Hawk is renowned as the ’world’s watchdog’, famous for being assertive and bossy. I presume they aren’t here to bring us any good news."

"Since they are here, we must at least meet them. Otherwise, they might accuse us of being snobbish," Li Jing replied with a smile.

"You stay here and stand guard, I’ll take Yulian with me to see what they’re up to."

Upon hearing Li Jing mention Yulian again, Chen Yuran looked at him bemusedly, remarking,

"White Hawk is a far more powerful force compared to Daohe, don’t stir up too much trouble, lest it becomes difficult to smooth things over."

"It won’t be a problem. We are in the Big Secret Realm, so accidents are quite normal," Li Jing nonchalantly responded, pressing the connection button on his communication earpiece, linking him to Yulian.

"Yulian, come on... wait, no. We have a guest. Please come down and accompany me to greet them."

...