A Major Mineral Vein

The sky had just begun to lighten. Ji Ning and his father, Ji Yichuan, were traveling at high speed toward the source of the violent fluctuations in Heaven and Earth energy.

“Eh?” Ning was astonished. “I’ve never raced my father before. He’s actually this fast?” His divine body was comparable to an early Zifu Fiendgod Body Refiner, and with the Windwing Evasion, his speed was extraordinary—impressive even without relying on his two magical wings. Yet his father, Ji Yichuan, was keeping pace effortlessly.

“Father, what footwork is this? Did you open your Zifu?” Ning sent a Ki transmission while moving. He didn’t know that in the catastrophe years ago, besides the Yuchi siblings, his father had also been severely wounded.

“Enough questions,” Yichuan said curtly. “This speed is my limit.”

Chapter Fourteen: A Major Mineral Vein

“Understood.” Ning nodded.

If he used his magical wings, he could go even faster, but there was no need.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The two of them streaked forward like wisps of smoke. At this extreme speed, covering the distance of several thousand li took only half an hour. This was already at the level of a Zifu Disciple.

“It should be around here.” Ning came to a stop atop the crown of an ancient tree, surveying the forested hills below. “The source of the fluctuations is within three hundred li of here.”

“Agreed.” Ji Yichuan nodded.

“Let’s search carefully.” The two of them flew low over the treetops, scouting the area. Soon, Yichuan dove straight into the earth. Moments later, he emerged. “Ji Ning, come here.”

Ning immediately shot over in a streak of light. Yichuan was standing in a patch of overgrown grass.

“What is it?” Ning asked.

“There’s elemental essence stones underground,” Yichuan said gravely. “And it looks like a very rich vein. I even found high-grade elemental essence stones.”

“High-grade?” Ning was startled. “Our Ji Clan’s territory actually has high-grade elemental essence stones?”

“This vein is extremely rich, with very little waste rock. But because it’s elemental essence stone… Earth-escape techniques can’t pass through it,” Yichuan explained. “Using just the diving technique, I could only reach about fifty zhang deep. That’s the surface layer of the vein. Below that is the rich core of the deposit.”

Ning nodded. Earth-escape allowed one to move through ordinary dirt and rock, but it failed against special substances—elemental essence stones being one of them.

“Aooooh!”

A streak of golden light suddenly shot into the sky over a hundred li away, accompanied by a piercing sound.

Ning and Yichuan both turned to look.

“A Ji Clan golden arrow!” They immediately activated their footwork and shot toward it, covering over a li with each stride. The golden arrow was a rallying signal for all Ji Clan men who saw it to converge.

Soon, Ning and Yichuan spotted over a dozen figures in the distance. Among them were a gray-robed Ji Jiuhuo and Granny Shadow. The others were all from the Ji Clan’s Ancestral Manor, which was closest to Ten Thousand Swords City. The group turned to look as the father-and-son pair arrived.

“Yichuan, you two got here fast,” Ji Jiuhuo said.

“We rushed here from Ten Thousand Swords City as fast as we could, and we only just arrived. You two actually made it from West Prefecture City.”

“Impressive.”

The other Xiantian lifeforms offered their praise.

“Everyone’s here in good time.” A laugh rang out as a streak of light sped in from the distance, then slowed and landed. It was a middle-aged man dressed in animal hide.

“Liuzhen, you’re here too,” Ji Jiuhuo said with a nod.

Ning glanced at the man. This was ‘Ji Liuzhen,’ the number one figure of the Ji Clan’s Northern Prefecture, a man who was said to rival his own father. Seeing that he had made it from Northern Prefecture City in such a short time, Ning guessed that Liuzhen was also a Zifu Disciple.

“On the surface, the Ji Clan only has the two Zifu Disciples, Ji Jiuhuo and Granny Shadow,” Ning mused. “But a clan always needs succession. The younger generation should have produced Zifu Disciples by now. It seems Ji Liuzhen is one. And my father… with the speed he showed earlier, he’s probably a Zifu Disciple too.”

Ji Yichuan and Ji Liuzhen exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

Yichuan spoke up. “Chieftain, what’s the situation?”

“I imagine all of you have already noticed,” Ji Jiuhuo said solemnly. “Beneath our feet lies a vein of elemental essence stones—a very rich one.”

“Mn.” The assembled clan members nodded, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

According to the rules of the Grand Xia Dynasty, all lands within ten thousand li of a Xia city belonged to the master of that city. As for contested territories between borders, ownership depended on who had the bigger fist. This vein was very close to Ten Thousand Swords City—by the Dynasty’s laws, it was indisputably the Ji Clan’s!

“It’s not just rich—it’s massive,” Ji Jiuhuo said, looking around. “We need to determine the exact scale of this vein. I’ll search to the southeast. Liuzhen, fly north. Ying, take the southwest. The rest of you investigate how deep the vein goes and assess its quality. Whatever you find, meet back here in two hours.”

“Understood.”

One and all acknowledged the order.

Three streaks of light shot off in three directions. Ning, Yichuan, and the others began burrowing into the earth. Since elemental essence stones couldn’t be passed through, they had to dig manually.

“Go.” A Water-Fire Lotus wrapped around Ning like a flower bud, spinning rapidly and boring into the ground with ease.

Ning followed it down, step by step. As he went deeper, the soil collapsed above him. He paid it no mind, simply continuing downward.

Soon, he reached the surface layer of the vein. Massive chunks of elemental essence stones were connected like ugly rock formations. These were all low-grade stones. At first glance, they looked like ordinary rocks, though they emanated a faint amount of natural energy.

Crackle… The Water-Fire Lotus drilled through easily, and Ning pushed deeper at an astonishing speed.

“So deep.” He estimated he had gone over a hundred li underground, yet he was still surrounded by the mineral layer. “A hundred li of solid elemental essence stone… just how deep does this vein go? And it’s only a few dozen zhang below the surface. How was it never discovered until now?”

He didn’t know that the Blazingfire Daoist had once set up a grand formation here, masking everything.

“Pfft.” Finally, he broke back through into familiar soil.

“Over three hundred li deep,” Ning thought, stunned. “A vein usually extends horizontally. If it’s this deep, how vast must its length and width be?”

Swoosh!

He began his ascent.

It took a long time before he finally emerged onto the surface. He hurried back to the meeting point. When he arrived, he saw Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Shadow, the old servant, and Ji Liuzhen already there.

“Ji Ning.” Ji Jiuhuo’s eyes lit up when he saw him. “Did you get a clear reading?”

“Mn.” Ning nodded. He looked around. Getting three hundred li deep had been far harder than flying several thousand li above ground. He had succeeded only because his Water-Fire Lotus drew on the power of Heaven and Earth. Others would have to exhaust their own true Ki to slowly drill.

“How deep?” The four of them stared at him.

“Over three hundred li,” Ning said.

Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Shadow, and Ji Liuzhen all changed expression. They didn’t even have time to marvel at how Ning had managed to travel three hundred li underground and back in just over an hour—because a sense of dread was already creeping into their hearts.

“What’s wrong?” Ning pressed.

“We’ve surveyed the vein,” Ji Jiuhuo said gravely. “It spans over four thousand li in area. If it’s also over three hundred li deep… this is a true major mineral vein. And a vein of this size is not a blessing for the Ji Clan—it’s a catastrophe!”

A catastrophe!

Ning’s heart clenched. He understood instantly. A man can only eat as much as his stomach can hold. Gorge beyond your capacity, and you’ll choke to death.

“It’s a rich vein, and this vast,” Ji Jiuhuo said heavily. “Once fully excavated, its value would exceed everything the Ji Clan possesses by countless times. Do you think we can withstand that?”

This vein was the result of a hundred years of accumulated natural energy, gathered by the Primal-level ‘Blazingfire Daoist’ using an enormous formation as he strained to break through to the Earth Immortal realm. The full value of this deposit was equivalent to half of a Primal Daoist’s total wealth. But Blazingfire Daoist had already ascended to Earth Immortal; his vision had grown far broader. Besides, mining a vein this massive was so troublesome that even a Primal Daoist wouldn’t bother with it. Only Wanxiang Adepts would be truly feverish for such a prize.

“What do we do now?” Granny Shadow asked anxiously.

“I’m not afraid of anything else—I’m afraid of Snowdragon Mountain,” Ji Jiuhuo said, his face lined with worry. “The Yan Mountain branch is just a branch. Behind it lies the true Snowdragon Mountain Sect, a major power with Primal Daoists at its helm. And by my estimate, the Zifu Disciples of the Yan Mountain branch have probably already arrived in the surrounding area.”

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