The Desolate Era

The sky slowly grew brighter. Ji Ning and his father, Ji Yichuan, were currently moving at top speed, moving towards the origin of those elemental ripples.

“Eh? I have never competed against Father in speed before. Father is actually this fast?” Ning was extremely surprised. His divine body was comparable to that of early-stage Zifu-level Fiendgod practitioners. Given that he also had the Windwing Evasion technique, one could imagine how fast he was. Even when he didn’t use his wing-type magic treasure, he was still very fast...but his father, Ji Yichuan, was able to move at the same pace as him.

“Father, your footwork technique...? Can it be that you have established your Violet Palace?” Ning use his ki to ask mentally while hurrying forward. He didn’t realize that when the disaster had occurred, aside from the injuries suffered by the Yuchi siblings, his own father, Yichuan, had been heavily wounded as well.

“No need to ask.” Yichuan clearly didn’t want to discuss it. “This speed is already my maximum.”

“Understood.” Ning nodded.

If he were to use his wing-type magic treasures, he would still be able to increase his speed by quite a bit, but there was no need.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The two moved forward like blurs of smoke. Moving at such an astonishing speed, this distance of thousands of kilometers was traversed in just a single hour! Their speed was completely at that of the Zifu Disciple level.

“It should be in this region.” Ning came to a halt, standing atop the crown of a large, ancient tree. He stared towards a mountain forest. “The ripple originated from no more than three hundred kilometers away.”

“Should be.” Yichuan nodded as well.

“Let’s take a close look.” The two looked about carefully as they ran forward atop the trees. Soon, Yichuan jumped directly down into the ground, emerging shortly afterwards. “Ning, come over here.” Ning immediately leapt down, moving like a ray of light to the grassy area where Yichuan was currently standing.

Ning hurriedly asked, “What is it?”

“There are elemental stones underground.” Yichuan said solemnly. “And this should be an extremely rich elemental ore mine. I’ve even noticed high quality elemental stones.”

“High quality elemental stones?” Ning was shocked as well. “The area under the control of my Ji clan actually has high quality elemental stones?”

“This vein of elemental stones is extremely rich, and there are very few other ores mixed in. Still, because these are elemental stones...there’s no way to traverse through them using ground-tunneling arts.” Yichuan said. “Just by using ground-tunneling arts, I was only able to burrow to a depth of a hundred and fifty meters, which is where the elemental ore mine begins. Further down...is an extremely rich vein of elemental ore.”

Ning nodded. Ground-tunneling techniques allowed one to pass through ordinary dirt and rocks, but some special materials were completely impassable. Elemental stones, for example, were impassable.

“Swish!”

From afar, a hundred kilometers away, a golden light suddenly rose into the skies, emitting an ear-piercing sound.

Ning and Yichuan both turned to look.

“The golden arrow of the Ji clan!” Ning and Yichuan, upon seeing it, immediately used their movement techniques to hurry forward. They traversed a kilometer with every single movement. This golden arrow of the Ji clan was used as a summons, calling all of the men of the Ji clan in the surrounding area who saw it to hurry forward to its location.

........

Ning and Yichuan saw from far away that more than ten people were present, amongst them the gray-robed Ji Ninefire and Granny Shadow. The others belonged to the Central Prefecture of the Ji clan; after all, this place was closest to the Central Prefecture City, the City of Ten Thousand Swords. These people turned to look and recognized this father-son duo.

“Yichuan, the two of you, father and son, really are fast.” Ninefire said.

“We hurried over from the City of Ten Thousand Swords, but we just arrived. You two, father and son, are located at the border regions of West Prefecture City, but you arrived as well.”

“Formidable.”

These Xiantian experts all said in praise.

“You came quite quickly.” A laugh rang out. A ray of light descended at high speed, then walked over. It was a middle-aged man dressed in beast furs.

“Truekeep, you came as well.” Ninefire smiled and nodded. action

Ning saw this middle-aged figure come over. This man was named ‘Ji Truekeep’, and he was the number one figure of the Ji clan of the Northern Prefecture, on par with Ning’s father. For him to be able to hurry over from North Prefecture City so quickly...it seemed that Ji Truekeep should be a Zifu Disciple as well.

“On the surface, my Ji clan only has Ji Ninefire and Granny Shadow, two Zifu Disciples.” Ning said to himself. “However, a clan must have heirs and members amongst the younger generation who have reached the Zifu Disciple level. Now, it seems as though this Ji Truekeep truly is a Zifu Disciple. My father, given the earlier movement abilities he displayed, should also be a Zifu Disciple!”

Yichuan and Truekeep glanced at each other, nodding.

Yichuan spoke out, “Patriarch, why have you summoned us?”

“I imagine that you have discovered as well,” Ninefire said solemnly, “That underground, there is an elemental ore mine. A very rich vein of elemental ore.”

“Right.” All of the clansmen nodded, their eyes filled with excitement.

Based on the rules of the Grand Xia Dynasty, the land within ten thousand kilometers of a commandery city belonged to the master of that commandery city! As for any territories under dispute outside of that area, the ownership of those regions depended on who had the strongest fist. This elemental ore mine was extremely close to the City of Ten Thousand Swords. According to the rules set by the Grand Xia Dynasty...without question, it belonged to the Ji clan!

“Not only is this vein very rich, it is also very large.” Ninefire looked towards the surrounding area. “We will now carry out a detailed analysis and mapping of this elemental ore mine. I will fly towards the southeast. Truekeep, you fly towards the north. Shadow, you fly towards the southwest. As for everyone else, carefully investigate how deep this mine is and the quality of the ore within it. No matter what the results are, within four hours, we’ll regroup here.”

“Yes.” All of them assented.

Soon, three rays of light flew towards three different directions, while Ning, Yichuan, and the others burrowed into the ground. Because there was no way to use ground-tunneling arts through elemental ore, the only option they had to was to slowly dig through.

“Let’s go.” Ning’s body became surrounded by the petals of his Waterflame Lotus, which slowly swiveled about him, easily digging into the ground below.

This allowed Ning to easily move deeper into the ground, step by step.

As soon as he went downwards, the earth and mud above him collapsed.

But Ning just ignored it, continuing to move downwards...and he soon ran into the surface layer of the elemental ore mine. Large amounts of elemental ore were connected to each other like ugly rocks. These were all low-quality elemental stones, and just by looking at them, one wouldn’t be able to see much of a difference between them and ordinary rocks. The only difference was that they emanated quite a bit of an elemental aura.

Crackle...

The Waterflame Lotus easily dug downwards, and Ning continued to move down at an astonishing rate.

“So deep.” Ning could sense that he had already tunneled downwards for a hundred kilometers, but he was still surrounded by a large amount of elemental stones. “The hundred kilometers above me is filled with elemental stones. How deep is this elemental ore mine? And the top of the elemental ore mine was only a few dozen meters from the surface of the ground. How is it that nobody has discovered this mine, in all this time?”

What Ning didn’t understand was that before Immortal Firedragon had set up a grand formation, who could have possibly found it?

“Swoosh.” He finally encountered ordinary mud yet again.

“Three hundred kilometers deep.” Ning was stunned. “Ore mines are generally spread out horizontally. If even the vertical depth is so great, how wide must the mine be?”

Swoosh!

Following this, Ning immediately began moving upwards at high speed.

A long time later...

He finally emerged once more, appearing on the surface of the ground. He quickly returned to the gathering spot, where Ninefire, Granny Shadow, the old servant, and Truekeep were already present.

“Ji Ning.” Ninefire looked towards Ning, his eyes lighting up. “You’ve already completed your investigations?”

“Right.” Ning nodded. He glanced around. Traveling three hundred kilometers into the ground was far more difficult than flying thousands of kilometers in the air. Fortunately, he had been able to rely on his Waterflame Lotus, which borrowed the elemental power of the world, to move so easily. The others had to exhaust their ki in order to slowly dig.

“How deep is it?” Ninefire and the others all looked towards Ning.

“Three hundred kilometers.” Ning said.

The faces of Ninefire, Granny Shadow, and Truekeep changed. They couldn’t be bothered to feel amazed at how Ning had, in a single short hour, made a round trip underground of more than three hundred kilometers. This was because they were already beginning to grow panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Ning hurriedly asked.

“This elemental ore mine...” Ninefire said solemnly. “We’ve finished our investigations as well. It has a circumference of at least four thousand kilometers! If it has a depth of three hundred kilometers...then this truly is an enormous large-scale elemental ore mine. To our Ji clan, such an enormous elemental ore mine isn’t a blessing; it is a calamity!”

A grand calamity!

Ning instantly understood. A stomach of a certain size could only hold a certain amount of food; if you filled it with too much, you could die from overstuffing.

“This is a rich vein, and an enormous one.” Ninefire said solemnly. “Once we begin to excavate it, the value of the ore within will definitely be countless times greater than the total assets of the Ji clan. Tell me, how can our Ji clan handle it?”

This mine...

This mine had been formed after the peak Primal Daoist, ‘Daoist Firedragon’, had paid an enormous price in order to set up a large formation to collect elemental energy, so as to help himself break through. This mine had been forming for one hundred years. If it was completely mined out, the value of it would be comparable to half the assets of an ordinary Primal Daoist. Because Daoist Firedragon had broken through to the Earth Immortal level, his horizons had been expanded and he no longer cared as much. In addition, mining the elemental ore would simply be too difficult; even a Primal Daoist probably would be too lazy to go through the mining. Only, the likes of Wanxiang Adepts would go wild with excitement for something like this.

“Then what should we do?” Granny Shadow immediately asked.

“I’m not afraid of others. I’m only afraid of Snowdragon Mountain!” Ninefire’s face was filled with worry. “The Snowdragon Mountain of the Swallow Mountain area is just a branch clan. Behind it...is the true Snowdragon Mountain Sect! A major sect which has Primal Daoists standing guard over it. And, based on my calculations and the passage of time, the Zifu Disciples of the branch sect of Snowdragon Mountain should have already arrived in the nearby area!”