The Prodigies War

Chapter 28: Dumbstruck

Chapter 28 Dumbstruck

The heaps of bones on the ground made a chilling sight.

From the clothes around the skeletons, Lin Xun could tell they were the slaves captured to mine.

Lin Xun crouched on the ground and picked up a bone that had a trace of dark-red on it to investigate. He confirmed they had died from the blood red bat poisoning.

Thinking about what he saw along the way, Lin Xun felt a little distressed. The slaves were ordinary people, so how could they survive the bat’s attack?

Without getting too emotional, Lin Xun further searched around, and as he expected, spotted several beehive-like caves.

Those were blood red bat nests. Lin Xun stepped forward and, without much effort, could see heaps of white fang fragments in each nest like grains of sand.

That was the Blood Essence Sand. The fragments were as small as a grain of sand and were snowy white. They emitted an icy cold air in his hand.

Pa!

Lin Xun picked up one Blood Essence Sand fragment and squeezed it between his fingers. The translucent white shell cracked and leaked out a trickle of the bright fiery liquid.

Lin Xun couldn’t control his excitement. There were no less than one thousand nests and each one was piled with Blood Essence Sand. He would amass a fortune, if he hoarded them all!

Without any hesitation, Lin Xun acted. He tore pieces of clothing from the skeletons into rags and effortlessly finagled them into a bag and began to collect Blood Essence Sand.

In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, all of the Blood Essence Sand was gathered. Lin Xun’s bag had become much heavier, weighing at least two and a half kilos!

Lin Xun smiled. He wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore with the bag of Blood Essence Sand.

Just as Lin Xun was about to leave, he inadvertently glanced around and a rocky wall at the end of the mine caught his attention. He gasped.

He quickly moved towards the rocky wall and knocked a few times. Then, as though he remembered something, he gripped the Sky Breaking Blade and made a slash across the wall.

Suddenly, rock fragments tumbled down to reveal a four-finger wide crevice.

Lin Xun wiped his finger over the rock dust on the crevice, twirled it between his index finger and thumb and faint heat spread out from his fingertips.

Lin Xun’s eyes lit up. He continued to chisel a hole through the wall with his blade, until it was one foot deep and a faint glimmer of red dazzled his eyes.

Lin Xun beamed with joy again and after digging another half a foot in, he removed a mottled red stone.

The fist-sized stone was rugged on the outside but the fiery redness in the middle was incredibly striking.

Lin Xun swiftly raised his blade and chiseled the stone into small pieces. Soon, only a thumb-sized Fire Copper ore was left in his palm!

The Fire Copper seemed to be shrouded in a beautiful bright red mist, and even if it was only the size of a thumb, it weighed as much as four kilos!

As expected!

The Fire Copper ore in the mine hadn’t been completely excavated!

Lin Xun grinned. From one glance, he noticed the wall looked a little dry, unlike the cold and humid environment it was in.

That abnormality sparked his suspicion and so he started to excavate the wall. He soon found what he had speculated.

What an unexpected surprise!

Feiyun Fire Copper was a superb rune material for making weapons. Together with extremely fine steel, it could be used to forge razor sharp weapons that were hard and flexible at the same time. Additionally, such a weapon could exhibit even greater power if engraved with a fire-attribute rune!

In terms of value, although Feiyun Fire Copper wasn’t as precious as Blood Essence Sand, it was more desirable among cultivators!

“Blood Essence Sand, a Feiyun Fire Copper ore vein…”

Lin Xun drew a deep breath to calm himself down. He decided to not continue to dig for Feiyun Fire Copper, and instead he traveled back along the mine.

He knew it was unrealistic to think he could mine all the Feiyun Fire Copper alone.

Therefore, he should discuss the matter with Village Chief Xiao Tianren first.

Lin Xun wasn’t a greedy person. Since he now resided in Feiyun Village and had received many favors from Xiao Tianren, he should look to pay them back.

……

It wasn’t until the afternoon that Lin Xun hauled the sack of Blood Essence Sand back to the village alone.

However, as soon as he showed up at the village entrance, a little kid playing nearby yelled and darted towards the village.

“He’s back! Uncle Lin Xun is back! He’s not dead!”

The young and soft voice was filled with surprise.

Lin Xun was first taken aback. He then quickened his steps in puzzlement. However, it didn’t take long before he saw a group of people rushing out to greet him.

It was Xiao Tianren and the other villagers. In the middle of the group was Sun Mazi, who had been tied up by Zhou Zhong and the others, and was being escorted like a prisoner.

Lin Xun instantly understood what happened. He stepped forward and smiled at Xiao Tianren. “Uncle Xiao.”

Xiao Tianren originally had an expression filled with deep concern and worry but the sight of Lin Xun returning safe and sound made him breathe a huge sigh of relief. He smiled and said, “Is the problem dealt with?”

Lin Xun nodded with a smile. He knew Xiao Tianren was asking about Qian Qi and Lu Ting.

Xiao Tianren let out a long sigh and vigorously patted Lin Xun on the shoulder. “Good! Well done, well done.”

Seeing that scene, how would the other villagers not understand that Qian Qi and Lu Ting were never going to return?

Suddenly, their eyes brimmed with astonishment and disbelief as they gazed at Lin Xun. ‘Qian Qi is a third True Martial Stage cultivator yet he was no match for Lin Xun?’

‘This is too shocking.’

Xiao Tianren suddenly pointed to Sun Mazi who was tied up and asked, “Sun Mazi has already admitted to what happened. How do you plan on dealing with him?”

Sun Mazi’s face was bruised and swollen, and he looked incredibly miserable as he cried out in tears, “I was forced to do it. Qian Qi threatened to kill my only three-year-old child if I didn't comply. I…I had no other choice.”

In the end, he started bawling.

Many villagers couldn't bear to see him in such a state. Sun Mazi was an honest man. It was impossible for him to plot to harm Lin Xun without Qian Qi and Lu Ting coercing him.

Lin Xun swept his gaze over everyone’s expression and understood their thinking. He smiled. “This matter has nothing to do with Big Brother Sun. He was forced to do it. Uncle Xiao, can you please let him go?”

Xiao Tianren also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately signaled the others to release Sun Mazi after he saw that Lin Xun didn’t intend to pursue the matter.

“Thank you, thank you Little Brother Lin Xun!”

Sun Mazi was so moved that he didn’t know what to do. He was about to kneel down and kowtow when Lin Xun stopped and comforted him.

“Okay, Lin Xun has safely returned. Everyone should go back to what they were doing.”

Xiao Tianren waved his hand.

……

In the courtyard of Lin Xun’s home.

Lin Xun recounted that day’s events while eating, but he made no mention of the Feiyun Fire Copper mine.

Xiao Tianren couldn’t help feeling emotional and a little shocked when he learned about everything that had happened and saw the thirteen-year-old boy simply concentrating on his meal.

Qian Qi had traveled north and south and had considerable battle experience. He was an expert second only to Lian Rufeng, but Lin Xun, who was weaker than him in terms of cultivation level, managed to kill him!

Just how strong was Lin Xun’s battle power?

Most importantly, Qian Qi wasn’t the only one there at the time. Lu Ting was around too. However Lin Xun still fought off a joint attack. It was easy to imagine how strong Lin Xun was from this fact alone.

Could he be considered a so-called genius in the cultivation world?

Xiao Tianren felt like his worldview had been shaken and was unable to calm down for a good while.

He couldn't believe this unless he confirmed it with Lin Xun.

“Uncle Xiao, I had an unexpected harvest in the abandoned mine in Fiery Smoke Mountain.”

After the meal, Lin Xun brought over the sack nearby, and with a crash, poured out a heap of Blood Essence Sand on the table. Each one glistened white like grains of sand polished into crescent moons.

Xiao Tianren uttered in confusion. “This is?”

Lin Xun looked a little stunned, but he soon understood that Xiao Tianren had no knowledge of Blood Essence Sand. He patiently explained, “These are Blood Essence Sand, the fangs shed from blood red bats. They are extremely high-value rune materials…”

Xiao Tianren indeed had no knowledge of Blood Essence Sand, but he had heard about blood red bats. He couldn't help gasping, “You encountered blood red bats?”

In Xiao Tianren's memory, they were bloodthirsty monsters that killed many slaves working in the Feiyun Fire Copper mine!

The blood red bats’ nests were the reason why no villager had ever been willing to get near the abandoned mine all these years.

Lin Xun smiled and said, “Don't worry, Uncle Xiao, those bloodthirsty monsters have all been exterminated.”

Exterminated?

Xiao Tianren’s body trembled all over and he looked dumbfounded. It was only after a long while that he forced a smile and explained, “Please excuse my response, what happened today has shocked me too much.”

Lin Xun also understood that although Xiao Tianren was the village chief, he was just an ordinary person.

In his eyes, blood red bats were no different to demons.

After calming down, Xiao Tianren said, “Hurry, put away the Blood Essence Sand. You are now the only cultivator in Feiyun Village. The others will just waste these treasures.”

Xiao Tianren’s words proved that he no longer regarded Lian Rufeng and others as his people.

At the same time, the fact that Xiao Tianren did so also proved that he really cared for Lin Xun. If other people learned about the Blood Essence Sand’s value, they likely would want a share.

But Xiao Tianren didn’t. This meant that he saw Lin Xun as one of his own.

Lin Xun did not refuse, and because of Xiao Tianren’s words, he made up his mind.

“Uncle Xiao, there is actually another happy event…”

While speaking, Lin Xun took out the thumb-sized piece of Feiyun Fire Copper. “I found an unmined Feiyun Fire Copper ore vein.”

Pu!

Tea spurted out Xiao Tianren’s mouth. His jaw dropped.

Today had given him too many unexpected surprises…