Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
"On the border of this tunnel is an unrecognizable metal element mineral. This old fellow here has seen some books about the Metal Swallowing Beast's habits. It likes to stay in places of the metal element minerals, so this should be the right place." Huang FuLi of the Beast Transfiguration Guild said first while stroking his beard.
As he finished, You Ming walked in, taking the Vermillion Blood clan members with him.
Seeing this, others couldn't help but swear under their breath, clearly You Ming knew beforehand this was the right tunnel, but he didn't say anything. It wasn't until the Beast Transfiguration Guild members said it before he moved, his motive was clear as day.
No one was willing to fall behind and went in one after another.
It wasn't long before the people surrounding the tunnel entrance depleted by half.
Due to the time restraint, even those further away from the entrance hurried over. Some, who were too impatient, were almost cut by the strong wind.
By the time You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao arrived at the entrance, members of the forces were almost all gone.
"Doesn't this hole look like CatQiu's mouth?" You XiaoMo tilted his head up to see the shape of the tunnel entrance. It was a rare circular shape, it felt similar to how CatQiu looked while yawning. However, as they were about to go hunting for treasure, he was a bit excited.
Ling Xiao looked at him and said, "CatQiu hasn't fully developed yet."
You XiaoMo ignored him.
The two followed everyone and walked in. The inside was still relatively bright; however, it wasn't long before it suddenly dimmed. When everyone looked back, the entrance had disappeared.
Half an hour hadn't passed by before the entrance disappeared, it was two minutes early, leaving those outside, who were about to go in, speechless.
"Good thing we came in early." You XiaoMo said feeling relieved.
Everyone else felt slightly worried as well, it was a good thing that they had the foresight to come in first. However, it also meant that the treasure inside had nothing to do with those outside. Everyone felt some slight relief that there was less competition. However, unbeknownst to them, who knows which group would be luckier!
Afterwards, the lucky ones quickened their pace to catch up with the main group. The rushing footsteps created a large echo.
You XiaoMo was not as impatient as them, as he walked along with Ling Xiao, he was also eyeing the situation inside the cave.
As Huang FuLi said earlier, the Metal Swallowing Beast did like to stay where there were metal element minerals. Therefore, here one could see all sorts of minerals and the deeper in, the darker the colors.
About a thousand meters in, they finally arrived at a split juncture.
There were three routes, on the right was a road filled with the metal element minerals they saw before, giving off a slight fluctuation of soul force.
On the left was a yellowish-brown road, with the entrance covered in a yellow sand-dirt. It didn't seem like there would be treasures.
Last but not least was the middle, this was the plainest, pitch dark and with nothing.
Without a doubt everyone chooses the right tunnel because the Metal Swallowing Beast ate metal element minerals and only the right-hand tunnel had it, so it must be that the beast was inside.
You XiaoMo thought the same as them when suddenly Ling Xiao grabbed a hold of his hand and whispered, "We are going to middle one."
"Why?" You XiaoMo asked quietly.
Ling Xiao said, "Because the Vermillion Blood Clan also went with this route."
You XiaoMo lifted his head, "How do you know?"
Ling Xiao replied, "This route has leftovers of their scent."
You XiaoMo bit his lower lip and very sensibly kept the 'are you a dog' comment to himself.
Ling Xiao, as if noticing something, lowered his head and stared at him with his black eyes, "What did you want to say earlier?"
With a cough You XiaoMo said, "Nothing…"
Just when they thought that only they would walk the middle path, after they went in, a few more people followed them. It seemed that they were all solo practitioners, all with their heads down, trying to not make eye contact.
You XiaoMo glanced over before continuing. It didn't take long before the view in front of them suddenly became clear.
It was a huge, as if endless, karst cave. Both the top and bottom were filled with stalactites of all shapes and sizes. There were no boundaries in sight and the dark undergrounds were illuminated by these stalactites.
No wonder there were people who called the June Mountain Ranges an underground palace, if it was filled with these kinds of karst caves, then it really does look like a natural palace.
The karst cave seemed to have existed for more than ten thousand years. Wherever they walked, it was all sort of stalactites eroded to different shapes and sizes, all beautiful. It itself was a sight to behold.
It was the first time that You XiaoMo had seen a karst cave this big, taking in the view, even the smallest stalactite was twenty or so meters long. The biggest were well over hundred meters and the stalactites above periodically dripped water creating a rhythmic on the ground.
Everyone had a fast pacing thus it took just about an hour to reach the end of the field of stalactites to a bizarre world of stone flowers. From the wall to the ground were patches of stone from black sediments. These rocks had the shape of a flower thus it was known as stone flowers.
Seeing this scene, those behind You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao finally became impatient.
There was nothing of value here, their goal was the Metal Swallowing Beast, they didn't have time to waste here. At the same time, they were regretting their decisions, they should have gone with the others to the right-hand path.
Once they left, You XiaoMo immediately ran over to a meter-long black stone flower and examined it closely. Absorbed in thought he said, "There seems to be something inside these stones."
"Let's see, use your soul force and cut it open." Ling Xiao walked over and said.
You XiaoMo had the same idea in mind, however this black material was unusually hard, he was dripping in sweat before it finally opened. Not only that, this was the smallest stone flower.
"What is this small thing?" You XiaoMo took out a black material from within the stone flower, it was the size of a thumb, way too small.
Ling Xiao stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, "If my guess is correct, this is a newborn black metal element mineral, from many years of mutation."
You XiaoMo tried cutting this black stone however all that was left was a white streak. It was so hard that even he couldn't do anything about it, his expression shifted to one of happiness rather than surprise.
"If we get a few more of these black rocks, couldn't we use it to lure the Metal Swallowing Beast?"
"We can give it a try."
And thus, the two split their work while cooperating. Ling Xiao was much faster than You XiaoMo, by the time he cut opened the second one, Ling Xiao was already on his tenth.
When You XiaoMo turned around and saw this, he just left it to him and instead ran behind him collecting rocks. The stone flowers Ling Xiao choose were all relatively big, with the biggest in the double digits. From the biggest he dug up a stone with a diameter of twenty centimeters, the others were all around ten.
It was after they had dug up twenty pieces, when Ling Xiao stopped.
You XiaoMo weighted it and also felt that it was enough.
Walking further ahead, they noticed the large amounts of shattered stone flowers with the black stones inside dug out. Clearly, someone else also knew of the contents inside.
By the time they walked out of the stone flower cave, in front of them was, once again, five narrow passages headed towards five different directions. This time it was even harder to choose.
Once again Ling Xiao used his sensitive…sense to find out the route that the Vermillion Blood clan took. It was the third route, also the middle one. However, what surprised him was that the other forces had took different paths. There was only one explanation, there was a division of ideas among them.
Realizing this, Ling Xiao stopped hesitating and randomly choose a passage.
After walking for ten or so minutes, an echo came from ahead. It was the sound of a lot people talking and by the time they arrived at the end of the passage, they could finally see what kind of situation it was.
In an opened space with the size of three soccer fields, there was around two hundred people, all ones who had gone in the underground palace. However, that were still less than before and as expected, the Vermillion Blood Clan and the other forces were there. It seemed like the five routes appeared to be leading to different directions but actually had the same exit.
"What is going on, why is everyone gathered here?" You XiaoMo said quietly to Ling Xiao, not only that, this open area didn't seem natural at all. The walls clearly had man-made prints on them and the tens of meters tall door, no matter how amazing nature was, it couldn't make a door appear.
Ling Xiao replied, "They're probably thinking of how to push open that open."
That door seemed to be made of a special material as a Emperor level practitioner went ahead to push it but it didn't budge and instead his face went red from pushing.
Now, the big forces were gathered around debating on how to open this door, Xiong Xiao and Qiao WuShuang were included too. Although the two were young, in Tong Tian Continent age didn't matter as long as you had the strength to back it up.
"Ling Xiao…" You XiaoMo's voice sounded, quiet as a fly's buzzing.
When Ling Xiao turned around to look, he saw him plastered to the wall like a gecko. Seeing that Ling Xiao turned around, he giggled and waved him over, eyes shining.