novel bin Chapter 107 Is the mineral vein alive?
Chapter 107 Is the mineral vein alive?
Chapter 107 Is the mineral vein alive? (3K)
Xu Hao turned around, held up four fingers to Luo Meng, and then pointed at Luo Meng, meaning four fingers, so you come first.
He will eventually leave; there are some things they need to do themselves.
Luo Meng quietly climbed ashore, picked up four egg-sized pieces of broken ore from the ground, weighed them in his hand, and flicked his wrist.
Four muffled thuds came almost simultaneously.
The one who was munching on jerky tilted his head and fell into his pile of jerky.
The two who were dozing off didn't even change their posture, except that they had a dent on their foreheads and two streaks of blood flowing from their nostrils.
The one wielding the whip reacted the fastest; just before the ore struck his temple, his hand had already reached for the hilt of the sword at his waist—but that was all.
His hand remained on the hilt of the knife, and he went limp.
The entire process took less than two breaths.
The miners were stunned.
They squatted on the ground, still clutching their stone hammers, staring wide-eyed as the four guards fell one after another, their minds still reeling.
Xu Hao emerged from the shadows, patted the guard's waist with the whip, found the keychain, and tossed it to Luo Meng.
"unlock."
Luo Meng caught the key and rushed to the iron post in three quick steps to unlock it.
The iron chains clattered to the ground.
Zhou Si looked up and saw Luo Meng. He opened his mouth, his lips cracked and bleeding, and after a long while, he managed to squeeze out a hoarse voice:
6
Second brother?
"It's me." Luo Meng squatted down, his voice muffled as if it were stuffed with cotton. "Xiao Si."
Zhou Si stared at him for a while, then suddenly grinned, revealing a gap in his teeth with two missing front teeth: "Brother Meng, you've come at the perfect time. Two days later, I would have been beaten to death by these bastards."
The chains were unfastened, and the miners stood up, their legs weak, supporting each other.
There were more than thirty people, the strongest of whom was so thin he looked unrecognizable, but his eyes were still alive.
Xu Hao stood in the middle of the mine tunnel and scanned the group of people.
He recognized several of them; their old wounds, tattoos, and the way they held their hammers all bore the marks of making a living at sea.
Not all of them were from the Wild Waves Gang; there were also a few other small groups of pirates who were scattered and captured.
"My name is Zhenshan," Xu Hao said, skipping the preamble of self-introduction and getting straight to the point. "You don't know the situation outside, so I'll just give you a brief overview—the Sea King's Tomb collapsed, and less than one in ten who went in survived. The elite forces of the Three Alliances and Twelve Bandits have suffered heavy losses. Shengzhou is in complete chaos right now; whoever has the strongest fist calls the shots."
He paused.
"I don't care who you were with before, who you owed debts to, or what grudges you have. From this moment on, if you want to live, come with me. Those who can fight, fight; those who can't, move things. We'll provide food and medicine, and you'll be paid according to your merits."
No one spoke.
The mine tunnel was so quiet that only the crackling of the oil lamp could be heard.
Zhou Si was the first to speak. He straightened up, leaning against the rock wall. Although he swayed, his voice was much clearer than before: "Zhenshan? The Zhenshan who is wanted by the Blood Fiend Alliance, the Blood Robe Tower, and the Salt and Iron Society?"
Luo Meng nodded.
Zhou Si spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xu Hao. His wrists were raw and bleeding from being rubbed by the iron chains, and the gesture of clasping his hands made Xu Hao grimace.
"Fine, I'll work with you. It's better than sitting here hammering rocks and waiting to die."
Once there's a first one, there's bound to be a second.
More than thirty miners, some standing, some squatting, some leaning against the wall, gradually expressed their opinions. There were no grand and impassioned oaths, nor any scene of bowing down in reverence.
These people have been through the sea, spent time in prison, and endured the whipping of others; they no longer believe in such empty talk.
They believed in only one thing—who could feed them and keep them alive.
Xu Hao took out a bag of essence blood beads from the Sumeru Warehouse and threw it to Luo Meng.
"Distribute the supplies first, recover quickly, and follow me inside."
Luo Meng took the bag and handed it out one by one.
The miners took the beads of essence blood; some immediately put them in their mouths, while others held them in their hands, heads bowed, shoulders trembling.
Zhou Si swallowed the blood bead and felt his blood energy rapidly recovering. He then asked Luo Meng, "Where's Lang Fantian?"
Luo Meng shook his head.
Zhou Si stopped asking questions, bent down and picked up a guard's sword from the ground, twirling it in his hand.
"Chief Zhenshan, which way do you say to go?"
Deep within Xu Hao's consciousness, the Record of Blessed Lands and Grotto-Heavens unfolded without warning, its heat astonishing.
[Discovered High-Level Blessed Land: Cold Iron Source Mine (Dormant)]
[Binding Conditions: Remove residual Yin energy and pollution, and reactivate the mineral vein by injecting the host's vital energy.]
[Special Note: This place once nurtured a millennium-old cold iron mother vein, and its roots remain intact. If successfully bound, it will continuously produce high-quality cold iron concentrate.]
Xu Hao's gaze fell on the uneven rock face, his fingers idly stroking the hilt of the knife.
Without the entire piece of cold iron mother, this place would have been nothing more than a wasteland. Who would have thought that the roots of this old tree, whose trunk had been cut off, would still be alive?
It can continuously produce high-grade concentrates.
This is no ordinary mine; it's a hen that lays golden eggs.
He will head north to Yanzhou sooner or later.
When the Megatron Merchant Guild was first established, it needed top-quality materials to build warships and armaments.
Revitalizing this place and leaving it to these brothers is a generous resettlement allowance.
Flip through the scrolls in your mind's eye.
After breaking through to the Tongqiao Realm, the maximum number of Blessed Lands that can be bound has increased to six.
Earlier, the Chen family's granary and Luoxia fish market were unbound in Chenzhou. Currently, only the ferry martial temple, the prefectural city death row, and Zhenyuan ship occupy the space, making a total of three.
There are plenty of empty seats.
Without saying much, Xu Hao walked straight to the deepest part of the mine tunnel, found a flat rock, and sat down cross-legged.
"Boss, what are you doing? This rock is really hard, it'll hurt your butt." Luo Meng had just finished dividing the blood essence beads in his hand and came over to ask.
"Incubate the eggs." Xu Hao plunged the Black Blade Devouring Sea, scabbard and all, into the ground in front of him. The metal struck the rock with a clang. "Tell the brothers to retreat ten feet away, so they don't get chilled by the ground. If they get frostbite, it'll be a waste of my herbs."
After hearing this, Luo Meng scratched his head and hurriedly told Zhou Si and the others to retreat.
These people had just crawled back from the brink of death, and they obeyed Xu Haoyan's orders, pulling each other away to keep their distance.
Xu Hao closed his eyes, and the Myriad Transformations Heavenly Vault Scripture began to circulate.
The Qi of the Tongqiao Realm surged out along the meridians, flowing continuously into the Devouring Sea Blade through the palm of the hand holding the blade.
This weapon, forged from cold iron from the sunken sea, is extremely sensitive to yin and evil energy.
Driven by the protective energy, it directly served as an excellent guiding medium.
The blade hummed.
The lingering chill from the depths of the mine was drawn in, gathering along the rock strata like peeling away layers, resonating with the Yin energy on the blade. The azure aura and black frost intertwined within the narrow mine tunnel.
Xu Hao guided this power, stripping away the impurities in the ore vein, and then fed it back with his own internal energy.
A withered tree comes back to life.
The ordinary, gray iron ore on the rock face gradually loses its variegated color and reveals a deep blue luster.
The temperature throughout the mine began to subtly change as the concentrate regenerated.
Deep within the mine, the pale blue light had only climbed two inches up the rock wall.
The rock beneath my feet trembled without warning.
A series of thunderous sounds pierced through the stone walls from the front of the island, and dust fell from the top, hitting Xu Hao's shoulder.
Xu Hao's hand was very steady, and he continuously sent his inner energy into the Devouring Sea Blade.
Luo Meng, knife in hand, peered out and asked, "Boss, has a fight broken out up ahead?"
"That old bastard Liu Cheng is up to no good." Xu Hao didn't even lift his eyelids. "Go check it out."
Zhou Si, carrying the captured sword, spat on the ground: "These scheming guys are all filthy. They've probably dug a pit for Iron Anchor to fall into."
Tea was spilled all over the floor inside the council chamber.
Liu Cheng slammed his abacus onto the blue brick, scattering the beads everywhere.
One moment he was serving Shen Tieyi tea with a beaming smile, the next a pillar of fire shot straight up from the direction of the dock.
The oil tanks exploded one after another, and the scalding heat burned the paper windows of the council chamber to ashes.
Sparks flew everywhere from the splinters of wood.
A blinding red phosphorus flare shot into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke, illuminating the gloomy sea outside in a fiery red.
Shen Tieyi moved with lightning speed, drawing his long sword and smashing the jaws of two guards who lunged at him with the back of the blade.
With a backhand press, the chilling blade was placed directly against Liu Cheng's neck.
Liu Cheng was pressed firmly onto the table, her cheek scraped against the broken porcelain shards, she gasped in pain, but she was still laughing.
"Chief Shen, no matter how fast your knife is, it can't save the ship outside."
Through the burned-out windows, the three ironclad warships of the Anchor Gang were frantically weighing anchor and retreating. Flames reached the side of the flagship, and the sailors were desperately splashing water to extinguish the fire.
Shen Tieyi pressed the blade down half an inch, cutting through Liu Cheng's skin, and beads of blood seeped out: "You think you can keep the Iron Anchor Gang here with just a few cans of kerosene?"
"I can't keep you here, but someone else can." Liu Cheng coughed twice, his triangular eyes rolling upwards. "Do you really think I'm a fool who would bet my life and fortune on you? That old bastard Han Gu sent me a message after you arrived on the island, saying he's with the Blood Bone Alliance's fleet, which is only twenty miles away! Judging by the time, they should be here soon. You're not really interested in doing business with us, and we're not really interested in pledging allegiance to you."
Shen Tieyi grabbed Liu Cheng by the back of his collar with his left hand and pulled his upper body up.
"Are you done talking?"
The scale is stuck.
This reaction is not right.
"You're excellent at using an abacus, but your information network is terrible," Shen Tieyi said, looking down at him. "Han Gugang suffered a defeat at sea, dozens of miles away. His fleet was wrecked by his own armored whale. You expect him to come to your rescue?"
Liu Cheng's pupils contracted.
"Let's put it another way," Shen Tieyi released his grip, and Liu Cheng slammed his hand heavily back onto the table, "Even if Han Gu arrives unscathed, do you think he'll first help you guard your house, or first seize your source mine?"
Liu Cheng was speechless.
Everyone in Shengzhou knew of Han Gu's greed. The loss of the Salt and Iron Society was seen as a piece of fat meat by Han Gu.
The sea breeze carried the black smoke, which drifted all the way to the distant sea.
Twenty miles away, seven warships flying crimson flags silently passed by a group of reefs.
Han Gu stood at the bow of the boat, his withered fingers gripping the wooden hull.
He suffered a humiliating defeat at sea the day before yesterday, and he didn't go far at all.
In Shengzhou, on this sea, everyone knows each other's secrets.
Shen Tieyi had just formed an alliance with a young grandmaster named Zhenshan, and then headed straight for Hantie Island. This left him no choice but to think things through.
The Neptune's Tomb has collapsed, and Salty Iron Hand hasn't come out. Cold Iron Island is now just a piece of fat meat on a chopping board.
Shen Tieyi and his group wanted to take it all for themselves, but he insisted on getting a share.
A red phosphorus signal flare rose into the air, and Han Gu's withered lips parted into a gap.
"Send the order: full sails."