Legendary Clan Chief
Chapter 734 - 720: Hidden Hard to Find, Bai Ze Retreats! _1

Chapter 734: Chapter 720: Hidden Hard to Find, Bai Ze Retreats! _1

Purple-gold mist fell, akin to the purple aura that descended from the sky vault. The ethereal image of the Qi Yun Spirit Serpent melted into the earth below.

The world beneath the surface of the earth was enveloped in darkness and the ground was heavy and boundless, presenting a sense of overwhelming oppression. Nevertheless, the Qi Yun Spirit Serpent, being an ethereal spirit, was only slightly impeded by this pressure.

The mountain city of the Gu Yuan Tribe was situated here, bustling with people and good fortune. Even predatory beasts who dwell in the dark underworld dared not lurk beneath this mountain city. Except for a few insects and ants hibernating here, the underbelly of the earth was silent.

Soon, under Xiao Chen’s control, the Qi Yun Spirit Serpent had already descended five thousand feet. The oppressive heavy mud here could grind ordinary Towering Realm Martial Artists into dust. The surrounding soil bore a scent of decay. Xiao Chen could see some fossilized skeletons of exotic beasts. However, they held no more value and who knows how many years they had been buried here.

At eight thousand feet deep, Xiao Chen saw something resembling an earthy yellow stream of gas. It was the Qi of the Earth veins that belonged to the earth for thousands of miles around. The veins were a mysterious yellow, ancient and time-worn.

Beneath the earth, streams of qi constantly gathered towards this yellow qi of the earth veins and surged to the surface of the earth, nourishing all the creatures above.

This was just a tributary within a thousand miles of the Gu Yuan Tribe Mountain City. Not every region beneath the earth had earth veins. Areas with earth veins were in harmony and were suitable for living creatures, but in dead lands, the qi of the earth veins had already dissipated and were not longer suitable for any living beings to thrive.

The deeper he went, Xiao Chen could feel the qi of the earth veins ever more abundant, so thick it was like fog. It continuously congregated and almost formed droplets of a mysterious yellow liquid. The qi of the earth veins could be described as a type of Heaven and Earth’s Vital Energy, but it was also vastly different.

The earth veins of the Gu Yuan Tribe were a hundred-mile-long stream of mysterious yellow qi. They spread out like the roots of an old tree, covering all directions, almost like millions of spirit snakes roaming. However, they had not developed any wiseness and only instinctively nourished the earth.

The Qi Yun Spirit Serpent, bestowed by Xiao Chen, instantly merged into the earth vein, causing it to ripple. However, this massive disturbance was soon suppressed. The earth vein had already begun to merge with the mountain city of the Gu Yuan Clan. The spirit of Qingling could now simply control it and would not scatter due to Xiao Chen’s impact!

Xiao Chen’s mental will spread out, constantly exploring the branches of the earth veins. According to Qingling, the hidden barrier had briefly appeared as if it was absorbing the energy from the earth vein. After all, if it had been buried for tens of thousands of years without an energy supply, it would have been dissolved over time. Hence, the qi of the earth veins was most likely the best choice.

However, other than the principal vein stretching a hundred miles, there were thousands of other branches extending towards all directions, with the end beyond his sight and deep into the darkness. Trying to find out which branch vein the barrier was attached to proved to be somewhat difficult.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz!

At this moment, the Qi Yun Spirit Serpent had already shrunk in size, moving along in the mysterious yellow earth vein, continuously investigating the surrounding conditions. Numerous hours passed, Xiao Chen had explored a tenth of the entire earth vein’s branches and still had no gains. Helplessly, he had to give up for the time being.

In the following half a month, Xiao Chen used the Qi Yun Spirit Serpent’s power to enter the earth veins every day, but found nothing. He had explored every branch and tip of the earth vein clearly, but there wasn’t any trace of the barrier. If it weren’t for his knowledge that Qingling wouldn’t deceive him, he would almost doubt if the strange barrier really existed at tens of thousands of feet deep underground.

However, Xiao Chen had to abandon this investigation, because the three-month deadline was nearly reached. His elixir trading with other war divisions was about to start. Although there were still more than ten days left, several war divisions had come earlier. All division leaders, accompanied by their respective tribe’s experts had arrived in person. For them, the ample resources and elixirs were crucial for their tribe’s future development. They cannot afford to mishandle them, and would only be at ease if they escorted them personally.

High-grade Elemental Stones, Spirit Medicine, Spiritual Roots, and even all kinds of rare treasures, could all be used to exchange for elixirs. After all, even if a tribe had reserves of high-grade Elemental Stones, it wouldn’t be practical to use all of them to exchange for elixirs. Fortunately, the Gu Yuan Tribe could use other rare treasures to offset the price.

In this manner, discontinuously, it reached the three-month deadline for the elixir trade. The transactions for the elixirs with various divisions were completed ahead of time, thanks to the Hundred Herbs Hall which had worked overtime to prepare all the elixirs.

Moreover, all the major tribes had already pre-ordered the elixirs for next time. However, in the future, it would be changed to once every six months. It seemed all the tribes had sensed the coming crisis and were rushing to enhance their tribe’s strength.

Compared to this time, the next trade of elixirs will happen six months later. The other tribes, who hadn’t attended the War God Temple’s assessment ceremony at Gu Yuan Tribe Mountain City, have also got the news and have hurried over. By the next elixir trade, many tribes were greatly interested in the elixirs that could enhance a Towering Realm Martial Artist. Just imagine the total transaction price skyrocketed, reaching a total of fifty thousand high-grade Elemental Stones. At the same time, privately, Xiao Chen gave orders that the Gu Yuan Tribe might sell various elixirs in various amounts. A Medicine Hall was set up at the gathering place of the wanderers outside the Tribal Mountain City.

In Xiao Chen’s residential courtyard, he sat cross-legged under the Thunder Tribulation Spirit Wood, keeping his eyes closed and pondering how to further investigate the situation beneath the earth veins. The Grand Elder rushed over hurriedly with Elder Hua, who was stationed at Duanmu City’s Treasure Gathering Pavilion in the Giant Stone Valley, following him.

"Greetings, Clan Leader!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen opened his eyes and spoke immediately. "Elder Hua, you must have rushed back from Duanmu City because something important has happened!"

"Report to Clan Leader, this is the Kunyu Complete Map received from the Four Corner Pavilion’s Master in Duanmu City half a day ago. It shows the territories of our border wasteland’s southwest, spanning a million miles!"

Elder Hua handed a beast skin scroll to Xiao Chen.

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen took the scroll and slowly unfurled it. The scroll depicted ancient mountains, dense forests, the locations of numerous tribes, gathering places of rangers, and even the locations of numerous mine veins across the million miles of desolate wilds.

"Is there anything else to add?"

"The master of the Four Corner Pavilion said that according to the decision of the tribe’s ancestor, the Gu Yuan Tribe of the Border Wasteland Southwest region is dominant, and Bai Ze has withdrawn from these lands."

"So, is this a territory offering?"

Xiao Chen chuckled upon hearing this. The map was incredibly detailed, even more so than the current most detailed map of the Gu Yuan Tribe. It showed all the major medium-grade tribes, some larger ranger gathering places, and even over a hundred different kinds of mine veins, including the Elemental Stone Vein and low-grade Divine Material Veins. Everything was clear.

This was Bai Ze Marquis Division declaring to Xiao Chen that they were withdrawing from these territories, even handing over hundreds of mine veins directly to the Gu Yuan Tribe; in the future, the Gu Yuan Tribe would be sole rulers of the million miles of land.

This piece of land spanning a million miles housed seven mid-grade Battle Divisions and one high-grade Battle Division. Even if the forces of these tribes were combined, they could not match the Gu Yuan Tribe. The reason was simply due to the lack of an esteemed powerhouse from the Towering Realm, possessing absolute deterrence.

A moment later, Xiao Chen spoke. "Elder Hua, go to Hundred Herbs Hall and fetch one hundred Heavy Yuan Pills suitable for Towering Realm use and send them to the Four Corner Pavilion."

As Bai Ze Marquis Division had already retreated and shown goodwill towards the Gu Yuan Tribe, Xiao Chen wasn’t an inflexible person. The Dominant Tribe of the border wastelands wouldn’t be simple as it seemed on the surface. He managed to resist Bai Ze Ancestor, and now the Gu Yuan Tribe’s prestige had already shaken the Great Wasteland.

Moreover, he didn’t have any mortal feud with Bai Ze Marquis Division. It was merely a struggle for dominance, and now that Bai Ze had waved the white flag, he didn’t want to get entangled any further. The most important thing now was to strengthen the tribe to prepare for the upcoming invasion of foreign races. Similarly, Bai Ze Marquis Division must be having the same thought. Those hundred Heavy Yuan Pills could be seen as Xiao Chen’s response to Bai Ze Marquis’s concession of hundreds of mine veins.

Soon, two figures came from the courtyard outside. It was Ding Shan, the Master of the War Master Hall, and Xiao Lin, the Master of the Divine Weapon Hall, who had been summoned by Xiao Chen. Moments later, they also understood the matter at hand, and their eyes filled with excitement. One hundred mine veins, what a wealth of resources that would be.

"Now, according to the markings on the map, Xiao Lin, dispatch the craftsmen from the Divine Weapon Hall escorted by our clan’s warriors to inspect the major mine veins in advance. These mine veins have been exploited by Bai Ze Marquis Division for years, we need to find out how much value is left for excavation, conduct a detailed investigation as soon as possible."

The condition of the hundred mine veins on this map - some had been exploited for a thousand years, others have only discovered and exploited recently for a few decades - remained unknown. Although Bai Ze Marquis Division had given up all of the mine veins, necessary further probing was still required.

"Yes!" Ding Shan and Xiao Lin bowed their heads in consent.

However, Ding Shan continued. "Clan Leader, among the hundred mine veins marked on this map, only about ten are valuable. The rest are merely ordinary mine veins. We can recruit wandering practitioners from outside the city to participate in the excavation of these ordinary mines. Our Gu Yuan Tribe only needs to send warriors to guard the mines and collect the resources!"

"Good," Xiao Chen agreed with Ding Shan’s suggestion. Recruiting practitioners to mine would greatly reduce the loss of the tribe’s warriors. Moreover, there were tens of thousands of wandering practitioners gathering outside the tribal mountain city now, finding enough hands for help wouldn’t be an issue.

As for the precious mine veins, such as Divine Material, Spirit Material, and top-grade Elemental Stone mines, the Gu Yuan Tribe’s own people needed to mine them personally and a large number of warriors were required to guard the mine veins and ensure safety.

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