Chapter 48: "Discovering a Jade Vein"
By slipping along the wall into the well, Ling Yue discovered the depth was only at most ten meters deep, hardly much of a fall. Once at the bottom, she noticed a passage to the right of her which led deeper into the well.
Lighting up a torch, she first looked around to find the soils around here were all covered in a layer of frost.
This sort of environment, even for her that's already of the eighth rank, cannot tolerate it. Unable to progress like this, she hurriedly pulled some of the heating properties of the Red Yang Ginseng inside her cauldron to battle the cold.
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Once taking effect, Ling Yue immediately found her body heating up like there's a flame inside, warming her to the bones.
Pondering for a moment and assessing her surroundings, she found nothing else aside from that single passage.
Smelling the scent of a human, the poisonous ants that's been hiding inside the cave started to get active, crawling over in secret without Ling Yue noticing.
But this didn't mean Little Squeak was oblivious to the critters. Sensing the danger, this usually lazy fur ball swiped at the poison ants like swatting a fly and instantly killed the buggers.
Too cruel and too brutal, alright!
"Squeak~" With a diligent face, the little guy offers up the poison ant to Ling Yue.
Immune to the ant's poison, this little guy... I really wonder what sort of specie Little Squeak is? Ling Yue asked herself this.
"Your performance is not bad, a roast chicken leg for you as a reward once we get out." Ling Yue approvingly pats Little Squeak on the head, the latter showing a gluttonous face with sparkling eyes.
"The dark Yin energy in this place is very thick." Ling Yue moved very fast through the cave passage. Along the way she and her fox made quick works of the poison ants blocking their path, making sure to not leave survivors.
Before she knew it, Ling Yue had reached the deepest part of the tunnel. It's likely the Song family has never reached this part before.
In reality, after the Song family first discovered this well, they did try to map it by sending several people down. But because of the thick dark Yin energy in the air and the attacks from the poison ants, they could only cancel the plan to develop the place and seal the opening tightly.
After running all the way, her footsteps decreased in pace for she noticed there's no longer any ants at this point. It seems whatever's ahead was something the ants wouldn't dare get close to.
Rustling—
Raising her ear to listen, the air around here carried a fishier sweet scent than before, meaning there's something much more poisonous than the ants itself.
Becoming vigilant, Ling Yue didn't want to be careless so she readied her dagger and poised her body in a pouncing position like a wild animal ready to jump at its prey.
Crawling out a scorpion from the front, this creature was white in color and had a body clad fully in marble-like shells. Its tail was very long, about half a meter long, and the tail end tip came equipped a very sharp looking barb, matched with the claws in the front, this thing looked very ferocious.
"Xuan Yin Jade Scorpion?" She was surprised greatly by the sudden appearance of this big insect, but after the initial shock, her mind quickly started to remember something.
Xuan Yin Jade Scorpion, a kind of a spirit insect of the lowest order which inhabited places with a high concentration of Xuan Yin Jade. If this thing was here in the Seven Slope Mine, then it's likely there's a vein of Xuan Yin Jade here.
What a big discovery!!
She herself already have a Xuan Yin Jade so she knew very well how pricy one piece can be, at least several times that of Yuan Iron.
But now's not the time to be happy. Slowing down her breathing, Ling Yue first calmed herself before making any moves.
This was a first rank spirit beast. Though its incomparable to the Golden Snake Earthworm, but it's her first time facing a spirit beast by herself without aid.
The Jade Scorpion was also looking at Ling Yue, assessing her at this moment. It's clear from its hesitant attitude that this scorpion has never encountered anyone from the outside world after being the alpha predator in here for so long.
Realize Ling Yue was but a weak martialist, the scorpion issued out a long hissing sound while the barb on its tale came piercing down at her.
Tapping her feet and taking advantage of the narrow passageway, Ling Yue jumps up and down with ease, dodging the attack in succession.
Because this Jade Scorpion's been absorbing the Xuan Yin ores in this place for so long, its tail was exceptionally flexible like a whip flinging left and right.
"Dagger, go!" Taking in the pattern of the scorpion's attack, Ling Yue found the perfect opportunity to go on the offensive and lopped off the tail in full with her weapon.
In an instant, the scorpion was no longer just fighting with one girl, its fighting with Ling Yue and the flying dagger.
Feeling the pain, the Jade Scorpion angrily sent one of its big pincers to grab at the dagger. When colliding together, a series of sparks flew out between metal and shell.
But unlike the limited range of the pincers, Ling Yue's flying dagger was free to go wherever it pleases. In a fixed turn after the initial contact, the dagger shot straight towards the scorpion's defenseless eye.
Likewise taking this opening, Ling Yue gathered up her Yuan energy to use her Jade Flower Hand technique to subdue the scorpion. After a series of slicing sounds, the scorpion's head was chopped into several pieces, killing it once and for all.
With the Xuan Yin Scorpion dead, Ling Yu gathered up the remains of the insect and continued forward.
Walking no more than a quarter of an hour in, she soon came into a belt like jade vein in front. The quality of the vein was very good based on the exposed parts. Like a river, the vein stretched far and wide, unsure how long it truly was. And unlike the darkness along the way, the glistening white light from the ores made this place as bright as the day, allowing Ling Yue to get a clear look.
"It really is a Xuan Yin Jade vein." Picking up several of the ores lying around, she can see the quality was only slightly worse than her own Xuan Yin pendant.
Based on her judgement, this vein would last at least three to five years.
If that Song house master knew the Seven Slope Mine he lost contained this valuable vein, who knows what sort of face he would make. Maybe steaming with fume while jumping up and down?
Meanwhile back outside at the Seven Slope Mine, a big commotion was taking place as the various members of the Ye family rushed over.
"Ling Yue, that child is really too reckless." Ye Gu have learned by now from the miners that her granddaughter had climbed into a well that even the Song family wouldn't dare trespass. Just thinking of the possibilities on what could befall on his granddaughter left this old man frightened.
"Even so it's her own fault." Ye Huang Cheng's reply carried thorns with it. If anything, he couldn't wish for anything better than to let something happen to the girl.
Matching Ye Gu's time of arrival, Ling Yue was also climbing out of the well hole at this moment. Forget about injuring herself, not even a strand of hair came loose based on her appearance.
"Ling Yue, you are too reckless." Ye Gu's heart was more settled now, but he kept his tiger face to scold the girl.
"Grandfather, there's a Xuan Yin Jade vein below the well." As soon as those words left her mouth, everyone became dumbfounded like they were just hit with lightning.
Xuan Yin Jade vein, that's a Xuan Yin Jade vein!
Disregarding the fact that they can mine the jade for vast amounts of money, just getting close to the stuff to cultivate would greatly increase the natural absorption rate of the dark Yin energy in the air. For a martialist, this place would be a god send to accelerate one's training.
"Ling Yue, are you sure that's a Xuan Yin Jade Vein?" Shaky in his words, Ye Gu asked again to make sure he's not hearing things.