Chapter 470 (1/2)

It's Gone

When he saw the four people, Duo Kang was stunned. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

“Chief, why did you come out of the ground?” Duo Kang laughed nervously and retracted his axe.

Everyone else frantically retracted their weapons. Didn’t they leave the cave? Why did they return through the ground?

Duo Kang got someone to throw in some rope and they climbed out of the pit.

Zheng Luo briefly explained and then sat on a rock whose layer of ice had already been hacked off to catch his breath. Although they were strong warriors, the four had not rested since the ‘tunnel’. They had been afraid of the beast returning too so they were in a tensed state. They could finally relax here.

Duo Kang’s eyes brightened. “You mean, if we don’t leave for the moment, we can jump inside and start mining crystals every day?”

“Yes.”

“Then chief, you all rest here, I’ll bring my men over there and we’ll continue mining!” Duo Kang said, rubbing his palms. At this point, the fear of the beast had faded. The fire crystals were an attractive goal.

“Bring fewer people. Be alert. Run back immediately if anything seems wrong. Don’t be greedy,” reminded Zheng Luo. “Clean up the soil and rocks in the tunnel we dug too.”

The tunnel was filled with a lot of rocks and soil due to their digging. If the king beast returned, no one knew if it would rage upon sight of these little piles of soil. They shivered when they thought of what happened in the Fox cave. It was extremely pitiful. Not a single person on both floors of the cave lived.

“I know!” Duo Kang called over a few people, brought their tools and slid down the rope.

The other tribes did the same. They would not miss this opportunity.

“Shao Xuan, when can we leave?” asked Zheng Luo.

“I don’t know either. Wait.” Shao Xuan took out some rope to conduct a reading.

He wanted to ask about the king beast but the reading failed. After so many times, he had figured out that usually, he was unable to conduct readings targeting a person or beast far more powerful than himself. That was why after a failed attempt, Shao Xuan did a reading for the weather.

Although there was no clear conclusion, Shao Xuan found out that the weather would worsen.

“Leave in two days,” he said.

“Two days?” Zheng Luo frowned. “Why?” He believed Shao Xuan but wanted to know the reason.

“It’ll temporarily stop snowing in two days. But once it starts again, the weather will be worse than what we witnessed.” Shao Xuan told them about his conclusion. The reading did not tell him what would happen but hinted that the best time to leave was two days later because the snowing would stop.

The Taihe and Mountain Wind chiefs memorised his words, mulling over their next move.

“Then we shall make preparations for it. Tell everyone in the cave that we will leave in two days,” said the Taihe chief.

If they had to leave in two days, then mining the fire crystals became an urgent matter.

After some rest, the three chiefs went to mine and instructed people to mine more salt. Since they only had two days, they should mine as much as they could.

In the past, they mined only what they needed, not too much. They did not sell much of the salt they mined here, the portion of salt used for trade was very small. That was why they only mined two floors after centuries. If they continued digging downwards, instead of salt, they’d get the fire crystals and provoke the king beast sooner. Then all the salt mine guards would likely die here too.

After doing nothing for several days, all the warriors of the three tribes were in a better mood since they finally had something to do. At least they didn’t have to sit and dream all day.

It did not matter if it was salt from the ceiling or the ground, they brought all they could. This might be their last chance coming here, no one wanted to act recklessly in a king beast’s territory. If they knew of it earlier, they would have avoided this place altogether.

Strictly speaking, this was the Flaming horn’s cave, the Taihe and Mountain Wind people should not be digging here. However, their caves were not cleaned out and they had no time. Plus Zheng Luo felt like this might be their last time here. Since everyone was in the same boat, they might as well dig in the same cave. There was not much salt left anyway. If they finished mining in two days, it would be great for everyone. In the future, if they returned, the Mountain Wind and Taihe tribe would help them take one cave for Flaming Horn.

Just like that, one group of people mined salt, the other mined for fire crystals. There were two groups of guards on both sides. If the king beast came, they would retreat immediately.

The king beast appeared nearby on the second afternoon. However, it merely loitered around for a while and then left. It did not come to the salt mines.