The immense abyss of the demonic mine was truly awe-inspiring, even from just peering down from the edge. The Grand Commander stood on a large rock, squinting his eyes as he observed the increasingly dense gray mist rising from the mine, then his gaze fixed on the column of fire shooting up from the bottom of the mine.
The viscous gray mist seemed to possess a spiritual nature, intertwining with the column of fire that shot out from the center of the mine.
The chilling and bone-piercing gray mist carried a terrifying malevolence.
Strange roars echoed from within the mine.
As the column of fire surged, waves of flames spread out in all directions. The gray mist wrapped around the periphery of the fire, forming a gray column of gas. The mist swirled, while the flames flickered, and countless illusions appeared within the fog.
A mesmerizing and bizarre scene unfolded; the demonic mine emitted an astonishing allure, much like a poisonous sunflower, enthralling the hearts of the Grand Commander and his group, drawing them towards the bottom of the mine.
"Amazing. It must be a great treasure," the Grand Commander muttered to himself, hands tucked inside his cloak, as he stared at the column of fire wrapped in the gas column.
"What about that column of fire?" Elder Shi, standing beside the Grand Commander, held a giant spirit lamp in his hand, emitting a bright light. Occasional sparks of green fire shot out, exploding into numerous flickering flames upon contact with the gray mist, sweeping away the fog.
The continuous explosions of sparks were a delightful and reassuring sound, instilling a sense of reliability.
Even the subordinates brought by the Grand Commander unconsciously moved closer to Elder Shi due to the threatening gray mist and cold aura. Everyone gathered within a hundred meters around him.
Elder Shi looked at the Grand Commander and raised his giant spirit lamp approvingly. "It tells me that the power of that column of fire is immense, a great treasure. Moreover, it seems to have some connection with its own power. If we can devour that column of fire... hehe."
The Grand Commander, standing on the large rock, lowered his head to look at Elder Shi and murmured, "I was referring to the treasure that produces this gray mist."
He grinned, drooling from the corners of his mouth. "The power of that column of fire goes without saying. However, this mist is no less impressive, completely engulfing the column of fire. Hehe... all of them are great treasures."
Elder Shi nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with the Grand Commander's statement. "So, there are two great treasures here."
The Grand Commander smiled. "Maybe even more... With so many mines and mining sites opened by the Shi Family, we're bound to encounter some strange relics from ancient times. If there are treasures inside, it's certainly more than just one."
Elder Shi laughed and blew a breath onto the giant spirit lamp in his hand.
Green smoke billowed out from the lamp, like a small river flowing forward. Wherever the smoke passed, sparks burst, shattering the surrounding gray mist and leaving it empty.
Groups of mutated dwarves appeared.
They happened to block the path of the surging smoke. The green smoke engulfed them, and numerous sparks exploded on their bodies. Black bone fragments were blasted into splinters, shattering and scattering all over the ground.
Some of the mutated dwarves were blown to pieces, their bodies burning with pale blue flames.
More mutated dwarves roared lowly, swaying step by step, advancing towards Elder Shi and the others.
Just like what Wu Tie had encountered before, all the mutated dwarf miners in the mine awoke. They emitted a roar like a tsunami, forming dense ranks and charging forward fearlessly.
"Let's go down." Elder Shi gave a cold snort, raised his giant spirit lamp, and exhaled another breath.
The green smoke rushed like a river, instantly enveloping hundreds of mutated dwarves. Dozens of them were blown to pieces by the sparks, and their disintegrated bodies burst into flames.
Dozens more were heavily injured, their bone fragments cracking as flames adhered to their bodies.
However, these mutated dwarves seemed impervious to pain. They continued to roar and approached step by step.
The Grand Commander shouted lightly, and dozens of his elite subordinates drew their long knives, emitting faint black smoke from their bodies. Their figures swiftly merged into the black smoke, creating numerous afterimages as they charged towards the mutated dwarves.
Cold flashes appeared in the air, accompanied by piercing collision sounds. The powerful chops of the fog knives accurately struck over a hundred mutated dwarves. The ear-piercing sound of shattering followed.
But what shattered were not the bone fragments on the mutated dwarves' bodies, but the long knives in the hands of these elite fog knife wielders.
The expertly forged straight knives disintegrated, and the fog knife elites cried out in surprise, retreating quickly from the black smoke, leaving behind afterimages as they withdrew.
Only a few fog knife experts cloaked in their gowns, wielding custom-made "Elemental Arms" forged from rare materials and embellished with various runes and arrays, managed to pierce the bone fragments on the mutated dwarves' bodies, deeply embedding the blades into their necks.
With the strength of these martial experts at the Reverse Tower stage and the toughness and sharpness of their "Elemental Arms," a single strike from their weapons could even cleave an iron pillar as thick as a water jar in half.
However, the necks of these mutated dwarves were surprisingly resistant to their blades.
The knives were embedded in the mutated dwarves' necks, opening more than half of their throats, but failing to sever their heads.
When their strikes missed, the fog knife experts immediately withdrew their weapons. Even so, someone swiftly moved within the black smoke, accompanied by tearing sounds. Several fog knife experts emitted miserable screams, and large amounts of blood sprayed along with severed forearm halves.
Several fog knife experts staggered out of the black smoke, retreating to the Grand Commander's side.
They were covered in bloodstains, and one of the cloak-clad experts had his cloak torn apart. Below his left elbow, half of his arm had disappeared. He silently activated a secret technique, sealing the wound. The flesh near the wound wriggled violently, blocking the blood vessels, and the bleeding stopped after a while.
"It's not just these sluggish shorties... there's something else in the mist." The heavily injured fog knife expert growled angrily.
"These most despicable dwarf miners only grow bone fragments on their surfaces after mutation, with their flesh turning to bone. They become extremely solid and difficult to kill. But aside from them, those powerful warriors have become terrifying after mutation," Elder Shi murmured. "Not only are their bodies sturdy, they also move like the wind and possess immense strength. Their attacking power has become extremely formidable."
Elder Shi shook his head and nodded again. "Only the giant spirit lamp can protect us... So follow me and don't act rashly."
The Grand Commander's expression darkened.
Elder Shi should have informed them earlier about the danger of the demonic mine.
If he had informed the Fog Knife members earlier, mentioning these incredibly fast and powerful mutations hiding within the gray mist, the resourceful Fog Knife assassins wouldn't have fallen into such a disadvantageous situation. But Elder Shi didn't say anything...
"Be careful... After all, there must be a major treasure here, and any danger is possible." The Grand Commander sighed heavily. "Dealing with anything related to the ancient times is never so easy."
He wisely shelved the suspicion of Elder Shi intentionally luring them into a trap.
Elder Shi chuckled as he released dazzling flames from his giant spirit lamp, detonating and shattering the mutated dwarves in front of him.
Shadowy figures rapidly leaped through the gray mist, shuttling through with sharp sonic booms. They tried to approach this group of people several times, but as soon as they approached Elder Shi within a hundred meters, they were blasted away by the sparks.
These peculiar shadows were much more powerful than the mutated dwarves, with the sparks exploding on them causing them to tumble uncontrollably but without seriously injuring them. They continuously approached, only to be blasted away repeatedly. After a dozen or so attempts, they disappeared into the gray mist and never appeared again.
Elder Shi and the Grand Commander, leading a large group of people, steadily pushed forward on the spiral-shaped path leading to the bottom of the demonic mine.
Sparks of fire sprayed in all directions from the giant spirit lamp, and troops of mutated dwarves swarmed up, only to be shattered and broken by the sparks.
The Grand Commander looked at the enormous scale of the Shi Family's mine with astonishment.
However, soon enough, the Grand Commander exclaimed in shock, "You've explored this place before. Did you not completely clear out these damned dwarves?"
The Grand Commander blinked his eyes, staring fixedly at Elder Shi.
Elder Shi's expression slightly changed. He looked at the giant spirit lamp in his hand and spoke in a deep voice, "We explored this place a total of three times before: twice by the Shi Family and once in a joint effort by the Shi and Lu families... During those times, we completely eliminated these damn guys, but encountered unpredictable obstacles below..."
Muscles twitched on his face, and Elder Shi angrily declared, "So, after being destroyed, these damned creatures can still be reborn in this mist? In that case..."
The Grand Commander let out a deep sigh, and instead of being angry, he smiled appreciatively. "It seems that the source of this mist is truly an extraordinary treasure... It can continuously resurrect so many mutated dwarves. This treasure is remarkable...”
Perhaps due to the loud commotion caused by Elder Shi and the Grand Commander, angry and rough roars continuously emanated from the bottom of the mine.
As predicted by Elder Shi and the Grand Commander, those huge creatures shattered by Wu Tie's "high-altitude impact" had already reformed their bodies within the mist. They were now hopping and leaping around the bottom of the mine.
They surrounded a massive ball of fire at the center of the mine, occasionally reaching out to grab it, only to be scorched and forced to retreat with low, howling wails.
Hearing the commotion caused outside the mine by Elder Shi and the Grand Commander, those creatures led by several ten-meter-tall mutated giants roared in unison.
As Elder Shi faced the members of the stone family who stayed outside the mine, a large group of people approached the mine entrance.
A man with a delicate face, somewhat resembling a graceful girl in both appearance and manners, smiled gently while sitting on a huge jade-colored venomous spider. From his elevated position, he looked down on the warriors left by Elder Shi outside the cave.
"Why are you here? What is happening in the demonic mine?" The man observed the two hundred neatly arranged warriors outside the mine and spoke softly, his voice filled with warmth and charm.
The warriors left outside the cave by Elder Shi immediately turned pale.
This genteel and graceful man, resembling a girl, was ranked third among the core members of the Shi Family of his generation.
The second rank belonged to the round and chubby Shi Er, stone.
The sixth rank belonged to the tall, fierce, and domineering Shi Liu, stone.
This third-ranked Shi San, stone Le... he was in charge of the Stone Family's Criminal Penalty Department. Both internally and externally, his hands were merciless, a truly fearsome individual.
His most famous trait was that one minute he could be smiling at you, and the next minute he could personally crush all the bones in your body. You could describe him as a "pervert," and it wouldn't be wrong.
Although their group had around two hundred warriors, Shi Le only brought about a hundred people with him. Nevertheless, all the warriors' attention was locked on Shi Le, frantically thinking of how to deal with this fierce god without allowing him to enter the demonic mine.
While Shi Le pressed upon the warriors outside the cave, the cave walls leading to the demonic mine began to writhe, and a huge portal appeared.
Shi Lang strode out of the portal, followed by twenty-five stony giants over ten meters tall.
These stone giants had an aura of ferocity and cruelty about them. Faint gray light flickered in their eyes. As they passed, the ground beneath them rolled like water ripples.
Each stone giant had obtained a great ability to manipulate soil and stone from their bloodlines. That was why the soil and stone in their surroundings seemed to cheer and leap with delight.
"Uncles, this is where we stop. Activate the ‘May Seal’ and seal the demonic mine completely. Don't let anyone escape from inside... is that alright?" Shi Lang crossed his arms, standing at the entrance of the demonic mine, and solemnly declared, "It's a small matter... but afterward, we should have plenty of food and drink!"
One of the stone giants, the tallest at almost fifteen meters, grumbled in a deep voice, extending a finger and tapping Shi Lang's head gently.
The group of stone giants grinned widely.
Shi Lang's face turned haggard.
The twenty-five stone giants lined up in a formation, murmuring together like they were chanting. The gray mist around them emitted a thick and heavy glow. Illusory peaks formed above their heads which quickly solidified and expanded.
Large gray runes flashed across the surfaces of the five peaks.
The gray mist surged, and the twenty-five giants transformed into mountains, completely sealing off the entrance and exit of the demonic mine.
Gray flowing light spread rapidly along the mountain peaks, gradually extending to all the surrounding rocks. The rocks' structures swiftly became more compact and harder, as if a faint gray light was flickering within the rocks.
(End of the Chapter)