Upon hearing the boom, everyone immediately turned their heads to look at the origin of the sound.
A large group of men were rushing over to where they were.
There were around 2000 men who were troops of the Black Mountain Fort. The man leading them, who was dressed in a silver coat, was Zhu Ying.
Beside Zhu Ying, there was also Deputy Commander Wang who was in charge of the mine.
Shoosh shoosh shoosh!!
Zhu Ying brought 2000 alpha troops and arrived at where the crowd was in a breath.
Looking at the Ren Yun Du as well as the Shen Wu Academy disciples unharmed and safe with their only loss a few men a suspicious flash passed through Zhu Ying's eyes.
"Where are the men from the Blood Pupil Clan?" Zhu Ying was the first to reach the ground and he immediately asked in a loud voice.
"We have caused them to retreat!" Ren Yun Du said.
"Already retreated? Are you guys alright?" A suspicious look was on Zhu Ying's face.
"We are fine!" Ren Yun Du shook his head without revealing any emotions, yet a cold thought was in his heart.
The Black Mountain Fort was only around 30 km away from where they were. Without any need of an informant, a strong expert from the Black Mountain Fort would have been able to know what was happening here. Yet, they took so long to arrive!
What did this mean?
It meant that it was highly probable that Zhu Ying purposely did not arrive earlier, causing them to defend against the Blood Pupil Clan by themselves.
Su Mo and the rest of the disciples were also not fools. They were discontented as the other party only arrived when the battle was already over.
"That's good!"
Zhu Ying nodded his head before he immediately instructed Deputy Commander wang, "Deputy Commander Wang, take a quick head count of your men and tell us about the situation in the mine!"
"Yes!" The middle aged Deputy Commander nodded and immediately took men below to check.
The Shen Wu Academy disciples waited silently at the side.
A few moments later, Deputy Commander Wang returned wearing a glum look on his face.
"Deputy Commander Wang, what's wrong?" Looking at his glum face, Zhu Ying frowned and asked.
"General, we had 1003 black alpha troops and have lost 900 men. We only have 95 troops remaining!" Deputy general Wang reported.
"Mmph, what else?" Zhu Ying nodded his head and continued asking. The black alpha troops stationed there had suffered heavy losses that he could see.
"The mine has completely collapsed, I went down to check through. The Spiritual Stone mine is gone!" Deputy Commander Wang answered grimly.
"What?"
Zhu Ying's face immediately fell upon hearing his words and he shouted, "what happened?"
Without waiting for Deputy Commander Wang to answer, he turned towards Ren Yun Du and questioned coldly, "Deputy Commander Ren, didn't you guys defeat the Blood Pupil Clan? Why has the mine disappeared?"
Zhu Ying was really angry, this mine was of utmost importance to him. Although there were only High Grade Spiritual Stones here, there was a large amount of them.
Although the Spiritual Stones they excavated would have to be returned to the court, they actually secretly kept 30% for themselves and rewards everyone every year with the resources.
However, now that the mine had suddenly disappeared, how could he not be enraged?
Although they could construct a new Spiritual Stone mine as long as the dragon vein was still here, this required a long period of time.
This was a huge loss for his Zhu Family.
"This…..!" Faced with Zhu Ying's angry questions, Ren Yun Du was speechless. He was completely involved in leading the men against the Blood Pupil Clan's attack, how could he bother so much about the mine?
"Commander, the mine disappearing is just a small matter...!" Deputy Commander Wang once again reported. However, he did not manage to complete his sentence before he was cut off.
"What? The disappearance of the mine is a small matter?"
Upon hearing Deputy Commander Wang's words, Zhu Ying instantly cut him off and raged, "do you know the importance of the mine? Although this mine isn't very big, do you know how many armies it serves?"
Tch!
Deputy General Wang was stunned by Zhu Ying's outburst. He didn't mean that the disappearance of the mine was a small matter, he meant that there was an even bigger problem for them.
"Check, quickly check through the scene. Is it possible that the Blood Pupil Clan men secretly stole it?" Zhu Ying continued to rage out.
"Commander...!" Deputy Commander Wang wore a disturbed look, he wanted to speak but he couldn't get his words through.
"Are you not going? What can you achieve just standing there!" Zhu Ying glared at Deputy Commander Wang and shouted.
Deputy Commander Wang sighed deeply before gritting his teeth and saying, "Commander, the dragon vein is gone, it has disappeared completely!"
The moment he said those words, silence fell upon the entire scene.
Everyone's eyes widened open and they all stared at Deputy Commander Wang in shock.
The dragon vein is gone?
How could this be?
Everyone knew the importance of the dragon vein. As long as it remained here, the Spiritual Stone mine would continued to be in operation forever.
The Qi from the dragon vein would continuously morph into Spiritual Stones for all of eternity until it awakened.
It could be said that one dragon vein was a giving tree.
However, the dragon vein had actually disappeared?
Could it be that the battle had awakened the dragon vein? This wasn't very likely though!
This was because everyone knew that the dragon vein was located deep within the earth. Around 100 kilometres down, how could it have been awakened by the fight?
Although the battle did cause much disturbance to their surroundings, it probably wouldn't have gone to the depths of a 100 kilometres down right?
"What did you say? Say it again." Zhu Ying's face changed drastically and he immediately reached forward to grab Deputy Commander Wang by his neck as he yelled.
"I am saying... the dragon vein has disappeared, there is no flow of Spiritual Qi from the ground!" Deputy Commander Wang wore a stoic look as he answered.
"How could this be?" Zhu Ying continued to rage as his face turned stone-like. The dragon vein had disappeared, then, this mine was completely useless. Their losses were insurmountable.
"Commander, I personally went down to check. The Spiritual Qi flow has stopped, this can only mean the dragon vein has disappeared!" With a shaky voice, Deputy Commander Wang informed. He was afraid that Zhu Ying would kill him in a fit of rage.
"Quick! Bring me to check!" Zhu Ying shoved Deputy Commander Wang aside as he demanded.
Then, Deputy Commander Wang immediately led Zhu Ying to the entrance of the mine before the two of them dug their way underground.
At the scene, no one was moving.
The Shen Wu Academy disciples, the guards of the mine and even the troops that Zhu Ying brought with him, were all stunned.
The dragon vein was gone, this mine was useless!
Zhu Ying being this angry was understandable.
Ren Yun Du's face was completely dark and he sighed inwardly. The dragon vein was gone. If General Zhu Long wanted to point fingers and blame someone, he would be involved too.
After all, he was left in charge of the mine when Deputy Commander Wang left. The poor guarding of the mine would definitely be blamed for this case!
Su Mo's face was calm as he quietly healed himself and acted as though this matter did not involve him at all.
In the battle just now, although it wasn't right at the mine, the large waves of forces had destroyed everything. The large mountains had collapsed and everything was gone.
He did not leave behind any traces, who could find out that it was his doing?
Unless someone checked through his jade bracelet. But that was not very likely.
Then, everyone gathered outside the barren land near the mine as they quietly waited for Zhu Ying and Deputy Commander Wang to return.