"Ye Xiu is dead, why don't you surrender immediately?!"
Returning to the battlefield, Long Xuan shouted in a booming voice, throwing Ye Xiu's head high into the sky. He then manipulated the Ten Thousand Poison Bead, releasing poisonous gas to slaughter the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty surrounding him.
The Ten Thousand Poison Bead, once it has no means of restraint, is truly unstoppable in killing. Any Gu cultivator or body refiner who comes into contact with the released poison mist will surely die.
However, the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty and the Long Clan's Gu cultivators were mixed together, so Long Xuan had to proceed with caution. His killing speed was ultimately much slower than Ye Xiu’s had been.
Still, it was enough to serve as a deterrent.
Seeing Ye Xiu’s head fly high into the sky, the faces of the Great Yin Dynasty’s Gu cultivators changed drastically, revealing expressions of disbelief.
They never expected one of the Great Yin Dynasty’s top ten prodigies, Ye Xiu, to be killed so quickly.
With Ye Xiu dead, there was no one left to balance the monster ranked seventh in the Western Lands, who now held the Ten Thousand Poison Bead. The battle was bound to turn in their favor.
Ye Xiu's death quickly caused morale on the Great Yin Dynasty’s side to plummet.
On the other hand, the Long Clan’s side was energized.
“Haha... That monster died so easily, I must have overestimated him!”
“Our Long Clan’s prodigies are truly strong. They easily killed one of the Great Yin Dynasty’s top ten prodigies, Ye Xiu. Their so-called geniuses aren’t much after all!”
“Well done! As expected of the strongest talent of our clan! The geniuses of the Great Yin Dynasty are nothing compared to him!”
Cheers erupted from the crowd, and with their morale soaring, their combat strength suddenly surged by thirty percent.
Seeing this, the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty at the Spiritual Sea stage looked grim.
Ye Xiu had died too quickly, and his death was a critical blow.
With him gone, there was no one left to restrain the enemy’s prodigy, one of the top ten evildoers. With the Ten Thousand Poison Bead in hand, the enemy could kill one of their Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators in just a few breaths.
How many Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators could withstand such killing? If this continued, defeat was inevitable.
The Spiritual Sea peak Gu cultivator leading the Great Yin Dynasty forces cast a murderous glance at Long Xuan, barely suppressing the urge to rush over and kill him on the spot.
He knew that if Long Xuan died, they would still have a chance in this battle.
But he didn’t dare break the rules and start a battle where the strong prey on the weak. Otherwise, if the opposing Gu King made a move, none of their top ten prodigies would survive.
He took a deep breath, gathered his energy in his dantian, and shouted loudly to the entire battlefield: “We can’t continue this fight. Preserve our remaining forces, retreat! Let them have the Mithril Vein!”
As his voice fell, the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty breathed a collective sigh of relief and quickly fled, none daring to linger for fear of being left behind.
“Heh heh! Don’t run away! Let’s continue this for three hundred more rounds!”
Long Qian, who had already half-dragonized, smirked and taunted them as he held them in check.
Having won this battle, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride.
He was the leader of this mission, and with this victory, he would be able to gain massive contributions.
Additionally, the Long Clan would permanently gain control of another Mithril Vein. How could he not be excited?
Long Xuan, cunning as ever, wasn’t laboring on the surface. While everyone else was building fortifications, he snuck into the mithril vein to mine the mithril essence himself. Could anyone be craftier than him?
After killing Ye Xiu, he had immediately gone to the mithril mine. The Long Xuan on the surface had always been his clone.
He was bold enough to enter the mine at this time because he believed the Great Yin Dynasty’s chances of launching a counterattack were slim.
First, once the cement walls were constructed, this place would be easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it a tough battle for any invader.
Second, the Long Clan possessed Sou Gu, a mysterious and unpredictable presence. With it, the Long Clan’s reinforcements could appear here instantly at any moment.
How could the Great Yin Dynasty even begin to attack? They were too frustrated by the Long Clan and had no solution.
Facing this group of enemies who could teleport across the map, the Great Yin Dynasty was at its wit's end. They were tired, afraid, and had already decided to give up.
Thus, Long Xuan believed the odds of the Great Yin Dynasty counterattacking this mithril vein were very low, giving him peace of mind to mine the vein without worry.
...
Ten days quickly passed, and the Long Clan had used this time to fortify the area into an impenetrable fortress. Tall cement walls rose from the ground like a massive beast entrenched in the land.
It was hard to imagine that this giant fortress had been built in just ten days, or even less.
Now, the Long Clan’s Gu cultivators sat atop the towering walls, enjoying the view from the heights, talking and laughing. The immense walls gave them a deep sense of security.
At this point, they were actually hoping the Gu cultivators of the Great Yin Dynasty would attack, just to test the fortress’s defenses.
But despite the passage of many days, scouts reported no signs that the Great Yin Dynasty had any intentions of attacking the mithril vein, leaving them a little disappointed.
However, the scouts did bring back another piece of news: the Bai Clan was furious.
Upon learning that the Long Clan had seized the mithril vein, they were livid and immediately rushed over to negotiate.
However, once the mithril vein fell into the Long Clan's hands, there was no chance of getting it back. How could they return it?
The city lord’s previous orders had been to compensate the Long Clan with the mithril vein, so the Long Clan had every reason to stand their ground, unafraid of the Bai Clan’s demands.
In the end, the Long Clan simply stopped meeting with the Bai Clan’s Gu cultivators. They shut their gates and let them cause trouble elsewhere, confident in their right to keep the mine.
The Bai Clan’s leaders were so enraged they cursed at the Long Clan’s gates, but there was nothing they could do against the shameless Long Clan.
This news had the Long Clan’s Gu cultivators laughing uncontrollably atop the walls...
Meanwhile, in the past ten days, Long Xuan had scoured the mine for all the easily accessible mithril essence.
He also mined a large amount of regular mithril to leave for Sou Gu to build houses.
Long Xuan had developed a habit of house-building, enjoying leaving behind a Sou Gu hut in every place he visited, as a way to leave himself more routes for the future.
It wasn’t just for a quick escape—it was also for convenient resource gathering. In well-known marketplaces, famous cities, and the critically important Blackstone City, he had all left behind a Sou Gu hut.
Near the Geng Metal vein and the mithril vein, he had also secretly left a Sou Gu hut, ensuring that once the veins were depleted, it would be easy to return and mine more.
Thus, his demand for Sou Gu huts was immense. Sou Gu, his little worker, had been tirelessly building houses, endlessly excited by the task.
It didn’t even know who it was building all these houses for or whether it even had ownership rights.