The Gold-Eating Rat was a highly aggressive demonic beast. Although the auras of the two humans, Zhou Quan and Zhou Yang, were not weak, they did not make it feel any insurmountable danger. Thus, it was exceedingly enraged at these two humans who had interrupted its meal and had no intention of letting them off easily.
After its attack on Zhou Yang was blocked by the Silver Gang Shield's automatic protection of its master, the cunning demonic beast hid in secret for nearly half a quarter-hour before launching another attack.
This time, the Gold-Eating Rat targeted Elder Zhou Quan. To lure it out, the elder deliberately withdrew the golden light protecting his body, making it think it had found an opportunity.
However, the battle-hardened Elder Zhou Quan was no greenhorn like Zhou Yang, who had only recently come down the mountain. The instant it pounced from the wall of its hiding place, it was knocked to the ground by a flying round shield.
Then, just as it panicked and tried to burrow underground to flee again, a streak of golden light suddenly shot from between Elder Zhou Quan's fingers and swiftly sank into the floor of the mine tunnel.
In an instant, the ground within a radius of several dozen meters became as hard as steel under the effect of the golden light, trapping half the Gold-Eating Rat's body in the earth just as it had burrowed halfway down.
What a chance!
Neither Zhou Yang nor Elder Zhou Quan had expected Finger Points to Steel to produce the effect of Draw Ground as Prison. Both their eyes lit up, and they launched their follow-up attacks almost simultaneously.
Elder Zhou Quan raised a hand in summons, and the head of the Golden Gourd Great Hammer instantly swelled to the size of a water vat, smashing viciously down upon the Gold-Eating Rat trapped in the ground like Mount Tai bearing down on its head.
Remembering the elder's earlier words, Zhou Yang did not bring out an artifact to attack. Instead, he used the Tier 2 spell he had painstakingly cultivated for years, the Fire Serpent Technique.
He swiftly formed hand seals and pointed, summoning a several-meter-long flaming python that pounced toward the Gold-Eating Rat.
When the Old Clan Leader had said that the Blazing Sun Fiery Art Zhou Yang cultivated excelled in combat, he had not been speaking without cause. In Zhou Yang's hands, this ordinary Tier 2 spell, the Fire Serpent Technique, was at least twice as powerful as one cast by an ordinary Qi Refining Layer Six cultivator.
Rumble—
After a series of earth-shaking explosions, nearly half the mine tunnel had collapsed from the combined strike of the grandfather and grandson, Zhou Quan and Zhou Yang. The fright turned both their faces pale.
They had remembered only to slay the demon, forgetting that they were dozens of meters beneath the ground. If the mine truly collapsed and hundreds of millions of tons of earth and sand came crashing down, it was not something two minor Qi Refining Stage cultivators could withstand. A Golden Core Stage Cultivator would be more like it.
"Quick, let's get out first."
After his face turned pale, Elder Zhou Quan immediately decided to retreat for the moment. He did not even have time to retrieve the Golden Gourd Great Hammer artifact, instead grabbing the still-shaken Zhou Yang and pulling him out of the dangerous area along the mine tunnel.
Compared with slaying the demon, preserving Zhou Yang, the Zhou Lineage's genius descendant, was naturally more important.
The two retreated dozens of meters in one breath and stopped only when they neared the entrance to the mine.
They waited for a while longer. Once the tremors underground had completely ceased, Elder Zhou Quan sternly ordered Zhou Yang to continue waiting above while he went down alone to inspect the situation.
Before long, Elder Zhou Quan returned from his inspection, but he came back empty-handed.
"That beast had a charmed life—it escaped despite being badly wounded!" Faced with Zhou Yang's questioning gaze, Elder Zhou Quan cursed resentfully as he explained what had happened.
Hearing this, Zhou Yang also sighed with a regretful look. "It truly is a pity. A Tier 2 High-grade demonic beast like that is not often seen here. If we could have taken it down, skinned it, and stripped its bones for the Old Clan Leader, we could certainly have refined several more Tier 2 High-grade Artifacts!"
It would have been better if he had not said that. The moment he did, Elder Zhou Quan's expression darkened several shades further.
The elder had originally wanted to show off his strength before this grandnephew and tell the young man that though he was old, his treasured blade had not yet dulled. He did not want Zhou Yang to truly treat him like those frail old mortals who could only sit at home and wait for death.
Yet things had turned out like this. One could well imagine how furious the elder felt.
"This is not over. Gold-Eating Rats are the most vengeful of beasts. We badly wounded it here this time, and once it recovers, it will surely return to eat people. When that time comes, we will prepare the necessary treasures in advance and make certain to slaughter it, skin it, and strip its bones!" the elder said with a face full of hatred.
But hearing this, Zhou Yang's heart tightened. If the Gold-Eating Rat truly came for revenge as the elder claimed, could the mine continue operating?
The Lineage had sent him to guard Qingping Mountain chiefly to protect this Fine Iron Ore Vein. If mining had to stop because of a demonic beast, the loss would be gleaming spirit stones!
He made no attempt to conceal the change in his expression. The moment Elder Zhou Quan saw it, he understood what Zhou Yang was worried about and comforted him, saying, "Little Nine, do not worry. I will explain this matter to the clan on your behalf. The Gold-Eating Rat is a Tier 2 High-grade demonic beast, already beyond the limits of what you can handle. No one will look down on you because of this."
"Thank you for your guidance, Third Grandfather. But your grandnephew still has one doubt. Our Zhou Lineage has mined this Fine Iron Ore Vein for several decades. Although many desert demonic beasts were previously drawn by human auras to attack the miners, no one had ever discovered a demonic beast like a Gold-Eating Rat."
"And that Gold-Eating Rat was clearly an adult demonic beast. If it had been active around this Fine Iron Ore Vein all along, it should not have left no trace whatsoever."
Zhou Yang looked at the elder with a puzzled expression and slowly voiced the question that had just occurred to him.
He knew that the elder was a Tier 2 Beast Tamer. When it came to understanding demonic beasts, no one in the Zhou Lineage besides the Old Clan Leader could compare with this centenarian.
"Hmm, you have a point. Gold-Eating Rats have always liked to build nests and breed within metal ore veins. Our Zhou Lineage has mined this Fine Iron Ore mine for decades. If Gold-Eating Rats had been in the vein, the clan elders who surveyed it back then, as well as Brother Zhou Qian, should not have failed to discover them—unless..."
"Unless it migrated here recently!"
The grandfather and grandson exclaimed almost at the same time. Then they exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with delight.
"That's right. As far as I know, for a Gold-Eating Rat to advance to Tier 3, it needs to devour vast quantities of metals with different attributes. That beast which escaped must have only recently migrated here from another ore vein!"
Elder Zhou Quan excitedly tugged at his beard, his face glowing as he cried out again and again.
Zhou Yang was no better off. As soon as the elder finished speaking, he nodded repeatedly, his face flushed red. "Since Third Grandfather says so, it cannot be wrong. I only wonder how far the ore vein where this Gold-Eating Rat originally lived is from here. If it is not far, our Zhou Lineage may be about to make another fortune!"
It was no wonder the two were so delighted. Ever since their ancestor, Zhou Yuquan, had spread his branches and leaves to establish the Zhou Lineage, there had been a clan rule.
Any Zhou descendant who discovered an ownerless ore vein or natural spirit vein in the Boundless Sea of Sand and reported it to the Lineage would, after the Lineage occupied and developed the resource, receive one-tenth of its annual output as dividends. Those dividends would continue until the discoverer passed away or the vein's resources were exhausted.
If the situation truly was as they guessed, and the Gold-Eating Rat had migrated from another undiscovered ore vein nearby, then once they found that ore vein and reported its location to the Lineage, they could lie back and collect dividends for the rest of their lives.
Under such circumstances, how could they not be delighted?
However, both were cultivators who had cultivated for many years. Even if they were happy, they would not jump about like ordinary mortals. They still had to maintain the bearing of cultivators.
Besides, everything was still only their speculation and had not truly been verified.
Yet just as Zhou Yang calmed down and began considering how to search for that possibly existing ore vein, Elder Zhou Quan beside him suddenly looked at him with hesitation and said in a low voice, "Well, Little Nine, may this old man discuss something with you?"
"Please speak, Third Grandfather." Zhou Yang answered reflexively. Then he raised his head and looked at the elder in surprise. This was not the tone an elder would normally use with a junior.
Under his gaze, the elder's face reddened. A trace of shame flashed through his eyes, but he still gritted his teeth and said, "If we truly find an ore vein, this old man can give you the credit and let you enjoy that one-tenth dividend alone. In return, could you give thirty percent of your own dividends to your second brother every year?"
"This..."
Zhou Yang's expression changed, and he immediately understood what the elder meant.
According to Lineage rules, if several people discovered an ore vein together, they would share that one-tenth Lineage dividend. Then, when any one of them died, that person's share would revert to the Lineage.
Elder Zhou Quan was already over a hundred years old. Even if Zhou Yang shared that one-tenth dividend with him, he would only receive it for a few years at most. It was even quite possible that he would pass away before the Lineage could develop and utilize the ore vein.
But if Zhou Yang alone received that one-tenth dividend, then even setting aside the high possibility that he would achieve Foundation Establishment in the future, he could still collect those dividends for several decades at his present age of twenty, even if he failed to achieve Foundation Establishment.
By that calculation, even if Zhou Yang gave only thirty percent of his annual dividends to his clan brother Zhou Bao, Elder Zhou Quan's biological grandson, Elder Zhou Quan's family would still make an enormous profit.
However, strictly speaking, Elder Zhou Quan's proposal harmed the interests of the Lineage. It was a selfish act of sacrificing the public for private gain, especially since he himself was a Lineage elder.
Elder Zhou Quan clearly knew that what he was doing was improper. Seeing Zhou Yang's expression change drastically without replying, the shame in his eyes deepened. Yet certain convictions in his heart still supported him as he continued.
"This old man knows this is not right, but Little Nine, you must also spare a thought for your second brother. Your second brother has only a Low-grade Spiritual Root, and his parents have already passed away. Once this old man is gone, how hard will it be for him alone to support the large family I leave behind? This old man has lived for more than a hundred years and has never done anything to wrong the Lineage. Only this once—consider it this old man begging you!"
By the end, tears were streaming down the old man's face.
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