Chapter 16: Mining
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those three days, Chen Xiao had strolled around Moon-Gazing City just as usual, swinging his gold-trimmed folding fan and sauntering with his legs spread wide.
Seeing Chen Xiao swaggering down the streets, throwing his weight around as he always did and showing no other unusual behavior, everyone was convinced that the peerless genius who had awakened an Immortal Spirit Root in the City Lord's Mansion could not possibly be this good-for-nothing young master who knew nothing about cultivation.
By the third day, Cai Di had taken the Ten Thousand Poisons Pill and finished cultivating the Ten Thousand Poisons Return to Sect. His cultivation had returned.
However, Cai Di had once been at the peak of the Integrated Body Late Stage, only a hair's breadth away from the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. Now, his cultivation had fallen back to the Integrated Body Middle Stage. Everything had its pros and cons. Though the Ten Thousand Poisons Pill had aided him in cultivating the Ten Thousand Poisons Return to Sect, his cultivation realm had still dropped by one stage.
But Cai Di had no complaints. He could cultivate his way back to his former level, and this had also completely eliminated his future troubles. Not only did he no longer have to suffer the torment of Ten Thousand Poisons Body Devouring, he had also obtained a complete cultivation method that went all the way to the Great Vehicle Realm.
Now, he was utterly devoted to Chen Xiao.
Three days later, the people of Moon-Gazing City suddenly noticed that another attendant had joined the masked woman Mengmeng at the side of Chen Xiao, the city's greatest scourge. The newcomer looked to be in his forties, with a thin, stooped frame.
This was Cai Di, who had disguised his true appearance. After all, Cai Di had once roamed the Immortal World, poisoning even immortals to death. One could imagine how many enemies he had. So even after pledging himself to Chen Xiao, he still had to keep his identity secret.
With Mengmeng and Cai Di accompanying him, Chen Xiao sauntered out through Moon-Gazing City's east gate. Chen Tiannan knew Cai Di's true identity, so seeing such a powerful figure by Chen Xiao's side put his mind at ease. He called back the men he had secretly assigned to protect Chen Xiao.
"Young Master, where are we going?"
Seeing Chen Xiao leave Moon-Gazing City, Mengmeng asked, puzzled.
"To collect a debt from the Nangong Family."
Chen Xiao smiled mysteriously.
"Young Master, the Nangong Family seems to be no ordinary clan." At last, Cai Di spoke, breaking his long silence.
"Oh?" Chen Xiao was taken aback. He remembered that in his previous life, when he had been at the Immortal Martial Sect, he had asked the sect to avenge him and go after the Nangong Family. But not only had the sect ignored him, it had begun to treat him coldly.
Chen Xiao was beginning to understand. This was probably all connected to the Nangong Family.
In his previous life, the Nangong Family had wiped out the Chen Clan. Though it had yet to happen in this life, Chen Xiao knew all too well that if he did nothing, it would happen again sooner or later.
So no matter what kind of backing the Nangong Family had, Chen Xiao would never back down. It was either them or him.
"So what if they're no ordinary clan? If they cross me, I'll cut them down, even if the King of Heaven himself shows up."
As he spoke, Chen Xiao put away his outrageously flashy gold-trimmed folding fan. A flash of golden light flickered in his hand, and he slapped a golden talisman onto himself.
"Follow me."
He then pressed two identical golden talismans onto Mengmeng and Cai Di. Chen Xiao shifted his feet and shot forward. In the space of a single breath, he had covered several miles.
"A God-Speed Talisman?!"
Cai Di was shocked. He hadn't expected such a powerful talisman, lost for nearly a thousand years, to appear again.
But he didn't hesitate. He and Mengmeng hurried after Chen Xiao.
Even a thousand years ago, before the Dao of Talismans had fallen into decline, talismans like this had been extremely rare. After the Talisman Treasure Golden Immortal fell, the art of talismans began to wane, and many powerful talismans were lost, including the God-Speed Talisman.
Having inherited the legacy of the Talisman Treasure Immortal, Chen Xiao naturally knew how to draw all kinds of powerful talismans.
The God-Speed Talisman wasn't particularly sophisticated. It was merely an auxiliary talisman with one purpose: to increase a cultivator's speed—in other words, to help them travel.
Yet after using it, Chen Xiao, a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Realm, moved almost as fast as Cai Di, an Integrated Body Middle Stage cultivator, could fly on his sword. This greatly astonished Cai Di.
Chen Xiao's true essence was powerful, so drawing God-Speed Talismans wasn't difficult for him. Over the past few days, he had spent his time cultivating and drawing talismans. His Storage Ring now held thousands of talismans of all shapes and sizes.
Some had been drawn by Chen Xiao himself, while others were low-grade talismans left behind by the Talisman Treasure Immortal. Of course, even those so-called low-grade talismans were astonishingly powerful by the standards of the present-day Chen Xiao.
And now that he had Cai Di, a powerful bodyguard, at his side, Chen Xiao finally dared to act without restraint, slowly chipping away at the Nangong Clan.
Half an hour later, the golden light around the three of them gradually faded. A God-Speed Talisman lasted only half an hour. By then, they had reached a spot hundreds of miles from Moon-Gazing City.
"This is Mingyu Mountain."
After carefully studying the terrain, Mengmeng blurted out the name. Mingyu Mountain was a range eight hundred miles east of Moon-Gazing City. It was rich in resources and contained several large Heavenly Mystery Stone deposits.
"Young Master, what are we doing here?"
In recent days, the distance between Mengmeng and Chen Xiao had steadily narrowed, and she had gradually opened her heart to him.
"Mining."
Chen Xiao smiled mysteriously. "The mines in Mingyu Mountain are the shared property of Moon-Gazing City. Even the City Lord's Mansion has no right to claim them for itself."
Chen Xiao chuckled, then produced three more talismans.
The Heaven-Concealing Talisman was a powerful talisman that cut off all spiritual energy fluctuations and could conceal its user's presence. Any cultivator below the Great Vehicle Realm would never detect someone concealed by it.
Of course, Chen Xiao hadn't drawn these Heaven-Concealing Talismans. His true essence wasn't strong enough to produce talismans this powerful.
Cai Di grew even more astonished. Both the Heaven-Concealing Talisman and the God-Speed Talisman he had just seen had been lost for thousands of years. He couldn't believe that this young master had produced them so casually.
But he didn't hesitate. He immediately merged the Heaven-Concealing Talisman into his body.
Besides the publicly owned mines in the Mingyu Mountain range, the various clans in the city also had a few private mines there. This was an open secret, of course. No one called anyone out; they each mined their own claims and made their own fortunes.
This time, Chen Xiao was going after the Nangong Family's private mines on Mingyu Mountain. On the one hand, the Thunder Virtue Universal Transformation Heavenly Art required too much spiritual energy. The Heavenly Mystery Stones currently available in the Golden Immortal Kingdom wouldn't last long, so he needed more to replenish his supply. On the other hand, he wanted to cut off one of the Nangong Family's sources of Heavenly Mystery Stones and cause them some trouble.
This land belonged to Moon-Gazing City, so the various clans weren't allowed to operate private mines here. That meant the Nangong Family could only swallow this loss in silence.