Chapter 11

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the Boundless Sand Sea, two Camel Beasts were sprinting with all their might with two riders on their backs.

And more than ten miles in front of the Camel Beasts was a bulge that moved rapidly into the depths of the desert at a speed faster than that of a galloping horse, leaving a thin trail.

The bulge did not move in a straight line as it swayed to the sides occasionally. However, no matter how it turned, the two Camel Beasts chasing after it always changed direction accordingly.

When the bulge stopped moving and disappeared, the riders on the Camel Beasts would dismount in time to rest and wait. When the bulge reappeared and started moving again, the riders would mount their Camel Beasts and continue the pursuit.

The sun shone brightly onto the riders who bumped hard against the back of the Camel Beasts as they chased after the bulge. For Zhou Yang, a first-time rider of a Camel Beast, it had been quite an uncomfortable journey.

Thankfully he had the physique of an immortal cultivator and had been fasting the past few days. Otherwise, he might have vomited several times. However, the bumpy ride did make him feel as if his internal organs had shifted.

When Zhou Yang looked at the other rider on his Camel Beast ahead of him, his journey was equally as bumpy too. But Zhou Quan sat tall and firm against the humped back of the Camel Beast as if it was the easiest and most comfortable thing in the world.

Zhou Yang felt embarrassed that a twenty-year-old like him was feeling this much discomfort when the hundred-year-old ahead of him had no issues.

Ultimately, there was nothing he could do but clench his teeth and endure the pain as he internally cursed the Metal-Eating Rat for putting him through all of this.

If it wasn’t for their plan to use the Metal-Eating Rat to discover a new ore vein, Zhou Yang would have killed the demon beast at Qingping Mountain’s mine earlier.

After chasing for half a day and over hundreds of miles, Zhou Yang, whose face had turned pale from the bumpy ride on his Camel Beast finally saw Zhou Quan come to a stop.

“Whew! Are we finally here?”

He pulled the reins with both hands to stop his Camel Beast and jumped off to dismount. Zhou Yang was exhausted. He sat down on the sand with sweat all over his head and panted heavily. He was so out of breath that it was hard to imagine how miserable he was.

“Oh, Zhou Yang. It seems that there are things that you can’t do too. And here I thought you could do anything!”

Zhou Quan walked over to Zhou Yang, still looking calm and relaxed. Zhou Quan could help but laugh out loud as he teased Zhou Yang’s appearance.

“Gosh, Third Grandfather. Please let me catch my breath first!”

Zhou Yang could only smile bitterly and roll his eyes as he struggled to catch his breath.

Zhou Quan stopped smiling and turned serious. “Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. That beast is probably back at its lair. I will go over to investigate the situation first. Rest here and wait for me.”

“Alright, Third Grandfather. Be careful.”

Zhou Yang nodded. He had no issues with Zhou Quan acting alone.

They had already severely injured the Metal-Eating Rat. Now that it had traveled hundreds of miles, it should be so exhausted that it wouldn’t pose a threat to Zhou Quan.

Zhou Yang was more worried that they were wrong and would not discover any ore veins or that the ore vein would not have much value. That would be too much of a blow.

Zhou Yang started to worry about gains and losses.

He just hoped that they would be able to discover a vein of great value this time, allowing both his family and himself to make a fortune.

But what if the trip had been in vain? Not only would it be a waste of energy, but it would also mean that the miners’ deaths had been for nothing.

As his anxiety grew, the seconds started to feel like hours. He almost lost patience and wanted to go after Zhou Quan several times.

After waiting for nearly an hour, Zhou Quan finally returned.

“How is it? Third Grandfather? What did you find?” asked Zhou Yang as he welcomed Zhou Quan with anticipation.

“Our plan is a success. We’ve found a red flame iron vein!”

Zhou Quan didn’t keep him in suspense and immediately revealed his discovery.

“Amazing!”

Zhou Yang clapped his hands in excitement and was so happy that he almost jumped up.

Red flame iron was also a type of Grade-1 spiritual metal like refined iron. However, red flame iron was suitable for refining fire-type magical artifacts. Many Grade-2 fire-type magical artifacts would add red flame iron as a supplementary material. Therefore, red flame iron was considered to be higher in value compared to refined iron.

The refined iron in the Zhou family’s Qingping Mountain could bring in a net profit of five hundred lower-tier spiritual stones annually. If they mined the red flame iron, the profit would definitely not be lower than that of mining refined iron. Once Zhou Yang and Zhou Quan were officially deemed as the discoverers of the red flame iron, the dividends they would receive would equate to dozens of lower-tier spiritual stones per person.

It might not sound like a lot for a year, but in the long run, it was a lot of spiritual stones one would be able to receive.

Now that he was about to receive such a large amount of spiritual stones for free, how could Zhou Yang not be excited?

“Zhou Yang, don’t be happy just yet. There’s more!

“It’s true that we’ve discovered the red flame iron vein, but there are also Venomous Fire Scorpions living in there besides the Metal-Eating Rat. There are at least hundreds of the scorpions and dozens of them are Grade-2 demon beasts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Venomous Fire Scorpion King is in there too!”

What?

Zhou Yang’s expression changed, greatly shocked by Zhou Quan’s news.

Venomous Fire Scorpions were common desert demon beasts in the Boundless Sand Sea. Grade-1 Venomous Fire Scorpions only had stings that contained fire venom. Even Xiantian cultivators could easily kill it as long as they didn’t get stabbed.

However, a Grade-2 Venomous Fire Scorpion was able to cast a Venomous Fireball spell, spitting fireballs to attack enemies from a distance. If it went all out, it could even shoot the sting on its tail at enemies. Its attack power was equivalent to a Grade-2 Flying Needle but with highly venomous fire.

If a cultivator below the Qi Refinement Advanced Stage was hit by the scorpion sting, they wouldn’t be able to endure for more than fifteen minutes before their body was burned by the venomous fire with no corpse left behind unless they immediately consumed a special Grade-2 Detoxification Pill.

And this wasn’t even the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was that once the population of a demon beast like the Venomous Fire Scorpion reached hundreds or thousands, one of them would have a certain chance of evolving into a Grade-3 Venomous Fire Scorpion King that was equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The Venomous Fire Scorpion King was a Grade-3 lower-tier demon beast. However, if it had the support of a group of Venomous Fire Scorpions, it would be much more difficult to deal with than many Grade-3 intermediate-tier demon beasts. Even a cultivator in Foundation Establishment Advanced-Stage wouldn’t dare to say that they would be able to win.

“That makes sense. Venomous Fire Scorpions love heat and have a tendency to swallow fire-attribute spiritual ores to strengthen their bodies. Since red flame iron has a fire attribute, it’s not a mystery why the demon beasts have been attracted to the vein for breeding and settlement.”

Zhou Yang recalled the records of Venomous Fire Scorpions that he had read in the book ‘Illustration of Demon Beasts in the Desert’ and immediately believed Zhou Quan.

Then, an idea came into his mind and he suddenly thought of something more important. He couldn’t help but exclaim as he stared at Zhou Quan with wide eyes.

“Third Grandfather, the Venomous Fire Scorpion King is a Grade-3 demon beast, which is not something a Grade-1 or Grade-2 demon beast can compare to. When a demon beast reaches Grade 3, it must occupy a spirit vein like us immortal cultivators in order to continue developing. If there really is a Venomous Fire Scorpion King here, doesn’t that mean that there is a natural Grade-3 spiritual vein underground, in addition to the red flame iron vein?”

“Not bad, you are quite sharp. It took me a while to realize this after I discovered the group of Venomous Fire Scorpions.”

Zhou Quan was impressed by Zhou Yang’s sharpness.

Hearing the name ‘Venomous Fire Scorpion King’ would immediately arouse fear among ordinary Qi Refinement cultivators, limiting their ability to think further.

Even he, a cultivator of at Qi Refinement Level 9 who had lived for more than a hundred years, was quite frightened when he saw the black mass of Venomous Fire Scorpion.

It was only after he had retreated to a safe place and calmed down that he thought of the same thing Zhou Yang spoke of because of his profession as a beast tamer.

Zhou Yang didn’t care about Zhou Quan’s praise at all. He had heard similar compliments many times over the years and had long become immune to them.

What he was more concerned about was what the two of them should do next. “What do you plan to do next, Third Grandfather? Should we go back and ask the clan leader to personally investigate the situation or should we take the risk and do it ourselves before returning reporting back to the clan and the clan leader?”

“What are your thoughts? I want to hear yours too.” Zhou Quan did not answer and threw the question back at Zhou Yang to test him.

Zhou Yang frowned for a moment and lowered his head to think.

After thinking quietly for about half an hour, he looked back at Zhou Quan with bright eyes and said, “I think that we should not care about the Venomous Fire Scorpion and instead go kill that big rat first. We can’t let those miners of the Zhou family die in vain while waiting to make our next move.”

In the end, he still felt guilty towards those miners who had died. Even if he couldn’t save them, he should at least take revenge for them.

Fortunately, this time, Zhou Quan didn’t object to his proposal.

“Okay, then we’ll go with your plan. Let’s go destroy that demon beast’s nest right now. We’ll skin it alive and tear its bones apart to comfort the spirits of those dead miners in heaven!” Zhou Quan nodded slightly as he agreed with Zhou Yang’s proposal.

And thus, the duo immediately found a safe place to shelter the two Camel Beasts before Zhou Quan sensed for the specific location of the Blood Spirit Trace. Then, they directly charged toward the lair of the Metal-Eating Rat..