Chapter 0172: Top-Grade Spirit Iron

Chapter 0172: Top-Grade Spirit Iron

Spirit iron ore can be refined into spirit iron through a simple extraction process. For a faction, a spirit iron ore field is extremely important, especially if it's a top-grade spirit iron ore field.

"The price of top-grade spirit iron is 10,000 crystal coins per jin. I wonder how much top-grade spirit iron can be extracted from this ore they're mining."

Qin Yun pondered in his heart. From the earlier conversation, he learned that this spirit iron ore was managed by the Blue Spirit West Palace and that a large number of slaves were used for mining.

"They treat the slaves very cruelly, ignoring their lives. How detestable! Since I've encountered this, I'll take the opportunity to rescue these slaves."

The patrolmen he had seen earlier were all at the fifth level of the Martial Body realm. Qin Yun believed that with his strength, he should be able to succeed.

After the patrolmen had moved far away, he carefully sneaked through the trees.

A moment later, he heard various noises: the sound of whips, the shouts of slaves, the curses of overseers, and the cries of children!

"These beasts from the Blue Spirit West Palace have even brought the slaves' children here, just to force the slaves to work harder?" Qin Yun's anger surged, and he quickened his pace.

Soon after, he stood on a towering tree over a hundred meters high, looking at the massive pit ahead, which spanned several hundred meters.

The pit was over ten meters deep, with very solid stones at the bottom. Large fire basins lined the walls, casting a red glow over the pit.

At the bottom of the pit were many strong, muscular men in shackles, both young and middle-aged. Their bodies were covered in wounds, all purple-black from whip lashes!

Most shockingly, many of these large men had children tied to them, ranging from a few years old to about ten years old!

"These scum from the Blue Spirit West Palace!" Qin Yun's eyes turned red with anger.

The slaves had to work hard to mine the stiff rocks; otherwise, not only would they be beaten, but their children would also be beaten!

Qin Yun carefully observed the entire mine and found three watchtowers. There were over ten overseers above the pit, all at the fifth level of the Martial Body realm.

"There are only three at the sixth level of the Martial Body, all old men, and they have three very comfortable small houses! Alright, I'll start with them!"

Having made his plan, he changed into black clothes and quickly made some talismans using animal hides.

"The Immobilization Rune can create immobilization talismans, which are relatively easy to make and sufficient to deal with the overseers. For the people on the watchtowers, I'll use sleep-inducing talismans made with the Sleep Rune. If one's mental strength isn't strong enough, they will fall asleep instantly upon being hit by the sleep talisman."

From the thirty-six Spirit Runes, Qin Yun had learned many strange and exotic high-grade spirit runes!

The creation of sleep-inducing talismans was quite difficult, requiring high mental strength, and the animal hides used for the runes needed special mental preparation.

A few hours later, Qin Yun looked at the sky and thought, "In a little over an hour, it will be dawn. I need to resolve this before daylight."

As soon as the talismans were ready, he immediately took action.

He quietly approached a small house and carefully used his mental strength to open the window.

Once the window was open, he saw the sixth-level Martial Body warrior inside and immediately used the Gathering Spirit Kill to knock him out, then swiftly entered the house to eliminate the old man.

"Two more old men left!" Qin Yun put on the blue robe of the old man to avoid being discovered and impersonate someone from the Blue Spirit Star Palace.

These old men were all in meditation, as if asleep, completely unaware, which made it easy for him to succeed.

After taking out the three sixth-level Martial Body elders, Qin Yun used his mental strength to send the sleep-inducing talismans flying toward the watchtowers, putting the people on them to sleep.

Once the people on the three watchtowers were asleep, he released the Silver Lion and took out the Spirit Refinement Treasure Blade.

First, he used the immobilization talisman to freeze the large overseers next to the mine pit, then controlled the puppet Silver Lion to search for the patrolmen who had gone out.

Once the overseers were immobilized, Qin Yun used his Spirit Control Technique to control the Spirit Refinement Treasure Blade, swiftly slicing through the air. With just a few swishes, all the fierce and brutal overseers were killed!

After finishing, Qin Yun let out a long breath, feeling quite satisfied with this stealth assassination.

In the distance, the sound of barking dogs could be heard. The patrolmen riding large dogs had no power to resist the Silver Lion.

The slaves below, seeing the overseers cut down, became frightened.

Qin Yun, wearing a mask, threw down a large bunch of keys and said, "Unlock yourselves and leave this place quickly!"

He noticed that many of these slaves were at the third or fourth level of the Martial Body, and there were even a few fifth-level elders.

"How were all of you captured?" Qin Yun asked.

"The Blue Spirit West Palace said they were recruiting warriors and that we could bring our children into the West Palace. Who knew they would trick us into coming here?" an elder said angrily.

"Sir, you should be careful going against the Blue Spirit West Palace. They are very vicious."

While many were grateful to Qin Yun, they also warned him to be careful of the Blue Spirit West Palace.

Qin Yun had also seen the pile of top-grade spirit iron ore nearby. After refining, it would yield a considerable amount of top-grade spirit iron, though he couldn't determine the exact amount.

The rescued slaves at the mine also told him that the top-grade spirit iron ore here was almost fully mined, and this was a very small deposit.

"Everyone, be careful on your way. You should inform the Runes Hall about this!" Qin Yun said.

Here, only the Runes Hall could stand against the Blue Spirit West Palace.

In the end, these people thanked Qin Yun again and hurried away with their children.

Qin Yun carefully checked the mine pit and found that there was indeed not much spirit iron ore left; even if they were to mine further, it wouldn't yield much. He, however, obtained most of the spirit iron ore.

As dawn broke, Qin Yun threw the bodies of the West Palace members into the mine pit and burned them with a few fire talismans before continuing his journey to the Soul Peak Star.

...

The news of the massive meteorite destroying the Tian Qi forbidden zone had spread across various countries.

Just as everyone was talking about this event, another shocking matter was revealed!

The Black Tortoise Academy had seven students at the seventh level of martial physique who were all crippled during an external training session.

The person responsible for this incident was actually Xiao Yuemei!

It was a teacher from the Black Tortoise Academy who had thrown Qin Yun into the Tian Qi forbidden ground.

Xiao Yuemei had a good relationship with Qin Yun, and after she went missing, it was expected that she would seek revenge for Qin Yun.

The students crippled by Xiao Yuemei were all students of that teacher!

Xiao Yuemei was already very strong at the sixth level of martial physique, able to rival many seventh-level martial practitioners. Now that she has entered the seventh level, her strength is even more terrifying.

Soon after, news spread that disciples of the Blue Spirit West Palace had been beaten into cripples, and again, it was Xiao Yuemei who did it!

Ever since the Tian Qi forbidden ground was destroyed by a large meteorite, Xiao Yuemei has been frenziedly seeking revenge, not only against the teacher from the Black Tortoise Academy but also against her brother, Xiao Yanglong!

In the Tian Xiao Empire, many old ministers who were close to Xiao Yanglong had powerful martial artists assassinated in their estates, causing the nobles of the Tian Xiao Empire to live in constant fear.

They were also very helpless because the person behind these attacks was none other than the princess of the Tian Xiao Empire!

Xiao Yuemei's storage bracelet was stolen by Xiao Yanglong, which is one of the reasons she is seeking revenge.

……

At the eastern side of the Blue Spirit Star Palace, in front of the Eastern Palace gate.

Xiao Yanglong had come to see Xiao Yuelan again, and this time he brought Xiao Xuanqin with him.

"Yuelan, this is a secret order for you!" Xiao Yanglong, seeing Xiao Yuelan come out, hurriedly handed over a letter.

After receiving it, Xiao Yuelan's delicate hand suddenly emitted steam, and a flame ignited the letter, burning it to ashes.

"Yuelan, you..." Xiao Xuanqin frowned tightly and said urgently, "Father has ordered you to assist in finding Yuemei! This matter is extremely urgent and concerns the future of our Tian Xiao Empire!"

"I am about to get engaged and marry into another country; the future of the Tian Xiao Empire has nothing to do with me," Xiao Yuelan coldly replied.

She had originally hoped that Qin Yun would cause a scene at the engagement ceremony, allowing her to escape in the chaos. But now, Qin Yun is dead, and she has lost all hope.

Anyone could see that Xiao Yuelan was extremely dissatisfied with her marriage arrangement. If it weren't for the two elderly women with martial arts skills watching over her, she would have run away long ago.

Xiao Yanglong clenched his fists tightly and said angrily, "Yuemei has already crippled the descendants of many old ministers! Are you going to let her continue her rampage?"

Xiao Yuelan sneered, "Why is it that only you can do evil, and she cannot? If I bring her back, she will end up like me, sacrificed for your interests, sold like a commodity. I don't want her to be like me! She is my closest relative, and I am very happy to see her living freely."

Xiao Xuanqin gritted her teeth slightly and said, "I promise that as long as Yuemei stops, she will not be forced to marry..."

She felt very guilty because if they hadn't stopped Xiao Yuemei back then, Qin Yun might not have been thrown into the Tian Qi forbidden ground, and none of this would have happened.

"Aunt, go back! Unless Qin Yun can be brought back to life, Yuemei will not stop," Xiao Yuelan said.

Just as Xiao Yanglong was about to say something, a young man suddenly rushed over, panicking. "Senior Brother Xiao, something's wrong! One of our top-grade spirit iron mines has been destroyed, and all the disciples guarding the mine were killed. The scene was burned by flames."

As the chief disciple of the Western Palace, Xiao Yanglong had started to take charge of many matters. Upon hearing this, he immediately thought of Xiao Yuemei.

Xiao Xuanqin frowned and said, "Was it really Yuemei who did this?"

Xiao Yuelan showed no expression and turned away, gracefully flying into the Eastern Palace gate.

Xiao Yanglong clenched his teeth and said, "Other than that brat, who else could it be? I will catch her no matter what!"

Xiao Xuanqin was also very helpless and could only continue searching for Xiao Yuemei.

The Blue Spirit Star Palace was at its peak, and now, one of its mines had been completely destroyed.

Rumors were spreading that Xiao Yuemei was taking revenge on Xiao Yanglong and had started targeting the Blue Spirit West Palace.

Just as things were exploding in the Blue Spirit West Palace, Zhuochuan from the Runes Hall arrived at the gate of the Blue Spirit Star Palace.

After news of the destruction of the Blue Spirit West Palace's mine spread, further reports emerged about how they had been abusing slaves to mine the spirit iron, with many children involved, drawing the attention of the Runes Hall and causing outrage among many common martial artists.