They hadn’t walked far when Lu Yangrong stopped in his tracks.
There were two people lying on the street not far ahead. Motionless, their faces could not be seen.
One of them was holding a gong in his hand while the other had a tool. From the looks of it, they were probably the night watchmen of Linfeng City.
However, why would they be here since night had yet to truly arrive?
Why were they sprawled on the ground as well?
“Hey, night watchmen. Are you guys dead or alive?” Lu Yangrong grabbed his flying sword. He did not rush forward and merely asked on the spot.
Guan Jin scoffed coldly at the side, “What could be up with an ancient city full of mortals to deserve such caution from us?”
Even though he said that, Guan Jin clasped a protective talisman in his hand. Heading forth, he flipped one of them over.
“Ah!”
Guan Jin exclaimed and stumbled a couple of steps back.
Su Zimo and others at the back could clearly tell that the person was dead.
All of them had seen dead people before.
Yet, this was the first time they had seen such a horrifying death.
The night watchman’s face was shriveled and his skin stuck to the bones. It was as though his flesh and blood were drained, leaving only grey eyeballs that watched ahead confusedly.
Even when he died, that person most likely did not know the reason why.
Guan Jin heaved a deep breath of air before flipping the other person over – it was an almost identical death.
It felt as though the both of them were on their way to start on the night watch when they met with bad luck and were killed on the spot without any chance of reacting at all!
Su Zimo narrowed his gaze and pondered for a moment. Suddenly, he walked to a house at the side and kicked the door open before looking around inside.
The people inside were already dead.
Regardless of gender or age, most of them died in slumber in an almost identical manner as the two outside!
By the time Su Zimo returned to the street, Leng Rou and the others came forth from the other houses with a grim expression. Their hearts were filled with lingering fear.
“Everyone’s dead!”
Little fatty gulped.
Even though the five of them were cultivators and there were even four Foundation Establishment Cultivators, none of them had come across anything as such.
Furthermore, if they hadn’t guessed wrongly, everyone in the ancient city should have most likely met with the same fates!
A general picture formed in Su Zimo’s mind.
In the previous night, Linfeng City was peaceful and serene as ever with most people in the ancient city asleep. As the night watchmen patrolled, bad luck descended upon them!
No one was spared from it!
Most people must have died in their sleep.
There were at least 100,000 people residing in the city!
Overnight, all of them perished!
Lu Yangrong remarked grimly, “It must be done by a fiend cultivator!”
“Yes, fiend cultivators are ruthless and unscrupulous. It’s clear that their deaths were not committed by anyone on the orthodox path,” Guan Jin nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Su Zimo asked, “The disciple who discovered the spirit mine near here. What did he mention in his message?”
Little fatty replied, “Nothing much. He merely mentioned discovering a spirit mine at the northern outskirts of Linfeng City. Mining had already begun and he could be done in about two days. That junior brother mentioned discovering some cultivators near to the spirit mine and he was worried that they might covet it, that’s why he requested for the sect to send some Foundation Establishment Cultivators as reinforcements.”
After he replied, little fatty suddenly realized and asked with widened eyes, “Bro, are you going to say that the murderer of this ancient city’s tragedy is after our sect’s spirit mine?”
“It’s very likely.”
Su Zimo nodded. “Something as such happened right after a spirit mine was discovered nearby Linfeng City. It’s too coincidental.”
“What should we do then? Should we still head to the spirit mine?” Little fatty asked.
Su Zimo replied grimly, “Relay a message to the sect first telling them that a situation had arisen. You guys have expended quite a bit of spirit qi traveling here. We should recuperate before checking out the spirit mine…”
“Junior Brother Su, you’re too weak. If you’re afraid, you don’t have to follow us.”
Before Su Zimo could finish, he was interrupted by Lu Yangrong’s cold scoff.
Guan Jin eyed Su Zimo in disdain and continued indifferently, “Junior Brother Su, since you’re so worried, why don’t you hurry back? I’ve already advised you not to follow us, fufu.”
Su Zimo frowned.
Leng Rou suddenly said, “I agree with Junior Brother Su’s suggestion.”
As she said that, she retrieved a paper crane from her storage bag and wrote a few lines of words using spirit qi. Releasing the paper crane, it flew to the skies and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
When he saw that, Lu Yangrong comforted her, “Junior Sister Leng, don’t worry. There won’t be any cultivator within the Great Zhou Dynasty stupid enough to covet Ethereal Peak’s spirit mine.”
“That’s right!”
Guan Jin analyzed calmly, “It’s just an inferior-grade spirit mine containing mostly inferior-grade spirit stones that Foundation Establishment Cultivators won’t be interested in. Even if anyone wanted the spirit mine, they would merely be Qi Refinement Warriors. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
The spirit qi contained by inferior-grade spirit stones was not efficient in helping Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
If Foundation Establishment Cultivators wanted to raise their cultivation realms, they would require middle-grade spirit stones.
At Golden Core realm, they would require superior-grade or even supreme-grade spirit stones.
Although what the both of them said was logical, Su Zimo felt that things were not as simple.
“Let’s head to the spirit mine straight and check things out! Everything will be clear by then!”
Lu Yangrong waved and summoned his flying sword, leading the way.
Guan Jin followed closely behind. Carrying Su Zimo and the spirit tiger, little crane chased after them.
Before long, all five of them arrived at the spirit mine.
When they approached the pitch dark entrance of the spirit mine, Lu Yangrong paused in his track and turned around. “I’ll take the front with Junior Brother Guan. Because Junior Brother Su is the weakest, he’ll stand in the middle. Junior Sister Leng and little fatty will take the back.”
No one had any objections to that arrangement.
The entrance was narrow so little crane and the spirit tiger could not enter – they could only stand guard outside.
Su Zimo could tell that even though Lu Yangrong seemed indifferent previously, he had now become more cautious.
Summoning his flying sword, Lu Yangrong held it in front of his chest. With two shining spirit patterns, it was a middle-grade flying sword.
The five of them ventured deep into the spirit mine.
They did not walk far when a strange sound echoed from ahead. It was as though a large group of things were flying over and they could only see it vaguely through red flashes.
Taking a closer look, Lu Yangrong realized that it was a group of black crows with a strange red glow in their eyes!
“Kneel down and let them pass!”
Lu Yangrong bent down and everyone else followed suit.
The crows with bloodshot eyes sped above their heads without stopping.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Lu Yangrong shrugged his shoulders. Pretending to be relaxed, he turned back and smiled. “Puny beasts are common in places like this spirit mine. By ignoring them, we’re even conserving spirit qi.”
Suddenly, Su Zimo’s senses were alarmed as he hollered, “Watch out!”
Swash!
A sword beam flashed at an extremely fast speed and arrived before them in the blink of an eye.
Right now, everyone was at their most relaxed after those crows with bloodshot eyes had just passed. By the time Lu Yangrong heard Su Zimo’s warning, it was too late.