Chapter 187: The Strange Mu Xinya
What was she doing? By leaving her identity token here, she would be able to hide her position from the map. Was she doing something she could not let others discover?
In the past week, Xiao Chen had not seen Mu Xinya even once when he came back. Although he felt it was strange, he did not pay it too much mind.
Everyone had their own secrets to keep, just like himself; he would go out to practice his Saber Techniques every night for a long time before coming back. So, he could not be bothered to find out about her disappearance.
However, since she left her identity token and mission token behind, the situation is completely different. It was clear she had something to hide.
Xiao Chen’s thoughts raced, I have stayed with her for a long time. I need to find out what’s going on. Otherwise, if she has some malicious motives, I might get into trouble as well.
Thinking of this, Xiao Chen extended his Spiritual Sense. He began searching for Mu Xinya within the mines.
Despite searching several times, he could not find anything. Xiao Chen expanded the range of his search, and he managed to find something after a while. He finally found Mu Xinya within one of the dead tunnels.
Across Mu Xinya was a tall, stout man about two meters tall. Xiao Chen controlled his Spiritual Sense to move carefully, and he saw who it was. He could not help but exclaim, “Supervisor Li! What is he doing with Mu Xinya?”
The two of them spoke very fast, but Xiao Chen had never heard this language before; he could not understand what they were saying. In the end, the two of them got into an argument; Mu XInya had a very impatient expression on her face.
Although he could not understand what they were saying, he could roughly guess what their relationship was, based on their expressions. They should not have a master-servant relationship; it seemed like they were bargaining over something.
Supervisor Li was not satisfied with the price Mu Xinya offered, resenting it for being too low. Mu Xinya was also extremely dissatisfied with him. Based on her expression, she should be scolding him for not keeping his promise.
After a while, Mu Xinya and Supervisor Li parted ways. She then headed for the stone room swiftly. Xiao Chen quickly withdrew his Spiritual Sense and placed Mu Xinya’s identity token back in its original spot. After that, he lay on his own bed and pretended to sleep.
The next morning, within the Spirit Mines:
“Boom!” Xiao Chen pierced through a corpse’s heart with his saber. Mu Xinya moved rapidly behind him. Her two sabers crisscrossed each other in the air and chopped off the head of the corpse.
“Hu!” Xiao Chen pulled out his saber and withdrew. He continued to draw the attention of the corpse. Mu Xinya followed up from behind, and there was a flash of saber lights; the corpse’s arms were chopped off.
Before long, the low-grade corpse died at their hands. It was chopped into eight pieces; it was now as dead as a doorknob.
“Senior Brother Ye, that fight only lasted five minutes. Our cooperation is improving,” Mu Xinya smiled at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly without saying anything. The things he saw last night left a shadow in his heart.
However, all Xiao Chen could do was be alert. He had to pretend nothing had happened in case he scared away the snake while beating the grass.
[TL note: Scaring away the snake while beating the grass is a Chinese idiom for alerting the enemy.]
“Be careful!” Xiao Chen’s complexion suddenly paled.
He rushed forward and sent a fist flying towards Mu Xinya. The wind from his fist blew strongly against her face as he struck a corpse behind her.
It was unknown when this corpse climbed out of the ground behind her. It took advantage of the moment they were distracted to launch itself at Mu Xinya.
Only a breath of time passed between the moment Xiao Chen shouted ‘be careful’ to the moment his fist landed on the head of the corpse.
Xiao Chen’s physical body was incredibly strong. Under such an urgent situation, he put his full strength into this punch and blasted the head of this corpse into mush.
Mu Xinya’s reaction was very fast. She quickly spun around, and there were saber lights shining on her two sabers. She quickly chopped the corpse in half.
So, it was a low-grade corpse. After they reacted to it, they quickly dealt with it. After learning this lesson, they did not dare be careless. They started to check their surroundings carefully and made sure it was safe before relaxing.
Mu Xinya smiled gratefully at Xiao Chen, “Senior Brother Ye, you saved me again. I really don’t know what say.”
Xiao Chen waved it away casually, “I’ll say the same thing as before; we still have a long time here. Who knows, I might need you to save me in the next moment.”
Mu Xinya smiled, “Senior Brother Ye, I like hearing this. In that case, I will double my efforts and fight for an opportunity to repay this favor.”
At that moment, Mu Xinya had a moonstruck expression on her face, just like the lovable girl next door. Xiao Chen was finding it hard to connect her with the girl who spoke to Supervisor Li the night before.
The two of them continued their patrols. When they reached the area where Supervisor Li was, Xiao Chen purposely lingered around a little longer.
Supervisor Li behaved as he did before; he put down what he was doing and greeted the two of them, “Greetings to Sir and Madam.”
Xiao Chen used his Spiritual Sense to inspect him carefully. Like before, there was no Martial Spirit in his body. He seemed like he was an ordinary person.
Xiao Chen could not help but feel disappointed. There was clearly something wrong with Supervisor Li. His eyes were brighter than the other miners.
In the past, Xiao Chen could explain it as him being more optimistic, not numb like the other miners. However, after the previous night, he refused to believe that.
However, he was not able to discover what was wrong. Regardless of whatever angle he looked from, he was an ordinary person who worked a strenuous job.
“This little one will continue his work and not hold up Sir and Madam,” Supervisor Li took his leave after greeting them.
[TL note: This manner of speaking is quite common when a person of lower status speaks to someone with higher status. They would frequently refer to themselves in the third person, sometimes calling themselves things like, ‘this little one’ or this ‘humble servant.’]
Taking advantage of the moment when Mu Xinya was not paying attention, Xiao Chen suddenly pushed a miner who was pushing a miner cart. That person was immediately pushed off balance, and the minecart fell over, falling towards Supervisor Li.
“Rumble!”
All the Spirit Stone raw ore in the minecart fell out. The minecart landed and buried Supervisor Li. The surrounding miners quickly came over and helped Supervisor Li out.
“What’s going on?” Mu Xinya turned around and asked with suspicion.
“Nothing, just an ordinary accident. Let’s go,” Xiao Chen sighed to himself. Supervisor Li behaved like an ordinary person. When he was suddenly attacked, he did not reveal anything exceeding what an ordinary person could do.
Spirit Mines, Eight Layer, Headquarters:
A cultivator investigating the disappearance of the missing miners told Ye Wen, “Elder Ye, we still have not found the missing miners. Furthermore, a few miners from this layer have gone missing every day. However, as there are not too many going missing at the same time, it has not resulted in mass hysteria.”
Ye Wen said indifferently, “Continue the investigation. Tabulate the total number of missing people. Then, report it to me every day.”
The days went by very fast in the mines. In the blink of an eye, another week had passed. Xiao Chen had already been in this place for half a month.
His activities had also become routine. He would do his patrols in the day and polish his Saber Techniques, as well as practice the Clear Wind Chop, during the night. He had already practiced the Clear Wind Chop to the small perfection.
When he drew his saber, he could not perfectly hide his killing Qi within the cool breeze without leaking any of it out. He was steadily progressing toward the middle perfection.
Aside from the days being boring, it was still rather peaceful. The only problem was that they could not cultivate. Before he came, the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation already reached the great perfection of the third layer.
He was originally planning to make a breakthrough to the fourth layer this month, raising the Purple Thunder True Fire to another level. After that, he would be able to truly refine his own Magic Treasure.
Given the current situation, he could only make do with what he had. He could only deal with it after he left.
On this particular day, Xiao Chen and Mu Xinya prepared to go for their patrol as usual. However, Ye Wen lead someone unexpected to them.
“This is Ma Chen; you should have met him before. There were some accidents during his mission. So, he is here to continue it,” Ye Wen said as he pointed to the person behind him.
Ma Chen cupped his hand and greeted them, “We meet again.”
When they were at the Heaven Viewing Platform, before coming down to the mines, he shared his experience with everyone. Xiao Chen had a deeper impression of him compared to the rest.
What kind of accident happened for him to be transferred from the lower layers to here? What about the rest? Why is he here alone? Xiao Chen’s heart was filled with suspicion.
After Ye Wen left, before Xiao Chen could speak, Mu Xinya impatiently asked, “Senior Brother Ma, what happened to you? Where are the other Senior Brothers?”
Ma Chen revealed an expression filled with lingering fear as he responded, “All dead… they dug up Superior Grade Spirit Stone raw ore, and a corpse king appeared.
“The few of us happened to walk past. The corpse king had been by the Superior Grade Spirit Stone raw ore for an unknown number of years. It could actually use the Martial Techniques from when it was alive. Furthermore, it had high Spiritual Intelligence.”
Superior Grade Spirit Stone… There was shock in their hearts. For this Spirit Vein to produce a Superior Grade Spirit Stone, it was astonishing.
Every since the Ancient Era, the Spiritual Energy in the Tianwu Continent has become thinner. At this time, even the Great Jin Nation, which had the densest Spiritual Energy, could not compare to that era.
As for the other four nations, their Spiritual Energy was even thinner. It was already a pleasant surprise for a Medial Grade Spirit Stone to appear.
It was unexpected for Superior Grade Spirit Stone raw ore to appear in Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s Spirit Vein. The value of one Superior Grade Spirit Stone was equivalent to a thousand Medial Grade Spirit Stone.
However, if one wanted to exchange for a Superior Grade Spirit Stone, no one would be willing to. They were simply too rare. The energy in them was vast and pure; even Martial Kings or Martial Monarchs would be attracted to it.
With Xiao Chen’s current cultivation, if he could find a suitable Cultivation Technique, by absorbing a Superior Grade Spirit Stone he could immediately advance to Martial Saint. Furthermore, it would not have any side effects; there was no need worry about it affecting his future cultivation.
Xiao Chen recollected his thoughts and asked, “What happened after that? Did they manage to obtain the Superior Grade Spirit Stone raw ore from the corpse king? Did you managed to kill the corpse king?”
Ma Chen replied, “The corpse king had a strength that was close to a Martial Monarch. Furthermore, its body was as hard as steel. A regular saber was not able to injure it. They activated ten peak bladesmen from the Divine Saber Camp. However, it still managed to escape in the end. Still, we managed to snatch the Superior Grade Spirit Stone raw ore.”
Xiao Chen and Ma Chen did not notice that when Ma Chen said the corpse king did not die, Mu Xinya had a strange look on her face.
Ma Chen continued saying, “I really envy you two. The eighth layer of the mines is famous for being peaceful. There have never been any major incidents that have happened here before. I have no idea how the two of you managed to get assigned to this place; it has never happened in the past before.”