The Prodigies War

Lin Xun had no idea that Qian Qi and Lu Ting had planned to dispose of his body in the same abandoned mine after killing him.

However, they were the ones who suffered in the end. They likely had never thought this would be the ultimate outcome when they were still alive.

The abandoned mine was incredibly deep with no end in sight.

After checking around, Lin Xun carried the bodies of Qian Qi and Lu Ting in.

The mine was dark and consisted of a network of twists and turns. The rugged and crimson walls clearly showed the many excavated places.

A Feiyun Fire Copper vein ore was discovered more than a hundred years ago and all of the Feiyun Fire Copper had likely been cleanly extracted given the mine’s abandoned state.

However, Lin Xun didn't come for any leftover ore. After navigating around the twists and turns of the mine, he paused in front of a pit.

After tossing the corpses of Lu Ting and Qian Qi into the pit, Lin Xun didn’t immediately leave. Instead, he continued to explore along the mine.

However, the deeper he went, the wetter and colder he felt, and the quieter the atmosphere. The dark environment made his hair stand on end.

Zhi—

Suddenly, a sharp whistle followed by a line of flames shot out from the depths of the mine, piercing the darkness and dazzling his eyes.

‘As expected!’

The sudden noise didn’t surprise Lin Xun. Instead, a smile curled the corners of his lips.

Pu!

He flicked his wrist and the blade’s tip flashed. The line of flames roaring in front of him split apart. It popped and crackled as it fell to the ground like a shower of flames.

Lin Xun leaned forward to see that it was a bat, except its head had been severed.

The bat looked extremely hideous with protruding fangs, bulging eyes and bright red wings that seemed to be formed from blood.

This was a blood red bat!

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Lin Xun had read an ancient book in Mister Lu’s library called ‘The Record of All Spirits’ when he was a child and had come across a record about the blood red bats.

This beast was a strange species. It was nocturnal and fed solely on blood. It passed venom into its victim’s bloodstream through a bite and, without timely treatment, the victim would die within three days.

However, Lin Xun wasn’t too concerned because according to ‘The Record of All Spirits’, there would definitely be Blood Essence Sand where blood red bats were sighted!

Blood Essence Sand was actually the teeth shed from blood red bats. Every three years, the bats would smash their fangs into rocks to destroy them for a new set to grow after a month of rest.

For cultivators, Blood Essence Sand was a valuable rune material. It could be used as medicine or as rune ink, but its greatest value lied in its ability to cleanse bones and refine essences!

Blood Essence Sand could increase a cultivator’s chance of successfully breaking through to the Essence Refining Stage, the fifth layer True Martial Stage, by at least 20%!

Therefore, Blood Essence Sand was regarded as an extremely valuable rune material.

Lin Xun was already tempted to come when he learned about the existence of a Feiyun Fire Copper mine in Feiyun Village because he knew very well that blood red bats were attracted to places where Feiyun Fire Copper were found. The natural environment of Feiyun Fire Copper formed a natural protection for blood red bats.

It was because of this that Lin Xun wanted to explore the mine, but he wasn’t sure whether the people back then had also discovered this secret.

However, seeing that a blood red bat had knocked into his hand, he was certain that there was an abundant amount of Blood Essence Sand hidden in the mine’s depths!

After thinking about this, Lin Xun increased his pace.

Blood Essence Sand was extremely precious and could be sold for a good price. Even a little could fetch him a considerable fortune.

Since Lin Xun was currently penniless, it was impossible for him to enter the Ziyao Empire through normal channels.

For his cultivation path and to progress further along in the art of runes, he desperately needed to make some money.

It couldn’t be helped. Cultivation required money and runes also required huge financial support.

There was a saying that every rune master was born from the accumulation of gold and silver mountains.

This was no exaggeration since the engraving of runes required rune brushes, rune inks and vessels. Each one was indispensable. Rune ink was the most expensive of them all because it was made from the extraction of a variety of rune materials. The higher the grade of a rune, the higher the requirements for rune ink. Consequently, the requirements for the various rune materials needed to create the rune ink also wouldn’t be low.

Moreover, great attention also needed to be paid to the rune brush and vessel. Thus, the engraving of runes couldn't be done without money.

Additionally, it was common to fail when attempting to engrave runes. Consequently, a huge chunk of money would be wasted as a result. No rune master could have a perfect success rate.

Therefore, in addition to talent and aptitude, a huge amount of money was required to become a rune master.

Lin Xun couldn’t do without money if he wanted to progress further in the art of runes.

Of course, if he truly became a rune master one day, he could make money with no difficulty.

There was also an old saying in the world: the smell of money lingered between every rune master’s fingertips because the runes they engraved could be sold for crazy, sky-high prices!

Lin Xun had started to learn the art of runes from Mister Lu from a young age. How would he not understand this reasoning?

In order to have a sliver of a chance of becoming a true rune master, he needed to crazily work at three things: making a whole bunch of money, study runes, and practice carving runes!

When he became a true rune master, wealth, status and fame would come easily!

In Lin Xun's view, engraving runes was his survival skill. It was only when Mister Lu was around that he was guaranteed to have the money and materials required on his cultivation path.

He wasn’t a young master from a wealthy family who didn't have to worry about money, nor was he a descendant of a noble who had various cultivation resources at his fingertips. He came to Ziyao Empire alone, penniless, and had no one to depend on except himself.

……

As he moved deeper into the mine, more bats rushed out. Fortunately, they possessed little attacking power despite their vicious appearances, and Lin Xun easily dealt with them.

Pu—

Along the way, except from the dull noises made during the killing of the blood red bats, only the sounds of Lin Xun’s footsteps echoed in the mine.

However, as time went by, the number of bats soared. They sometimes attacked in groups like a shower of flames. Lin Xun had to be on full alert and he constantly swung his azure blade.

Speaking of which, the azure blade was a self-defense weapon that Mister Lu had gifted him when he was a child. It was constructed from several rare rune materials. It was just a pity that Mister Lu couldn’t engrave it with runes.

Therefore, despite the azure blade’s incomparable sharpness, it wasn’t a graded treasure and could only be regarded as an ordinary tool.

The sign that symbolized whether a treasure was graded was whether it was engraved with runes!

Treasures marked with runes were called aeth tools.

According to their power, aeth tools were divided into four major grades: human, earth, heaven, and pure sun. Furthermore, each grade was divided into lower, middle, upper, and top levels.

Generally speaking, only those with a cultivation base above the Spirit Dipper Stage could exert the full power of an aeth tool.

Lin Xun only possessed the strength of the second layer True Martial Stage and so he couldn’t bring out an aeth tool’s true power even if he held one.

However, although the azure blade wasn’t graded and was only regarded as an ordinary tool, its power was extraordinary. After all, it was constructed from various rare rune materials.

Lin Xun called the blade the Skybreaker Blade to symbolize that he would one day break the sky.

Clasping the blade, Lin Xun continued forward. But he was shocked to find that the mine had no end.

He had been navigating inside for more than an hour and had traveled at least tens of miles.

The deeper he went, the darker it became, and only the dark red glow reflected on the walls of both sides helped Lin Xun to just barely see ahead.

All of this greatly affected his eyesight, and even slowed his reaction when facing the blood red bats’ attack.

Later, Lin Xun gave up on spotting the bats with his eyes. He held his breath in deep concentration and began to perceive the danger around him with his mind and consciousness.

This was no different to fighting with his eyes closed.

At first, Lin Xun wasn’t quite used to it and bats almost bit his vital body parts several times. However, he soon grew accustomed to such a method of fighting and the killing of bats became easier and smoother.

Additionally, Lin Xun gained a deeper understanding of martial arts through using his perception in a real battle. He began to grasp some of the more obscure and mysterious aspects of the Six Word Blade that he had yet to comprehend.

Shua! Shua! Shua!

The blade light fluttered like a rainbow in the darkness as it beheaded the blood red bats one by one.

Lin Xun was immersed in comprehending the Six Word Blade and had completely forgotten the passage of time. His mind was completely empty and free.

Under such conditions, the movements of his blade became more and more skilful and he was beginning to exhibit the true essence of the blade art.

Fortunately, Lin Xun’s spirit had significantly improved after learning the Little Divine Meditation Art and his perception of the surroundings became much clearer.

If other cultivators of the second layer True Martial Stage attempted to fight without using their eyes, they would have been instantly killed and their bodies riddled with bat bites.

After an unknown period of time, Lin Xun suddenly felt his perception was empty. His eyes snapped open suddenly as he awoke. Looking around, he saw that he had reached the end of the mine.

At the end of the mine stood a huge rocky wall that clearly hadn’t been mined.

Scanning around, Lin Xun narrowed his eyes. The ground was piled with decomposing corpses and bones!