Chapter 323 - Underground Divine Vein
“Is the Divine Vein underneath?”
Outside of a giant palace in the royal palace of the Great Xia Kingdom, Jiang Yi looked around with doubt. He then queried an old grandma beside him. Su Ruoxue didn’t ask those chief eunuchs to bring him to the Divine Vein and asked this old grandma who was always by her side instead. Obviously, this individual was her trusted aide.
The old grandma was very old; her strength was rather competent at the fifth stage of Soul Travel Realm. She nodded with respect and replied, “Yes, Regent. The Divine Vein is underneath. It requires the guidance from this servant; otherwise, no one else can enter it!”
Jiang Yi nodded while the old grandma immediately led the way. Before they even walked into the palace hall, several black-robed martial artists immediately appeared while one of them yelled out, “This place is forbidden grounds. Without the ruler’s token, no one can enter. Leave quickly, or be killed without mercy!”
Jiang Yi remained silent while the old grandma tossed a token over without saying a single word. That individual took a close look and immediately knelt to greet, “Greetings to the two esteemed superiors!”
“Regent, this way!”
The old grandma bowed slightly towards Jiang Yi while he walked in with his hands on his back. After entering and taking a glance, he immediately had this expression that he realized something.
This hall was very spacious, and there was nothing in it, apart from a giant teleportation array. Obviously, anyone who wanted to go to the mysterious Divine Vein had to go through this teleportation array.
“Activate the teleportation array!”
The old grandma walked in and indicated Jiang Yi to enter the teleportation array before she gave the orders to the secret guards.
“Understood!”
The secret guards quickly activated the teleportation array. Jiang Yi felt a white flash and quickly arrived at a completely sealed-up palace hall. This palace hall had a few secret guards as well, and there was another teleportation array.
“Regent. This is a transfer teleportation array. If an enemy attacks the grand hall earlier, this place would immediately receive the alert, and they would instantly destroy the teleportation array here. No one else will be able to find the Divine Vein!”
The old grandma saw the doubt in Jiang Yi’s eyes and explained in a soft voice. Jiang Yi lightly nodded and was confused again. He asked, “Since there are such strict rules, how did the five vassal kingdoms know that the Great Xia Kingdom excavated the Divine Vein?”
The old grandma let out a light sigh and spoke in a heavy voice, “Initially, only the King and the late consecrator, Su Pingping, knew about the Divine Vein. Afterward, the King informed another individual, who was the Great General Lord, Su Diguo!”
“No wonder…”
Jiang Yi understood now. Su Diguo had always been a spy from the Divine Martial Kingdom. He must have told his son many things before his death. Once his son went over to the Azure Dragon Empire, this matter must have quickly spread to the upper echelons of the various kingdoms.
Buzz!
The teleportation array lit up again, teleporting them to an underground area this time. It was illuminated by candlelight, and there were hundreds of soldiers in this place. They were all rather formidable, with over ten Soul Travel Realm experts. When they saw someone teleporting in here, everyone tensed up. If the old grandma didn’t reveal a dragon-shaped token, they would have probably drawn their weapons.
“Greetings to the two esteemed superiors!”
After seeing the token, all the soldiers knelt down. The grandma nodded and asked, “Where is General Gu?”
A middle-aged man who was wearing black battle armor immediately responded, “This general is here!”
The old grandma took a glance at Jiang Yi and yelled out, “This is the royal court’s Regent. Quickly pay your respects!”
“Regent?”
General Gu gave a suspicious look at Jiang Yi but didn’t say anything. He had seen this old grandma, who came with Su Diwang. She was considered one of the core members of the royal clan, and with the king’s token in her hands, and so General Gu naturally didn’t dare to suspect anymore. He quickly bowed and greeted, “Gu Dao pays his respects to the Regent.”
Jiang Yi gestured with a wave and said, “All of you may rise. Bring me to the Divine Vein.”
“Understood!”
General Gu stood up and quickly let Jiang Yi ahead before entering a tunnel. As Jiang Yi followed behind, he could see the black stone walls in the surroundings, which was glowing faintly. He guessed that these stone walls were constructed in a special way—that even if experts used their divine senses from above, they wouldn’t be able to scout this area.
The old grandma saw that Jiang Yi was paying attention to the tunnel. She explained as she walked, “No one knows where we are right now. I’m afraid only the king knows. After the news of the Divine Vein was leaked, various kingdoms sent out their scouts to examine the underground of the Great Xia Kingdom for over a month, but no one could find the Divine Vein.”
Jiang Yi wasn’t surprised. This matter involved the lifeline of the kingdom. If he was the king, he reckoned that he wouldn’t even let Su Pingping know about this. Su Diwang was too trusting towards Su Diguo. Of course, even without the Divine Vein, the six influential forces would still join forces to attack, and the Great Xia Kingdom would ultimately be extinguished—because Jiang Bieli had plotted this in advance.
The tunnel was very long, and General Gu began to increase his speed. There would be a large gate every three hundred meters, which would be guarded by several soldiers. It was extremely stringent.
After walking for a certain distance, the tunnel began to extend downwards. Jiang Yi felt that he had walked for kilometers before the tunnel began to level off. General Su reported with respect, “Regent, my Lady. The Divine Vein is up ahead.”
Jiang Yi was suddenly reinvigorated. He poured some black essence forces to his eyes and enhanced his vision to scan the dusky tunnels. After advancing, another stone door appeared in the front. General Gu activated a concealed mechanism which revealed a small stone house. Jiang Yi walked into it before General Gu opened up a door.
Creak! Creak!
The moment the stone door opened, Jiang Yi’s eyes flashed brightly. An extremely dense heaven and earth energy poured out, which gave him a refreshing sensation.
He silently sensed, and he was overwhelmed. “Ruoxue was right. The heaven and earth energy here is several folds denser than the outside world. It is even denser than the Emperor Palace.”
Jiang Yi was the first to walk into the tunnel. As he walked, the tunnel got more spacious, and the heaven and earth energy grew denser. Soon enough, Jiang Yi finally saw the legendary Divine Vein.
A giant underground plaza appeared in the front. There were slabs of white crystals which were emitting soft brilliance. These crystals were formed by smaller glistening gems which looked like the most beautiful precious stones.
Pong! Pong!
There numerous martial artists at the stone wall—at least a thousand. All of them were at the peak stage of Purple Mansion Realm and were constantly hitting these white crystals with their weapons.
“No wonder no celestial stone had been excavated yet. If they continued like this, when would they ever break open these crystals?”
Jiang Yi took a glance and was shocked. All of the martial artists were wielding a heaven artifact and would use all their strength to cleave. Every time, they would only leave a small crack that was the width of a thumb.
Even if so many people dug for an entire year, they would probably excavate only a few meters. Who knew how large was this Divine Vein? Where were celestial stones located in the Divine Vein?
“Regent. This Divine Vein’s crystal is too tough. Back then, when the old consecrator personally assisted, he would only be able to shatter a big piece of crystal every time. After digging for three entire days, he was only able to excavate a 20-meter cave entrance, but there was no discovery of the celestial stones.”
The old grandma explained softly by the side. Jiang Yi watched for a moment before his Fire Dragon Sword appeared with a flash from his Fire Spirit Pearl. He yelled out, “Everyone, clear out! Let me try!”