Chapter 155: The Practice in the Fire Vein
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“I seem to have provoked the wrong thing!”
Li Yuan frowned in the Admiral Manor, and so did Junior Leopard when he went home. From today’s event, he sensed a sign of danger and recalled what Wang She had told him.
“The whole world is going to be in chaos!”
Despite that it had been in favorable weather, there were surging waves in secret.
Wan An was the new mayor of Zhonghe Prefecture. He had only been in office for few months before he met with the mishap. Junior Leopard never suspected that Teacher Hu would lie, because he did not need to lie. From Qi Fei’s expression after reading the letter, Junior Leopard had complete faith in Teacher Hu’s words. Likewise, he knew that Wan An was scheming something more complex than rebellion.
If the mayor, Wan did have any intention of rebellion, Qi Fei would not prevent him and Dong Chen from reading the letter. Nor would he let them kill the hapless Teacher Hu and disguise it as a robbery. Since he was a witness, it was not necessary to kill him.
Similarly, a rebellion? Would it be so easy to rebel against the imperial court?
Even if one wanted to rebel against it, nobody else would do it except for the Governor of the border prefecture like Yunzhou. What was the deal with Wan An?
Although Wan An was a third grade official, governing the government affairs of a city, it was only government affairs, and the military power was all in Li Yuan’s hands. Moreover, Li Yuan and Wan An were on bad terms, which was already known to the world, therefore, if Wan An dared to put an anti-flag in the Guard County Manor, Li Yuan would be able to chop off his head within an hour.
He would not be that stupid.
Since he was not stupid, why would he rebel?
Most importantly, a rebellion was not just a matter of finding a few people with weapons. There were different ways of doing it. First, a direct rebellion, which Wan An would never do because it meant death. Then there was only the second possibility, he was involved in a rebellion, but he was only a part of it. The letter just proved that he was involved, but Junior Leopard did not know that who the chief conspirator was, when was it began or how many people and how many forces were involved.
Perhaps, after reading the letter he would know, but he couldn’t read that letter.
Qi Fei’s reaction after reading the letter had been able to convince Junior Leopard that his speculation was correct. The question now was that of what he should do?
Last night, Qi Fei came to him again and once again advised him, with a bitter face, that he should never tell anyone of the event that happened last night.
It was then that Junior Leopard realized that the event was very serious. Apparently, the second reminder was under Li Yuan’s instructions. Then it meant that even Li Yuan who had some strength, had to be careful and cautious to face this force, let alone him.
“Alas, it really is that once you are in a spell of bad luck, even water will plug your teeth. Am I born to be a troublemaker? I just came back and bumped into this event right away. No, I’m going to enter the underground fire vein for closed door training, I won’t come back until I master the Extreme Yang Heavenly Sword. I’ll never get involved in such a thing again!” Junior Leopard secretly determined.
It was still half a month before he was on duty. He originally intended to relax, but now he didn’t dare to run around anymore. He had better practice in the underground fire vein honestly and not come out until he mastered the Extreme Yang Heavenly Sword.
Having made up his mind, he went to Wang Tianlei and told him his decision.
“What? You’re gonna the underground fire vein for practice, and it will last half a month?”
“Yeah, what’s up? What’s the matter with you?”
“I’m okay. It’s your sister. You just came back, and now you want to do closed door training. How about talking to her yourself?”
“I have to talk to her? Come on, I don’t want to be unhappy!” Junior Leopard said, shaking his head repeatedly, “Brother-in-law, this is your specialty. Just go for it. I’m leaving!”
Seeing Junior Leopard turn around, Wang Tianlei immediately stopped him, “hey, wait! Are you going there without making any preparations? At least take some food!”
“There’s no need to prepare!” said Junior Leopard. “About food, I’ll solve it myself. Anyway, there are people in the underground fire vein!” then he hurriedly rushed to the underground fire vein.
It was the Sect of Flame that found the underground fire vein in Zhonghejun City first. They even captured the entire Zhonghejun City for it. Having occupied it for a few months, it was fair to say that they had taken all the benefits they could get on the surface.
All they left to Jin was a fire vein. But in a sense, the value of the fire vein was far more than what the Sect of Flame had got.
After regaining Zhonghejun City, Jin took a series of measures to manage the fire vein, hoping to exert its utmost efficiency.
The first thing was management. At first, the fire vein was under Li Yuan’s charge, but it did not last long. After the mayor, Wan An, took office in the county, there was also a director of bureaus of fifth grade from the Ministry of Works coming to office, named Lu Jin. Lu Jin took over the whole underground fire vein. But he did not bring many people, most of whom were basically craftsmen from the Ministry of Works. Other people did specific things like defense, which was done by Li Yuan’s and Wan An’s men. Li Yuan’s men were mainly responsible for the security of the whole underground fire vein. And Wan An’s men were mainly responsible for reforming the surrounding areas, who divided the surrounding area of the entrance within 1,500m into a separate area and built a massive wall.
Now, the whole underground fire vein had already taken shape, the surrounding land leveled, the wall built, a row of smelting rooms constructed inside the wall and the houses of the craftsmen in place. Now there only lacked a smelter, a huge smelter, which was deep in the underground fire vein and beside the magma.
The smelter was the embodiment of the value of the underground fire vein. But how could this smelter be made so easily?
Apart from anything else, just talking about the builders. Everywhere at the deep underground fire vein passageway bottom was filled with endless fire toxin. It was impossible for those whose cultivation was under Level Three to get close to the ultimate lava cave, but how could people whose cultivation had reached Level Three be willing to build the huge smelter?
There were some with talents, but not many. Only four major smelting families in Jin, the Jian Family, the Pei Family, the Luo Family and the Wu Family, had such talents, so the construction work of the smelter fell to the four families. After profits distribution and bargaining, the four finally reached an agreement with the imperial court. They each sent out their own manpower and material to start the work. Moreover, because of Junior Leopard, the Wu Family, who was originally in the most unfavorable situation, gained the biggest benefits, holding the advantage over the other three families.
With the smelter being ready, the four families benefited from it according to the original agreement and Lu Jin also strictly executed the agreement. Everything appeared to be in order. Except that Junior Leopard had been troubled sometimes by the instructions of the Wu Family at the beginning, the four and the imperial court basically had no conflict.
In accordance with the agreement, there were strict time limits for the four smelting families to enter into the underground fire vein to use the smelter. Junior Leopard was a disciple of the Wu Family, so he was also restricted in principle. However, he had another identity, Li Yuan’s personal guard. The people who were on guard in the underground fire vein were all Li Yuan’s guards and would definitely not stop him. Thus, he had always entered like he was entering his garden. The other families, though they were somewhat disagreeable, got accustomed to it. After all, Junior Leopard was arrogant, but he still was reasonable. He entered the underground fire vein just for practice, but never used the smelter and would not disturb anyone who was using the smelter. In fact, every time he entered the underground fire vein, he would make his way along the magma river and go deeper into the fire vein where it had a higher temperature and produced an even more severe fire toxin. Even an expert of Level Four, Five or Six from the well-known families could not stand the high temperature there.
But to Junior Leopard, it was like walking on flat ground, which made the other families feel very helpless. With the cultivation of Level Three, the strength he showed was far more than Level Three. Most people attributed this to his peculiar fist intent and thought it was the high-handed fist intent that protected him and allowed him to move freely in the underground fire vein.
While admiring the Wu Family for having a good disciple, they also thought of stopping Junior Leopard. But Junior Leopard’s fist intent was too odd, the power he showed in the underground fire vein was totally beyond their imagination. Moreover, Junior Leopard had a special relationship with Wang She, the Chief of Tian Long Taoism. Besides, Wang She once said in front of others that he owed Junior Leopard a favor. Junior Leopard spent three days in the underground passageway to prohibit others from disturbing Wang She’s practice. After Wang She came out, his cultivation had reached Level Nine, perhaps he achieved it just in the underground fire vein. If so, the favor was so big that the other three smelting families dared not to stop Junior Leopard. As for whether Wang She’s cultivation achieved Level Nine in the underground fire vein or not, no one knew. However, no one could deny the possibility.
Hence, even if Junior Leopard monopolized the smelter for a few days, the other smelting families would not say a word, let alone that he was just entering into the underground fire vein at will.
Walking into the huge wall slowly, he greeted the gatekeeper with a few words, and went straight to the entrance of the underground fire vein.
At the entrance, there were two soldiers standing on either side of the entrance with a long spear in their hand. Unlike before, on the right side of the entrance, there was a table in front of the soldier, and a man sat in front of the table, who was also in martial roles. He looked like a Lieutenant-Colonel, more than 20 years old.
Junior Leopard did not know him and had never seen him before. Knowing that he was new, he smiled at him without paying more attention to him and went straight to the underground fire vein.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the entrance, he heard a cold and strict voice, “Stop!”