Ye Cang walked slowly through the crowd, and his excitement at the sight of the large, smoothly cut Dragon Sleep Stone in Zhang Xiaoman’s hands was far stronger than that of anyone else.
This magnificent "Sword Control Technique" undoubtedly matched the methods of cultivators he had envisioned, even though Ye Cang now understood that the world did not contain the type of cultivators he had imagined. Yet, he couldn’t help but think along those lines.
"What is the name of the sword in your hand, sir? It is so sharp... Could it be forged from this Dragon Sleep Stone?"
After hearing Ye Cang’s question, Zhang Xiaoman sheathed his sword and suddenly remembered a phrase from the attribute panel of the Mountain and River Sword. He couldn’t help but say,
"I wonder if Mr. Ye has ever heard this phrase—’A treasure sword suppresses the mountains and rivers; a divine spear stabilizes the Nine Provinces.’"
Upon hearing this, Ye Cang lowered his head and pondered silently, then shook his head and said,
"I’m ashamed to say, although I am fond of ancient texts, I have never heard this phrase before. Where does it come from? Is it related to the treasure sword in your hand?"
Zhang Xiaoman, now feeling enthusiastic, responded without holding back,
"Yes, the name of this sword is the Mountain and River Sword. Strictly speaking, it is one of the swords within the Mountain and River Sword, engraved with the characters ’Seven Stars,’ and I found it in an ancient ruin. The Dragon Sleep Stone is one of its materials. It’s just unfortunate that the specific method of forging has been lost..."
"A treasure sword suppresses the mountains and rivers... Mountain and River Sword... What a good name! Such a presence, perhaps only it is worthy of it in this world,"
Ye Cang exclaimed, "However, it’s truly a pity that the method of forging such a divine weapon is lost, a real pity..."
Zhang Xiaoman, seeing his look of regret, couldn’t help but find this old man quite interesting.
He shook his head, his gaze returning to the small piece of Dragon Sleep Stone he had cut off earlier. He squatted down to pick it up, testing its weight in his hand, almost the same as the one Ye Cang had given him.
In Zhang Xiaoman’s senses, the Dragon Sleep Stone in his hand was emitting a strong Dark Energy. It seemed that one reason for its hardness lay here.
Looking up at the vein in front of him, through the Spirit Detection Technique, Zhang Xiaoman could see that it extended far into the wall and was sparsely scattered around, overall, still very abundant.
Yet, as he observed this vein, he suddenly "saw" a section inside the wall move slightly. Following that, several "veins" began to wriggle, and their target was unmistakably the spot where he and the others stood.
Zhang Xiaoman immediately thought of something. His expression changed, and he urgently shouted to the people behind him, "Alien Species! Retreat! Quickly retreat!"
The young Taoists behind him were still immersed in what had just happened. Hearing Zhang Xiaoman’s incomprehensible shout, they looked over in confusion.
However, among the crowd, a few quick-reacting fellows saw the mysterious expert urgently shouting the command to retreat, knowing that something unusual must have occurred.
Additionally, the term "Alien Species" clearly did not signify anything good, prompting several of them to immediately react, start running toward the back, and shout to alert their companions.
Zhang Xiaoman kept his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him while also slowly retreating.
In his perception, several figures were encircling from all around. These shadows, motionless before, had blended with the energy emitted by the surrounding Dragon Sleep Vein in the walls, which had prevented him from noticing them immediately.
By this time, the crowd behind had run far ahead, spurred by the calls of a few people at the front; some had even run straight out of the mine. The area behind Zhang Xiaoman had cleared significantly, and even Mr. Ye and Ye Yunxiu had retreated under the escort of several disciples.
At this moment, Zhang Xiaoman had already activated the Star Guardian, summoning two fully armed Star Guards to his side, his whole attention focused on the nearby wall.
Almost simultaneously, accompanied by the sound of breaking rocks, two ugly monsters appeared in front of Zhang Xiaoman.
These were weird creatures shaped like long cylinders; one end was buried in the soil while the other end was exposed, resembling two giant thickened earthworms.
The creatures, resembling oversized earthworms, didn’t have a head—or maybe their heads were too small. At any rate, on the exposed end, there was a circular mouth filled with sharp teeth, the countless tiny teeth inside opening and closing in a way that was chilling to behold.
One of the monsters had emerged from the Olharast Rock wall, its ugly mouth screaming at everyone; the other initially turned downwards, drilling out from the ground right in front of Zhang Xiaoman.
The two Star Guards reacted instantly, stabbing their huge long spears into the monsters’ bodies as soon as they appeared.
However, before Zhang Xiaoman could rejoice, he saw the normally invincible long spears of the Star Guards merely spark against the monsters’ bodies before glancing off.
"Such formidable defensive power!" Zhang Xiaoman’s heart skipped a beat when he witnessed this, the only other time something had occurred was when he encountered the Horror Demon in the small woods.
Observing their outer carapace that seemed as tough as rock, he immediately issued a new command to the Star Guards—attack the monsters’ mouths with full force!
Simultaneously, following the Warlock’s completion of the prepared Burst Spirit Skill, Zhang Xiaoman raised a finger, targeting the one still hanging on the wall.
Instantly, an energy ray shot from his fingertip, piercing straight through the monster’s mouth, chilling it from head to tail.
The effect of this strike was staggering; Ye Cang and the others, who were observing the battle from a distance, were greatly heartened by this scene, their previous fears from the sudden encounter with the monster significantly dissipated.
Battling monsters was actually quite simple; once their weaknesses were found, winning became much easier.
Now, only one monster was left on the field, surrounded by the two Star Guards.
Since the monster was stuck in the soil, it couldn’t move while attacking, significantly reducing its threat level. The Star Guards, leveraging their own agility and speed, could easily dominate it.
The monster opened its mouth to bite at a Star Guard, who instinctively raised his weapon to block. However, the two-meter-long huge long spear was unexpectedly bitten in half, the earsplitting sound of the metal breaking causing a shudder.
Seeing this, Zhang Xiaoman immediately issued a new combat strategy, directing the Star Guards to mainly dodge and make sneak attacks, still targeting the enemy’s most lethal yet most vulnerable mouth.