Chapter 60: Beetle (Part 6)

The crystal lantern let out a warm glow of light, shining on the path ahead, causing the scenes in front to grow clearer.

This was a giant open space, extremely spacious. It seemed as if it were a mountain that had been completely dug out. In the middle of the open space was a large pit, and a few skeletons were inside of it. However, it was hard to tell if the corpses were of beast or human.

Su Chen walked in and said, “Does this count as finding uncharted territory? Iron Cliff.”

“I think so, Master. However, it doesn’t seem like this uncharted territory has any value,” Iron Cliff replied simply and honestly.

“That might not be true.” Su Chen said, looking at his surroundings. The crystal lantern illuminated the walls, and then he pointed and said, “Let’s try mining here.”

Iron Cliff hefted the iron pickaxe and walked towards it.

The piercing sound of a pickaxes on rock once again echoed in the open space.

Not long afterwards, Iron Cliff actually did find a piece of starsilver. One could easily tell from the brilliant silver light that this was an extremely high-quality ore.

Iron Cliff’s energy was stirred up, and he began to swing the pickaxe with even more speed.

Piece after piece of ore was mined out the wall by Iron Cliff. After breaking through the outer rock layer, starsilver of all shapes and sizes appeared. In just an hour’s time, they had obtained more starsilver than they had from the past few days combined.

Not only was there lots of starsilver here, the starsilver was also pure. Su Chen picked up a piece of ore and estimated that there was at least thirty percent starsilver in the ore.

This was already quite a high purity content for starsilver ore.

However, it seemed as if the good times were only just beginning.

With a clatter, another starsilver ore the size of his fist fell onto the ground/

This piece’s purity was even higher. Based on the brilliance of its silver light, it was probably at least fifty percent pure.

A top-grade starsilver ore.

Even Su Chen had to sigh in amazement.

It was at this time, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

It was not a strong tremor. However, Su Chen and Iron Cliff felt it at the same time.

Could it be that an earthquake was about to hit? If that was the case, then things were about to go south very quickly.

But Su Chen realized that this was not the case in the next instant because those tremors were increasing in strength, heading in his direction.

Su Chen jumped backwards purely out of instinct.

As he flew into the air, he saw that two giant scythes had cut into where he had been standing just a moment ago. If Su Chen had moved any slower, he would have already been cut into two.

As those two scythes landed on thin air, a howl sounded out, and an enormous maw emerged from the ground. That maw was extremely terrifying; its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, and it oozed with a sticky mucus that actually melted the rock as it dripped to the ground. Those two giant scythes earlier were actually the two mandibles below the large maw. When they opened and closed, they made an unsettling sound.

This monstrosity had just crawled out of the ground. Apart from its frightening maw and keen mandibles, it also had a thick, hard outer shell on its rear section. The shell on this rear section also had two thin wings that flapped constantly.

This was clearly a beetle!

However, until now, Su Chen had never seen such a large beetle. Its mouth could swallow him whole, and it could probably even force Iron Cliff down.

“What the hell, what is this monster?” Su Chen said as he saw an existence that he had never heard of appear before him.

Iron Cliff’s jaw had also dropped.

Su Chen slowly pulled out the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf Blade, pointing it at this giant beetle.

But in the next instant, what he saw rendered him speechless - that beetle completely ignored him. Instead, it leapt at the pile of starsilver ore, opened its mouth wide, and began to eat.

The starsilver ore that Iron Cliff had painfully excavated had actually been eaten by this beetle.

“So its’ original target was the ore, not me.” Su Chen udnerstood.

Although starsilver was valuable, it was not as precious as his own life. Upon seeing that this strange beast didn’t pay any attention to him, Su Chen also let out a sigh. He could see a dense Origin Energy on the beetle’s body, and its density was not lower than those three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. This was a new usage for his eyes; he could use the opponent’s density of Origin Energy to infer the opponent’s cultivation base.

Although cultivation base was not battle prowess, it was still a pretty good estimator.

This beetle had an Origin Energy level of the peak of Blood Boiling. Su Chen definitely did not want to engage in a battle with it.

However, at this moment, an angry voice sounded out, “You useless garbage, you forgot your target once you started eating. You never know what is more important. Does your pitiful brain only know about metals?”

In the darkness, a human figure slowly emerged, appearing in the open under the crystal lantern light.

This person was shrouded in a long black cloak. His face was covered by the shadow, and it was hard to tell what he looked like. However, it was apparent that he was quite old.

He held a wooden staff in his hand, and a fire-red precious stone was on top of the staff.

His entire aura was sinister and gloomy. He looked like a departed soul that had walked out from the deep abyss, appearing in front of Su Chen.

Upon seeing this person appear, Su Chen’s heart sank slightly.

After arriving in front of the beetle, the old man stopped walking. He watched Su Chen and let out a cold harrumph, “I sealed the entrance to this place with quite some difficulty, but you greedy lot still mined your way here. Riches blinded your eyes, causing you to enter this place of no return.”

Su Chen retreated a few steps, silently activating the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots. He said, “This Senior, I only stumbled upon this place by accident. Since it is your territory, then I can back out.”

“Back out?” The old man let out a shadowy laugh, “Once you leave this place, will you tell the people outside about this place?”

“I can......”

“Don’t swear a vow!” The old man began to yell, “The vows of mankind have no purpose. Your kind have broken many vows in the past, and history has proved that. You are a race that cannot be trusted!”

Upon hearing these words, Su Chen was slightly taken aback.

From what this old man had said, it seemed as if he was not of the human race?

It was at this moment that Su Chen noticed the other party was significantly shorter than he was.

He only reached Su Chen’s shoulder. Although that height was not uncommon, when paired with what the old man had said earlier, Su Chen knew that his opponent might not actually be small, but rather...... of a different race?

What kind of race was as tall as this old man?

Su Chen couldn’t think of anything.

In his memory, most races were all taller and fiercer than humans. The moon race were long, the Mountain Race were tall, the Cliff Race were sturdy, the Ferocious Race were fierce, the Feathered Race had feathers, and the Spirit Race were seemingly nothingness. As for the Ocean Race, they weren’t worth mentioning. Of the forty-six Intelligent Races on the Primordial Continent, the number of races with human-like figures yet smaller body sizes could be counted on one hand.

Could it be the Craftsman Race? Or could it be......

Su Chen had not finished his reasoning when that old man raised his staff and yelled out, “Humankind deserving of death, receive this furious fireball!”

As he spoke, a massive fireball appeared in midair, shooting towards Su Chen.

Su Chen was badly startled, but thankfully he had made preparations beforehand. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps, and he flew into the air. At that very same moment, the large fireball slammed on the ground where he was standing before, causing embers to fly all over the place.

The old man evidently had not expected that Su Chen’s reaction speed would be so quick, actually dodging the fireball. However, in the next moment, the staff in his hand shook, and another fireball appeared from the staff, flying towards Su Chen.

Su Chen’s figure flashed again, the Snaking Mist Steps activated to their maximum extent, dodging the fireball once again. He shouted with surprise, “So you are a remnant of the Arcana Race!”

What greeted him was another fireball flying towards him.