Surprise! The popular villain is actually Long Aotian's wife

The gray-brown hide was like a long-dried riverbed, with cracks all over it.

The ravines are deep and crisscrossed, yet they reveal an impenetrable toughness, as if they were no longer animal skins grown from flesh and blood, but armor cast from steel.

It was an iron-clad elephant beast weighing tens of thousands of pounds, five meters tall and ten meters long.

The trunk alone is nearly ten meters long, and the two sharp yellow-brown tusks are as long as crescent moons and point up into the sky.

It was just a fine copper chain as thick as a bucket that passed through the root of its tusks and was firmly locked around the neck of the armored elephant.

The chains were also embedded in the flesh and blood, with numerous restrictions and talismans on them.

This is a demon beast with ninth level of Condensed Veins, close to the Spirit Sealing Stage.

If you look closely, you can see a lot of dried blood on the chain. After so many years of blood contamination, it has already smelled fishy.

Obviously, this monster has not been tamed by humans to become a spiritual pet, so it has to be forcibly restrained in this bloody way.

Along with the deafening roar of an elephant, the iron-armored elephant beast carried an extremely huge black tripod on its back.

No one knew what was inside, so the four legs of the black tripod were so heavy that they were deeply embedded in the flesh of the armored elephant beast.

The Iron-Armored Elephant took a step forward and traveled several feet away, quickly passing in front of the few people.

There seemed to be something like sand and stone rolling down from the black cauldron and from the towering back of the elephant beast, leaving a black mark on the ground.

Xiao Lin squatted down, spread it with his fingers, lowered his head and carefully identified it. It was soil, black gold slag, and various metal impurities...

This should be the soil left after the black gold ore was mined. Although the black gold content is far less than that of the black gold ore, the black gold content is also astonishing.

As long as the quenching is repeated more times, three percent of impure black gold can be extracted. Although it is not pure, it is quite good.

It was also the first time for Wang Liu to get so close to the Iron-Armored Elephant Beast, and his heart was still beating rapidly.

The main reason was that the two people in front of him were as steady as a rock, and since he was standing behind them, he didn't feel comfortable to step back.

Even if my legs are shaking like sieves.

He tried to calm himself, but his voice still trembled. "This is the Iron-Armored Elephant from Black Stone City. It has a very high level of cultivation. It is said that the city lord and the ancestors of several major sects in the city joined forces and took great pains to subdue it. It is used to transport black soil."

Qi Wu Yue raised an eyebrow, pointed at the mine entrance and asked, "Why hasn't it been mined out in fifty years?"

Wang Liu drooped his face and said, "You must be kidding. Going down from the entrance of this mine, there are passages all below, extending across the entire Black Stone City. It's like an underground city."

“It may take even 200 years, let alone 50 years, to mine all the minerals.”

Qi Wu Yue was very interested: "Go in and take a look."

Xiao Lin nodded: "Okay."

The entrance to the mine is a hundred feet high, and once you enter it it feels like you are entering a whole new world.

It must have been a mine originally, but after the ore was drained out, only an empty shell like this was left.

It was extremely spacious inside, surrounded by dark brown rugged walls. With no light coming in, the mine became even darker.

The only thing that was left was an animal oil lamp hanging in a groove in the stone wall, providing some dim light.

The flame of the animal oil lamp was as big as a human head. When lit, it was yellow with a hint of green, dim and cold, and somewhat eerie.

There is a lamp not far away, so you won’t trip and fall because you can’t see clearly.

The brightest spot is a counter made of night-shining stone, which illuminates the surrounding ten meters as bright as day.

Behind the counter is a snow-white marble wall with many palm-sized black and gold signs hanging on it.

Wang Liu quickly led the two of them over, explaining as they walked: "If you two want to enter the mine, you only need to record your names, and the steward will give you a small black gold card and let you search for ore in the mine."

"Whatever valuables you find, you can take them away in the end, but you will be charged based on the time you spend in the mine."

A monk in a long robe was sitting lazily on a chair behind the counter. He had a rat-like appearance and two long and thin moustaches like catfish whiskers, and looked more like a reincarnated rat spirit.

Next to him was a huge timekeeping clepsydra, made of black gold and extremely exquisite.

The monk in long robes glanced at the three people and said arrogantly in a thin and long voice: "Treasure hunting or procrastination?"

Manager Qiu at the entrance of the mine has always been a flatterer and a bully. It would be no big deal if he offended the two people behind him, but it would be a small matter if a conflict or dispute arose because of it.

He couldn't afford to offend either side.

Wang Liu quickly stepped forward, pointed at Xiao Lin, and lowered his voice to quickly remind the monk in long robes: "That one, the alchemist."

Alchemists are respected wherever they are.

To put it bluntly, because we have money.

As expected, the monk in long robes straightened himself up immediately, changed his arrogant attitude, and smiled: "So you two are here to look for treasure."

"We charge by the hour. It only costs five spirit stones for one hour. You need to pay a deposit of 20 spirit stones in advance. After the time is up, we will refund you the excess and make up for the shortfall. During this period, you can take away any ore you like in the mine."

So this is what treasure hunting means, though.

Qi Wu Yue asked curiously: "Oh, what is a mop?"

A trace of embarrassment flashed across the robed monk's face. How could he not hear that Qi Wu Yue did it on purpose? He did not respond for a moment.

"The dredge workers are monks who mine slag in the mine. There are a lot of black gold slag left in the mine, and black gold can be extracted from these slag. The mine management office will distribute spirit stones to the monks according to the amount of mined slag." Wang Liu broke the awkwardness in front of him and explained with a smile.

Qi Wu Yue nodded, and asked the next second: "How many spirit stones will be given for each amount of slag mined?"

Wang Liu hesitated and said, "This... Ten large baskets can get one spirit stone."

At this time, a muscular monk came out of the mine tunnel, with thick cloth wrapped around his palms and dragging a huge bamboo basket in his hands.

The bamboo basket is specially made, with a tough black iron metal bottom to prevent it from being easily worn through by the coarse slag in the mine.

The bamboo basket is ten feet wide, long and nearly two meters high. It can hold at least a thousand kilograms of residual slag.

The sturdy man is two meters tall and has a third-level cultivation level. He still doesn't find it easy to drag such a full basket of slag. His face turns red and he is sweating profusely. It can be seen that this "dragging" is a real physical job.

Xiao Lin paid the deposit, and the monk in the long robe took out two small black and gold plates from the back and pushed them over.

Wang Liu immediately said, "I won't go down this mine."

Five spirit stones for one hour is too much of a rip-off, and it is only used to deceive rich people and cultivators who are hoping for a lucky break.

An old hand like him who has been working in Black Rock City for a long time will not be fooled.

The mine was filled with mostly debris, without even a complete ore. Even if there was any, the first people to discover and embezzle it would surely be the slow-moving monks.

Besides, it has been more than 50 years. There might have been some good things at the beginning, but now there should be nothing left.