Chapter 21 - Advancing by leaps and bounds

 

At the same moment, Nie Qian noticed that the rich heaven and earth’s spiritual power, that had converged at the mine was rapidly disappearing.

It seemed as if a large amount of the heaven and earth’s spiritual power, that was gathered previously, came entirely because of the animal bone and Nie Tian. When the animal bone had returned to normal and Nie Tian’s soul and consciousness had emerged from within the animal bone, that phenomena also had disappeared.

"Well!" Nie Tian who was holding the animal bone had a change in his expression. His face was suddenly filled with ecstatic joy, as he said, "Auntie, I, I have reached the realm of the sixth Lianqi level!"

"What?!" Nie Qian yelled.

Nie Tian took a deep breath. Then he narrowed his eyes his eyes, felt around his body and said with a confident tone, "The Aura gathered within my Dantian has reached the richness extent of the sixth Lianqi level!"

"Is it really… really true?" Nie Qian had a look of utter disbelieve.

Nie Tian nodded fiercely.

"It must be the divine protection of the Nie Family ancestors!" Nie Qian was overjoyed. She pointed at the fallen rocks, that had accumulated next to her. " Just now, when the mine collapsed and large rocks were falling everywhere, our location wasn’t bombarded by the broken stones at all, which is totally irrational. Also, you were just holding the animal bone, realised something from within it, and gathered the terrifying heaven and earth’s spiritual power. From this you improved immensely and stepped into the realm of the sixth Lianqi level. Other than the speciality of the animal bone itself, this must be the blessing from the ancestors, that allowed you to have such amazing progress."

"Maybe." Nie Tian smiled, disregarding Nie Qian’s superstition.

The silhouette in the shadows of the mine listened quietly to their conversation, but his gaze always fell onto the animal bone in Nie Tian’s hand.

"Rumble!" Just then, they heard a loud, rumbling roar in the mountains as it shook.

Due to the absorption of the flame energy within the Fire Cloud stones of the whole mountain by the animal bone, the low mountains had changed drastically, which had resulted in the instability of the entire mountain body. 

"Oops!" Nie Qian instantly woke up from her sudden joy and looked at the falling rocks blocking the mine tunnel. The joy in her eyes was quickly replaced by fear.

"We must get out as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will be buried in the belly of the mountains!" Nie Qian said anxiously.

Nie Tian turned his head to looked at the mine tunnel, that was covered by a pile of rubble and he too, began to panic. He wasn’t in the mood to really appreciate that single drop of fresh blood in the animal bone. 

"Quick! Move the rubble away immediately! we have to leave here with the fastest speed!" Nie Qian ordered.

Nie Tian nodded his head and was ready to act immediately.

"Rumble!" Another loud noise came from the other mines, and Nie Qian and Nie Tian exchanged a gaze. They both knew that the other mines in the belly of the mountains may have already suffered big changes, but they also realized that to continue to stay in the belly of the mountains would be akin to waiting for death.

Just when they were about to start working, another loud roar could be heard. They were able to feel the obvious rumbling of the entire mountain.

In the shadows, the silhouette that even Nie Qian didn’t realize was there, also noticed the dangerous situation.

He looked at the blocked mine tunnel and moved his nearly invisible hands, continuously adjusting something.

Along the mine entrance, the heaven and earth’s spiritual power that was flowing outside, followed his movements, as if it was suddenly being manipulated.

"Ka Ka Ka!" Pieces of rubble that blocked the mine tunnel were pulled by an invisible force and suddenly rolled off to the side.

In a very short period of time, the mine tunnel that was completely blocked, was actually opened up into a path.

Nie Qian and Nie Tian, who were looking at the mine tunnel all along, suddenly discovered that the problem that plagued them had somehow been solved.

"Auntie..." Nie Tian scratched his head and suddenly became a little suspicious. “Is it really true that we’re secretly protected and blessed by our ancestors?” The fact that the mountain had rumbled just enough to shake off the rubble that blocked the entrance was obviously irrational. 

Even Nie Tian, who did not believe in superstition, was wavered by the abnormal phenomenons, which were continuously occuring at this moment.

"It must be true!" A queer light suddenly appeared in Nie Qian’s eyes, and she said immediately, "Don’t just stand there, get out quickly!" After she finished talking, she didn’t even wait for Nie Tian to speak anymore. She grabbed Nie Tian’s arm and pulled him along, as she hurriedly ran down the path leading outside that had magically appeared.

On the way, many of the stone paths that were blocked by rubble were also inexplicably cleared, seemingly by the shaking of the mountain. 

Their journey was surprisingly smooth, and they made their way out out while the entire mountain rumbled.

"M… Missy, how did you two come out?" At the entrance, the manager of the Nie family, Nie Xiang, stuttered when he saw Nie Qian and Nie Tian emerge from the mine entrance covered in dust.

"Incredible! Incredible!"

"We thought Missy was already buried alive in the mine and was unable to get out!”

"God Bless Missy!"

"..." 

The many anxious members of the Nie Family and the labourers that were frightened and uneasy, were sincerely speaking words of blessing, as they watched Nie Qian and Nie Tian rush out of the mine entrance.

After Nie Qian got out, she was finally relieved. She brought Nie Tian far away from that rumbling dwarf mountain, before she said, "It was all thanks to our ancestors."

"I think so too." Nie Xiang had a weird expression. In his heart, he felt that the fact that Nie Qian and Nie Tian could make it out alive was simply a miracle.

After conversing for a awhile, his face turned bitter. "A dozen of our family members died and there are more labourers, hired by the family, that will stay forever in the mines. This is a huge disaster." Nie Qian also had a somber expression after his remark and she said, "The impact of this incident on the family... will be very large." Nie Xiang nodded with a wry smile. "Our Nie Family’s most important task is to help the Lingyun Sect exploit this mountain’s Fire Cloud stone supply. The occurrence of such a huge incident will make it difficult to continue to mine Fire Cloud stones in this short period of time. This year, I’m afraid we won’t find enough Fire Cloud stones to hand over to the Lingyun Sect. I’m afraid they’ll blame us for this."

"What should we do?"

"After losing the Lingyun Sect’s trust, how can our family survive in the Black Cloud City?"

"We are going to face severe misfortune! The master of the house, the newly appointed master of the house! With such a big incident, the master of the house will surely punish us heavily!"

"Oh!" Many surviving Nie family members were panicking. Each of them went blank and had no idea on what to do.

"Missy, you see?" Nie Xiang looked at Nie Qian with a devastated expression.

He was just a distant relative of the Nie Family. Previously, during Nie Donghai’s reign, he had become the manager of the mines. After Nie Beichuan had become master of the house, he had tried to used his cronies to replace Nie Xiang.

Nowadays, Nie Beichuan was always trying to cause trouble for him. He was anxious, because he couldn’t find an excuse to remove him. Now that the mine disaster had occurred, the loss of his position would be just a minor matter. Nie Xiang was afraid that Nie Beichuan would take this opportunity to find fault in him and blame him for other offenses as well.

"This is a natural disaster and you had nothing to do with it. After I go back to the family, I’ll explain the situation truthfully. Don’t you worry too much." Nie Qian tried to comfort him.

"It’s difficult..." Nie Xiang sighed.

He knew, that after Nie Beichuan came into power, the position of the father and daughter pair, Nie Qian and Nie Donghai, was very unstable in the family. Nie Beichuan was bent on showing off his powers, and definitely wouldn’t miss this golden opportunity.

He would certainly be punished as a warning to others.

"Nie Tian and I will go back first. I’ll try to help you with the things here." Nie Qian promised.

"Okay." Nie Xiang nodded reluctantly.

"Within this period of time, all of you don’t act rashly. Wait until the vibrations have disappeared completely, and only then can you enter the mines and bring out the victims’ bodies. Rebuild the stone path and continue the mining of Fire Cloud stones." Nie Qian told him.

Even she didn’t know that all of these drastic changes were due to the animal bone in Nie Tian’s hand.

She also didn’t know that the reservoir of Fire Cloud stones in the whole mountain had been sucked dry by the animal bone to condense that single drop of fresh blood.

Nie Tian, with one hand on the side pocket at his waist, rubbed the animal bone and stared at the mountain, that was still shaking with a grim face.

He was the only one that faintly felt, that the whole mountain of Fire Cloud stone, after this incident, had become average rocks and would no longer be able to be harvested. 

"We’re returning to the city." Nie Qian gave Nie Xiang a few more commands, then she took Nie Tian and headed to Black Cloud City.

Soon after she and Nie Tian left, a fluid-like silhouette flew quietly from the mine entrance and looked at the direction that they left in for a while. Only then, did it float back to the Lingyun Mountain, not leaving a single trace.

……