Chapter 101: The Crown Prince Arrives

  Rumble, rumble!! The mine's tremors grew more frequent, like a million cavalry troops galloping by, or an ancient ferocious beast roaring towards the sky. The terrifying sound echoed through the endless mine, and the intense vibrations shattered the earth, causing countless miners to look around in terror.

  The majestic and massive blast furnace not only failed to be repaired, but instead was cracked all over, becoming more and more severe, as if it might collapse at any moment. The mine water erupted like a volcano, pouring down in torrents, as if the heavens were pouring down. Not only did the demons and miners near the blast furnace die one after another, but many places on the periphery also frequently appeared deaths.

  "What a great tonic!!" Watching the apocalyptic scene, Tang Yan was overjoyed, sat cross-legged and focused his mind, greedily swallowing the energy of heaven and earth, refining strands of vengeful spirits, pouring into his dantian.

  His entire body's meridians surged with strange, purple runes. In the depths of his dantian, the golden tiger and butterfly began to emanate a faint, golden light. This was the first time they had reacted since escaping the Giant Elephant City, where they had been dry and dull.

  Is...my body starting to undergo a transformation?!

  Tang Yan's eyes sparkled with excitement, and the long-lost thrill was stirring in his heart!

  The mine's tremors grew more frequent and the sounds louder, causing the furnace situation to spiral out of control. As a result, Tang Yan and others were given extended rest periods, which they naturally welcomed with open arms. Tang Yan tirelessly absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth day and night, while Du Yang similarly seized the precious opportunity to frantically impact the blocked meridians with the help of the dense energy.

  Five days later, the towering blast furnace emitted a deafening crash, like a massive thunderbolt splitting the sky. A huge crack ran from the bottom to the top, as if it had been slashed by some kind of divine sword. Thick mine water gushed out, and the mining slaves who were rescuing and working did not even have time to turn around before being ruthlessly swallowed up. The scorching hot mine water flowed into the earth, emitting a terrifying high temperature.

  Rolling heat waves came rushing towards them, and Tang Yan and the others had no choice but to retreat continuously until they reached the top of a small hill ten kilometers away.

  "How do I have a bad premonition?" Du Yang furrowed his brow, gazing at the mist-shrouded mine.

  "This doesn't seem like an ordinary earthquake?" In the depths of Tang Yan's distant mine, it seemed that some kind of disaster had occurred.

  Xu Yan raised his head, his scarlet eyes gazing through his disheveled long hair at the endless clouds and mist: "The Huojing Mine has always been calm, this situation is extremely rare, something big must be about to happen."

  "All five of you, come here!" Hoffman suddenly appeared in front of them after a long disappearance, his cold eyes looking down at them.

  Tang Yan and the other four stood up one after another, responding to him with equally cold eyes.

  "Now I'm giving you a chance to escape your hardships, it's simple, swear allegiance to House Lao."

  "What's the benefit?"

  "What price must we pay?"

  Tang Yan and three others remained silent, while the other two were slightly excited, with a gleam in their eyes.

  "The benefits are that you no longer need to be a mining slave here, no one will beat or scold you, and you can freely absorb the energy of heaven and earth. You will enjoy superior treatment in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, and you will also receive special training from the family; the price is that once an accident occurs in the mine, you must do your best to ensure its safety, and whatever requirements the leader has, you must complete them 100%, absolutely without any resistance."

  "Is that all?" One of the five men, a sturdy man, looked at Hofmann suspiciously.

  "It's that simple, to be honest with you, following the usual rules, every miner slave needs to undergo more than two years of training here to qualify for such an audit, and only after passing the audit can they join the guard team. Now the situation is special, the leader is exceptionally gracious, deciding to select from among you new people those willing to protect the Rao family. This is a rare opportunity, one that other miner slaves wouldn't dare dream of."

  Tang Yan and Du Yang remained silent, Xu Yan kept her eyes downcast, seemingly indifferent. The other two exchanged glances and nodded in succession: "We choose to accept."

  "Alright, alright. What about you three? This is a rare opportunity, I'll ask you one last time."

  "Not interested." Tang Yan wasn't interested in any special treatment. The iron whip and the soul of life here were the best treatment. Moreover, he was cautious by nature. There was no free lunch in the world. This sudden kindness must have some ulterior motive, especially now that the mine was in chaos. Who knew what they would be sent to do?

  Du Yang was too lazy to care about Hoffman, he also liked this self-abusive exercise, and even began to suspect that he had a masochistic tendency. Was it influenced by Tang Yan's scoundrel? He cursed Tang Yan in his heart again.

  "Devotion? Your master should come himself, maybe then I'll consider it. You? A dog! I haven't fallen to such a miserable state yet."

  "You're looking for death!!" Hoffman flew into a rage, whipping out his iron whip and lashing it violently at Xu Yan.

  Bang!! Clothes were torn, but the body only left a blood mark, without the expected skin and flesh wounds.

  "Huh?" Hoffman was taken aback.

  Xu Yan's eyes were cold and fierce like a wild beast: "Continue?"

  "Damn thing!" Hoffman swung the iron whip, dancing wildly, the crackling sound of the whip was like rain hitting banana leaves. Tang Yan's eyes widened in shock, but... except for the blood marks on Xu Yan's body, there were no injuries, his sturdy body didn't even flinch.

  Whoa! The physical strength is actually this intense?! Tang Yan secretly took a deep breath, his own body had been tempered for so long that it was already strong enough, confident that he could withstand the full force of Wu Ling's knife with just his muscle strength. Even so, Hoffman's iron whip still managed to leave him battered and bruised, but Xu Yan... didn't even flinch, not even a scratch on his skin!

  Hoffman's whole body was trembling with anger, but he didn't hurt Xu Yan in the slightest despite being exhausted and panting.

  "Hmph!" Tang Yan burst out laughing, his eyes filled with pity as he gazed at Hoffman: "Want to eat some meat? Gain some strength, or else... it's too embarrassing!"

  Du Yang lazily said: "Kidneys aren't good? Should supplement them."

  "Fine, you asked for it!" Hoffman's eyes gleamed with malice as he suddenly raised his hand and six overseers appeared from a distance, two of them grabbing him firmly.

  None of the three resisted, Tang Yan and Du Yang looked at him with sarcastic eyes, while Xu Yan closed his eyes to meditate.

  "Take them to the mine shaft bath! I'll show you what it means to be worse off than dead! This is what happens when you mess with Hoffman!" Hoffman was ferocious, his face twisted in a menacing snarl.

  Tang Yan and the other two were brought to the other side of the tower furnace, where there was a boiling mineral water pool, like rolling magma, emitting scorching high temperatures. The mineral water gushing out of the tower furnace splashed down from the sky, hitting the ground, creating one pit after another.

  "Enjoy it well!" They were bound by fiery red chains, and with a sudden push, they were thrown into the boiling mine water.

  Tang Yan's face changed drastically, and he quickly reacted. Tang Yan's body shone with golden light, forming a Golden Elephant Shield to protect himself. Du Yang's entire body turned grayish-white as he used his Petrification martial skill, while Hei Niang's body was wrapped in black lightning, surprisingly also blocking the burning mine water.

  Xu Yan's whole body was tense, without using any martial arts techniques, relying solely on his physical strength to resist the mine water.

  "Hmm, not bad, I'd like to see how long you can last." Hoffman wrapped a heavy iron block weighing over 800 pounds on the other end of the chain and threw it into the mine water with a loud splash.

  Tang Yan's body tensed up instantly, and the chains tore them almost completely into the mining water pool.

  "The mineral water here has been precipitated for thousands of years, and even steel can melt. You have a lot of backbone, but what about after you've exhausted your spiritual power? You will be left with nothing but dead bones!" Hofman looked down at them condescendingly, tearing apart the sharp iron whip, and said in a stern voice: "I'll give you one last chance, just beg for mercy, and I'll let you out."

  Three men struggled to keep their heads above water, clinging desperately and ignoring Hoffman.

  Luxurious palace on the ground!

  "Master, it's bad! The Second Prince has come!!" The maid rushed hastily to the bedroom, startling Nia from her deep sleep.

  "What? How did you suddenly arrive? Where are we?" Niya pulled up her luxurious cloak, wrapping it around her slender and delicate body.

  "It's unclear how they suddenly appeared, but now they've arrived at the western edge of Taiwu Mine District. There are the Second Prince and his Imperial Guard, all the top experts from the Ximeng Nong family, the master of Lieyun Mountain Villa, and the Five Great Sword Kings. All major mines have received the news and are preparing to welcome them."

  "Just the other day, they were still in Beiyuan, how did they end up in Taiwu Mining District today? Can they really traverse the entire empire from north to south in just five days?!" Niya's face turned pale, with a sense of foreboding in her heart.

  A diversionary tactic?! They deliberately drew away the elder brothers!

  "Both the venerable elders and all the Wu Wang have made their preparations, but the mine is now very unstable, with more and larger cracks appearing, which has already affected the blast furnace. The princes are coming over now, and it will be easy for them to find excuses for our mismanagement."

  "Fissures aren't just appearing here, the entire Taiwu mining district is starting to get chaotic. Can't manage that many things now, immediately contact brother and father, must rush over in the shortest time possible. Inform Hailun, put down all work, prepare to welcome the imperial prince's arrival."

  PS: From today on, the commanders born during the new book period will burst out separately. The first day is for '-Faint Memory', seven updates are presented! Brothers, let's continue to rise and stabilize our position at the top of the new book chart!