Chapter 11 I Struck Gold!

Eznho just ignored the old man and prepared dinner.

“So, old man, can you at least tell me what happened?” Eznho broke the silence and asked.

He vaguely remembered everything and had many questions, he also had suspicions about the old man but did not voice it out, afraid that it would bring trouble.

“I don’t know what has gotten into your brain, if you even have one, to actually go and offer your face to a toxic giant centipede? How stupid can you get?” the old man ridiculed.

“Well, how would I know, I was just curious,” Eznho protested.

“Tsk, that’s what you call stupidity, any way you got lucky that the poison got into your hand so it did not spread that fast, if it was your face, you would be buried right now with an ugly face.”

“I don’t know what dog shit luck you have to actually kill it by accident, you hit it on the head with your axe but it got corroded so you need to buy a new one. Anyways I carried you back to my tent and had to use my important medicinal herbs just to treat you, I’m even regretting it now that I think about it. I sold the centipede and used the gold to repay what you owe me, the leftovers were left in your account. The poison is already out of your system, rest for maybe two days and you’ll be better. That’s about it, anyways are your parents cultivators?”

Old man Dan was lazy to tell him every detail but was curious about one thing.

“Huh? My mom is not from what I know but my dad, I never met him so I have no idea, why do you ask?” Eznho answered honestly with a hint of curiosity.

“Nothing, forget about it, and one more thing you can stay here but we are switching tents. I advise you to burn the blankets and buy new ones as the poison dregs got stuck on them and it won’t be easy to remove it. Tsk! What a waste, they were my favorite.”

Old man Dan spoke like he lost something valuable. He was curious about the boy’s origin because when he scanned his body to eject the poison, he felt that the boy had a spiritual seed and a high grade at that, but he did not know what grade exactly. Spiritual seeds are graded from one to five in general, it is the foundation needed to start the road on cultivation.

He was thinking if he would introduce the boy to the world of cultivation but chose not to, the cultivation world is a mess and he did not also want to add a baggage that would drag him down as he had his own personal vendetta to do. He also saw the ring on the necklace and was curious but did not pry in the end, he did not want to be dragged by unforeseen situations. Helping the boy was already diverting from his plan, he did not want to see an innocent boy just die horribly in front of him.

He did not want to drag the conversation and went inside “his” tent.

“You...”Eznho was pissed but swallowed it, he did not have the right to argue.

He brought out all the soiled blankets and burned it. He had an extra blanket and would buy new ones tomorrow including a new pick axe.

.....

Early in the morning, Eznho went to buy new blankets and pickaxe, people were looking at him with strange looks but ignored them. He found that what happened inside was spread and they told him it was a miracle that he was still alive, if it were others, they would have died on the spot as the toxin from the centipede can kill a low-level cultivator in minutes, let alone a child like him.

A few days passed and he was back in his peak condition, even stronger than before. He continued to work like before while accompanying the old man. There were occasional deaths due to wild beasts like centipedes, snakes, spiders, giant ants and even rats.

As time passed, the mines were getting dangerous due to the appearance of beasts. The miners were scared now to go deeper, even though payments were increased, only a few were brave enough to go deep. Naturally left with no choice, most of the people chosen were low-level cultivators.

Another five months passed and only a month is left before Eznho could take a break. Only a kilometer was left to dig before reaching the border but the progress was slowed down as more and more beasts came out to kill the miners. Fights broke out deep inside the mines and some cultivators even died.

.....

Inside Randolph’s tent, he had an ugly look on his face. What he feared most has come knocking on his door. He held a meeting with two of his trusted subordinates.

“By the looks of it there is a high chance that a magical beast lives inside, we need to call for reinforcements right away. We cannot fight with it, we will just die with in seconds, something must be happening deep inside the mines that’s why it does not attack and just sends the nearby beasts. Miller, go to the city and inform the military office I am sure they will be interested and they might send experts. Jones, you will go to the border and inform the captain so he will be ready, I am sure everybody noticed this already and everyone is preparing for it, now go.”

Both acknowledged their order and departed immediately with the fastest horse.

Randolph stood there furrowing his brows, trying to think of a way to minimize the losses and how to progress the digging.

.....

Inside the tent of one of the mercenaries,

“Jake, go and inform the captain to get ready, tell him that there is a high chance that a magical beast is inside the mines.”

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A muscular mercenary leader instructed his subordinate while a hint of fear could be seen in his eyes. Magical beast, just the name itself brought fear to many, it was rare for them to encounter such beast in places like this. Most of them lived in the beast territory, which was located beyond the Green Pine Mountain Range.

.....

All parties sent out messengers to their respective groups, an invisible pressure loomed over everyone in the mines. Everyone knew a big event will happen in the near future, some miners started to go back home, in fear for their lives.

A meeting was held in Randolph’s tent, the group consisted of the mercenary leaders, there were eight of them with each one commanding at least a dozen mercenary.

“I’m sure everybody in here has their own ideas about what’s happening, frankly I don’t care what is inside the mine. I don’t want to sacrifice the lives of the innocent miners anymore. They will just mine on the outer region, if we want to continue mining I suggest we send our own subordinates to do the work. Whatever comes after, leave me out of it, my duty is to protect the lives of the miners. Does everyone agree?”

Randolph spoke directly with a serious tone. He did not want to get involved especially that experts are coming soon to deal with the problem.

“I agree,”

“Me, too,”

“Agreed,”

Everyone agreed without hesitation. They might not be able to fight this battle, but they were confident in their own captains.

.....

From that day on, only cultivators were allowed deep in the mines, the others who stayed were to mine the outer perimeters.

The old man disappeared and told Eznho that he had something to do and was not sure how long it will take. This left him with no choice but to work alone, he was allowed to enter as he was already considered a veteran as long as he did not go in too deep.

He chose an isolated tunnel going north not too far from the entrance, he started to dig as usual. Hours passed and he already dug quite a bit. He swung his pickaxe but got stuck, he tried to pull it out but it won’t come out.

He tried again with more force and finally unstuck it while he stumbled backward and nearly fell on his back. He regained his balance and a light caught his attention.

A ray of golden light came from the hole he made, he could not see what’s inside. He was unsure what to do but was tempted. He carefully made the hole bigger and bigger until more light came out illuminating the place. Luckily no one was around to see it. He dug until the hole became wide enough for him to crawl inside.

The light was bright and the inside cannot be seen, he was hesitating, afraid it might be a beast nest. He waited for a bit but nothing happened. He took a deep breath and got on his knees and bravely went inside with the dagger on his right hand.

He put his hand above his eye to cover it from the glare, it took time for him to adjust his vision and was astounded by what he saw.

“Whoooaaa!” he could not help but exclaim.

His eyes nearly popped out and his jaw dropped. A small cave of gold flooded his vision, what a sight to behold! He had to squint his eyes because of the glitters of gold. His heart was beating fast, he was stunned and did not move for how many seconds. Never in his life could he imagine that such a place exist.

I struck gold!

It took a while before he calmed down, then his mind became clear and he suddenly felt dejected.

“Damn, I found this but I can’t even take all of it, damn!”

He was heavily disappointed, even though he struck gold, there is no way he is taking all of it, he would be lucky if he could negotiate to take a bigger portion of it than usual.

“Darn it! Now that I need the old man, he went missing, what a useless old fogey.”

Deep in the forest in front of a cave, an old man was meditating while heavenly energy converged around him. An intimidating pressure surrounded him and if you look closely, a few inches of distorted layer surrounded him.

“Achooo!” he suddenly sneezed without warning.

He looked towards the direction of the mines.

“I bet that sissy is talking behind my back, wait ‘till I get back and you’ll see,”

Then he focused again on his meditation.

.....

Many thoughts were running through Eznho’s mind, he even thought about hiding some of it but he immediately discarded that thought.

“I was actually thinking like that old man and big brother, I bet if they were here they would think of something to sneak some of this gold out if not all. But to be honest I am really tempted.” He shook his head while a wry smile hung on his mouth.

It could not be helped that he was somewhat influenced by those two.

.....

“Achooo!”

A soldier sneezed while on guard on top of a wall, the wall was twenty meters made of rocks. It was used as a barrier in the mountain pass, the pass was one of the main route used to travel between the two kingdoms.

The soldier was naturally Martin, his hair got longer and he had a short beard and a mustache. There was a certain aura of a military man within him, it was obvious there were changes that happened during his stay in the border. He rubbed his nose and suddenly thought of his little brother.

“I hope you are doing fine, little Ez,” He mumbled while continuing his watch.

.....

After being dazzled, Eznho stood up, the small cave was three meters tall and wide and at least fifteen meters long. He looked around, the wall and the ceiling were filled with gold nuggets of varying sizes, the biggest was the size of a human head they shone brightly that lit up the cave.

He slowly walked forward while marveling the sight with mouth wide open the whole time. He still could not believe it, he was nearing the end of the cave when an object piqued his interest. A small rusty bronze lamp was floating with unfamiliar writings on its body, small ripples were fluctuating below it. The lamp was slightly moving up and down, a small dark gray flame was flickering on it.

“Hmmm? Is this what the people call magical objects?”

Eznho stopped walking and just stared and observed the lamp. He also saw the gray flame that seemed dying and could go out any moment.

He furrowed his brows and was contemplating what to do, he heard about people who changed their destiny after finding magical objects. He was tempted and immediately thought about the people he wanted to get revenge with but was also scared especially the gray flame that looks like it will give a curse. He would not hesitate if the flame was golden or something similar.

How the heck is a gray flame something good?

He wanted to get away but he thought about Martin, he will never get revenge if he will live like this. This might be his chance, his only chance.

He gritted his teeth and slowly raised his right hand and pointed his index finger. Then with a movement, his finger was only an inch from the lamp’s body. He was getting nervous and his palms started to get sweaty. He held his breath, closed his eyes and finally touched the lamp.

A few seconds later, he opened his eyes but nothing happened, his index finger was still touching the lamp.

“Huh?” He was confused why nothing happened.

He tried touching it a few times but nothing happened, he even grabbed it avoiding the gray flame and tried to move it but he couldn’t.

“Tsk! What a useless...”

He was frustrated but before he could finish his sentence, the writing on the lamp lit up and flickered a few times. After flickering the lamp started to disintegrate into ashes and vanished leaving only the gray flame floating.

“Yii?”

He was surprised and started to back away, he did not have a good impression on this flame. Before he could even hasten his step, he suddenly froze and the flame turned into a streak of gray light and headed towards his forehead.

Crap!

After it entered his forehead, he could finally move but felt dizzy and started to lose consciousness.

Oh, come on!

He shouted inwardly and the world went black.