"Boom!" The shot from Zhang Wu Ji's hand cannon blast opens a path for him to escape through another tunnel. Using his Orchid Assassination Art immediately the moment he saw the opportunity, Zhang Wu Ji escaped from them.
Even with the differences in cultivation strength, not a single person among the opposing forces has the experience in how to handle this matter. How are they going to chase somebody that vanished right in front of their eyes? The crowd stares blankly on the opened tunnel leading to elsewhere without knowing what to do.
"Chase, you idiot! What are you idling around for?" The official member from the corporation shouts at the other supervisors. But unfortunately, the moment all of them went out from Zhang Wu Ji's tunnel, a silhouette revealed himself from staying quiet earlier.
The silhouette is none other than Zhang Wu Ji himself. After leaving the people with an impression he left the tunnel, Zhang Wu Ji returned to his initial location to catch them unaware. Plus, based on the importance of producing the Crytal Ores to their corporation, they will not halt the production for too long.
This is why Zhang Wu Ji returned to his tunnel again. After idling for half an hour, the mining cave returned to their noisy environment again. Miners with their pickaxes came back and entered their own tunnel to continue their works, with one exception.
This miner came back to his tunnel only to found a giant hole going deeper for thirty to forty meters deeper. As one of the most hardworking miners among everyone here, he's the only one with the deepest tunnel. Furthermore, he's the person reported in the Account Book that found the three Qi Weaving Stones from the starting of the year.
"Why did a hole like this suddenly appeared in my tunnel?" to an experienced miner like him, a sudden appearance of a sinkhole indicates that below this spot is a giant open chamber. But its because he didn't consider the possibility of something like a cannon shot through the hole.
Assuming that continue to work here is dangerous, he left his tunnel and went somewhere else. As for Zhang Wu Ji, after making sure there's nothing else for him to be worried about, he continues with the mining progress. With the guy from Upper South Merchant Corporation is here, he knows that this might be the last opportunity for him to look for the Qi Weaving Stone.
By using the same method as before, Zhang Wu Ji no longer keeps the intention to mine silently as the people from the corporation already know he's here. Based on the number of pickaxes in hand, Zhang Wu Ji estimated that before all of the pickaxes reaches their green state (all Dual-Headed Pickaxes turn green when their durability is at 5 points), it should be enough for him to fills the spatial storage in his hand.
Furthermore, his intention here is not to collect all the materials, but only the Crystal Ores with a high concentration of rubies inside, and also to search for the Qi Weaving Stone. The ease of no longer needed to keep a low profile helps because he can start mining like a berserker swinging his blade in a circle.
All Zhang Wu Ji needed to do is to destroy the wall before he started to inspect the chunk of rocks one after another. As long any of them has a concentration of 25% ruby within, he will collect them into his Wooden Universal Plate. With the weight limit of almost 4 tonnes, it should be enough to get him busy for at least three to four days.
"Found one more!" Zhang Wu Ji noticed a suction force not too far from his direction. Immediately, he rushes over to begin with the process of unearthing the Qi Weaving Stone. This process continues for two more days, where he finally complete his quota of looking for four Qi Weaving Stone.
"Great! I can leave now!" Zhang Wu Ji checked his spatial inventory to confirm his possession of the four Qi Weaving Stones. After affirming their numbers, Zhang Wu Ji leaves the cave as soon as possible. But the thing just won't go well like everyone wishes.
The moment he exits the cave, few silver-made bells chimes loudly and revealed his hidden body from using the Orchid Assassination Art. With his existence in the Mining Caves is exposed, Zhang Wu Ji has officially entered the state of becoming a fugitive to the Upper South Merchant Corporation!
" Damn bell!" Zhang Wu Ji withdraws the Jade Ruler in his spatial ring and sends a wave of air blades to destroys the silver bells they arranged on the ground. But he did not expect that this attack ends up activating another trap!
The firing barrel of the ballista pops up from their hidden chambers. With Zhang Wu Ji as their targets, the Ballista fired. Bolt with the length of 5 feet and 20cm thick pierced through the air as it approached where Zhang Wu Ji stands.
But the master senior has no intention to remain here playing with all of them. By activating his Bronze Emperor Wheel ability, Zhang Wu Ji swings the wheel against the attacking bolt and destroys them before he tossed the Fire Lizard's Touch and Fire Toad's Touch randomly. The fire caused by the explosions disrupts the others from attacking but also stops himself from escaping.
Zhang Wu Ji monitored his opponent's activity, and with a sneak attack, he fired a continuous barrage of bolts from his Willow Crossbow to bring his opponents to the ground. Surrounded by fire around him, no Inner Qi Warrior tried to step through the flame to apprehend him.
"Surround him! I want to see how he's going to escape!" the official member of the corporation ordered. But a flying sword climbing upwards into the sky before leaving to the Willow Timber County.
"He got a flying sword? How can he be that rich!" the official member's jealousy against the senior master gets deeper. First of all, Zhang Wu Ji found a Qi Weaving Stone in the mines. And now, he left on a flying sword after destroying the trap formation plate he bought from the organization.
"I will return to the Upper South Merchant Corporation and report to the organization." The official member planned to leave as soon as possible on his personal Peony Fleeting Stallion.
And on his way back, he noticed a group of 100 slaves is chained together walking towards the cave. If Zhang Wu Ji sees them, he will immediately recognize all of them. They're the group of Convoy Escorts that continuously delay the delivery ordered by the Chrysanthemum Flower City earlier.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
.
.
.
When he reaches the Peony Flower City again, Zhang Wu Ji headed straight into the City Forge to work with the materials. Using two days to refine them into 10-Carats Ruby Crystal Pillars, Zhang Wu Ji returned to his room after he completed and calculated the number of the Ruby Crystal Pillars in his hand.
A total of 40 of them, included the one he refined earlier. Remembered that he saw a box used to store precious gemstones sold in the City Forge, Zhang Wu Ji bought the box to store the Ruby Crystal Pillars, and then took his rest.
In the next morning, Zhang Wu Ji received another burst of energy once again. The quota of 3 days for an increment of 18 strands of Fighter Qi carries him up to the rank of 7th Stage Inner Qi Fighter now. The increase of strength brings him happiness, but for Meng Ran who did not see Zhang Wu Ji cultivates at all, started to treat him like a freak.
"How can somebody busy like him got time to cultivates! Look at my own strength!" she complained deep inside her heart. Because she was too absorbed into studying the Formation Art, she neglected her own cultivation training and still remained at the early of 5th Stage.
Suddenly, a commotion is heard from the outside, along with people screaming for help. Coming out immediately to provide assistance to the people, Zhang Wu Ji, and Meng Ran went towards the Square to see what happened.
But when he stepped into the City Square, Zhang Wu Ji is shocked by the swarm of Stone Bees. No, it's not. Their body carries a hint of Silver linings that differentiate them from usual Stone Bees. Worst of all, the whole swarm of them are all in their peak 10th Stage of Inner Qi Warrior.
Facing this kind of opponent, how can a city easily fend themselves? No wonder the commotion and even the elders from the Mystic Engineer Establishment came to have a look.
When Zhang Wu Ji entered the square, one of the Silver Carapace Bee came closer to him, as if it's trying to pick the scent of the human. Suddenly, the Silver Carapace Bee stick itself on Zhang Wu Ji like they discovered the smell of their stolen nectar.
"What the heck with all this?" Zhang Wu Ji looks at more Silver Carapace Bees attaching themselves on his clothing. He tried to swing them away, but like he was the precious nectar belonged to the bee, none of them willing to detach themselves from him.
Then, a bigger Silver Carapace Bee crawled from the nest carried by over a hundred of the Silver Carapace Bee. Based on how it looks, this one must be the queen of this swarm of a thousand and five hundred bees. Crawling over to where Zhang Wu Ji struggles to swing aside the bees, they detach themselves when the queen came close.
With the two long antennae touching Zhang Wu Ji, the Queen Bee shoves her head onto the human's chest. Zhang Wu Ji surprises are gone the moment he remembered something. He calmed himself before asking the question.
"You're the Stone Bee that I took care before I left?"
The Silver Carapace Bee cannot speak, but based on her action, it indicates her agreement on this human's word. Weaving on the thin air, the Queen Bee sewed a piece of Nectar before covering it with her saliva to make it hardened. By placing the Nectar Grain on Zhang Wu Ji's hand, it indicates only one thing.
This human is the master of the swarm!
"How can this be! Is the Master Senior Zhang a Beast Tamer as well?" the crowd ask themselves this question. But nobody dares to ask until an elder approached the youth to make sure.
"This junior... Do the Silver Carapace Bees belong to you?"
"Reporting to the elder, this junior is not a Beast Tamer for sure. I don't dare to say that the bees belonged to me." Zhang Wu Ji cupped his hands together to answer the question. When the Queen Bee looked at how Zhang Wu Ji paid his respect, she made a sharp buzz to order the other bees to do the same.
In front of everyone, a thousand five hundred bees are paying their respect to the elder. It was an unforgettable sight to most of them, including the Headmaster Windchaser himself. He sighed in the heart for not fighting for this disciple before he accepted Liang Tian's offer.
After asking the youth to transfer the swarm of Silver Carapace Bees outside, the elder did not continue with his questioning. The matter was dropped just like this, but it also means that Zhang Wu Ji obtained a new strength that helps in their operation to overthrow the current corrupted Seven Star Sect.
Ordering the By assigning all of them to follow Meng Ran back to the Seven Star County, Zhang Wu Ji remained in the Peony Flower City to build the Iron Kong-Que. The reason for this is because of the supply of materials he required. Based on the situation now, it will be difficult for him to obtain all the resources he needed.
Which is why the decision to stay inside Peony Flower City comes in. Using the support from the City Forge, Zhang Wu Ji's requirement of 600 liters of Wild Beast Fresh Blood, 140 units of High-Quality Elemental Crystals, Mixture of Iron Alloy and Ironwood is gathered in two days.
What's left is the Low-Tier Spirit Grade Pure Iron, Sentient Iron, and Crystal Iron. But they did not prove to be too challenging for Zhang Wu Ji. Plus with the Grain of Water Sapphire in his weapon, Zhang Wu Ji easily created 600 liters of the Pure Sapphire Water.
In his third Day, Zhang Wu Ji starts with the making process to create the Iron Kong-Que. Based on the blueprint, this Iron Kong-Que is 20 meters long, and 36 meters wide when the wing is fully expanded. The requirement of four Qi Weaving Stones is due to the four weapons on board, along with the ability to move the Flying Ark.
The process to build the whole Iron Kong-Que is not complicated, but it was time-consuming due to the three thousand different parts needed to be made before assembling them into a gigantic Flying monster that can carry 12 people and 40 tonnes of loads. Impressively, the Flying Ark of this size only needed 400 Strands of Fighter Qi to operates, and 100 strands of Fighter Qi to maintain their flight.
Altogether, Zhang Wu Ji spent 12 days to complete the Flying Ark, which weighs around 7 tonnes in total, after the ammunition for the weapon is included. He spent one more day to fill the few Qi Weaving Stone with some of the Strands of Fighter Qi, and when they're ready, Zhang Wu Ji boards the ark under the companionship of Yong Lie and Miss Mu.
The reason is still his problem with the sense of direction.
Under the amazed sight of the people in the Peony Flower City, their Ark prepares to leave. But before that happened, a group of intruders barged into the City Square to try boarding the Flying Ark.
Their number remained thirty-three heads. Running for their lives, each of them took a leap into the Flying Ark under the approval of Zhang Wu Ji. And at the same time, the appearance of this group of guest out of sudden further mark their suspicion on Zhang Wu Ji as a Beast Tamer.
Yes.
That group of thirty-three uninvited guest is none others than the group of Tusked Copper Bear. Similar to how the group of Silver Carapace Bees evolved, the leader of the Tusked Copper Bear no longer have a bone Tusk, but it changed into a Silver looking Tusk instead. Behind him is the group of yet to evolve Tusked Copper Bear.
"Alright, since all of you is here, let us go back to the Seven Star Sect." Zhang Wu Ji smiled as he patted on the head of the leader bear. The couple behind him soon started to cuddles with the younger bear cubs as they continue with their journey back to the sect.
By flying across the direction of the Northern Bamboo Forest, their trip will only take them four days to complete. Using the high altitude that difficult for the Wild Beast to reaches them further increase their safety in traveling through the air.
Reaching the Wen Wu City at the early if their fourth day, Zhang Wu Ji immediately landed the Iron Kong-Que right in the middle of the Apprentice Hall Open Square. His arrival is well received not only from the fellow disciples, even the headmaster himself personally come out to meet this young fellow.
Acting as a guest this time, Yong Lie and Miss Mu bowed to the headmaster to pay their respects as a junior. Holding the gift from their own master, Yong Lie kneeled before Headmaster Liang Tian to convince him to receive the present.
"Your master is too kind. Here, take this two little token as my gratitude." Liang Tian distributed them with a Spatial Stone each. Inside the Spatial Stone was ten Qi Accumulating Pills. These pills are very beneficial to a cultivator in their Warrior Tier due to the medicinal benefits they carry is ten times better than a Qi Sensing Pill.
To become an Inner Qi Warrior, one must first successfully cross the bottleneck, which is the 10th Stage. To successfully weave a strand of Warrior Qi, one must sew a total of 1,000 strands of Fighter Qi. This is also why only the more talented one can succeed. The reason is due to the path from 10th Stage to 11th Stage, one must cultivate themselves until they possess the 1,000th strand of Fighter Qi before sewing them.
As for the difficulties, the reason is due to the fragileness of the 1,000th strands of Fighter Qi. This restriction has been plaguing the mind of the cultivator for long. With the limit of 999 strands of Qi at the peak of the tier, one can only try to advance, of failed miserably.
And to aid those in the attempt to pass that bottleneck, the Qi Accumulating Pill is their best solution, along with the Qi Bursting Pill as the boost to increase the speed of condensing the 1,000 strands of Fighter Qi into a strand of Warrior Qi.
But still, One issue remains when one entered the ranks of Inner Qi Warrior.
This problem can be noticed based on the previous experience of how the cultivators in their Inner Qi Warrior Tier fights. Due to the difficulties to harness enough Inner Qi to form Fighter Qi, and later into Warrior Qi, as an Inner Qi Warrior, they can't even fight on equal ground without prior preparations!
Without a land overpopulated with Natural Energy, how can one fight like an Inner Qi Warrior? And this is the reason why, in the whole Ping An Continent, except the five Holy Land, which also known as the Imperial County, and the Central of the Ping An Continent, also known as the Ping An Peak!