Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 1222: Chapter 806: The First Step to Clearing Out the Ancient Array

According to logic, Yang Zhenshan should first explore the Medicinal Garden, as it determines whether he can gather the materials for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.

However, he chose to explore the mine and cave first because Zhou Tianci could not wait any longer.

With every minute gained, Zhou Tianci’s chances of achieving a Golden Body increased.

Therefore, Yang Zhenshan made the mine and cave his first target.

The Green Wolf hunts down the stranded Martial Artists in the Ancient Array while Yang Zhenshan silently arrives at the mine and cave’s entrance.

This vein is not long, merely stretching from the eastern part to the center of the Ancient Array, about thirty miles long. Yet, the cave is very deep, going thirty miles underground, containing a vast underground space.

Moreover, the Spirital Energy with Gold and Fire Attributes within the cave is exceedingly dense, surpassing the Spirit Source Land.

Yang Zhenshan arrived outside the cave, standing at the edge and peering into the depths.

This was a gigantic cave, straight up and down, with a width of over three hundred zhang, like a massive cylinder penetrating into the earth.

The cave walls had distinct signs of axe and knife hacking, with numerous apertures spreading in all directions.

The cave was not shrouded in gloomy and cold breath; instead, it felt warm, and even lush vegetation grew on the cliffs.

According to the information given by the Lu Family, the depth of this cave exceeds a thousand zhang, totaling eighty-three branches of cave, and the deeper parts have a higher chance of finding Red Gold Geng Essence and Golden Flame Stone. However, the deeper it goes, the more numerous and stronger the Mutant Beasts living there.

Aside from Red Gold Geng Essence and Golden Flame Stone, there are many semi-formed ores, such as Golden Crystal Stone, Fire Spirit Stone, Golden Bright Jade, Flame Cloud Jade, and many other first-order ores with Gold and Fire Attributes.

Yang Zhenshan observed for a while, then leaped into the cave, enveloping the entire cave with his Spiritual Sense, meticulously observing everything inside.

About a hundred meters down, he saw the first cave, followed by the second, third, all presented before his eyes. He did not investigate them one by one but glanced casually and descended further.

Descending to the thousand-meter mark, he saw clusters of diffused light emanating from Golden Flame Stone, not intact but fragments, likely previously used for illumination.

Thus, the cave wasn’t dark nor cold, rather it felt warm and soothing.

However, here Yang Zhenshan saw many traces of Mutant Beasts, hinting that he had entered their active range.

After about two hours, Yang Zhenshan finally reached the cave’s bottom.

The bottom surprisingly had many architectural ruins, with numerous apertures in the cliffs, not just a cave but more like residences for people.

Yang Zhenshan looked at the row after row of neat apertures, was initially stunned, then realized they must be the quarters for miners.

Glancing at these architectural ruins and cave residences, Yang Zhenshan could somewhat imagine the scene here ten thousand years ago.

Not a scene of emaciated mining slaves being oppressed and driven, but thousands upon thousands of Cultivators mining here.

This isn’t an ordinary mine but a second-order Spirit Ore, beyond the abilities of ordinary people, only Innate Martial Artists or Qi Refinement Cultivators could mine.

Therefore, ten thousand years ago, there might have been enslaved miners here, but absolutely no ordinary people.

While Yang Zhenshan was observing the situation at the cave bottom, a faint rustle echoed from a side cave, leading Yang Zhenshan to see a golden furry rat the size of a calf.

Gold-devouring Rat, a Gold Attribute Mutant Beast, feeds on Gold Attribute ores.

Gold-devouring Rats can grow into second-order; however, there surely aren’t second-order Gold-devouring Rats here. If any second-order Mutant Beasts appeared, the Guardian Array would immediately eliminate them, no matter if hiding in this thousand-zhang deep underground.

The Gold-devouring Rat is a treasure, with skeletal structure no different from Gold Attribute ores, usable as raw material for Artifact Refining spiritual weapons and Magic Artifacts. Its fur is extremely tough, offers strong protection, and can be made into battle armor; its flesh and blood can be used medicinally as refining material for Gold Attribute Spirit Pills.

Despite its small size, it’s incredibly difficult to deal with, having tough fur and strong defense, and its skeletal structure is metallic, difficult to damage.

Killing this creature is definitely no easy task.

There are roughly four kinds of Mutant Beasts in this cave: Gold-devouring Rat, Crystalized Demon Spider, Golden Feathered Fire Crow, and Spiritual Amber Moth.

Among the four, Spiritual Amber Moth is the easiest to deal with; these moths should be a kind of Spirit Insect, existing in large numbers but not very threatening, and can secrete Spiritual Amber, regarded as a rare medicinal material.

Gold-devouring Rat has a gentle temperament, typically ignoring you if not provoked. Though they gather in groups, their numbers usually aren’t large, at most twenty or thirty.

In contrast, Golden Feathered Fire Crow is much harder to deal with, its feathers shining like golden flames, capable of spewing high-temperature flames, incredibly fast, extremely agile, able to fly swiftly in the narrow cave.

They mostly form groups of three to five, and possess strong territorial awareness, attacking anyone entering their territory.

Crystalized Demon Spider is a unique Mutant Beast, not a Spirit Insect but a Mutant Beast, being larger than the Gold-devouring Rat, unsuitable to be called an insect.

Crystalized Demon Spider has eight legs, sharp and covered in barbs, completely transparent body with clearly visible internal organs, surrounded by vibrant crystals.

These crystals provide immense defense ability, capable of converting absorbed ore energy into corrosive spider threads.

It lurks in the corners of the cave, creating intricate traps with spider threads, rapidly striking once prey triggers them, the threads instantly enveloping and corroding it.

In this cave, Spiritual Amber Moth sits at the bottom of the food chain, hunted by Golden Feathered Fire Crow and Crystalized Demon Spider.

If Yang Zhenshan wishes to occupy this cave, he must first clear out the Golden Feathered Fire Crow and Crystalized Demon Spider.

As for how to clear them, Yang Zhenshan certainly wouldn’t use lives to fill the gaps.

Even if he wanted to, the lives from Spirit Source Land wouldn’t suffice.

He had some ideas, unsure if they would work.

Glancing at the harmless Gold-devouring Rat, Yang Zhenshan did not pay attention and activated his Heart Spirit, summoning the Golden Crow Eight Trigrams Furnace.

To clear the Mutant Beasts here, finding a breakthrough is essential; brute force alone won’t work.

Yang Zhenshan’s breakthrough solution is the Golden Crow.

The Golden Crow is considered a crow; the Golden Feathered Fire Crow is also a crow, perhaps they can communicate?

"Can you summon the Golden Feathered Fire Crow here?" Yang Zhenshan asked, bringing out the Golden Crow.

"Golden Feathered Fire Crow? What’s that?" the Golden Crow asked.

"A kind of crow Mutant Beast!" Yang Zhenshan replied.

"Crow!" The Golden Crow showed a puzzled expression but quickly responded, "Master, I am not a crow!"

"You look like a crow!"

"But I am an Artifact Spirit, not a crow; I merely resemble the Three-legged Golden Crow, and a Three-legged Golden Crow isn’t a crow either!"

"Isn’t a Three-legged Golden Crow a crow?" Yang Zhenshan blinked, asking.

"Probably not!" The Golden Crow hesitated, never having seen a real Three-legged Golden Crow.

Yang Zhenshan shrugged, "Aren’t you known for cawing? Try to see if you can call those crows out!"

The Golden Crow, lacking confidence, said, "I can try!"

"Try it, if you can communicate with them, you could lead them to Spirit Source Land, then you would have followers, wait, you are an Artifact Spirit." Yang Zhenshan tempted.

"Followers!" Upon hearing, the Golden Crow was intrigued.

It’s lonely in Spirit Source Land, as Yang Zhenshan devotes most of his time and energy to cultivation with no time to play with it.

The other Spirit Source Land people aren’t qualified to play with it, thus it often feels very empty and lonely.

If there were a crowd of followers to play with, merely thinking about it piques its interest.