"What? You’re saying those savage mysterious people are actually people from Tangyuan Crown Prince Li Shao?" Cheng Bai couldn’t help but change his expression when he heard this.
This time, Tangyuan had collaborated with Emperor Hong City first to obtain the location of the Purple Gold Vein and then immediately started capturing Great Zhou’s common people en masse for mining the ore.
The entire plan was very well disguised, and there was never any sign of people from Tangyuan being involved.
Cheng Bai and the others had been focusing their investigation on the Hunter Soldiers around Great Zhou’s border and the Prince of Hou Qin. They didn’t expect Tangyuan Country to suddenly emerge out of nowhere.
Located on the easternmost side of the Wuji Continent, Crown Prince Li Shao was known as the First Rank of the Wuji Five Treasures on the continent, and he was also a rare genius who could recite poetry at three years old and was well-versed in the continent’s military strategies by the age of eight.
What was most commendable was that Li Shao was humble and loved the people like his own children, always possessing a name of benevolence within Tangyuan.
"Regardless, let’s first destroy this smelting factory, send out a signal, and have Jiuxiao commence the action," Ye Beiming’s eyes darkened as a Magic Wand appeared in his hand, with five jet-black Magic Soul Stones emitting a terrifying aura on it.
At the same moment, Yun Sheng’s eyebrows suddenly twitched, and she felt a chilling sensation rising on her spine.
"What’s wrong?" Sixth Son asked nervously.
"Nothing, I just have a not-so-good premonition for some reason," Yun Sheng suddenly had the uncomfortable feeling of being schemed against.
At this moment, Yun Sheng and Sixth Son were inside the mine tunnel, and the unguarded mysterious people hadn’t noticed the two of them stealthily slipping into a corridor.
In front of Yun Sheng, a layer of soil had been piled up, behind which lay the beginnings of a sizeable tunnel.
Two days ago, after Yun Sheng had managed to send out a hundred or so frail villagers, she began her second step of the rescue plan.
For Yun Sheng and the Sky Hunting Corps, finding the Purple Gold Vein was a small matter, but saving the lives of several hundred villagers was of utmost importance.
Yun Sheng was certain that she could escape unscathed in the chaotic mining area, but she wouldn’t be able to cover the escape of so many frail villagers.
That day, the thought of using Illusion Gold Beasts to dig the mine gave Yun Sheng an idea.
Why not use the Illusion Gold Beasts to secretly create a tunnel in the mine, allowing the villagers to sneak out through the passageways.
She tried it out and discovered that a single Illusion Gold Beast could dig a nearly one-mile-long tunnel overnight.
She obtained a total of five Illusion Gold Beasts from the Beast Tribe, and Yun Sheng, controlling the beasts for two days and nights, was informed just now by the Illusion Gold Beasts that they had successfully dug a tunnel connecting to the outside of the mine.
"There’s no time to lose, the tunnels are almost ready. We only need to wait for tonight, when the villagers take a brief rest. Then I’ll have your mother poison them," Yun Sheng was waiting for this very moment.
Zong Ren had already brought back the news: over a hundred villagers had been safely settled in Nanya Town.
The uncle had also successfully mobilized several hundred Hunter Soldiers, setting up ambush outside the mining area.
Now, she only needed to send out the signal tonight to begin the assault on the mining area.
What Yun Sheng needed to do was to transfer as many villagers as possible after nightfall.
Night, inevitably arrived.
Just like the previous days, right before dusk, the mysterious people began distributing food and water. Since they needed the villagers for mining, the meals got much better during this period.
The weary villagers also began to sit down in small groups on the side to rest.
The mysterious people took out fine liquor and meat and started feasting by themselves.
Yun Sheng sneakily watched this, noting the mysterious people were somewhat more relaxed because of mealtime; right then, there were still a little more than twenty mysterious men as well as ten Fire Lizards and a few Flying Dogs in the mine.
They ate their meat in large bites and drank lustily, oblivious to an unremarkable type of bean that had found its way into their food.
Yun Sheng, holding a dry bun, slowly moved to the side of a Fire Lizard.
It was a Fifth Rank Fire Lizard, its skin radiating a fighting spirit resembling flames.
"Scram, kid, before you get toasted by a blast of fire from the lizard," the mysterious people mocked Yun Sheng for looking skinny and small and for trying to touch the Fire Lizard.
None of them expected that the Fire Lizards, which typically would act aggressively toward strangers, trembled when Yun Sheng approached.
The instinct of the Demon Beast told them that there was a terrifying fluctuation emanating from her.
It was a vibration unique to Summoners, one that emanated from the Summoning Demon Hand on Yun Sheng, a vibration only possessed by the Summon Emperor.
Now, Yun Sheng had absorbed more than twenty percent of the Summoning Power within the Summoning Demon Hand, making it easy for her to control these Fourth and Fifth Rank Demon Beasts.
One by one... Yun Sheng seemed to be petting the Fire Lizard out of curiosity, but the moment her hand touched the Fire Lizard’s skin, in just a few breaths, she had quickly tamed it.
Unfortunately, the ferocious Wind Hounds were lying next to several of the mysterious men, and Yun Sheng found no opportunity to tame them.
During the meal, she had tamed more than ten Fire Lizards.
"We’re done eating, no one be lazy, get back to digging!" After the mysterious men finished their meal and belched, they were about to wield their whips to urge the villagers to get up when one of them suddenly felt unable to move his hand; not only that, but they also couldn’t move their feet, and soon their eyelids couldn’t twitch either.
Thump, thump, one by one – over a dozen mysterious men fell to the ground in succession.
"The food is poisoned!" A few of the mysterious men, with higher cultivation, were not immediately brought down by the Poison Nutmeg.
They yelled, urging their Wind Hounds to immediately inform those outside the cave.
Little did they know that as they were preparing to escape the mine, the dozen or so Fire Lizards they commanded unleashed flurries of flames and began to fight with them.
Seeing so many Fire Lizards suddenly turn on them, the villagers were also dumbfounded.
"Everyone, attack together, we absolutely can’t let these scoundrels escape!" Sixth Son’s father was well-prepared, and the villagers, who already deeply hated these ruthless mysterious men, seized the opportunity when they were weakened by poison, unable to move, and rushed at them.
They picked up rocks and ruthlessly smashed them at the group of mysterious men.
With numerous villagers surrounding them, it didn’t take long to pummel the misbehaving mysterious men into immobilized, bloodied states.
"Little Divine Doctor, what shall we do next?" After killing those evil men, Sixth Son’s father and the villagers all breathed a sigh of relief, but they were also fearful.
They knew that if the mysterious people outside found out what happened in the mine, they were all undoubtedly dead.
"I suspect that most of the mysterious people outside have also eaten the poisoned food. They will definitely enter the cave once they discover something is wrong. We must make good use of this time. Everyone take a piece of Purple Gold Ore, but don’t be greedy, follow me," Yun Sheng led the villagers to a tunnel at the crossroads.
The villagers didn’t dare to be greedy; each person picked up one piece of Purple Gold Ore. As Yun Sheng had said, the ore was ultimately going to end up in the hands of the Great Zhou Army anyway. The villagers’ homes were destroyed, some had lost relatives, and they needed a significant amount of money to rebuild.