Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Struggle for the Mining Vein

  "Hmm. Water Buffalo Boy is pointing at a small forest not far away! 'There are peaches to eat inside, and also quite a few dried meat and flatbread in a tree hole.'"

  "Meat dry? Rice cake?" Gan Jing looked at Shui Lianying in surprise: "You guys... have been here before?"

  Shui Lianying's face turned pale, and she nodded slightly. The friends who had set out together that day had all died for the sake of a vein of Dou Shi ore, leaving only herself behind. If she had known it would end like this, she really shouldn't have risked entering the Four Seasons Valley to search for the Dou Shi ore.

  Qian Jin looked at Shui Lian Ying Er's reaction and understood in his heart the conclusion that Dou Shi mining vein, which had been determined by the mathematicians to be absolutely non-existent in the Lu Ri mountain range, was overturned by the Huo Mei adventurer team.

  It turned out that the Dou Shi mine vein was not in the safe zone of Lao Ri Mountain, which people had determined, but rather in Si Ji Valley, a place where magical beasts roamed. They risked their lives to find a Dou Shi mine vein! That's why Shui Lian Ying Er knew about the dried meat in the tree hole.

  "How many servings? Can eat for how many days?"

  Qian Jin woke up from his contemplation and hurriedly asked himself the question that concerned him most.

  Shui Lianying also recovered a bit from her emotional pain, and said in a slightly melancholic tone: "Let's be frugal with our food, the three of us can make it last for about ten days."

  "Ten days." Qian Jin thought for a moment: "If you two eat, it should be enough for more than ten days,"

  Shui Lianying suddenly took a step back, her face wary as she stared at Qian Jing, sixth-level Dou Qi flowing into her fists.

  Qian Jin looked at Shui Lian Ying Er's reaction, stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Don't worry, I'm not going to get rid of you two and monopolize the food. Living here for a few more days doesn't make any sense. Even if I kill you both and store your bodies as food reserves, it's unlikely that we can survive this winter. No one knows how long this winter has been going on."

  Shui Lian Ying Er felt a tingling sensation on her scalp, and for the first time, she felt fear towards Qian Jin. A young freshman warrior student like him could say something about killing people as food reserves without any change in his expression, although she knew he was just joking, but hearing it still made her feel a chill run down to her bones.

  "Are you familiar with this place?" Gan Jing didn't look at Shui Lian Ying Er, his eyes fixed on the nearby forest: "Didn't encounter any wild beasts or magical creatures inside before?"

  She nodded silently and shifted her gaze to the small forest that wasn't very large. With a hint of nostalgia, she spoke slowly: "We've been here twice, and both times we didn't encounter any wild beasts or magical creatures in the forest, but..."

  He nodded slightly to show he understood. Just because they hadn't encountered any the first two times didn't mean they would be lucky enough to avoid them a third time. The magical beasts and wild animals of Four Seasons Mountain Village weren't creatures that stayed at home all day, after all. No one could guarantee that they wouldn't wander into the forest today.

  Be careful! Be careful! Be even more careful! Jia Jing, after many days of training in the endless world, has suffered countless losses due to momentary carelessness. He knows that being cautious in all things and going all out when encountering situations is the best approach.

  "I'll go take a look first, you guys wait here okay?"

  Qian Jin handed over, holding a horse-killing knife, in Shui Lianying's eyes, like a spirit cat, stepping on tiptoes and quickly entering the forest.

  With both hands clasped in front of his chest, he muttered to himself, continuously emitting a low hum as he mobilized all the spiritual energy he had. He carefully arranged the magical elements to form a Slow Spell. If he encountered any ferocious beasts, perhaps casting this spell on them would turn the tide of battle.

  Bì luò is still trying hard to arrange the sluggish magic elements, struggling to control a single one. However, these fundamentally disobedient magic elements have yet to truly master the Sluggish Spell.

  Qianjin walked into the forest, narrowing his eyes to observe his surroundings. His mind was filled with curiosity - why did this four-season valley not match what he had read in books? Wasn't it supposed to be full of danger, with ferocious beasts lurking everywhere? Why was it that except for a few rabbits and fat mice, there wasn't even a hint of fierce wild animals in the forest?

  The area of the small forest is not large, with a diameter of about 200 meters long and 150 meters wide, but there are no fierce beasts inside.

  Qian Jin stood at the edge of the forest and beckoned to the two of them. Shui Lianying'er entered the forest and rushed towards a relatively sturdy pine tree, quickly climbing up the tree and pulling out two leather bags from a hole in the tree. Jumping down, she found Qian Jin squatting under the tree, his hands seemingly busy with something. "Found it, indeed there is."

  Shui Lianying's eyes sparkled with excitement as she muttered to herself, and soon she saw that he was holding a two-foot-long green snake that was hibernating in his hand.

  The tip of the horse-killing knife lightly scratched the belly of the snake, opening up the abdomen of this hibernating green snake. Fingers squeezed, and a deep green orb popped out from its abdomen - gallbladder!

  "Are you eating?"

  Shui Lianying and Bi Luo looked at Qian Jin holding the snake gall, feeling a chill run down their spines. They shook their heads repeatedly as they watched Qian Jin swallow the snake gall.

  "You," how can you "understand the dry and strong" of Shui Lian's words? There is a saying among the crowd, "It's written in the book."

  Qian Jin casually replied, holding the horse-slaying knife and dead snake, strolled around the forest, dug up twelve green snakes about two feet long from the ground, swallowed their gallbladders, and threw them to Bi Luo who was shivering in the snowy field: "After skinning these, you can eat for a few more days."

  Bixiao, who usually appears to be timid in everyday life, unexpectedly showed great bravery this time. She held a dozen dead snakes in her hand without any fear, recalling the days spent with Qianjin in the Luoshan Mountains where they had eaten all sorts of things due to their difficult circumstances. This also included eating snakes; after experiencing it many times, she naturally became unafraid.

  Qianjin looked at Shuilianying who was also rubbing her hands: "It's quite cold outside, you guys go back first."

  "How about you?"

  Shui Lianying looked at Qian Jin with a bit of worry, in this Four Seasons Valley that had been explored several times and was still considered safe, if she lost Qian Jin by her side, she would immediately feel not even a little bit safe.

  "I turned around and suddenly lit up: "Right, since you've been here before. Have you ever been to that stone forest in front?"

  Her face, which had been slightly reddened by the cold, suddenly turned pale, and her eyes flashed with a hint of terror before quickly returning to their usual expression. She shook her head repeatedly: "I've never been there."

  Qian Jin looked at Shui Lian Ying Er's slightly flickering words and expressions, her two eyebrows gradually twisted together, secretly guessing the woman's momentary fear. Obviously, it represented that she had been to Shi Lin, why did she lie?

  Shui Lian Ying'er felt a pang of guilt under the intense gaze, wanting to lower her head in shame. But she mustered up her courage and lifted her head to meet his eyes, having already made up her mind that no matter what, she couldn't reveal the true situation this time. The bond of three years' companionship was not enough to withstand the temptation of the Doushi mineral vein in Shilin. This young man, barely known for a short while, was also a warrior; who could guarantee he wouldn't raise his blade to kill if he knew about the mineral vein and wanted it all to himself?

  Could it be? A flash of inspiration streaked across his dry and withered mind, his body trembled slightly, could the Dou Shi mining vein be in the Stone Forest?

  As soon as he thought of the Dou Shi mine vein, his strong heart couldn't help but tremble.

  Even if it's a small vein of ore, Fabre the Preserver of Auckland would still try every means to take it.

  For warriors, a vein of Doushi is like a beast seeing fresh blood and delicious flesh. It's not that one can face a vein of Doushi calmly with an ungreedy heart.

  Although a Dou Shi cannot guarantee that a warrior will become strong, under the same conditions, a warrior with a Dou Shi will definitely have a brighter future than one without. Sometimes, a vein of Dou Shi can cause several forces to fight over it if it appears in an area with more people.

  At that moment, even the laws of the Shinzui Empire seemed to lose their authority. The winning side only needs to go through the procedures at the Shinzui Empire's office after the battle and collect a portion of the Dou Shi stones. Then hand over the collected Dou Shi stones to the Shinzui Empire, and no one will care about the life-and-death struggle before.

  Facing the temptation of the Dou Shi mine vein, even a large force cannot bear it, let alone a young man who has set his goal to become a great warrior.

  Qian Jin looked at Shui Lian Ying Er's expression and smiled wryly: "I roughly guessed why you're so guarded against me. The Dou Shi mining vein is extremely attractive to me, but I'm not capable of killing all of you for the sake of a single mining vein."

  "I still have things to attend to, and the food here may not be enough to help us get through the next few days in the Four Seasons Valley."

  With a stern expression and holding the horse-slaying knife, the figure of him walking cautiously quickly disappeared into the small woods.

  A cold wind barely made its way into the forest, adding a few more degrees of chill to the two people in the woods. Bi Luo wrapped her arms around her own body and looked at Shui Lian Ying Er with a somewhat absent-minded expression, saying in a soft voice: "You misunderstood Qian Jing. If he wanted you dead, during the avalanche, he wouldn't have risked his own life to save you."

  Shui Lian Ying Er's blue eyes flashed with a hint of astonishment, suddenly realizing that she had forgotten that just yesterday, in the avalanche-like snow collapse, Gan Jing was carrying Bi Luo and fleeing wildly. Perhaps he wouldn't have encountered any danger, but he risked his life to hold himself in his arms as well.

  Shui Lian Ying'er walked silently with Bi Luo out of the small woods, looking at Bi Luo who was walking in front of her with a slightly petite figure and asked softly: "You, aren't you worried that he will kill us to keep the information about the mine vein secret? That's a vein full of mines! It's just like when your magicians find a magic crystal mine vein."

  "No!"

  Bì luò turned around, her big magic hat was swung open, and her long black hair fluttered gently with the movement of her head: "I believe in Qián Jìn".