123: Chapter 123 Mining Veins

The Frost King hovered in mid-air, his silver eyes as calm as water. He remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.

"The Rakshasa King is right. The vein should belong to the Troglodytes. However, the Ice Crystal Race needs the vein to maintain the Extreme Cold Domain; we can trade weapons and armor for it."

Jin stood beside the Frost King, his rust-covered body trembling slightly. His voice was raspy and weary.

"The Golden Giants... also need the vein. Our bodies are rusting; if we don't have new metal to repair them, all two hundred thousand Golden Giants will die within a hundred years."

Yan Chui looked at Jin, a flicker of complex emotion crossing his earthy-brown eyes.

"Golden Giant King, a hundred years ago, you killed four hundred thousand Tree Spirits in the Emerald Jungle. Our Troglodyte people did not participate in that war, but we saw it. Hatred has caused your bodies to rust and your civilization to decline."

Jin fell silent.

He lowered his head, his golden eyes filled with sorrow.

"You are right. Hatred has made us pay a price."

He looked up at Yan Chui.

"But the Golden Giants need to survive. Troglodytes, we can trade weapons for the vein. The Ice Crystal Race needs metal weapons, and the Golden Giants can forge them for you."

Yan Chui was silent for a long time.

"The Golden Giants can mine at the edge of the Extreme Cold Ice Plains, but the amount mined cannot exceed thirty percent of the Troglodytes' share. Furthermore, the Golden Giants must help the Troglodytes excavate deeper tunnels."

Jin nodded.

"Deal."

An Hen watched the scene, knowing that the Shadow Demons no longer had a chance to monopolize the vein. He gave a cold snort and turned, vanishing into the void.

"The Shadow Demons will obtain the vein in their own way."

Zhao Tiezhu watched the direction in which An Hen had disappeared, his dark-gold vertical pupils narrowing slightly.

"The Shadow Demons... sooner or later, we'll have to fight them."

Blood Howl shook his head.

"The Shadow Demons are not easy to deal with. Their Space Folding ability is too strong. In the Gloomy Swamp and deep underground, the Shadow Demons are almost invincible."

Zhao Tiezhu didn't speak, merely staring into the endless darkness deep within the tunnel entrance.

He knew Blood Howl was right.

However, no race would allow the Shadow Demons to occupy the vein because their ambition was too great.

Meanwhile, the Troglodytes were just a second-class race that wanted to survive.

...

Year 720.

The Shadow Demons finally made their move.

It wasn't a frontal assault, but an infiltration.

Of the eight hundred thousand Shadow Demons, half were sent deep underground; their target was the core area of the vein.

That area contained the most abundant and highest quality yin energy crystal vein.

Leading a hundred thousand Shadow Demons himself, An Hen bypassed the Troglodytes' defensive line via Space Folding and appeared directly in the core area of the vein.

The bodies of the Shadow Demons were almost invisible in the dark, and their aura blended with the Yin Qi, making it impossible for even the Troglodytes' keenest underground senses to capture them.

But Yan Chui was prepared.

The Troglodytes had placed a large number of "Resonance Crystals" in the core area of the vein.

Those crystals were special minerals the Troglodytes had mined from deep underground, and they had a powerful disruptive effect on the Shadow Demons' Space Folding. Any Space Folding within the range of the Resonance Crystals would trigger a resonance, producing sound waves strong enough to shatter a Shadow Demon's body.

The moment An Hen stepped into the core area, the Resonance Crystals lit up simultaneously.

Piercing sound waves echoed through the tunnels. The bodies of the hundred thousand Shadow Demons trembled violently in the sound waves, their Space Folding ability completely suppressed, and their shadow forms began to disintegrate.

"A trap!" An Hen roared, desperately releasing shadow energy in an attempt to resist the resonant sound waves. But the power of the Resonance Crystals was too strong; his body continuously disintegrated, reformed, disintegrated, and reformed, each cycle leaving him weaker.

Yan Chui stepped out from the depths of the tunnel, holding his ancestral pickaxe. Behind him, five hundred thousand Troglodytes stood in neat formation, their pickaxes glinting coldly in the darkness.

"Shadow Demons, you have overstepped."

An Hen looked at Yan Chui, his shadow-form face filled with disbelief.

"How... how could you Troglodytes have Resonance Crystals?"

"The Troglodytes have been digging in the dark for seven hundred years," Yan Chui's voice was as calm as water. "We have seen many secrets deep within the earth. Resonance Crystals are just one of them."

He raised his pickaxe.

"Troglodytes, defend our home!"

Five hundred thousand Troglodytes charged simultaneously. Their bodies were short but strong, moving nimbly through the narrow tunnels. Pickaxes slammed into the Shadow Demons, tearing holes in their shadow bodies.

Under the suppression of the Resonance Crystals, the Shadow Demons could not use Space Folding. Their shadow forms continued to disintegrate in the sound waves, and their combat power plummeted.

A hundred thousand Shadow Demons were besieged by five hundred thousand Troglodytes in the tunnels. An Hen exerted all his strength to release shadow energy, killing Troglodyte after Troglodyte, but there were simply too many of them. For every Troglodyte that fell, two more took their place.

The battle lasted for three days and three nights.

When the last group of Shadow Demons retreated from the tunnels, fewer than thirty thousand remained of the original hundred thousand. An Hen was covered in wounds, his shadow form no longer capable of maintaining its integrity, and his aura had dropped from the early stage of the fifth rank to the fourth rank.

Meanwhile, the Troglodytes had lost a hundred and twenty thousand.

Yan Chui stood at the tunnel entrance, watching the retreating Shadow Demons. There was no joy of victory in his earthy-brown eyes, only deep exhaustion.

"The Shadow Demons won't let this go," he said softly.

Year 730.

The Shadow Demons' revenge came.

Not an infiltration, but a full-scale war. Shadow Blade himself led six hundred thousand Shadow Demons, surging from the depths of the Gloomy Swamp to launch a fierce assault on the vein's entrance. Their Space Folding ability was completely unrestricted on the surface; six hundred thousand Shadow Demons traversed the void like invisible reapers.

The Troglodytes' defensive line collapsed under the first wave of impact. Their Resonance Crystals were far less effective on the surface, and the Shadow Demons' Space Folding ability was entirely unaffected. One by one, Troglodytes fell under the Shadow Demons' claws. Their pickaxes struck the Shadow Demons, only to hit clouds of shadow mist that instantly reformed.

Yan Chui stood at the tunnel entrance, watching his fallen kin, his earthy-brown eyes filled with despair.

"The Troglodytes... are finished."

Just as he was prepared to lead his remaining kin in a final stand, the earth began to tremble.

Zhao Tiezhu had arrived.