<h4>Chapter 268: Stealing the Vein</h4>
Hundreds of meters underneath the foot of Mt. Swallowtail, Xiao Nanfeng was setting up the Immortal''s Destruction. Suddenly, the earth shook, causing the underground cavern to vibrate. Some chunks of rock fell from above.
"An earthquake?" Yu''er eximed.
"No. They''re about to excavate the draconic vein now! Quick, help me set up the Immortal''s Destruction!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
At the same time, directly above them at the foot of the mountain, arge number of monks were infusing their energy into arge altar. All sorts of treasures were heaped atop the altar, providing it with a tremendous supply of energy and causing the center of the altar to radiate golden light.
The monks cried out in excitement, "Abbot, Senior Uncle, we''ve found it!"
Xu Ming sighed in relief. "Senior Brother, it took us three full altars'' worth of spiritual treasures to find the draconic vein."
"It''s worth it as long as we can excavate the draconic vein. We''ll start to drag it out now," the Jingang abbot continued.
"Understood!" All the monks infused their spiritual qi into the altars.
Beams of golden light burst forth from the altars and shone deep underground. The beams of light suddenly focused, as if they had caught something, and caused the mountain and surrounding forests to shake violently. Then, a dragon''s keen came from deep underground.
"Rise!" the Jingang abbot shouted.
Mt. Swallowtail copsed, as did the nearby mountain ranges, resulting in a huge earthquake all around them.
A nine-hundred-meter-long draconic vein was pulled out from underground andy bound and exposed on the altars.
The draconic vein struggled and roared, but was unable to break free of the altar''s restraints.
"The draconic vein has emerged!" The monks were all cheering in excitement.
"Only nine hundred meters long?" Xu Ming was a little disappointed.
Everyone turned to the Jingang abbot. They were waiting for hismand before they began to devour the draconic vein.
"Something''s unusual about this draconic vein!" the abbot suddenly cried out.
"Why is there a copper spike on the head of this draconic vein?" Xu Ming eximed.
"Could it be a treasure?" The abbot''s eyes lit up.
"Surely not," Xu Ming replied. "These treasures might be even more valuable than the draconic veins themselves, but they generally only form around draconic veins of massive size. This draconic vein is only a small-scale nine-hundred-meter-long one. How could it have gestated a treasure?"
Xu Ming and the abbot found it difficult to believe that a treasure had formed, but they were both overjoyed. The abbot plucked out the copper spike from the draconic vein''s head.
The copper spike appeared to have been linked to the draconic vein''s head with a formation. When it was torn off, the formation shattered and caused the draconic vein to howl in pain.
"What sort of treasure is this? A copper spike—and there''s a ck dot on it giving off some unusual ck smoke! Abbot, something feels wrong. This copper spike''s more like a seal than a treasure, but the seal has just been broken. Whatever''s inside might being out!" Xu Ming cried out.
More and more ck smoke surged out from the copper spike and rose into the air. As it struck the formation''s barrier, it suddenly spread out, as if to dye the white fog that the formation produced ck.
The abbot nched. He too sensed something amiss. He tried to seal the copper spike once again, but the ck smoke continued to rise furiously into the air and dyed its surroundings dark.
"Abbot, there''s something cursed about this smoke. Could there be a cursed effigy within? We can''t keep it!" Xu Ming cried out.
The abbot frowned. Although he was unwilling to just throw away a potential treasure, the risks outweighed the benefits. He tossed the copper spike aside and used a mantra to temporarily form a hole in the formation so the copper spike could fly out.
However, the copper spike, as though dragged back by the smoke it was releasing, didn''t fly out too far. It hovered by the top of the formation''s barrier above the cultivators'' heads, causing a growing sense of unease.
"We''ll ignore the copper spike for now. Once we devour the draconic vein, we''ll leave immediately. Understood, everyone?" the abbot shouted.
"Got it!" everyone replied.
Just as the disciples were about to absorb the draconic vein, eight golden chains emerged from underground and bound it.
"What''s that?!" the Jingang disciples shouted.
"The Immortal-binding chains of the Immortal''s Destruction?" Xu Ming gasped. "Is Xiao Nanfeng here?"
"He''s going to steal the draconic vein for himself!" the abbot suddenly shouted.
Thebined force of the Immortal-binding chains shattered the altar''s bindings and dragged the draconic vein underground. It vanished from sight immediately.
"No! That''s ours!" the cultivators shouted.
"They''re underground? When did they have the time to dig a tunnel?!" Xu Ming cursed.
"Xiao Nanfeng, show yourself! I''ll kill you!" the abbot thundered.
Xu Ming and the abbot struck the ground with devastating blows, causing the altars to break apart and reveal a huge pit.
Based on where the chains had vanished, they could identify Xiao Nanfeng''s approximate location. They were enraged and quickly struck at the ground, excavating a pit of earth and rock within moments.
Meanwhile, Xiao Nanfeng was dragging the draconic vein deep into the underground tunnel that the pangolin spirits had constructed.
A draconic vein was an unusual existence that could pass through earth and rock as though they barely existed. Only a small amount of earth and rock would be dragged in alongside the vein—but it was sufficient in this case to cause a minor cave-in of the cavern.
"There''s more rumbling above us..." Yu''er frowned.
"Those monks above must be trying to dig their way into this cavern. Quick, we have to absorb the draconic vein quickly before they get here. We''ll absorb it and store the excess draconic aether in our bodies," Xiao Nanfeng stated.
"I''m ready!" Yu''er replied.
The two cultivators shot toward the draconic vein and began to absorb it.
The dragon keened, but it was unable to resist their specialized technique. The Red Emperor herself had taught it to them to store a great deal of draconic aether in their bodies for future use.
Perhaps because Yu''er was the stronger cultivator, she absorbed the draconic aether more rapidly than Xiao Nanfeng did. Within moments, the two cultivators had finished absorbing the entire draconic vein. They glowed with immense golden radiance, their bodies stuffed with draconic aether.
"You''re amazing, Senior Sister. You absorbed more of the aether than I did!" Xiao Nanfeng eximed.
"Of course I did!" Yu''er replied happily.
"We won''t have time to distill the draconic aether at the moment. We''ll do soter. We have to leave now!" Xiao Nanfeng eximed.
He stored the Immortal''s Destruction and was just about to escape with Yu''er.
However, because of the earthquake, quite a few of the tunnels seemed to be clogged.
"We can''t leave?" Yu''er nched.
"Don''t worry. We''ll find a ce to hide within the tunnels. Rein in your aura. They might not be able to find us. Quickly!" Xiao Nanfeng pulled Yu''er into a pit.
Just then, arge hole appeared in the ceiling of the cavern as something drilled down into it.
"We don''t have time. The Jingang Temple has a relic designed specifically for drilling underground!" Yu''er nched.
"Die, Xiao Nanfeng!" A roar came from the other end of the spike as the drill crashed straight down toward Xiao Nanfeng.
Xiao Nanfeng attempted to defend with the divine undying de, but a sword overtook him. The sword''s technique shattered in a sh of red light, but it had sessfully defended against the drill.
"You can block the drill?" Xiao Nanfeng nced at Yu''er in shock.
"As I''ve said, I''m powerful now. Come, we''ll break our way out!" Yu''er promised.
Just then, the drill finally breached the ceiling. The Jingang abbot stared into the hole, a murderous aura around him. Beside him, Xu Ming also red at the two cultivators.
"It''s just the two of you?" Xu Ming snarled. "Then you''re both dead. I''m going to take revenge for Xu Fa and Xu Kong!"
Yu''er sucked in a deep breath as she attempted to pull Xiao Nanfeng away.
"It''s toote to leave. Die!" the Jingang abbot shouted.
Yu''er met his attack with a sh of her sword.
A howling storm formed where the two attacks shed against each other. Xu Ming attacked with a staff, which Xiao Nanfeng countered with his divine undying de. He took a single step back as he stabilized himself.
Perhaps because Xu Ming''s injuries hadn''t fully healed, or because Xiao Nanfeng had grown into his strength, Xiao Nanfeng found himself capable of blocking a blow from Xu Ming.
"We have to leave!" Yu''er urged.
Yu''eer might be strong, but the Jingang abbot was stronger.
The two cultivators attempted to flee toward the surface as they defended against the two monks.
"Dream on!" the monks roared.
Huge crashes resounded from deep underground. The resulting shockwaves caused everything in the vicinity to shake, and the neighboring mountains began to topple.
Meanwhile, the formation surrounding Mt. Swallowtail had turned pitch-ck.
The copper spike was still floating in the air, but there was no longer any ck smoke being released from it. Whatever had been sealed inside the copper spike had emerged in its entirety.
"Wh-What''s that?!" a monk cried out.
Where the ck smoke around the formation was most concentrated, a two-dimensional shadow emerged and suddenly bulged to form a three-dimensional shadowy figure. It was another shadowy cursed effigy!
"We''ve finally escaped from this damn nail. It''s been a thousand years, but we''re free now, haha!" The shadowy cursed effigies let out bouts of crazedughter.
"Haha, haha!" That sameughter echoed all around them.
There wasn''t just a lone shadowy cursed effigy, but dozens of them. They had been trapped for a thousand years, and were now particrly excited about having been freed. Theirughter sent shivers of unease down the spines of the thousands of Jingang disciples below them.
"Run. We have to run!" the disciples shouted in fear.
"It''s been a thousand years since we''ve feasted. Good timing, all of you—none of you will get away!" one shadowy cursed effigy shouted.
"None of you will get away!" the other shadowy cursed effigies echoed.
They shot toward the Jingang disciples below them.
"No! No!" the Jingang disciples within the formation screamed mournfully.