Da Xuan Martial Saint

There was no need to mention that as soon as the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion noticed the loss of contact with Cheng Houhua and the others, they would definitely sense that something was amiss and subsequently pay even more attention to him. Moreover, the intelligence capabilities of the Blood Hidden Pavilion were extraordinary. He had revealed the Separating Fire Artistic Conception in front of so many commoners while building the boat, so it was impossible to conceal it for long. It wouldn't be long before it became known to them...

Perhaps.

It wasn't that the Blood Hidden Pavilion was unaware, but rather that the news hadn't reached this unfortunate assassin.

This person was actually not weak, having reached the Perfection of the Bone Tempering Realm. The Artistic Conception he mastered must be something like silent assassination, which gave him an advantage in this foggy environment, as it was akin to having the right time and place on his side. Any Bone Tempering practitioner could likely be killed by him in a single blow.

Clearly, he had arrived a bit too late. Seeing that Chen Mu had brought back some gains from the eruption of the Earth's Veins, he harbored a murderous intention. Relying on the foggy weather to conceal his breath, he suddenly attacked when Chen Mu came ashore and let down his guard. It was a fierce strike, but the huge gap in strength turned this dangerous move into a joke in Chen Mu's eyes.

If it had been a true successor Steward from the Blood Hidden Pavilion lying in ambush quietly, it might have posed some threat to him.

After a quick inspection of the Blood Hidden Pavilion assassin's body, the result was unsurprisingly empty.

"Pathetic."

Chen Mu shook his head.

He then dunked the muddy pouch into the river water for a brief rinse, washing away most of the mud and sand before he started to roughly examine the contents of the pouch.

Mystic Iron Ore, Black Gold Ore, Cold Jade Ore... Most of the harvest this time was mineral in nature, with the quality being mostly middle grade and above. However, there was not any Mysterious Fire Ore, a rare ore among them; the most valuable was a small piece of Flowing Silver Ore, which was even smaller than the one he had used to forge his Flowing Fire Blade before.

But all in all, it wasn't without gain. A small piece of Flowing Silver Ore could also be used to forge a Treasured Artifact. The only regret was that there were no high-grade Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items like the Earth Element Pearl, which, even if small, would have been worth much more than the Flowing Silver Ore.

...

Accompanying the sunrise in the east.

The dense fog that had enveloped everything between heaven and earth finally began to disperse gradually.

However, the thick moisture didn't dissipate in the slightest but instead got sucked up into the sky by the scorching sun and gathered into dark clouds before turning into a light drizzle.

Downstream of Qingping River.

Or one could say in the southern township of Pingyu County, the entire low-lying area was now a vast expanse of water. However, this was the tail end of the flood, and here, the water surface was noticeably calmer than upstream, with much less turbulence.

Actually, this was not merely the downstream of the Qingping River; it was also the downstream of another river called the Golden Sand River. It was located at the confluence of the two rivers, making nearly a hundred-mile radius now an immense watery marsh.

At this moment.

In the outskirts of one part of the marshland, a large number of silhouettes could be seen gathering.

There were Inner Sect Disciples from various Great Sects, as well as the Metropolitan Commanders from the Demon-Slaying Office and the Inspectorate, including people from families such as the Xie Family, Xue Family, and even the Yu Family, all converging from different directions around this area of marshland.

The gathering of so many people was not without reason, for both the Qingping and Golden Sand Rivers would carry things along their flow to this marshland area. In the tumult and disruption of the Earth's Veins' eruption, some treasures from underground would be brought to the surface, and some items that had gone unnoticed by the Sects' men or were not too precious were eventually flushed down here by the surging rivers.

To put it plainly.

Most of them didn't have the qualifications to explore upstream. Even if they stumbled upon an eruption of the Earth's Veins, going down didn't guarantee coming back up; and even if they did come back up, it didn't ensure they could escape. Rather than take such risks, it was better to look for opportunities to pick up the leftovers at the downstream end.

This water marsh was very vast. The various groups didn't cluster together, but each occupied a space, either fumbling around in the water, searching, or watching carefully the river that flowed from a distance.

Xue Lin's figure appeared in one corner of the marsh.

"The young master has arrived."

Some of the Xue Family's people saluted Xue Lin as he approached.

Xue Lin didn't look around much, but moved straight ahead to the side of a middle-aged man with a burly figure and a face that bore some resemblance to Xue Huaikong. It was Xue Huaikong's brother, Xue Huaiyi. Seeing Xue Lin come over, he said:

"Lin'er, how was your harvest?"

Xue Lin came to his side, shaking his head. "I've found nothing. I encountered two eruptions of the Earth's Veins, but one was too far away, and during the other, Han Guang of the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion and Hua Nongying of the Hehuan Sect were fighting over it, leaving no chance for me to get involved."

Xue Huaiyi didn't show any sign of regret upon hearing this but just smiled and said, "It's not easy to compete for treasures upstream. People from Great Sects like the Hehuan Sect and the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion, even if they're not successors, some of the highly ranked Inner Sect Disciples are not so easy to deal with. Even my brother has to be very careful."

"Yes."

Xue Lin nodded slightly.

He had gone upstream to look for opportunities, for as vast and extensive as Qingping River was, there were only so many True Successors from the Great Sects active near it. They couldn't be everywhere, and with his strength, there was always a chance, albeit risky.

Having found nothing on his expedition, he planned to rest downstream for a while.

But as he glanced around, he suddenly felt a tremor underfoot, followed by splashes and whirls rising atop the water of the marshland. Yet as an individual at the Bone Tempering Realm, he naturally didn't lose his footing.

"Here it comes again."

Xue Huaiyi murmured standing beside him.

During the flood disaster, such ground tremors were quite common, especially in the downstream marsh where the floods of the two rivers met. Almost every hour or two, there would be a disturbance, but they were generally not severe, and no eruptions of the Earth's Veins occurred.