Nine Astra Skies

In the past years, the Xiwu Empire's reign over the counties began to wane. The king of the counties possessed their armies and was considered the ultimate ruler in their respective county. Apart from grooming proficient combatants, the Second-Rank Prince of Donglin also possessed a thousand Seventh Level Dark Troopers and had another ten million soldiers under his command. The entire Donglin County was under Liu Xun's ruling.

In this world, the person with the most martial arts power was considered the ultimate being. One or two million armored soldiers with a Third or Fourth Level Celestial Chi would have no problems wearing down a Ninth Level combatant. Let alone a few thousand of Seventh Level Dark Troopers! Against a Tenth Level combatant, however, the troops were severely limited in their ways of dealing with them.

"It's about the Ye Clan, Father." Liu Zhen saluted the prince.

"What has the Ye Clan done this time?" Liu Xun's voice deepened, exuding power in his voice.

"The Ye Clan has defeated the Yun Clan. Yun Yiyang is dead and most of their productions have been seized by the Ye Clan. Also, they have been mining the mountains behind their castle," Liu Zhen spoke with a certain dissatisfaction. How dare the Ye Clan provoke the Junwang Palace?

Liu Xun frowned. Initially, he had perceived the Ye Clan as a band of ants. With the slightest touch, he thought he could crush them to bits. When he ordered Yun Yiyang to rule over the Eighteen Houses of Lianyun, he had not considered the Ye Clan. The day Ye Zhantian showed up at his door to beg for medicines, Liu Xun had brushed him off right away. Nobody expected the tables would turn. Now, the Ye Clan had an unknown powerhouse backing them up as their power had grown sizably, and they even managed to obliterate the Yun Clan. If he sent his troops to storm the Ye Castle, he was worried that he might upset some powerful figures and create some unnecessary troubles for himself. Then again, if Liu Xun did not vanquish the clan, it would continue to be a major frustration for him. With the Ye Clan swearing vengeance against them, it was difficult for him to resolve the matter.

"What do we do, Father? Should we send a fleet to attack the castle?" Liu Zhen asked. Recalling the time he had embarrassed himself in the Ye Clan, his heart was full of hatred.

Liu Xun shook his head. "Let's get some of our men to look into the powerhouse supporting Ye Clan and the Ye Clan's alliance before we do anything. For now, I'm going to isolate myself and attempt to break through Tenth Level!"

"You want to achieve Tenth Level, Father?" Liu Xun gasped. He was not happy at the news, only worried. "What happens if you achieve Tenth Level and the Great Emperor Mingwu summons you?"

"The only way to achieve Tenth Level is to take baby steps." Liu Xun sighed. "Don't let anyone know about this!"

"Of course!" Liu Zhen's expression was stern. He knew the gravity of the situation.

"In the next few days, the Sunken Jade Tower in Lianyun Mountains will open its doors. Maybe a large number of proficient combatants will show up at Donglin County. When that happens, we need to be on guard to prevent any problems from brewing up. Also, Prime Minister Zuo and your Grandpa might show up too."

"The Sunken Jade Tower is opening its door and you're going to achieve Tenth Level. Are you preparing to go in or something?" Liu Zhen asked. He frantically continued, "For years, many strong combatants had gone into the Sunken Jade Tower but only a few emerged alive."

"We can talk about that in a few days." Liu Xun was calm.

After the Ye Clan had driven away all the Yun Clan's laborers, the mines became a filthy mess. The laborers had destroyed whatever they could. Even the entrance to the cave that was carved by their ancestors had a boulder in its way. The people were furious at the sight of the damage though with the Yun Clan gone, they could let go of their anger too.

"Little Chen, Zhantian, let's move this boulder away!" Ye Changxuan looked toward the large boulder ahead of them. The boulder must have rolled down from above the mountains. It would take an enormous amount of effort to move them, even if it were three top Ninth Level combatants.

"Save it, Grandpa. Father, let me do it." Ye Chen smirked.

Ye Changxuan and Ye Zhantian were confused. The boulder before them was at least the height of four to five men. Could Ye Chen move the boulder by himself?

Ye Chen got the rest of the men to stand at a distance away. He then looked at Ye Meng and a couple of others who were holding onto a few bags. Ye Chen took a bag and shoved underneath the boulder. He lifted the boulder up and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could. An explosion ensued and the boulder was blown to bits. People were taken by surprise by the sound of the blast. It was as if heaven and earth shook.

There were a lot of explosives in the bag and Ye Chen had shoved the bag into the slits of the boulder. The blast was surely comparable to the strike of a Tenth Level combatant.

Ye Changxuan and Ye Zhantian looked on in horror. They had to give it to Ye Chen for coming up with something so devastating. It was probably useless when used against humans, given they could easily avoid it but it was extremely useful to blast rocks to bits.

For the next few hours, Ye Chen had started a massive scale of bombing across the mountain. Under the power of gunpowder, half of the mountain began to crumble. Xuan-Iron fell on the ground. Back then, the laborers employed by the Ye Clan had to resort to pickaxes to smash open the rocks to gain some ore. Now, all they had to do was pick up the pieces of rocks, choose between them, and have them wheeled down the mountains. It was a simple process that increased productivity ten-fold.

Fellow men cheered on. The three hundred laborers that they had employed had arrived too. They began wheeling away the ore batch by batch. It was a hot scene at the mines.

Suddenly, a voice came from the mines.

"Elder Chief, get over here! There's a cave in here!"

Ye Chen and Ye Changxuan looked at one another and went up ahead.

After half of the mining mountain had been bombed to bits by Ye Chen's gunpowder, the men had found a deep cave right in the debris. No one could tell where it led to but cold winds came out of the cave.

"Is it a natural cave?" Ye Chen wondered. He looked inside the cave and reached for a stone on the walls. It was silver and shimmering. It looked like the cave was formed out of these. "What's this, Grandpa?"

Ye Changxuan took over the stone in Ye Chen's hands and proclaimed excitedly, "These are Silver Arcanite, a high-grade material used in the construction of armor. It's much more valuable than Xuan-Irons but I would've never thought there would be a Silver Arcanite mining mountain here!"

"Tell the rest of the men to keep this entire incident a secret!" Ye Zhantian urged. This place had to be left in the hands of a trustworthy group of people to mine!

"I wonder if the cave leads to other places. Maybe it goes there?" Ye Zhantian had a thought.

"You mean the Sunken Jade Tower?" Ye Changxuan replied in shock.

"What's the Sunken Jade Tower?" Ye Chen added. He was curious about the conversation between Ye Zhantian and Ye Changxuan.

"Inform the men that none of them are to venture twenty meters beyond the cave. If they do so, they'll be subjected to the clan's punishments!" Ye Changxuan did not hesitate when he spoke. In a serious tone, he continued, "Lock this place up and ensure that no one learns about it."

"What kind of place is the Sunken Jade Tower, Grandpa?" He looked at Ye Changxuan, whose face was extremely serious.