Half an incense stick later, Zhouyang and Elder Zhou Quan, who had received the alarm, arrived together outside the mine where the incident occurred.
At this time, dozens of miners had already gathered outside the mine entrance. These people seemed to be greatly frightened, their faces full of terror, even at the sight of Zhouyang and Zhou Quan, two cultivators, they did not react much.
Zhouyang frowned slightly at this sight.
Although they were mortal miners, these people were all Zhou Clan members who grew up listening to stories of cultivators and demon beasts. Zhou Family cultivators would also bring various demon beast corpses to them every few years for insight and courage, and teachers in mortal schools, as well as town stewards, would frequently teach them about low-tier demon beasts in the desert. How could they be so scared by a mere demon beast now?
What's more, during his time stationed at Cyan Ping Mountain, Zhouyang had responded to alarms and dispatched demon beasts at the mines a few times before. The miners were frightened then, but certainly not to the extreme terror of forgetting to greet him upon arrival.
At this moment, he glanced around but did not see the steward who had sent the alarm, and his gaze turned sharp.
"What's going on? Which demon beast attacked the mine? Where is your steward?"
Zhouyang, realizing something, slightly activated his magical power to exude the unique aura of a cultivator, and coldly asked for the situation in a loud voice.
Pressed by the magical aura emanating from the cultivator, the bodies of the mortal miners sank, and many directly collapsed to the ground.
However, this indeed achieved the effect Zhouyang wanted, quickly allowing the mortal miners to recover from the fear dominated by the demon beast, realizing the presence of this "Lord Immortal Master."
"Ah, the Lord Immortal Master is here!"
"Lord Immortal Master, save us, there's a demon beast, the demon beast is killing people!"
"Please save my child, Lord Immortal Master, please save my child. He's still inside the mine and hasn't come out!"
The miners, awakening as if from a dream, whether knocked down by Zhouyang's aura or not earlier, now uniformly kneeled on the ground, fervently kowtowing to him in supplication.
Had this been Zhouyang just descending from the mountains, he might have been a bit unaccustomed to seeing dozens kneeling before him, but now he remained calm, not even asking them to rise, knowing talking while kneeling to a cultivator was reassuring to them.
He listened to these chattering miners, slightly stirred some magical power, and cast an auxiliary Tier One Magic "Enchanting Sound Technique," making his voice carry a special Charming Power to say: "Don't panic, since I'm here, the demon beast will surely be eliminated. Now answer my question honestly, where is your steward? What's the appearance of the killer demon beast?"
The miners were merely mortals, unable to resist even Tier One Magic.
With the help of "Enchanting Sound Technique," Zhouyang quickly got the information he wanted.
"Replying to Lord Immortal Master, the steward was discovered and eaten by the demon beast after sending out for help. We heard screams from inside and fled, none of us saw the demon beast's appearance, those who did have all died!"
After hearing the miners' description, he turned his gaze to Zhou Quan, the clan elder who followed him here.
The elder, seasoned and experienced, understood his meaning with a glance and smiled slightly, saying: "This old man is just here to help, you are the stationed cultivator here, everything should follow your lead."
Zhouyang understood, the elder's meaning was very clear, this was his trial, unless he couldn't resolve this, the elder wouldn't proactively intervene.
"Nephew understands; then please, Third Grandfather, help escort these miners back, and nephew shall descend to exterminate the demon beast."
He nodded and promptly cupped his hand, voicing his decision.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing his words, Zhou Quan's smile immediately disappeared, looked at him displeased, flared his beard and eyes while shouting: "Why, you think this old man is too old, useless, and following you down would drag you down?"
"You've misunderstood, Third Grandfather, nephew didn't mean that, nephew was just worried..."
"Worried about what! This old man may be elderly, but in terms of magical combat ability, ten of you can't match this old man! You should worry about yourself rather than this old man, if something happened to you, how would this old man face the clan again to see the old clan leader? You want me to become the whole clan's sinner?"
Although Elder Zhou Quan was over a hundred years old, his temper showed no signs of waning. He appreciated Zhouyang's goodwill, yet utterly resented Zhouyang's arrangement, angrily pointing at him and scolding him on the spot.
Zhouyang, rendered speechless by the scolding, could only smile bitterly and honestly admit his mistake, saying: "Third Grandfather, please calm your anger, nephew acknowledges his wrong. Then please guard nephew as we descend together to eliminate the demon beast."
"That's more like it!"
The elder's anger slightly subsided and accepted his apology.
Thus, each retrieved their prized magical artifacts from their Storage Bags, and simultaneously cast the "Golden Light Body-Protecting Technique," coating themselves in a layer of Protective Golden Light, before entering the mine entrance one behind the other.
The refined iron ore vein here in Cyan Ping Mountain has been mined for decades. The mine tunnel, after years of expansion and reinforcement, is now wide enough for two people to pass through simultaneously.
Zhouyang and Zhou Quan descended along the mine path, their eyes glowing golden bright from the "Celestial Eye Technique," continuously scanning their surroundings. The darkness of the cave did not affect their vision in the slightest.
They moved quickly and soon arrived at the initial murder scene, where they found the clothes and bloodstains left by the miners. Following the blood trail and the demonic qi residue on the demon beast, they quickly located the demon beast devouring a miner's corpse in another tunnel.
It was a rat as large as a wolfhound, its fur bristling like steel needles, reflecting metallic glints. Beneath the fur, its skin faintly shone with a metallic sheen. When Zhouyang and Zhou Quan discovered it, it was crouched on a fallen miner's belly, gnawing at the body.
"Be careful, it's a Tier Two High-Grade Demon Beast, the Gold-Eating Rat!"
Elder Zhou Quan also had another identity: the only Tier Two Beast Tamer in the Zhou Family. Hence, as soon as he saw the demon beast, he recognized its origin and warned Zhouyang.
While he reminded Zhouyang to be cautious, he quickly explained the advantages and weaknesses of this demon beast: "The Gold-Eating Rat is named for its habit of devouring various metals. When mature, it becomes a Tier Two High-Grade Demon Beast. Its primary attack methods are its teeth and claws, which can even break Tier Two spiritual artifacts. In a crisis, it can shoot its fur as weapons, with power equivalent to a Tier Two Lower Grade flying needle spiritual artifact. Additionally, this beast is proficient in the Earth Escape Technique and likes attacking enemies from behind."
"Furthermore, due to its metal-eating habit, its fur and skeleton have extremely strong defense. Only Tier Two High-Grade spiritual artifacts can hurt it, or using true flame to burn it is also effective. Moreover, its eyes are a weak point."
While Elder Zhou Quan spoke, the Gold-Eating Rat, disturbed by their presence, stopped eating and looked at them with its blood-red beast eyes, filled with chilling murderous intent.
Seeing this, Elder Zhou Quan seemed to forget his previous words about prioritizing Zhouyang's decisions, and in an indisputable tone, ordered Zhouyang: "I heard from the old clan leader that he bestowed you with the Silver Gang Shield artifact. Now, control this artifact to protect yourself. I have a Tier Two High-Grade spiritual artifact, the Mountain Shaking Hammer, and I'll deal with this beast."
Zhouyang did not insist on his way; he nodded immediately after hearing this: "Understood, great-uncle. You must be careful, too. If it gets too dangerous, we can retreat and gather more people to deal with this beast later!"
After speaking, he summoned the Silver Gang Shield artifact, enlarging it several times to rotate around him, ready to block any incoming attacks.
Seeing Zhouyang obey so well, Elder Zhou Quan felt a great relief. He worried Zhouyang, being young and headstrong, might refuse such instructions, which would be a headache.
Now without concern, he waved his hand, summoned a small, dark green shield artifact to rotate around himself for protection, then tapped his storage bag to retrieve a Golden Melon Hammer artifact and threw it at the Gold-Eating Rat.
Rumble.
A thundering boom reverberated, shaking the entire mine tunnel violently.
Looking ahead, Zhouyang saw that the spot where the Gold-Eating Rat had been was now a large pit with a diameter of over ten feet, struck by the Golden Melon Hammer. However, there was no trace of blood.
"Careful, it's coming at you!"
Just as Zhouyang stared wide-eyed at the pit, Elder Zhou Quan's loud shout rang out beside him.
Before he could react, a shadow leaped out from the cave wall beside him, slamming into the Silver Gang Shield artifact, which automatically protected him upon sensing danger.
The Silver Gang Shield artifact, indeed a masterpiece meticulously refined by the old clan leader Zhou Minghan, even without Zhouyang's command, blocked the Tier Two High-Grade Demon Beast Gold-Eating Rat's impact.
This, however, exhausted the magical power Zhouyang had pre-injected into the artifact, causing it to fall to the ground after withstanding the strike.
"Damn it!"
Zhouyang cursed inwardly, quickly regaining his composure, mobilizing his divine sense to reconnect with the artifact and re-injecting magical power to make the artifact fly up and protect himself again.
Meanwhile, the Gold-Eating Rat, having missed its strike, cunningly used the Earth Escape Technique to vanish from their sight, dodging the subsequent strike from Elder Zhou Quan.
So young!
Witnessing this, Elder Zhou Quan shook his head secretly but did not blame Zhouyang.
Because when he was Zhouyang's age, his reaction to a sudden demon beast attack was even less composed. At least Zhouyang did not panic and scream but promptly took remedial action.
After Zhouyang had restored his defenses, Elder Zhou Quan reminded: "Xiao Jiu, pay attention. When it appears again, I will cast the Earth-to-Steel magic to seal its Earth Escape Technique. At that moment, be vigilant and prevent it from becoming desperate and fighting back fiercely!"
"Don't worry, great-uncle. I won't make the same mistake again!"
Zhouyang nodded vigorously with a blush, now fully alert and prepared.