In the cave, the narrow passage was bustling with activity. People were carving holes in the cave walls and stuffing them with "Explosive Fire Thunder." Crates of Explosive Fire Thunder were continuously being moved into the cave, and the sheer number of them was enough to blow the entire valley apart.

At the deepest part of the cave, in front of a glowing green stone wall exuding a strong aura, stood a man and a woman.

"My daughter, do you know what this is?" Shentu Lie, holding a black spear, gestured toward the stone wall, his voice slightly excited.

The green stone wall was crystal clear, like jade, and as transparent as glass. It contained several red crystals the size of fingernails scattered throughout. In every cubic meter of green crystal, there were about twenty or so red crystals.

"This is a melting crystal mine. The red ones are melting crystals, a high-grade material for refining weapons. Even a small piece of it is worth over a thousand taels of gold." Fifteen-year-old Shentu Yu, with fair skin and a deep knowledge from reading many books, explained, "The green crystals surrounding it are the associated mineral 'Iron Jade Crystal,' also used in weapon forging, worth about the same as silver."

"Do you know what it means if our tribe gets these?" Shentu Lie asked again.

"If our tribe gets these, it means..."

Shentu Yu paused for a moment, her beautiful face slightly flushed with excitement. "Melting crystal mines are mostly buried deep underground, with only a few located on the surface. The other mine on the surface is located more than ten miles away at Golden Rooster Ridge. If these two melting crystal mines are part of the same vein, it means the vein stretches over ten miles underground!"

"This melting crystal mine is worth more than all the assets of the ten largest tribes in Heitan Mountain combined—including territories, merchant caravans, vassal tribes, mines, and so on. It's worth at least ten times that, if not more!"

Shentu Yu instinctively clenched her fists, her breathing growing heavier with excitement.

"Once this mine belongs to our tribe, Father, you won't just revive the glory of our ancestors from a thousand years ago, but you could even take it further—buy the 'city-building rights' and establish a real city within our territory. You, Father, will be the city lord! Our Shentu tribe will elevate from a tribal status to that of nobility!"

"Yes! Build a city, elevate to nobility!"

Shentu Lie nodded firmly. "Once we achieve this, no other tribe will threaten us. We'll be under the protection of the city guards, and we’ll be able to raise our own army, establish noble offices, implement tax laws. We’ll have tens of thousands of commoners and merchants move to the new city, and organizations like the 'Sky Tower' and 'First-Grade Restaurant' will open branches here."

Father and daughter were both extremely excited.

The survival conditions in tribal lands were harsh. Apart from conflicts with other tribes, they also faced the threat of attacks from demon beasts.

These powerful demon beasts were as intelligent as humans.

They knew how to avoid danger and wouldn't attack royal cities or the fortified territories of powerful noble houses. They would, however, target tribal lands and villages where people were more vulnerable.

Every one of the ten tribes of Heitan Mountain had experienced "demon beasts invading tribal cities and killing indiscriminately" events in their history, some of which caused massive casualties.

Attacks by demon beasts in the wild were even more frequent.

Building a city and elevating to nobility was the greatest aspiration of all the tribe leaders in Heitan Mountain's history!

"Our Shentu tribe is truly destined."

Shentu Lie sighed. "Three and a half years ago, your second uncle discovered this melting crystal mine by chance when he was chasing down bandits into the Jiang tribe’s territory. The aura from the mine has grown stronger with time. We thought the Jiang tribe would eventually discover it, but who would have thought that Jiang Hanfeng would suddenly go missing! Truly, Heaven is helping our Shentu tribe!"

"Sadly, second uncle is no longer with us," Shentu Yu said with a sigh.

"Yes, he’s gone, along with your third uncle, your fourth uncle, Qing Uncle, and Wanjun Uncle... Over these three years, half of our warriors have perished!" Shentu Lie said, his eyes reddening, but his voice rising in defiance. "But all of this was worth it!"

"We won the war against the Jiang tribe! Today, we won everything! Including this melting crystal mine! With this mine, the fate of our Shentu tribe will be completely transformed! We’ll build a real city, become nobility! This is something no previous Shentu leader has achieved—yet I, Shentu Lie, have done it!"

Shentu Lie said, his hand brushing against the green stone wall.

The Iron Jade Crystal felt warm and smooth to the touch, unlike cold rock, but far harder than any stone.

"My daughter, I have a suggestion," Shentu Yu said.

"Speak, daughter." Shentu Lie glanced at his daughter.

"The new city should be named Lie City, what do you think?" Shentu Yu suggested.

"Lie City?" Shentu Lie’s eyes lit up, and he burst into laughter. "Haha, good! Lie City! We shall name it Lie City!"

He was so excited that his body trembled.

Shentu Lie had already been considered by some to be the number one warrior of Heitan Mountain.

Invincible in the congenital realm!

If he could lead the tribe to nobility, he would be recorded in history, celebrated for generations! Naming the new city after himself would be far more impactful than engraving his name on a stone tablet!

Suddenly, the green stone wall vibrated with an aura.

It had been radiating a strong aura, but after the vibration, it intensified even further, and the energy could be felt by those outside the cave.

"The aura has grown stronger."

Shentu Yu watched, "In about half a month, the aura from this melting crystal mine will be detectable from miles away, and it will be impossible to hide."

"It doesn’t matter."

Shentu Lie smiled, "We’ve already won. We’ve seized the entire Jiang tribe’s territory, and everything on it belongs to our Shentu tribe. We don’t have to wait another half month. By tonight, after the sun sets, we’ll blow open the valley. The Iron Jade Crystal is incredibly hard, and it will take days of intense fire to mine, but we don’t need to hide it anymore..."

"Yes." Shentu Yu nodded, "Once the first batch of melting crystals is extracted and their quality confirmed, I’m sure the Sky Tower will send someone to discuss cooperation right away..."

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of heavy footsteps.

"Tribe Leader! Tribe Leader!" Shentu Min had already inquired and, knowing Shentu Lie was here, rushed in at full speed.

Moments later...

Boom!! Shentu Lie slammed his black spear into the ground, his bones turning white from the force. His face turned ashen as he shouted, "What did you say?! Say it again?!"

"Jiang... Jiang Xuan won the final match. Uncle Yong’s head was cut off." The young Shentu Min said nervously, "The inspector Lei Hong said that both tribes will fight again in a month..."

"Jiang Hanfeng’s son! Killed my last brother! I was planning to treat him well! How dare he rise up!" Shentu Lie’s face twisted with fury.

He suddenly spun around, lifting his black spear and delivering a fierce, violent blow to the green stone wall! But the Iron Jade Crystal was hundreds of times harder than rock, and only a special method could extract it. Shentu Lie’s full-force strike only caused a few small fragments to break off.

Shentu Min, terrified, dared not move and lowered his head.

"You go notify outside. The mining plan is canceled." Shentu Yu said coldly to Shentu Min.

It cannot be destroyed!

This land still belongs to the Jiang tribe.

If they find out that such a mine exists on their territory, and the Jiang tribe gains such unimaginable wealth, it could bring catastrophic consequences for the Shentu tribe!

Shentu Min rushed off as if pardoned.

"Dad, what do we do now?" Shentu Yu turned to her father.

Jiang tribe’s earthen city, back mountain.

The sky had darkened.

Deep in the forest, Jiang Xuan leaned back against a large stone, sitting cross-legged on the ground. There were several pools of blood on the ground in front of him.

Puff!

Jiang Xuan spat out blood again.

"No matter how strong a half-step congenital warrior is, it’s still nearly impossible to kill a true congenital warrior. I was able to kill Shentu Yong because of the techniques passed down by Senior of the Ancient Stone, and because I recklessly used congenital spiritual energy. But I am not a true congenital body, and my meridians are severely damaged..." Jiang Xuan opened his eyes, wiped his mouth, and stood up.

He looked much better than when he first arrived at the back mountain.

His injuries were now under control.

After the death battle between the tribes ended today, Jiang Xuan had come to the back mountain to heal alone, instructing that no one was to disturb him. He was the last man of the Jiang tribe, and having won the death battle, his reputation soared, surpassing that of Jiang Jingsheng, even reclaiming the tribe leader’s artifact, the "Black Jade Ring," which now adorned his hand.

No one dared disturb him.

Wei Baiyun had countless questions for her son but had to hold back for now.

Healing was more important.

"Senior of the Ancient Stone, are you here?"

Jiang Xuan looked toward the moss-covered stone, which stood about half a meter tall, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, resembling a miniature mountain. Such naturally shaped "strange stones" were not rare in the tribal lands.

After all, stones were everywhere in the mountains, and there were always a few with unique shapes.

But this one was different.

This stone had been in the Jiang tribe’s back mountain for countless years. Jiang Xuan’s grandfather had mentioned it when he was alive, saying that the stone had always been there since his childhood, and because of its unique shape, it had been specially asked about.

Eight years ago...

At seven years old, Jiang Xuan had moved many heavy objects to build his strength. One day, when trying to move this strange stone, his hand was cut, and blood dripped onto the stone. From then on, Jiang Xuan had developed a mysterious connection with the stone, one that only he could feel.

At first, he didn’t know what this connection was.

The stone remained unchanged.

Shortly after, after practicing his technique in front of the stone, Jiang Xuan spoke some words to himself, only to hear the stone respond. It was a voice, faint and ethereal, with no clear gender.

It had been eight years.

Now, Jiang Xuan understood that this stone was actually an "Ancient Soundstone," capable of communicating with people from far away.

"Senior of the Ancient Stone, are you here?"

"Not back yet?"

Jiang Xuan continued to speak to the stone, hoping for a response.

Millions of miles away.

In the core city of the Da Qian Dynasty, "Qianjing City."

This grand city spanned over one hundred thousand miles, its walls rising tens of thousands of feet, towering like the heavens. Over a hundred million people lived here, and eight giant puppet guardians stood watch at each of the city gates. Each golden puppet was taller than the city walls, like mountains, wearing heavy armor and wielding massive axes. Even gods and demons would be helpless before them.

To these giant puppets, the figures passing through the city gates appeared as tiny as dust, like ants to a human looking down.

They were near-godlike beings, but only laborers guarding the city gates.

Inside Qianjing City, the royal palace.

The palace was located on a mountain peak in the clouds. In the celestial pond, the "fish" were void creatures caught from beyond the world’s seams. The brown "lion dog" lying by the window was the last extinction-level beast in this world.

The palace was decorated with countless treasures.

There were crystal screens carved from space crystals, the staff of the Demon Emperor from another realm, the skull of a world-ending beast like crystal, a small tree bearing fruit like stars, and a heavy, ancient broken sword on a shelf.

In the corner, there was a stone half a meter high, resembling a mountain.

"Senior of the Ancient Stone, are you here?"

"Not back yet?"

The voice of the young man continued to emanate from the stone, but the purple-robed maid standing by the palace door seemed to not hear it, standing still.

Until, a figure appeared out of thin air in the hall.

"How long has this kid been calling?"

A figure with a phoenix crown appeared out of nowhere. Her voice was impossible to discern, and even her face was hard to make out. Anyone who looked at her felt as though they were gazing into a distorted space.

The harder they tried to focus, the harder it became to see her clearly.

"Your Majesty, he has been calling for you for an hour." The purple-robed maid respectfully replied, not daring to lift her eyes to look at the figure.

Because she was one of the oldest lifeforms in the world, a supreme ruler of this land—an entity symbolizing divinity, the ruler of the Da Qian Dynasty for thousands of years! Having lived so long, people had long forgotten her face, her name, and even her gender.

The world referred to her as—The Qian Emperor!