Chapter 27: Ruddy Blood Bats
Lin Xun had no idea of Qian Qi and Lu Ting’s primary plan, in which he would be killed and his body would be thrown in this very abandoned mine.
However, Qian Qi and Lu Ting never thought that they would lose their lives instead.
This abandoned mine was so deep that one could hardly see the end of it.
After looking at the mine tunnel carefully, Lin Xun walked into it carrying two dead bodies.
The mine was winding and dark, and the wall was covered with jogged rocks of grotesque shapes in the color of blood. Many places had already been excavated.
Here ever hid a minitype lode of Feiyun Fire Copper, which must have already been caverned out given the place had been abandoned for more than one hundred years. However, Lin Xun didn’t come here for fire copper.
He zigzagged down the mine for 15 minutes and stopped in front of a pot hole.
After dumping Lu Ting and Qian Qi’s corpses here, Lin Xun didn’t leave; instead, he walked along the pot hole.
The deeper he went, the colder and damper the hole was. In total silence, this place was terrifyingly horrible.
Zhi***
With a sharp whistle, an obvious line like fire shot from the deep hole, breaking the darkness.
Just as he expected! There was a touch of smile appearing on the corners of his mouth.
Pu***
Lin Xun waved the sharp dagger in his hand at the moment and the coming firing line was split, turning into fire rain and falling down.
Bending over, Lin Xun found it was a bat in fact, head cut off.
With extended fangs and bulged eyes, it looked so hideous. The wings were suffused with blood, as if they were made of it.
Ruddy Blood Bats!
When he was young, Lin Xun ever read the Documentary of Spiritual Creatures, an ancient book Master Lu collected, which had recorded this kind of bat.
It was a kind of mutant. Hiding by day and coming out by night, ruddy blood bats fed on blood. People who were bit by them would be subjected to blood poison, which, if not being treated timely, would kill the victim within three days.
However, Lin Xun didn’t care about that. According to the book, where ruddy blood rats appeared hid blood marrow grits, which were actually the teeth of ruddy blood rats.
Ruddy blood rats would throw their mouth against the stones and smash their teeth and fangs every three years. After one month, new teeth would grow out completely.
For practitioners, blood marrow grits were highly valuable spiritual materials, which could be used in medicines or refined for spiritual inks. Best of all, it could help practitioners wash muscles and bones, as well as refine marrows.
If practitioners who were going to break through Marrow Washing, the fifth level of Martial Realm, got blood marrow grits, the chance of success would be improved by 20 percent.
So blood marrow grits were a kind of expensive spiritual materials.
When hearing there was a lode of Feiyun Fire Copper in this village, Lin Xun had suspicion in the heart. He knew it clearly that ruddy blood bats like to inhabit in places with Feiyun Fire Copper which could provide a natural barrier for them.
That was why Lin Xun intended to visit this place. However, he couldn’t make sure whether those powerful people had discovered it or not.
But now, coming across this bat, Lin Xun could tell there were still a lot of blood marrow grits hiding in the deep mine.
Lin Xun could not help but quicken his steps with this thought.
As a valuable thing, blood marrow grit could be sold at a high price. If he could collect a few, he would gain a considerable fortune.
Being poor and blank at the moment, Lin Xun could not go to Ziyao Empire without money.
If only for his cultivation and development in spiritual tattoo, Lin Xun needed to make money hard. Without a large amount of wealth, cultivation, as well as refining his ability on spiritual tattoos, could not be possible.
There was a saying that went like this – A spiritual tattooist was cultivated with golden and silver mountains.
It was not overstated because inscribing spiritual tattoo required inscribing pens, spiritual inks and carriers, none of which could be dispensed with. Among them, spiritual inks were the most costly since each spiritual ink was refined with various spiritual materials. The higher a spiritual tattoo’s rank was, the higher the requirements would be, so the materials used to refine spiritual ink were more valuable.
This was only for spiritual inks. Concerning more about the selection and requirements of inscribing pens and carriers, one would never make it without money.
Furthermore, sometimes spiritual tattoo would not be inscribed as planned, which meant a large sum of money was wasted. However, no spiritual tattooists could ensure they would make a successful inscription every time they try.
So to be a spiritual tattooist required a good deal of money besides gift and intelligence.
If Lin Xun wanted to go further on the road of inscribing spiritual tattoos, money was indispensible.
Of course, if he became a real spiritual tattoo someday, he could make money easily.
There was also another saying– There was smell of money flowing through the fingers of each spiritual tattooist since every spiritual tattoo formation he inscribed would be sold at sky-high price.
Having learnt with Master Lu, Lin Xun knew it clearly.
So he must make money hard to learn and inscribe spiritual tattoos for increasing the chance to become a spiritual tattooist. After then, wealth, status, and fame would be on hand.
In Lin Xun’s eyes, inscribing spiritual tattoos was his survival skill. After survival, it could be used as a way to make money for cultivation.
Not a child from a rich or powerful family who didn’t need to worry about money, or an offspring from the nobility who had various resources, being poor and blank, Lin Xun could only rely on himself in Ziyao Empire.
…
More ruddy blood bats came out as Lin Xun went deep. Fortunately, their attack force was weak though they looked ferocious, so Lin Xun killed them easily.
Pu***
The depressing sound of killing bats was unstopped. Besides that, only the sound of Lin Xun’s footsteps could be heard.
However, as time passed, the amount of ruddy blood bats was increasing. Sometimes they even rushed out in groups like lumps of fire rain. Thus Lin Xun had to cope with them carefully, waving that dark cyan dagger on his hand quickly.
Gifted by Master Lu for defending himself when Lin Xun was young, this dark cyan dagger was cast by many rare spiritual materials. Unfortunately, there was no spiritual tattoo on it because even Master Lu could not succeed in inscribing one.
So it was just an ordinary weapon without grades, even it was unparalleledly sharp.
To judge a weapon was graded or not was exclusive – to check if there was spiritual tattoo on it or not.
Treasures with spiritual tattoos were called spiritual weapons. Based on the power, these weapons were classified into Human-rank, Earth-rank, Heaven-rank, and Yang-rank, and each rank then was divided into low grade, middle grade, high grade and top grade.
Generally speaking, practitioners at the level above Gang Spirit Realm could exert the highest power of a spiritual weapon.
For Lin Xun who was only at the second level of Martial Realm, a spiritual weapon on his hand could hardly exert its power.
However, even without grade, this dark cyan dagger was powerful since it was refined with many rare spiritual materials.
This dagger was also named Sky Breacher by Lin Xun, meaning it could break off the sky eventually.
With Sky Breacher on hands, Lin Xun kept moving. Nevertheless, the mine was so deep and quiet, as if there was no end of it.
Until now, he had walked five thousand meters for more than two hours.
The deeper he went, the darker the surrounding was. Lin Xun could hardly see the path without the dim dark red glow on the wall.
His vision was affected seriously, so when the ruddy blood bats attacked him suddenly, it became a little hard for him to defend himself.
In the end, Lin Xun gave up distinguishing where these bats came from and began to perceive the dangers by his consciousness with focused mind.
It was nearly the same as fighting with closed eyes.
At first, things were a little out of control and Lin Xun was nearly bit by those rats in the crucial part. But later he familiar with this kind of fighting method and did it with facility gradually.
What’s more, fighting with consciousness made Lin Xun gain much apperception of martial cultivation. The obscurity and mystique of Six-word Saberplay that had not been fully understood before were also caught on.
Shua***
The blade of the dagger breached the air and killed the sudden appearing bats with roving glitter, like an unexpected rainbow in the darkness.
At that moment, Lin Xun was completely lost in the learning of Six-word Saberplay, completely forgetting the passage of time.
His skills of using the dagger became more adept and concise, with an indistinctly hard-edged and mysterious feeling.
It was lucky since Lin Xun had perceived the Meditating Magic through meditation, and his soul and mind got improved and refined to sense the surroundings clearly. For any other practitioners who were at the second level of Martial Realm, if he fought without sight in this situation, he would be bit by these ruddy blood bats all over the body and die soon.
Not knowing how long it took, when Lin Xun could not sense anything and became awakened, he found he reached the end of the hole.
There was a huge rock in front of him unexcavated. Obviously, he could not go on.
Looking the place around, Lin Xun slightly narrowed his eyes when he saw piles of skeletons and bones on the ground!