Great Wilderness Demon Lord

After Xiao Yu investigated the origin of the spirit copper, he led several newly arrived tribal leaders into the general's mansion.

Xiao Yunlan summoned them to the small hall in the second courtyard. There were three people in total: a fox-man, a badger-man, and a short, stocky man with gray hair. Xiao Yu introduced him as the leader of the Digging Tribe, named Shi Gen.

Shigen's appearance was very different from that of ordinary barbarians.

His limbs were short and thick, his shoulders were broad and rock-like, his palms were large and rough, and his nails were thick and hard, just like sharp claws that had been digging in the soil and digging in the rocks for many years.

Xiao Yunlan had never met any members of this tribe before.

Xiao Yu, standing nearby, explained at the opportune moment: "Grand Uncle, Chief Shi Gen's tribe has lived in the northern mountains for generations, making a living by mining. The blue-patterned spirit copper we found was first discovered by them."

Shi Gen stepped forward, placed his right hand on his chest, and bowed slightly in greeting.

His Da Yong Mandarin was stiff and halting, with stuttering words and obvious strain, but he still tried his best to speak clearly: "General Xiao... General Xiao, my tribe is in charge of mining."

"There are stones in the mountains that glow. We don't know...we don't know their use, so we brought them to exchange for food."

Xiao Yunlan gestured for him to sit down and then ordered Xiao Duo to bring tea.

Shi Gen took the teacup, first brought it to his nose to smell it, then carefully took a sip, and gently placed it on the table.

"How many people are there in your tribe?" Xiao Yunlan asked in a deep voice.

Shi Gen counted carefully on his short, thick fingers, his brows furrowed, speaking with great difficulty, saying slowly and deliberately, "The old, the weak, women and children, all of them, one hundred and thirteen."

There are over forty able-bodied men who can mine underground… over forty men.”

Xiao Yunlan nodded slightly, then asked, "Are there many of those glowing stones in reserve?"

Shi Gen pondered for a moment, his lips moved, and he struggled to organize his thoughts, slowly saying, "Many...many. There's a ditch in the mountain, and on the ditch walls, everywhere. We've been digging for over ten years, and we've only managed to dig...and only a little bit."

Xiao Yunlan secretly made a calculation in his mind.

The fact that only a small amount has been mined over more than a decade indicates that the tribe is small in scale and uses primitive and backward mining methods. It also suggests that the mineral veins may be extremely rich, and even casual picking can yield some results.

He looked up at Shi Gen and asked directly, "Are you willing to cooperate with us in mining?"

Shi Gen nodded first, then shook his head, looking slightly hesitant. Xiao Yu quickly added, "Grand-uncle, he means he's willing to cooperate, but there's a condition."

They wanted food, as well as mining tools like pickaxes and shovels—their own tools were too crude to break through hard rock.

Xiao Yunlan's gaze returned to Shi Gen, and she confirmed, "Is that so?"

Shi Gen nodded vigorously, his voice urgent and strained, his words stumbling and repetitive: "Yes, yes! Our pickaxes... they have wooden handles and stone tips, they can't dig... they can't dig through hard rock. We need... we need iron ones, good... good tools, good ones!"

Xiao Yunlan pondered for a moment before slowly speaking, "Cooperation is feasible. But I need to go to the mine site first to see for myself and confirm the situation before we can discuss the specifics of how to mine and how to split the profits."

Shi Gen paused for a moment, then turned to look at the fox-person beside him and mumbled a few words in a low voice.

The fox-man then replied in barbarian language. Shi Gen turned around, nodded emphatically, and struggled to squeeze out a few words: "Yes, yes. I, I'll take the general, I'll take the general."

Xiao Yunlan immediately instructed Xiao Yu to arrange for Shi Gen and the others to rest at the post station, and also ordered Steward Wu to prepare the necessary supplies for the trip as soon as possible. Early the next morning, he led Xiao Yu, Shi Biao, and ten guards, and followed Shi Gen's group to the northern mountains.

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The group traveled north from Wangbeibao for three full days.

On the first day, the landscape along the way was still the familiar Shuofeng Plain, with gentle slopes, sparse meadows, and occasional clumps of drought-resistant shrubs.

The next day, we entered the hilly area, where the terrain became more undulating and the vegetation became denser.

By the third day, the outlines of rolling low mountains could be seen in the distance, their bluish-green peaks shrouded in a thin mist.

Shi Gen was extremely familiar with the terrain and always walked at the front of the group.

At each fork in the road, he would stop for a moment to identify the path, and occasionally he would bend down and lie on the ground to examine the marks on the ground. After confirming the direction, he would continue leading the way.

The fox-man and the badger-man followed closely behind, carrying dry rations and water bags on their backs, walking steadily and not falling behind at all.

On the evening of the third day, the team finally arrived at the entrance to a valley.

Shi Gen pointed to the depths of the valley and said in a deep voice, "It's inside. It's another half-day's walk from there."

Xiao Yunlan looked up at the sky. The sun was already setting and dusk was deepening. He immediately ordered them to set up camp on the spot and explore the valley again the next morning.

At night, Shi Biao personally arranged for double-shift duty to prevent any accidents. Xiao Yunlan sat by the fire, his gaze fixed on the valley entrance.

The valley was pitch black, with only the night wind rustling through the treetops and the occasional howl of a wild beast in the distance, mournful and long, before falling silent again, making the valley seem even more secluded.

The next day, just as dawn broke, the group packed their belongings and continued their journey deeper into the valley.

The valley became narrower and narrower as you went deeper, and the mountain walls on both sides gradually became steep and precipitous. The ground was covered with loose stones, making it extremely difficult to walk.

After traveling for about an hour, Shi Gen suddenly stopped, pointed to a precipice ahead, and shouted, "We've arrived!"

Xiao Yunlan looked in the direction he pointed. The cliff was not very high, about five or six zhang high. The cliff face was covered with obvious signs of excavation—shallow grooves and dense hammer marks, clearly indicating that it had been dug by humans.

At the foot of the cliff, there were several piles of rubble, which were grayish-white in color and faintly shimmered with a pale blue luster.

He stepped forward and bent down to examine it closely.

Among the pile of rubble, there are a few slightly larger stones with clearly visible blue veins on their cross-sections, like fine veins embedded in the stones.

He picked up a stone casually, held it in his hand and weighed it; it was much heavier than an ordinary stone.

Shi Gen added from the side, "This kind of stone is the best. After you break it open, the blue veins inside are even more numerous and denser."

Xiao Yunlan gestured to the guard beside him to take out the iron pickaxe he had brought and tried to chip off a rock from the cliff.

The pickaxe slammed down, sending stone chips flying and revealing the bluish veins inside the rock—more dense and deeper in color than those on the surface rubble, with a faint sheen.

He instructed Xiao Yu to carefully collect the rock samples, and then slowly walked around the cliff to roughly estimate the width and direction of the vein.

The outcrop of this vein wasn't wide, only about two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters), but it stretched along the cliff face to both sides, seemingly without end. Shi Gen said from the side, "Going deeper into the valley, there are many more rocks like this, and their quality gets better and better."

Xiao Yunlan had already made up her mind.