Chapter 72: What a Mountain of Gold

When Chu Feng realized that this chunk of stone was, in fact, pure gold, his first thought could be summed up in two words: struck it rich! At present, the total value of all the gold and silver in his storage pouch did not even amount to a tenth of this massive piece of gold. Bringing it back would be a windfall beyond his wildest dreams.

“Heh, that brat Liu Run really didn’t let me search in vain! I can’t find him now, but I’ve stumbled upon this enormous piece of gold—it’s quite the haul!” Chu Feng rejoiced inwardly.

Just then, a sharp sound cut through the air once more. Judging by the noise, another large object was hurtling toward him.

“With such a swift whooshing sound, could it be another gold chunk wrapped in rocky sand? Let’s intercept it and see!”

Following his intent, Chu Feng thrust out his spear. Though the move appeared casual, it carried a force capable of shattering rock.

Clang!

Stone and spearhead met with a deafening crash, sending a burst of sparks flying. Chu Feng’s heart leapt—this had to be another chunk of gold!

He went to where the stone had landed and scraped its surface with his spearhead. Sure enough, just as he’d suspected, the boulder—several thousand pounds in weight—was pure gold, its surface merely encrusted with sand and gravel.

“I’ve really made it!” Chu Feng’s heart pounded violently. For a martial artist, resources were as vital as talent. Those with resources achieved greatness—this was no exaggeration. And gold was the most direct form of such resources.

Though martial artists who entered the Mystic Path and became cultivators typically traded in higher forms of currency, such as spirit stones, gold remained the standard in the current martial world.

“Two massive chunks of gold appearing in succession can’t be a coincidence. Is there perhaps a gold lode up ahead? Did these chunks come flying out from there?”

With this thought, Chu Feng immediately sprang into action, urging on his Swiftstride Giant Crab to press further ahead. If he truly found a gold lode, it would be a stroke of fortune beyond compare.

He hadn’t gone far before he sensed the atmosphere around him grow heavier, as if an invisible force was pressing down on him, making every step an effort.

When his mount crested a hill, the sensation became even more pronounced.

“What’s happening? Standing here, it feels as though I’m being weighed down by countless gold ingots. Even the earth beneath my feet feels denser.”

Dismounting, Chu Feng surveyed his surroundings and casually thrust his Dominator’s Shadow-Chasing Spear into the ground.

Clang!

The ground rang out with another resounding clang, as if metal were striking metal, the shockwave buzzing in his ears.

Chu Feng froze. Had his spear struck another chunk of gold beneath the surface—or was the entire hill made of gold?

He quickly withdrew his spear and unleashed a flowing set of spear techniques, sending stones flying and whipping up the soil with his rapid footwork. When he finished, the ground at his feet was bare and golden, gleaming brilliantly in the light.

The two chunks of gold that had flown toward him earlier were no accident—the hill was not made of stone at all, but was a solid mass of gold.

A gold mountain!

It was clearly a gold mountain!

Beneath the thick layers of earth was dazzling, radiant gold, pure enough to match the standard of gold ingots used throughout the martial world.

Moments ago, Chu Feng had thought the hill might be a gold mine, but now he realized it was not a mine, but an actual mountain of pure gold.

In the vast territory of the Great Yue Empire, gold mines were common; gold ingots were made by refining gold ore from such mines. But a gold mountain—formed entirely of pure gold—was rarer than a phoenix feather.

What an unparalleled sight!

“But this is strange! Gold is usually extracted from ore, or found in natural nuggets—how could there be such a pure deposit? If this mountain were originally a gold mine, it wouldn’t be solid gold throughout!”

Though exhilarated, Chu Feng was baffled by this mystery.

With his spear in hand, he wandered the hill, sweeping aside the thick dirt and rocks at several spots. In each place, he uncovered the same dazzling gold beneath.

This hill was, without a doubt, a gold mountain!

“So I really did find a gold mountain! By chance, I’ve discovered a fortune for the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall. If there’s a gold mountain here, is there perhaps a silver mountain nearby as well?”

Chu Feng shook his head with a wry smile.

He understood the situation perfectly well. If he’d found only one or two large chunks of gold, the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall would surely have let him keep them as a reward for his deeds in the Thunderstone Cavern. But a gold mountain was another matter entirely—its value far surpassed a few gold ingots.

He knew that, whether or not there was a silver mountain nearby, these treasures belonged to the Martial Hall. At best, he might be rewarded with a few gold ingots, but there was no way the hall would give him the mountain itself.

That was nothing but a dream.

Shaking his head, Chu Feng didn’t even bother to collect the two large chunks of gold. He leapt onto his Swiftstride Giant Crab and hurried back the way he had come.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As soon as his mount descended the hill, thunderous tremors erupted ahead, shaking the ground and sending rocks bouncing into the air.

“An earthquake? Or is some massive beast approaching?”

Chu Feng’s heart skipped a beat. Regardless, he needed to return to Lei Jianqin and the others as quickly as possible, lest they encounter danger.

The stone path was only about thirty miles long and wide enough for his mount. At the crab’s speed, it was no distance at all—he arrived within moments.

The closer he got to the exit, the more intense the rumbling became, and the earth quaked ever more violently.

“This can’t be an earthquake. What sort of powerful being could be causing such tremors? Its body must be enormous!”

As he pondered, the Swiftstride Giant Crab burst from the stone path, and a startling scene unfolded before his eyes.

There, he saw a man and a beast.

The man was none other than Liu Run.

The beast, however, was not some gigantic monster, but rather a creature the size of a horse, resembling the ancient raptors of primeval forests. Though not especially large, it was clearly incredibly heavy—each step it took made the ground quake more than the charge of a rhinoceros the size of a house.

Its appearance piqued Chu Feng’s curiosity. Its not-so-large frame was covered in fine, electric-blue and purple lines, all crackling with arcs of lightning that bathed its body in a sinister blue glow.

At this moment, the powerful, unknown beast was relentlessly chasing Liu Run, lightning arcing from its jaws as Liu Run desperately dodged, using the superior footwork of the Wind Sect. More than once, bolts of lightning from the beast’s mouth nearly struck him.

“Heh, Liu Run, you little brat, you seem to be having a rough time. Instead of running for your life, why not stop and let me finish you off?”

As Chu Feng spoke, his palm gripped the concealed weapon called the Moon-Piercing Pearl, slowly aiming its opening at the fleeing Liu Run.

“No, Lord Chu! I’m scared of you, all right? I’ll bow and confess my crimes—just don’t kill me!”

Seeing Chu Feng appear, Liu Run was already beside himself with dread. And when he saw the concealed weapon, he was terrified out of his wits, crying out for mercy.