[Lu Mingchang died in battle.]
Lu Qing was a little confused. Why would a member of the clan die?
It was typical for a clan member to die. There were several ordinary humans in the clan who have not even reached the Qi Refining Stage. These people do not have a long lifespan and could also die from an illness.
However, Lu Mingchang was different. He was a third-tier Qi Refining cultivator. Furthermore, members of the "Ming" generation were rather young. Why would he suddenly die?
Lu Qing thought back for a moment. It seemed Lu Mingchang, a cultivator of the clan, was stationed at the Energy Stone Mine. Could it be that…
Lu Qing had just thought that when another piece of news arrived.
[Lu Tingbang died in battle.]
"Damn it. There must be trouble at the Energy Stone Mine!"
Lu Tingbang, another cultivator of the clan, was also stationed at the Energy Stone Mine.
Lu Qing, who was roaming around the Yuyan Mountain, immediately headed toward the Energy Stone Mine. At the same time, he opened the system interface and quickly tapped on the map.
Indeed, there was a small red area by the side of the Yuyan Mountain. That was the location of the Energy Stone Mine!
He immediately sent a voice transmission to Lu Chaoxi and said, "Quickly bring along Mingchao and Chaohe to the stone mine. There's a Stonemother."
He arrived at the mine first.
Several miners were fleeing for their lives, running away from the mines.
Lu Qing headed in the opposite direction of the running miners and arrived at the entrance of the mine. He quickly found the culprit—the Stonemother!
Its appearance was that of a contorted humanoid that was made out of stones. Lu Qing could see its defined arms, body, and head. It did not have a lower body. In its place was a giant granite base that could shift through the earth. It had more apparent feminine features on its granite head, looking more like a female bust sculpture.
In front of her, three cultivators were trying to flee. But the Stonemother chased after them out of the mine and unleashed a constant barrage of Earth Elemental Techniques. She conjured granite out of thin air and shot them toward the front.
Even the most powerful cultivator among the group, who was at the ninth tier of the Qi Refining Stage, had no intention of facing the Stonemother head-on. Lu Qing saw the blood at the corner of the cultivator's mouth and thought back to the two cultivators of the clan who had already been killed. He guessed that the fleeing cultivator had learned his lesson.
The Stonemother was relatively slow. Even though the Qi Refining cultivators did not know how to fly, they were much faster and more agile than an earth-element spirit monster.
However, the Stonemother could use several unique techniques that posed a great deal of trouble for the cultivators.
Such unique techniques included stone walls suddenly rising or unexpected tremors on the ground… The effect of these techniques made it extremely hard for the cultivators to flee for their lives. Furthermore, the concentrated earth-element spiritual energy caused everything in the surroundings to become heavy. It made them feel as though they had slipped into a marsh, making them move at a slower pace.
The Stonemother should be a Level Two and have abilities equivalent to that of a Foundation Building cultivator.
The Stonemother is a unique spirit monster. These types of spirit monsters often spawned in mines that were rich in spiritual energy and had a strong relationship with the spiritual energy ores in the mines.
The Energy Stone Mine naturally harbored such spiritual energy ores. These ores look similar to ordinary granite, except for the specks of light mixed in inside of it. After the ores were excavated, had their impurities removed, and were further refined, the ores would become Energy Stone ingots. The entire ingot would release a gentle glow. The ingots harbored vast amounts of yin-element spiritual energy and could be used to forge magic equipment or be used as material for a few arrays.
This mine was located halfway up the Yuyan Mountain. Lu Qing had already discovered it back when he occupied the peak of the mountain.
Initially, the Energy Stone Mine was only a Level Two resource and did not produce many Energy Stones. Also, the purity of the Energy Stones it once produced was only average and had to be further refined. Under such a situation, even though they would occasionally discover a few spirit monsters in the caves, those monsters were usually only Level One. These incidents did not appear often. The clan permanently stationed five cultivators in the mine, and they would train there as well and occasionally deal with the spirit monsters that emerged from the mine.
These spirit monsters that emerged from the mine were also a source of wealth. After the monsters were killed, the body they left behind was actually a piece of high-purity ore. Thus, the members of the clan would usually be happy when spirit monsters appeared in the mine in the past as they could earn a sum of money.
However, if the spirit monster that appeared was a Stonemother, which had the abilities of a Level Two monster, that spelled trouble for the clan.
Lu Qing's spirit form felt so sunken that water almost seeped out.
Lu Qing had guessed as to how the Stonemother appeared.
After the Energy Stone Mine, which was originally a Level Two resource, was suddenly exposed to the effects of "Resource Upgrade" and became a Level Three, the number of Energy Stones within the mine increased. That brought about an even more intense spiritual energy and created accompanying spirit monsters that were even more powerful.
The Level Two Stonemother that had suddenly appeared abruptly attacked the cultivators of the clan who were permanently stationed at the Energy Stone Mine. Faced with the sudden attack, Lu Mingchang and Lu Tingbang died in battle within a short period. The rest of the people noticed that something was off. The human miners who were employed from the outside world started to escape, while the three cultivators dealt with the Stonemother.
The Level Two Stonemother was equivalent to a Foundation Building cultivator. Three Qi Refining cultivators, without ample preparation, were definitely not a match for it.
Fortunately, two people had died before them. That made the three remaining cultivators more cautious. They activated the defensive array in the mine after they noticed that the opponent was too powerful.
Unfortunately, the array that was set up in the mine was not powerful. It was only a Level Two array. Furthermore, the mine was considered the main base of the Stonemother. It was even more powerful while it was inside.
The three of them retreated when they saw that there was nothing they could do.
The violent Stonemother had no intention of letting the human cultivators off, so it chased them out of the mine, and this was the scene Lu Qing had witnessed when he arrived at the mine.
One of the cultivators at the front was Lu Tinghua. He was Lu Chaoxi's eldest son and the oldest member of the "Ting" generation.
Even though he was only at the ninth tier of the Qi Refining Stage, he had a considerable amount of experience. With his abilities, he should be able to successfully escape the Stonemother's pursuit if he put his heart into it. However, without him, the rest of the two younger juniors would definitely be embroiled within the heavy bog of the Stonemother. The Stonemother would catch up to them and kill them.
Without Lu Tinghua's help, the two young cultivators of the clan might not even have escaped from the mine.
However, Lu Tinghua was at his limits.
Lu Qing saw the Stonemother toss out another piece of granite. It was aimed directly at one of the two young cultivators. This piece of granite was not as large as those that it threw previously. It was about the size of two watermelons, but Lu Tinghua still managed to notice something unique about the piece of granite.
"Mingling, dodge quickly!"
Lu Mingling had already begun to dodge with his uncle's reminder. However, the piece of granite, which did not look particularly huge, suddenly exploded during the moment he tried to avoid the attack. The shattered pieces of stone blasted onto Lu Mingling's body. Caught off guard, the shrapnels hit his head. With blood oozing from the wound, he fell to the ground. He could not get up for the time being.
The Stonemother shot its gaze toward him the moment he fell. A ferocious expression appeared on its female statue-like face. Under the influence of its spiritual strength, the shattered pieces of stone gathered and formed a giant rock in the air. The giant rock then pressed toward the injured Lu Mingling!
Lu Mingling had a look of despair. However, at that instant, Lu Tinghua appeared in front of him. The cloak that had been wrapped around his body spread suddenly open. It released a ray of light and blocked off the area under the giant rock!