Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 487 I've struck it rich! (Seeking monthly votes)
Shao Chaozong's warning was still echoing in the passage, and the overwhelming, ear-piercing screech had drowned out everything around him!
The foul-smelling, viscous blood mist, as if alive, instantly gushed out from the rock walls on both sides, and even from countless cracks above and below, transforming into deadly red waves that madly swept towards Lin Chen and his group of six.

"Watch out! Charge together!"

Lu Feng's voice rang out as his spear danced like a dragon, his fierce innate qi tearing through the air and shattering the several clouds of blood mist and the ferocious blood mist beasts within them that rushed towards him.

However, after the Blood Mist Beast was killed, its corpse spewed out red mist again, even more densely than before. The blood mist that burst out after the Blood Mist Beast's death contained extremely strong corrosive properties, capable of corroding even the protective qi of a Xiantian martial artist.

"It's no use, we can't get out, there are too many!" Xu Siyuan roared, his short blade flashing coldly as he slashed down several heads, but his arm was sprayed with a cloud of blood mist that suddenly broke through the stone wall.

The viscous blood mist clung to his clothes, instantly corroding them and leaving a glaring burn. His protective aura, already weakened by the frantic escape from the sea monster, was now even more strained in the face of the omnipresent blood mist beast.

Zhu Ru was in slightly better condition; a strange fragrance seemed to swirl around her, forming a pink, gauze-like barrier. The blood mist collided with the barrier, producing a slight popping sound, temporarily preventing it from getting close. However, this barrier was clearly extremely taxing on her mental energy; her face was pale, and her breathing was rapid.

Within the blood mist, everyone else's divine senses were rendered ineffective, except for Lin Chen, who was still able to sense things within the red mist thanks to the strength of his divine sense. At this moment, he also cleaved off several blood mist beasts that pounced at him with his fists. When his divine senses saw Zhu Ru's performance, his eyes showed a different light.

"Don't fight these blood mist beasts, just charge forward!"

Shao Chaozong, being the most experienced, roared and unleashed both palms simultaneously. His powerful palm strikes, like two giant shields, briefly blasted a path through the thick blood mist. However, his sleeves were also corroded and torn, and several charred spots were faintly visible on his arms.

The six of them pressed on, with Shao Chaozong leading the way, while Zhang Sheng and Lu Feng on either side of him were responsible for killing the Blood Mist Beasts that were close to him. Lin Chen was at the back of the group, and his spiritual strength played a crucial role at this moment.

The powerful divine sense was unaffected by the red mist. Whether the Blood Mist Beast broke out of the rock, emerged from above or below, it could be sensed in advance. When a Blood Mist Beast silently fell from the crevice above Zhu Ru's blind spot, Lin Chen's palm strike arrived first, accurately shattering it in mid-air.

However, Xu Siyuan, who was in front of Lin Chen, was not so lucky. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet collapsed, and blood mist surged from below. Xu Siyuan panicked and was about to be hit by the blood mist beast that was attacking from below when Lin Chen slapped his foot with a palm. The terrifying palm wind directly caused the blood mist beast to explode.

"Thank...thank you so much!"

Xu Siyuan turned around and expressed his gratitude through the red mist, but Lin Chen did not respond to Xu Siyuan. Instead, he shouted forward, "Blast open the stone wall on the left side ahead."

Just now, Lin Chen's divine sense discovered that the stone wall on the left in front of him was not thick, and that there were several passages connected behind this stone wall.

Shao Chaozong, who was in front, changed the direction of his palm strike almost without hesitation. Lu Feng and Zhang Sheng were equally decisive, and the three of them joined forces to blast the stone wall on the left.

This demonstrates the decisiveness of experts at the second level of the Innate Realm, because they are well aware that Lin Chen would not harm them at this time.

Boom!

With the combined power of three Innate Realm Level Two experts, a tremendous roar erupted, sending shards of rock flying like rain. The stone wall was blasted open with enough force to create a sufficiently large breach! Behind the shattered opening, several deep, narrow passages leading in different directions were revealed, their destinations unknown.

At the same time, the violent shockwave of the explosion briefly dispersed the surrounding blood mist, revealing more ferocious, writhing blood mist beasts!
But at this moment, everyone was deeply attracted by the rock walls of the six passages in front of them. Purple sand spots were visible to the naked eye on the rock walls of these six passages.

Crystallizing sand!
Each channel is filled with quenching sand.

"Everyone, each of us has our own passage. How much tempering sand we can collect depends on our own abilities."

Shao Chaozong gave a low shout. If the six of them entered one passage, they would have to avoid being chased by the Blood Mist Beasts behind them and also obtain the Tempering Sand. The efficiency would be too low. It would be better for each person to enter one passage.

Most importantly, Shao Chaozong had his own plans.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shao Chaozong headed straight for the leftmost passage, his body surging with powerful energy, crushing several blood mist beasts that pounced at him.

With Shao Chaozong leading the way, Zhang Sheng also chose the closest passage without hesitation, gritted his teeth and rushed through, smashing aside several blood mist beasts blocking his way.

"Brother Shao's words make some sense, so I'll take my leave now."

Zhu Ru's gaze swept over Lin Chen, and she nodded slightly. A burst of fragrance emanated from her body, freezing all the blood mist beasts in place. Although it only lasted for a moment, it was enough for them to slip into a passage.

"Brother Xu, you'll be following me through this passage."

Lu Feng looked at Xu Siyuan. Among the six, Xu Siyuan was the most seriously injured. He had been attacked by a sea monster in the sea and had just been injured by a blood mist beast, which greatly reduced his strength.

There was a hint of hesitation in Xu Siyuan's eyes, but he finally nodded.

"Brother Fang, please don't misunderstand. I only allowed Brother Xu to share a passage with me because he was injured. It's not that these passages are any different. The end of these six passages is another exit of the canyon. If you don't believe me, you can share a passage with us."

Lu Feng looked at Lin Chen; Lin Chen was the one he couldn't understand the most. This man was the first to discover the Blood Mist Beast, and he also found a way out for everyone. Moreover, after such a fierce battle, he didn't even have a speck of Blood Mist Beast blood on him.

Upon hearing that Lin Chen would be given the same passage as him, Xu Siyuan opened his mouth slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything.

"I believe in Brother Lu. Take care, Brother Lu."

Having received Lin Chen's response, Lu Feng did not hesitate and led Xu Siyuan through a passage, their figures quickly disappearing from sight.

At this moment, Lin Chen was the only one left on the scene.

Facing the surrounding blood mist beasts, flames suddenly appeared around Lin Chen. The moment this innate fire appeared, the surrounding blood mist beasts seemed to feel fear and began to hesitate in place.

The innate fire is the nemesis of many demonic beasts, especially those that live in the dark underground.

Ignoring the blood mist beasts that dared not approach, Lin Chen took a deep breath and quickly scanned the passage that Lu Feng and Xu Siyuan had entered with his divine sense until the figures of the two were beyond the range of his divine sense. Only then did he step into another passage that no one else had entered.

Stepping into the passage, Lin Chen raised his right hand, and the innate fire floated out and landed on the ground, forming a wall of fire that blocked the entrance to the passage.

With a wall of fire formed by innate fire, Lin Chen wasn't worried that the Blood Mist Beast would dare to enter. At that moment, a dagger appeared in his hand, and he began to cut the tempering sand on the wall.

The stone walls on both sides of the passage were covered with crystal sand, which looked like a shimmering crystal ribbon. While cutting, Lin Chen also held the Hundred Treasures Box and put the cut crystal sand into it.

Five hours later, after all the quenching sand had been cut off, Lin Chen finally put away his jade knife.

A full 500 liters!
One dou is equal to ten sheng. According to the market price of quenching sand, one dou can be sold for at least three thousand yan coins, which means that the quenching sand he harvested is worth 150,000 yan coins.

This time I've really struck it rich!

Even a top-tier family like the Lu family in Guangwu City only has this much wealth.

The Hundred Treasures Box has a capacity of one thousand liters. I specifically took out some items from the Hundred Treasures Box and gave them to Yin Yue, in order to store as much tempering sand as possible.

Such a large quantity of quenching sand is extremely rare even across the entire Yan Dynasty.

It seems that Lu Feng probably didn't know there would be so much tempering sand here. It turns out that the innate realm martial artist who came in probably didn't enter a passage with so much tempering sand, and he just happened to choose a passage with the most tempering sand.

“Even if there aren’t as many in the other passages, Lu Feng and the others would probably go deep into the passages to completely shake off the Blood Mist Beasts before they start cutting. I can go back and harvest more.”

Without hesitation, Lin Chen turned back to the entrance of the passage. The Blood Mist Beast had already disappeared. He first chose the passage that the other five people had not entered, and returned to the entrance of the passage in less than a quarter of an hour.

That passage, which no one had ever entered, contained only thirty liters of quenching sand.

Undeterred, Lin Chen entered the passage of the other group and found that apart from a few pieces that hadn't been taken away at the entrance, there was nothing left inside. Based on the length of the scratches on the stone wall, he could determine that the most the other group had was the passage chosen by Shao Chaozong, which contained about a hundred liters of quenching sand, while the other passages contained only a few dozen liters.

After removing all the quenching sand from all the passages, Lin Chen did not return to his own passage, but instead went directly into the passage chosen by Lu Feng.

Although Lu Feng had brought Xu Siyuan into the passage with him and his spirit did not fluctuate much when he explained things to him, which meant there was no foul play, Lin Chen was not entirely certain.

It's possible that Lu Feng is a very cunning person, and that his divine sense didn't detect anything unusual.

There were many corpses of Blood Mist Beasts inside the passage, but after passing the rock wall with tempering sand, there were no more corpses of Blood Mist Beasts on the ground. It didn't mean that the Blood Mist Beasts left after entering here, but rather that Lu Feng and Xu Siyuan must have been moving forward at full speed after digging out the tempering sand, leaving the Blood Mist Beasts behind.

With divine sense present, Lin Chen moved quickly through the passage, without worrying about any sudden danger.

……

Three hours later, Lin Chen stopped. Sensing the situation ahead with his divine sense, his expression suddenly turned strange, and he disappeared into the darkness.

PS: I checked the monthly votes and it's reached 500. Jiudeng didn't play any tricks and split the content of the original two chapters into three chapters. There will be an extra chapter for 500 votes, either tomorrow or the day after. The daily update will still be 6,000 to 7,000 words.

(End of this chapter)