My cultivation disguise has been exposed by Xiao Sizi.

A thick, dark blue mist billowed from the communication crystal. The mist swirled and gathered rapidly in the cold valley air, instantly condensing into a semi-transparent light screen about ten feet wide.

The light curtain rippled, and Li Chen's figure appeared inside.

He seemed to be sitting on a high rooftop, his moon-white robe spotless, holding a fine steel longsword in his hand, the tip of which was still dripping with viscous blood.

He held a half-eaten wild fruit in his other hand, chewing it casually.

"Have we run into a tough opponent?" Li Chen swallowed the fruit in his mouth and scanned the situation in the valley through the light screen.

"Five hundred Xuanjia soldiers fighting two thousand ronin wielding scrap metal, surely they wouldn't need to send out a distress signal?"

Qin Qiong stepped forward, ignoring the bloodstains on the ground, and clasped his hands in a military salute to the light screen.

"Your Highness, we encountered no danger; the remaining enemies have all been annihilated."

Qin Qiong turned to the side, revealing the huge stone wall behind him that had been stripped of its disguise, and raised a burning torch in his hand, shining the light on the exposed rock layers.

"Commander Xue accidentally scraped off the moss on the stone wall and discovered this mineral vein running through the mountain. We are not good at identifying what it is, and dare not make a decision on our own. Therefore, we report to Your Highness."

The torchlight shone through the light screen.

On that stone wall, which was tens of meters long and several meters high, large patches of pure silver-white metallic textures shimmered with a dazzling cold light in the darkness.

The luster was unlike that of ordinary iron or copper ore; it exuded an air of opulence that was impossible to look away from.

Li Chen stopped biting into the fruit.

He stared at it for a moment, then casually tossed the remaining half of the fruit aside, a knowing smile flashing in his eyes.

"Good luck."

"I thought I'd have to lead you guys to find it myself, but I didn't expect you guys to dig this thing out."

Qin Qiong's breathing tightened slightly, and Captain Xue behind him pricked up his ears.

"Your Highness, what kind of mine is this?" Qin Qiong asked in a deep voice.

"silver."

Li Chen uttered two words and held up two fingers in the air.

"This is a natural, high-grade silver vein with astonishing reserves."

"This is called the Iwami Silver Mine. The silver inside is enough to keep the Tang Dynasty's treasury running dry for three hundred years."

Three hundred years.

These three words floated lightly out of the light screen and landed on the muddy ground of the valley, but they stirred up a storm more terrifying than divine thunder from the heavens.

Captain Xue's legs went weak, and he collapsed into the muddy water, his eyes fixed on the stone wall behind him, his mouth agape, wide enough to fit a fist.

Five hundred veterans of the Tang Dynasty's Xuanjia Army, who had survived countless battles, were now trembling slightly, even in the hands that gripped their swords.

The Tang Dynasty was short of silver. Even in its golden age, the national treasury was always carefully managed.

And now, a silver mountain that can be mined for three hundred years is right in front of them, like a gold vault with no defenses, which they can take as they please.

"Old Cheng is here!"

Just as the valley fell into dead silence, a rough, loud roar, like a broken gong, suddenly came from the direction of the valley entrance.

The heavy clatter of hooves shattered the tranquility of the valley.

Cheng Yaojin rode a tall horse, his bright armor stained dark red with blood, and carrying his iconic huge Xuanhua axe. He led several hundred equally murderous soldiers, rushing into the valley like a whirlwind.

He was originally clearing out a village dozens of miles away when he saw the blue light in the sky and assumed that Qin Qiong was surrounded by a large army. He rushed over to provide support without even cleaning up the battlefield.

"Uncle Bao! What's going on? Where are the enemies?"

Cheng Yaojin roared and pulled on the reins, causing the warhorse to rear up, its two front hooves slamming heavily into the blood.

He turned his head and didn't see any living enemies, but he immediately saw Li Chen in the light screen, and the silver stone wall behind Qin Qiong that shone with endless wealth in the firelight.

Cheng Yaojin's roar came to an abrupt halt.

The Xuanhua axe in his hand fell to the ground with a "clang," and he rolled off the horse like a toad, tumbling and crawling to the stone wall. He stretched out his rough, large hands and dug hard at the silvery-white vein.

"Damn it..." Cheng Yaojin stared wide-eyed at the silver shavings he had picked out from under his fingernails, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

"Alright, stop acting like you've never seen anything like this before."

Inside the light screen, Li Chen picked at his ear.

"Defend this place well, and once the army has swept through this island, I will move there."

At this moment.

In the Ganlu Hall of Chang'an, thousands of miles away.

Li Shimin clutched the Xuan Guang Water Mirror tightly, his expression undergoing a dramatic and drastic transformation.

Upon hearing the phrase "three hundred years of reserves," the eyes of this Tang emperor instantly shone like two searchlights, and a wave of ecstatic joy nearly burst from his skull.

The Tang Dynasty is saved! Not only is it saved, but with this silver mountain, it can forge the most invincible iron cavalry in the world and push the Tang Dynasty's territory to the ends of the earth!

but.

The ecstasy lasted only three breaths.

Li Shimin's smile froze on his face, solidifying inch by inch, until it turned into a chilling, iron-blue color, even colder than ten thousand years of ice.

Changsun Wuji stood aside, watching the emperor's face suddenly change color. His heart sank. He knew Li Shimin too well; this was a sign that the emperor was about to explode in rage.

In Li Shimin's mind, images of Japanese envoys coming to Chang'an to pay tribute in recent years flashed by like a revolving lantern.

The envoys, dressed in tattered linen robes, knelt on the cold gold bricks of the Taiji Hall, weeping and lamenting how barren their country was and how their islands were devoid of vegetation.

They offered a few tattered folding fans and some unknown herbs, and shamelessly exchanged them for ship after ship of top-quality silk, hundred-refined steel knives, and even priceless agricultural books and craftsmen's blueprints from the Tang Dynasty!

They have a silver mountain that can be mined for three hundred years, and they are rolling in money, but they come to the Tang Dynasty to act like grandsons and cry poor!

What did they take the Tang Dynasty for? What did they take the Heavenly Khan for?!

They treated them like fools, easily manipulated and fooled!

Li Shimin clenched his teeth so hard they made a grinding sound, and he could even taste the blood seeping from his broken gums.

Anger burned through his chest, surged up his spine to the top of his head, and he felt his temples throbbing, his vision turning crimson.

"This is outrageous..." Li Shimin squeezed out four words through gritted teeth, gripping the edge of the water mirror tightly with both hands.

In the valley of the East China Sea.

Cheng Yaojin snapped out of his shock, slapped his thigh, and waved to the guards behind him.

"Go! Drag that fat guy we just grabbed on the way here up here!"