Chapter 11: Reclaim! Reclaim!

Fighting their way through, man and chicken finally reached the deepest part of the Insect Cavern. The chicken, Ba, had already reached the peak of Minor Demon, just a hair's breadth away from becoming a Demon Master. This made Xiao Yang so envious he almost wanted to roast the bird right then and there.

Perhaps sensing the ill intent radiating from its companion, Ba wiggled its plump body and shuffled away to the side.

Xiao Yang stepped into a sealed chamber. Sweeping his gaze around, he found it to be at least several dozen yards across. Such a large space, even within the Insect Cavern, ought to have been registered with the sect. Yet he had never once heard of this place.

Suddenly, a glimmer of light caught his attention.

“What’s that?” he muttered, edging closer.

Ba obediently followed, keeping watch for any venomous insects attempting to ambush them.

Coming up to the source of the light, Xiao Yang paused, surprised. He reached out and picked up the shimmering object, idly scanning it.

Name: Bright Silver Iron
Quality: Common
Description: A widely available material used for forging
Recycle Value: 2,000

Xiao Yang never imagined that with a casual sweep of his hand, he would pick up two Qi Gathering Pills.

“It’s a pity there’s so little, if only there were more,” he sighed. Two pills were hardly enough. To break through to the next level, he needed no less than three hundred Qi Gathering Pills.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t about to let the Bright Silver Stone go to waste. With a thought, he reclaimed it. As the saying goes, even a mosquito is still meat.

“Ding! Reclamation successful, 2,000 premium points acquired!”

He glanced up—and froze. Something ahead was dazzling his eyes.

“There can’t be more, can there?” he muttered, moving in that direction.

Upon seeing the object, he nearly burst out laughing. Another Bright Silver Stone—another two thousand points.

“Unbelievable, my luck today,” he whispered.

He thought that was all, but to his surprise, it was only the beginning. As he walked, something hard pressed against his foot. Looking down, he found a rare ore, worth a full ten thousand points.

“My god! Here’s another one!” he exclaimed a short while later, bending to pick it up.

Name: Refined Iron
Quality: Rare
Description: Iron forged a hundred times
Recycle Value: Fifty thousand

He swallowed hard. That was worth fifty Qi Gathering Pills. Xiao Yang felt confident he could break through to Martial Master Second Layer today. This place was his personal treasure trove—every step brought rare ore and tens of thousands of points.

Unable to contain his excitement, he began searching the mine in earnest. Every few steps, he found another ore. Most were worth only about a thousand points, but there were so many of them. By the time he finished his circuit, his premium points had reached the three hundred thousand mark. He was almost breathless with excitement.

His advancement was rapid. Ba relied on devouring to level up; he advanced by picking things up!

“Gah gah gah!” Ba cackled strangely, shrinking his neck in fear. His master was having another episode!

And in the darkness, a pair of wide, angry eyes glared furiously at Xiao Yang. Those stones had been collected with painstaking effort; yet after leaving for just a moment, someone had plundered the entire hoard.

“Cluck cluck cluck!” Ba suddenly shrieked.

Man and chicken turned to the entrance at the same time. There, a massive black insect the size of a millstone crawled in.

“What a huge venomous bug!” Xiao Yang jumped. Most venomous insects were only palm-sized; this one was as large as a millstone. He tossed out a scan, curious about its capabilities.

Name: Gold-Eating Beetle
Cultivation: Demon Master, Third Level
Potential: Elite
Description: A demon insect that feeds on ore and enjoys hoarding it.

“So it’s not a poisonous bug,” he murmured. Then he paused, a strange look crossing his face.

“Did I just clean out its lair?”

Looking up, his suspicions were confirmed. The murderous glare from the Gold-Eating Beetle made it clear it wanted to tear him limb from limb.

Xiao Yang offered a helpless explanation. “Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t on purpose?”

The Gold-Eating Beetle roared, its enormous mandibles waving furiously.

“I guess that’s a no. Don’t blame me then,” Xiao Yang sighed. He had thought this was just a natural cavern, not the creature’s nest. He actually felt a little sorry for the beetle. He had intended to let it go, but clearly the beetle had no such intentions.

“Cluck cluck cluck!” Ba leapt in front of Xiao Yang, wings flapping, and charged at the intruder.

Bang!

But the difference in power was too great. The beetle’s massive mandibles sent Ba flying into a wall. Even so, the chicken struggled to its feet, determined to protect Xiao Yang.

“Enough, enough. Stay put and leave the rest to me,” Xiao Yang hurriedly called out. If the beetle struck him like that, he’d be eating roast chicken through tears before long.

Ba, still indignant, obeyed and stood his ground, glaring fiercely at the beetle—clearly bearing a grudge.

At that moment, the Gold-Eating Beetle’s eyes were fixed solely on Xiao Yang. It remembered perfectly: this two-legged fiend had ruined years of painstaking work and stolen its hoarded food. It hated. It raged. It wanted blood.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The beetle hammered the ground with its mandibles, venting its fury.

“Poor creature. How about a compromise? Take this piece of Bright Silver Stone and leave, and I won’t kill you,” Xiao Yang suggested, tossing the only unreclaimed ore toward the beetle.

Yet the beetle took this as a provocation. Unable to hold back, it rushed Xiao Yang with a furious clatter of mandibles.

“Sigh, so you won’t compromise.”

Thankfully, the beetle couldn’t talk, otherwise it would have been cursing him out: “You cleared out a hundred and eighty ores, and left me the cheapest one? I’ll kill you!”

As it charged, Xiao Yang realized its resolve—it would rather die than yield.

“Very well, I respect your choice.”

“Roar!”

He stepped forward, dodging the incoming mandibles. With a boom, they crashed down beside him, sending up a cloud of dust. That blow was at least as powerful as a Fourth Layer Martial Master. On the Tianwu Continent, demon beasts were generally stronger than humans of the same level.

Xiao Yang took advantage of the beetle’s next attack, using its force to leap onto its back.

“Ninefold Fist!”

Without hesitation, he unleashed his martial skill, striking the beetle’s back with all his might. Nine muffled booms echoed from within the beetle’s body, and green blood seeped from between its shell plates. The Gold-Eating Beetle was dead, killed by a single punch.

“Cluck cluck cluck!” Ba dashed over at lightning speed, pecking and scratching at the beetle’s corpse in a frenzy, clearly venting all his pent-up rage.