Crystal vein

Near Jacob's Crystal Lair, contains huge reserve of crystals. Here Chen Rui finds the Blood sea flower (Flower of Abyss).

## Ore vein

The mineral vein of crystal ore symbolizes abundant wealth. I never thought that there is actually a "large" crystal ore vein under the barren land like Bloody Vine Flower Estate.

This crystal ore vein was the one Chen Rui told Catherine back then. He seemed to even cheated a kiss from the empress. However, crystal mine is the biggest secret of an estate and an important secret of the Dark Shadow Empire. Although the Dark Moon and Crawford have a close friendship now, he shouldn't confide it.

Crystal mine vein is one of the top secrets of the Bloody Vine Flower Estate, and Her Majesty Catherine at the capital also attaches great importance to this resource. I have issued a military order to guarantee that the preliminary mining work will be completed within the specified time and hand in a certain amount of crystal ore. However, there are some difficulties in the mining process.

"There seems to be a strange magic circle laid in the crystal mine vein, so we cannot mine it, and many miners have been lost. At that time, I sent many people to investigate, but we still couldn't figure out the cause of it. Not long ago, I went to the capital to invite Master Rummenigge, my good friend at the Mechanic Association. However, after the master entered the crystal mine vein, he actually disappeared, and his whereabouts are still unknown. I can hardly tell his family about this. I am badly battered because of this crystal mine. I am really helpless, I wonder if Princess Royal Highness can find ways to help me?"

Chen Rui felt puzzled. By right, as one of the important bases of Bloodfall, Crystal Valley completely collapsed after Catherine defeated the three Demon Overlords, so there should be no danger. Why is there such a strange incident?

## Shea

In terms of magic circles, only Chen Rui is the best at it, but the mineral veins of crystal mines is not trivial for an estate and even an empire. Moreover, it is directly linked to Crawford's power and position. Crawford must have tried many times, and even invited the master of the capital. Finally, he made a request to the ally, Dark Moon, as a last resort. This crystal mine is likely to contain unknown great danger.

## Magic badge

"This Bloody Vine Flower Estate magic badge represents the lord's authorization which can provide a lot of convenience. The crystal mine has stopped mining and is heavily guarded now. If necessary, I can mobilize the army to assist." Crawford handed over a magic badge which had the logo of the Bloody Vine Flower Estate.

Shea took the badge and nodded, "Then without further delay, I will go back now to arrange manpower and make some preparations."

After Crawford sent Shea away, the doubts in his heart were revealed. In fact, he reported the difficulties of the crystal mine to the capital long ago. Catherine the Great attached great importance to it and sent an investigation team but to no avail. In contrast, more and more miners were missing. Later, he invited Master Rummenigge of the royal family, but Rummenigge disappeared strangely underground. Crawford immediately reported to the capital urgently. However, the strategist Catherine the Great did not send a new master, but she only gave a 6-word response.

Ask the Dark Moon for help.

## Mine

This underground mine was quite spacious and extended in all directions. It had the same style as Mountain Xilang. Strictly speaking, it was not built by Crawford or Catherine, but the original crystal dragon Jacob. Because the crystal dragon hadn't been able to recover from the serious injuries caused by Paglio back then. Due to his special physique, the potion and the like had no effect. He needed to use the magic circle to absorb the power of the crystal to repair his body. However, before the poor crystal dragon fully recovered, he encountered another wretched Master Arthur. As a result, he was fortunate enough to have a friendly "match" with the Demon Realm's first beauty.

As expected, the magic map was disrupted by some force and soon lost its function. Chen Rui continued to move on with the physical map provided by Crawford. Of course, this map also had considerable errors due to the illusion created by the interference of the magic circle, but Chen Rui was no longer a rookie in Mountain Xilang. He marked and corrected the map while venturing forward. Although this inch-by-inch search was slow and often led to a dead end, it could avoid errors to the greatest extent. The revised map was also of considerable value to the Bloody Vine Flower Estate.

Sure enough, after a while, Chen Rui keenly discovered the existence of the magic circle. Besides, it was also mixed with the breath of Dragon Inscription. Perhaps it was the trap left by the left by the crystal dragon at that time. It seemed that there was still a set of quite complicated traps.

It was not so easy to dispel Dragon Inscriptions. It was like mine clearance by engineers. Even with the corresponding knowledge and facilities, there was a great danger. With the help of the Super System, Chen Rui fully grasped Paglio's knowledge. The crystal dragon also taught part of his own experience when he was at the Crystal Valley previously, and together with Zola's wide inscription knowledge, Chen Rui's current Dragon Inscription level even surpassed Paglio, second only to Zola. He didn't spend a lot of time and effort to crack the inscriptions, but he cautiously detoured from the Dragon Inscriptions. He tried not to disturb or trigger those inscriptions just in case. Along the way, he searched for the whereabouts of Master Rummenigge.

About 3 hours later, Chen Rui finally figured out the pattern of the Dragon Inscriptions' changes. It was indeed a large-scale and high-level inscription magic circle. He traced the origin step by step and approached the source carefully.

The scale of this mine was larger than Chen Rui imagined. It seemed endless. Besides, the topography and layout did not seem to be a mine, but a complicated and huge underground maze.

What surprised Chen Rui was that at a turning intersection after passing through several chain inscriptions, he actually felt the hint of ancient runes. He clearly knew that the crystal dragon was not familiar with ancient runes. When Jacob grabbed Zola's stone slab back then, he just used the mysterious power of the stone slab to recover his injuries. Moreover, I have stolen the 6 stone slabs. With the level of the dragon, he is definitely unable to deploy this level of ancient runes. Could it be Bloodfall has an expert in this aspect?

## Jacob

"The magic circle here is very profound. Even I don't understand it very well. For example, the magic circle that is closely guarded by the crystal men leads to another cave. It seems to use the purest power of the underground crystal mine for some kind of training or recovery. The powerhouse will train for a period of time every day. Our current one is an extended one-way space transmission magic circle that continuously transports those high-purity crystal ores to a distant location. "
Hearing Rummenigge's words, Chen Rui finally confirmed the speculation in his mind. As expected, the crystal dragon Jacob is using the special power of these crystal mine resources to recover from the injury that was severely struck by Catherine last time. As for the one-way space transmission, it is obviously the greedy dragon's habitual act of taking advantage of the opportunity to make money while healing his injuries.

Due to Catherine's deterrence, the Bloodfall force had abandoned the Crystal Valley. The crystal dragon's recovery should be a personal act. Then the location of the transmission of the crystal should be Jacob's private treasury or the location of the treasure.

## Abyss entrance

Chen encounters a volcanic cave and magma flower (Flower of Abyss).

This place seemed to be in the underground of the crystal mine. It seemed to be a separate space that could be entered through a certain underground passage. If it was not for the breath of the ancient runes suddenly amplifying; if it was not for the temptation force, he probably could not enter this place even if he searched the entire underground.

He saw only blood red which was actually lava, but the color gave people a sense of horror as if it was a hot blood river.

The whole space was a volcanic cave. The blood-red heat distorted the scenery in sight, and there was boiling magma everywhere. A dangerous and narrow passage led to an unknown depth in front.

The terrifying heat forced Chen Rui to channel his power for protection. He was still sweating all over as if he was in the furnace of hell.

There was also a blood sea flower.

### Revisit

"Strange, there should be an entrance here..." Chen Rui looked at the location of the ancient runes breath. It was originally a crossroad which led step by step downward to the mysterious "sea of blood". However, the crossroad became a three-way road now, and the downward passage actually disappeared into thin air.

It was not blocked or collapsed, but it disappeared just like this. He couldn't see the slightest artificial traces nor even feel the ancient runes breath. If it weren't for the strange flower that was still stored in the storage warehouse, Chen Rui also thought that all he had experienced were hallucinations.

The poison dragon did not question Chen Rui's memory, but he showed a dignified expression, "According to the encounter you said, I had already beaten Jacob on the ground at that time, but I didn't feel any special feeling. What you entered should be an independent space. Even the path that has disappeared is also part of the space camouflage. If this space is controlled by people... and Jacob is mutated into that form because of the strange flower, then the strength of this person... is probably beyond the ordinary category."

Chen Rui was secretly shocked. The "ordinary" category that poison dragon said refers to the highest level of power commonly recognized in the Demon Realm. In other words, this "person" who may manipulate the "sea of blood" space has surpassed the Demon Overlord level.

At least Demi-God? It's like the powerhouse that sealed Paglio back then?

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 426 (Steambun)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 427 (Steambun)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 428 (Steambun)
4. ↑ Chapter 429 (Steambun)
5. ↑ Chapter 431 (Steambun)
6. ↑ Chapter 432 (Steambun)