X-Dragon Era

This is the mine shaft. When Xin Yun had gone to deliver ores before, he knew there was a cave specifically for storing ores, where the ores were piled up in such vast quantities that they were simply incalculable. If he could secretly move all these ores away...

With just a moment's thought, Xin Yun's eyes lit up. Although it was somewhat dangerous, it wasn't too dangerous. After all, this was just a bronze mine, not a gold mine. Even though there were guards, they only restricted entry, not exit.

Having thought carefully for a long time, Xin Yun finally came up with a plan. Taking a mining basket, he slung a large basketful of ore onto his back and rushed off in the direction of the warehouse...

Along the way, soon... Xin Yun arrived at a nearby ore storage facility. At the entrance, a middle-aged man in charge of registration gave Xin Yun's load a brief glance, quickly took down a few notes, then waved his hand, indicating Xin Yun to bring the ores inside.

Indeed, this was the so-called limit on entry but not on exit. As long as you were carrying ore, you could enter. No one cared when you would come out. You see... inside wasn't just a place for storing ores, but also for resting and eating.

Carrying the ore, Xin Yun entered an immense ore storage space with a diameter of tens of thousands of meters. After dumping the ore onto the ore pile, he casually placed the basket to one side and hurried into a nearby cave to grab some steamed buns and start eating and drinking.

People were often coming and going throughout the warehouse, so at that moment, Xin Yun could not find a chance to make a move. Staring at the huge pile of ores, Xin Yun was almost moved to tears. What was he to do now?

After agonizing over it for an entire night, Xin Yun had no choice but to leave woefully. With people always coming and going, theft was impossible. However... the nefarious thoughts in Xin Yun's mind did not cease there. If the ores couldn't be stolen, what about the bronze ingots?

Having already found the treasure and with no chance to steal the ores, Xin Yun naturally did not need to stay any longer. Dressed in tattered clothes, he left the mine shaft. Next... Xin Yun set his sights on the smelting yard.

The massive scale of the mine, of course, meant there would be a smelting yard. Not ten miles in front of the mine shaft was a huge smelting yard. All extracted ores would be sent there, smelted into bronze cauldrons, and then sold.

Climbing to the mountainside, watching from a high vantage point, Xin Yun looked out at the gigantic smelting yard. Behind it was an enormous warehouse spanning tens of thousands of square meters, filled with huge blocks of greenish-blue bronze ingots. However, there were very few guards. Only at the entrance to the warehouse district was a guardroom set up, and patrols were arranged.

It just so happened that... under Xin Yun's observation, these patrolmen hardly followed a schedule in their rounds, becoming complacent.

This was quite normal, after all. Bronze was not gold or silver. Moreover, each bronze ingot was so large, weighing up to one ton, that it was basically impossible to steal. There was no need for patrols.

Waiting on the mountain for a long time, until dusk fell, did Xin Yun descend and stealthily made his way towards the smelting yard. At a small lake a few miles outside the smelting yard, Xin Yun summoned Yinglong and entered the water without making a sound. Then, he followed the river towards the direction of the smelting yard.

Since the smelting yard required water, it was constructed across a river. With Yinglong's help, Xin Yun advanced stealthily along the river, eventually entering the smelting yard and reaching land at a grove of trees, before quickly vanishing into the forest.

This route was one Xin Yun had planned in advance. The journey was very secretive, so secretive that even in broad daylight, it would be hard to be discovered, let alone at night. Under the cover of darkness, even careful observation might not reveal anything. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

Sneaking along, Xin Yun finally arrived at the outer high walls of the warehouse district. Looking closely, he saw a towering wall surrounding the warehouse, a good five meters high, topped with sharp bronze spikes, completely impossible to climb over.

However, Xin Yun hadn't planned to go over it. After finding the right spot, he pulled out an Essence Gold mining shovel and, with a few gentle swings, dug out a narrow tunnel one-meter in diameter.

The location of this hole was special. It was right behind a bush and would not be discovered unless one came close to it. Moreover, this spot was in a corner, unlikely to be visited for half a year or more.

Passing through the tunnel into the warehouse district, Xin Yun carefully looked around. Just as he had observed earlier, the area was very remote and the entire warehouse district was in silence, except for the lonely chirping of insects.

Although he had bypassed the gatekeepers and successfully reached the outside of the warehouse, Xin Yun did not dare to be careless. Who knew if there were people inside? After all... if he were discovered, Xin Yun feared he would die a violent death.

Better safe than sorry, Xin Yun cautiously made his way to the rear corner of the warehouse. Then, he took out the Essence Gold mining shovel again and began to dig a hole in the corner at the back of the warehouse.

Digging along, he soon hollowed out a hole over one meter in diameter. Peering into it, he saw a pile of closely-stacked bluish-green bronze ingots.

Listening carefully to ensure there were no sounds of people nearby, Xin Yun gently crawled in and entered the warehouse. Looking around, row upon row, the enormous warehouse was filled with huge bronze ingots, stacked in an interlocking manner, piled as high as five or six meters. Counting carefully, the warehouse seemed to contain tens or even hundreds of thousands of these ingots.

Bronze ingots are usually two meters long, one meter wide, and half a meter thick. At this moment... within the vast warehouse, they were stacked full, creating a tall, crisscrossed pile, reaching up to five or six meters high. Counting it up, there must have been tens, if not hundreds of thousands of ingots in the entire warehouse.