The shafts were interconnected and there were crushed rocks everywhere. There were also signs of this place being freshly mined. His guess was that the mine had just been opened recently.
He followed the passage and crawled into it.
It wasn’t long before he could hear a conversation from inside.
“Robert, I say, we have so much ore at home. Why do they still want us to mine?”
“I heard from one of our clan members from the council that they are building a statue for our dead king, to obtain his inheritance!”
“I see, I wonder who can get the inheritance?!”
“Continue mining. I heard that the Elder will take the dragon’s corpse out and cook it. If we return earlier we might get a few bites of dragon meat. I heard that the dragon meat could make us into even powerful beings. I’m drooling by just thinking about it.”
Jiang Feng was shocked when he heard the conversation from the two gnomes while he was hiding at the corner of the shaft, and thought to himself, “Cook the dragon’s corpse? It will be evening soon. I have to get to the gnomes as soon as possible then. Once the dragon’s corpse has been cooked, things are going to get ugly.”
He ignored the two gnomes from the mines and quickly headed towards the gnomes’ homes.
Once a Divine Beast was dead, its corpse would remain, but many would try to grab a piece of it with much zeal. That was because the Divine Beast’s flesh and blood were all treasures.
Just when he crawled to the exit of the mine, he stopped suddenly.
‘That’s right, just now they said that they were forging a statue for the king to receive the king’s inheritance? That must be for the king of gnomes,’ Jiang Feng kept on thinking to himself. ‘If I could obtain a gnome underling and have him receive the king’s inheritance, wouldn’t that mean I have a gnome with the king’s inheritance as my follower?’
The smithing skill of a gnome that had gained the gnome king’s inheritance would be supreme. If he were to rebuild the Ancient City of the Shifter Emperor, he would definitely need someone to carry it economically. An inheritor of the gnome king would be a good candidate.
When he thought of that, he began to think of a way to recruit the two gnomes within the cave.
Gnomes: Gnomes are expert smiths and have business relationships with other races, and thus know the languages of other races as well. They are considered to be neutral. Why they are not adept in combat, they are very united. All those that are friendly to them will be treated as such.
“That meant that as long as I have saved them, I can gain their trust. If that’s the case, not only can I approach the gnomes, perhaps I can even recruit a few gnomes!” After reading about the Gnomes from the official website outside of the cave, Jiang Feng thought of a way really quickly and took out the Qiankun Gourd and released Yanhu.
“Boss, you need me?” Yanhu asked after he came out and scanned his surroundings. There were no monsters to fight, so he asked him curiously.
“There’s something I need you to do. If you do it well, I’ll reward you.” Jiang Feng said to Yanhu.
“What kind of reward?” Yanhu’s eyes brimmed with excitement as he asked.
Jian Feng then said, “Evolution Pill!”
“Haha!” Yanhu excitedly swayed his tail and said, “Alright boss. Whatever it is, as long as you’re not asking me to commit suicide, I’ll guarantee that I’ll accomplish it.”
Jiang Feng then whispered next to Yanhu, and told him of his plan to receive the trusts of the gnomes.
“Isn’t this just acting? Easy! I used my acting skill when I was convincing the Bluecloud Panther to kill his own master. This time, it’s just to intimidate two cowards. I’ll guarantee the mission’s completion.” Yanhu replied confidently.
“As long as you’re confident. But if you fail, then you will get your Evolution Pill last from now on!” Jiang Feng said as he looked at the confident Yanhu.
“Alright, but you have to practice with me first!” Yanhu nodded with a grin.
Next, Jiang Feng practiced with Yanhu.
His idea was very simple and stereotypical. He would have Yanhu go kill the two gnomes, then he would fly over them and save them.
To him, the gnomes were just NPCs. Not to mention that these two were only miners. While they’re humanoids, their intelligence wouldn’t be that high. As long as Yanhu didn’t ruin this, then this old scheme would be more than enough to handle the two.
Once the practice had finished, Jiang Feng then found somewhere hidden to hide. Yanhu had also hidden in a nearby bush next to the mines.
About twenty minutes, the two gnomes finally exited.
The gnome called Rocket smacked at a rough hide bag in his pocket and said, “Our harvest today isn’t that bad, to think that we’re able to mine an Epoch Gold Ore. When we return, we would definitely be rewarded. Perhaps they would even give us some dragon meat.”
The other gnome called Robert nodded with a smile and said, “I’m fine even if they don’t give me any dragon meat. All I want is for them to give me another job. I’m so bored with the mining that I have to do every day. If I can receive the king’s inheritance, then my smithing skills would definitely reach Spiritual-Level, and I don’t need to mine ores anymore.”
“Me too…”
Roar!
Before Rocket could finish his sentence, a tiger roar cut him off mid-sentence. Then, Yanhu’s giant figure appeared before the two gnomes.
Yanhu had already reached Rank 5, and his stats had increased somewhat. His size had also increased a lot, about one size larger than normal Flaming Tiger Kings. In front of the gnomes who didn’t even reach one meter in height, he was a giant.
“Roar! I haven’t eaten for so long, I can finally have a good meal today!” Yanhu roared at the two gnomes again.
When a tiger surrounded by burning flames appeared in front of them, Robert and Rocket had already been shocked and shaken. They could only watch him in shock.
Only when Yanhu was approaching them did they regain their senses.
Robert was slightly braver than Rocket and took out his pickaxe, and said while quivering in his boots, “We’re Gnomes, you can’t kill us! Not to mention our meat isn’t tasty, as long as you let us go, I’ll bring you meat, alright?”
“Hmph, you sly gnomes. My elder brother was killed by the gnomes. This time, I will avenge my brother!” Yanhu roared at Robert malevolently.
“Who’s your brother? I didn’t kill your brother!” Robert said.
“Have you forgotten the White Tiger that appeared on the day that you had slain the dragon? That was my brother!”
When he heard Yanhu’s words, Robert and Rocket’s hearts both skipped a beat. The day they were slaying a dragon, a White Tiger did appear to snatch the Xuanyuan Sword’s fragment and was killed.
To them, it was clear that Yanhu was here to avenge that white tiger.
When that thought crossed their mind, the two gnomes were filled with despair.
“Roar! There are no more words from you? Now show me your buttocks!” Yanhu roared violently.
‘Show me your buttocks? Damn you Yanhu, changing my script to something so dirty!’ Jiang Feng, who was hiding on the side almost fainted on the ground when he heard what Yanhu had said.
“Show my buttocks and do… do what?” Robert’s face became pale and he began to take steps back.
“Because I love to eat humans’ buttocks!” Yanhu said and jumped, opening his bloody jaw and attempted to bite into Robert!
Seeing that the time was right, Jiang Feng then used his Float skill and flew into the air.
He looked at where Yanhu was at, only to see that Yanhu had pounced both gnomes onto the ground and began to bite at them.
Gnomes have high hit points and defense, so he wasn’t worried that he would accidentally kill the two gnomes. The most that he’ll do was to cause them some wounds and PTSD.
Roar!
When the two gnomes had wounds all over their body, Jiang Feng let out a Dragon Howl and caused both Yanhu and the gnomes to enter into a daze.
Next, he attacked Yanhu a few times causing him to get bloodied.
When both the gnomes entered the Daze state, they saw a dragon was being stepped on by a dragon, and they were overjoyed.
“Roar! Seeing that we’re both Shifters, I will let you live. But if I see you harm the gnomes again, I will take your life! Now, leave!”
Seeing that the two gnomes had awakened from the Daze, he quickly yelled at Yanhu coldly. Then, he caught Yanhu’s tail using his claw and threw Yanhu into the nearby bushes.
“Roar, are you two alright?” After throwing Yanhu away, Jiang Feng walked to the side of the two gnomes and asked them about their condition.
“We… we’re fine. Thank you, Lord Dragon!” Robert answered Jiang Feng cowardly.
“Just call me Brother Feng. The Dragon and Gnomes have always maintained a good relationship. It is natural for me to save you,” Jiang Feng said. “I see that both of you are heavily wounded, allow me to send you back home.”
“No, no. We can return ourselves,” Robert waved his hand.
“I must, I must. You know how we dragons are like. Now that both of you are so severely injured, if anything were to happen to you on the way back, I would be filled with remorse,” Jiang Feng said.
“Alright!”
Seeing that Jiang Feng wanted to send them back, they nodded in agreement, but worry filled their eyes.
Jiang Feng had naturally seen through their worries.
The Gnomes were going to cook a dragon’s corpse. If he were to find out about it, he would be furious.
In order to dispel their worries and get their trust, Jiang Feng then followed behind them and said with a sigh, “I heard that my ancestor had died in the gnome’s homeland. You gnomes have done a good job. My ancestor had become a demon. According to his personality, he would rather die than to cause chaos in this land. We dragons do have to thank you for that!”
In the beginning, when they heard Jiang Feng’s words, the two gnomes paled and began to shake. But once they heard the second half of his speech, they heaved a heavy sigh. Robert could only sigh and said, “I didn’t expect that Brother Feng would be from the Earthcover Dragon race. Unfortunately, our elders have done all they know to remove the demonic aura from the Earthcover Dragon but still failed. This was the only way left.”
“Yes. The reason that I wanted to send you back is to first guarantee your safety. Secondly, it is to thank you gnomes,” Jiang Feng continued to make things up.
As they discussed on their way back, he eventually obtained the trust of the two gnomes. They even gave him the gnome’s map.
When they finally reached the cliff, the two gnomes took out their pickaxes and climbed their way down. Jiang Feng used this chance to take Yanhu back into the Qiankun Gourd, and only then followed the two gnomes down.
