Chapter 172: A Canary at the Back

Liu Yan immediately let Shadow Wolf and Treasure Pangolin retreat.

Treasure Pangolin was a functional fierce beast after all, so it couldn’t be of much help in battle.

Shadow Wolf would be very strong after transforming into Ice and Fire Draconic Wolf. However, its size would also be much larger, making it very difficult to move in this narrow cave.

There was a ready-made tunnel here, so Liu Yan no longer needed the Treasure Pangolin’s help digging the cave.

After putting away the Treasure Pangolin and Shadow Wolf, Liu Yan was left alone.

Liu Yan once again activated his A-grade skill, Shadow Cloak, and B-grade skill, Traceless Silence.

Instantly, Liu Yan’s figure disappeared into the cave. At the same time, he became extremely quiet, not making a single sound.

Although his surroundings were dark, Liu Yan had an A-grade skill, Omniscient Insight. He could clearly sense everything around him, and it did not affect his movements at all.

Then, the invisible Liu Yan did not make a single sound as he stealthily moved forward along the tunnel.

As he moved forward, Liu Yan also learned from Treasure Pangolin that it was this group of humans who had destroyed its home.

Only then did Liu Yan realize that he had misunderstood the miners above. They weren’t the ones who had destroyed the home of the Treasure Pangolin, but the group of miners.

After thinking about it carefully, it made sense. After all, the miners above would carefully investigate and make reasonable arrangements before digging a new mine.

Firstly, the simplest thing would be to dig down along the vein.

......

The nest of the Treasure Pangolin was not near the vein but far away from it.

Supposedly, Treasure Pangolin would not be disturbed by human miners.

This group of mine thieves was the one who dug blindly and destroyed the home of the Treasure Pangolin.

Liu Yan walked along the tunnel for a while, and at the same time, he entered deeper.

Not long after, Liu Yan heard some conversations.

Liu Yan immediately became more careful. He moved forward and came to a place not far from this group of mine thieves.

Liu Yan did not show himself yet. Instead, he would first understand their strength, then listen to their conversation. After understanding the situation, he would decide how to attack.

This was the central resting platform on the third and a half level. Liu Yan knew he was powerful, but he was not invincible. The awakened on the third-and-a-half-level were definitely stronger than him, so he had to be more careful.

If these mine thieves were stronger than Liu Yan, Liu Yan could only hide for a while and not attack. He could only return to the ground and inform the higher-ups of the Lighthouse Academy to send experts to deal with them.

If they were not strong, Liu Yan did not mind personally taking action to teach these mine thieves a good lesson.

When Liu Yan walked along the tunnel just now, he discovered that these tunnels were dug very poorly. After they were dug, they did not take any reinforcement measures. The location they dug was also wrong, and a mine was directly above them.

Under such circumstances, this tunnel could be said to be extremely dangerous, and it could collapse at any time.

If such a deep collapse occurred, it would likely cause a chain reaction, destroying many mineral veins or even the entire mine.

Liu Yan checked carefully and found a total of four mine thieves, but they were not very strong, and Liu Yan alone was enough to deal with the four of them.

After confirming that these mine thieves were not very strong, Liu Yan was relieved and listened to their conversation.

Although they were still dozens of meters away, Liu Yan had Omniscient Insight, so he could hear their conversation clearly from such a distance.

“Is this the ice chalcedony? It looks really powerful and should be worth a lot of money, right?”

“That’s right. The four of us won’t have to worry about it for the rest of our lives.”

“It’s just a pity that the two brothers in front of us died for the ice chalcedony.”

“Who cares about them? Our trip was already perilous, so it’s normal for some accidents to happen.”

“It’s all thanks to Old Zhang. Luckily, Old Zhang has connections in Lighthouse Academy, which allowed us to find the location of this ice chalcedony. Otherwise, no matter how many of our brothers died, we wouldn’t have been able to find this ice chalcedony.”

“It’s a pity you guys didn’t see the pangolin’s nest back then. There are so many treasures, and they’re shining brightly. Still, they shouldn’t be comparable to this ice chalcedony.”

“Are there really so many treasures? Why was there nothing in the nest when we arrived? Did you see wrongly?”

“There really are. There’s no way I could have seen it wrongly. Maybe the pangolin is very sneaky. It took away all the treasures when I’ll call you guys over.”

“Forget it, forget it. Getting the ice chalcedony is enough for us to squander the rest of our lives. Let’s pack up and retreat!”

“...”

Liu Yan frowned slightly when he heard the conversation between the mine thieves.

Through their conversation, Liu Yan was completely sure that they were the mine thieves.

They had actually obtained the information and location of the ice chalcedony from the higher-ups of Lighthouse Academy. That was why they had specially come to steal the ice chalcedony and other ores.

When Liu Yan learned they had already obtained the ice seed chalcedony, he was immediately happy. This saved him a lot of effort in searching for it.

In addition, through their conversation, Liu Yan learned that they had destroyed Treasure Pangolin’s nest. Fortunately, Treasure Pangolin found them in time and removed all the treasures.

Otherwise, Liu Yan might have obtained fewer treasures if they had taken them away.

Seeing that the mine thieves were packing their things and preparing to retreat, Liu Yan was also ready to make a move. When they returned to the front of the tunnel, Liu Yan would directly make a move.

Originally, Liu Yan wanted to pack them up and send them to the management of the mine in the Western Mine so that they could be punished.

However, when they just came down from the tunnel, Liu Yan also noticed that this tunnel was extremely dangerous. It could collapse at any time.

If it was according to the original plan, then Liu Yan would definitely fight them. After that, they might encounter resistance and danger when brought them up.

Liu Yan was not afraid of their resistance but worried that their resistance would cause the tunnel to collapse.

This was deep underground, and the tunnel would collapse. Although Liu Yan’s current strength was strong, he might not be able to go up.

Liu Yan could let Treasure Pangolin to find the way out, but that would definitely take a lot of time.

Liu Yan still wanted to finish off these mine thieves and take the ice chalcedony as soon as possible. Then, he would refine his bones to strengthen his strength and continue on his path of cultivation. He did not want to waste too much time here.

Thinking of this, Liu Yan decided to be ruthless. He would defeat these mine thieves in an instant. This way, the fighting time would be very short, and he would try his best not to cause the tunnel to collapse.

Following that, Liu Yan waited on the spot.

When these mine thieves retreated in the direction of Liu Yan, Liu Yan would directly take action.