Novice's Troubles

"You, stop looking around, I'm talking to you, come here!" The supervisor at the cave entrance pointed at Yue Qianchou and yelled unceremoniously. Only then did Yue Qianchou realize that everyone in front of him had already gone in, so he hurried over.

The supervisor held a bronze mirror and shone it on him. A white light flashed across the mirror's surface.

Could this be a magic artifact? While still in doubt, the supervisor pushed him into the mine: "Dressed like a human. Next!"

He heard the supervisor's words from behind and didn't think much of it, instead looking around the mine. It was pitch black. He really didn't know how anyone could mine Spirit Stones in such an environment. He slowed his pace and walked in. As his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, after walking for not long, he heard several people rushing past him. Did someone drop a gold ingot ahead? I'm impressed they can run in this environment. Shaking his head, he suddenly noticed scattered points of light on the cave walls.

What is this? As he moved forward, the scattered lights grew more numerous, filling the walls and even the ground, making it feel like he was walking on a starry road. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were fluorescent stones. These were clearly not installed by anyone; they were natural. This explained his initial thought about mining in the cave without lighting.

Standing at a fork in the mine, he was choosing which way to go when more miners rushed past him into the various tunnels. Although he didn't know why, everyone was in such a hurry, there must be a reason. With that thought, he no longer hesitated, randomly picked a tunnel, and quickly walked in.

The mine went deep underground. The further he went, the more large and small forks he found, crisscrossing like a spiderweb. It was like a maze, and he was genuinely worried about getting too deep and not being able to get out. Frowning, he shook his head, chuckled, and cursed himself for being stupid. Since the terrain was sloping downwards, he just needed to head towards higher ground to get out.

From many of the cave entrances, he could faintly hear the sound of digging. He didn't know where to start digging, so he picked a tunnel with a louder sound and went in.

"Clink, clink, clink..." Hearing the sound, he turned a corner. On the ground lay a basket, already filled with several low-grade Spirit Stones, including one mid-grade one. A miner was swinging his pickaxe, digging vigorously.

"Heh! Not bad, not bad, already got some loot." Yue Qianchou said with a cheerful smile. As he spoke, he took off the basket from his back, picked up a pickaxe, and looked around, ready to find a spot to start.

The "clink, clink" sound suddenly stopped. He turned to look and saw the miner watching him warily. He smiled and nodded again, clearly not very welcome. His smile was a bit awkward.

"Get out! I found this ore vein first." The miner's words were very impolite. Yue Qianchou was getting angry. Damn it! We're all miners, why should he kick me out? But he couldn't tell the miner's cultivation level, and it was clearly higher than his own Qi Refining Level Five.

A moment's impatience can disrupt a great plan! Although unhappy, for the sake of his grand plan to steal Spirit Stones, he decided to swallow his pride. He shot the miner a glare, picked up his basket, and left with a somber face.

The situation was the same everywhere he went. Each small tunnel had one person digging, and they all unceremoniously declared, "This is my territory, get out!" What discouraged him the most was that almost everyone he saw had a higher cultivation level than him. He was so full of suppressed anger that he couldn't find anyone to vent on.

Now he finally understood why those people were running into the mine after entering – they were afraid someone else would claim the Spirit Stone veins they had discovered and rushed to stake their claim first.

In a fit of pique, he walked towards the deepest part. He didn't know how many years the mine had been dug. He walked for a long time, taking countless turns, and finally reached the end of the mine.

"Damn it! Surely no one will kick me out from here!" he cursed, putting down his basket. Holding the pickaxe, he couldn't help but feel excited. This dead end ahead seemed to beckon him with Spirit Stones.

He raised both hands and swung the pickaxe down with force. Clang!

"Holy crap!" Yue Qianchou yelped, throwing the pickaxe aside and rubbing his numb hands, sighing. He shook his hands, picked up the tool, and tested the surrounding cave walls. Clang, clang, clang. Everywhere was as hard as stone. No wonder the sound of mining was like striking iron; he had been too impatient.

He tested it again and felt a mix of amusement and despair. This wasn't mining at all! It was like digging a hole in a mountain of rock. He never knew Spirit Stones grew in places like this. With the amount of Spirit Stones Qingguang Sect consumed, it all came from these people digging them out bit by bit. Although he heard there were other Spirit Stone mines elsewhere, he figured the miners there wouldn't have it any easier.

He tried injecting True Qi into the pickaxe. Clang, clang, clang. It actually started to dig. Yue Qianchou was incredibly excited and swung with all his might.

Enthusiasm for work is a good thing, but achieving nothing is often the most painful thing. He dug for most of the day, but not only did he not see a single Spirit Stone, he didn't even see a hair. His True Qi was being consumed at such a continuous rate that it was unsustainable. At this rate, he would be worked to death before he even found any Spirit Stones.

He wasn't someone who acted recklessly without thinking. He immediately stopped, deciding to first figure out what the problem was.

Based on his limited common sense from his previous life, the first thing he was sure of was that things like gold and gems had ore veins and directions. He believed Spirit Stones were the same. The fluorescent stones everywhere were likely associated with Spirit Stones.

These caves, like a spiderweb, must have been dug out by previous miners. If they stopped digging here, did it mean there were no more Spirit Stones ahead? He really couldn't judge this. He wanted to ask someone, but the miners here would probably give him the same answer no matter what – no one would tell him. What a headache!

"Holy crap! How could I be so stupid?" Yue Qianchou smacked his forehead in annoyance. Wasn't Sister Bai's fox tribe expert at digging holes? He could just ask her. He cautiously scanned his surroundings, making sure no one was there, picked up his tool, and vanished.

"Sister Bai, help! Uh..." Yue Qianchou, back in his own territory, had only shouted a few words before abruptly stopping. A forest suddenly appeared before him, with bamboo swaying and a familiar melody drifting from within. If it weren't for the purple chaos he could still see around him, he would have suspected he had gone to the wrong place.

He walked into the forest with a mix of surprise and uncertainty. A delicate, emerald-green bamboo house appeared before him, its style very retro. The bamboo house was surrounded by a bamboo fence, and inside was a small bamboo pavilion. Within it, a peerless beauty in white, as pure as snow, was playing the zither and singing softly. It could only be the white fox.

Relieved, Yue Qianchou looked around again and smiled with satisfaction! Looking at the white fox playing and singing, he had to admire her. As expected of someone in the arts, her aesthetic sense was far superior to ordinary people.

The forest surrounded the bamboo grove, and the bamboo grove surrounded the bamboo house. The environment was serene and secluded. He hadn't expected that the things he had thrown in a few days ago would be transformed into this by the white fox in such a short time. The layout was just right, pleasing to the eye.

He walked in with a grin. Even though the white fox didn't even look up, with her late Tribulation stage cultivation, she definitely knew he had arrived. Yue Qianchou walked up to the pavilion and called out, "Sister Bai!"

Unexpectedly, the white fox didn't acknowledge him, not even lifting her head. Yue Qianchou's heart sank. Does she have a problem with me? I wonder what I did to offend her. This isn't good, I was just about to ask for her help.

Yue Qianchou sat down beside her with a fawning smile, poking his head forward and saying, "Oh! Whose beautiful lady is playing the zither? Beautiful lady, this humble one greets you. Beautiful lady, beautiful lady, beautiful lady..."

To be honest, after this brat dumped her here, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him for several days, giving her the feeling of having just escaped a prison only to be trapped again. How could she not be angry? But she really couldn't do anything about this shameless person. If she ignored him, he would just keep calling her "beautiful lady."

The zither music abruptly stopped. The white fox's pretty face flushed slightly, and she looked up, annoyed. "You still know I'm your sister? If you had the guts, you wouldn't have come back... Are you mining Spirit Stones?" The last sentence was spoken after seeing the tool in Yue Qianchou's hand.

Yue Qianchou was stunned. The white fox's words gave him a strange feeling, like a wife who had been living alone finally seeing her wayward husband after several days. The thought flashed through his mind, and he evaded the main point, replying, "Sister, your eyes are truly sharp, you saw it at a glance..." Then he told the white fox about being sent to the Spirit Stone mine as forced labor, but he omitted the part about wrongly accusing Wu Baoru. This feeling was understandable; no one wanted to expose their despicable and shameless side to the public.

The meaning he conveyed to the white fox was that because he had offended the Sect Master of Qingguang Sect, and now his Master was dead, he was immediately retaliated against by the Sect Master and sent to the Spirit Stone mine as forced labor. If he failed to complete the task, he would face severe punishment.

"For the Sect Master of a dignified sect to be so narrow-minded." The white fox frowned and looked at the smiling face opposite her. "With the golden bead, no one can stop you from escaping Qingguang Sect. Could it be you've come to me for help?"

"Haha! Sister, you're brilliant. You knew before I even said anything." Yue Qianchou laughed.

The white fox gave him a slight glare, then took out the 'Mountain-Piercing Claws' from her fragrant pouch and threw it to him.

Yue Qianchou held the item, grinning from ear to ear. He stood up, about to leave, when he suddenly remembered something and asked, "At the mine entrance, I saw Qingguang Sect disciples holding bronze mirrors and shining them on me. Do you know what they're used for, Sister?"

"It's just a very ordinary magic artifact, nothing particularly useful. If someone has secretly absorbed spiritual energy or is hiding Spirit Stones on their person, it can easily detect them. Major sects in the cultivation world use them in their Spirit Stone mines. Why do you ask?" the white fox asked curiously.

"It's nothing, Sister. If I put Spirit Stones inside the golden bead, can that artifact detect them?" Yue Qianchou asked again.

The white fox shook her head slightly. "Spirit Stones usually placed in storage bags can't be detected by it, so the space inside the golden bead would likely be even harder to discover."

"Oh!" Yue Qianchou breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "You scared me to death. Since it can't be detected, I'm relieved. Sister, I'll be going now."

"Ah... you..." The white fox was stunned for a moment. This scoundrel probably asked these questions because he intended to steal Spirit Stones, which meant she was an accomplice. Just as she realized this and was about to call out to him for an explanation, he had already vanished.