Discovery

Zhang Tie returned to his room, his gaze sweeping over the few items in the Storage Pouch as a decision formed in his heart.

Despite still having a month of rest time, his pockets were pinched and he was truly dirt-poor.

Besides, his body refining realm had now reached the late Body Tempering stage, so mining was effortless for him and did not even consume any spiritual power.

More crucially, the spiritual power in his Dantian was completely empty at the moment, and any trace of spiritual power he just generated would instantly be sucked away by the Undying Pearl.

Therefore, Zhang Tie decided without hesitation to rush to the Spirit Stone Mining Area the next day to continue mining.

On the second day, just as the eastern sky began to light up, Zhang Tie arrived early at the number three Mine Cave of the Spirit Stone Mining Area.

He collected the Storage Pouch with familiar ease, took brisk steps, and walked straight into the depths of the Mine Cave. He randomly selected a fork in the road and strode inside.

After entering, Zhang Tie quickly took out a hand pickaxe and swung his arm like a swift wind and driving rain.

For Zhang Tie now, doing such mining work was simply using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. After about two hours, Zhang Tie relied on his astonishing strength and skilled technique to push this narrow Mine Cave forward by another hundred zhang.

As he continued digging, the entire Mine Cave grew increasingly dim. In these short two hours, Zhang Tie had already dug out three Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Right at that moment, a bold idea suddenly popped into Zhang Tie's mind. Even though a monitoring array was set up here, what if he dug deep enough and far enough away—would the array still be able to detect him? After all, formations inevitably had range limitations.

Moreover, did this Storage Pouch also harbor some hidden mystery? Otherwise, how else did they judge whether anyone was using the dug-out Spirit Stones to cultivate, or if someone was sitting cross-legged to cultivate in secret inside the cave?

Zhang Tie could not help recalling the thrilling scene of his battle with the One-Eyed Ice Scorpion during his last mining trip. That One-Eyed Ice Scorpion had even laid eggs here, showing how long it had lingered in this Mine Cave without the monitoring array ever discovering it.

It was only later when he and the One-Eyed Ice Scorpion fought a great battle, triggering violent Spiritual Qi fluctuations, that he was detected.

Thinking of this, Zhang Tie decided to take a risk. In case he was discovered, it was his first offense, so he reckoned he would not be expelled from the sect. But if his idea succeeded, it would be no different from discovering a mountain of gold of his own.

No sooner said than done, Zhang Tie first carefully removed the Storage Pouch, and at his current location right against the rock wall of the ground, he struggled to dig out a small cave one meter deep and slightly larger than a fist. Then he safely placed the Storage Pouch inside and tightly plugged the cave entrance with stones.

Immediately afterward, he began to change direction within the Mine Cave he had just dug, striving to dig toward the lower right side.

This dig lasted for more than an hour, yet Zhang Tie's heart still felt uneasy, so he continued to dig downward for another two hours, and then forward for another one, before finally stopping.

Zhang Tie returned to the exit of this underground Mine Cave, found a large piece of stone to tightly cover the entrance, and then scattered some fine crushed stones as cover before walking out of this Mine Cave with a peace of mind.

Subsequently, he changed to a branch cave and continued burying his head in mining. This time, Zhang Tie's luck was not bad; after a few hours, he actually dug out five Low-grade Spirit Stones.

He wrapped these Spirit Stones in his discarded outer garment, held them in his hand, and returned once more to the entrance of the cave he had just dug.

He gently brushed away the gravel, picked up the large stone, and slowly walked inside. Upon entering, he placed the large stone back at the cave entrance.

Soon, Zhang Tie reached the end of the cave. He impatiently sat cross-legged, took out the Spirit Stones wrapped in his outer garment, tightly grasped one in each hand, and began to run the Five Elements Cultivation Technique to refine the Spirit Stones with all his might.

Time quietly slipped away, and not knowing how long had passed, Zhang Tie finally slowly opened his eyes.

Those five Spirit Stones had already been completely absorbed and refined by him, and the Undying Pearl in his mind also seemed to have become a tiny bit more solid. Next, he could only quietly wait and see whether he would be discovered.

Zhang Tie returned to the main route of the Mine Cave, carefully marked his path along the way, and then continued deeper to look for a new cave entrance to go in and mine.

Just like that, day after day, Zhang Tie continuously dug for Spirit Stones. Every once in a while, he would change to a new location and continue to labor.

Unawares, Zhang Tie did not even know how long he had dug, estimating that it had been at least half a month.

It was not that he did not want to continue digging, but rather that the Spirit Stones he had dug out already filled his clothes and trousers.

His outer garment wrapped up more than thirty Spirit Stones, and the tied-up legs of his trousers held over eighty pieces. Acting with care and caution, Zhang Tie listened to the surrounding movements, found his underground cave, and then poured out all the Spirit Stones in one go.

A pile of Low-grade Spirit Stones resembling a small mountain piled up on the ground, and Zhang Tie could not help swallowing hard.

He carefully counted them, totaling one hundred and twenty-two Low-grade Spirit Stones. Zhang Tie's mood was stirred beyond containment.

Calming his emotions slightly, Zhang Tie decided to leave this place. Then, he picked up four Low-grade Spirit Stones from the pile of Spirit Stones, put on his clothes, and turned to leave.

Leaving the underground cave, he concealed the entrance, then dug out the Storage Pouch, placed four Low-grade Spirit Stones inside, and then steadily returned along the main cave route.

Zhang Tie silently counted his steps along the way, paying attention to the number of night-pearls on the ceiling. Before long, he walked out of the number three Mine Cave.

He walked over to the management team, handed over the Storage Pouch and task token, and then looked up at the time array disk, discovering that twenty days had already passed.

Zhang Tie took back the task token, sat cross-legged, and began to pretend to rest. At the same time, he swallowed a high-grade Fasting Pill and closed his eyes to rest his mind.

There are no years in mining, and in the blink of an eye, two months rushed past. On this day, Zhang Tie handed the Storage Pouch to the management team, took back his token, and left the Spirit Stone Mining Area.

He returned directly to his dwelling, collapsed flat onto the bed, and began to recall his bountiful harvests over these past two months or so.

For these past two months and more, he had absorbed nearly three hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, and the Undying Pearl had finally refilled with energy, transforming into a crystalline and solid little green pearl that quietly floated within his mind.

Only this pearl felt as though it was a bit larger than before, though he did not know if it was just his imagination, especially since he had absorbed such a massive amount of Spiritual Qi this time.

Simultaneously, Zhang Tie also seized this rare opportunity to raise his Qi Refining cultivation to the great perfection of the sixth layer of Qi Refining. He was filled with anticipation, hoping that next time, while utilizing the Undying Pearl to cultivate the Nine Revolutions Undying Body, he would be able to break through in one fell swoop to the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

Compared to the massive elevation in his cultivation, his harvest of Spirit Stones now appeared somewhat trivial and could almost be neglected.

Even so, whenever Zhang Tie thought of this, he could laugh out loud from his dreams in the middle of the night.

The Undying Pearl was fully charged, and he had Spiritual Qi, so his next step was to begin his grand money-making plan!