Lin the Laborer: Excavation

Watching Senior Sister Yuan Xi leave with Elder Yue, Lin Qi silently stuffed a Fire Spirit Flower sprout into her mouth and chewed.

At first, the flower sprout tasted sweet and fresh, fragrant on her tongue. But before two breaths had passed, it felt as though a ball of fire had ignited in her abdomen, scorching yet soothing.

The blaze instantly spread through her entire body, swiftly driving out the cold within her.

In the blink of an eye, her stiff limbs could move freely again.

Lin Qi waved her hand and took a hammer and an arm-length spike from her storage space.

Seeing Lin Qi being so proactive, the nearby Qi Refinement cultivators also began to work.

Lin Qi searched deeper along the ice wall.

Before Senior Sister Yuan Xi had arrived, she had already given Lin Qi some pointers.

The ice walls contained dense spiritual energy. In places where cold energy gathered and spiritual energy was abundant, cold stones could form.

Any cold stones dug up here belonged to the person who found them.

After hearing this, Lin Qi had asked whether this was not simply doing the work of a menial disciple.

Senior Sister Yuan Xi had even rapped her on the head for it.

At the time, Senior Sister Yuan Xi had reminded her meaningfully that when digging for cold stones, the most important thing was not the cold stones, but the digging.

How to locate cold stones rich in spiritual energy, and how to dig out an entire cold stone intact—both could train a person. Going through the whole process was ten times more effective than simply meditating in cultivation.

Lin Qi had been left rather muddled by her explanation, but upon hearing that last sentence, she immediately used a sound-recording stone as a notebook.

She placed her hand against the wall forged from millennia-old ice, and wisps of cold energy rushed to burrow into her body as though afraid of being left behind.

Calmly, Lin Qi controlled a thread of spiritual energy to shroud her palm, blocking out most of the external cold energy. Only a small portion of cold energy wrapped around spiritual energy was drawn into her body.

The spiritual energy she absorbed carried a faint chill, numbing her Dantian slightly with cold.

Yet the purity of that spiritual energy astonished her.

The spiritual energy here was nearly as dense as that of a third-tier Spirit Gathering Array.

Before she had even begun chiseling the ice, Lin Qi was already greedily absorbing spiritual energy.

The chilly spiritual energy entered her Dantian and circulated through several cycles before being completely absorbed.

Her Dantian gradually filled, while cold energy also began to accumulate within Lin Qi's body.

Suddenly, a scream rang out beside her ear.

Lin Qi was startled awake and pulled herself out of cultivation.

Turning around, she saw an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl not far away clutching her abdomen and rolling on the ground. In just a few breaths, a layer of ice had already coated her body.

The other Qi Refinement cultivators did not understand what was happening and stood where they were, not daring to move rashly.

Within a few breaths, Tan Yueqing had silently approached and stuffed three Fire Spirit Flower sprouts into the girl's mouth in quick succession.

Three Fire Spirit Flower sprouts were exactly the limit a Qi Refinement cultivator could endure.

Lin Qi could also tell at a glance that the cold energy in the girl's body had become excessive. Without Fire Spirit Flowers to suppress it, it had recoiled upon her own body.

But Lin Qi's reaction had been slow. By the time she truly moved to act, Tan Yueqing had already stepped forward.

So she quietly remained at the side and watched.

The frost on the little girl's body soon melted, and color gradually returned to her face.

"Thank you, Senior Sister Tan."

Tan Yueqing asked expressionlessly, "Why didn't you use Fire Spirit Flowers?"

The little girl lowered her head, and a trace of red appeared on her pale face.

"I... I didn't have enough Fire Spirit Flowers. When I came in, the cold energy didn't feel that severe, so I thought if I endured a little longer, I could save some Fire Spirit Flowers."

When entering Lübing Abyss, Slaughter Ice Peak would distribute thirty Fire Spirit Flower sprouts.

The higher a cultivator's cultivation, the stronger their ability to withstand cold energy.

To remain in Lübing Abyss for fifteen days, thirty Fire Spirit Flower sprouts were only enough for cultivators above the sixth level of Qi Refinement—and even then, they had to use them very sparingly.

Thus, before this, Slaughter Ice Peak would always remind cultivators entering Lübing Abyss to prepare more Fire Spirit Flower sprouts in advance.

Mature Fire Spirit Flowers were rather expensive, but the sprouts were reasonably priced: ten Contribution Points could buy thirty sprouts.

Those sent into Lübing Abyss were mostly outstanding disciples from the various peaks. It was unlikely that they would not even have ten Contribution Points.

This little girl was probably one of the rare exceptions in Lübing Abyss.

The cultivator responsible for managing the first stretch of the ice passage arrived belatedly.

With a cold expression, she asked, "What happened?"

Tan Yueqing had already left the little girl's side by then.

When Lin Qi saw Tan Yueqing leave, she noticed her secretly slip several Fire Spirit Flowers into the little girl's hand, and she blinked.

Someone with a quick mouth immediately recounted everything that had happened.

The managing cultivator's face darkened as she took out a booklet and made a record.

"Cultivator Chen En, for failing to follow the rules, you will suffer one bout of cold energy corrosion. This is your first warning!"

After saying that, the managing cultivator looked at Chen En's bloodless white face, her expression still frosty.

"If you violate the rules more than three times, you will be sent out of Lübing Abyss ahead of schedule. Conduct yourself properly."

With that, she turned and left.

Some hot-blooded cultivators wanted to speak up, but the cultivators beside them tugged them back down.

"Settle down!"

"We already took the quota meant for Slaughter Ice Peak's disciples to get in here. It's already good enough that they aren't glaring daggers at us."

Those words seemed to strike a chord in the hearts of the cultivators.

The fervor and excitement of entering Lübing Abyss rapidly cooled. Once their heads cleared, everyone began going about their own business along the ice walls.

Tan Yueqing's figure disappeared down an icy passage with the crowd.

Lin Qi also withdrew her gaze and sat down where she was, meditating to dispel the cold energy within her body.

The Pure Spirit Art was exceedingly gentle, yet its effects were remarkably potent.

The seemingly stubborn cold energy gradually dissipated under its soft, drizzling circulation.

Perhaps taking little Chen En's misfortune as a warning, the cultivators in the group all eagerly ate their Fire Spirit Flowers this time.

Lin Qi found a quiet, secluded ice passage with few people and headed in with a hammer and chisel.

She pressed her palm against the ice wall, carefully searching for cold stones rich in spiritual energy.

Before long, Lin Qi found one.

Judging by the concentration of spiritual energy, it seemed to be a low-grade cold stone.

She aimed the chisel at the edge of where the cold stone lay. Spiritual energy wrapped around the hammer in her hand as she brought it down hard.

In an instant, half the spiritual energy in Lin Qi's Dantian was drained away, while cold energy rushed into her body in a mad scramble.

She froze stiff all over, and the hammer and chisel fell from her hands at the same time.

Lin Qi frantically mobilized the spiritual energy within her. Only after circulating it through several cycles did she barely return to normal.

She bounced up and down, trying to warm herself up a little.

Just as she bent over, crisp clanging sounds rang out one after another.

Looks like she wasn't the only one frozen so badly that she couldn't hold onto her hammer and chisel!

Lin Qi breathed into her palms, picked up the hammer and chisel, and continued chipping away.

She had to circulate her cultivation technique to absorb spiritual energy, control spiritual energy to wrap around the hammer and chisel, and resist the cold energy constantly seeping into her body.

The spiritual energy in her Dantian and meridians never stopped circulating.

After digging out one low-grade cold stone, Lin Qi was drenched in sweat and dropped onto the ground with a plop.

In that instant, she heard the sound of ice freezing over.

Her butt had frozen to the ground!

Lin Qi's little face stiffened completely.

She practically wanted to cry without tears.

Did Ice Spiritual Root cultivators really have to be this resistant to cold?!

Left with no other choice, Lin Qi could only painstakingly draw out the last of the spiritual energy in her Dantian to melt the ice on her butt.

Still, she finally understood why so many peaks fought tooth and nail for a quota to enter Lübing Abyss.

Spending an hour chiseling out one cold stone from an ice wall was simply more effective than a whole night of cultivation!

Another chapter will be updated in the early hours.