Minor Mastery

He did not want to become one of them—especially after learning that He Changgong had been beaten to death with a pickaxe after clashing with others. The urgency in his heart only grew fiercer.

With overseers stationed in the main tunnel below the mine, they merely maintained the most basic rules for survival. But once one burrowed into the branch tunnels, all rules vanished. The biggest fist was the only hard truth.

On the sixth day, Li Haomiao watched Xu Yunfan run in and out of the branch tunnel over and over to practice Fleet Foot, and finally could not help speaking.

"Fleet Foot tests how you exert strength through your legs, coordinate your waist and hips, and tense the great spine in your back. It is a method for training the tendons. If running like this can make it work, then I can swallow all these Grain Avoidance Pills—huh?!"

'Your Fleet Foot has reached the entry level.'

'Fleet Foot 0/500 (Entry Level)

Special Effects: Walking as swiftly as flying, agile body movements, footprints left upon the ground, exceptional endurance'

In an instant, memories surged through Xu Yunfan's mind.

In those memories, he stood amid an endless range of mountain ridges, surrounded by peaks that rose and fell without end.

Deep within those mountains, he exerted strength through his feet, curled his toes tightly against the ground, and repeatedly practiced his steps according to the force-exertion method of Fleet Foot.

Day after day, he ran every day, ignoring the burden on his body as he covered a hundred li daily.

One day, power surged from the soles of his feet. His toes curled like chicken claws, his tendons tightened like springs, and a force rose beneath his feet, propelling him high into the air. His steps became fierce and swift as he charged forward like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins.

That single stride spanned five or six meters.

At the same time, streams of warmth emerged from nowhere within his body, swiftly flowing and pulsing through the flesh of his waist, abdomen, and legs.

Xu Yunfan felt only that his legs were swelling, his muscles taut, and his great tendons stretched over and over like bowstrings before suddenly snapping loose.

The sensation of having his tendons opened in such a short time—painful yet exhilarating—made him suck in a sharp breath.

If he rolled up his trousers, the muscles of Xu Yunfan's legs would be clearly visible all the way to the roots of his thighs, twitching without cease. Each bundle of muscle rose and fell like waves, strengthening his bones and tendons.

Fleet Foot had reached the entry level.

Xu Yunfan moved his legs and felt his body become lighter than ever before. With one stride, it seemed springs beneath his feet compressed and expanded, boosting him five or six meters away.

It was wondrous, as though a force rose from the ground through the soles of his feet, making his body light enough to soar.

He looked up at Li Haomiao. "What did you just say? What about the Grain Avoidance Pills?"

Li Haomiao fell silent for a moment, then shook his head slightly and said nothing.

Xu Yunfan did not care. Glancing at the skill column on the Attribute Panel, he saw that after mining day and night these past few days, both the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art and Mining Technique were about to enter the Minor Mastery stage.

Especially the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art. Its proficiency had reached 488, and it needed only twelve more points. Naturally, Xu Yunfan would not stop halfway through. He planned to push through in one go and fill it up.

This clear progress toward advancement filled him with tremendous enthusiasm. He did not find it tedious in the slightest.

His steps were light as he continued swinging the Iron Pickaxe, digging around the Source Ancient Jade Wall.

The Source Ancient Jade Wall was extraordinarily hard. Even when he put his full strength into it, he could not damage it in the least. Over the past days, Xu Yunfan had merely dug out the area around the Source Ancient Jade Wall, intending to excavate the entire wall.

'You focused your mind and calmed your breath, gripping the pickaxe tighter and adjusting your stance. In an instant, you felt the pickaxe become steadier. Mining Technique proficiency increased.'

'With no distracting thoughts, you sensed the contact between your body and the air and adjusted the posture of your arms. In that instant, you felt your body move in greater harmony with the flow of air. Crimson Flame Copper Body Art proficiency increased.'

'...'

Three hours later, a notification suddenly appeared in Xu Yunfan's field of vision.

'While mining, you suddenly gained an insight, as though excavation contained some profound meaning. Yet when you tried to ponder it carefully, its trail could no longer be found. Mining Technique proficiency quietly increased by 4 points.'

'Mining Technique 0/1000 (Minor Mastery)'

In an instant, memories arose of him becoming an elite miner in this sunless mine, turning into a merciless mining machine and digging without sleep or rest for more than a decade.

Until one day, as he swung his pickaxe, his movement suddenly paused. An unprecedented sense of smooth exhilaration surged up from the depths of his heart.

The pickaxe seemed to merge into his body, becoming an extension of his limbs that he could control at will. Every swing felt as though hand and heart were linked, smooth and effortless, without the slightest obstruction.

His body grew faintly hot, and a swelling sensation spread through him.

Warm currents seemed to arise from nowhere within him, winding like spirit serpents as they roamed freely through his arms, waist, and abdomen.

Wherever they passed, strength grew wildly like spring vines, while endurance accumulated like the depths of a deep pool—unceasing and inexhaustible.

Unceasing and inexhaustible, he thought—but in truth, it was merely an illusion caused by the dramatic improvement in his physical condition over such a short time.

After Mining Technique reached Minor Mastery, his frail body had become much stronger.

Xu Yunfan steadied his emotions, clenched his pickaxe, and stared intently at the human-height chunk of iron ore before him, in which the Source Ancient Jade Wall was embedded. Vaguely, he seemed to sense that this human-height ore also possessed its own veins.

He suddenly raised the pickaxe. Strength gathered throughout his body, muscles bulging as he brought it down heavily along the ore's veins with speed and force far beyond anything from before.

With a sharp clang of metal striking stone, sparks flew, and a large section of the ore crumbled away.

In the past, it would take him more than a dozen swings just to loosen the ore a little. Now, a single blow effortlessly shattered it.

This change revealed that in strength, speed, accuracy, and eyesight, he was now as different from his former self as heaven from earth.

He was really strong now. He wondered whether he could hack those vicious overseers to death with one swing of his pickaxe.

Yang Gan... he still had to keep training!

He looked at the system notification on the Attribute Panel.

'Mining Technique 1/1000 (Minor Mastery)

Special Effects: Resistant to cold and heat, hands steady as a rock, sharp eyes and a meticulous mind, Digging Earth Like Mud'

One thousand proficiency?

At this rate, the next stage should require two thousand?

He looked at the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art in the skill column. Its proficiency was 499; it needed only one more point to advance into Minor Mastery.

He raised the Iron Pickaxe, light as a willow thread. As he dug down the last large chunk of ore, the final point of proficiency for the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art was filled.

'You circulated the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art. The Iron Pickaxe in your hand seemed like a hammer, as though you had touched a sliver of the technique's exquisite threshold. Yet when your thoughts shifted slightly, you could no longer grasp that trace of divine essence. Still, the results of your cultivation had already begun to show. Crimson Flame Copper Body Art proficiency quietly increased.'

'Your Crimson Flame Copper Body Art has reached Minor Mastery.'

'Crimson Flame Copper Body Art (Skin Tempering) 0/1000 (Minor Mastery)

Special Effects: Abundant qi and blood, strength coursing through the entire body, skin tough as leather, muscles bulging in ridges'

The Crimson Flame Copper Body Art at Minor Mastery!

As joy rose in Xu Yunfan's heart, a vast number of memories of his cultivation of the Crimson Flame Copper Body Art began flowing through his mind.

Inside a crude workshop, dim yellow candlelight flickered, stretching and shrinking the surrounding shadows.

He wore coarse hemp clothes. What he gripped in his hand was no longer the Iron Pickaxe he used for mining every day, but a heavy iron hammer.

The hammerhead was as large as a watermelon, while its handle was thick and gleamed from the polish of hand sweat. Under the faint light, it carried a cold, hard metallic sheen.

At first, even lifting that hundred-pound hammer took great effort. Every swing and strike required him to exhaust all his strength, stirring up every ounce of power in his body.