Divine Realm Rank List

Mine Tunnel No. 1, West Five's fiftieth miner was huffing and puffing away at his digging work.

Since they were all old hands, ordinary stone and sediment weren't as hard as Fire Crystal Rock Ore.

So in just about one Shichen, the tunnel seemed to have grown a fair bit larger.

During that time, some Fire Crystal Rock Ore buried deep also surfaced.

But others had already snatched it up and started digging.

Yang Ling's luck wasn't great—he hadn't found a single piece of Fire Crystal Rock.

He planned to go deeper, and the Mine Guard keeping watch didn't bother to stop him.

"That kid's heading deeper. Should we send someone to follow him?" a Mine Guard noticed Yang Ling's movement and asked his companion.

"Follow him? If there's a cave-in, we're all dead. Just keep an eye on things from the entrance here," the companion rolled his eyes.

"But didn't the higher-ups want us to find the Buddhist Sutra Prisoner Butcher hid in here?"

"I don't believe that guy could have stashed the sutra in here. It's probably a diversion. Otherwise, they'd have found it ages ago—why bring in miners to dig three feet deep?"

"Look, Supervisor Wu only sent West Five's fiftieth miners in. That should tell you what's going on. It's just to give Ku Jue Temple an explanation."

"Besides... finding it might not be a good thing. Not finding it is actually the better outcome."

After that reminder from his companion, the guard seemed to catch on and immediately shut his mouth.

Yang Ling checked the map and kept pushing deeper into Mine Tunnel No. 1.

The map had marked some spots where large chunks of Fire Crystal Rock had been found before.

He went to those nearby locations and started digging.

Through constant probing and pinpointing, he finally found a decent piece of Fire Crystal Rock.

"Time to work!"

Yang Ling gripped the Steel Pickaxe, every muscle in his body buzzing with excitement.

One swing, two swings, three swings!

Each strike sent a cool, refreshing surge of experience into his body.

At moments like this, Yang Ling always lost track of time, sinking into a state of total absorption.

Before he knew it, the Fire Crystal Rock was completely mined out.

Yang Ling stuffed it into the cloth pouch at his waist, gave it a heft—about three jin.

"You dig really fast."

Not far away, someone holding a Fire Lighter stared at him in surprise.

Yang Ling wasn't worried about Mine Bandits today. He calmly looked the man over—a somewhat unfamiliar miner.

"I know every miner in Miner's Village. Even newcomers, I check their attributes to see if they're Players."

"This guy—how come I didn't spot him before?"

The other man looked to be in his early twenties, wearing a miner's uniform, but his bearing was a bit unusual.

Yang Ling glanced at his Attribute Panel:

Character: Xu Qing

Profession: Martial Artist

Strength: 22

Agility: 17

Spirit: 7

Martial Arts: Mountain River Drawing Sword Technique (Entering the Hall and Room), Mountain River Twelve Fists (Entering the Hall and Room), Mountain River Heart Method (Third-rate, First Glimpse of the Door)

Faction: Mountain River Sect

Yang Ling was inwardly shocked.

This young man had the highest Attribute Points of any Martial Artist he'd ever seen!

Strength, Agility, and Spirit added up to a full 46 Points!

Even Huìnéng of Ku Jue Temple only had 36 Points!

"Brother, you look a bit unfamiliar?"

Yang Ling said casually, "Mining is simple—just practice makes perfect."

With that, he continued searching for the next Fire Crystal Rock Ore, probing and pinpointing all over Xi Zhou.

Xu Qing seemed intrigued, quickly stepping forward and saying, "I just got here not long ago. Mind if I learn how to mine from you?"

"Sure, but you can't disturb me, and you can't take my Fire Crystal Rock Ore."

Yang Ling said casually.

Xu Qing nodded with a smile. "Easy, easy."

From then on, wherever Yang Ling went, Xu Qing followed.

Yang Ling didn't venture deeper into the Mine Shaft.

Having such an Expert by his side the whole time gave him a constant prickling sensation on his back.

He wasn't sure what the other party was after.

Soon, nearly a day had passed.

Yang Ling's cloth bag held about ten jin of Fire Crystal Rock Ore.

"It's getting late. Time to head out, don't you think?"

Xu Qing reminded him.

Yang Ling was about to leave, but as he walked, he casually swung his pick a few more times and uncovered another piece of Fire Crystal Rock.

Without a second word, he immediately got to work!

"What a mining maniac..."

Xu Qing stood not far away, sighing inwardly.

"I heard from Wu Que that one jin of Fire Crystal Rock can be exchanged for a hundred wen."

"At his speed, he can earn about One Liang Silver a day."

"That's thirty liang a month..."

"I can understand him now."

Xu Qing did the math and understood why the other party was so obsessed with mining.

At that rate of earning, even he would work hard.

"If I went all out, my speed wouldn't be slower than his... but his stamina seems excellent. Even after a full day of mining, though tired, he can still keep going."

"Is his willpower that strong?"

Xu Qing mused to himself.

At this moment, Yang Ling had no eyes for anything else.

He had already confirmed that Xu Qing was just an Expert sent by the Mountain River Sect to secretly search for that Buddhist Sutra.

Striking up a conversation with him was only because he saw how fast Yang Ling mined.

For now, he posed no real danger.

So Level Up was the priority.

His eyes were fixed solely on this piece of Fire Crystal Rock Ore.

He worked like a beast.

Finally...

"Ding!"

"Congratulations, you have leveled up. You have gained 1 Free Attribute Point."

"Leveled up..."

Yang Ling instinctively wanted to add it to Strength, but immediately snapped out of it and instead added it to Spirit.

A wave of warmth surged within him, eventually flowing through his blood vessels and rushing into his forehead.

He felt his mind grow sharper, and his entire spirit lifted by a notch.