Fire Pit

Thirty Spirit Stones a year.

Three hundred Spirit Stones in ten years.

Three thousand Spirit Stones in a hundred years.

Thirty thousand Spirit Stones in a thousand years.

In other words, if He Song's income never increased, he would need to farm for a thousand years to save up thirty thousand Spirit Stones.

And that was only if He Song neither ate nor drank, spent no Spirit Stones on cultivation, and spent none on socializing.

By then, even the daylilies would have gone cold, wouldn't they?

Though his lifespan was endless, it was not meant to be wasted like this.

With only a passing thought, He Song tossed the idea aside and continued listening.

"Right now, the Thick Earth Sect is recruiting Rogue Cultivators to mine. Every Rogue Cultivator who goes in and mines for a month can earn thirty Spirit Stones in wages."

As Wei Fan's voice rang out again,

the two men, already somewhat shocked, immediately widened their eyes even further.

Thirty Spirit Stones a month? Wouldn't that be three hundred and sixty Spirit Stones a year?

That income

was far higher than what internal Immortal Market personnel such as Spirit Plant Farmers earned.

As an internal Spirit Plant Farmer of the Immortal Market, He Song could only earn one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones after working himself to the bone for an entire year.

After rent was deducted, only thirty Spirit Stones remained for him to spend freely.

But now,

any Rogue Cultivator could simply go mining and earn three hundred and sixty Spirit Stones in a year.

As long as they did not rent a place to live within the Immortal Market,

all of those Rogue Cultivators' earnings could be freely spent.

The gap between thirty Spirit Stones and three hundred and sixty Spirit Stones was more than tenfold!

Calculating it in his mind, He Song suddenly found his annual thirty Spirit Stones far less appealing.

He worked hard for an entire year to earn thirty Spirit Stones.

Those Rogue Cultivators could earn thirty Spirit Stones in a single month.

The difference between them was simply as vast as heaven and earth.

By that calculation,

going to mine at the nearby Red Spirit Gold Mine Ore Vein was practically scooping Spirit Stones into sacks!

"Unfortunately, they only recruit Rogue Cultivators. Internal Immortal Market cultivators like us aren't even allowed in, alas." Seemingly noticing the temptation in the two men's eyes, Wei Fan immediately poured a basin of cold water over them.

He raised his teacup, took a light sip, and continued.

"Don't even think about leaving the Immortal Market. Leaving is easy, but trying to get back in afterward will be harder than climbing to heaven. Once you become a mere Rogue Cultivator, your life will no longer be as stable as it is now."

The moment he finished speaking,

Meng Guan, who had been somewhat tempted, grabbed the teacup beside him, furrowed his brow tightly, and drained it in one gulp.

He Song kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, saying nothing.

Yet inwardly, he had already made his own plans.

The Thick Earth Sect was recruiting Rogue Cultivator miners and offering thirty Spirit Stones a month.

That meant the Ore Vein was enormously valuable, and the Thick Earth Sect wanted to finish extracting it as quickly as possible.

As for whether there were any dangers within the Ore Vein,

that was not something He Song could know.

However, having lived through an age of information explosion in his previous life, He Song maintained a degree of vigilance toward everything.

Hiring Rogue Cultivator miners at such a high price meant there had to be something fishy going on.

Moreover, the Thick Earth Sect recruited only Rogue Cultivator miners and did not recruit internal Immortal Market personnel to mine. The implications were hard to fathom.

Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market was not far from that Ore Vein.

If they truly wanted to excavate it quickly, their own people from within the Immortal Market should have been more trustworthy no matter what.

Yet they still recruited only Rogue Cultivator miners.

The greed in He Song's eyes completely vanished at that moment.

This Ore Vein

was absolutely not somewhere he could go!

Having made up his mind, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

It was true that being a miner could earn more Spirit Stones, but even if he earned more, he still needed to be alive to spend them.

You had your eyes on the generous pay.

They might have had their eyes on your life.

He Song naturally understood which mattered more.

As an Immortal, living a long life was his greatest advantage.

If he still risked his life for a little cultivation resource like other cultivators, then he would be far too unworthy of being an Immortal.

Other cultivators fought and killed over cultivation resources because their lives were short; if they did not fight, they would die.

But he had already attained immortality. He was completely different from them.

He casually poured Meng Guan another cup of tea and pushed it before him.

At that moment,

Meng Guan, his face full of the weariness of age, looked deeply conflicted.

He had been stuck at the Qi Refining Middle Stage for far, far too long.

So long that even he himself felt his state of mind had grown old, causing his appearance to become that of an old man.

But now,

an opportunity to earn a great number of Spirit Stones lay before him.

Yet if he wanted to seize that opportunity, he would need to give up his status as internal Immortal Market personnel and become a mere Rogue Cultivator from then on.

That was an outcome he could never accept.

The gap between internal Immortal Market cultivators and Rogue Cultivators was actually immense.

The death rate among Rogue Cultivators remained extremely high.

When Rogue Cultivators were harmed, no one would avenge them.

Rogue Cultivators held extremely low status, so low that anyone could step on them.

The resources Rogue Cultivators could obtain were also extremely limited.

But as long as one was an internal Immortal Market cultivator, none of these problems existed.

Cultivating steadily and peacefully.

Receiving fixed resources every month or year.

Having friends avenge one after being harmed.

Holding high status within the Immortal Market, and being able to strut about before Rogue Cultivators.

Such a stark contrast made Meng Guan want to earn the enormous sum of Spirit Stones, yet unwilling to give up his identity as internal Immortal Market personnel.

That was why he was so conflicted now.

"Old Meng, don't think too much about it. Just save up Spirit Stones peacefully. Once the time is right, we'll go to Qingyuan Immortal City together and buy you a Realm-Breaking Pill," Wei Fan said softly after noticing Meng Guan's struggle.

"Brother Wei is right. It's better to save Spirit Stones slowly. Perhaps before we've even saved enough, you'll break through the realm through your own efforts," He Song added, offering a word of comfort.

Meng Guan could be considered He Song's guide into the world of cultivation.

If Meng Guan had not casually given the original owner a copy of Spirit Plant Cultivation Techniques, He Song might have become a mere Rogue Cultivator the moment he transmigrated.

The way Rogue Cultivators survived in the cultivation world was far worse than that of Spirit Plant Farmers.

Let alone breaking through to Qi Refining Layer 3 within five years.

Whether he could even break through to Qi Refining Layer 2 in five years would have been a question.

Not to mention the various dangers Rogue Cultivators had to face—He Song had not encountered a single one of them.

By that measure, Meng Guan had indeed shown He Song great kindness, though he himself did not know it.

But He Song needed to remember it.

In cultivation, having one's thoughts flow freely was also one of the essentials.

Now that Meng Guan was about to jump into the fire pit that was the Ore Vein, He Song naturally needed to dissuade him, so long as it did not affect himself.

Mining in the Ore Vein might earn a great deal.

But one's life might not be preserved.

At the same time, one would need to resign from one's internal Immortal Market post.

After paying such a terrible price, the result would only be jumping into a fire pit.

If he did not try to persuade him and simply watched Meng Guan leap into the fire pit, He Song felt he would not be able to get over it in his heart.