Consuming Jade Marrow, The Qi Refining Realm

"Brother Xu... no, Father Xu, save me!"

Bi Qiong's desperate cry echoed through the mine tunnel. Xu Yuan hurriedly looked up and saw her surrounded by a huge pack of white-boned skeletons, about to be caught and sucked dry.

"Grab this!"

Xu Yuan pulled something from his sleeve and threw it out. Bi Qiong caught it in a panic and found that it was an Iron Buddha Amulet.

The instant it landed in her hand, the Iron Buddha Amulet suddenly radiated golden light, enveloping her entire body. Every skeletal monster that touched that layer of golden light first shuddered violently, then its body crumbled into flying ash.

At that moment, Xu Yuan stepped forward as well. Though he had worked nonstop for four hours and his body was nearly frozen stiff, he still charged into the horde of skeletons like a bulldozer.

Shoving left and striking right, he smashed apart every skeletal monster that dared stand in his way, scattering their parts everywhere.

"Go."

Gripping Bi Qiong's hand in his, Xu Yuan gave her only his back. Then, with the Buddha's light clearing the way, he charged straight through the skeletal monsters' encirclement.

After passing back through the passage, the two arrived at the cave through which they had entered the deeper mine. Only then did Bi Qiong feel as if she had truly come back to life.

Recalling Xu Yuan's heroic bearing just now, Bi Qiong rarely revealed a touch of girlishness. "I thought I could help out somehow. Who knew that once we got into the mine, I'd only become a burden instead."

Xu Yuan waved it off carelessly and set out the Jade Marrow Crystals he had mined. The basket was filled to the brim. He had counted while digging—there were roughly ninety-six pieces.

Bi Qiong took out the lotus-leaf pouch she had retrieved from the house earlier and gripped it tightly with both hands. The next moment, something magical happened. As the opening of the lotus-leaf pouch widened, the Jade Marrow Crystals in the basket actually rose into the air one after another and continuously flew into that tiny space.

Only after sixty-seven pieces had gone in did Bi Qiong seal the opening of the lotus-leaf pouch.

"A storage artifact. That great person gave this to me too."

Bi Qiong gave the lotus-leaf pouch a little shake. Seeing that Xu Yuan said nothing, she finally began dividing the spoils between them.

In the end, Bi Qiong received nine Jade Marrow Crystals, while Xu Yuan got nineteen.

"Just crush them and swallow them. Even an ordinary person with no foundation whatsoever can reach the Qi Refining realm after swallowing nineteen Jade Marrow Crystals."

Bi Qiong picked up one of her Jade Marrow Crystals and gestured with it toward Xu Yuan. Then she flicked a certain spot on it hard with her finger. With a bang, the seemingly hard shell instantly cracked apart, revealing the silver-gray substance inside. She tipped back her head and swallowed it.

In an instant, overflowing spiritual radiance wrapped around her.

Xu Yuan followed her example. He took out one of his own Jade Marrow Crystals and swallowed it.

It felt like jelly, though it had no taste at all. He could only feel an icy line sliding down his throat. Immediately afterward, overflowing spiritual radiance likewise enveloped Xu Yuan.

Before entering the mine, Xu Yuan's relentless cultivation over the past several days had already allowed him to accumulate two strands of spiritual energy within his body. Now, nourished by the Jade Marrow Crystal, his third strand of spiritual energy rapidly formed.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, Xu Yuan opened his eyes. A flash of spiritual radiance passed through them as the third strand of spiritual energy within him finished forming.

He turned to look at Bi Qiong. She seemed to be circulating some cultivation technique as well, and the spiritual charm surrounding her was far stronger than his own.

Knowing this was not the time to relax, Xu Yuan immediately swallowed a second Jade Marrow Crystal. Soon after, his fourth strand of spiritual energy was born.

And so it continued. By the time he had used seven Jade Marrow Crystals, all nine strands of spiritual energy within his body had formed.

The nine strands twisted together in his chest, forming a vortex of qi. Then, under Xu Yuan's gaze, the entire spiritual vortex suddenly collapsed into a thin stream of spiritual energy, flowing toward an unknown region within his body.

Meanwhile, outside the mine, the overseer was calculating the total accounts for the past few days. Looking at the amount of ore recorded in the ledger, he nodded in satisfaction. But just as he closed the account book, he suddenly felt uneasy.

"Come to think of it, where's that kid? Why hasn't he come out yet? And that other one, ripe as a fruit ready to be eaten—why hasn't he come out either?"

The overseer tapped his fingers against the wooden table. It was common for immortal slaves with poor yields to remain in the mine for a day and night, or even longer. Perhaps this was merely a coincidence.

Muttering to himself, the overseer was about to rise when the formation plaque that had always sat at the corner of his desk suddenly began to tremble. It seemed that the residual formation within had sensed something; one pattern after another lit up across its surface.

"A Qi Refining cultivator entered the mine? No! Someone is about to break through inside!"

His expression changed several times. The mine overseer shot to his feet, startling an immortal slave waiting to hand over his ore so badly that the man shuddered all over.

"Those two?!"

With an angry mutter, he glared viciously at the immortal slave before him. "Watch this place for me." Then black wind wrapped around his entire body as he shot directly into the mine.

The immortal slave, who had suffered this calamity for no reason at all, looked around, then at the empty desk in front of him, and pointed at himself with a finger.

"M-Me?"

Deep within the mine, Xu Yuan had reached the most critical moment. Before his eyes, in some unknowable realm, the small stream of spiritual energy formed from nine strands arrived before a pillar of light that held up the heavens. It then turned into a sharp blade and stabbed forward viciously!

With a crisp crack, like Kunlun jade shattering, Xu Yuan suddenly felt his body grow light. As the original nine strands of spiritual energy flowed into the pillar of light, countless streams of spiritual energy from the outside world began surging into his body in a frantic rush.

Under this nourishment, Xu Yuan suddenly felt his living soul grow light, as if it were floating upward. Looking down, he actually saw his own physical body.

He was startled at first, but Xu Yuan immediately realized that this was the brief separation of the living soul from the body that appeared due to the resonance between heaven and earth when breaking through to Qi Refining.

Knowing that this opportunity was rare, his living soul immediately formed a cultivation seal just like his physical body and guided stream after stream of spiritual energy over.

One breath, two breaths—after roughly ten breaths, Xu Yuan's living soul suddenly felt an enormous pulling force. His body sank, and he returned to his flesh.

When Xu Yuan opened his eyes again, he no longer needed to look inward. He could already sense a spiritual vein running through his entire body.

At this moment, he had truly stepped into the Qi Refining realm and gained the capital to escape the mining district.

Xu Yuan turned toward Bi Qiong, intending to congratulate her, but she seemed to have awakened long ago. She had even used that lotus-leaf pouch to collect all the remaining Jade Marrow Crystals from the ground.

Xu Yuan frowned, thinking she had developed greedy intentions. But Bi Qiong merely tucked the lotus-leaf pouch close against her body, then pointed toward the cave entrance ahead.

"Our trouble has arrived."

The moment she finished speaking, footsteps suddenly sounded outside. Then the mine overseer stormed in, his face twisted with rage.

"You two bastards, what exactly did you do in here?!"