Mining Complete, Strength of a Thousand Jin!

"See that? Not only did Qin Yao get whipped, even his breakfast was confiscated as punishment."

"This guy doesn't have even a trace of the swagger he had when he dealt with Zhao Jian before!"

"Obviously. Put plainly, Zhao Jian is just one of the many mine slaves.

"Qin Yao holds the same status as him, so naturally he can use his exceptional strength and guts to force him into submission.

"But Foreman Li is different. He sits on the throne of a 'supervisor,' and the power in his fists comes from having stepped through the gate of martial arts into the Body Tempering Realm...

"No matter how arrogant Qin Yao is, once he falls into Lord Li's hands, he's like a mouse before a cat. No matter how much he writhes, he can't make even the slightest splash!"

"That makes sense."

"Ah, I thought that once Brother Yao became the most dazzling mine slave in Ding Mine Pit with his extraordinary mining ability, he would at least have a place in the supervisors' esteem.

"But now it seems I was simply overthinking it!"

"Yeah. At the end of the day, those of us without martial cultivation are nothing but expendable materials struggling at the very bottom..."

"And we still want dignity? What a joke!"

"Mm, if we can fill our bellies, then Amitabha!"

Qin Yao turned a deaf ear to the other mine slaves' discussions.

At that moment, he silently ate the half flatbread Little Liuzi had given him.

As for the other mine slaves whom Qin Yao had helped, all of them stayed far away, afraid that sharing food with him would rub Supervisor Li Gang the wrong way.

Zhao Jian, meanwhile, had been thoroughly beaten into submission by Qin Yao. Even though he secretly rejoiced at seeing him suffer, he still broke off half a flatbread as agreed and respectfully handed it to Qin Yao.

To many of the mine slaves, the youth's silent chewing was because Supervisor Li's whip had knocked the spirit out of him.

But in the eyes of people like Little Liuzi, Brother Qin now looked like a lone wolf that had just been wounded, licking its wounds...

He believed that if any mine slave failed to recognize the situation and dared provoke Qin Yao now, their end would definitely not be pleasant.

For even a lone wolf wounded by a "fierce tiger" was not someone those snarling, claw-waving "foxes" could afford to provoke!

Yet no one could have imagined that Qin Yao's silence was neither because Li Gang had knocked the spirit out of him, nor because he was supposedly "licking his wounds and gathering strength for another strike."

He was merely thinking about how to walk the road ahead both quickly and steadily!

Li Gang had to die!

Not only because of that whip across his face, but also because of Li Gang's contempt and insults toward Old Master Qin.

But the question was, how could he kill him and still retreat unscathed?

If it were only Li Gang, a first-level Body Tempering Realm cultivator, Qin Yao currently had plenty of ways to kill him in the shadows!

But the reality was that Ding Mine Pit had far more supervisors than just Li Gang. It could be said that tug one hair and the whole body moved.

And behind those people stood the even stronger manager, Wang Ji...

As the saying went, there was no turning back once the bowstring was drawn.

Once Qin Yao truly began killing at the mine, he had to be prepared to deal with every trouble that followed!

"I'm still not strong enough."

Qin Yao thought to himself, "At the very least, I need to raise the 'Mining' skill by another level before I have the ability to withstand more unforeseen changes."

It was precisely his "exchange" with Niu Shiyang last night that had given Qin Yao much to consider.

By all rights, the broad and brawny Niu Shiyang could already be considered a formidable man in the slum-like western village, where everyone was malnourished.

Otherwise, the title of "Manager Wang's lackey" alone would not have given him the nerve to swagger through the western village by himself, throwing his weight around.

This pig-fat brute still had quite a bit of strength and ruthlessness in him.

But when he encountered Qin Yao, who was still one step away from the Body Tempering Realm, he had been played in the palm of Qin Yao's hand...

Through this, Qin Yao came to understand more directly just how terrifying the crushing advantage of a true martial artist was over ordinary people!

By the same logic, even if he could barely trade blows with Li Gang, a first-level Body Tempering Realm cultivator, what about the rest?

For example, Manager Wang Ji...

Would he simply stand by and do nothing after Li Gang died?

As far as Qin Yao knew, Wang Ji, the chief manager of Ding Mine Pit, was even stronger than the head instructor of Tiger Head Martial Hall in the eastern village.

Toppling him would not be easy!

For a moment, Qin Yao's yearning for strength became ever more urgent. *"Mine, mine!

"First, grind the 'Mining' skill into a new realm!"*

With the sound of a bronze gong, the mine slaves officially began work.

Qin Yao swung the iron pickaxe in his hand until it flew.

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Skill "Mining" Proficiency +1

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Skill "Mining" Proficiency +2

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Skill "Mining"...

Overseer Li Gang saw how diligent Qin Yao was and assumed he had been cowed by his own ferocity and cruelty. He could not help feeling secretly pleased. "Hmph, these lowly wretches need to be whipped into shape!"

Qin Yao kept his head down and worked himself to the bone. From morning until dusk, apart from lunch, he scarcely rested at all.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Just as the dinner gong sounded—"Skill 'Mining' proficiency +1. Current proficiency: 20000/20000"

" Ding! Skill 'Mining' has advanced to the Perfected Realm."

The instant the system notification rang out, Qin Yao's entire body jolted as though struck by electricity.

A massive torrent of complex information about mineral deposits flooded into his mind, branding itself deep within it—so deeply that he could never forget it even if he wanted to!

This gave Qin Yao an increasingly profound understanding of mineral veins and ores.

Now, with a single glance, he could accurately determine which patch could yield iron ore or copper ore, and which might produce silver or gold!

It was no exaggeration to say that, across the entire Great Yan Kingdom, if Qin Yao called himself second in mining and ore identification, no one would dare call themselves first!

Immediately afterward, an unprecedented sense of strength rose from his dantian and surged through his limbs and bones.

The exhaustion from staying up all night grinding skills, coupled with a full day of mining, was swept away in an instant!

The iron pickaxe in his hand felt light as nothing.

The bruises on his face from the whip wounds were also rapidly smoothed away as his blood circulated.

Qin Yao felt as though strength filled every inch of his body!

Give him a tree, and he could imitate Lin Daiyu and uproot a weeping willow on the spot!

Uh, no, that was Lu Zhishen—uprooting a weeping willow...

Full of anticipation, the young man called up his status panel—"Host: Qin Yao"

"Realm: None. Though you possess no 'martial cultivation' in the traditional sense, the strength of your muscles and bones, power, speed, and other attributes are now comparable to those of a second-layer Body Tempering martial artist, with the strength of a thousand jin!

This is already the physical limit a 'non-martial artist' can attain!"

"Technique: None"

"Skills: Mining, Perfected Realm; Eating, Minor Mastery Realm (365/1000); Acting, Minor Mastery Realm (107/2000); Lockpicking, Minor Mastery Realm (3/2000); Disguise, Minor Mastery Realm (2/2000)"

"Available Points: 11"

"Finally, I made it!"

After reading the status panel, Qin Yao's heart finally settled.