Sudden Change

"Open your dog eyes and take a good look!"

Qin Huaian suddenly hurled a fireball at the burly man. This fireball contained only a small amount of his spiritual power.

A flash of light passed, and a shield rose before the burly man. The shield shattered instantly, but the fireball's momentum remained undiminished as it flew toward his chest. In a panic, the burly man flung out another Vajra Talisman, barely blocking the fireball.

The burly man was horrified. This kid had definitely reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage. Even a casually cast Fireball Technique required him to resist with all his strength.

The lackeys were equally terrified. Their boss had entered the Qi Refining Third Layer long ago and was considered a formidable figure in the Qi Refining Early Stage. Yet he could not even withstand this cultivator's tiny Fireball Technique.

The group hurriedly begged for mercy. "Senior, it's all a misunderstanding. We'll compensate you for your losses."

They were miserable inside. They had not encountered a lone cultivator in ages. When they finally found one, he was actually at the Qi Refining Middle Stage. That alone would have been one thing, but he was even a former victim who had broken through!

Qin Huaian had no intention of taking their lives for now. This was, after all, a mine vein of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect. If deaths occurred and an investigation traced them back to him, not only would he be unable to escape punishment, he would also be unable to continue mining here. Opportunities like this were hard to come by.

"I won't make things difficult for you. Leave all your ore behind, and each of you hand over another five hundred spirit stones. Then we'll call it even."

"Senior, spare my life! I truly don't have that many spirit stones! You're asking for my life!" one lackey pleaded.

Qin Huaian ignored him and merely stared at the burly man.

Sweat covered the burly man's head as he gritted his teeth and said, "Everything shall be as Senior says."

As he spoke, he had the lackeys pour out all their ore. The group then scraped together enough spirit stones and handed them to Qin Huaian.

These people actually had so many spirit stones. It seemed they had harmed quite a few people.

"Scram. Don't let me see you again."

Several of them picked up their mining baskets and turned to leave the mine tunnel.

"Wait!"

The group froze. One lackey immediately wailed, "Senior, we really have given you all our spirit stones! Please, just treat us like a fart and let us go!"

"Tell me, why are all the nearby mine tunnels empty?"

That lackey hurriedly said, "Senior, haven't you come by recently?"

"Get to the point!"

"Y-yes. Recently, everyone has gone deeper into the mine vein to dig. The ore content there is very high, and Red Copper Essence often appears, so no one is using these mine tunnels closer to the outside anymore."

"All right, go."

The group fled in panic, as though vicious demons and savage fiends were chasing them from behind.

After Qin Huaian waited until they had run far away, he stored the spirit stones and ore in the Seed Space.

They gave it up so readily. Looks like I asked for too little! Qin Huaian thought.

Qin Huaian did not know that, because everyone had recently begun mining in teams, the mine tyrants had been forced to turn over a new leaf. They had few chances to rob people now and could only mine normally. If the mine vein had not been producing so much lately, they might not have been able to produce that many spirit stones.

Qin Huaian did not remain there any longer. Since there was a better place, naturally he had to go there.

Following the mine tunnel deeper into the vein, he gradually began to see cultivators mining. Qin Huaian did not encounter the little fatty and the others along the way, nor did he continue looking for them. He found an empty little mine tunnel and began digging.

At the same time, part of his consciousness sank into the Seed Space.

"Derive the Spirit Eye Technique." The Spirit Eye Technique could reveal others' cultivation levels. It was an extremely useful spell.

If he could see through others' cultivation, he could avoid many unnecessary troubles.

[Consume 30 spirit stones. The Mirror Body can derive the Spirit Eye Technique to the Beginner level, requiring 1 shichen; consume 60 spirit stones to halve the time.]

"Consume 30 spirit stones for the derivation."

Two days later, Qin Huaian had spent a total of 450 spirit stones, deriving the Spirit Eye Technique to the Mastery level. The Beginner-level Spirit Eye Technique could determine the levels of cultivators at the same realm or below. The Proficient level could see cultivators one realm above his own, and so on. The Mastery level could determine the levels of cultivators up to three minor realms above him.

Optimizing it to the Perfect level would require 2,400 spirit stones, and Qin Huaian did not choose to optimize it. The Mastery-level Spirit Eye Technique was enough for the present. Cultivating his own realm was more important. Of course, the main reason was that he was running low on spirit stones.

Over these two days, Qin Huaian mined roughly three thousand jin of ore. After breaking through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, his mining speed had increased greatly. Qin Huaian stored eighty percent of the ore he mined in the Seed Space, and he was lucky enough to dig up a fist-sized piece of Red Copper Essence.

Another two days passed, and Qin Huaian finally filled an entire mining basket. He hoisted it onto his back and was just about to turn in the ore.

At that moment, the entire mountain suddenly shook violently.

"Beast tide! All cultivators, come out and defend against the enemy!" A resounding voice spread through the entire mining area.

Everyone's faces changed. With the Million Mountains so close by, they had all heard of the terror of beast tides. Demon beasts would surge out from the Million Mountains and frantically assault human territory. Encountering a beast tide within the Million Mountains meant nine deaths for every chance of survival.

This was a life-and-death calamity! Qin Huaian had also heard of beast tides. Whenever one arrived, large numbers of cultivators died.

"Run! Get to the mine entrance! If demon beasts attack the mine tunnel and it collapses, we're all finished!" someone shouted.

Qin Huaian stored the ore in the Seed Space, threw away his mining basket, and turned to run toward the mine entrance.

Everyone else threw away their mining baskets as well, no longer caring whether there was ore inside. They had no storage artifacts, and carrying them would only be a burden.

The closer they came to the exit, the more people came pouring out. Everyone gathered at the entrance—or rather, fled for their lives. Running out might still offer a sliver of survival. If they were trapped inside the mine tunnel with no rescue, that would be certain death.

At the mine entrance, the protective formation had already been activated. Three Foundation Establishment cultivators stood at the front, presiding over the formation. Most of the demon beasts attacking it were wolf-type demon beasts. Each demon wolf stood a full two meters tall, their eyes scarlet as they crazily slammed into the protective formation.

"Silver Moon Demon Wolves! Those Silver Moon Demon Wolves with scarlet eyes have already entered a berserk state," a cultivator nearby said nervously.

Qin Huaian had heard Su Yichen speak of Silver Moon Demon Wolves. They were a pack-dwelling type of demon beast, one of the demon beasts that demon-beast-hunting cultivators feared most.

Among every thousand or so first-rank Silver Moon Demon Wolves, a Silver Moon Wolf King would appear. First-rank Silver Moon Demon Wolves were equivalent to humans in the Qi Refining Stage, while Silver Moon Wolf Kings were equivalent to Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

Qin Huaian looked at the Silver Moon Demon Wolves blanketing the mountains and plains outside the mine tunnel. There were at least several thousand of them.

The scarlet-eyed demon wolves fearlessly rammed against the light screen raised by the formation one after another. Under the formation barrier's rebounding force, they exploded into clouds of bloody mist, yet countless demon wolves followed one after another, surging forward like waves.

Under the direction of the three Foundation Establishment cultivators, the formation gradually stabilized. The Foundation Establishment cultivators began sitting cross-legged to recover their spiritual power, but the Silver Moon Demon Wolves outside did not cease their attacks.

At this moment, a Yellow Mountain Sword Sect disciple stepped forward and said to the crowd:

"I am Wei Junyu, an outer sect disciple of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect. Behind these Silver Moon Demon Wolves are at least three second-rank Silver Moon Wolf Kings. The Foundation Establishment stewards can no longer expend too much spiritual power maintaining the formation. They must preserve their spiritual power to deal with the Silver Moon Wolf Kings. Otherwise, once the Foundation Establishment stewards exhaust their spiritual power and the second-rank Silver Moon Wolf Kings attack, we will have absolutely no chance of survival."

"If the Foundation Establishment stewards do not preside over it, the formation's own defensive strength can hold for at most another shichen. Once the formation is breached, the Foundation Establishment cultivators will go resist the second-rank Silver Moon Wolf Kings. We will have to rely on ourselves."

The crowd immediately stirred. Most of these cultivators who had come to mine were not skilled in battle, and many did not even possess their own offensive artifacts. For these Rogue Cultivators, most of whom were only at the first or second layer of Qi Refining, artifacts were simply too expensive.

Qin Huaian himself possessed only a hidden-weapon-type offensive artifact. In a battle of this scale, hidden weapons would be of little use.

Had he only transmigrated here not long ago, only to die here already?