Cold Iron Ore Cave

"Do you happen to know the details, fellow Daoist?"

The matter was rather suspicious. Stranger still, even a Spirit Farmer knew about it.

At the question, the middle-aged man's animated expression abruptly faded. He seemed to have something he could not readily speak of. After a moment's hesitation, he finally said, "I only heard about it from others myself."

After an entire morning at his stall, Lu Zhao had not sold a single Puppet Guard. That was normal enough. This business was always a case of "no sales for half a year, then one sale feeds you for half a year."

At noon, he swallowed a Grain-Repelling Pill. These pills were not particularly expensive, and one could keep hunger at bay for three days. Lu Zhao often bought them as a substitute for spirit rice.

After taking the pill, he walked along the Market District's main road for about a quarter of an hour, arriving at the entrance to the Cold Iron Ore Vein not far from the Market District.

According to the rules, anyone entering the mine had to first surrender their Storage Artifacts, which a Law-Enforcement Cultivator sealed inside a Spirit-Sealing Box. The box's sole function was to block divine sense, preventing people from smuggling out ore.

Once everything had been handed over, Spirit Pickaxes were distributed. The Spirit Pickaxe felt icy in his hand, glowing faint blue in the pitch-black cave-it was an Unranked Artifact forged from refined iron mixed with a tiny quantity of cold iron ore, primarily used for mining.

As Lu Zhao entered the cave, ice crystals formed on his fingertips and pattered down. Water-aspected spiritual energy circulated around him, forming a pale blue film of light.

The cave entrance resembled the throat of a giant beast. Cold seeped into his marrow through gaps in the protective spiritual light of the Little Spirit Rain Art. This was the influence of the Cold Iron Ore Vein-ordinary people could not survive in such an environment, and everyone who mined here was a cultivator.

Continuing deeper, Lu Zhao reached one of the branching veins.

Several people were already inside, the sound of chiseling rising and falling. A few Qi Refining cultivators struck the rock walls, their Spirit Pickaxes glowing a deep blue, each blow scattering ice shards from the blue-black rock.

Lu Zhao ran his hand over a crack in the rock wall and soon began working as well. The blue-black rock fractured beneath his Spirit Pickaxe, exposing a web of silvery-blue veins within.

In this world, cold iron ore was also called "ice marrow iron ore." Its formation required the cold yin energy of the earth veins to permeate refined iron ore for a thousand years. The deposits extended evenly like blood vessels, but had no fixed points of concentration.

He chipped off a fist-sized piece of raw ore. Ice crystals grew in a radial pattern across the broken surface, with a grain-sized speck of deep blue embedded at its center-cold iron ore.

The monthly quota of ten jin sat precisely at the limit of what early- and middle-stage Qi Refining cultivators could mine in a month.

If they forced themselves to mine beyond their time limit, the milder consequence was cold entering their bodies and damaging their meridians, delaying their breakthrough; the worse was a backlash of cold that froze them to death in the cave.

Late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, meanwhile, thought little of such meager earnings and generally did not come. Those who did usually had some other purpose.

Half an hour later, Lu Zhao stared at the crystalline gleam flickering between the cracks, and a thought stirred in his mind-cold jade stone, a spiritual substance that occurred alongside cold iron ore.

It was a first-tier inferior-grade spiritual substance of little value, far below first-tier superior-grade cold iron.

This should be worth about twenty spirit sand, he calculated.

The Zhou Household had a rule: aside from cold iron ore, any accompanying materials handed in would have their market value split equally between the two parties.

The Zhou Household's generosity was born of necessity. The environment in the cold iron mine was harsh, and only cultivators could come to mine, preferably middle-stage cultivators. With the severe erosion of the cold on top of that, no one would be willing to work if the pay was too low.

As for cold iron ore itself, only a limited amount could be mined each day. Eleven jin a month was the most anyone could manage, and with poor luck, they might not even get ten.

As long as the full quota of ore was handed in on time, the Zhou Household turned a blind eye to everything else-if you could get it out, that was your own ability.

If they were too strict, no one besides Guest Elders like Lu Zhao would be willing to come.

The others had no fixed monthly stipend. They relied on smuggling out ore and gathering accompanying spiritual substances for profit.

Another hour passed. Lu Zhao estimated that he had mined seven liang of cold iron ore. His luck was good today, so he stopped.

He could not stay in the cave much longer today. Early-stage Qi Refining cultivators could endure at most two hours, while middle-stage cultivators could last another half hour.

With half an hour left, he planned to gather some puppet materials. He had little stock of either Spirit-Devouring Rat corpses or Rat King fangs. Refining puppets was far from easy, so he needed to lay in more supplies.

Just as he reached the depths of a mining tunnel, a gray blur darted from a crack overhead!

Lu Zhao flung a Water Bullet Technique backhanded. The bursting spray instantly froze into icy mist, making the Spirit-Devouring Rat King stumble, though it still barely managed to force its way out.

Its stark white fangs were clearly visible-though this beast possessed only early first-tier strength, its teeth had a "spirit-breaking" property that gave them a slight advantage against defensive spells.

Besides the Rat King, there were seven or eight ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats, each the size of a cat, though all were merely unranked Demonic Beasts.

The Rat King itself was small, only the size of an ordinary rat, making it all the more agile in the narrow cave.

Lu Zhao had only meant to find a few ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats, never expecting to encounter a Rat King. Whether his luck was good or the Rat King's was bad, he had found it after passing through just one mining tunnel.

The moment the Rat King appeared, Lu Zhao raised his hand and unleashed an Ice Cone Art, only for it to dodge nimbly aside.

A chase followed. The Rat King was extremely fast, but only its fangs posed any threat. Nothing else about it was worth fearing.

A quarter of an hour later, the Rat King was driven into a dead end.

Seeing no way to retreat, the Rat King roared furiously and lunged at Lu Zhao.

Lu Zhao raised a finger, condensing a water bullet at its tip.

The Rat King became a gray blur, leaping and weaving between the icicles. A rank gust swept toward him with the whistle of something cleaving the air, and the eerie gleam of its fangs tore at the protective spiritual light formed by the Little Spirit Rain Art.

Just then, three water bullets arranged in a triangle cut off the Rat King's retreat. The cold released as they struck the ice wall instantly condensed into icy mist.

This was his modified Water Bullet Technique, which he called the "Ice Bullet Technique"-using the extreme cold of the Cold Iron Ore Cave to turn an ordinary Water Bullet Technique into ice crystals that restrained its target.

The rats were trapped within the icy mist, which clung to their fur and formed shells of frost, slowing their movements as though they were mired in a bog.

Just as the Rat King and its pack were hampered, an ice cone suddenly appeared and pierced the Rat King's left eye. It let out a shriek and fell stiffly to the ground.

Moments later, the seven or eight ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats were also killed, one by one.

Looking at the rat corpses strewn across the ground, Lu Zhao's lips curved slightly. He gathered them all into his bag, then headed back.

Only Lu Zhao would go to such lengths to hunt creatures like Spirit-Devouring Rats. Even when others saw them, most would simply drive them away.

Aside from the Rat King's fangs, which qualified as first-tier inferior-grade spiritual materials worth a few dozen spirit sand, Spirit-Devouring Rats were entirely useless.

Going to so much trouble for that little spirit sand really was not worthwhile.

Lu Zhao had merely happened upon the Rat King and killed it in passing. After all, though it was not strong, it was fast, and with the narrow cave working in its favor, its chances of escaping alive were actually quite good.

Having encountered Lu Zhao, who was proficient in water spells, today, it could at least be said to have met a fitting death.

When he reached the cave entrance, Lu Zhao underwent the routine inspection, retrieved his sealed storage bag, and registered the cold iron ore and cold jade stone he had gathered that day.

The inspecting cultivator paid no attention to his other possessions. Only upon seeing the Rat King's corpse did he show a little surprise, but that was all.

As for the cold iron ore and cold jade stone, he still had to deliver them to the storehouse himself. The Zhou Household had no fear of anyone running off-in Changfeng Commandery, who would dare flee with the Zhou Household's property?