Camel Peak Black Mine

The teams of yamen runners who had left Sanxiang City alongside Ren Qing and the others only arrived at the temporary camp on Camel Peak Mountain in batches two days later.

As expected, they had been ambushed by wild beasts along the way, so few runners survived, and those who did were all wounded.

This was only thanks to the intervention of the Forbidden Guards; otherwise, none would have escaped alive.

After that, the beasts suddenly stopped their indiscriminate attacks. Perhaps Song Rong realized he was wasting his efforts, or maybe he had other plans?

Under Ren Qing's assignment, the runners gradually joined the excavation work on Camel Peak Mountain.

The wheelbarrow he designed was also built, and relying on the tool to transport sand and soil did greatly improve efficiency.

The temporary camp had already begun to take on the rough shape of a village.

The military tents had suffered damage from wind and rain, prompting the runners to build simple wooden huts around the karst cave.

The water problem was solved by several mountain springs within Camel Peak Mountain, but the lack of large-capacity containers made transport troublesome; they would have to find clay later to fire pottery.

The only saving grace was that among the runners, there was indeed someone who had experience with pottery firing.

The sky was just barely light.

Ren Qing opened his eyes and spent a few minutes maintaining the Great Miao Saber.

Then he went out alone to search for traces of wolf packs nearby, intending to hunt a few for practicing the Divine Feet Scripture.

With wolf blood as an aid these past two days, he had reaped considerable benefits.

Ren Qing had secretly tested it in the mountain forest; the Werewolf Transformation had already reached his waist and abdomen, and he estimated it wouldn't be long before he could fully transform.

By then, his strength would see a significant boost, especially once he adapted to wielding the saber with both hands after transforming; his swing speed would likely increase several times over.

Unfortunately, he couldn't consume too much, or his body would be eroded and he would completely turn into a beast.

The progress of his other techniques was mediocre instead, especially the Human Skin Book, which could only be described as stagnant without the medicinal bath.

This left Ren Qing somewhat helpless, but since you can't have your cake and eat it too, if he truly encountered danger, he would simply consume his lifespan to force a breakthrough.

He crawled forward, moving away from the camp, using his Double Pupils to observe traces of beasts.

But after searching for nearly an hour, the wolf pack seemed to have learned its lesson; he only found a wild boar rolling in a mud pit.

Ren Qing cleanly shattered the boar's spine with his fist, then hoisted the hundred-jin beast onto his shoulder and quickly returned to camp.

He casually tossed it onto an open space and signaled Xiao Wu to handle it.

The other runners in the camp watched with indifferent expressions.

Aside from being somewhat used to it, they had also witnessed the bizarre methods of the Forbidden Guards and were no longer fazed by anything.

Ren Qing planned to find a nearby spot to practice his saber, but then he noticed some commotion in the inner camp.

"Hehehehe..."

The purple-blue Frogman Forbidden Guard, named Huang Ziwang, had just come out of the karst cave and was rinsing the dust off his body with clean water.

When Huang Ziwang spotted Ren Qing, his gaze turned mischievous, and he kept letting out strange laughs.

Ren Qing didn't react at first, but Huang Ziwang quickly gestured with his eyes for him to look not far away.

There stood Song Zongwu, his four arms crossed over his chest. He said coldly to Ren Qing, "Take a pickaxe and wait for me inside the karst cave."

"Yes, Senior Song."

Ren Qing's expression stiffened. What was coming had finally arrived.

In truth, Song Zongwu had hinted two days ago that mining could temper the body, but Ren Qing had pretended not to understand, never expecting retribution to come so quickly.

Ren Qing gave a bitter smile, picked up the pickaxe, turned around, and slipped into the deep karst cave.

Along the way, he noticed Guo Qing and a few others pushing wheelbarrows, covered in dust, but they didn't spot Ren Qing in the dim light.

Since he was going mining, Ren Qing chose to go deeper and finally stopped before a fork in the path.

Before him were five mine shafts, likely representing the five Forbidden Guards. From two of the shafts came continuous sounds of hammering.

He looked them over carefully. The third shaft didn't seem to have been chiseled out, as the rock bore large patches of corroded marks.

It might well be the mine shaft of that Frogman Forbidden Guard.

The remaining shafts either had claw marks or looked like they had been punched out by half-meter-wide fists.

Only the first shaft appeared relatively normal.

After waiting a moment, Song Zongwu walked over carrying five or six iron shovels.

"Senior Song..."

Ren Qing greeted him with an awkward smile, about to explain himself, when he heard Song Zongwu speak earnestly.

"Ren Qing, I know your talent is not bad, but because..."

Song Zongwu, mindful of the other Forbidden Guards inside the cave, stopped short and said, "Precisely because of that, you need to temper your body all the more, to master every ounce of your strength with precision."

Ren Qing wanted to tell him that he could break through with the Human Skin Book at any time, but after opening his mouth, he wisely shut it.

"Ren Qing, lend me your saber."

Ren Qing quickly handed the Great Miao Saber over.

Song Zongwu drew the blade from its sheath, examined it closely for a long time, and sighed with admiration. "That kid Liu Hu's craftsmanship has gotten even better. I almost didn't recognize it."

"Senior Song, do you use a blade too?"

"No, but this is enough."

Just as Ren Qing was puzzled, Song Zongwu gently stroked the blade with his palm, then slashed fiercely at the stone wall.

Sparks flew everywhere!!

A square stone block two meters in size slowly fell, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Ren Qing's heart leaped to his throat. The Great Miao Saber was indeed good quality, but it was by no means a blade that could cut through iron like mud. The edge would surely be damaged.

Song Zongwu returned the Great Miao Saber to Ren Qing and said, "Don't worry. I don't know how to use a blade, but at least I won't harm it."

Ren Qing glanced at the Great Miao Saber and found the edge still gleaming like new, with even traces of the Blade Oil still clinging to it.

A smile spread across Song Zongwu's face. "Start by digging with the pickaxe. Once you gradually get used to it, you can switch to the blade."

"Thank you, Senior Song."

Ren Qing said sincerely. Relying on the Information Flow had indeed left him lacking in practical training. He was grateful that Song Zongwu had pointed this out in time.

"It's nothing."

Song Zongwu waved his hand.

The reason he valued Ren Qing so highly was only partly due to talent. The main reason was Ren Qing's steadfast adherence to the principles of his techniques.

With the Eye-less Method, anyone who devoured a human eye would inevitably mutate into a Hundred-Eyed. Even if they turned back, the direction of mutation should have been toward a Single-Eyed.

Yet Ren Qing had advanced to the unheard-of Double-Pupil User, proving he had never once considered taking the shortcut of devouring human eyes.

The same went for the Taotie Method. The Food Eater and Giant Stomach were relatively easier to cultivate, relying on massive food intake to grow stronger.

But Ren Qing had still chosen the Vice-Stomach User, which Song Zongwu believed was the mutation path with the most potential.

Song Zongwu patted Ren Qing on the shoulder and said, "As you dig deeper, the rock inside the mountain will get harder. Even I won't find it easy."

Ren Qing couldn't help but ask, "Senior Song, why do you use a shovel? Wouldn't it be faster to just use your bare hands?"

Song Zongwu picked up the shovel, gave it a light squeeze, and it crumpled into a lump of scrap metal.

"A shovel is like tofu to me. Using it helps me comprehend the principle of wielding weight as if it were light, so I can better restrain my own strength."

After saying this, he walked toward the first mine shaft, leaving a stunned Ren Qing behind.

Huang Ziwang passed by Ren Qing with a strange grin and strode into the third mine shaft.

"Tsk tsk tsk, as expected of Old Song. Hearing that makes me want to dig dirt all night long."

Not long after, a pungent smell wafted out from inside, accompanied by the sizzling sound of corrosion.