Chapter 971 Magnetic Needle
Yunmiao Sanren led the other two into the rift to meet up with Ji An. Xuanshuang Sanren had a spirit object resembling a candlestick floating on her shoulder.
The candlelight flickered, and a soft white aura emanated from it, dispelling the darkness that stretched for dozens of feet around.
The traces of battle left here are very obvious. You can clearly see the smooth marks cut by some unknown force on the surface of the ore vein, which is in stark contrast to the jagged rocks in other places.
Apart from the smooth cut marks, no other traces of intense fighting were found, indicating that the battle was one-sided.
She imagined the battle taking place and was deeply moved.
Even with the assistance of the formation, she alone could not have dealt with the three abyssal sea serpents of the same level so decisively; she could only spend time slowly wearing them down.
"I originally thought it would be a fierce battle, but I never expected you to display such divine power and easily slaughter this group of abyssal sea serpents. I admire you, I admire you!"
Her words were sincere; powerful cultivators always command respect.
Yunmiao Sanren smiled and said, "We just had a brief discussion, and we decided that 30% of the profits from mining the vein will belong to you, fellow Daoist. This is what you deserve."
Ji Anchong and the others cupped their hands in greeting, saying, "It would be impolite to refuse. Thank you all for giving this opportunity to me."
"I am skilled in cultivation, and I will inform you all immediately if I sell any high-grade spiritual fruits in the future."
Value is only created through reciprocal exchanges. After this operation is over, send these people some tea and spirit wine. The value doesn't need to be too high; just show your support.
The atmosphere was very gentle as the Crescent Moon Hermit landed on the mine:
"Being in such an environment for a long time will greatly accelerate the consumption of mana in the body, so everyone who wants to mine the veins should do so as soon as possible."
The pressure at a depth of a thousand feet underwater was too great. Only Yunmiao Sanren had a suitable water-repelling pearl in his hand, while the others had to use their magic to part the seawater.
Xuan Shuang Sanren covered his mouth with his hand and chuckled, "Fellow Daoist, you are just worried. Once I set up a magic array to isolate the seawater, the problem will be solved."
The other party is a weapon refiner, so naturally he is very interested in any high-level weapon refining materials.
"Haha, I got so excited that I forgot you're a formation master."
Crescent Moon Hermit turned to look at Ji An and asked:
"I wonder if the bones of the Abyss Sea Serpent are intact. I would like to buy some skulls, which can be exchanged for the materials you need."
Ji An gently shook his head, saying with some heartache:
"Because of the presence of the late-stage Three Flowers Realm sea serpents, I dared not hold back in the slightest when dealing with them, and unleashed Yin-Yang Divine Thunder for continuous attacks."
Most of the sea snake's flesh was charred, and its bones were severely damaged, including its hardest skull.
Without an overwhelming advantage, how could he dare to hold back? The remaining sea monster remains could only be used as fertilizer.
"Unfortunately, if I could obtain a relatively complete skull of a late-stage Three Flowers Realm Abyss Sea Serpent, I would have had a chance to complete a fifth-grade top-quality spiritual treasure."
Queyue Sanren sighed softly. When they explored the Vast Sea Realm last time, they discovered a ruin. After investigation, they could roughly determine that it was a medicinal garden.
The ruins are protected by a very powerful mid-grade fifth-order attack array. Breaking through the array would waste a lot of time, but there is a clever way: use a high-grade defensive magic treasure to pass through.
At that time, none of them possessed a spiritual treasure of that grade, so none of them entered the herb garden.
As a weapon refiner, he naturally wanted to prepare better things for himself, so he wanted to refine a fifth-grade top-quality spiritual treasure before heading to the Vast Ocean Realm.
The skull of a deep-sea serpent in the late stage of the Three Flowers Realm is a very promising material for a fifth-tier top-grade spiritual treasure.
At this point, he gave Yunmiao Sanren and Xuanshuang Sanren meaningful glances.
After this battle, they had completely accepted Ji An, so it was necessary to inform them of this information. Waiting until they were about to set off to tell them would only create more distance between them.
After a silent exchange, Xuan Shuang Sanren spoke, explaining the situation in the Vast Sea Realm, and then offered concerned advice:
"If possible, Fellow Daoist Xuanqing should also prepare a defensive spiritual treasure of the fifth rank or above, so that we can explore the ruins together."
No one knows what's inside the ruins, so having a powerful ally along would ensure greater safety.
Ji An nodded, "I will do my best to collect the materials."
He wasn't sure if he could exchange for enough materials; he only had three hundred years left, which wasn't much.
There was nothing that could be done about it; he was the last person to join the team.
Crescent Moon Hermit made a guarantee, saying:
"Fellow Daoist, as long as you provide the main materials, we can help you gather them, and we will return the materials later."
This can be considered a small investment in building relationships; although there are risks, the returns should be quite substantial in the future.
Yunmiao Sanren laughed and said, "In the future, when we encounter sea beasts at the late stage of the Three Flowers Realm, we can continue to cooperate in hunting demons. If we are lucky enough, it will not be difficult to obtain some high-level materials."
Ji An cupped his hands again and solemnly said:
Thank you all.
He was secretly delighted. Now he had truly integrated into the team and would have a circle that matched his abilities.
Studying alone without friends leads to ignorance and limited knowledge.
Xuan Shuang Sanren had already taken out the array plate and array flag. "The matter of refining defensive spiritual treasures can be left for later to find a way. The most urgent task is to fully mine the Yuan Magnetic Mine."
Due to its unique formation, the scale of the Yuanci ore vein has never been large, and it is unknown how much could be obtained if this vein were completely mined.
Crescent Moon Hermit clapped his hands and laughed, "Haha, business is more important. Fellow Daoist, please guide everyone to help with how to set up the magic array."
Mining the Yuan Magnetic Mine is extremely difficult, and many methods are unusable. These Three-Flower Realm cultivators, who are seen as high and mighty by outsiders, can only act as miners.
Together, they set up a magic array to drain the seawater from the cave.
The four people split into two groups and worked day and night to excavate the Yuanci ore vein.
The grouping was done out of concern that other cultivators or high-level sea beasts might come here. Although the possibility was low, we couldn't let our guard down.
Ji An strongly agreed with this decision, which showed that the team acted meticulously and that having such teammates made him feel much more at ease.
Nothing happened during the excavation, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
After half a month of mining, they unearthed a total of over 600,000 jin of ore. Although it seems like a lot, it still needs to go through many refining processes.
After everyone agreed on the ore share, Yunmiao spoke up:
"Let's give these ores to Fellow Daoist Queyue for refining. The resulting Yuan Magnetic Refined Iron can then be distributed according to the plan. The costs of refining and the expenses for the magic array can be settled with top-grade spirit stones. How about that?"
Xuan Shuang Sanren nodded, "Alright."
The suggestion to activate the water-repelling formation using top-grade spirit stones is perfectly reasonable.
Crescent Moon Hermit waved his hand, "Refining Yuan Magnetic Iron is free; you just need to give me the slag as payment."
The slag produced in the final refining step also contains elemental magnetic power. It may not be of much use to others, but the weapon refiner has its own unique uses for it.
Yunmiao Sanren was taken aback for a moment, "This humble Daoist has no objection. My share can be left to you, fellow Daoist."
"I also agree."
Ji An nodded. Normally, the slag obtained from refining ores is considered a side income for weapon refiners. It would be perfect if he could exchange something completely useless in his hands for some top-grade spirit stones.
He thought for a moment, then asked:
"Approximately how much magnetic iron can be refined from these ores?"
"Although the ore grade is not bad, it is not very good either. It is estimated that we can get a little over 1,600 catties of pure magnetic iron, but at most only about 1,800 catties."
Fortunately, the ore is of mid-grade fifth rank, and after refining, it can yield high-grade fifth-rank materials.
Ji An calculated his share and said:
"Could the portion I received be used to forge a few cone-shaped spiritual treasures?"
Such a magical artifact possesses extremely strong armor-piercing properties, and its creation can increase one's combat power.
Activating a spirit treasure consumes relatively little energy and can store a certain amount of spiritual power, making it suitable for prolonged battles.
Magnetic refined iron is a very special spiritual material that cannot be fused with any other material.
He could obtain about 500 jin of material, which sounded like a lot, but he didn't know the density of the Yuan Magnetic Iron, nor did he know if the material was sufficient.
The Recluse of the Crescent Moon pondered for a moment, then stretched out his right hand and shook his head, saying:
"I suggest you forge all the materials into a Yuan Magnetic Divine Needle. This spiritual treasure is about a foot long, thinner than my little finger."
Hearing that there weren't enough materials, Ji An nodded helplessly:
"Let's do as you say, fellow Daoist. I will use the materials to refine the Yuan Magnetic Divine Needle."
"Okay, we'll discuss the details of refining the spiritual treasure after all the Yuan Magnetic Iron has been refined."
Upon receiving the order, Queyue Sanren was overjoyed. He estimated that after refining the spiritual treasure, there would be about ten catties of materials left over, which he could ask for as part of the refining fee.
Xuan Shuang Sanren calculated the number of spirit stones consumed by the array over the past few days, and everyone else contributed a quarter of the cost.
Yunmiao Sanren clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention, and then spoke:
"The mining operation has been a complete success. Gentlemen, let's return to Starfish City."
Magnetic veins are not common on land, but are more common in the ocean. Over the years, she has accumulated a considerable amount of magnetic divine iron.
In addition to the batch that is about to arrive, we can ask the Recluse of the Crescent Moon to refine a fifth-grade high-quality defensive spirit treasure.
Spiritual treasures made from this material can naturally weaken the attacks of the five elements. Most creatures in the Vast Ocean Realm use water-based magic, so with spiritual treasures, they can focus more on offense.
A fifth-grade high-quality defensive spirit treasure can be used until the late stage of the Three Flowers Realm. Human cultivators' natal spirit treasures are refined during the Nascent Soul stage, and the materials used must belong to the Five Elements.
With the Yuan Magnetic Refined Iron defensive spirit treasure, it can also play an excellent role in suppressing battles between similar entities.
Xuan Shuang Sanren said happily, "Getting the benefits and leaving is wonderful! Let's go."
She deactivated the magic array, and everyone helped to put away the array plate and array flags. Then she returned to the sea and flew towards Zhenhai City.
A month later, everyone returned to Starfish City and held a victory celebration banquet at the best restaurant.
Unlike land-based monsters, many sea beasts, after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, do not choose to transform into human form. Instead, they continue to increase their qi and blood power, using their own bodies and innate spells to attack.
These types of sea creatures that do not choose to transform into human form have become everyone's favorite, since there is no psychological burden in eating them.
The main course of the banquet was the ribs of a fifth-grade low-level sea dragon beast, and Ji An also got to taste a small cup of fifth-grade mid-level spirit wine.
The mouth is filled with a fragrant aroma and has an unforgettable aftertaste, and the magical power within the body also becomes more active.
With the new member fully accepted, the dinner table was filled with clinking glasses and everyone spoke freely and happily.
After the music ended and the crowd dispersed, Ji An returned to his cave and entered the small world. The first thing he did was to fly to the lake in the black spirit field.
In just over a month, the Panyun Tree had reached the second-tier mid-grade, and its trunk was more than six feet above the water.
The growth rate is about what I expected. Ji An nodded in satisfaction, reached out and stroked the leaves, and smiled:
"Grow up quickly, I look forward to the day you reach the fifth rank, low grade."
He focused his mind on his dantian and connected with the stone tortoise, then gave the command:
“Refine all the spiritual energy into Dao essence, and then refine the Dao essence to improve the grade of the spiritual wood.”
The spiritual veins in the ocean rift where the Yuan Magnetic Ore Vein is located are of a high grade. Although it did not stay for long, it accumulated a lot of spiritual energy, especially water-based spiritual energy, which the stone turtle obtained in considerable quantities every day.
In addition to the original spiritual energy, the total spiritual energy is now about 16,000 points, but can only yield less than two points of Daoist rhyme.
Based on past experience, 10,000 points of spiritual energy can barely be refined into a trace of Daoist essence.
The stone turtle appeared above the Panyun Tree, its back radiating spiritual light with a Tai Chi symbol. Then another Tai Chi symbol appeared at the bottom of the water, almost instantly weaving a black and white cocoon of light.
The lower the grade of the spirit wood, the faster it can weave a light cocoon when using the stone turtle to enhance it.
A few minutes later, the cocoon of light shattered into specks of light that illuminated the night sky. The spirit tree was as thick as an adult's embrace, and its trunk, extending four zhang above the water, was also quite large.
Ji An had no time to appreciate the splendor of the moment; he extended his divine sense to sense the vitality of the spiritual plants.
"A high-grade fourth-tier item, haha, really good!"
Plants at this level are eligible to use a small amount of fifth-grade low-level sea beast bone ash as fertilizer.
However, he still had some Tier 4 top-grade Ghost Mushroom fertilizer in stock. He gave a soft whistle, summoned Ah Yun, and instructed her:
"From now on, we will prioritize burying all fertilizers of the fourth-grade or higher quality near the roots of the Panyun Tree, and also burying the leaves of the Juyuan Tree here after they have been burned to ashes."
After upgrading the Panyun Tree to the fifth-grade low-level, his guess will be verified: the upgrade of the spiritual vein's grade will definitely be accelerated.
Ayun bowed slightly, "Yes, sir, I will do it immediately."
She straightened up and said with a smile:
"Your Majesty left in such a hurry that I didn't have time to report that the Soul-Nourishing Wood shows signs of breaking through its grade."
After the emperor returned, he immediately flew away on a cloud, without giving her any time to report.
Ji An's eyes sparkled. "We've been having a lot of good luck lately. Let's go back and take a look."
He was in a great mood. Now that he had fully integrated into the Crescent Moon Hermit's team, he would receive a fifth-grade high-quality attack spirit treasure. After the Soul Nourishing Wood was upgraded, he would have an extra resource that he could trade with others.
(End of this chapter)
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