Chapter 23 Mining 2: Every little bit helps.
"Junior sister, please be very careful."
The mountain wall was staggered with rocks, making it difficult to climb. Li Yuan took the lead, with Ye Hao close behind, occasionally looking back at Xu Xing.
Xu Xing was already slender, and her two thin arms swayed precariously as she climbed the protruding rocks, making one always suspect that she might fall if one wasn't careful.
Li Yuan, who was at the front, was not a patient man. He said with a look of disdain, "You can just wait down there!"
Since it's a team mission, ten yuan would be enough for him and Ye Hao. Although Xu Xing was lucky enough to coax the little iron-devouring beast, she was still a little girl who couldn't lift a finger or carry anything heavy. What use was she?
Xu Xing gazed at the faintly visible black iron ore on the mountain wall above him, took a deep breath, and climbed a considerable distance using both hands and feet, actually catching up with Ye Hao.
Ye Hao would occasionally lend her a hand, and together they managed to keep up a bit.
However, as they got closer, the appearance of the black iron ore became clearer. Unlike what they could vaguely see at the foot of the mountain, this ore was piled up in heaps, and one heap was so large that it would take three adults to hug it and still not be able to encircle it.
"The ore pile is actually this big?"
Xu Xing, panting heavily, climbed onto a protruding rock and leaned against it, having lost most of his strength.
Although Li Yuan's father was a master craftsman, all he had ever seen around his father were refined ores. He had never seen them in their raw form before, and he was a little troubled about how to proceed. The Immortal Academy hadn't taught any mining-related courses yet.
While the group pondered, Xu Xing, whose strength was failing and whose stomach was growling with hunger, took out several fasting pills and ate them in one go. He didn't forget to hand some to Ye Hao, "Senior Brother Ye, would you like some fasting pills?"
As for Li Yuan, who was always disobedient, Xu Xing simply pretended not to see him.
"A fasting pill? Isn't one supposed to keep you full for ten days? How come you're eating so many?"
Ye Hao waved his hand in refusal. He was a little surprised, seeing Xu Xing stuffing one candy after another into his mouth, he thought he was eating candy.
"Oh... I was too tired, I forgot."
Xu Xing put away the fasting pill without changing his expression.
When Xu Xing learned that the two bottles of pills were fasting pills, she was very happy. However, after taking one, she found that the pills were not very useful to her. They could only keep her from being hungry for a day or two. Moreover, if she consumed physical or spiritual energy, she would still need to eat to replenish it.
If several tests hadn't proven she was purely human, Xu Xing would have suspected he was some kind of gluttonous beast reincarnated, given her enormous appetite. If she hadn't been lucky enough to acquire survival skills, even with the ability to cultivate immortality, it would have been difficult to fill her stomach.
"Take this, cut off a piece to try first. They only said they wanted ten pieces, but didn't say how big they wanted."
Li Yuan took out two chisels from his storage bag and handed one to Ye Hao.
Ye Hao glanced at Xu Xing, whose hands were empty, and hesitated to speak, but Li Yuan had already climbed to the side and started chipping away at the ore. He didn't know what to say, so he gave Xu Xing an apologetic look and then joined Li Yuan in chipping away at the ore.
Xu Xing didn't care about Li Yuan's disdain. She went around to the other side where the two couldn't see her and touched the black ore pile. Xuan Tie ore is a first-level spirit ore, a material commonly used to forge low-level weapons. It is very hard and not easily deformed.
When Li Yuan and Ye Hao struck with their chisels, not a single fragment flew out. The two imbued their chisels with spiritual energy and then chiseled several more times before they could vaguely make out a shallow pit.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to pick a piece until dark. Is there enough time?"
Ye Hao was somewhat worried.
Li Yuan tossed over two bottles of pills to restore spiritual power, saying, "Just keep going, there's plenty of pills for you."
"squeak!"
The little iron-devouring beast crawled out of Xu Xing's arms, its tiny body leaping onto the ore pile. It was unclear how it managed to bite with such a small mouth, but after circling the ore pile once, it quickly bit off a small stone fragment.
It carried the item to Xu Xing, squeaking incessantly, as if seeking praise.
Xu Xing picked up the stone. Although she felt that using it to get by was definitely not going to work, she still patted the little guy's head encouragingly.
"Thank you, I can do it myself."
The five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth each have their own benefits for life skills. Minerals are of the metal element. If other elements are not very useful, then what about the metal element?
Xu Xing raised her hand and placed it on the pile of ore. Silvery spiritual energy seeped into it with her will, transforming into a sharp blade that began to slowly cut...
At first, Xu Xing was a little hesitant, but as she continued to experiment with the force and direction of her cuts, she became increasingly adept at using the blade formed from the golden spirit. Meanwhile, invisible golden spiritual energy entered her body, and once the golden spirit within her was depleted, new energy would slowly replenish it.
It is precisely because the metal element spiritual energy is most abundant in this secret realm that it has earned the name "Xuan Shuo," which can greatly benefit metal element cultivators.
The Immortal Academy's purpose in having its disciples participate in trials is certainly not to have them kill monsters or mine. The primary goal is for them to learn how to apply spiritual power.
Clearly, among the three disciples present, only Xu Xingxian, who possessed five spiritual roots, understood this point.
When the first piece of ore fell, Xu Xing's skill panel also reacted, with the [Gold Mining] experience bar, which was at level 1, increasing by a valuable 20 points.
Seeing that the two people on the other side were still engrossed in chiseling, she moved her fingers and tossed the ore into her backpack.
Watching helplessly as a large piece of delicious food vanished into thin air, the little iron-devouring beast, despite its face being covered in long fur, was clearly bewildered as it squeaked and circled around Xu Xing's feet several times.
Xu Xing smiled and shook his head at the little guy, making a shushing gesture.
Xu Xing was unaware that the instructors and cultivators of the Immortal Dao Academy were observing the performance of the disciples in the secret realm. Most of their attention was focused on the disciples of the Tian Shu Academy and the Yu Heng Academy. Xu Xing and his companions were almost ignored on the light screen. Occasionally, a glance would sweep across their faces, but that was only because Li Yuan had a weapon refiner father, so he paid special attention to him.
Therefore, only one person noticed the conversation between Shen Du and Xu Xing, as well as the unusual speed at which she mined the ore.
Fortunately, only the figures of the disciples in the secret realm could be seen through the light screen; their voices could not be heard.
At this moment, the gaze of the Zhou surnamed instructor swept onto the light screen where Xu Xing was located, and he was greatly surprised to see the little iron-devouring beast at her feet.
"She actually won the favor of the Iron-Eating Beast? She's a good prospect for the Beast Taming Arena, but her aptitude is still too low."
The instructors' gazes turned to Xu Xing in the light screen. None of them had seen the exchange between Xu Xing and the Iron-Eating Beast King. The first to speak up and explain was Zhai Yuzhi, the dean of the Immortal Academy.
She said gently, "This girl was with Shen Du just now. The Iron-Eating Beast sensed Shen Du's presence and that's why it avoided him."
Upon hearing the mention of Shen Du, the several instructors who had come over fell silent for a moment.
The cultivator surnamed Zhou sighed, "Shen Du is indeed a promising talent in sword cultivation. He's so young and already on the verge of forming his core, it's just a pity..."
Xie Qianyan frowned, her voice turning colder, "He is destined to be cursed and will certainly not be able to successfully form his core. Fellow Daoist Zhou need not feel sorry for such an unlucky person."
Because of this incident, many people looked at the light screen.
However, the next moment, six or seven light screens suddenly dissipated into specks of fluorescence and disappeared into the air, including the one where Xu Xing was.
What's going on?
After examining the area, Zhai Yuzhi said calmly, "Perhaps the Five Elemental Pearls used to open the secret realm haven't been used for a long time, and their spiritual power is insufficient, which is why a few pieces were destroyed. Don't worry about it; we can repair them after the trial is over."
It was just a few light screens, mostly used by disciples of the Yao Guang Academy, so the impact was minimal. After all, judging from past trials, the Yao Guang Academy disciples' performance was far inferior to that of the other two academies. The other cultivators paid no attention, except for Jia Xinhong, who quietly glanced at the highly respected dean.
Noticing his gaze, Zhai Yuzhi smiled slightly and remained silent, while Jia Xinhong lowered his eyes.
As darkness fell, Xu Xing successfully smuggled four pieces of black iron ore into his backpack.
Feeling that Li Yuan's side should be almost done, Xu Xing pretended that he had just broken off a piece, carried the piece of ore around to the other side, and poked his head out, saying, "My spiritual power is insufficient, so I only managed to get one piece. I'm really ashamed of dragging the team down."
Li Yuan, who had only managed to chip off a piece after half a day of work with Ye Hao, glared at her with a dark face and angrily threw down the chisel.
Ye Hao looked on with a pleading expression, "Junior Sister Xu, how did you do it? Could you please give me some pointers?"
Li Yuan looked uncomfortable, but he also quietly pricked up his ears.
"I dare not offer any guidance, but Senior Brother Ye shouldn't have a metal spiritual root, right? Using metal-type spiritual power to cut the ore would be much more efficient."
Xu Xing explained and demonstrated it once.
Ye Hao nodded in realization. He possessed three spiritual roots: wood, fire, and earth, and primarily cultivated the earth element.
Li Yuan's face darkened even more. Although he possessed the four spiritual roots of metal, fire, water, and earth, he primarily cultivated the metal element and should have been faster.
Xu Xing, a Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator with five spiritual roots, could cut a piece of ore with his meager spiritual power. Yet, this Qi Refining Level 2 cultivator was about the same as her. Doesn't that mean he was far inferior to Xu Xing?
Xu Xing smiled and said, "I heard that Senior Brother Li's father is a master weapon refiner. I imagine Senior Brother Li is very skilled at handling ores. I wonder if Senior Brother Li has prepared everything?"
"Of course I can prepare everything!"
Pushing Ye Hao aside, Li Yuan swallowed two pills, condensed pure metal-type spiritual energy, and poured it into the pile of ore. He immediately felt much lighter.
He snorted coldly. It was so simple. He wondered what Xu Xing, this girl with inferior spiritual roots, was so proud of.
Taking the opportunity to tease Li Yuan a couple of times, Xu Xing was in a great mood. Since Li Yuan had taken on the task, she could continue to seek benefits for herself. The materials used for refining weapons were very expensive; even first-grade black iron ore would sell for dozens of spirit stones outside.
She's about to become a Golden Core cultivator herself, so every penny she earns counts.
Two days later, the ten pieces of ore required to complete the task were finally ready.
It was now the fourth day in the secret realm, and the green dots on the jade tokens of the other teammates were still intact, so the mission should be going smoothly.
As agreed, they needed to set off on the seventh day in order to reach the meeting point on the eighth day.
During these three days, the disciples could find resources for themselves, and Li Yuan and Xu Xing both chose to continue mining.
Ye Hao scratched his head, "Then I'll come too..."
Although using earth-based spiritual energy to mine was less efficient, after several days of practice, his control over spiritual energy improved.
The first year's trial was just the beginning and not too difficult. When the agreed deadline arrived, the seven members of the 27th team successfully reunited in the central part of the secret realm.
Dongfang Yi was very fortunate, "Fortunately, I listened to Senior Brother Luo's advice and separated from Senior Brother Shen Du, otherwise the mission might not have gone so smoothly."
"Thanks to Senior Brother Luo for reminding me."
"But Senior Brother Shen also saved us, so it's not necessarily true..."
"Didn't you see that everyone's missions this time are very simple? Only our team's black iron ore mission is the most difficult. I think if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have received this mission at all."
"Luckily he wasn't behind us, otherwise we probably would have failed long ago!"
Fan Sutan frowned as she watched their conversation become increasingly absurd. Just as she was about to speak, the shortest junior sister spoke up.
Xu Xing was mentally planning how to use the ores in her backpack to unlock her forging skill when she heard these discussions. She looked up and said, "So the reason the mission was completed was because Senior Brother Shen wasn't there, and not because of all our efforts?"
Dongfang Yi was surprised that her seemingly gentle and unassuming junior sister would speak up like this. She explained somewhat awkwardly, "Of course not, it's just that we encountered danger when entering the secret realm, and Senior Brother Luo was worried that it would affect our mission..."
Xu Xing didn't want to hear any more. She turned around and waved behind her, "Senior Brother Shen! Mission accomplished!"
A moment of silence fell, and just as the other seven people were looking at each other in bewilderment, Chen Du appeared from the woods not far away.
"After Senior Brother Li terminated his cooperation with Senior Brother Shen, I asked Senior Brother Shen to escort me. He stayed nearby the whole time; otherwise, how could we have avoided any monster attacks on our way back from Xuan Tie Mountain?"
Xu Xing wanted to wash away the ominous label attached to Shen Du, but she was currently insignificant and her voice carried little weight. However, she could still change one person's opinion.
When the person in question appeared, the group looked somewhat uneasy. After all, they were not Luo Ming, who was at the Foundation Establishment stage. No matter what they thought, they couldn't openly discuss a senior brother whose cultivation was much higher than theirs.
Fan Sutan has a cheerful personality. Even though she wasn't involved, she was the first to apologize to Chen Du, and the others followed suit.
Seeing their attitude, Luo Ming, having already completed the task, snorted and left.
Shen Du remained standing not far away, his expression indifferent. He was neither displeased by their discussions nor did he show any sign of genuine apology.
Xu Xing looked at Chen Du, who was standing alone in the distance, and silently decided that he would persuade him as soon as he left the secret realm.
For some reason, seeing his expression, so accustomed to these experiences, made her feel a pang of sadness…
More and more disciples from the Immortal Academy gathered around. They were initially worried that some teams might try to steal the results from other teams, but they soon learned that each team had a different mission. Since they couldn't be sure if their team had the same mission as the others, there was no need to steal anything.
Although some disciples abandoned their missions, crushed their jade tokens, and left the secret realm, this Xuan Shuo Trial was surprisingly a trial in which not a single disciple was injured or killed.
"Dean, out of the thirty-three teams this time, four teams failed the trial. Two of them were eliminated because they didn't have enough members. This means that twenty-nine teams will receive rewards. Isn't that a bit too many?"
Some instructors raised questions, noting that in previous years only half of the disciples usually completed the trial, and this year's significant change must have been a considerable expense.
Zhai Yuzhi sighed softly, "The reason I changed the trial rules is precisely to provide some resources for my disciples through the trial."
Her gaze slowly swept across the light screen. "You must have heard about what happened in the demon realm. The future is probably not going to be peaceful, and these new disciples are growing too slowly."
Those with family backgrounds are better off, but those cultivators from ordinary backgrounds have almost no resources to support them. Originally, the Immortal Academy wanted to toughen them up through hardship, but now Yuxiao urgently needs new blood, so they have increased their resources to help these young disciples grow.
"From today onwards, the spirit stone supply for each branch will be increased: two hundred low-grade spirit stones for the disciples of Tian Shu Academy, one hundred for the disciples of Yu Heng Academy, and fifty for the disciples of Yao Guang Academy."
Since the dean had spoken, the instructors no longer questioned it, since the spirit stones weren't going to come out of their own pockets anyway.
These disciples were lucky; Yaoguang Academy had never received a supply of spirit stones before.
After leaving the secret realm, Xu Xing, unaware that a large number of orders for spirit pills would be coming due to changes in supplies, arrived to find Shen Du with his two hundred mid-grade spirit stones.
Seeing that Shen Du was reluctant to take it, Xu Xing became a little anxious. "The trial is over. Are you going to go back on your word, Senior Brother?"
Shen Du looked down at her, momentarily lost in thought.
The still-childish junior sister pursed her lips, her eyes filled with eagerness, as if she really needed him and wanted to agree herself.
Seeing Shen Du remain silent for a long time, Xu Xing couldn't help but feel disappointed. Indeed, if Shen Du successfully formed his core, there would be people who wouldn't care about the rumors and would follow him.
How could a mere Qi Refining Level 1 disciple boast that she would become an alchemist? To think she could bind a promising Golden Core sword cultivator to someone with only two hundred mid-grade spirit stones is utterly delusional…
Just as Xu Xing was about to put away the storage bag in a dejected manner, Chen Du finally made a move. He imitated Xu Xing's previous action and stretched out a strong and powerful hand towards her.
"good."
Xu Xing was so happy she almost jumped up. Her eyes crinkled with laughter as she reached out and slapped Shen Du's hand very quickly before letting go.
As if worried he might change his mind, Xu Xing stuffed the storage bag directly into Chen Du's arms, "Senior brother agrees!"
Seeing her beaming with joy, Shen Du couldn't help but smile. "In that case, Junior Sister will be my 'Celestial Investor' from now on?"
"Well……"
Xu Xing touched the tip of her nose. There were no angels in this world, so she replaced them with celestial beings. Although they meant the same thing, it sounded so strange coming from Senior Brother Shen's mouth.
It sounded like she was bragging, which made Xu Xing blush. He quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Senior Brother, do you still have the two bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills I gave you last time? Have you taken them?"
"not yet."
Relieved to receive the reply, Xu Xing explained somewhat sheepishly, "Actually, one of the bottles inside was made by myself. It's not of good quality, and I suppose Senior Brother probably won't need a first-grade pill. Why don't you return it to me? I'll make better ones for you in the future!"
Hearing this, Shen Du, who was about to take it out, paused. He calmly withdrew his hand and said softly, "Unfortunately, I didn't bring it with me this time. I'll return it to my junior sister next time we meet."
Xu Xing wasn't in a hurry. He said a few more words of blessing for him to achieve the Core Formation soon before leaving.
After Shen Du saw that her figure had completely disappeared, he took out the two bottles of pills.
One of the bottles was indeed in common condition, as for the other bottle...
After carefully putting away the medicine bottle, the usually taciturn and aloof swordsman put on a rare, faint smile.
He'll probably "forget" to bring it again when we meet next time.
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