Chapter 884
Chen 94's Trump Card
"Brother Chen, you're quite something! You've already dug out a spirit stone, while I haven't dug out a single one. Brother Chen, could I borrow that spirit stone to take a look?" Liu Xiaoshan said awkwardly.
"Here you go," Chen Jie said, handing the spirit stone to Liu Xiaoshan.
Liu Xiaoshan reached out and took the spirit stone, examining it carefully.
"Hey, Brother Chen, why is the spirit stone you dug up lighter in color than the ones they dug up?" Liu Xiaoshan asked in confusion.
Chen Jie looked at the spirit stone in Liu Xiaoshan's hand. Its color was lighter than when he had just dug it out. Could it be because I absorbed the spiritual energy from the spirit stone? He reminded me that I shouldn't hand over this spirit stone, lest I be discovered to be able to absorb spiritual energy, reveal my strength, and attract the attention of others.
Chen Jie took the spirit stone from Liu Xiaoshan and explained, "Perhaps spirit stones also have grades! The one I dug out might be a substandard one, as its color isn't as vibrant as the others."
"That should be it," Liu Xiaoshan muttered.
Liu Xiaoshan turned around and continued digging at the stone in front of him.
After absorbing the spiritual energy from the spirit stone, Chen Jie felt full of power. Looking at the spirit stone in his hand, he realized that he couldn't hand it over, so he decided to absorb all of it. Chen Jie held the spirit stone tightly in one hand to continue absorbing spiritual energy, while using the other hand to continue digging at the spirit stone to avoid being discovered.
Chen Jie found it much easier to dig out the spirit stone this time. It seems that the spiritual energy inside the spirit stone is indeed a good thing. After cleaning out the spirit stone, he wondered if he could open his storage ring. If he could, he wouldn't have to worry about food anymore. He would secretly test it out while everyone was getting their food.
Just as Chen Jie was deep in thought, the spirit stone in his hand suddenly exploded and shattered into powder. The powder turned into a crystal-clear white, without a trace of red. It seemed that after the spiritual energy inside the spirit stone was completely absorbed, it would turn into white powder.
After understanding the reasoning behind it, Chen Jie began to focus on digging for spirit stones.
After absorbing the power of a spirit stone, Chen Jie felt his body brimming with strength, a far cry from what he had felt before. With that thought, Chen Jie picked up a pickaxe, found a secluded corner, and began to dig.
With one swing of the pickaxe, I felt much easier than before.
Just now, the pickaxe seemed to be digging into solid rock, and the spirit stone didn't react at all; now, the pickaxe seems to be digging into soft soil, and it easily digs off another piece.
This time, Chen Jie did not rashly absorb the spiritual energy within the spirit stone. Instead, he mobilized the spiritual energy gathered within his body to try and communicate with the storage ring on the ring finger of his right hand.
This storage ring is also a secret treasure. It can be hidden when worn on the hand, so when it was on the surface, Steward Sun and the others did not notice it.
At this moment, spiritual energy flowed into the storage ring, and Chen Jie instantly established a connection with the ring.
With a wave of his hand, the spirit stones he had just dug out were put into his storage ring. Chen Jie was overjoyed, thinking that with this item he had a chance to turn the tide. Thinking this, he picked up the pickaxe and dug with all his might.
In a short while, ten spirit stones were found. We can't mine any more; mining too much will attract attention.
Chen Jie put four spirit stones into his storage ring, leaving six to conceal his identity.
Time flies, and before I knew it, I heard:
"Dinner is ready."
One of the soldiers guarding them suddenly shouted.
Everyone crowded around to receive food.
"Line up, or none of you will get to eat," the soldier said disdainfully.
Upon hearing this, everyone lined up and took turns receiving the food, no longer daring to complain.
Chen Jie stood in the middle of the line, looking at the food that everyone was receiving: a bowl of rice porridge and two dark steamed buns. The steamed buns looked like stones, and the rice porridge was more like rice water, with only a handful of grains of rice. It was a truly pitiful sight.
After receiving the food, Chen Jie frowned, finding it almost impossible to swallow. He looked around and found an inconspicuous corner to sit down, a place where he could observe the others without drawing attention.
It doesn't matter if the food is hard to swallow; we can take the food from the storage ring when everyone is resting at night.
He had stored a lot of food inside. In case there was no food on Tianyuan Continent, he had stored a lot of dried meat in his storage ring before ascending to replenish his nutrition.
Chen Jie lowered his head and took a bite of the barely swallowable steamed bun. He thought to himself that the mine was heavily guarded, and he would need to recover his strength if he wanted to get out. He had just absorbed a spirit stone, and his strength should have recovered to around the Furnace Realm of his previous life, which is about the seventh or eighth level of the Qi Induction Realm in this world. To recover to his peak strength, he would need more spirit stones.
Just then, I heard Liu Xiaoshan complain from the side, "Pah, this lousy steamed bun even has sand in it."
Upon hearing Liu Xiaoshan's words, an old man working in the same mine immediately grabbed him: "Shh, don't talk nonsense, you'll get beaten up."
"Get beaten up?" Liu Xiaoshan said in surprise.
"What is this? Is it for human consumption? It's broken my teeth!" the tall, thin man shouted as he stood up.
"Damn it, who's causing trouble?" the lead guard said impatiently.
The lead guard said to the guards who were putting out their meals, "Go and drag that troublemaker over here."
"Yes"
"What are you doing? Let me go!" the tall, thin man shouted.
Two guards were holding down the tall, thin man. One of the guards said angrily, "Come here and behave yourself."
The two guards threw the tall, thin man in front of the lead guard.
"So you think the food is bad? Then don't feed him for the next two days. Let him learn his lesson," the leading guard said, glancing contemptuously at the tall, thin man.
"Yes," the guard who was distributing the food replied.
"Why? How dare you treat me like this? I'm a terrestrial immortal..." the tall, thin man said, raising his voice.
"Wow~ A terrestrial immortal~"
He kicked the tall, thin man to the ground.
"Someone, loosen up this terrestrial immortal's bones," the lead guard ordered.
"Yes," the guard replied.
Upon hearing this, the guards rushed over and gave the tall, thin man a good beating. The man screamed in pain, but no one dared to stop them. Seeing this, the old man turned back to look at Liu Xiaoshan and teased, "Aren't you going to help?"
Liu Xiaoshan came to his senses and said, "So many people have already beaten him up, I'm not going!" After the guard beat up the tall, thin man, he dragged him aside, turned around and faced the crowd impatiently, saying, "If anyone dares to pick and choose their food again, they'll end up like this man. You all better behave yourselves and get back to work after you finish eating."
Chen Jie glanced at the tall, thin man who was beaten to the point of near death, huddled in the corner trembling. He silently lowered his head and took a sip of the unpalatable rice porridge in his bowl. He thought to himself that he could not stay here any longer and had to seize the time to absorb the spiritual energy of the spirit stones to improve his cultivation.
"Hurry up and get to work!" the guard shouted as he collected the bowls while distributing the meals.
“I haven’t finished eating yet!” one of the ascendants muttered.
"What are you babbling about?" A guard snatched the bowl away and lashed out at the man with his whip.
Immediately afterwards, everyone had their jobs taken away, and then, amidst whips and curses, they were driven into the dark mine.
"Dig it all! If you don't work properly, you know what will happen to you!"
The overseers shouted angrily, "Overseers, it seems that these ascendants, these people who want to join Green Valley, are nothing more than high-ranking slaves."
Is it so easy to join Qingmu Valley? Countless cultivators have grown old and died mining in this black mine, ultimately burying themselves here. It can be said that only one in a hundred can escape, and those selected from this black mine to enter Qingmu Valley are even more exceptional.
In short, squeezing is essential.
Chen Jie entered the mine. He was still injured by the lightning tribulation, and there was a lock on his dantian. This lock was not a big deal. Although it sealed Chen Jie's dantian, it also prevented his injuries from worsening.
What Chen Jie needs to do now is to accumulate strength, recover his body, and at the same time break free from the physical constraints.
Thinking it over, Chen Jie took a small hoe and searched for the glowing red fire crystals in the dark mine.
Fire crystals are fire-type stones. Within the entire Tianyuan Continent's spirit stone system, spirit stones are divided into attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, as well as some spirit stones with special attributes.
Of course, the most common ones are the five elements spirit stones: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
The reason why spirit stones are divided into attributes is also related to cultivators. Cultivators need spiritual roots to cultivate, and the cultivation methods for different spiritual roots mostly have attribute preferences.
For example, trying to cultivate fire-attribute techniques with water-attribute skills is a foolish act that yields twice the result with half the effort.
Therefore, cultivators generally cultivate techniques of the same attribute as themselves, and they also absorb spirit stones of the same attribute.
For example, people with the fire attribute can absorb fire attribute spirit stones, and the utilization rate of the spirit stone's spiritual power can reach 100%.
However, the absorption rate of spirit stones with the three attributes of metal, wood, and earth can only reach 80%.
The worst case is the water-attribute spirit stone, which, when cultivated by a fire-attribute cultivator, can only be utilized at 60% due to the principle of mutual restraint among the five elements.
Therefore, after spirit stones are mined, they are usually exchanged by people with different attributes. Sometimes, the attributes of the spirit stones are specified during the transaction. For example, if I want 500 fire attribute spirit stones and you give me 500 water attribute spirit stones, then we cannot sell them.
Because spirit stones need to be exchanged, a black market industry has emerged: spirit stone banks. Many cultivators will go to spirit stone banks to exchange their spirit stones when they urgently need them. Of course, the banks will charge a certain handling fee.
These are all common phenomena in the Tianyuan Continent.
The small mine in Qingmu Valley is a fire-attribute mine, mainly producing fire-attribute spirit stones and fire crystals. The single-attribute nature of the ore also increases the difficulty for cultivators here to escape or enter Qingmu Valley.
To absorb this kind of spirit stone, you must have a fire-attribute spiritual root and cultivate fire-attribute techniques.
Otherwise, when you face this mineral vein, you can only sigh in despair.
So when your dantian is sealed and you are thrown into a mine that only selects one-fifth of spiritual root users, you will suffer the most severe exploitation every day. You have to escape under such circumstances or accumulate enough points.
It's incredibly difficult, no wonder it's so hard for anyone to escape from this mine and so difficult to enter Qingmu Valley. This is a carefully designed selection process. If you can escape from here, you're practically a dragon among men.
Thinking it over, Chen Jie picked up the hoe, secretly exerted his strength, and knocked off another fire crystal.
At this moment, Chen Jie slowly activated the Hunyuan Technique to begin absorbing the energy within the fire crystal. The Hunyuan Technique truly lived up to its reputation as a divine secret technique of the Hunyuan Sect, one of the twelve overlords of the Tianyuan Continent.
The most powerful aspect of the Hunyuan Technique is that it can absorb spirit stones of all attributes. While other cultivators need to select suitable spirit stones, the Hunyuan Technique does not. It can absorb spirit stones of all attributes, and the utilization rate can reach 100%.
Moreover, the Hunyuan Technique has a very high level of spiritual power, making it one of the top-tier techniques in the Tianyuan Continent.
If Chen Jie were to reveal that he knew the Hunyuan Technique, the entire Qingmu Valley would probably be in an uproar, and their sect elders would likely all come out of seclusion to vie for it.
He was lucky to capture Xu Yuandao, a disciple of the Hunyuan Sect, in the lower realm. Speaking of Xu Yuandao, he was truly miserable. He was currently being suppressed in the Dragon Locking Well in the Imperial Palace by Chen Jie using the power of the laws of the Lesser Thousand Worlds. If he didn't release him, Xu Yuandao might really die of old age inside.
With that thought in mind, Chen Jie began to quietly absorb the fire crystals. He already had five fire crystals in his storage bag, and he was prepared to use five to make up the difference.
Then the rest can be absorbed secretly.
The shackles within his dantian were sealed by that Deacon Sun using the techniques of Qingmu Valley.
Greenwood Valley is a subordinate sect of Darkmoon Valley. The Greenwood Technique they cultivate is of average quality. It's only good for Steward Sun to use this shackle to seal the cultivation of other rogue cultivators or young cultivators who have ascended from the lower realm.
But he never imagined that a ruthless person who knew the Hunyuan Technique of the Hunyuan Sect, one of the twelve major sects of the Tianyuan Continent, was trapped inside.
After all, the probability of such a thing is too small. If the talent cultivated by Hunyuan Sect in the lower realm is ascension, then Hunyuan Sect will directly take it away. The ascendant who can land in their Qingmu Valley is obviously without a background, so there is no problem with Steward Sun's handling of the matter.
The probability of this is even lower than winning five million in the lottery.
But this time he made it in time.
Chen Jie was silently absorbing the fire crystals while simultaneously stealing them into his storage ring.
The power of the Hunyuan Technique gradually increased after absorbing the fire crystal. Although the cyan magic chains locked Chen Jie's dantian, the power of the Hunyuan Technique was quietly seeping out from the gaps in the chains.
It's like a dam; if a leak appears in the middle, the dam is not far from collapsing.
Chen Jie secretly used the power of the Hunyuan Technique to start secretly digging for fire crystal spirit stones, which naturally made him much faster. He dug up about thirty stones in one afternoon.
He absorbed five pieces, hid twenty, and kept the remaining five in his hand, preparing to exploit them tonight.
Thinking this, it was time to start work for the day. The guard outside rang a gong, and one by one, the miners emerged from the mine. At the same time, the bald, blind man arrived, holding a ledger, and said, "Come on, time to hand over the work!" (End of Chapter)