Chapter 85

All the cultivation resources produced in Yu County, including the Spirit Grains, were primarily taken by the Heaven-Shaking Sect. After that, the various famous families, powerful clans, and prestigious lineages would take their share, even the County Magistrate's Office and the Garrison would get a cut. By the time it reached Qing Shu Village, the share that Village Head Hu Siping received was the most insignificant.

The Heaven-Shaking Sect was too high, and those famous families and powerful clans were equally distant. Even a prestigious lineage like the Yang family was still seen as a giant by ordinary villagers. Therefore, when the people of Qing Shu Village were roused to a fever pitch and could no longer tolerate the situation, the most they dared to face was Hu Siping.

Yang Junshan naturally would not get involved in Qing Shu Village's affairs. After greeting Chu Chuang, Yang Junshan walked into the mine with a slightly envious look from Chu Chuang and the others. Ten stone coins, and Han Xiusheng had the authority to exempt his nephew from the mining fee.

Chu Chuang suddenly stood up and said fiercely, "This life is unbearable. Is there anyone who dares to stand up against Hu Siping with me? Step forward!"

Yang Junshan did not know that in his previous life, Chu Chuang had started his path of rallying the miners of Qing Shu Village, becoming a mine leader and a martial realm village head, all because of the ten stone coins for mining. However, for him, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The mine tunnel was empty, and Yang Junshan had to be extremely cautious every time he explored it, fearing that others would notice his abnormal behavior, especially after he almost fell into the trap set by the Chu brothers. This time, Yang Junshan could finally act without restraint. He didn't know when the situation outside the mine would be resolved or when the miners would flood into the mine, so he had to act quickly.

From the moment he entered the mine, Yang Junshan sprinted towards the three mine tunnels he had finally determined. He recalled the scenes from his previous life when treasures were discovered in the mine.

It was said that when the treasures formed, they absorbed all the essence from the surrounding soil and rocks, creating small stone cavities around each treasure. Therefore, almost every time a stone cavity was dug out from the mine tunnel, a treasure could be found. It was said that in two mine tunnels, about fifty to sixty stone cavities of various sizes were discovered.

The three mine tunnels Yang Junshan finally chose had not been visited by Qing Shu Village's miners for a long time. The soft soil powder mines in these tunnels had been exhausted long ago, and what remained were extremely poor ores. Even after refining hundreds of pounds of ore, not even half an ounce of soft soil powder could be extracted, so no one came to these three tunnels anymore.

This also explained why the treasures in the stone cavities might have drained all the essence from the soft soil powder in these mine tunnels, turning the mined soft soil into poor ore.

Since Yang Junshan could no longer distinguish between the last two mine tunnels, he randomly chose one and started mining at the bottom of the tunnel with his pickaxe.

Ding! Ding! Ding! ...

Since he no longer had to worry about the noise attracting other miners, Yang Junshan's mining sounds were dense and rhythmic. He was proficient in various mid-to-lower-grade body-strengthening martial arts, and his flesh, muscles, and bones had been tempered to be as hard as iron. His strength was comparable to that of cultivators at the Fifth Level of the Mortal Realm, and even the seven-stone strong bow he held now felt soft.

In the past, to avoid drawing attention, Yang Junshan never used his full strength when mining. Now, with no one else in the mine, he dug out a large pile of soil and rocks in just the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

He also practiced the Six Viscera Brocade and the Mountain Lord Diagram, which not only enhanced his physical strength but also greatly improved his endurance. After half an hour, he had not stopped for a moment, and his breathing remained steady, with not a single drop of sweat on his body.

However, at this moment, there was a crisp "snap" sound. The pickaxe used for mining could no longer withstand Yang Junshan's continuous mining and broke.

Yang Junshan sighed helplessly. The pickaxe broke because his internal spiritual energy was depleted. The "Earth Spirit Technique" could no longer supply the energy needed for mining, and without the spiritual energy covering the pickaxe, it wore out and eventually broke.

This meant that while Yang Junshan's physical strength could still support his mining, his internal spiritual energy had already been exhausted, indicating that his current cultivation level was not as advanced as his physical strength.

The "Earth Spirit Technique" may be slow to cultivate, but it is extremely powerful. This situation only indicated that Yang Junshan's cultivation of the third spirit acupoint was lagging behind.

Among the three major spirit acupoints, the gallbladder spirit acupoint's spiritual energy solidification was delayed due to the Six Viscera Brocade, while the spinal spirit acupoint's spiritual energy was mostly solidified. The bone marrow spirit acupoint had not yet been fully filled with spiritual energy, making Yang Junshan feel as if he was further away from the foundation of immortality.

Fortunately, broken pickaxes were common in mining, and Yang Junshan had two spare ones. After replacing the pickaxe, he began to cultivate with a jade coin in his palm, which would make ordinary miners envious.

Once his internal spiritual energy was restored, Yang Junshan resumed mining, being more cautious this time. He slowed down his mining speed and paid close attention to the flow of his spiritual energy.

Another hour passed, and he had dug a meter deeper into the hard mine tunnel, but the expected small stone cavity did not appear. Yang Junshan was slightly discouraged, thinking he had chosen the only wrong tunnel among the three.

Just as he was considering whether to abandon this tunnel and choose another, he swung his pickaxe down, and there was another "snap" sound. The pickaxe in his hand became lighter, and Yang Junshan thought it had broken again.

However, this time his internal spiritual energy did not run out. When he looked up, he saw that the pickaxe had not broken but had instead embedded itself deep into the rock.

Yang Junshan's eyes immediately lit up!

He did not rush to check the pickaxe but quickly walked to the entrance of the tunnel, listened carefully, and found that no one had entered the mine. He then returned to the bottom of the tunnel, pried the pickaxe out, and with a "thud," a piece of ore fell off, revealing a half-foot-wide natural stone cavity.

A yellow stone ball, about the size of an egg, rolled out of the small stone cavity. Before it hit the ground, Yang Junshan swiftly caught it.

A thick and heavy primordial energy immediately flowed from his palm into his body, and the "Earth Spirit Technique," which had been running slowly, suddenly sped up. The powerful primordial energy was instantly refined upon entering his body and rushed into the bone marrow spirit acupoint, causing a huge impact. The spirit acupoint, which was already half-filled with spiritual energy, began to vibrate, and Yang Junshan could even hear the thunderous sound inside his body.

Earth Stone, indeed, it was an Earth Stone, a natural concentration of Earth Spirit Energy!

For cultivators practicing Earth attribute techniques, the Earth Stone's assistance in cultivation was almost equivalent to the effect of a pill, but without the side effects that required time to resolve. In other words, if there were enough Earth Stones, Yang Junshan could continuously cultivate using their power.

Now, the question was how many Earth Stones Yang Junshan could obtain from the mine and how to get them out of the mine.

With the first Earth Stone in hand, Yang Junshan was completely at ease, as it meant that as long as the secret of this mine tunnel was not exposed, he could continue mining and obtain more Earth Stones.

However, he was not in a hurry because he had no way to take the mined Earth Stones out of the mine. Yang Junshan sat down and began to cultivate, refining the Earth Primordial Energy contained in the Earth Stone.

Using the power of the Earth Stone, Yang Junshan cultivated in the mine for half a day. When it was almost time to finish the shift, he woke up. By then, he had only refined half of the Earth Primordial Energy in the Earth Stone, but the progress he made in one day felt equivalent to three days of cultivation.

He dug out the entire stone block that formed the stone cavity, placed the Earth Stone back inside, and mixed it with the useless rocks. Yang Junshan carried the basket out of the mine tunnel and came to a hidden fork, where he moved the layer of loose rocks to reveal a small pit filled with refined soft soil powder.

This was a part of the refined ore that Yang Junshan had intentionally hidden after each mining session, so that when he found the Earth Stone and needed to refine it, he could avoid suspicion by carrying these pre-refined ores out for submission.

The refined ore was finely screened, and the submission of ore was supervised by the mine's managers. Even with Han Xiusheng's help, Yang Junshan could not carry the Earth Stone out in plain sight, especially since Han Xiusheng did not know that Yang Junshan had another purpose for mining this time.

Fortunately, the miners of Qing Shu Village did not go down the mine all day. According to Han Xiusheng, the miners, led by Chu Chuang, were on strike, demanding that Hu Siping reduce the ten stone coins for mining to the seven stone coins specified by the Heaven-Shaking Sect.

"Ah, with Chu Chuang causing trouble, our income as managers will also be affected."

Han Xiusheng clearly did not stand on the side of the miners. The three additional stone coins Hu Siping had arbitrarily added to the mining fee were also shared among the managers like Han Xiusheng.

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