bestfiction Chapter 27 Cooperation
Chapter 27 Cooperation
Zhong Ming's mouth was stuffed full, and his hands were covered in fragrant grease.
After being roasted, the oil and spices in this marinated monster are extracted, making it addictive to eat.
Zhong Ming's belly was round and full, and his amazing appetite surprised Yue Kaishan even more.
She's really capable; she can eat so much without any problems.
(Dragon Soul, who secretly took a couple of bites: Waaah~ I used to not even glance at this trash... It's so delicious~)
What is a dragon? The sovereign of the four seas, the king of all beasts. The dragon soul secretly absorbed some of the remaining spiritual power of these demonic beasts. It didn't dare to do it openly, because who knows if that old guy was hiding in the shadows watching.
However, Zhong Ming still ate too much.
"Hiccup, Brother Yue, this is really delicious. It's a pity I don't know what good food is available in the Taoist temple, otherwise I would go and get some for you."
"Hey, I'll take you hunting with my uncle then, and we'll make whatever we want to eat."
The big man cleaned up the mess and had an idea.
“Brother, I’ve noticed that although you mine quickly, you dig up too much loose rock. How about we work together? I’ll mine straight ahead, and you can explore for spirit stones around the tunnel. Once you’re done, just fill the loose rock back in.”
Actually, Zhong Ming really wanted to say, what does it matter if there are broken stones? Just put them in the storage stone and throw them away later.
He needs to eat every day anyway, and since mining provides free meals, he might as well take advantage of it.
When you go to Senior Wang's place, just throw the broken ore away.
"Isn't this a bit inappropriate? It seems like the rules don't allow this."
"Is there? Which one?"
Indeed, all the rules are designed to prevent adjacent passages from being opened up without authorization, which is intended to prevent conflicts between unfamiliar cultivators, but they do not prohibit cooperation among multiple people.
Since it's charged per person anyway, and the mine tunnel is only so small, the landlord surnamed Wang didn't care whether two people would be enough to share.
"Shall we give it a try?"
A day passed, and Zhong Ming was full of energy. He didn't feel hungry and turned to pay several days' rent to Senior Wang.
Two days passed, and Zhong Ming's mining speed increased, and he became more skilled at using the pickaxe, but there was still no sign of him wanting to eat.
Three days passed, and Yue Kaiqun's movements began to slow down. He felt tired, but when he looked back, Zhong Ming's progress was almost keeping pace with his mining progress. So he decided to grit his teeth and skip dinner today and continue.
On the fourth day, the big man couldn't hold on any longer.
"Hey bro, aren't you hungry?"
Zhong Ming was overjoyed to be digging up spirit stones. What difference was there between this and digging up gold from the ground?
"I don't feel hungry at all, brother, your meat is amazing."
Yue Kaishan was in great pain. Although the flesh of the demon beast could indeed sustain him for several days, digesting the residual spiritual energy within it was extremely painful. He had already exhausted a great deal of energy during this phase and could no longer hold on.
"I'm feeling a bit hungry. I dug up seven spirit stones this time, which is a good result. I should rest now."
If an ordinary cultivator heard this, they would probably be furious. Do you think the mine is a charity?
Four days, seven seeds dug up, four for rent, netting three – what an infuriating harvest!
You should know that a normal cultivator is lucky if they can accumulate one in four days!
As for why he said he didn't lose money... well, he just barely managed to catch up with the worst harvest he had when he was digging.
"Alright, brother, you go back and rest. Take this."
Zhong Ming then took out three spirit stones from his pocket and tossed them to the big man.
“We have a custom where, when walking on a mountain road and encountering fallen rocks or broken ancient trees blocking the way, after organizing people to move them, we must go and pay homage to the ancestors who first opened up this road, to show that we have not forgotten their kindness in opening the road. Now we are only moving a small section of the roadblock, which is nothing compared to their pioneering efforts in opening up the road.”
The burly man looked puzzled, so Zhong Ming put it in simpler terms: "It means that I can dig up a spirit stone with just a few strokes of the hoe today, so I can't forget your contribution in clearing the way, and I have to share the money with you."
Yue Kaishan chuckled and patted the muscles on his arms, saying, "Brother, you're a really honest guy. I'm definitely going to be your friend. To be honest, I'm not just mining; I'm also honing my physique. Everyone in the surrounding area knows about our Yue family's martial arts. You can practice them while you're practicing your fist techniques. It's been a long time since I've been able to throw punches so smoothly and continuously."
Having acquired three spirit stones, the burly man didn't stand on ceremony and seemed ready to share some meat with them as well.
Zhong Ming quickly waved his hand, "Go and rest. I don't have your Yue family's martial arts techniques. I still need to cultivate."
I was so busy "picking up money" that I almost forgot I was "picking up money" to cultivate and become stronger.
Sure enough, once people's greed takes hold, they easily forget about their important business.
As for how many spirit stones Zhong Ming actually took...
Hehe, exactly ten yuan, no more, no less.
The stones given to the big man were the most common earth-type spirit stones, which were plentiful here and usually handed over to the authorities.
He used the remaining four stones to pay the rent, and kept two water-attribute spirit stones and one fire-attribute spirit stone for himself.
The purpose of leaving behind the water attribute was for cultivation. As soon as the big man walked away, Zhong Ming couldn't wait to sit down on the spot and spit out two small stones from his "mouth".
The two pieces of mica given to him by his second master were not very valuable. With the help of the old Taoist priest, two small pieces were cut off and given to Zhong Ming to carry with him.
It's for cultivation.
Because it was indeed a very small piece, his cultivation posture became very strange. He stood in place with his feet almost together and his toes resting on a small piece of blue stone slab.
The head of the monkey has changed from carrying a mountain to balancing a ball, with its fingers almost all clasped together on the top of its head, and a small stone pressing down on it, making it look quite comical.
When he was cultivating with a hoe, he had no connection with the gift his second master had given him. It wasn't until he recalled his posture when he broke through to the second level of Qi Refining before he left that he suddenly realized it.
The gift from my second master must have been for this purpose!
That's a really... two-mile-long reaction time.
If one is a genius of the sect, one should realize the method of cultivating with spiritual artifacts the moment one learns of the cultivation technique, and after pondering the gifts from one's masters, one should immediately realize it.
"Sigh..." Zhong Ming was filled with self-reproach and regret. "I should have asked Master..."
"No, Master would definitely say that 'enlightenment' cannot be forced; the Great Way is simply a matter of things falling into place naturally, a sudden inspiration."
Never mind him, focus on your cultivation first.
......
Inside the mine, rustling sounds continued, but they were driven away by the bustling sounds of humans digging.
This world has never been solely the world of humankind; countless strange and wonderful creatures have been born and raised here.
There are native small animals in the mine.
They were frightened away, but one of them smelled a particularly fragrant aroma, a scent it had never smelled before.
It decided to come and take a look.