bestfiction Chapter 21 First Visit to the Mine
Chapter 21 First Visit to the Mine
Zhong Ming carried a large bamboo pole on his shoulder, with a string of black scorpionfish hanging from it, and entered the valley. He was quite the spendthrift along the way.
He Cheng was completely dumbfounded.
Whenever I meet an official who seems to have some status, regardless of his identity, I first present him with a black carp, followed by words like "fresh," "sliced," "blanched in water," and "delicious."
As the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face, let alone someone who brings a gift when you meet them.
This gift isn't expensive... but it's also not particularly valuable... and the fish is unusually large.
One less to give away, while supplies last.
After entering the valley, the passage splits into two, one for cultivators and one for mortals.
The three southern states are Bazhou in the west, Yunzhou in the middle, and Pingzhou in the east. The characteristic of these three states is that mortals are fully aware of cultivators and treat them like nobles.
This is Yunzhou, a unified dynasty, the Chen family dynasty. It is the most familiar place for cultivators to mortals because it adopts a free spiritual root testing system, and every child of the appropriate age will come into contact with cultivators.
Zhong Ming only needed to turn his head slightly to see what was happening on the mortal side.
That place was not a good place; it was full of exiled convicts with tattoos on their faces and shackles on their bodies. Some more normal "good citizens" gathered on the other side, doing jobs such as cooking, delivering food, and transporting minerals.
"Fellow Daoist He Cheng, what's that over there?"
"Oh, a bunch of people who sold themselves into slavery to pay off debts. They've sold themselves into the mine. They're not much better off than the prisoners. At least they didn't incur any debts outside after they came in."
He Cheng sneered and said, "What kind of blood feud did these criminals commit outside? They've been exiled here, it's like they've come here seeking refuge. Do you believe that if the officials leave the valley today, this place will be completely blocked by people coming to seek revenge tomorrow?"
Zhong Ming swallowed hard and asked, "Then the cultivators here...?"
"Don't worry, there's no way there could be any cultivators or criminals here. In Yunzhou, how could someone who offends the Chen Dynasty expect such a light punishment?"
He Cheng stopped and walked to a huge map.
This is a map showing the distribution of the entire mining area, which is actually pieced together from many cross-sectional views of the mine at different depths.
"Look, this is a map of the mine. The shallowest layer is where the ordinary ore is, where people work. It's not connected to us. Go down that path ahead and you'll go directly to the second layer."
Zhong Ming examined the map carefully. There were seven levels on it, with each realm roughly divided into three levels: early, middle, and late. The deeper one went, the higher the cultivator's realm became. Zhong Ming was at the second level of Qi Refining, so he only needed to enter the second level. The seventh level was where cultivators at the late Foundation Establishment stage or even the Great Perfection stage resided.
At the same time, this mine was originally an excellent place to open up a cave dwelling with abundant spiritual energy.
On the map, each small round hole represents a temporary cave dwelling.
He Cheng asked Zhong Ming, "Are you bringing your own tools or using the standard tools we provide?"
"Use yours. Is there any difference?"
"Of course we have them. Using ours is more convenient. For someone like you who goes to the second level, you only need to hand over one spirit stone each day. Everything else you dig up is yours. If you use your own weapons, we have to examine their power to see if they will cause the mine tunnels to collapse or something. That would be too troublesome."
Considering Zhong Ming had given him a large fish, He Cheng was willing to say a few more words. At least this kid was willing to be kind to others.
If he were in the northern states, he wouldn't have survived long amidst the treacherous infighting among sects. But in the south, with the Chen family in charge, his mine has more good people and less trouble, which is always a good thing.
"By the way, let me remind you, if anyone organizes a riot or anything like that, don't get involved. If you don't do anything, there won't be any problems. If the mine can't hand over enough spirit stones every year, the dynasty will blame you, and that could be fatal."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Ming's heart tightened.
Did the old Taoist priest sell me to a black mine?
What's this? There's a riot?
"But don't worry, it usually won't affect the second layer."
He Cheng explained to Zhong Ming that, generally speaking, if someone below wants to break through to a higher level of seclusion, they won't have time to mine and won't be able to hand over spirit stones to the mine. Sometimes, they might borrow money privately. If they can't repay it or are pulled out of seclusion halfway through because they don't have enough money, causing them to fail to break through, then they'll cause trouble.
"Don't worry, there are very few people on the second floor."
Who would come to the mine if they were a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining?
Disciples from prestigious sects who come out to train are at least at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, otherwise their masters and elders would not feel at ease.
As a hermit living in the mountains and marshes, he lacked information. How many people would know there was a spirit stone mine here? And how many would dare to come?
He Cheng rummaged through a storage bag for a while and took out a bronze-colored hoe with faint spiritual energy patterns on it, but the amount of spiritual energy was pitifully small.
"Here, take it. Don't blame me, it's been so many years since anyone used this thing. It was originally a spiritual artifact, but something went wrong during the forging process. Don't worry, the quality of the materials is what it is, so it won't be too bad."
Zhong Ming picked it up and weighed it; it was a bit light.
Speaking of which, shouldn't mining be done with a pickaxe? Why a hoe? Whatever, a magical weapon must have something extraordinary about it. But judging by its weight, it would probably take quite a few swings to mine.
"Thank you, fellow Daoist."
"It's alright, Fellow Daoist Cuihong, just go down there, someone will guide you."
The two bowed to each other in farewell. Zhong Ming carried the remaining fish on one shoulder and a hoe in the other and went down to sea.
He Cheng turned and left. His job was very easy. Very few cultivators came to mine. He could only attract a few a month.
The further I walked, the more uneasy I felt, as if I had forgotten something.
......
and many more.
That guy was carrying such a heavy fish? He didn't even infuse the hoe with spiritual energy before carrying it away?
Could he be a body-refining cultivator? Wouldn't his cultivation level need to be recalculated? He'd have to be sent to at least the third level.
Just thinking about this makes me feel so tired.
The fish is so heavy, it's tiring to carry. Oh well, never mind. Let Old Wang worry about it.
.....
Zhong Ming entered the cave, where there were two paths, one of which was a large, round "well".
Normal cultivators just fly directly.
The other is a spiral-shaped, descending safety passage.
That's all for now, let's go!
After walking for about six miles, they finally saw some light. Zhong Ming could sense a faint spiritual energy seeping from the crevices of the surrounding rocks.
After turning onto a main road and walking a few hundred meters, I saw a large hall.
Sitting in the hall was an old man with his upper body bare, his body covered in solid muscles. Although he was not young, his physical condition was quite excellent. His hair was only slightly gray. If it weren't for his aged face, Zhong Ming would have thought he was an uncle.
"Hello...."
An inexplicable and powerful aura emanated from the other party.
The man mechanically extended his palm and coldly asked, "Do you have a genealogy record?"
After Zhong Ming handed it to him with both hands, he also gave him all the remaining Black Ferocious Fish. The other party glanced at it and stuffed the genealogy into his storage bag.
"Senior, this genealogy book..."
“My surname is Wang. Here, this is the key. It’s room 3, section 2. When you leave, bring the key back to me, and I will return the genealogy to you. Go on, it’s the first path on the left, and the eighth mine tunnel on the right after you go in.”
Zhong Ming looked in the direction the other person had indicated, and saw three paths on the left: one going up, one going horizontally, and one going down.
Naturally, the further down you go, the more spirit stones you'll find, and the path with the bell rings is downwards.
"Thank you, Senior Wang."
"Get to work quickly. It's already evening of the first day. I'm not counting your start date. You need to prepare the spirit stones by tomorrow morning, and I'll come to collect them the day after tomorrow."