Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“You’re new here?”
Xu Ning was pointed at by a supervisor who was holding a whip.
“Yes sir.”
Xu Ning nodded.
The supervisor smiled and said, “Since you are new here, let me be frank, don’t even think about running away. Otherwise, there will only be one consequence, and that is to be killed.”
“You, take him and teach him the rules here.”
The supervisor looked at Jiang Mian.
“Understood, master.”
Jiang Mian was expressionless as he responded in a quiet voice.
The group of people began to enter the mine.
Xu Ning was in the middle of the group, following behind Jiang Mian.
Xu Ning noticed that this group of miners had the same shackles as him.
According to what Jiang Mian said, the strength of these people was between the mortal realm fourth and sixth stage.
‘I wonder where they captured so many warrior miners…’
Judging from the state of these people, they certainly did not come to work voluntarily—they must have been forced.
Xu Ning followed behind the group and came to the mine.
Xu Ning felt a heat wave coming as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the mine.
A burning hot sensation rushed to his face.
The group of people went down the mine.
As they entered the mine, there was another group of people coming out of the mine at the same time.
They were pushing a cart full of crystal red ore, looking exhausted.
‘Are these fire crystal ores…’
Xu Ning had never heard of this type of ore before.
He didn’t know if State Feiyun did not possess this kind of ore, or if he was too low-level to know about it.
They soon descended down to the first layer of the mine.
Xu Ning noticed that there was a miner holding a special iron pickaxe, mining at the cave wall.
A piece of stone soon fell, which was then cracked open by the miners, revealing a fire crystal ore.
Xu Ning noticed that the shackles of the miners on this layer were different from his own. The material of their shackles seemed to be more easily broken.
Xu Ning guessed that they might be warriors below the mortal realm third stage.
“What?”
Xu Ning suddenly felt poison entering his body through his breath.
A slight burning sensation began to spread in his chest.
‘Is this the poisonous gas Jiang Mian mentioned?’
Xu Ning quickly activated his internal qi, forcing the poisonous gas out of the body.
Xu Ning had to maintain this state.
‘Since I used the Martial Arts Panel to advance, the internal qi in my body is a lot stronger…’
Xu Ning did not have to worry about his internal qi getting depleted.
As the group continued to walk deeper into the mine, they soon reached the second layer of the mine.
On this layer, the concentration of the poisonous gas doubled.
“Once you mine a cart full, you can go out and rest.”
Jiang Mian explained to Xu Ning.
After they entered the second layer of the mine, they could see a row of carts at the entrance.
Xu Ning followed behind Jiang Mian with a cart in tow.
“Work faster!”
On the second layer of the mine, there were also supervisors patrolling back and forth.
Whenever they saw someone slowing down, they would lash out with their whips.
While lashing, they would also activate their force. Even a strong warrior would be crippled by these whips.
“Just mine here.”
Jiang Mian chose a place for Xu Ning. He was next to Xu Ning.
Xu Ning stopped and copied Jiang Mian’s method, swinging and chopping down on the walls of the mine.
Bang! Bang!
Xu Ning chipped off the wall with the iron pickaxe.
Then, like other miners, he smashed the fallen stones again, before picking out the fire crystal ores inside.
The surface of the fire crystals were shiny, but impurities were still visible in them. Once it was mined, it probably needed further polishing.
He held the warm fire crystal in his hand.
‘This watermelon-sized stone only contains a small grape-sized fire crystal ore. To fill up this cart, it would take around five to six hours…’
Xu Ning finally understood why the miners here were so exhausted.
Physical exhaustion was secondary. The most difficult part of the whole situation was to maintain a state of internal qi for several hours.
This was easy for a strong internal qi realm warrior like himself. But if their martial arts realm was lower, their internal qi would eventually be consumed, and they would be forced to inhale the poisonous gas.
If this was the case, their body would inevitably be damaged over a long period of time.
With the cruel reality before his eyes, Xu Ning could only endure it in silence.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The sounds of collision echoed throughout the mine.
There were occasionally some scolding and whipping sounds.
The time slowly passed by.
Although Xu Ning felt that the process of mining was extremely boring, fortunately, his body was strong and he had plenty of internal qi, so he did not suffer any physical damage.
Jiang Mian was also paying attention to Xu Ning as he mined.
He noticed that Xu Ning seemed to have recognized the status quo and was steadily mining ores. Jiang Mian felt that Xu Ning was really at ease.
After five hours or so, Xu Ning’s cart was filled with fire crystal ores.
These five hours were extremely long.
This was equivalent to ten hours of continuous heavy physical work, and there was no food or water to replenish energy during this strenuous period.
Jiang Mian had filled his cart as well.
“You mined quite skillfully.”
Jiang Mian casually complimented, before bringing Xu Ning to exchange the ores.
Xu Ning followed Jiang Mian to the ore exchange station.
It was already night time.
After turning in a cart full of fire crystals, they received a portion of food and water.
After eating and drinking, they were sent back to their cell.
Jiang Mian returned to the cell and stopped talking to Xu Ning.
He seemed really tired, as he immediately fell asleep on the bed.
Xu Ning was in better condition, but he was also a little tired.
Before getting ready to rest, Xu Ning opened the hidden buckle compartment again to check on his Thousand Source Bug.
This was the only hope for him to get out of here.
The hidden buckle compartment opened, and although it was completely dark right now, Xu Ning could clearly see the fat white bug inside.
Xu Ning poked it with his finger.
If this was in the past, the fat white bug would not have moved, but today, when Xu Ning’s finger touched the fat white bug, it seemed to be getting a little excited.
“What?”
This abnormal situation surprised Xu Ning a little.
He saw the fat white bug near his hand, constantly rubbing itself on his finger.
‘What is going on?’
Xu Ning was quite confused.
He pulled his finger away.
Xu Ning looked at his finger and noticed that there was some ore dust on the skin of his fingers.
His hands were dirty from working in the mine.
‘No way this Thousand Source Bug can eat fire crystals…’
After thinking for a while, Xu Ning started to experiment.
He tried to clean his fingers thoroughly before touching the fat white bug.
This time, it stopped moving.
‘This Thousand Source Bug…’
Xu Ning was at a loss.
The Thousand Source Bug described by Wei Binglin only absorbed aura and never ate food.
‘Is this really a Thousand Source Bug…’
Xu Ning was full of doubts.
‘Forget it, when I go to the mine tomorrow, I will sneak out a small piece of fire crystal ore to experiment if this Thousand Source Bug can eat it…”
After thinking about it, Xu Ning made a plan.
It was not difficult to sneak out a small piece of fire crystal ore from the mine.
…
Another day had passed.
When Xu Ning came out of the mine again, he brought out a piece of fire crystal ore the size of a fingernail.
While Jiang Mian was sleeping, Xu Ning placed the small piece of fire crystal ore into the secret compartment.
Sure enough, as Xu Ning had expected, after he put the fire crystal ore in, the Thousand Source Bug seemed to smell some delicious food and began to rush towards it.
Xu Ning could not see its mouth, but he could feel that it was eating.
‘I hope this Thousand Source Bug won’t have any problems after eating the fire crystal ore.’
Xu Ning was slightly worried.
But at the same time, another thought emerged from the bottom of his heart, ‘Perhaps, there is energy in this fire crystal ore that is being absorbed by this Thousand Source Bug?’
Xu Ning was certain that he couldn’t extract energy from this fire crystal ore.
If Thousand Source Bug could spit out higher quality crystals after swallowing the fire crystal ore, then he would have hit a major home run..