Chapter 18

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Chapter 18: It’s a Mine, So I’ll Dig

In the following ten days, Ji Yang tirelessly mined from day to night!

His cultivation level, which was originally at fourteen points, reached eighty-one points after his sleepless efforts.

He also acquired around forty Superior flying swords from Green Light Points.

As for the White Light Points, they were countless; Ji Yang had lost track of how many he had absorbed.

He felt he could crush a mountain!

However, he had never seen a Purple Light Point! This made Ji Yang sigh at his bad luck.

The increase in his physique made it easier for him to swing the iron pick, and mining didn’t require much effort. To hide his unusual strength, Ji Yang pretended to struggle whenever he mined.

Unfortunately, every two or three days, he needed to replace his iron pick.

On the morning of the eleventh day, Ji Yang walked toward Elder Lu, carrying a broken iron pick.

When Elder Lu saw the broken tool in Ji Yang’s hand, he couldn’t help but sigh.

But he skillfully took out a new iron pick from his storage bag.

Ji Yang alone had damaged many iron tools.

Although they were mass-produced items, he didn’t have many left. He wondered if he should suggest to the blacksmiths next time that these iron picks were not very durable.

With a brand-new iron pick in hand, Ji Yang walked with He Feng and the others deeper into the mine.

They happily chatted along the way, no longer in their previous state of embarrassment.

This was all thanks to Ji Yang’s assistance.

In the past half month, they not only completed their tasks but also managed to save some ore. They even set aside an unused mine to store the excess ores, making their lives much easier.

Sometimes they even had time to cultivate, although the spiritual energy inside the mine was sparse, which affected their cultivation results.

“Senior Brothers, I’ll go mine now.”

When Ji Yang reached the fork in the mine tunnel, he said to He Feng and the others.

“Take your time, Junior Brother!”

“It’s okay to rest for a day!”

Hearing this, they all offered their encouragement.

However, Ji Yang simply thanked them for their kindness and then trudged deeper into the mine with his pick.

In these ten days, he had mined a much larger area than the others, with several tunnels branching off.

He chose these directions based on the parabolic method, simply tossing a rock and digging in the direction it pointed, then letting fate take its course!

Sometimes changing direction could indeed bring better luck.

For example, the previous day had not gone well for him; he had only gained a little in cultivation.

So Ji Yang decisively changed routes, and the next day he acquired five points in cultivation.

Overall, luck varied, but hard work could make up for shortcomings, and he now had eighty-one points in cultivation.

The usage button below had already started glowing ten days ago, but Ji Yang hesitated to press it.

If it were ten days ago, Ji Yang might have gritted his teeth and used the energy points, but as his cultivation points increased, he felt a bit scared.

What if using them all at once caused him to break through to what level?

To the Seventh level of Qi Refinement? The Eighth level? Or even the Ninth level?

If he suddenly jumped from the first level of Qi Refinement to such high levels, wouldn’t He Feng and the others go crazy? They might even think he was a traitor from the demonic path and capture him.

He believed his relationship with the others had improved lately, but Ji Yang knew that it was all based on mutual benefit. He didn’t think they would genuinely trust him.

Storing the energy points was fine after all, since they wouldn’t disappear.

But another problem arose. The maximum limit for his cultivation points was ninety-nine. Once he reached that limit, would he forcibly break through, or would he get stuck there?

Ji Yang guessed it was probably the latter; otherwise, there wouldn’t be a button to use them.

But no matter the reason, it wasn’t good news for Ji Yang.

Getting stuck there without using them meant he wouldn’t be able to absorb Blue Light Points while continuing to mine. He had recently experimented, and the Blue Light Points couldn’t be stored—only the Superior flying swords from the Green Light Points could be kept.

So Ji Yang urgently needed a way to hide his cultivation level, ensuring that others wouldn’t notice.

Or he needed them to believe that his increase in cultivation was reasonable.

However, even with Talent Jealousy, no one had ever seen someone break through to a high level of Qi Refinement in less than half a month!

If that came out, who knows what kind of trouble it would cause?

Besides, Ji Yang was unsure of the sect’s stance on a talent like him—were they protective or treating him differently?

He didn’t want to gamble on such uncertain matters!

He had to consider the worst-case scenario, so he absolutely couldn’t expose himself.

After thinking for a long time, Ji Yang shook his head.

He truly couldn’t come up with a good plan.

However, with only eighty-one points in cultivation, he had several days left before reaching the ninety-nine point limit. Worst-case scenario, he could mine for three more months before going out to train outside the sect!

When he returned later, he could say he had encountered a great fortune, and by then, the problem would likely be negligible.

Delaying for safety’s sake wasn’t a big deal; it was just a shame about the Blue Light Points he would find later!

Let’s dig for now!

Ji Yang stopped overthinking and swung his iron pick again.

Physique +1

Spirit +1

“Clang!”

Suddenly, a crisp sound startled Ji Yang, and his iron pick rebounded.

Looking down, he saw a piece of extremely hard Ziying ore blocking his way.

Ji Yang was a bit surprised; this situation hadn’t happened before.

The iron pick in his hand was a magical tool; even without using any mana, with Ji Yang’s own strength, he should have been able to extract the Ziying ore. How could there be ore he couldn’t mine?

Ji Yang snorted.

It was a mine! It was meant for him to dig!

Without hesitation, Ji Yang channeled his mana into the iron pick, which flickered with a light, indicating the sharpness of the pick’s head. At that moment, the magical tool returned to normal use.

As for the previous damaged picks, they were all broken by physical impact.

“Bang!”

With all his strength, Ji Yang struck the Ziying ore, causing it to separate instantly.

At the moment of separation, a golden glow flashed before Ji Yang’s eyes!

This made Ji Yang’s heart race!

He couldn’t have seen it wrong, could he? A golden legend!

Even if he hadn’t mined a golden Light point, Ji Yang knew this was definitely a treasure!

Ji Yang looked towards the source of the golden light.

A deep purple ore fell to the ground as his iron pick separated it, shining brightly and casting a light that tinted the surroundings of the mine in a faint purple shade. Within the purple, there was a hint of golden light that others couldn’t see.

“Could this be the Zixin ore?”

Ji Yang felt ecstatic. Although he hadn’t seen the Zixin ore described by Ruan Yong’an, he could tell this ore was far superior to the ordinary Ziying ore.

Just as Ji Yang was about to bend down to pick it up, he suddenly heard faint heartbeat sounds by his ear.

Where did that come from?

Ji Yang’s heart skipped a beat as he looked in the direction of the sound and discovered that the gentle heartbeat was actually coming from the ore before him.

The heartbeat grew faster, making Ji Yang feel an unsettling sense of danger.

Just as Ji Yang was ready to give up the ore and only absorb the golden Light point, a palm-sized lizard suddenly crawled out from the purple ore.