usatvline Chapter 522 First Time Down in the Mine
Chapter 522 First Time Down in the Mine
Xu Xiao's eyes flickered, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
I met a lucky woman right away; I'm very fortunate.
But we're not in a rush to send it now; we need to figure out the situation first.
Xiao Zhou and Xiao Chen introduced Xu Xiao to Zou Meng, the captain of the No. 46 mining team.
That is, the bearded giant who had transcended the ninth level of tribulation.
"Haha! Don't worry, junior brothers. Just leave Fellow Daoist Xu Xiao to me. I will show him around."
Zou Meng stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his rough hands.
With a rosy complexion, he bid farewell to his two junior brothers, Xiao Zhou and Xiao Chen.
He then looked at Xu Xiao and smiled, "Fellow Daoist Xu Xiao, I am Zou Meng, the captain of mining team number 146, and an outer disciple of the Yin Yang Immortal Sect."
"Rest a little longer, take a shower, and then we'll go down into the mine. Just stick with me. These celestial mines aren't easy to mine, so you'll have to learn carefully."
Seeing that the captain was quite enthusiastic, Xu Xiao clasped his hands in a polite gesture and said, "Thank you, fellow Daoist."
Zou Meng then introduced Xu Xiao to the remaining eight miner teammates.
Three elderly men, one middle-aged man, and two young men.
There was also a middle-aged woman, and the rest was Li Xiangxiang, who was squatting down.
Of the eight people, only Li Xiangxiang and the middle-aged man were ascendants; the rest were outer disciples of the Yin Yang Immortal Sect.
After Xu Xiao met with everyone, Zou Meng arranged for him to stay in the last wing of the mansion.
Each small mansion had exactly ten side rooms and was built specifically for miners.
About half an hour later, everyone finished taking a bath in their own rooms using water magic and prepared to go down into the mine.
Although their cultivation level allows them to cleanse themselves with spiritual energy, they still feel uncomfortable after being covered in sweat without water.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, this is the wooden frame for holding spirit stones. Keep it on your back."
As everyone was leaving, Zou Meng took out a wooden frame about half a person's height and put it on Xu Xiao's back.
The latter was dumbfounded, blinked, and said, "Captain Zou, isn't spirit ore just stored in a storage bag? Why do we carry it on our backs?"
Several teammates cast mocking glances my way.
Those who ascend to immortality are all a group of proud and arrogant individuals.
After mining for a while, they all became honest.
Especially those two disheveled young disciples of the Yin-Yang Immortal Sect, "Heh, so handsome, I thought they were here for a blind date?"
"After mining for half a day, I'll bring you back to square one! Hehehe!"
Then, the two of them involuntarily looked at the aloof and beautiful Li Xiangxiang behind them, their eyes filled with longing.
After washing, Li Xiangxiang's pretty face glowed white, and her youthful body was perfectly presented under her tight black dress, exuding a fragrant scent.
Her slender and graceful figure captivated the two men.
"Sigh... How wonderful it would be to be a Yin-Yang Daoist couple with Fairy Fragrance!"
Zou Meng shook his head and smiled, "Fellow Daoist Xu, every mine here is covered by a large array. If you put spirit ore into a storage bag without permission, the array will sound an alarm."
"That will attract the patrol officers and cause a lot of trouble."
"So our miners put the cut spirits into wooden frames and then deliver them directly using the wooden frames when they return."
Xu Xiao, carrying the wooden frame on his back, simply said "oh" and didn't elaborate further.
Damn, mining in the immortal realm is truly a return to basics.
Each mine has a lodging area. On the way, we encountered more than a dozen groups of monks who had gone down into the mine; they were all returning to rest at noon.
Xu Xiao followed Zou Meng to the entrance of the mine and checked in with a wooden sign. The person in charge of guarding the entrance was an elderly deacon from the Yin Yang Immortal Sect.
While chatting in the courtyard, Xu Xiao learned some information about the mining area from Zou Meng.
Each mine is overseen by three outer sect deacons of the Yin-Yang Immortal Sect, all of whom are at the Human Immortal realm.
Do not cause trouble or disrupt the order of the mining area.
The disciples patrolling the immortal sects are all just laborers, and their wages are even less than some skilled miners.
Mining is a highly sought-after job, but only cultivators at the Mahayana Realm or above can do it, so ascended cultivators are assigned to the work.
Ascended beings come from different subordinate realms, with most being at the ninth level of Mahayana and fewer at the ninth level of Tribulation.
The Tianyuan Realm, where Xu Xiao is located, belongs to the lower realms and consists of ascendants who have reached the ninth level of the Tribulation Transcending Realm.
In some minor realms, the ninth level of Mahayana is the limit; reaching the ninth level of Mahayana allows one to ascend.
However, this does not mean that it is easy to ascend in a small world. The spiritual energy in a small world is thin and resources are scarce, making ascension even more difficult.
The middle-aged miner and Li Xiangxiang are ascendants from the minor world, but they have now both reached the first level of the Tribulation Transcending Realm.
And most importantly, the elders of the Yin Yang Immortal Sect, both inside and outside, occasionally come to inspect the spirit mine.
If they encounter a qualified ascendant, they might take them as an apprentice.
Once accepted as a disciple, the ascendant can choose to return to the sect to cultivate or continue mining.
At this point, Zou Meng specifically reminded Xu Xiao that those who are chosen by the outer sect elders to ascend to immortality are usually very excited at first and immediately return to the sect.
But they'll soon return to the mining area to continue mining because there are no more resources...
After queuing to sign in, there was a vast, seemingly endless mine pit in front of us.
Walk to the edge and look down.
Countless cultivators struck the gleaming black stone with spirit hoes, sparks flying everywhere.
These black stones, nurtured by spiritual energy over many years, are incredibly hard.
With such low cultivation level, one can't even dig out spirit essence, let alone cut it apart.
With a surge of spiritual energy, Squad 146 flew down to their designated mining spot.
Without saying much, the team members got right to work, since the 1% commission was crucial for them.
Zou Meng placed the wooden frame on the boardwalk and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Xu, let me demonstrate for you first. Mining is a technical job. If you mine well, you might harvest several high-grade spirit essences a year!"
"Thank you, Captain Zou."
This is the middle section of the mine, with countless mining teams both above and below.
The hammering was in full swing, and everyone was sweating profusely.
Xu Xiao put down the wooden frame, shook his head, and sighed inwardly, "Truly a beast of burden... even immortal cultivators have it tough..."
The thought of Ji Xue and Feng Qingxuan digging like this for several years made him want to laugh.
This dark history is enough for him to use against himself for the rest of his life.
Liu Aihua?
Haha, you're quite good at pretending.
Beside him, Zou Meng held a spirit hoe, his body surging with tribulation-crossing spiritual power, and frantically pounded on the black stone in front of him.
"Ahhhh!"
Sparks flew as they struck the stone dozens of times before they finally broke off a black rock the size of a head.
The black stone was densely packed with spirit essences; the next step was to cut it.
Zou Meng was very skilled. He put down his spirit hoe and, while cutting, smiled at Xu Xiao and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu! Cutting spirit stones is a very technical job. If you don't cut them well, you might damage the spirit stone, and then all your efforts will be wasted."
He took out a magic knife, infused it with his tribulation-crossing spiritual power, and began to carefully cut the black stone.
A sizzling sound rang out, and after cutting for a while, the edge of the black stone of the spirit was finally cut off.
Then cut the spirit into standard sizes, and you're done.
Zou Meng held five or six spirit essences in his hand and smiled with satisfaction: "Not bad! There's a mid-grade spirit essence!"
"Fellow Daoist Xu, have you seen it clearly? Let's begin."
After saying that, he threw the spirit into the wooden frame and continued to dig for minerals with his spirit hoe.
Xu Xiao silently shook his head; it was indeed a beast...
"Captain Zou, how much can you usually dig in a day?" Xu Xiao asked with a smile.
As Zou Meng tapped, he said, "It depends on the person. I can only dig up the amount of one or two high-grade spiritual essences. Fellow Daoist Li Xiangxiang digs much slower. She has only been here for half a year and may not even be one-fifth as good as me."
Xu Xiao nodded.
He already knew about the celestial spirit essence; one piece of high-grade spirit essence was equivalent to one hundred pieces of mid-grade spirit essence.
One piece of medium-grade spirit essence is equal to one hundred pieces of low-grade spirit essence.
That is to say, his more than five million top-grade spirit stones are currently equivalent to more than five million low-grade spirit essences.
More than 50,000 mid-grade spirit essences and more than 500 high-grade spirit essences.
It was a huge sum of money!
Even after transmigrating, why are we still treated like beasts of burden?
No, it's not right. We can't mine a single ore, and this dark history can't be allowed to appear on his body as the Supreme Heavenly Cultivator.
Otherwise, it might become the subject of private conversations among women of good fortune in the future.
"Xiaoxiao, you've worked so hard! You've been a miner in the Immortal Realm for so long! You must have sweated a lot! I feel so sorry for you! Hehehe!"
Xu Xiao swallowed hard; his mouth felt a little numb.