Chapter 3: Cold Iron Mine
Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Cold Iron Mine
"Friend, do you happen to know the details?"
The matter was quite peculiar, and what was especially strange was that even a Spirit Farmer knew about it.
Hearing this, the middle-aged man’s excited expression instantly vanished. He seemed to be hiding something and hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "I only heard about it from others myself."
After a whole morning of tending his stall, Lu Zhao hadn’t sold a single Puppet Guard, but that was to be expected. His business was the type where you could go half a year without a sale, but one good sale would feed you for the next six months.
At noon, he swallowed a Fasting Pill. This Pill wasn’t particularly expensive, and taking one would keep hunger at bay for three days. Lu Zhao often used them as a substitute for Spirit Rice.
After taking the Pill, he walked along the Marketplace’s main road for about fifteen minutes, arriving at the entrance to the Cold Iron Vein, which was not far from the Marketplace.
According to the rules, before entering the mine, one had to hand over their Storage Spiritual Artifacts. A Law Enforcement Cultivator would then seal them in a Sealing Spirit Box. This box’s sole function was to block Divine Sense, preventing anyone from smuggling out personal stashes of ore.
Once that was done, Spiritual Pickaxes were distributed. The Spiritual Pickaxe was cold to the touch and emanated a faint blue halo in the dark mine cave—it was a Non-Tiered Magical Artifact, refined from a tiny amount of Cold Iron Ore mixed with Refined Iron, its primary purpose being the excavation of ore.
As he entered the mine cave, Ice Crystals that had formed on Lu Zhao’s fingertips fell away with a soft rustle. Water Attribute Spiritual Energy flowed around his body, forming a pale blue membrane of light.
The entrance to the mine cave resembled the throat of a giant beast. Cold Qi seeped through the cracks in the Protective Spiritual Light generated by his Little Spirit Rain Technique, piercing to the very marrow of his bones. This was the effect of the Cold Iron Vein—in such an environment, ordinary people could not survive. All the miners were Cultivators.
As he ventured deeper, Lu Zhao reached one of the branch tunnels.
A few people were already inside the tunnel, the sound of chipping rising and falling. Several Qi Cultivators were striking the rock wall, their Spiritual Pickaxes glowing with an eerie blue light. Each blow sent shards of ice flying from the bluish-black rock.
Lu Zhao ran his hand over a fissure in the rock face and, a short while later, began to work as well. The bluish-black rock fractured under his Spiritual Pickaxe, revealing a web of silver-blue veins within.
In this world, Cold Iron Ore was also known as "Ice-Marrow Iron Ore." Its formation required a vein of Refined Iron to be steeped in the Earth Vein’s Yin Cold Qi for a thousand years. The ore body spread out evenly like blood vessels, with no specific points of high concentration.
He chiseled out a fist-sized piece of raw ore. On its fractured surface, Ice Crystals grew in a radial pattern out from a rice-grain-sized, deep blue object at its center—the Cold Iron Ore itself.
The monthly quota of ten catties was set precisely at the threshold of what an Early- or Mid-stage Qi Cultivator could mine in a month.
If they pushed themselves to mine overtime, a mild outcome would be Cold Qi invading their body, damaging their meridians, and delaying their next Realm Breaking. A severe outcome would be a backlash from the Cold Qi, causing them to freeze to death inside the mine.
As for Late-stage Qi Cultivators, they generally looked down on such meager profits and wouldn’t come here. If one did show up, they most likely had other motives.
An hour later, Lu Zhao’s gaze fell upon a crystalline gleam within a rock crevice. He picked it up and held it in his hand.
This object was called a Cold Jade Stone, a Companion Spiritual Object of Cold Iron Ore.
It was a Tier One Lower Grade Spiritual Object, not very valuable—far less so than Tier One High-Grade Cold Iron.
’It’s probably worth about twenty Spiritual Sand,’ he calculated.
The Zhou Family had a rule: aside from Cold Iron Ore, any other companion finds, if turned in, would be paid out at a fifty-fifty split of their market value.
This generosity was born of necessity. The environment of the Cold Iron Mine was harsh, meaning only Cultivators could work there—and ideally, Mid-stage Qi Cultivators. Coupled with the severe erosion from the Cold Qi, no one would be willing to come if the pay was too low.
As for the Cold Iron Ore itself, the amount one could mine daily was limited. In a month, one could get eleven or twelve catties at most; with bad luck, it was hard to even reach ten.
As long as the ore quota was submitted on time, the Zhou Family turned a blind eye to everything else. If you could get anything extra out, that was a testament to your own ability.
If the rules were too strict, then aside from an Honored Guest Elder like Lu Zhao, no one else would be willing to come.
The other miners didn’t receive a fixed monthly stipend; they relied on smuggling out personal hauls of ore and finding Companion Spiritual Objects to make a profit.
After another hour, Lu Zhao estimated that he had mined Seven Taels of Cold Iron Ore. His luck was good today, so he decided to call it a day.
He didn’t have much time left to spend in the mine cave today.
After all, Early-stage Qi Cultivators could last two hours at most, while those in the Middle Stage could manage another half an hour. Any longer would negatively affect their Cultivation.
This was a rule of thumb they had figured out over the years.
For his last half-hour, he planned to gather some Puppet Materials. He was running low on both Spirit-Devouring Rat corpses and the Mouse King’s Fang. Puppet Refining was difficult, so he needed to build up his reserves.
Just as he was traversing a deep section of the mine, a gray shadow shot out from a crevice in the ceiling!
Lu Zhao flicked his wrist, sending out a Water Bullet Technique. The resulting spray of water instantly froze into an Ice Mist. The Spirit-Devouring Rat King staggered but still managed to claw its way out of the freezing fog.
The moment it emerged, its ghastly white fangs were on full display. Although this Demon Beast was only at the Tier One Early Stage, its fangs possessed the Spirit Breaker attribute, giving them a slight edge against Defense Magic. It was something to be wary of.
Besides the Rat King, there were seven or eight ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats, each the size of a cat, but they were all just Non-Tiered Demon Beasts.
The Rat King itself, however, was not large—it was about the size of a common rat, which made it all the more agile within the narrow mine tunnels.
Lu Zhao had only intended to find a few ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats; he hadn’t expected to run into the Rat King. It was hard to say if this was his good fortune, or the Rat King’s misfortune.
He had only just crossed into another tunnel when he found the Rat King. Lu Zhao raised his hand and cast an Ice Cone Technique, but the rat dodged it deftly.
What followed was a chase. The Rat King was incredibly fast, but Lu Zhao was no slouch either.
Fifteen minutes later, the Rat King was forced into a dead end.
Seeing no way to retreat, the Rat King let out a furious shriek and lunged at Lu Zhao.
Lu Zhao raised a finger, and a Water Bomb condensed at its tip.
The Rat King blurred into a gray shadow, leaping and weaving between the Ice Blades. A foul wind carrying the shriek of displaced air swept over Lu Zhao as it pounced.
Just then, three Water Bombs shot out in a triangular formation, cutting off the Rat King’s retreat. They exploded, and the Cold Qi instantly condensed into an Ice Mist.
This was his own modified Water Bullet Technique, which he called the Ice Bullet Technique. By leveraging the extreme cold of the Cold Iron Mine Cave, it transformed a normal Water Bullet Technique into a burst of ice crystals that could trap a target.
The rat pack was trapped within the Ice Mist. It clung to their fur and condensed into a layer of frost, making their movements as sluggish as if they were wading through mud.
Just as the movements of the Rat King and its pack were restricted, an Ice Cone materialized and instantly pierced the Rat King’s left eye. With a piercing SQUEAK, the Rat King shrieked in agony and collapsed, its body going rigid.
A few moments later, Lu Zhao had finished off the seven or eight ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats as well.
Gazing at the ground littered with rat corpses, the corners of Lu Zhao’s mouth lifted in a slight smile. He gathered them all into a cloth sack and started on his journey back.
Creatures like the Spirit-Devouring Rat were something that likely only Lu Zhao would put so much effort into hunting. Most others, upon seeing them, would simply shoo them away and be done with it.
This was because, apart from its fangs—which counted as a Tier One Lower Grade Spiritual Material worth a few dozen Spiritual Sand—the rest of a Rat King was worthless.
It simply wasn’t worth going to all the trouble of hunting a Rat King for a paltry amount of Spiritual Sand. Killing this one today was just a fortunate coincidence.
After all, while the Rat King wasn’t powerful, it was fast. Combined with the narrow tunnels, its chances of escape were actually quite high. Running into Lu Zhao, an expert in Water Magic, was just its bad luck.
Once he reached the mine entrance, after undergoing the routine inspection, Lu Zhao retrieved his sealed Storage Bag and registered the Cold Iron Ore and Cold Jade Stone he had harvested that day.
The inspecting Cultivator paid no mind to his other belongings, only showing a flicker of surprise upon seeing the Rat King’s corpse—and even that was fleeting.
As for the Cold Iron Ore and the Cold Jade Stone, he was required to deliver them to the Warehouse himself.
The Zhou Family wasn’t worried about him running off. Here in Changfeng County, no one dared to make off with the Zhou Family’s property.