Chapter 479: Mining Underground!
Chapter 479: Mining Underground!
Jiang Chen was not very interested in this three-thousand-year anniversary banquet.
Admittedly, for a clan to pass down its legacy for three thousand years meant it could be mentioned in the same breath as many Cultivation Sects, proving that the Luo River Bei Clan was indeed formidable.
However, one had to consider that the Cloud Sea Sect had existed for over ten thousand years and was one of the three great immortal sects in the entire Azure Realm.
With such a comparison, the appeal naturally diminished.
Bei Qinghui was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: “I suppose my cousin is busy. If you are interested, I can take out an invitation right now.”
Jiang Chen waved his hand: “Not interested.”
Then, without waiting for the other party to say anything more, he walked toward the entrance of the Earth Vein on his own.
Bei Qinghui watched his departing figure and murmured: “What is my cousin doing?”
This person was not only a core disciple but also the sole Spirit Nurturing Envoy of the Spirit Farm.He had status, and he had position.
To not have been invited was truly unbelievable.
…
…
On the other side, Jiang Chen reached the bottom, where there were crisscrossing mining tunnels running in every direction.
After glancing at the map and confirming the distance and direction of one of the hidden dangers, he immediately strode into a mining tunnel.
Compared to other places, not many people here in the Earth Vein recognized Jiang Chen.
After all, most Earth Spirit Root disciples dug spirit ore day and night, rarely venturing out, making them quite out of touch with sect news.
Besides, they were all exhausted to the bone; none had the mood to pay attention to who was passing by.
But this suited Jiang Chen just fine; he preferred that no one disturb him.
As he continued downward, the depth quickly exceeded several thousand meters.
Earth Vein qi was Earth Spiritual Qi; for Earth Spirit Root cultivators, mining was Cultivation.
At such depths, the concentration of Spiritual Qi reached a dense threshold.
The further down one went from here, the greater the physical pressure became.
Even Earth Spirit Root cultivators, with their naturally stronger endurance, would feel uncomfortable in such an environment.
Fortunately, Jiang Chen was different. Even though he was only at the early Golden Core realm, he still did not feel much pressure. Let alone the fact that with his Perfection-level Five Elements Spirit Roots, his resistance was almost maximized.
As he walked, the dot of light marking the first hidden danger on the map began to pulse. As he drew closer, the frequency grew faster and faster.
It looked as if it were about to emit a sound.
Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up: “Finally found the first one. Let us hope for a good start.”
However, when he actually approached the location, he was left dumbfounded.
It looked like an ordinary ore vein, with an excavated gap in one spot, and absolutely nothing else.
Forget Spirit Devouring Bugs, he could not even see a trace of bug droppings.
Clearly, someone had beaten him to it.
“I should have thought of this earlier!”
“So many years have passed; Yang Zhenyue must have come down here.”
“Coming here now, am I not just picking up his leftovers?”
Seeing this, Jiang Chen immediately realized the situation and could not help but frown.
Clearly, there had indeed been something here once, but now it was gone.
Whether it was bugs or something else, only Yang Zhenyue would know.
If it were anyone else, they would definitely turn and leave immediately, refusing to waste time here.
But Jiang Chen was different. Even without the bugs he was hoping for, he still took out the Treasure Hunting Chisel he had obtained from Jin Xuanzi’s cave dwelling.
As soon as this artifact appeared, it immediately lit up.
The reason was that it sensed the nearby ore vein; this was one of its core functions.
However, this was just the most common Spirit Iron ore; Jiang Chen had no intention of mining it. What he truly wanted to know was whether there were any rarer ores or minerals nearby.
Therefore, he followed the Spirit Iron ore vein deeper inside, continuously searching and scanning.
At first, he truly found nothing. But after about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the chisel in his hand suddenly vibrated.
It seemed it had sensed something.
And it was not anything ordinary.
Because for normal minerals, the artifact would only emit light.
Only when it detected rare-quality materials would it produce a vibration.
Moreover, the rarer the item, the faster the vibration frequency, expressing a sort of artifact ‘excitement.’
Seeing this, Jiang Chen released his grip on the chisel. It did not fall to the ground but instead floated in the air. It then zeroed in on a location, flew over, and began striking the rock with crisp ‘clack-clack’ sounds.
Jiang Chen stood to the side, a slight smile on his face: “It is truly nice not having to dig it out myself.”
In less than a breath’s time, the chisel truly dug out a gap.
Immediately after, something appeared inside that was somewhat similar to Spirit Iron, yet fundamentally different.
It was a hexagonal transparent crystal containing a faint trace of starlight within.
It appeared to contain a highly concentrated form of Spiritual Qi while also possessing the innate properties of Spirit Iron.
Jiang Chen nodded slightly: “As expected, it is a Spirit Iron Crystal.”
Within Spirit Iron veins, when the Spiritual Qi reaches a certain concentration, crystals form.
However, the growth speed of these crystals was extremely slow; a crystal with a diameter of one Cun required over ten years to form.
The one before him, by visual estimation, was about the size of an adult’s fist.
In other words, it had grown for at least a hundred years.
Ordinary Spirit Iron, due to its high yield, generally was not very valuable.
But a Spirit Iron Crystal was different; it belonged to the category of relatively rare ores, commanding a much higher price.
One with a diameter of roughly half a Cun was worth around fifty Mid-grade Spirit Stones, with occasional market fluctuations.
Jiang Chen, of course, would not be polite and immediately stored it away.
Although he had not found bugs, harvesting rare minerals was not a bad outcome either.
Previously, expanding his fields had cost five Mid-grade Spirit Stones; now, he had earned back at least ten times that amount in a single stroke.
Seeing that mining was so lucrative, Jiang Chen rubbed his chin, suddenly unwilling to leave.
After thinking it over, he simply decided to continue searching the surroundings while heading toward the second hidden danger.
Thanks to the Treasure Hunting Chisel and his max-level Golden Seal Heaven Governing Art, the journey was truly filled with continuous harvests.
Just the number of Spirit Iron Crystals he dug up exceeded three, and he even discovered a piece of an even rarer ore.
It was entirely different from normal Spirit Iron and Spirit Iron Crystals; it was larger, with a silvery-white metallic luster on its surface, giving it a profound, weighty texture.
Faint black patterns resembling lightning could be seen tracing across it.
When the chisel struck it, it actually produced crisp, resonant ‘ding-ding-dang-dang’ sounds.
When Jiang Chen approached, he felt a faint stinging sensation in his skin, and it even resonated with his own Metal Spirit Root.
He immediately had the chisel dig it out, then placed it on the ground for careful observation.
After a thorough assessment, he finally confirmed its identity.
Without a doubt, it was ‘Geng-Gold Spirit Iron.’
It was far rarer than Spirit Iron Crystals, with a value exceeding a thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones—and this was just a small chunk, not even a complete piece.
In that instant, Jiang Chen’s breathing grew heavy: “It seems mining is much more profitable than Spirit Farming.
“No wonder these Earth Spirit Root cultivators constantly complain about being exhausted yet refuse to leave.
“If it were me, I would want to stay underground every single day.”
He never expected his luck to be so good today.
Although the first hidden danger yielded no bugs, he had dug up several rare ores; it could only be described as a massive windfall!