novelraw Chapter 589 - 588: Mining Life Stone Ore
Chapter 589 - 588: Mining Life Stone Ore
"Whew!"
Walking up the increasingly magnificent steps of the World Tree to the third layer, Jiang Yuan felt his scalp tingle as he was hit by a chilling wind.
"Hahaha, heeheehee, come on! Come in..."
In the wide and tall dark mine cave, several faint white shadows floated, their light laughter echoing eerily through the cavern.
He glanced at the Bronze Compass—today’s fortune was mediocre, and fishing was inadvisable.
Great, then don’t fish; let’s mine!
"Buzz buzz~"
His right hand trembled as he pulled out the Soul Refining Banner, just ready to capture a few ghosts at the entrance, when the Communication Stone in his Storage Bag trembled twice, emitting a faint sheen, and a communication dialogue box popped up at the top of his view.
"Master: Hope this finds you well, I am fine, and have entered the Secret Realm, do not worry."
Wan Mingchuan, that child, was always frugal, used to write by scratching with tree branches instead of using pen and paper;
Now, going to the Otherworld, he’s afraid of consuming too much of the Communication Stone’s energy, making his master spend for new ones, yet he wants to reassure him, so he sends a daily brief message.
In contrast, Lingdi never worried about such details, ensuring to report Wan Mingchuan’s whereabouts daily in as much detail as possible, and sometimes, even mentioned every meal he ate, afraid his owner wouldn’t recognize its diligent service as a Hidden Guard.
Thus, though the disciple has left the small courtyard with a flying mount, Jiang Yuan knows his itinerary and experiences perfectly.
The routine reply urges him to be extremely cautious while away and, should he encounter insurmountable difficulties, use the Teleportation Scroll marked with the courtyard’s coordinates to get home, as adventures are never more important than life.
But he also knows that in the short term, the "return home" operation is unlikely, since with the old dog protecting him, if any danger arises, it merely extends its claws to settle things or at worst, can tear space to escape.
Closing the communication page, Jiang Yuan first released the purified souls from the Soul Refining Banner, letting the stardust-like spirituality drift upward and gradually vanish.
The Soul Refining Banner upgrades and provides combat power by absorbing resentment energy from vengeful ghosts, while the dissipated spirituality returns to the Netherworld for reincarnation.
While clearing Spiders Valley, he absorbed the traitor grandfather and grandson’s vengeful souls, and later cleared ghostly entities from Lotus Peak in the Netherworld—mostly ninety percent resentment energy—taking a tremendous amount of time to refine.
Last time, against the Green-eyed Fox Clan Leader, Jing Peiran, it was used, where a lot of resentment energy entangled the two strange entities, effectively consuming a significant amount of energy.
He clicked the remaining resentment energy into the experience bar, watching it progress slowly.
Looks like it’ll reach Level Eight once the Soul Refining Banner completes this absorption. Indeed, the higher the level, the harder it is to advance.
[Mine Cave Ghost: A restless soul sealed by mysterious forces, unable to escape the cavern, appearing when sensing human aura, attempting to possess a body for freedom from suffering]
The eerie laughter returned, and a white shadow even floated near the entrance, reaching out a slender hand from sleeves like smoke or mist, trying to touch the vibrant human body.
However, before stepping out of the cavern, it shrieked as if electrocuted and quickly dissipated.
"Strange, You Meng says the World Tree suppresses these ghosts, preventing escape, yet the introduction describes them as sealed inside the caverns." Jiang Yuan frowned at this sight, "There are many ordinary ghosts in the Dragon Cave’s caverns, and here under the World Tree are increasingly powerful suppressed vengeful ghosts. Where do they come from? Why are they suppressed here?"
The ghosts couldn’t communicate, continuously shifting shapes to entice him into possession, leaving no room for conversation, so he responded directly with action!
The magnificent Level Seven Soul Refining Banner shook, its mouth opening wide like a giant vortex, powerfully sucking the erratic shadows within the mine cave corridor inside, clearing the air of echoes.
"Clang clang clang!"
After entering the mine cave, advancing about ten meters, he encountered a stone wall. The Earth Mirror Book skills hadn’t triggered, indicating no ores or treasures at the entrance, so he took the Silver Crystal Pickaxe from his Storage Bag to mine.
Silver Crystal Ore dug from the lower layer of the mine was forged into Silver Crystal Stone Ingots in the Melting Workshop, then upgraded to a transparent Silver Crystal Pickaxe at the Treasure Forging Workshop.
With each swing, the pickaxe mined 3-8 stones randomly from ordinary rocks, and though several hits are needed to extract Gold Crystal Ore from the third layer, he no longer needs temporary tools from You Meng.
Once enough Gold Crystal Ore is mined and forged into ingots, upgrading the pickaxe remains priority, saving more mining time—sharpened tools make efficient work.
"Brother, I’m so cold, could you warm me?" Having mined a Gold Crystal Ore into his Storage Bag, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt a chill on his neck, his health bar lighting up and dropping by 100.
He swiftly drew out the Soul Refining Banner, ready to capture the demon, but found behind him not a cave but a beautifully adorned boudoir, filled with a pink ambiance.
On a bed behind dangling crystal curtains lay a slender-waisted maiden draped in thin fabric, beckoning him as he looked, "Come~"
As she beckoned, his health bar fell another 100, yet he remained calm, knowing he could regain 40 health points daily, the damage was negligible.
This is only the third layer of the mine, where slightly stronger monsters already employ illusion techniques.
Seeing its relatively substantial health bar and skill in illusions suggested communication was possible, so he shook the Soul Refining Banner in his hand, "Do you know what this is?"
The "maiden’s" face froze, then she smiled brightly, beckoning again, "Where’s this little cultivator from? Put down that foul thing. Since you’re here, why not spend a lovely night together?"
"Excuse me, young lady, what is this place?"
"Why bother with what place it is? Come to my bed, and here you’ll find your sanctuary."
Unable to extract clues, he shook the Soul Refining Banner ready to collect the ghosts to avoid hindering his mining speed.
The "girl," seeing her charm wasted, immediately dropped her facade and transformed into a white shadow, her voice turning genderless and fiercely shouting, "This is the Eighteen Layers of Hell. Since you’ve arrived here, there’s no return. Why not foolishly enjoy it and then die? Why insist on the agonizing clarity, asking for suffering!"
With sinister winds blowing and surrounded by eerie ghostly aura, it was actually a minor-BOSS level ghost.
Jiang Yuan didn’t even use the Clear Wind Bright Moon Sword. He summoned a few paper figures and took away one-third of its health bar, subsequently devouring it whole with the Soul Refining Banner.
"Clang!"
The furious, howling ghost entered the Soul Refining Banner while dropping several gleaming crystal stones.
[Golden Crystal Ore + 5]
You need to gather twenty pieces of Golden Crystal Ore to forge a Golden Crystal Stone Ingot at the Melting Workshop. Each upgrade for an axe or mining pickaxe requires a hundred Golden Crystal Stone Ingots, making it quite a task needing long-term accumulation.
"It may not be hell, but it’s definitely a ghost lair." Jiang Yuan put away the Soul Refining Banner and resumed his mining work, resolving to inquire with the little elf You Meng for some hints once he emerged.
He dug from dawn till dusk, replenishing his empty Physical Strength Bar with Spirit Tea or delicacies now and then, until he was on the brink of quitting from sheer boredom, when suddenly a gleaming light flickered in his view.
[Approximately 50 meters away, 50% chance to contain Life Origin Stone]
The Earth Mirror Book finally showed its effect!
Fifty meters—it sounds neither far nor near, especially when at any moment a ghost might pop out enhancing its presence and contributing to the Soul Refining Banner.
After some ten minutes, finally, the mining pickaxe clattered, knocking loose a pile of rocks, revealing a dazzling glow on the stone wall!
[Life Origin Stone: Can be refined into Life Stone in the Melting Workshop. Contains abundant life force—a mysterious substance, essential for crafting all life-related items.]
"Finally dug one up!" The tiresome monotony evaporated instantly as he rushed to the stone wall to inspect the fist-sized stone, its mottled shell revealing a shiny gloss from crevices, eagerly extracting it.
So far, he’s only missing one Life Origin Stone to craft the Resurrection Talisman!
Unfortunately, since ascending to the second-layer mines of the World Tree, he hasn’t been able to bring Xiao Bai and the others to aid in mining, whereas entry was allowed on the first layer.
The Paperman and Paper Horse Skill can enter, but it shows inadequacy in level to utilize advanced tools, just like the corpse ghost warriors can be summoned but are unable to wield a mining pickaxe. Thus, such crucial work of excavating Life Stones must be done personally by Jiang Yuan.
So he decided, upon returning to the real world, he’d put all his effort into making paper figures!
High-level yet slow progress bar—spend all the effort on time-consuming tasks. Reasonably, in the Wilderness, he gained over five thousand years of lifespan, almost equating to immortality in the real world. Plenty of time to upgrade the Paperman and Paper Horse Skill.
Upgrading the Paperman and Paper Horse Skill to Level Ten not only allows free discretion but also creates paper figures capable of using advanced mining pickaxes to help in mining. Having a helper can double the speed.
The excitement of uncovering a Life Origin Stone banished the long tedium completely, and Jiang Yuan felt reinvigorated, determined to unite the two Life Origin Stones needed for the Resurrection Talisman.
The Treasure Forging Workshop is crafting the Dragon Roar Sword, so as both here and there complete, they can promptly start refining the Resurrection Talisman!
However, the ideal scenario is rich, yet reality remains harsh; the Life Origin Stone’s drop rate is absurdly low, and even after a whole night of effort, no sign of the Life Stone was found.
[Today’s fortune—average. Avoid mining.]
"Okay, let’s call it a day. I’ll come back tomorrow and go all out." Jiang Yuan sipped Spirit Tea to replenish his exhausted Physical Strength Bar, casually opened the courtyard communicator, and placed the Life Origin Stone into the Melting Workshop.
The grid displayed the time needed for refining and purifying—twelve full days!
Using an Acceleration Card seems wasteful; completing early with Spirit Stones requires a billion funds, blocked firmly by the system. Since the second piece hasn’t shown up, let those front materials finish processing; meanwhile, the Life Origin Stone will purify slowly.
He stowed away the mining pickaxe and descended the steps, casually asking, "You Meng, do you know what these mines are?"
"Yes, they’re the World Tree’s suppression site." The little elf fluttered her wings flying over, stating seriously, "So each layer’s opening requires validating your power, concerns lie if insufficient strength causes dangers within."
"Why suppress? Are there frightening things inside?"
"That, I don’t know, ah."
Her response was almost useless, yet Jiang Yuan laughed, persistently asking, "Do you know how many layers of mines there are in the World Tree’s suppression site?"
You Meng slightly hesitated, "Eighteen layers. But... the World Tree’s been dormant for so long, who knows what’s above the above, there could be even more layers! As you cultivate the World Tree to grow, you’ll find out."
Eighteen layers? How coincidental?