Ye Shu had made his decision, so naturally, they would go.
The man quickly explained, “Just so you know, if you want to explore the mine, it costs one thousand taels of silver for one spot, plus an additional hundred taels for each extra person. If the three of you want to go to the same place, it will cost twelve hundred taels of silver.”
Xiao Ming replied, “That’s no problem. Do you think we can’t afford such an amount?” As he spoke, he subtly glanced at Ye Shu and Yan Changlan, seeing them remain calm and composed, he knew he was right.
The man’s face lit up with joy, and he promptly offered to lead the way. “In that case, please follow me.”
Xiao Ming extended an invitation, “Please.”
Ye Shu and Yan Changlan followed behind, maintaining a dignified demeanor.
The atmosphere created by the three made the man’s attitude even more attentive.
Before long, they left the small town and arrived at an iron fence surrounded by numerous cultivators.
From a distance, one could see a sunken area inside the iron railing. After the topsoil was removed, a mineral vein with a faint metallic glow was exposed. This vein had several mining tunnels, dark inside, with men and women frequently entering and exiting. Among these people, the ages varied. Some were pushing mine carts, often looking more fatigued, and even older. Others carried bags, appearing stronger and more relaxed than the former.
Most of the people mining there were poor commoners with considerable physical strength. Only for higher-grade ores did cultivators need to personally get involved, and those were the ones carrying bags. Even so, higher-level cultivators were reluctant to do the mining. If one occasionally saw a cultivator above the third level of Qi Refining, they must have belonged to one of the factions controlling that mineral vein.
Speaking of the iron railings surrounding the area, they had likely been constructed long ago, enclosing a vast tract of land and preventing outsiders from coveting the mineral veins within. The cultivators guarding the perimeter hailed from different families. Initially, they displayed watchful expressions as Ye Shu and his companions approached. However, after the skinny old man leading them whispered a few words with a fawning smile, the guards stepped aside and allowed them to pass.
The skinny old man quickly tried to curry favor. “You see, I’m here specifically to host wealthy guests who appreciate unusual items. I have some face among the guards stationed here.”
Xiao Ming smiled and replied, “Thank you for guiding us.”
The skinny old man chuckled. “It’s also because you are wealthy. Otherwise, I wouldn’t dare to bring just anyone in here.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries, they reached the vicinity of the mineral vein.
There were several overseers there. The skinny old man went over to negotiate with them and slipped them some silver. The overseers then smiled and pointed in another direction, saying, “Three exploration sites have been opened today. If you’re interested, you can take a look.”
The skinny old man hurriedly offered a few more compliments before turning back to Ye Shu and the others, leading the way. “This way, please. There are three mine shafts to choose from.”
Ye Shu and his group followed him to the front of the three nearby mine shafts.
Yan Changlan asked, “To whom do we pay the silver? Are there any rules for entering?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Xiao Ming couldn’t help but exclaim, “A thousand taels of silver only buys six hours. Those wealthy people really know how to make money.”
The skinny old man chuckled awkwardly. “Within those six hours, you can select any strange objects in the mine and take as much as you can carry. If you can’t find anything, you can choose one piece from the guards at the exit when you leave. If someone skilled finds several pieces within the time, they could make a big profit.”
Ye Shu’s mouth twitched slightly, remaining unmoved.
This explanation seemed reasonable, but strange objects in the mine were likely rare and difficult to extract. Otherwise, if everyone could take them, the mine owners would suffer significant losses.
Businessmen pursue profit, and the so-called “wealthy people” were likely just a marketing ploy.
Yan Changlan and Xiao Ming also realized this, but for them, this trip was merely to gain experience. Finding strange objects would be great, but if they didn’t, it wouldn’t be a major disappointment.
Soon, they chose a mine shaft to enter. After handing over the silver tickets at the entrance, the skinny old man led them into the shaft.
Ye Shu and the others were newcomers to this environment, knowing little about the strange objects, so they needed the old man’s guidance to understand how to proceed with mining.
Inside the mine shaft, there were shades of iron everywhere.
Most were deep gray, but there were also many with red and purple gleams, coming from different types of iron. However, iron ore is just iron ore; where are the strange objects?
As expected, they were very rare.
After walking about ten yards deep, the skinny old man pointed to a spot on the mine wall and said, “Please take a look, this is the sign of the strange object inside.”
Ye Shu looked over and saw a layer of yellow-gray moss on the surface of the mine wall, which looked very hard. He pondered for a moment and did not recognize this type of moss, but since the miners regarded it as a sign, it must be related to the strange object.
In this vast world, there are all sorts of wonders.
Although Ye Shu had never seen such a thing in ancient books, he had seen it now, so he remembered it.
Xiao Ming was the one who asked about the yellow-gray moss.
The skinny old man said, “I don’t know what this thing is either. It’s just that all the strange things we dug out before had this thing on the outside. Once you see this thing, follow it and dig along, and you’ll find strange things in seven or eight out of ten cases.”
After the introduction, the skinny old man bid farewell and left.
Leaving the three men looking at the yellow-gray moss, each lost in thought.
Yan Changlan said, “Azhuo, do you want to dig it open and take a look? Or should we go find a few more places and pick one?”
Ye Shu said, “We don’t know what’s inside, so let’s just dig straight into it.”
Yan Changlan looked at Xiao Ming again.
Xiao Ming smiled and said, “This time, I’m just an accompanying guest. I didn’t pay any silver, so I’ll just put in the effort. The rest is up to Taoist Shi to decide.”
So, following Ye Shu’s instructions, Yan Changlan took out the wooden sword that Ye Shu had made for him, infused it with mana, and started digging vigorously at the location of the yellow-gray moss.
With a resounding “clang,” the wooden sword pierced the moss as if it were striking refined iron. It managed to create only a tiny, shallow dent, demonstrating the incredible resilience of the yellow-gray moss and confirming its resistance to excavation.
Yan Changlan felt somewhat embarrassed.
Ye Shu said, “Although the wooden sword is sharp, it may not be very effective at this moment.”
Xiao Ming thought for a moment and took out his own magical weapon.
The origin of this magical weapon was that he had previously acquired a batch of excellent low-grade magical weapons for his family, so he could choose one as a reward. He originally had no preference for weapons, but later thought about building a good relationship with Yan Changlan. Since Yan Changlan practiced swordsmanship, he chose a sword, intending to choose a sword technique to practice after returning to the sect, so he could find an opportunity to ask Yan Changlan for guidance.
Although he had not yet used swordsmanship to build relationships, it had another use now.
Among the low-grade magical weapons, this sword was of extremely high quality. Coincidentally, the inscription on this magical sword was Explosive! So if Yan Changlan used this sword to perform the Thundering Sword Technique, with the added violent power, and then exploded it, wouldn’t it be much easier to blast open the mine wall than they had originally thought!
Then, Ye Shu took the sword and handed it to the person beside him. “Changlan, I want to see your swordsmanship.”
Hearing this, Yan Changlan felt a little excited, then smiled, “I won’t let Azhuo down.”
The next moment, Yan Changlan gestured for the two to step back a bit. Then, in front of the mine wall, he began to perform the Wind and Thunder Sword Technique!
This time, it wasn’t a combination of two swords, so only thunder roared without the wind moving.
But as everyone expected, the combination of thunder roar and explosion erupted violently as soon as it hit the mine wall! With this explosive sound, countless iron ore fragments flew out like hidden weapons in all directions, with terrifying force. If someone accidentally got hit by one, they would surely be injured!
Xiao Ming’s throat moved, swallowing hard.
He hadn’t expected that the power of the explosion enchantment combined with the Thunder Sword Technique would be even stronger than he had anticipated!
If used on an opponent… If this sword strike was solid, the opponent’s entire body would likely explode!
On the mine wall, the piece of yellow-gray moss was completely shattered, revealing an ugly iron lump inside.
Could this lump of iron be the strange object that the thin old man mentioned?
Regardless, Yan Changlan exerted more effort to dig it out.
Immediately afterward, he used his sword technique again, directly slicing open the iron lump—
Inside the iron lump, there was unexpectedly a small iron-gray grass about three inches long, with only a thin stalk that looked somewhat frail, yet it attracted the attention of several people.
Xiao Ming couldn’t help but exclaim, “This is… Tie Xu Grass?”
The long and slender appearance indeed resembled a whisker. Tie Xu Grass grew inside iron lumps, absorbing iron essence to thrive, making it extremely unique. Once used in a magical tool, this grass could reduce conflicts between any iron-based refining materials and increase the success rate of forming tool embryos, making it one of the most favored spiritual herbs among artifact refiners.
Ye Shu also seemed pleased, “This item is suitable to take back and present to Master.”
Xiao Ming actually wanted to buy this Tie Xu Grass, but since Ye Shu had said so, he didn’t bring it up again.
Well, an outstanding artifact refiner was much more important than Tie Xu Grass.
Seeing Ye Shu put away the Tie Xu Grass, Yan Changlan said, “Today’s luck is good. I’ve only used three strands of mana, and it hasn’t even been half an hour. Let’s go find a few more places. We still have plenty of time.”
Ye Shu said, “Since we’re here, we shouldn’t waste the opportunity.”
What they shouldn’t waste, everyone understood very well.
After that, they searched together for the yellow-gray moss and looked for new strange objects.
However, strange objects in the mine were truly hard to find. It wasn’t until nearly half an hour later that they found another one. Unfortunately, after digging it out, they only got an iron essence weighing less than ten catties, neither good nor bad.
Another hour passed, and they found the third one, also a piece of iron essence weighing a substantial amount. Then, half an hour later, they found the fourth…
Thanks for the chapter 😊
Thanks for the chapter!!