Chapter 1294: The Eeriness of the Primordial Ore Vein (Second Update!)
The white cat was precisely the one often held in Yan Tianfei’s arms. It walked with light, silent steps, its tail held high, and went directly ahead of Qin Mu without looking back. “Mu Tianzun, I will guide you. Please, enter.”
Qin Mu smiled and followed it.
The white cat, Xiao Qi, advanced unhurriedly and said flatly, “This mining area is extremely dangerous. Even those at the Imperial Throne realm cannot endure here for long. Those who come here to mine are all powerful beings among the gods, but because they enter this place and stay too long, they end up being assimilated by the ore vein.”
Hearing the sounds of mining, Qin Mu focused his gaze and saw a divine being excavating divine stones from the mountain wall.
Around the divine stone, the wall was covered with all sorts of strange runes. On both sides of the wall were mirrors, shining light onto the divine stone on the cliff face, as if afraid the divine stone might escape.
The divine being held a pickaxe, striking again and again, producing a clanging sound.
Qin Mu watched for a moment. With each strike, the divine being’s body faded a little more, yet he seemed unaware, continuing his relentless attempts to mine the divine stone.
Xiao Qi looked back. Qin Mu followed and saw more divine being miners.
They too moved like walking corpses, mindlessly digging at the divine ore. In front of each of them, the stone wall was covered with bizarre runes, with two mirrors set up on either side, shining on the divine stones embedded in the rock.
They worked in silence, monotonously swinging their iron picks, clang, clang, clang.
Suddenly, one of them wept with joy, holding a divine stone as he cried and sobbed, “I’ve mined one! I’ve mined a divine stone! This is my third divine stone—I can finally go home!”
Whoosh—
An iron pick swung up from behind him and drove straight into his head, piercing through his crown. The divine being died instantly!
The one who ambushed him was also a divine being miner. After killing the man, he immediately grabbed the fallen Primordial Divine Stone and chuckled, “The one going home is me! I’ve had enough of this place!”
Overjoyed, he frantically ran toward the exit of the mining area, shouting, “Overseer! Overseer! I’ve dug up a divine stone!”
The other miners acted as if they hadn’t seen anything, continuing to hammer at the stone walls in a daze.
Qin Mu frowned.
“The Heavenly Consort still has mercy and compassion. These miners are all death-row prisoners from the Heavenly Prison.”
Xiao Qi said, “They were sentenced to death, but the Consort promised them that if they mined three divine ores, their crimes would be forgiven, and they could return home in glory!”
Qin Mu looked at these miners in the haze of the mining area and said, “Their cultivation probably can’t sustain mining three divine stones.”
Xiao Qi glanced at the miners with contempt. “Three divine stones? Being able to mine one without being assimilated already requires the level of a God-Slaying Platform realm expert. To mine three and survive, one needs at least the Jade Capital realm. Even a strong cultivator at the Empyrean realm, after mining three divine stones, will have their body half-substantialized. They’d be cripples once they leave.”
Qin Mu gave a faint, ambiguous smile. “Can they really leave?”
Xiao Qi sneered, “The Consort keeps her word. Would she deceive them? However, so far, no one has ever left the mining area alive. That man just now might be the first.”
They continued deeper. From the depths of the mine came the sounds of excavation. The miners there were digging for raw stones. Qin Mu saw that these workers had shackles on their feet, connected by chains.
They dragged long chains as they walked through the mine, raising mirrors whose light dispelled the fog, shining onto the mountain walls.
Whenever a divine stone was caught in the mirror’s light, these ragged miners would rush over with a clatter of chains, bite their tongues, and use their blood to draw runes on the stone wall around the divine stone, trapping it to prevent it from escaping.
Primordial Divine Stones had the peculiar property of being form yet formless. Unlike other divine stones, because they were not composed of matter, they could move freely through space.
Without runes to trap them and mirrors to illuminate them, it was impossible to dig them out.
These miners were specifically tasked with searching for divine stones.
“These aren’t prisoners from the ordinary prison, but from the Heavenly Prison. Their crimes are greater, and their sins heavier.”
Xiao Qi said, “Their cultivation and strength are also higher. They need to find a hundred divine stones before they can leave.”
Qin Mu watched the miners running back and forth and asked, “Has anyone ever left here alive?”
Xiao Qi shook his head. “The eeriness of this ore vein lies here. Searching for divine ores and mining divine stones seems to bring a curse from the vein. The more you find, the more you dig, the faster you are assimilated! Look over there.”
Qin Mu looked and saw a hunched, aged divine being who was nearly completely substantialized, yet he still dragged his chains, holding up a mirror as he searched everywhere.
“He was a strong cultivator at the Empyrean realm, the ruler of the Batu Heavens. He was sentenced to death for rebelling against the Heavenly Court and thrown into the Heavenly Prison to suffer. He’s only found sixty-two divine stones, and just by trapping them, he’s already near death.”
Xiao Qi revealed a sinister smile. “The most crucial part is that he doesn’t know he’s dying. That’s the beauty of this mining area. It makes these wretches work themselves to death for the Consort!”
He laughed. “And these are just divine stones. If someone finds a raw stone, just finding it without trapping it is enough to cause instant substantialization! Do you know why Xiu Hongsu dares not come here?”
Qin Mu shook his head.
“She’s seen a raw stone three times!”
Xiao Qi laughed. “The first time, she nearly died just from looking at it. She fled in panic, not even daring to try to stabilize that raw stone! The second time, she prepared thoroughly and went deep into the mine again, but it was the same as the first. She saw the raw stone and knew all her preparations were useless, so she had to flee again! The third time, she begged a treasure from the Consort before she dared to enter.”
Qin Mu asked curiously, “And then?”
Xiao Qi let out a strange, cackling laugh. “Mu Tianzun, don’t you know? You’ve always had one greatest weakness—you’re too curious! This weakness sometimes brings you many adventures, but other times it can make you die a miserable death!”
Qin Mu nodded. “Someone once told me that my curiosity would be the death of me. But if a person has no curiosity, they won’t progress. If a race has no curiosity, they won’t advance either. So whether it’s a benefit or a harm, I’ll decide for myself.”
Xiao Qi said, “The third time she entered, she found that raw stone. She activated the protective treasure the Consort gave her, trying to stabilize the divine stone, but she found that even the Consort’s treasure was rapidly substantializing. Before she could stabilize that wondrous raw stone, the treasure would have turned to nothing. So, Xiu Hongsu had to retreat. Look over there—that’s the treasure the Consort refined.”
Qin Mu looked and indeed saw the form of a treasure. It was a shuttle, already substantialized, taking on a form that was form yet formless.
Even a treasure refined by a Tianzun couldn’t withstand the eeriness here!
He sighed. “Xiu Xiu missed her chance. Thank you, Xiao Qi, for telling me so much.”
They had reached the deepest part of the mine. The fog here was thicker, and the miners searching for ores were no longer visible. Occasionally, they would pass through the bodies of divine beings who had already become completely substantialized.
These divine beings stood motionless, unconscious, without desires or demands.
Xiao Qi cackled, “The reason I told you so much is that you’re about to die, Mu Tianzun!”
Qin Mu said with sincere expression, “Your words may be unpleasant, but they are true. If I find that raw stone, I’ll likely be substantialized into nothingness and cease to exist.”
Xiao Qi shook his head. Suddenly, he slowly stood up, transforming into a silver-armored, silver-speared divine general with a handsome, delicate face. He turned around, pointing his silver spear at Qin Mu, and smiled, “That’s not what I meant. What fun would it be to let you die at the hands of a raw stone? My goal is to personally eliminate you!”
He said flatly, “You once tricked me, making me think I had obtained your vertical eye and the Heavenly Emperor’s eggshell, causing me to be fought over by six Tianzuns, nearly costing me my life! A gentleman’s revenge is never too late—ten years is not too long. I want to take my revenge personally!”
Hatred gleamed in his eyes as he said coldly, “Besides, you’ve been getting too close to the Consort! She’s mine! You rely on your good looks to try to take her from me, so you have to die!”
“My good looks?”
Qin Mu’s heart bloomed with joy. He couldn’t help touching his own face. Yan Tianfei had nearly crushed his confidence, but now, with just one sentence from Xiao Qi, his confidence was restored.