46: Chapter 46: The Mining Raiders Have Arrived

Xiao Yuan chuckled softly in her ear: "Once we dig up this batch, we'll head out. By then, you can take your revenge as you please and Cultivate as you wish. We'll have more than enough resources."

Su Li buried her face in his shoulder and let out a muffled "Mn."

The heavy rock that had been crushing her heart for five years finally loosened a bit.

Perhaps... she could really see the light of day again.

Perhaps... she could truly exact her revenge.

And all of this was because of this guy who looked unreliable yet always managed to work miracles.

She raised her head, looking at Xiao Yuan's face close at hand, and suddenly stood on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Thank you."

Xiao Yuan was stunned for a moment before smiling. He cupped her face and deepened the kiss.

After a long while, the two finally parted.

In front of the Mid-Grade Spirit Stone vein, Xiao Yuan did not rush to start digging.

He first busied himself at the entrance of the passage they had come through—pulling out seven or eight Formation Plates, burying them haphazardly here and there, and then taking out several Formation Flags to plant in crucial locations.

Finally, he bit his fingertip, drew a few blood-colored runes in mid-air, and pressed them into the rock wall.

"A concealment Formation, an isolation Formation, and a small illusion Formation." Xiao Yuan clapped his hands, looking at his handiwork with satisfaction. "Triple insurance should be enough to give those fellows a hard time."

Su Li looked curiously at the Formation patterns fading into the Void Realm: "How long can it hold them off?"

"It depends on who comes." Xiao Yuan shrugged. "If only one or two come, trapping them for half a day is no problem. If a whole group comes... well, at least it can give us an early warning."

With everything properly arranged, the two returned to the front of the Spirit Stone vein.

Let's get to work!

Xiao Yuan took a deep breath and pressed his right hand against the rock wall. With a thought, the Creation Cauldron Space activated to store them—

Swish!

The Low-Grade Spirit Stones were like obedient children, detaching from the rock wall in groups and converging into a gray torrent that poured into the internal space.

But when it came to the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, the situation was different.

Those colorful Spirit Stones seemed to have grown right into the rock, and it took Xiao Yuan a great deal of effort to barely extract a dozen or so.

Furthermore, if he wasn't careful and the spiritual power fluctuations grew too large, tiny cracks would appear on the surface of the Spirit Stones—that was a sign of a drop in grade.

"Damn, Mid-Grade Spirit Stones are so delicate?" Xiao Yuan cursed, honestly putting away his "cheating" methods and swinging his pickaxe instead. "I still have to rely on manual labor."

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of the pickaxe striking echoed through the mine cave.

Su Li also picked up a pickaxe to help. The two had a clear division of labor: Xiao Yuan was responsible for the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and High-Grade Spirit Stones—those "precious goods"—while Su Li dug out the Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

As they dug, Xiao Yuan's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"We're rich... We're really rich this time!"

The Mid-Grade Spirit Stones originally estimated at fifty or sixty thousand might actually exceed seventy thousand in actual quantity! The Low-Grade Spirit Stones were even denser, numbering at least one hundred twenty to thirty thousand!

What made his heart beat even faster was that—aside from the six High-Grade Spirit Stones on the surface, there were even purer spiritual power fluctuations deep within the rock strata!

"At least ten, no, maybe twenty High-Grade Spirit Stones!" Xiao Yuan's voice trembled.

As for Top-Grade Spirit Stones, they were simply impossible to appear in a vein like this, so he hadn't held the slightest hope for them.

Furthermore, the value of a Top-Grade Spirit Stone was inestimable. If one possessed a single piece, even a Nascent Soul monarch would step in to snatch it.

Su Li's cheeks also flushed with excitement. She had never seen so many Spirit Stones in her life, let alone dug them out with her own hands.

Time passed bit by bit.

A day later, about one-tenth of the Spirit Stone vein had been mined. Several thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones had been packed away, along with over twenty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and two more High-Grade Spirit Stones had been found.

Just as Xiao Yuan was smugly plotting how he would be able to swagger about once they got out—

Hum!

The concealment Formation at the passage entrance transmitted a vibration!

Someone had triggered the Formation!

Immediately afterward, the isolation Formation also began to tremble—the people outside had realized something was wrong and had started violently breaking the Formation!

Su Li's expression turned solemn. She put down her pickaxe and looked at Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan's Divine Sense had already spread outward.

Within a range of one thousand meters, seven figures were clearly visible.

Leading them was the One-Eyed Dragon with a Half-step Foundation Establishment cultivation—he was precisely one of the group of people who had led others to block the Thunder Pool back then. The remaining six were all seasoned veterans at the Qi Condensation 9th Layer.

"Seven of them." Xiao Yuan said indifferently, "That One-Eyed Dragon's lot must have been attracted here by the Spiritual Qi."

Su Li gripped her sword hilt tightly: "I'll go. You stay here and keep digging!"

Xiao Yuan glanced at her and nodded: "Be careful. If you can't beat them, retreat, don't push yourself."

"Got it."

Su Li turned and walked toward the passage entrance with firm steps.

Xiao Yuan continued mining, but he split off a wisp of his Divine Sense to monitor the situation outside.

---

Outside the passage, the One-Eyed Dragon and his seven men were fiercely bombarding the empty rock wall.

"Damn it, there's clearly Spiritual Qi fluctuations here, how come there's nothing?" a burly man cursed irritably.

The One-Eyed Dragon narrowed his single eye and suddenly raised his hand: "Stop!"

He walked up to the rock wall and reached out to touch it. His palm passed straight through the rock wall—it was an illusion!

"There's a Formation!" He sneered. "There really is something fishy! Break it for me!"

The seven of them attacked simultaneously, hurling various Spells and Magical Artifacts at the Formation.

Just as the Formation was on the verge of collapsing—

Swish!

A streak of black sword radiance thrust out from within the Formation, aiming straight for the One-Eyed Dragon's throat!

The One-Eyed Dragon's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly retreated. The sword radiance brushed past his neck, leaving a bloody streak.

Ripples spread across the Formation as Su Li walked out holding her sword. Her black robes fluttered violently in the wind, and her eyes beneath her veil were as cold as ice.

"It's you?" The One-Eyed Dragon recognized Su Li, his expression turning gloomy. "Su Li, you can't swallow this mine all by yourself. Step aside, and we'll give you a ten percent share."

A tall, thin man beside him sneered: "Why waste words with her? Just a bitch at the Qi Refining Stage 8, slaughter her and that's it!"

"What the hell do you know!" The One-Eyed Dragon glared at him. "This woman is crazy! When she first came in five years ago, at the 7th layer of Qi Condensation she dared to risk her life against someone at the Qi Refining Stage 8, killing three and severely wounding two. Ever since, none of the people who offended her have come to a good end."

He looked at Su Li, his tone softening slightly: "Su Li, Spirit Stone veins are shared by those who see them. Since you can't guard it alone, why not cooperate with us? That ten percent share of yours will be enough for you to pay off your sentence and get out."

Listening to these words, the corners of Su Li's lips beneath her veil curled into a mocking smirk.

Five years.

In these five years, she had struggled in the mine like a stray dog.

Risking her life with others over a single Spirit Stone, almost getting killed for a tiny bit of cultivation resources. Countless times severely injured and on the verge of death, countless times crawling out from piles of corpses.

Why?

Just because that old bastard had killed her younger sister, and the Sect shielded the murderer. When she injured someone in public, she was sentenced to a heavy penalty.

Just because she was a woman and looked decent, countless people wanted to treat her like a plaything.

She gritted her teeth and survived, not to "cooperate" with these people.

"Are you done talking?" Su Li spoke, her voice calm. "If you're done talking, get lost."

The One-Eyed Dragon's expression sank: "You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! Do you think you're still that Inner Sect Disciple from five years ago? In this mine, if you're a dragon, you must coil; if you're a tiger, you must crouch!"

"Then let's try it."

Su Li moved.

No nonsense, no probing.

With a single sword strike, the black radiance surged violently!

"Netherworld Slash!"

The sword radiance transformed into a half-moon shaped black light, sweeping across all seven of them!

"Careful!" the One-Eyed Dragon cried out in alarm, conjuring a shield Magical Artifact.

Boom!