3: Chapter 3 Mysterious Man

Yun Song wanted to take the mining hoe and the night pearl back to the Grass Hut, but as soon as his fingertips touched them,

a sharp, stabbing pain surged, forcing him to pull his hand back.

These two items could not be discarded; the mining hoe and the night pearl were the foundation of his livelihood.

He had no choice but to sit down in the Mine Cave, helpless, staring at the mining hoe and the night pearl with a furrowed brow.

He pondered silently, realizing he could only wait for the injury on his hand to heal before slowly figuring out other methods.

During the days of recovering, hunger gnawed at his stomach.

He took out a bigu pill; the Medicinal Pill was about the size of a thumb, feeling warm and smooth to the touch.

Its surface textures were faintly visible, and a delicate, elegant medicinal fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose.

The Medicinal Pill melted the moment it entered his mouth.

The hunger dissipated, replaced by a sense of satisfaction as if he had just finished a feast of delicacies.

He could not help but marvel inwardly.

"It is indeed an item of cultivation; it is truly extraordinary."

"If the villagers were fortunate enough to obtain this pill, why would they ever worry about food and clothing?"

Time drifted by, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

His originally mangled palm finally healed.

At this moment, the palm was brand new, covered in rough textures.

It looked just like tree bark that had weathered storms, exuding a sense of toughness and the flavor of having seen the world.

He stood up slowly and gently brushed the dust off his body.

Then, he reached out and took the night pearl embedded in the groove on the wall.

"Perhaps my luck was poor, causing me to hit such a hard stone wall. It seems I must try my luck somewhere else."

He gripped the night pearl tightly, pacing slowly through the ink-dark Mine Cave while praying silently in his heart.

"Oh Heavens, let things go smoothly this time and allow me to dig up a Spirit Stone."

After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he arrived before a rugged, protruding stone wall.

The stone wall was jagged and interlocking, and under the faint glow of the night pearl, it appeared even more sinister.

He firmly embedded the night pearl into a groove in the stone wall above his head, then swung the mining hoe with both hands.

Having learned from the painful lesson of his previous injury, he was still fearful and terrified of hurting his palm again, so he only dared to use fifty percent of his strength.

"Clang!"

Staring closely, he saw that the stone wall remained as smooth as a mirror, without even the slightest scratch mark left behind.

At this moment, the cold reality felt like a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

He stared blankly at the dark mining hoe in his hand, his face etched with bitterness.

"How can this be? I can't even dig into it?"

His heart felt as though it had plummeted into a bottomless abyss.

At first, he thought it was just bad luck.

But at this moment, he realized completely that the stone walls of the entire Mine Cave were harder than he could have imagined.

"If I can't even conquer this stone wall, how can I even talk about digging up a Spirit Stone?"

"Once the deadline arrives, I fear I will only be kicked out of the Sect in disgrace…"

Thinking of this, his heart was filled with helplessness and sorrow.

Just then, "creak… creak," a series of footsteps approached.

He saw a person approaching holding a night pearl, but without a mining hoe in hand, a smile playing on his lips.

Yun Song had seen many different kinds of people in the Mine Cave, but this was his first time seeing one with such a smile.

He couldn't help but curiously size the person up, finding him more and more familiar the longer he looked.

After a moment of thought, he recalled that this person was the smallest of the five he had seen at the entrance when entering the Mine Cave.

"So it's him. What is he doing here?"

Before Yun Song could speak, the man broke the silence first, his voice soft.

"Little brother, I see you standing here not mining, yet you are full of worry. What is the matter?"

Yun Song slightly lowered his head and stammered, "N-nothing, just resting for a while."

The man paced to Yun Song's side and said as if making small talk, "You new Miners have been in the Mine Cave for ten days now. How is your progress?"

Without waiting for Yun Song's answer, he continued, "Seeing you with such a troubled face, have you encountered some difficulty?"

Yun Song sighed helplessly and said in a low voice, "This stone wall is freakishly hard; I can't dig into it at all, let alone dig up a Spirit Stone."

Hearing of Yun Song's predicament, the man's lips curled into a cunning arc, then he immediately returned to a serious expression and said lightly.

"That's nothing; all new Miners are like this."

"Oh? According to you, all new Miners can't dig up Spirit Stones?"

Yun Song raised an eyebrow, a flash of doubt crossing his eyes, and his originally dim gaze instantly brightened.

The man waved his hand, explaining, "Not entirely."

"Some new Miners, whose elders have worked in the mining trade, will pass down mining techniques to them."

"Therefore, these new Miners with a Legacy of techniques find it quite easy to dig up Spirit Stones."

Upon hearing this, Yun Song was overjoyed and hurriedly turned to lean closer to the man, saying eagerly, "Big brother, just by your tone, I can tell you are an expert."

"I am new here and don't understand anything. Could you tell me the tricks to mining?"

After finishing, his eyes were full of anticipation.

"It's just…" the man deliberately dragged out his tone, a meaningful expression appearing on his face, "it's just that the cost of implementing it is not low."

He frowned slightly, a hint of hard-to-detect anticipation flashing in his eyes, then he quickly added, "But once you succeed, the return will far exceed your imagination."

After speaking, he watched Yun Song quietly.

"High cost? But what capital do I have? However, if I don't try, I will only be kicked out of The Mine," Yun Song pondered inwardly.

"Big brother, please tell me quickly, what is the method? I am truly at my wit's end."

"As long as I can dig up a Spirit Stone, I don't care how high the cost is; it's much better than being kicked out of The Mine."