14: Chapter 14 Divine Objects

In the new mine, Tang Long once again put forth his greatest effort, mining frantically while practicing.

Previously, to form the Spirit Ring, a lot of spirit residue was consumed, leaving him with only sixty-odd pieces.

After moving to the new cave, his stock of spirit residue quickly returned to over a hundred pieces, and today he even dug out a spirit stone.

However, he also encountered a new problem.

After forming the Spirit Ring, he felt that increasing his psionic intensity was becoming increasingly difficult.

Practicing until midnight, his spirit residue was once again consumed to under a hundred pieces, yet his progress was negligible.

"The benefits of a realm breakthrough are great, but the difficulty of cultivation is equally massive."

Tang Long sighed to himself. Feeling the cave was stuffy, he simply went to the entrance to cool off.

Vulture was on night watch and bored, so seeing him, he called him over to the tower to talk.

"Kid, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing out here?"

Tang Long naturally slipped him another piece of spirit residue and made up a random excuse.

"I'm homesick."

"Do you remember where you're from?"

"Seems like a Yuanwu person."

"You're from the Yuanwu Kingdom? That's one of the four great nations of the world, weighing down on our Dongyu like a mountain. How did you end up here as a mine slave?"

The four great nations of Blue Star are the Yuanwu Empire, the Blue Sea Federation, the Jiyu Snow Country, and the Ancient Land of Heaven's Legacy. As for other small countries, there are nearly a thousand in total, and the land area is about four times that of Earth.

The Yuanwu Empire is a super-sized empire, occupying almost half of the Yuanzhou Continent.

If he remembered correctly, the Dongyu Kingdom was not far south of the Yuanwu Empire. This small country only had five main cities. If it weren't for a few famous figures emerging from it, Tang Long probably wouldn't have remembered it.

Being next to a behemoth like Yuanwu, Dongyu was destined to find peace difficult.

This small country had been in turmoil since the early stages of the game and eventually disappeared altogether. He also wasn't sure what time it was now.

As for why he ended up here as a mine slave, he didn't even know who to ask.

So he shook his head with a bitter smile, "I can't remember."

Vulture, having just received a piece of spirit residue, comforted him kindly: "Amnesia isn't rare. I've heard some recover suddenly under specific conditions."

Tang Long sighed, "Whether I recover or not, I'm already a mine slave."

"Don't lose heart. You're still young, talented, and lucky. You've already handed in three spirit stones. I have a feeling you might regain your freedom, perhaps before long."

"Then I'll take your word for it, sir. I hope that day truly comes."

Vulture laughed and patted his shoulder. "To be honest, after being an Overseer for six years, it's quite boring. It might actually be interesting to see a mine slave become a free man. After you're free, you... Eh? You've reached the First Stage?"

Tang Long scratched his head with a dazed expression, "Reached the First Stage?"

Vulture quickly asked, "You don't understand? Your psionic energy is now evenly distributed throughout your flesh and skin; that's exactly the characteristic of reaching the First Stage. Within your dantian, have you already formed a Spirit Ring?"

Tang Long continued to play dumb, "I'm not too sure either. But since I was injured that day, things have indeed felt different. Inside my lower abdomen, it's like... anyway, I feel like the psionic energy is more obedient now."

Vulture stared at him blankly for several seconds. "To be able to grope your way to the First Stage in such a short time... Kid, you're definitely a genius. If you could enter a Martial Arts Academy for a systematic education, your future would be limitless."

Tang Long's heart stirred, and he asked, "Martial Arts Academy? What's it like?"

"It's a place specifically for teaching people how to cultivate the martial way."

"Don't we have teaching in our mining area? Could it be better than what you teach, sir?"

Vulture shook his head with a smile. "You think too highly of me. I'm only at the Second Stage of Qi Manipulation, the level of a second-year student at a martial academy. Besides, the Breathing Method you're learning—hehe—that's been meticulously stripped down by the Red God Sect. The goal is to ensure practitioners can't break through to the First Stage."

Tang Long was shocked, "Why?"

Vulture sneered twice, looked around, and lowered his voice.

"To keep the mine slaves from becoming too strong, of course. With so many mine slaves in the area, they'd be hard to control if they got even a bit stronger."

"The Juling Breathing Technique is very easy to start, but in reality, your psionic intensity won't build up at all. It's almost impossible to reach the First Stage by following it step-by-step. If you try to force it using spirit residue, you'll likely kill yourself."

"Besides, just reaching the First Stage isn't worth a damn. In the Qi Manipulation Realm, psionic intensity is also called 'Qi Flow'. Reaching the First Stage is the easiest, requiring only 60 Qi Flow. But to reach the Second Stage, you need over 200 Qi Flow. Think about how big that gap is."

"That's nothing. The real gap between martial artists lies in Guidance Techniques. With the same 100 Qi Flow, using a Guidance Technique can unleash the power of 110 or 120. True powerhouses can go even higher. But without studying at a professional academy, one isn't qualified to learn Guidance Techniques; learning them in secret is a capital offense."

"By the same token, the Breathing Method you practice is only to allow you to see in the dark and enhance your working ability. Even so, people often blind themselves or die from it. I don't object to you using spirit residue to cultivate, but you must be careful. Don't push too hard."

Tang Long was deeply shocked and could only nod silently.

Vulture continued, "Work hard. Once you become a free citizen, go apply for a Specialized Martial Arts Academy. As long as you reach the testing phase, they'll surely discover you're a genius. If your graduation grades are good enough, there's hope of entering higher institutions like the Divine Academy, National Academy, or Military Academy for further studies. That would be truly extraordinary."

Tang Long knew a bit about this.

There's indeed a huge difference between trained martial artists and rogue ones, and entering an academy for further study is a viable path. In such educational institutions, not only can one learn formal martial techniques, but they usually house the largest and most comprehensive local libraries.

He needed a more comprehensive understanding of Blue Star, and such a place was indeed very suitable.

"Then why didn't you go?"

Vulture immediately shook his head with a bitter smile. "How could we of the Hetero-blood Species have that qualification? Unless one day you dig up an ancient divine artifact and get a special exemption from the Duke or the High Priest of The Sect, then we might benefit a little."

Tang Long was slightly surprised.

He's also a Hetero-blood? It didn't show.

And an ancient divine artifact could be dug up in this dump? He wasn't joking, was he?

"Sir, what is an ancient divine artifact?"

Vulture pointed around. "Don't look at how barren our mining area is now; it used to be quite famous and once yielded many treasures. The Sacred Tablet of this city's Sect was dug up right here. That's a divine artifact left by a true Saint, and it was because of it that the local Sect gained recognition from the Pope. If... never mind, you wouldn't understand these things. There aren't that many divine artifacts in the world; I was just joking."

Tang Long didn't press further; he really didn't know much about these things.

He only knew that Blue Star was a mythical world where theocratic power flourished.

Saints were the earliest and most loyal followers of the gods, the people closest to the gods, and they often possessed immense power.

In the late-game versions, there was a 'Saint Resurrection' dungeon. It was said to be extremely discouraging, with even professional top-tier players being beaten to death.

But after taking down a Saint, the equipment dropped was said to be excellent—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it Divine Gear.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered the golden light in Heizi's mine cave. If Vulture hadn't mentioned it, he would have only felt that the thing was different. But thinking about it now... could that thing really be a piece of Divine Gear?

Then Vulture said, "You're a genius. After you're free, the most important thing is to first learn a complete Breathing Method."

Tang Long snapped out of it and asked, "Then what Breathing Method do you practice?"

"My Breathing Method is an ancestral bloodline inheritance; even if I taught you, you couldn't practice it. Besides, it's incomplete, which is why I've never been able to advance to the Third Stage. You could practice Lord Man Hai's Breathing Method, but it's extremely difficult to cultivate, and he wouldn't teach it anyway."

"So there's so much more to it."

Just then, another Overseer in the tower suddenly called out, "Vulture, come look at this!"

Vulture gave Tang Long a look, and Tang Long immediately nodded and returned to the mine.

Vulture walked into the tower. His colleague was staring nervously at the monitor. On the screen, a chaotic void seemed to have appeared in the sky.

"What... what is that?"

Vulture couldn't help but gasp, "Go report to Lord Man Hai immediately!"

"But when the Mine Manager is sleeping..."

"Wake him up immediately! That's a heavenly change, and it's already nearly thirty kilometers away from us!"