1: Chapter 1: Failed Cultivation, Returning Home to Mine

"Screw this!"

Zhao Yi tore his certificate of withdrawal into pieces.

Thirty years ago, at the age of ten, relying on his cleverness as a transmigrator, he had entered the Anning Prefecture First Cultivation Academy in just half a year. He even set grand goals of graduating in ten years, pursuing advanced studies in a hundred, and achieving longevity in a thousand.

Now, thirty years have passed. After thirty years of bitter cultivation, let alone graduating, he had ended up with a debt of four thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

The cultivation level of Qi Refining Third Layer on the certificate was particularly eyesore.

He never expected that after thirty years, he would end up with such a result.

"Forget this cultivation; I need to find a way to get Spirit Stones."

This was the Immortal Realm, where there was no such thing as not paying back debts; otherwise, you would learn the meaning of a fate worse than death.

Not to mention, the Spirit Stones Zhao Yi owed belonged to the Great Yin Immortal Dynasty.

Pingcheng County, Liudang Township, Lesser Strange Spirit Stone Mine.

Mining Spirit Stones was the fastest way Zhao Yi could think of to earn Spirit Stones.

Inside the mine shaft, heavenly light stones illuminated the tunnel as bright as day.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With spirit sensing rings on his hands and feet and a shadow recording hat on his head, Zhao Yi swung his hoe, and rocks fell away.

Not far away, a circle of light was flashing; that was the Teleportation Array used to move the rocks.

"So damn extravagant."

"This Formation must cost at least one Low-Grade Spirit Stone a month."

Having been at the Cultivation Academy for many years, Zhao Yi still had this much discernment.

After a full day, Zhao Yi didn't know how many times he had swung his hoe, but he hadn't mined a single Spirit Stone.

"Is this really a Spirit Stone Mine?"

Zhao Yi was starting to doubt his life.

Bang.

As he swung the hoe mechanically once more, Zhao Yi's spirit sensing ring suddenly lit up.

"There's hope!"

Sure enough, a Spirit Stone the size of a pigeon egg rolled out from the rocks.

Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

[You have mined one Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +1.]

[First time mining a Low-Grade Spirit Stone. Reward: good luck card (30 seconds)]

A panel suddenly popped up in Zhao Yi's vision.

[System loading...]

[System loading complete.]

[Host, the great and loyal Miner System is at your service...]

Glowing text continued to flash before Zhao Yi's eyes.

After a burst of white light, the System panel finally stabilized.

[Miner: Zhao Yi]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Third Layer (Insufficient experience points, cannot upgrade)]

[experience points: 1/10]

[Reward: good luck card (30 seconds)]

Slap!

Zhao Yi gave himself a slap.

"It hurts..."

"Is this really a System?"

"Miner?"

"It's been thirty years, why are you only arriving now?"

A man does not shed tears easily, except when his System is finally loading.

With such a concise System panel, Zhao Yi understood it at a glance: one Low-Grade Spirit Stone equals one experience point.

Ten experience points would allow him to Breakthrough to Qi Condensation Level Four.

"Oh, right, there's also the good luck card~"

"System, claim the reward."

[Reward has been issued.]

A thirty-second countdown suddenly appeared in Zhao Mo's eyes.

"This..."

"It seems like nothing happened? Where is the good luck?"

[27]

In the time it took him to daze for a moment, three seconds had passed.

"Could it be..."

Zhao Yi picked up the hoe.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After only three swings, the spirit sensing rings on his hands and feet lit up.

A Low-Grade Spirit Stone rolled out from the rocks. Zhao Yi didn't even have time to pick it up; he just kept swinging the hoe.

[You have mined one Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +1.]

Three seconds later, the spirit sensing ring lit up again.

[You have mined one Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +1.]

Twenty-seven seconds later, the countdown in Zhao Yi's eyes disappeared.

"Twenty-seven seconds, nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones?"

"Is my experience points enough to level up?"

"System."

[Miner: Zhao Yi]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Third Layer (Upgradable)]

[experience points: 10/10]

[Reward: None]

"As expected."

"System, upgrade cultivation!"

Zhao Yi's voice was trembling. He didn't care if he was still in the mine shaft; he didn't want to wait another second.

As soon as he spoke, the ten experience points on the System panel instantly dropped to zero.

A massive surge of Spiritual Qi appeared out of thin air within Zhao Yi's body. Carrying his original Qi, it charged through all obstacles, and the bottleneck of Qi Condensation Level Four was instantly shattered.

"Holy crap!"

Only these words could represent Zhao Yi's current mood.

"Everyone, exit the mine shaft immediately."

A booming voice suddenly exploded in Zhao Yi's ears.

Zhao Yi felt a wave of lingering fear. If this voice had come while he was breaking through just now, he would likely have been crippled if not killed.

"I can't be so impatient next time. No matter what, I cannot Breakthrough while inside the mine shaft."

This first layer of the mine was only open for twelve hours. When the time was up, all Miners had to exit the Spirit Stone Mine.

As for why, it was naturally to prevent Cultivators from using the Spirit Stones to Cultivate.

"Ding San, two Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Wages: twenty purple gold coins."

"Wang Jiu, three Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Wages: thirty purple gold coins."

...

In the long queue, more than half of the Miners were empty-handed. The other small portion who managed to mine Spirit Stones only had between one and five.

"Zhao Yi, ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Wages: one Low-Grade Spirit Stone."

Yes, in the Lesser Strange Spirit Stone Mine, the split for mined Spirit Stones was ninety-ten: ninety for the Immortal Dynasty, and ten for the Miner.

Zhao Yi clutched the ten Spirit Stones, reluctantly placing them into the Formation box in front of him, while also handing over his spirit sensing ring and shadow recording hat.

"Ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones?"

"My goodness, he's struck it rich."

"Zhao Yi?"

"The newcomer?"

The sounds of discussion suddenly grew much quieter.

Beginner's luck, everyone understood.

Night.

Zhao Yi tossed and turned, unable to sleep, wishing he could go mine Spirit Stones right now. However, the Lesser Strange Spirit Stone Mine was guarded by a Nascent Soul Cultivator; if he rushed in now, he would only be killed.

"Right, I haven't checked the System since breaking through to Qi Condensation Level Four."

"System."

[Miner: Zhao Yi]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Level Four (Insufficient experience points, cannot upgrade)]

[experience points: 0/20]

[Reward: None]

"To Breakthrough from Qi Condensation Level Four to Level Five requires twenty experience points, which means I need to mine twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

"Unfortunately, I don't have a good luck card."

"Otherwise..."

He finally managed to endure until dawn.

Putting on the spirit sensing ring and the shadow recording hat, Zhao Mo was the first to enter the Spirit Stone Mine.

Whether he could mine Spirit Stones wasn't important; what mattered was that he loved mining.

"Ha! Look at this fool. He doesn't actually think he can mine ten Spirit Stones again today, does he?"

A burst of mocking laughter came from behind Zhao Yi.

Zhao Mo didn't care about the mockery. He ran straight for the mine shaft. With his Qi Condensation Level Four Physical Body, his running speed was much faster than before.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of the hoe clashing with the rocks soon rang out.

Pah!

Zhao Yi spat out some rock dust from his mouth.

"Cleansing Art."

A light breeze passed by, but the dust on Zhao Yi's body remained.

"Damn it, I forgot, the Spirit Stone Mine is a Forbidden Magic Zone."

"I'll just have to bear it."

"Hurry up and dig~"

Half a day later...

"This is a Medium-sized Spiritual Vein. Legend has it there are Top-Grade Spirit Stones here, but I didn't expect to not find a single Spirit Stone all morning."

But thinking back to yesterday's situation, Zhao Yi felt relieved. If not for the good luck card...

"Well, time to roll up my sleeves and work harder!"

The bang-bang-bang sounds started again.

A dozen breaths later, Zhao Yi's spirit sensing ring lit up.

"Could it be..."