33: Chapter 33 Dig as deep as you can, even if it doesn't kill you.

Bai Chuanzhu felt aggrieved. He didn't want to say things like that either, but Zhao Yi was like the bane of the Bai family. With so many Cultivators dead at Zhao Yi's hands, if he didn't bring up the Bai family's Golden Core Old Ancestor, he was afraid he would be scared away the moment he laid eyes on Zhao Yi.

Heaven knows how much mental preparation he had gone through just to stand here right now.

If Zhao Yi had just handed over the Spirit Stones and gone in, he probably wouldn't have had so much to say. But who told Zhao Yi to stand so close? Didn't he see that he was getting goosebumps?

"This, that..."

"The fee, please. One Late Foundation Establishment Stage, two Foundation Establishment Early Stage, a total of twenty-two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones."

Zhao Yi patted Bai Chuanzhu on the shoulder, speaking in the tone of an elder: "Chuanzhu, look at this~"

Zhao Yi pointed his finger at Zhou Yan and Mi Yao. "They've been tied up for half a month, eating poorly and sleeping poorly. They've both lost weight."

"You..."

Bai Chuanzhu's face turned purple instantly. "I have twenty-two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones here; consider it compensation for the two Fellow Daoists."

As he spoke, Bai Chuanzhu took twenty-two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Pouch and placed them into the Formation frame.

The Formation lit up. Zhao Yi patted his shoulder. "Thanks!"

"Let's go, let's go, hurry in."

"This time's fee, Uncle Bai has paid it."

Bai Chuanzhu forced a smile that looked worse than crying.

In the second level of the mine, Zhao Yi took Zhou Yan and Mi Yao and searched for a long time, but they couldn't find the branch mine where the beast tide had erupted.

"That's really strange. I clearly remember it being here?"

In that branch mine, Zhao Yi still had two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones lying there that he hadn't picked up yet.

"Maybe you remembered wrong?" A strange glint shone in Zhou Yan's eyes.

"Remembered wrong?" Zhao Yi was a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator with terrifyingly strong memory; how could he remember wrong?

That branch mine clearly had issues. Adhering to the principle that it's better to avoid unnecessary trouble, he nodded. "Maybe I did remember wrong."

Along the way, he hadn't seen a single Cultivator's corpse, so Zhao Yi knew there was something suspicious about the previous beast tide.

But he came to the Lesser Strange Spirit Stone Mine to dig Spirit Stones and earn experience points, and he didn't want to delve into these messy matters.

"Let's go with here. I feel the air here is so fresh." After walking a bit further, Mi Yao pointed to a branch mine not far away and said.

Zhao Yi... Did she really? Why couldn't he smell it? But any mine was fine for digging. If he couldn't dig up Spirit Stones, he would just switch to another one. "Then let's do this one!"

"I'll test the waters first."

Zhou Yan handled the logistical work, so Zhao Yi didn't stand on ceremony. He swung his hoe and began digging. He had already planned it out: if he couldn't dig up any Spirit Stones in the morning, he would use the Approximation Technique in the afternoon.

He didn't know if his Late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation had restored his Approximation Technique distance to twenty meters yet.

With all sorts of random thoughts in his head, Zhao Yi swung his first hoe since promoting to Foundation Establishment. Bang!

【You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points + 1.】

"A great start this time, huh?" Zhao Yi picked up the Spirit Stone and set it aside. "Let's go again..."

【You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points + 1.】 【You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points + 1.】 ...

"What's the situation? Is my luck really that good?" Zhao Yi could dig up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone with every swing of his hoe.

【You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points + 1.】 The System notification sound continued, and the entire morning passed just like that.

"These are the Spirit Stones you dug this morning?" Zhou Yan, having finished her work, looked at the pile of Spirit Stones nearby and asked in surprise. "There must be hundreds here, right?"

Zhao Yi was looking at the System panel. 【Miner: Zhao Yi】 【Cultivation: Late Foundation Establishment Stage (Insufficient experience points, cannot upgrade)】 【experience points: 587 / 5120】 【Reward: None】

"Five hundred and six."

This was truly a bit Heaven-Defying. If there were Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, reaching this number would be understandable—it would only be five Mid-Grade Spirit Stones—but just five hundred pure Low-Grade Spirit Stones was exaggerated. This meant Zhao Yi could dig up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone with almost every single swing of his hoe.

Mi Yao, who had been helping all along, had her mouth agape. She was also stunned.

Digging five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones in one morning—was this even human?

"Hurry and transport these rocks away. We continue in the afternoon."

Zhou Yan and Mi Yao had been setting up the Formation all morning, as well as concealing the entrance to the branch mine. After adjusting his breath for a moment, Zhao Yi swung his hoe and started again.

Each swing meant one experience point; how could he stop? The sound of "bang bang" rose up.

After Zhou Yan and Mi Yao sent all the rocks Zhao Yi had dug out to the Teleportation Array, they also swung their hoes and began to dig.

Their digging results were almost indistinguishable from Zhao Yi's; every swing of the hoe could dig out a Spirit Stone.

"Could this be the legendary Spirit Stone vein?" The three of them were so happy they were about to faint.

The feeling of having Spirit Stones coming in every moment—who could understand?

Bang! This wasn't the sound of digging Spirit Stones, but the sound of Mi Yao collapsing to the ground. She hadn't closed her eyes for three days and three nights straight. Although she had Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivation, she couldn't withstand this kind of exhaustion.

One had to know that digging for Spirit Stones was physically demanding work that required the use of True Qi. Mi Yao fell to the ground and was fast asleep, and the rhythm of Zhou Yan's hoe swinging slowed down significantly.

Among the three, only Zhao Yi had red eyes, muttering: "As long as you don't dig yourself to death, dig until you drop!"

In these three days and three nights, Zhao Yi alone had dug up two thousand eight hundred and forty-four Low-Grade Spirit Stones. If others were to find out, this branch mine would probably be packed to bursting in an instant.

【You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points + 1.】 Zhao Yi picked up the Spirit Stone from the rocks and grumbled: "That's really strange. With so many Low-Grade Spirit Stones, I haven't managed to dig up a single Mid-Grade Spirit Stone."

"Did you guys dig any up?" After half a day with no answer, Zhao Yi looked over and was left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Zhou Yan had fallen asleep leaning on her hoe, and Mi Yao was collapsed among the rocks, snoring slightly.

"I told you early on to use Spirit Stones to restore your True Qi, but none of you were willing to part with them. Now you can't hold on, right?"

Zhao Yi shook his head and had to waste a little time moving the two of them into the defensive Formation.

Then he grabbed two Low-Grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Pouch, one in each hand, sat cross-legged, and began circulating the Azure Spirit Scripture.

A few minutes later, the Spirit Stones in Zhao Yi's hands turned into powder. "As expected, the higher the cultivation, the more Spirit Stones needed for recovery."

Two Low-Grade Spirit Stones only restored one-tenth of Zhao Yi's True Qi. "Let's have two more."

Zhao Yi didn't skimp on Spirit Stones at all. Whenever he felt his True Qi couldn't hold up, he would use Spirit Stones to restore his cultivation.

The advantage of doing this was that he could continuously dig for Spirit Stones; the disadvantage was that while his cultivation could be restored, his mental energy could not.

Don't be fooled by how spirited Zhao Yi looked right now; it was all supported by the experience points racing across the System panel.

【Miner: Zhao Yi】 【Cultivation: Late Foundation Establishment Stage (Insufficient experience points, cannot upgrade)】 【experience points: 2926 / 5120】 【Reward: None】

Zhao Yi glanced at the System panel again. "Still 2194 experience points short. If it were Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, twenty-two would be enough. Even if I only dig Low-Grade Spirit Stones, three more days and nights will be enough."

Zhao Yi swung his hoe, leaning against the branch mine, "Don't you dare disappoint me."