6: Chapter 6 You dug up another mid-grade spirit stone?

As soon as Zhao Yi moved, many mining Cultivators followed suit.

Zhao Yi...

"Damn, these guys are too shameless."

Just like that, Zhao Yi walked quickly in front, followed by a large crowd of Cultivators.

When he reached yesterday's branch mine, Zhao Yi was stopped.

"This branch mine is claimed. Go somewhere else."

Zhao Yi...

He looked at the figure inside, which seemed a bit familiar.

"Bai Jia Gang?"

Indeed, Bai Jia Gang was lying on a floating Magical Artifact, surrounded by over a dozen Cultivators who were busily mining in the cave.

"Look closely, everyone. This place belongs to the Bai family now."

Zhao Yi's expression soured, and the Cultivators behind him were also angry but didn't dare to speak up.

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

"Disperse, everyone."

Two-thirds of the Cultivators originally behind Zhao Yi scattered instantly.

Not only did Bai Jia Gang seize this branch mine, but he even took over the two adjacent ones.

"Fine, fine, fine, you've got guts!"

Zhao Yi looked at Bai Jia Gang, feeling a bit of regret. Why hadn't he used his full strength with that kick a few days ago and just killed this bastard?

In the mine, many Cultivators were wearing shadow recording hats, so Zhao Yi had no choice but to swallow his anger.

Ducking into a random branch mine, Zhao Yi didn't even use the Approximation Technique and just started digging.

It wasn't that he didn't want to use the Approximation Technique, but there were too many Cultivators around him.

In an instant, this branch mine was packed with Cultivators.

Fortunately, these Cultivators had a sense of boundaries; everyone stayed nearly ten meters apart so as not to interfere with each other's mining.

Some observant ones even helped haul the rocks Zhao Yi dug out into the Teleportation Array, which saved him quite a bit of time.

But that day, unsurprisingly, Zhao Yi came up empty-handed.

Meanwhile, loud cheers erupted from the branch mine Bai Jia Gang had claimed. They had dug up nineteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones that day, setting a recent record.

The Cultivators following Zhao Yi all looked regretful.

After leaving the mine that day, Bai Jia Gang returned to the Bai family home, surrounded by a crowd of Cultivators.

This made Zhao Yi chuckle.

He put away his hoe and spat,

"What a coward. Do you really think I'd ambush you?"

Then, he returned to the cultivation room as if nothing had happened.

[Miner: Zhao Yi]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Seventh Layer (Insufficient experience points, cannot level up)]

[experience points: 40/160]

[Reward: None]

In the cultivation room, Zhao Yi looked at the System panel and thought of those nineteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones, feeling an inexplicable ache in his heart.

"That's nineteen experience points! Stupid leg, why didn't you just kick him to death?"

Leg...

Zhao Yi didn't know that this was just the beginning.

The next day, he continued to come up empty.

The number of people following Zhao Yi to mine decreased by half.

The third day, empty.

Zhao Yi was secretly a bit depressed.

There were still over thirty Cultivators following him.

On the fourth day, he still didn't find a single Spirit Stone. However, one of the Cultivators following him found a Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

But it was just one. Meanwhile, Bai Jia Gang had been digging up Spirit Stones continuously for four days, totaling fifty-seven Low-Grade Spirit Stones so far.

This caused a huge sensation in the first-layer mine, with an impact even greater than when Zhao Yi dug up a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone.

...

Time passed, and ten days went by in a flash. Things had quieted down on Bai Jia Gang's side; he had obtained a total of ninety-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones, nearly reaching a hundred.

The number of Cultivators around Zhao Yi had dwindled from hundreds to just one.

In the vast mine, the two of them swung their hoes one after another, the thumping sounds continuous.

"Damn it, I can finally use the Approximation Technique."

Although they were in the same mine, Zhao Yi was nearly eighty meters away from that Cultivator. Pressing against the wall to perform the Approximation Technique, he wasn't worried about being exposed.

"Approximation Technique."

"Within twenty meters,"

"The Great Dao is Simple, approximation is natural... Rounding off, the universe's fate is fixed."

"Approximate: Zero."

"Damn!"

Zhao Yi cursed under his breath. If not for the Approximation Technique, he probably would have come up empty again today.

Now that he knew there were no Spirit Stones within twenty meters, he could just dig straight in.

Swinging his hoe, Zhao Yi dug directly inward.

As the rocks kept falling, the distant Cultivator didn't suspect anything, mostly because Zhao Yi had already dug over a dozen tunnels in this area.

It was just that they had all been mined out by other Cultivators later.

After more than half a day, Zhao Yi looked back; he must have gone twenty meters.

Pressing against the rock, he performed the Approximation Technique again.

"Approximation Technique."

"Within twenty meters,"

"The Great Dao is Simple, approximation is natural... Rounding off, the universe's fate is fixed."

"Approximate: One Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, five Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

"What?"

Zhao Yi almost thought he was hallucinating.

But his hands didn't stop; he swung frantically, and the Azure Spirit Scripture within him circulated at high speed, providing Spiritual Qi to his arms.

After several hundred swings, the System notification sounded in Zhao Yi's ear.

[You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +1.]

Quickly picking up the Spirit Stone from the rocks, Zhao Yi didn't stop and continued swinging his hoe. After only a dozen more swings, the notification sounded again.

[You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +1.]

[You dug up a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +1.]

"Holy crap, two in one swing! Awesome!"

Zhao Yi quickly picked up the Spirit Stones and kept digging...

Amidst the falling rocks, Zhao Yi alone kept swinging his hoe.

Thump...

The sound of this swing was noticeably louder than usual, and the recoil was surprisingly strong.

Zhao Yi looked at the hoe; as expected, the blade had chipped again.

"What is this piece of junk?"

Zhao Yi was stunned. He had confirmed there was a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone nearby, but now his tool was broken.

You see, he had only dug a ten-meter radius, and half the area remained unmined.

"Is your hoe broken?"

"I happen to have an extra one here. Want to borrow it?"

The Cultivator in the distance spoke up after hearing the mining sounds from Zhao Yi's side stop.

When she spoke, Zhao Yi realized it was actually a female Cultivator.

Normally, Zhao Yi wouldn't borrow the hoe even if it killed him; female Cultivators would only slow down his mining speed.

But not today. If he didn't dig out this Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, Zhao Yi was truly afraid he would lose his Dao Heart.

"How could I trouble you?"

"Thank you so much."

Two completely contradictory sentences came out of Zhao Yi's mouth.

"You're quite interesting."

The female Cultivator walked over, handed Zhao Yi a new hoe, and extended her hand.

"Zhou Yan!"

"Zhao Yi!"

Her warm little hand didn't feel like a miner's at all.

This Zhou Yan had a slender figure and was about the same height as Zhao Yi, but her eyes seemed full of stories, making it impossible for an old Cultivator like Zhao Yi to resist.

"Bah!"

"I'm really desperate."

Zhao Yi gave his own performance a score of thirty.

"I'll mine first."

Realizing he was no match if they kept making eye contact, Zhao Yi took the hoe and turned back to mine.

Thump!

With just one swing, the System notification sounded in his ear.

[You dug up a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, experience points +100.]

A Spirit Stone the size of a chicken egg rolled between Zhao Yi and Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan's surprised voice rang out,

"You dug up another Mid-Grade Spirit Stone?"