243: Chapter 243 Scattered Stars Across the Sky

Liu Xuan moved his body, rushing directly towards the point where the defense was weakest, easily dodging the strikes of a dozen pickaxes.

At the same time, his right hand moved through the air, drawing the character for 'Sword' with immortal essence.

Once the character 'Sword' was completed, it instantly transformed into an incredibly refined green Sword Qi, slashing across his chest.

This strike contained the foundation of his eight temperings, possessing astonishing power.

Wherever the Sword Qi passed, deep gouges were carved into the hard rock walls.

The Cultivators before him had only undergone a single tempering, and they were far from completing their second.

Yet, facing this strike, there was no fear in their eyes; instead, a hint of fanaticism appeared.

They neither dodged nor avoided it, even taking the initiative to charge forward, the three-colored flames on their bodies burning even more fiercely.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft... The Sword Qi sliced through all the Cultivators before him at the waist without hindrance, annihilating their Divine Souls as well.

"Hmph! A mere rabble!"

Fighting to the death was not allowed in the mine, but Liu Xuan no longer cared.

As long as he could leave this place and report everything that happened here to the Supervisor or even Steward Li, he could not only make up for his mistakes but even leap to become a member of the Li Clan Immortal Family.

This thought invigorated him; he exerted force through his feet and dashed forward to kill.

However, just as he moved—

A sudden change occurred!

Those Cultivators who should have been completely dead with their Divine Souls destroyed actually appeared in their original spots again, perfectly unharmed.

"Impossible! How can they revive after their Divine Souls were annihilated?!"

Liu Xuan cried out in horror, his footsteps stopping involuntarily as a chill rushed from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

"An illusion! It must be an illusion!"

Liu Xuan suppressed his shock and shouted sternly.

"Break!"

His hands rapidly formed seals, a blue spiritual light lit up at his brow, and suddenly a palm-sized illusory small tower condensed above his head.

The small tower shook slightly, and an invisible ripple spread rapidly.

However, the figures of those Cultivators did not dissipate; instead, they looked at him mockingly.

Savage Stone even sneered:

"Liu Xuan, still haven't given up?"

After speaking, everyone raised their pickaxes together, surrounding the narrow mine tunnel.

Seeing this, Liu Xuan realized he couldn't escape at all.

"Stop! I am willing to submit!"

Hearing this, Su Mo's figure instantly appeared before Liu Xuan, looking at him calmly:

"I already gave you a chance just now. Now—it's too late!"

He pointed a finger!

Liu Xuan's eyes were filled with terror; he actually couldn't dodge this ordinary-looking finger.

"No—!"

After tens of thousands of years of bitter cultivation and enduring hardships to achieve Ascension, he was only one step away from completing his ninth tempering after eight, which would allow him to cross the True Immortal Lightning Tribulation and become a True Immortal.

The finger touched his brow, and in the blink of an eye, Liu Xuan became an Incarnation without independent consciousness.

Su Mo withdrew his finger and instructed Savage Stone:

"Keep an eye on this place."

"Yes, Senior!"

Savage Stone bowed and accepted the order, a hint of complexity in his gaze toward Liu Xuan, but mostly reverence for Su Mo.

Su Mo took Liu Xuan directly to the Western Mining Area he occupied.

Compared to the Eastern Mining Area, the Western Mining Area had wider tunnels and slightly better conditions.

Seeing Liu Xuan return, everyone stood up and greeted him.

"Leader! You're back?"

Su Mo didn't give them much time to react.

With a thought, Liu Xuan beside him erupted with his powerful aura, briefly intimidating all the Cultivators.

Meanwhile, Su Mo himself moved quickly through the area.

Immortal Qi and Devilish Qi blended perfectly into a type of energy Su Mo called Immortal-Demon Qi.

The tempering of Immortal-Demon Qi gave Su Mo power far exceeding those of the same rank; he felt he might even be able to clash with a True Immortal now.

"Leader!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Who are you?!"

"Ene..."

The cries of surprise and warnings stopped abruptly.

In a flash, the eyes of all the Cultivators turned hollow, and they became Incarnations without consciousness.

Thus, Mine Ding had become Su Mo's backyard.

The next step was to wait for the Supervisor to report to Steward Li and disperse these miners.

Then Su Mo could go to other mines and step by step turn all the immortal essence stone veins into his own resources.

"Li Clan Immortal Family..."

Su Mo whispered to himself, a glimmer of anticipation flashing in his eyes.

He was curious what their expressions would be when they found out most of the immortal essence stones in the mine had gone into his pocket... On the second day, all the miners went to the square as usual to hand over the immortal essence stones.

After the handover ended, Supervisor Zhao took Liu Xuan to a hidden place.

"Liu Xuan, how is it? Have you found out? What exactly is going on with the sharp drop in production?"

Supervisor Zhao lowered his voice, his tone urgent.

Liu Xuan, controlled by Su Mo, replied indifferently:

"Supervisor Zhao, it has been investigated. This matter is indeed due to the depletion of the ore vein."

Supervisor Zhao's face immediately turned ugly:

"Is it really depleted?"

"Absolutely certain. In the last two days, the amount of immortal essence stones mined in my Western Mining Area has also decreased significantly."

Supervisor Zhao immediately cursed:

"What a waste! To think I gave you two extra days."

He waved his hand and left directly.

Liu Xuan had built up his anticipation, only to give such an insignificant answer, making him feel like he had been played.

He immediately reported the depletion of the ore vein.

Two days later, a bronze spirit boat landed at Mine Ding.

Several people stepped off the spirit boat, led by a middle-aged Cultivator in brocade robes with sharp eyes and a powerful aura.

It was Steward Li, who was in charge of managing the mines.

He was followed by two attendants with slightly weaker auras, their gazes sweeping over all the miners in the square with undisguised contempt and indifference.

Supervisor Zhao had already led a group of Supervisors to wait with bows, stepping forward with a fawning smile:

"Welcome, Steward Li! Your subordinate..."

Steward Li raised his hand to interrupt him, his voice cold and devoid of emotion:

"Take me to the core area of the ore vein."

He had no interest in hearing Supervisor Zhao's nonsense; this trip was only to confirm the status of the ore vein.

"Yes!"

Supervisor Zhao didn't dare say more and hurriedly led the way.

The group went straight into the mine, arriving at the area that used to have the most abundant output.

Steward Li's Divine Sense spread out like a tide, carefully probing the immortal essence aura within.

He frowned slightly; the immortal essence aura here was indeed much weaker than when he last came, and the rock layers were somewhat dried up.

But how could it be so fast?

He faintly felt something was wrong but eventually shook his head.

This was just a branch of the immortal essence stone mine; how much it produced was merely icing on the cake.

After walking out of the mine, he said to Supervisor Zhao:

"This ore vein is about to dry up. In three days, disperse the miners here and send them to Mining Areas Yi, Bing, and Wu."

Then he paused and pointed at Liu Xuan in the crowd:

"You go to A-Grade Mining Area."

His gaze turned back to Supervisor Zhao:

"As for you, go to Mining Area Yi."

Hearing this, Supervisor Zhao was immediately moved to tears of gratitude:

"Thank you, Steward Li! Thank you, Steward Li!"

The mine numbers were assigned based on the quality and quantity of immortal essence stones produced.

Area Jia was the best, and Area Wu was the worst.