14: Chapter 14 Spirit Stones

The Qingxi Chen Family.

Located in Qingxi Valley a hundred miles away, the family's heritage has spanned over a century. Although not a top-tier immortal sect, they are the undisputed authority in this region.

The family head, Chen Xiao, is nearly sixty years old. His cultivation has reached the Late stage of Qi Refining, and he is only one step away from Foundation Establishment.

At this moment, he was sitting in the main seat of the family's meeting hall, stroking his long beard as he listened to the report from Manager Chen Ping below.

"Family Head, that group of bandits entrenched on Black Wind Mountain was actually wiped out overnight." Chen Ping stood with a bow, his tone carrying a hint of shock and suspicion. "According to reports from scouts, all three hundred-plus members of the Black Wind Stockade were killed with no survivors, and the stockade itself was burned to the ground."

Chen Xiao's eyelids lifted slightly, and a trace of interest appeared on his calm face. "Oh? In this territory, besides my Chen family, who else could have such a hand? Could it be some passing Foundation Establishment senior who found those petty thieves an eyesore and wiped them out on a whim?"

Chen Ping shook his head. "It doesn't seem so. It's rumored that the ones who took action were a group of madmen, private soldiers raised by that dilapidated Lu family from East Mountain. They act bizarrely, are unafraid of death, and behave as if they are possessed."

"The East Mountain Lu family?" Chen Xiao's brows furrowed slightly, as if recalling some dusty past. "That family that produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator a hundred years ago and has been barely clinging to life ever since? I remember they couldn't even scrape together five clansmen; where would they get private soldiers?"

"That's exactly what's bizarre." Chen Ping's face was also full of confusion. "That group appeared out of thin air. Every one of them is strong and robust yet dressed in rags, and their behavior is completely erratic. Even stranger, they seem... unable to die. A scout saw one of them hacked to death during the siege of Black Wind Stockade with his own eyes, yet the next day, he appeared alive and well near the Lu Family Ancestral Hall."

"Unable to die?" Chen Xiao's expression finally turned solemn. He set down his teacup and tapped his fingertips lightly on the table. "Evil cultivators? The Demonic Path? Or some kind of raised living corpse puppets?"

"Unclear," Chen Ping said. "Although they act crazily, they have no demonic energy on them, nor the deathly aura of a corpse puppet. Instead... instead, they are all highly excited, jumping around the Lu Family Ancestral Hall all day, shouting nonsense like 'grinding mobs' and 'looting gear.'"

Chen Xiao pondered for a moment and waved his hand. "A group of rats hiding their heads and showing their tails; they must be using some kind of illusion or death-substituting evil technique. Ultimately, it's nothing significant. Now that Black Wind Stockade is gone, that area has become ownerless land. Go and arrange manpower to bring that newly discovered inferior spirit stone vein completely under my Chen family's control. If those 'madmen' from the Lu family dare to interfere, give them a lesson and let them understand who the true master of this Qingxi region is."

"Yes, Family Head," Chen Ping took the order, a cold smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

A group of ignorant peasants, daring to snatch food from the Chen family's mouth?

He could hardly wait to see what kind of expressions those mortals would have when their swords and sabers clashed with a cultivator's Flying Sword and spells.

...

West Mountain.

The mountain path was rugged, the forest deep, and the grass thick.

"Boss, are you sure it's this way? My legs are about to break from running, and I haven't even seen a scrap of iron." A player with the ID 'I Am Not A Chieftain' panted while supporting his knees. He had just broken three weapons in a row at the blacksmith's shop, and his mood was at its worst.

At the very front of the team, the Miner Boss held a strange compass, carefully identifying the direction.

This compass was an 'Ore-Finding Compass (Inferior)' he had exchanged for with contribution points. The needle was trembling slightly, pointing toward a deep mountain hollow.

"Shut your crow's mouth!" the Miner Boss cursed without looking back. "The Ancestor issued a map exploration quest, and this area has the highest reward in contribution points. There's definitely something fishy here! Everyone keep up, we're striking it rich today!"

Behind him, an Underground Exploration Team composed of a dozen players was struggling through the mountains and rivers.

They were the hope of the entire village, the spiritual sustenance for all the gamblers longing for +10 divine artifacts.

After passing through a swamp shrouded in miasma and scaling a steep cliff, the compass needle suddenly began to spin wildly.

"We're here! This is it!" the Miner Boss's spirits lifted. He pointed to a cave entrance obscured by vines and rocks and shouted excitedly.

The players swarmed forward, clearing the obstacles from the cave entrance with a flurry of hands and feet.

A strange aura, several times denser than that of the back mountain, rushed out from the depths of the cave.

It wasn't spiritual energy, but a unique smell mixed with metal and energy.

"Dig! Dig for your lives!"

With the Miner Boss's command, the players acted as if they had been injected with chicken blood. They took out the pickaxes they had prepared long ago and started working with a clatter.

Soon, the first piece of ore with a strange luster was dug out.

[System Prompt: You have discovered a new mineral — Hundred-Refined Fine Iron Ore (Low Purity)!]

"Holy crap! It dropped! It really dropped!"

"We're rich! We're rich! My +10 divine artifact isn't a dream anymore!"

The entire cave was instantly drowned in shouts of wild joy.

However, while they were fervently carrying out their 'great mining enterprise,' an even more pleasant surprise came from the depths of the cave.

"Boss! Come quick! There are glowing stones here!" a player shouted excitedly.

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw dozens of fist-sized crystals embedded in the rock walls deep within the vein, emitting a soft white light.

They didn't seem like ordinary objects. Holding them in one's hand, a faint and pure warm current could be felt seeping into the body.

[System Prompt: You have discovered unknown energy crystals. Would you like to hand them over to the Ancestor for appraisal?]

"Spirit stones! These are definitely the spirit stones from cultivation novels!" I Love Exploiting Loopholes was well-informed and recognized the value of these things at a glance.

Just as the players' eyes were shining like goblins discovering a gold vault, ready to sweep these 'energy crystals' clean, a cold scolding came from the cave entrance.

"A bunch of rats! How dare you steal my Chen family's Spirit Mine! Scram immediately!"

Everyone turned around to see three cultivators dressed in green brocade robes standing at the cave entrance.

The leader was a middle-aged man with triangular eyes—it was the Chen family manager, Chen Ping.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his expression arrogant. A small green sword hovered beside him, its tip flickering with an inch-long cold light.

The two young cultivators behind him also had cultivation at the early stage of Qi Refining, their faces wearing undisguised disdain and contempt.

"Chen family? What kind of thing is that? We found this mountain first!" The Demolition Office Director had always been short-tempered and immediately stepped forward with his saber.

"Exactly! You want to rob our mine? Have you asked the sabers in our hands?"

The players instantly shared a common enemy. They brandished their weapons—some enhanced, some newly exchanged—and surrounded Chen Ping's trio.

They had just steamrolled Black Wind Stockade and were at the peak of their confidence. They didn't take these three seemingly frail 'new mobs' seriously at all.

Chen Ping looked at this group of rag-clad 'madmen' holding scrap metal as if he had heard the world's biggest joke. He sneered, "A bunch of ants who can't even sense spiritual energy dare to bark before this manager? Fine, today I shall let you see the difference between immortals and mortals!"

Before his voice finished, with a thought, the small green Flying Sword beside him let out a clear chime and turned into a streak of green light, suddenly shooting toward the loudest shouter, the Demolition Office Director!

Too fast!

It was so fast that the Demolition Office Director didn't even have time to react!

He hadn't even had time to use the Black Wind Saber Technique (Incomplete Scroll) he just exchanged for. That pitiful 'wind-breaking' effect was like a child's toy in front of a real Flying Sword.

*Puchi—*

A light sound.

The green light pierced through his heart.

The fury on the Demolition Office Director's face froze. He looked down in disbelief at the bowl-sized bloody hole in his chest, his health points instantly dropping to zero.

[System Prompt: You have died.]

His corpse crashed to the ground, exploding into a pile of gear and the few pieces of ore he had just dug up.

Total silence.

All the players were stunned.

"Insta... insta-killed?"

"Holy shit! What was that? A Flying Sword?"

"This... this damage is too ridiculous! The Director was at least wearing a full set of blue gear!"

The cave, which had been boisterous just a second ago, was instantly enveloped by a chilling fear.

They finally realized that these three NPCs and the bandits from Black Wind Stockade, who only knew how to hack at each other with brute force, were simply not beings of the same dimension.

Chen Ping glanced contemptuously at the corpse on the ground, as if he had merely stepped on an ant.

He held out his finger, and the Flying Sword flew back without a drop of blood on it, circling his fingertip and emitting a heart-palpitating chill.

"Who else wants to try?" he asked with a cold laugh.

The players were cowed by this bloody scene. For a moment, no one dared to step forward again.

However, the fear only lasted for three seconds.

"Damn it! He dared to kill our Director! Brothers, let's take him down!"

"Only one of them can use a Flying Sword! The other two are noobs! Focus fire and burst him down!"

"So what if he has ranged attacks? Swarm him! Revenge for the Director!"

Among the player group, there was never a shortage of hot-headed brutes.

After the brief shock came an even more violent rage.

They might be afraid, but they would never back down!

"Overestimating yourselves!" A cruel glint flashed in Chen Ping's eyes.

The two Chen family disciples behind him also grinned and began to form hand seals.

"Fireball Spell!"

Two head-sized fireballs appeared out of thin air, carrying scorching airwaves as they whistled toward the densest part of the crowd.

*Boom! Boom!*

Violent explosions echoed in the narrow cave. Instantly, three or four more players were blown into bloody messes, vanishing into white light.

The splash damage from the fireballs caused a string of damage numbers to pop up over the heads of the surrounding players.

This was a slaughter!

A complete dimensional strike from a higher-level power!

The human-wave tactics the players were so proud of became a joke in the face of area-of-effect spells.

The fine steel broadswords in their hands couldn't even touch the corners of the enemies' clothes.

"Shield Mountain! Get up there!" the Miner Boss's eyes were nearly splitting as he roared loudly.

"Coming!" The team's only tank, Shield Mountain, bellowed as he raised a +2 giant shield modified from the Black Wind Stockade's gate and charged at the Flying Sword Chen Ping shot again.

*Clang!*

A loud bang, and sparks flew everywhere.

The Flying Sword was successfully blocked by the giant shield, but the immense force directly sent Shield Mountain stumbling back, his health dropping by a third.

"It works! It can be blocked!" Shield Mountain shouted in surprise.

However, Chen Ping only sneered and flicked his finger.

The Flying Sword turned nimbly in the air, actually bypassing the front of the shield and stabbing toward Shield Mountain's shield-bearing arm from a cunning angle.

*Puchi!*

Blood splattered. Shield Mountain let out a groan of pain as his entire arm was severed at the root, and the giant shield crashed to the ground.

Immediately after, another fireball flew in, hitting his wide-open chest square on.

Another player vanished into light.

The collapse was like an avalanche.

The remaining players were finally snapped awake.

They discovered in horror that none of their attack methods could cause effective damage to the enemy.

Yet every one of the opponent's attacks was fatal.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" the Miner Boss shouted in despair.

But it was already too late.

The narrow cave entrance was blocked by the three cultivators; it had become a perfect slaughterhouse.

Flying Swords were like lightning, and fireballs were like rain.

The players fell like wheat being harvested, turning into patches of white light.

In the cave, only the contemptuous sneers of Chen Ping's trio remained, along with the gear and ore scattered across the ground with no one to pick them up.

"A bunch of death-seeking ants." Chen Ping withdrew his Flying Sword, not even bothering to look at the mess on the ground. He turned to the clansmen behind him and said, "Mine all these spirit stones and transport them back to the family immediately. Also, set up Warning Stones here. Anyone else who intrudes shall be killed without mercy!"

"Yes, Manager!"

...

Lu Family Ancestral Hall.

The light of the resurrection point flashed repeatedly.

The Miner Boss, I Am Not A Chieftain, and the other members of the Underground Exploration Team appeared on the plaza with pale faces.

Most of their gear had dropped, and their contribution points were deducted due to the death penalty, but none of that was the most important thing.

The most important thing was that they had brought back information enough to overturn the understanding of all players.

"NPCs... NPCs that can use spells!"

"One shot, one kill! It's impossible to fight!"

"My +2 broadsword couldn't even break through his protective spiritual light!"

The wails of the survivors and the death reports instantly flooding the forums caused the entire player base to explode.

That bustling atmosphere of enhancement and that hopeful enthusiasm for exploration were as if doused from head to toe by a bucket of ice water from the cultivators.

Cold and bone-chilling.

For the first time, they realized intuitively and tragically that this world didn't just have bandits and beasts.

There were also... Immortals.