Chapter 376: Black Stone Mine, Seventh Mine Shaft

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Immortal Crystals are the currency of the Spirit Realm, divided into four Ranks: Low Grade, Medium Grade, High Grade, and Top-Grade."

"One hundred Low Grade Immortal Crystals are equivalent to one Medium Grade Immortal Crystal."

"And so on. It's not unheard of for someone to occasionally strike it lucky and dig up a Medium Grade Immortal Crystal."

"As for how to mine, there will naturally be someone to teach you once you reach the mine."

After speaking, he waved his hand.

Those black-robed Cultivators immediately stepped forward and escorted all three thousand-plus people away.

Zhou Chen stood in the crowd, his gaze cold.

He hadn't expected the Spirit Realm to be so cruel.

Immediately upon arrival, he was seized as a Mine Slave.

Furthermore, the strength of those black-robed Cultivators was not weak.

The weakest were at the Tenth Layer of the Venerable Realm, while that middle-aged steward was actually at the Quasi-Immortal Realm First Layer.

"It seems the cultivation environment of the Spirit Realm is far stronger than that of the Tianxuan Continent; it's just that the mining area seems isolated from the outside world, which is why it looks so devoid of Life Qi."

Zhou Chen thought to himself, "A Quasi-Immortal Realm expert is just a minor steward here."

"Then how terrifying must the even stronger Cultivators be?"

He suppressed the shock in his heart and followed the group forward.

Half an hour later.

The crowd was escorted to a massive mine mountain.

The mine mountain spanned tens of thousands of miles, its entire body pitch black, emitting a dense Immortal Spiritual Qi.

This was the Black Stone Mine.

"Get in."

The middle-aged man sneered, "From this day forth, this is your home."

"Remember, every month you must hand over Immortal Crystal Ore worth one hundred Low Grade Immortal Crystals."

"Those who fail to complete the task will face the consequences."

Having finished, he turned and left.

The crowd was herded into the depths of the mine mountain.

There were mine shafts everywhere, densely packed and numbering who knows how many.

At the entrance of each shaft stood several Mine Slaves wearing tattered clothes.

"Elder sirs, we have just been captured and brought here. May I ask how we can mine enough Immortal Crystal Ore to be worth a hundred thousand Immortal Crystals?"

One of the Academy Disciples stepped forward and asked cautiously.

However, their eyes remained numb as they mechanically swung their iron pickaxes, digging for Immortal Crystal Ore as if they hadn't heard a thing.

"Newcomers?"

Only one old Mine Slave looked up slightly and glanced at Zhou Chen and the others.

"Bad luck, to be assigned to the Black Stone Mine."

"This is one of the harshest mines in the Spirit Realm."

"Less than ten percent survive."

"Who among us hasn't mined enough for a hundred thousand Immortal Crystals? There are always countless reasons for fines and deductions, always a way to keep you mining."

He shook his head, said no more, and resumed mining.

Zhou Chen and the others were assigned to different mine shafts.

Black Stone Mine, Seventh Mine Shaft.

Just then, an old man wearing gray robes walked over.

"Are you the newcomers?"

The old man sized up the group: "By the looks of it, you're all stowaways from the Lower Realm."

"I am the Mine Overseer of this shaft; you can call me Old Zhang."

"From today on, you will mine here."

"Understand?"

Everyone nodded.

Old Zhang nodded in satisfaction and then began teaching them how to mine.

Immortal Crystal Ore is a special kind of Ore containing Immortal Spiritual Qi within.

It can only be extracted using specially made iron pickaxes.

Moreover, Immortal Crystal Ore is extremely hard; even a Venerable Realm Cultivator needs to use their full strength to move it.

"Remember, while mining, you must circulate your spiritual power and channel it into the pickaxe."

Old Zhang said, "Only then can you break open the Immortal Crystal Ore."

"But you can't use too much spiritual power, or you'll shatter the Ore, which would be a loss."

"Mining is a technical job; you need to figure it out slowly."

Everyone picked up their iron pickaxes and began mining.

Zhou Chen swung his pickaxe, striking the mine wall.

Crack!

A small piece of Immortal Crystal Ore was chipped off, emitting a faint Immortal Spiritual Qi.

"So this is Immortal Crystal Ore?"

Zhou Chen examined the Ore.

Old Zhang walked over and took a look.

"Not bad, this piece is worth about half a Low Grade Immortal Crystal."

"Your talent is decent; to dig out such a large piece on your first try."

"Keep working hard. Digging up Ore worth three Low Grade Immortal Crystals a day shouldn't be difficult."

Zhou Chen nodded and continued mining.

He swung the pickaxe, mining while simultaneously thinking of a way to escape his current predicament.

Zhou Chen swung the crude iron pickaxe, striking the pitch-black mine wall over and over.

Crack, crack…

The monotonous clanging echoed through the mine shaft.

He had been digging for three full hours, and his body was drenched in sweat.

But his harvest was pitifully small—he had only dug up five small pieces of Ore, worth one and a half Low Grade Immortal Crystals in total.

He was still halfway short of the daily quota of three Low Grade Immortal Crystals.

"Damn it…"

Zhou Chen gritted his teeth and continued swinging the pickaxe.

He found that mining was far more difficult than he had imagined.

The Immortal Crystal Ore was extremely hard, a hundred times harder than the toughest Profound Iron on the Tianxuan Continent.

Ordinary pickaxes couldn't move it at all; one had to circulate spiritual power and attach it to the pickaxe just to barely chip it open.

But doing so consumed an enormous amount of spiritual power.

After three hours of mining, the spiritual power in Zhou Chen's body was nearly half depleted.

And this was even with Zhou Chen's Body Refining foundation.

As for the other Mine Slaves around him, their situation was even worse.

Most of them were at the Venerable Realm, but their spiritual power reserves were nowhere near Zhou Chen's.

After an hour or two of mining, their spiritual power was exhausted, and they could only swing their pickaxes mechanically with pitiful efficiency.

Zhou Chen turned his gaze toward the depths of the shaft.

There, the Mine Overseer Old Zhang was mining.

Unlike the others, although Old Zhang was elderly, his mining efficiency far surpassed everyone else's.

With every swing, he could precisely chip open the Ore and extract pieces the size of a fist.

Furthermore, his movements were extremely fluid, without a single bit of wasted strength.

"This old man is not simple…"

Zhou Chen narrowed his eyes, carefully observing Old Zhang's movements.

He noticed that every time Old Zhang swung the pickaxe, he would concentrate his spiritual power into the tip of the pickaxe in an instant.

Then, the moment the tip hit the mine wall, the spiritual power would explode, shattering the Immortal Crystal Ore.

Doing this maximized mining efficiency while minimizing spiritual power consumption.

"So that's how it is…"

Zhou Chen had a realization.

He began to imitate Old Zhang's technique.

His first attempt failed. He didn't master the timing of the spiritual power burst, wasting an attack.

His second attempt also failed. The spiritual power did explode, but the power was too great, shattering the Ore into powder, making it worthless.

Third time… fourth time… tenth time…

After countless attempts, Zhou Chen finally grasped the knack.

Crack!

The pickaxe struck the mine wall precisely, the spiritual power exploded at the tip, and a fist-sized piece of Immortal Crystal Ore fell to the ground.

Zhou Chen picked up the Ore and sent his Divine Sense inside.

Inside the Ore, there was a trace amount of Immortal Spiritual Qi, emitting a faint glow.

"Success!"

A flash of joy appeared in Zhou Chen's eyes.

This piece of Ore was worth at least half a Low Grade Immortal Crystal.