Chapter 86: Searching for Spirit Ore

Tang Ziran quietly tugged at his sleeve and asked in a low voice, “Brother, are you really taking it?”

Shen Xin nodded firmly and smiled. “Of course I am. Boss Fan, just tell me where it is.”

“No rush. The spiritual vein mine is far too valuable to mention to outsiders. You must join the Heavenly Origin Sect first.”

“All right. It’s a deal.”

“Ha! Then let us choose today over some other day. We’ll head to the sect headquarters at once.”

Fearing that Shen Xin might change his mind, Fan Yuze did not even finish his fish. He hurriedly settled the bill, drove them over, and brought Shen Xin and the others to the Heavenly Origin Sect headquarters.

The Heavenly Origin Sect occupied a towering building of more than a hundred stories, spread across a considerable expanse of land, perhaps some thirty to fifty thousand square feet.

The first floor looked more like a department store, with over a hundred shops inside. The goods sold there were of every imaginable sort: pills, cultivation techniques, weapons, armor, shoes, socks, clothes, bags—whatever you could think of, you could buy. What you could not imagine, you would never know was there.

Shen Xin was thoroughly astonished. “Boss Fan, why are there so many shops at the Heavenly Origin Sect headquarters?”

Boss Fan smiled and explained, “The Heavenly Origin Sect has more than five thousand disciples, and the demand for all kinds of goods is huge. Besides, disciples enjoy internal prices, so many people come here to stock up. Let’s go to the second floor first and register your identities, then we’ll come back down to shop.”

Shen Xin nodded and saw that things inside were indeed much cheaper than outside. Unfortunately, he had not a penny to his name. Otherwise, he would have bought quite a lot.

He had not expected joining the Heavenly Origin Sect to be so simple. It was almost the same as registering as a bounty hunter: all one had to do was record one’s identity, display one’s supernatural ability, have a photo taken, and an identity badge would be made.

In just over ten minutes, the two of them received bronze identity badges.

Holding the card-sized badge, Shen Xin found it rather amusing. On the front were the three words Heavenly Origin Sect, with his portrait on the left and personal information on the right; the back bore the sect’s emblem.

Fan Yuze explained, “There are five badge colors. Green is for outer disciples, bronze for inner disciples, silver for core disciples, gold for elders, and purple for the sect master. The badge contains a locator. If it is destroyed and calls cannot be made, someone from the law enforcement team will investigate. It’s also a form of protection from the sect for its disciples.”

Shen Xin said eagerly, “Can you tell me the location now?”

Fan Yuze smiled. “Yes, but I need to remind you of one thing: you won’t be the only ones searching for the spiritual vein mine. There are several other groups as well. Most of them are disciples of the Heavenly Origin Sect. And the sect strictly forbids brothers killing one another.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t provoke anyone if they don’t provoke me. If someone does provoke me, then, well, I’ll run! I’m very laid-back. I hate fighting and killing the most.”

“Good. I’ve sent the locations to your phone. If you find anything, remember to inform me at once. Do not spread the word, and absolutely do not give it to the Zhang family. Otherwise, the sect will issue a kill order, and that means no peace until one side is dead.”

“Got it, Boss Fan. Lend me some money too. I’m broke now; I can hardly even afford to eat.”

Fan Yuze laughed and transferred a million to him.

After Shen Xin received the money, he immediately bought some emergency medicine and several sets of protective gear on the first floor.

Only then did he leave with Tang Ziran.

Once they were outside the Holy City, Tang Ziran summoned the Big Goose, and the two of them rode it toward the first location to search for the spiritual mine.

Fan Yuze had sent him five locations in all, and he chose the nearest one.

The Big Goose flew for nearly an hour before reaching the desert and arriving at a vast canyon under the jurisdiction of Sky Profound City.

This place was covered in yellow earth, its terrain strangely broken and uneven, as if it had once been a level plateau before suffering an earthquake of catastrophic magnitude, leaving the ground fractured and jagged.

Canyons and plateaus alternated one after another, with tremendous differences in elevation.

Looking down into a great canyon, Shen Xin saw only a barren expanse within it. The earth had dried and cracked, and there was not the faintest trace of spiritual energy.

He shook his head. “Probably nothing here. Let’s go to the next place.”

Tang Ziran asked curiously, “You really won’t go down and take a look? Maybe there’s something underground.”

“If there were a spiritual vein below, the surface would not look so lifeless. Still, if you want to go down and see, that’s fine.”

“Then let’s go down and take a look anyway, just in case.”

Tang Ziran controlled the Big Goose to land in the canyon. The light there was dim, sunlight unable to reach in, and in some places there was still unmelted white snow.

Coupled with the biting wind inside the canyon, even Shen Xin could not help shivering.

“Hurry up. It’s freezing to death.”

Tang Ziran ordered the Big Goose to wait above while she used earth-escape art to slip underground. The bird was too large, and her pet space could only hold the Big Goose, so this time she had brought only it along.

Shen Xin moved a little away and also slipped into the ground.

Once underground, the eyes could not make out anything at all. One could only rely on divine sense to observe the surroundings. In the past, before he knew how to use divine sense, he had relied on instinct alone, after all still able to feel with his body, like a blind man groping in the dark.

But he was slightly better off, since he knew how to use clairvoyance.

As for Tang Ziran before she had divine sense, she had depended on touch and smell.

Now that both of them had divine sense, earth-escape art made them as nimble as fish in water.

Very quickly, Shen Xin emerged from the ground. He had not found a spiritual mine, but he had found a vast coal seam. Less than five meters below the surface, it was all coal.

Not long after, Tang Ziran crawled out looking filthy, her whole body like a lump of black coal.

“Haha, Ziran, this is what happens when you refuse to listen to your brother.”

“Hmph, mind your own business. I’m going to wash up.”

“How are you supposed to bathe here? Just bear with it for now. The next place might have water.”

Tang Ziran had no choice but to give up, and riding the Big Goose, they continued to the next location.

This place was also within Sky Profound City’s territory, and the terrain was similar, but the ground was no longer bare. Though it was still early spring, little grasses had already sprouted, and there were also small rivers and brooks.

Tang Ziran found a pool and hurriedly jumped in.

Shen Xin stood guard nearby, glancing occasionally in the direction of the pool.

He thought to himself: As expected of an eighteen-year-old girl, full of energy.

Tang Ziran did not mind either. She bathed and changed clothes openly and without the slightest embarrassment. When she climbed back up onto the bank, she even proudly lifted her chest a little.

“Eyes averted in the presence of modesty!”

Shen Xin quickly turned his head away.

After Tang Ziran finished bathing, the two of them continued searching for the spiritual mine.

This time, they finally found one.

Shen Xin saw some glittering stones fifty or so meters underground. They were about the size of fists and radiated abundant spiritual energy. However, these spiritual stones were few and far between, with one only every several dozen meters.

Curious, he dug up some and put them into the bronze gourd—just over a dozen pieces. After that, he felt he had reached his limit and could only surface to breathe fresh air.

Not long after, Tang Ziran also emerged. In her hands she held a spiritual stone the size of an egg in each fist, and she asked hopefully, “Brother, are these spiritual stones? I can feel spiritual energy inside them.”

“Yes, that’s right. They are spiritual stones.”

Tang Ziran put down the stones in her hands, then took seven or eight more of the same size from her clothes. Smiling, she said, “I dug up eight in all. Brother, how many did you get?”

“Heh heh, I got more than you. Keep them safe. Stones like these could probably fetch ten million apiece outside.”

On hearing this, Tang Ziran hurriedly put all the stones into her backpack. After cautiously scanning the surroundings, she asked in a low voice, “Brother, should we report this to the sect?”

“Report nothing. This place is a poor vein; there’s no real need to develop it.”

“Then what do we do now? Keep looking for the next one?”

Shen Xin grinned wickedly. “Why the rush? Let’s dig up more before we go. We can use them for cultivation anyway. Give me all your stones. I’ll keep them safe.”

Tang Ziran hesitated for a moment, then poured the stones out anyway and said miserably, “Brother, this is all I have. If you’re going to exchange them for money, you have to leave me some.”

“You little mining slave, what are you whining about? Keep digging. If you don’t fill one hundred pieces today, watch me spank you.”

“Hmph, you heartless taskmaster of the new age.”

Tang Ziran grudgingly continued burrowing underground to dig for spiritual stones.

Shen Xin chuckled, gathering all the stones on the ground into the bronze gourd. Then he went on digging for more.