The mining pits at Qing Dan Sect offer a high reward for a mere laborer: one Spirit Stone per day. Ye Qin was astonished and inquired, "Senior Brother Qian, what kind of ore do these mines dig up?" "Oh, that?

There are many types. Our Qing Dan Sect produces numerous kinds of ore." "The East Monkey Bridge Mine yields various grades of Cinnabar, a material used for refining talismans." "The Wanbi Lake Mine has a deposit at the bottom of the lake, producing materials like Crystal, Chenbishi, Coldwater Stone, and Jade Green Sand.

These are mainly for refining water-elemental spirit artifacts and magical artifacts. However, this requires cultivators with water-elemental spiritual roots to mine at the lakebed." "The South Thousand Ridge Mine produces Black Obsidian Rock, an earth-elemental artifact refining material." "The Dao Cliff Mine, located high on the Dao Cliff precipice, yields Black Gold Ore, material for refining gold-elemental spirit artifacts." "The Scarlet Sand Mine produces Scarlet Iron Sand Ore and Scarlet Copper Ore, used for refining fire-elemental spirit artifacts." "These mines extract sand and gravel materials used for artifact crafting." Senior Brother Qian flipped through the laborer's ledger, calmly introducing them one by one.

These numerous mines, large and small, were varied, and explaining them all would take considerable time, so he only mentioned a select few. "Additionally, there is the North Camp Mountain Mine, dedicated solely to mining Spirit Stones.

The primary source of Spirit Stones for Qing Dan Sect currently comes mainly from the North Camp Mountain Mine and five other smaller Spirit Stone mines. This North Camp Mountain Mine is about two thousand li away, which is quite distant." Ye Qin was stunned into silence for a long moment.

Suddenly, an uncontrollable urge to laugh welled up inside him. He hadn't paid much attention to the ordinary mines.

What truly surprised him was the Spirit Stone mine. He had never imagined that there was such a menial job as digging Spirit Stones.

This meant he wouldn't have to worry so much about the rapid consumption of his daily three or four low-grade Spirit Stones, at least for now. Moreover, the North Camp Mountain Mine was far from Qing Dan Sect.

Staying in that sunless mine for two or three years, perhaps very few people in the entire sect would even remember who he was. It was practically a tailor-made laborer position for him.

He didn't believe anyone would constantly keep track of a small miner hundreds of zhang underground in a pit. Ye Qin pondered for a moment, pointed at the laborer's ledger held by Senior Brother Qian, and smiled, "Senior Brother Qian, please arrange this mining laborer job for me.

Staying in a Spirit Stone mine, I can at least absorb some spiritual energy, which won't hurt my cultivation. I'll go to the North Camp Mountain Mine to dig Spirit Stones." Senior Brother Qian was surprised and cautioned him, "Junior Brother, are you truly set on mining?

This work is exceptionally strenuous. Staying constantly in the mine, you might not come out even once in ten days or half a month.

Furthermore, it can easily delay your cultivation. It's quite far from the sect, making it impossible to tend to the spirit herbs you've planted in your own plot.

In the past, some newly entered Junior Brothers saw this job as a good way to earn Spirit Stones and specifically chose it, but after going there, they ran back within a few days, abandoning the work. Because of this, our sect constantly has a shortage of mining laborers.

Any brothers with even a little skill are unwilling to go, preferring to stay at their residences and develop more plots to grow spirit herbs. In fact, considering you reached the fifth layer of the Qi Condensation stage at just seventeen or eighteen, your aptitude isn't too poor.

While far from those exceptionally gifted cultivators, you are certainly much better than those dull-witted ones. Cultivating spirit herbs within the sect, with twenty or thirty years, you could still achieve some small success." Ye Qin forced a wry smile.

Mining might be a delay for others, but for him, it absolutely would not be. He truly couldn't think of any place within Qing Dan Sect where his cultivation could advance faster than in the Spirit Stone mine.

He listened to Senior Brother Qian's earnest persuasion, shook his head, and said, "Senior Brother Qian, my aptitude for planting and alchemy is very poor. The spirit herbs I manage to grow are half-dead, and their medicinal efficacy is extremely low.

Rather than that, I'd rather use the wages earned from mining to exchange for spirit pills to cultivate; it would be faster than growing the spirit herbs myself. In Qing Dan Sect, an immortal cultivator like myself will have little chance to rise through the ranks.

As long as this mining work can earn more Spirit Stones, I don't mind if it's tiring or arduous." Senior Brother Qian was slightly taken aback. "Very well, Junior Brother, you have great ambition.

If you can endure the hardship, I won't persuade you further. Then I shall arrange for you to go to the North Camp Mountain Mine." "If you genuinely cannot stand it there, come back and find me.

Next time, Senior Brother will find you a slightly better assignment." Senior Brother Qian finished registering Ye Qin and gave him several important points to note. Ye Qin received a bronze laborer token for the North Camp Mountain Mine from Senior Brother Qian.

This token was required to report to the North Camp Mountain Mine. If he decided to quit the job, he would need to return the token to the General Affairs Hall.

Ye Qin left the General Affairs Hall and then meticulously prepared the items needed for the journey to the North Camp Mountain Mine. Once he reached the mine, he wouldn't be able to return to Qing Dan Sect frequently.

The Bronze Sand Spirit Pill Furnace, he certainly had to take that. Furthermore, he needed to purchase seeds for spirit pills suitable for mid-to-high stage Qi Condensation cultivators, along with related formulas.

It was always better to prepare more. As for the few acres of fields outside the bamboo dwelling on Green Bamboo Mountain, the herb seeds planted just over half a month ago could fend for themselves.

He hoped that when he returned in a few years, they would have grown into spirit herbs of some significant age. At this time, the various peaks of the Qing Dan Mountain Range were gradually becoming lively because the sect's Minor Competition was only about a month away, scheduled for the end of the year.

This triennial Minor Competition was a rare grand event for Qing Dan Sect, igniting immense enthusiasm among the eight thousand Qi Condensation disciples. Numerous high-level Qi Condensation disciples who had been in secluded cultivation emerged one after another, preparing for this competition.

The peaks of Qing Dan Sect also saw more cultivators than usual. Planting Technique, Alchemy Technique, and Combat Duels were the three competitive events of the Qing Dan Sect Minor Competition.

There were no restrictions on registration; any Qi Condensation disciple could participate. As long as one ranked in the top one hundred across the three disciplines, they would earn a reward.

A total of three hundred disciples would be rewarded. However, achieving a good rank was not easy.

Take the Planting Technique competition, for example; one couldn't simply claim superior planting skills by word of mouth. Instead, they had to present the spirit herbs they had personally cultivated for evaluation by the elders of each peak.

The higher the grade and quality of the presented spirit herbs, and the greater the quantity, the higher the comprehensive rating and, consequently, the better the ranking. Clearly, the "veteran" Qi Condensation cultivators who had been in the sect longer would have an advantage in this contest.

To prevent veterans from perpetually suppressing newcomers, Qing Dan Sect had a rule: all spirit herbs presented for evaluation by disciples who successfully entered the top one hundred would be confiscated by the sect. This meant that these veteran Qi Condensation cultivators would have to "go bankrupt" to win the reward for the "Planting Technique" segment of the Minor Competition.

Despite this, cultivators participating in the Planting Technique contest still flocked to it. They were eager to offer all their spirit herbs just to squeeze into the top one hundred and secure that specific reward item.

Compared to the Planting Technique competition, the contests for Alchemy Technique and Combat Duels were fiercer and more intense. The Planting Technique competition required years of accumulation.

The Alchemy Technique contest relied more on a cultivator's inherent talent for alchemy. Cultivators with high alchemy talent could surpass ordinary cultivators in just a few years, successfully refining higher-grade spirit pills.

The Alchemy competition required the refinement to be done under the direct supervision of the elders present, making cheating impossible. The Combat Duel competition was dominated by cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation.

Once a cultivator reached the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, they would encounter an innate bottleneck. No matter how diligently they cultivated, their progress would cease to advance significantly; all cultivators at this stage would be constrained by this bottleneck.

When cultivation levels were the same—both at the ninth layer—achieving a better ranking depended more on the power of the spiritual artifacts, talismans, and spells a cultivator possessed. Simply put, it was a contest of financial resources.

Quite a few cultivators in Qing Dan Sect were wealthy, leading to extremely fierce competition. The Minor Competition comprised three events, with the top one hundred in each receiving rewards.

This reward was enough to make the rogue cultivators in Xian Yuan City intensely envious and desperate, because it was the Foundation Establishment Pill—the ultimate spirit pill for breaking through the bottleneck. This pill offered a one-in-ten chance to successfully break through, leap into the Foundation Establishment stage, drastically increase lifespan, and thus embark upon the true path of immortal cultivation.

Although this Minor Competition was grand and magnificent, it had nothing to do with Ye Qin. A newly initiated cultivator like him could, at best, be a spectator.

Ye Qin received a communication talisman from Senior Brother Sun Yuming, inviting him to attend the Minor Competition to bolster morale and introduce him to some senior brothers who also hailed from rogue cultivator backgrounds. Ye Qin considered the matter.

Now that he had found a very promising mining job, he decided he could forgo the excitement of the Minor Competition. He sent a reply talisman to Senior Brother Sun Yuming, who had always taken good care of him: "I am going to the mine to dig, Senior Brother need not worry.

I will offer my congratulations upon my return." Afterward, Ye Qin rented a flying beast from the Beast Hall on Green Spring Peak and flew toward the North Camp Mountain, two thousand li away. He had already inquired with his senior brothers beforehand and had some understanding of the North Camp Mountain.

The North Camp Mountain, two thousand li from the Qing Dan Mountain Range, was actually not far within the scope of the several million li wide Spirit Mist Mountain Range—only about half a day's journey. There were over thirty cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation stationed there for guard duty, led by an uncle master at the Foundation Establishment stage.

They were responsible for transporting the mined Spirit Stones back to Qing Dan Mountain daily; the stones would not be stockpiled at North Camp Mountain. Spirit Stone mining areas are usually paramount to any immortal cultivation sect, making them key defensive points.

However, the number and strength of the guards Qing Dan Sect deployed at North Camp Mountain were not particularly high; their main role was preventing demonic beasts from breaking into the mines or fending off small enemy incursions. For several centuries, no immortal cultivation sect had dared to launch a surprise attack on the North Camp Mountain.

After all, the North Camp Mountain was near the Qing Dan Mountain Range, where a large contingent of Foundation Establishment cultivators could arrive within half a day. Even if someone managed to seize the Spirit Stone mine in a raid, they wouldn't be able to carry away many Spirit Stones.

Harassing them for a day or two would achieve nothing against Qing Dan Sect, only exposing the attacker's hostility toward it. (To be continued.

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