"Screeech—!"

A hawk-dove cried out high in the sky, folded its wings, and descended near a quiet little village nestled at the base of the mountain. Ye Qin jumped down from the great bird’s back, surveying the tranquil hamlet before him.

This was the Beiying Mountain mining area? It looked like a village from out here!

"Who goes there?"

A sharp, cold shout echoed from the structure above the village gate. A figure cloaked in azure leaped down, instantly flashing before Ye Qin and halting abruptly.

He was a middle-aged cultivator with a stern, unforgiving countenance, clad in full golden armor. A high-grade spirit sword hung at his waist. He was at the ninth layer of the Qi Refining stage, possessed an aquiline nose, and his sharp eyes were fixed firmly on Ye Qin, scrutinizing him as if he were a spy.

Ye Qin immediately felt a massive wave of spiritual pressure wash over him. His body swayed slightly, and he took half a step back, subtly neutralizing the imposing aura of the pressure. The killing intent radiating from this middle-aged cultivator was intense; he must have taken many lives in the past. Trying to directly withstand that momentum risked a minor injury on the spot.

Ye Qin already knew that Beiying Mountain was guarded by dozens of cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Refining. This heavily armored cultivator was likely one of the guards, so he remained unfazed. He kept his composure as much as possible and cupped his hands in salute: "Greetings, Senior Brother. I received my assignment from the General Affairs Hall to serve as a laborer digging ore here in Beiying Mountain. Here is my laborer token for your inspection." As he spoke, he calmly retrieved a bronze laborer token from his robes.

The middle-aged cultivator made a beckoning gesture, and the token flew into his hand.

Ye Qin kept his expression neutral, waiting silently on the spot.

The middle-aged cultivator examined the bronze laborer token. After confirming its authenticity, his expression softened slightly. He spoke in a low voice, "So, a new miner. Hmph. The people in the General Affairs Hall still remembered this mine existed. Follow me! I am Zhao Zheng, the captain of the guards here in Beiying Village. From now on, if you need to enter or leave Beiying Village, you must notify me in advance. Otherwise, if you are harmed by the demonic beasts outside the village, don't blame me for not warning you."

At the entrance to the small village, a thin screen of white light, a restriction enchantment, enveloped the entire hamlet. The middle-aged cultivator reached out and tapped the light shield; the enchantment automatically dispersed.

Ye Qin followed, walking along a moss-covered path into the small village.

The village was not large.

At the entrance stood two watchtowers, several zhang high.

Four guards, all at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, clad in gold armor and holding golden spears, stood solemnly atop them, keeping watch over the surroundings outside the village.

The village interior spanned perhaps several dozen mu, containing nearly a hundred wooden houses of varying heights. It seemed quite a few cultivators resided here. Ye Qin occasionally spotted one or two moving about inside, but the village was generally quiet—presumably, everyone else was already down in the mines.

The middle-aged cultivator led Ye Qin to an empty wooden shack inside the village. It was extremely spartan. "This room is yours now. You’ll mostly be confined to the tunnels, so you won't use this much. However, you can take two or three days off every month to rest outside the tunnels. When you aren't working in the mine during those days, you can rest here, or return to Qingdan Mountain if you prefer. Also, absolutely no personal belongings are permitted inside the mining tunnels. If you have any valuables, you can deposit them with me."

Ye Qin nodded, taking note.

The guard captain then retrieved several sets of miner's clothing, a few picks, stone chisels, and shovels made of some unknown hard material, along with a carrying basket and phosphorescent stones, from a wooden building in the center of the village, handing them over to Ye Qin. These were all the necessary tools for mining.

Guard Captain Zhao Zheng led Ye Qin out the back of the small village. After walking several li, they arrived before a gigantic cave entrance.

A portly, middle-aged man sat lazily on a large wooden chair near the entrance. Perhaps bored, he occasionally let out an unenthusiastic yawn. This man looked to be about forty or fifty years old, only at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, sporting a thin, rat-like mustache and squinting sideways with an undeniably oily expression. In front of him was a table with a ledger where he was recording something.

After bringing Ye Qin to the mining location, Zhao Zheng didn't even glance at the middle-aged man, turning and leaving with a cold expression.

Seeing Ye Qin following the guard captain, the middle-aged man immediately narrowed his slanted eyes, propped his leg up, and studied Ye Qin’s cultivation level with a strange look, sneering, "Kid, your cultivation isn't terrible. Who did you offend back at the main sect that you got sent here to dig ore at Beiying Mountain?"

Ye Qin frowned slightly, cupped his hands, and said calmly, "Senior Brother..."

The middle-aged man's face immediately darkened upon hearing the address. Highly displeased, he waved his hand and cut Ye Qin off loudly, "Stop right there! Don't call me Senior Brother. You, a mere miner, are you worthy of that title? I am the mine supervisor for all of Beiying Mountain. This entire tunnel falls under my jurisdiction, and all miners must obey my command. You will call me Supervisor Wang. Do you understand? You don't know the rules at all?!"

A surge of anger rose in Ye Qin’s heart. He was a legitimate outer disciple of the Qingdan Sect. What did he mean, "mere miner"? This man was only at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, just one level above him, yet he dared to put on such airs.

However, the principle that a local official often held more sway than a distant one was something he had learned well back in Zhuqi County. He would inevitably have to deal with the supervisor while mining here.

Ye Qin paused, forcibly suppressing the anger boiling within him, and said coldly in a flat tone, "Supervisor Wang, I chose to come here myself; I was not exiled, nor did I offend anyone. I simply wish to earn a few more spirit stones. Is that not allowed?"

Supervisor Wang arrogantly rested his leg up, snorted, and spoke condescendingly, "Oh, you volunteered? That's strange. No one has ever willingly left the pleasant environment of Qingdan Mountain to suffer in these tunnels. You coming here on your own volition, it's highly likely you spotted the massive quantity of spirit ore here and are plotting to steal some out, aren't you? Come here, let me check if you have anything on you that could conceal spirit stones, or if you possess a storage bag. Let me tell you, with Supervisor Wang watching over this place, not even the Jade Emperor could sneak a single spirit stone out of this tunnel."

Ye Qin scoffed inwardly. He was quite curious to see what abilities this "Supervisor Lord" possessed that would allow him to inspect whether anything was hidden on his person.

Supervisor Wang didn't inspect Ye Qin himself. Instead, he pulled out a personal beast pouch. He opened the mouth of the bag and shook it a few times. With a plop, a large, golden-furred demonic rat tumbled out onto the table.

This demonic rat had exceptionally thick and sharp front teeth and sported a mustache much like Supervisor Wang's. It squeaked a few times, spotted Ye Qin, and lunged fiercely towards him.

A flash of cold light crossed Ye Qin's eyes. He reached out and grabbed the golden-furred spirit rat by the neck, preventing it from leaping onto him. Although it was only a first-tier demonic rat, he had no protective barrier on him, and a bite from its sharp teeth would not be a trivial matter.

Supervisor Wang saw his spirit rat choking, its neck turning nearly white. His eyes immediately bulged, and he shrieked as if his tail had been stepped on, "Don't! Don't choke it to death! That’s my spirit rat! It doesn’t bite people; it’s just for detecting spiritual energy!"

Ye Qin looked at the spirit rat in his hand and tossed it onto the table.

The half-dead, frothing spirit rat instantly regained its vigor, flipped over, and scampered back into the beast pouch. No matter how Supervisor Wang shouted, it refused to come out to search Ye Qin.

Supervisor Wang was both shocked and furious, glaring at Ye Qin sideways. "You—what were you doing choking my spirit beast? I’m telling you, I, Wang, control this Beiying Mountain mine. If you cause trouble, I'll make sure you regret it. I have connections; crossing me won't end well for you!"

"You didn't say so earlier; I thought it was a wild beast. Hurry up and check. Once you're done, I need to get down into the tunnel."

Ye Qin watched Supervisor Wang with a cold, expressionless gaze. This supervisor, despite being one layer higher in cultivation, seemed somewhat cowardly—fierce on the outside but weak inside.

Ye Qin wasn't afraid of falling out with Supervisor Wang. If necessary, he simply wouldn't mine at Beiying Mountain and could go to other smaller spirit ore sites to obtain spirit stones. The Qingdan Sect didn't only possess this single spirit stone mine; could this Supervisor Wang extend his reach to all the tunnels? As for Supervisor Wang’s connections, they were likely high-level Martial Uncles at the Foundation Establishment stage or above—that was something worth worrying about.

Supervisor Wang was furious but, for the moment, didn't know what to do about Ye Qin.

Without the spirit rat, he had to perform the search himself. Squinting his eyes with extreme suspicion, he meticulously patted Ye Qin down. However, regrettably, other than the set of mining tools—pick, chisel, shovel, basket, and phosphorescent stone—nothing else was found.

"Remember, for every ten baskets of spirit stones you dig out, you must register the count with me to claim one low-grade spirit stone as your reward. If you haven't dug enough, you won't receive any spirit stones." Supervisor Wang was deeply suspicious that Ye Qin was hiding something. He glared sideways for a long time, but finding nothing, he finally waved his hand impatiently. "Alright, go in."

Ye Qin let out a silent, scornful cold laugh. Clutching the phosphorescent stone and hoisting the large basket onto his back, he dove into the pitch-black tunnel. The faint glow of the stone wasn't very bright, but it was enough to illuminate the path. The tunnel was very deep. Holding the stone aloft, he walked straight for several hundred zhang, descending continuously.

Soon, he reached a fork where four or five tunnels branched off in different directions. From the depths of each side passage came the dull clinking sound of mining. These were likely other Qingdan Sect disciples working their shifts.

Ye Qin smiled faintly. Since he was unfamiliar with the area, he casually chose one fork and walked deeper. After walking for a while, several Qingdan Sect disciples, also clad in mining gear and covered head-to-toe in stone dust, approached him from the front. They were walking with their heads down, carrying heavy baskets, heading toward the outside of the tunnel. Among them was a thin, wizened old man, a young man in his mid-twenties, and a sturdy man in his mid-thirties.

Seeing them approach, Ye Qin immediately moved aside to clear the path.

They saw Ye Qin but didn't lift their heads, carrying their baskets of spirit stones straight past him.

Ye Qin continued deeper into the mine. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he paused, turning back to look at the three Qingdan Sect disciples with surprise. He swiftly scanned them using the Spiritual Eye Technique: Qi Refining second layer, Qi Refining first layer, and Qi Refining second layer. (To be continued. For future developments, please log in to wwwidiancomm for more chapters, supporting the author and legitimate reading!)