Qin bypassed the intersection where three visibly stunned cultivators—one at the first layer of Qi Refining, the other at the second—guarded the mine entrance. He paused for a moment, then turned and continued deeper into the shaft. He truly couldn't fathom why cultivators of such low cultivation levels would be stationed within the mines of the Azure Elixir Sect. Still, the sect must have its reasons for assigning these people to mining duties. That wasn't his concern; extracting spirit stones was the real business at hand.

Carrying his woven basket, he ventured into the depths of the mine. As he proceeded, fork after fork appeared, twisting and turning, leaving a newcomer utterly bewildered as to which tunnel led to a productive vein. He simply picked one at random, relying on luck. After walking for quite some time, he arrived at a large cavern where the distinct ding-dong of mining echoed. He plunged straight inside.

Several cultivators were already mining within this grotto, all of them, like the ones he'd met earlier, being low-tier cultivators.

Ye Qin surveyed the cavern and noticed numerous spirit stones scattered, embedded sparsely in the rock, emitting a faint, soft glow.

He then watched the miners. One by one, they held their pickaxes and chisels, forcefully striking the cavern walls, prying the luminous spirit stones free from the rock face.

Ye Qin followed suit, raising his pickaxe and smashing it against the wall. Clang. One swing only managed to chip a small indentation into the stone. He was astonished to find the rock unbelievably hard.

After a moment’s thought, he channeled his mana into the pickaxe—he wasn't sure what material it was made from—and brought it down with tremendous force onto the rock face. Boom. A large slab of rock broke away from the wall, revealing several spirit stones nestled within.

The few miners inside the tunnel jerked their heads around in surprise at the loud noise, only then realizing a new person had entered their section.

Ye Qin paid no mind to their astonishment. He squatted down, joyfully digging the spirit stones out of the broken rock.

"Who allowed you to run into this vein and start digging without permission? Don't you understand the rules? Are you looking to die!"

A lean, wiry man sprinted in from outside the grotto. Seeing the extra person inside, he erupted in fury. Without clearly seeing who Ye Qin was, he roared and lashed out with the whip in his hand toward Ye Qin.

Ye Qin flinched instantly and dodged aside, simultaneously glancing at the lean man wielding the whip—a cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining.

Crack!

The whip struck the stone floor, leaving a gash half an inch deep in the ground. The whip was clearly a Spirit Tool.

Ye Qin looked down at the half-inch whip mark, wondering who this person was to dare whip him. Did Azure Elixir Sect disciples even face such scourging while mining here?

He sharply raised his gaze to the lean man, a chilling murderous intent flickering in his eyes.

A flash of light erupted from his hand.

Before the lean man could make out what had struck him, his abdomen was hit with crushing force. He cried out horribly, hurled backward, slamming into the cavern wall before tumbling onto the ground, several of his ribs already shattered.

Splat!

Another cold gleam flashed; a sharp stone chisel was driven deep into the rocky floor, pinning the lean man’s whip-wielding left hand fast. It was embedded a full five or six inches deep.

Blood streamed from the lean man’s palm as he screamed in agony.

Inside the grotto, the three or four low-tier cultivators gasped collectively, scrambling hastily to retreat, daring not to approach this sudden brawl. Their gazes were peculiar—a mixture of fear, timidity, and a sliver of schadenfreude.

Ye Qin walked over slowly and picked up the low-grade spirit whip. It looked well-used and slightly damaged, perhaps worth a few dozen spirit stones. He cast a cold eye over the low-tier cultivators in the grotto. They immediately backed away in panic, terrified Ye Qin might turn his wrath upon them.

An uneasy feeling began to settle in Ye Qin’s gut. This place had exuded an odd aura ever since he entered. Only cultivators of the lowest possible tiers were mining here, little better than forced laborers; there wasn't a single normally functioning Azure Elixir Sect disciple in sight. It felt less like the heart of a grand immortal cultivation sect and more like a place he shouldn't have stumbled into.

This unsettling strangeness made him deeply uncomfortable.

From outside the grotto, hurried footsteps approached, and soon, a group of three or four fierce-looking brutes charged into the entrance. The leader, a broad-faced ruffian wielding a flaming blade, roared, "Damn it, who dares cause trouble on my turf? Get out here!"

"Boss, save me!"

The lean man pinned to the ground let out a shrill, desperate cry for help.

Ye Qin looked towards the four roughnecks. Most were at the third layer of Qi Refining, and the strongest among them was only at the fourth. Their cultivation was significantly higher than the regular miners, but still inferior to his own.

The broad-faced brute with the blade finally got a clear look at the situation, his eyes widening. "Qi Refining fifth layer? You’re a new Azure Elixir Sect disciple?" He didn't dare approach Ye Qin, clearly wary.

Ye Qin’s expression remained cold as he regarded the brute and clasped his hands politely. "Esteemed Junior Brother, I have only just arrived and am not fully aware of the rules here in the mine. If there are specific regulations, please state them plainly; I will certainly not violate them. However, anyone who acts rashly and attacks without warning, like this fellow, cannot blame me for the response."

The broad-faced brute, accustomed to wielding absolute power in the mines, was instantly enraged. Who the hell was this guy calling his Junior Brother? He hadn't even been born when the brute started here. He weighed the odds: one Qi Refining fifth layer against himself and three Qi Refining third layers—it was only an even match, especially since this kid was already holding a spirit whip.

Supervisor Wang was guarding the entrance. Ordinary miners wouldn't be allowed to carry Spirit Tools into the cave; this kid likely only had this one.

The brute’s eyes darted around, and he spoke in a low, commanding tone, "This mine does have rules. Each vein point is generally assigned to fixed personnel; no random digging is allowed! My subordinate was a bit impatient. But you’ve been too harsh. Return the whip, compensate with a few spirit stones, and you can leave."

Ye Qin glanced at the spirit whip in his hand, then at the group of thugs surrounding him, a cold smile playing on his lips. Trying to play games? He was curious to see what sort of trick they were setting up. He casually tossed the spirit whip to a spot on the side of the grotto floor and palmed several Fire Thorn seeds.

The broad-faced brute immediately showed blatant delight.

Without waiting for his order, a young thug beside him, a Qi Refining third layer, slapped a protective talisman onto himself and lunged forward to snatch the spirit whip.

The broad-faced brute and the other two thugs each slapped talismans on themselves as well, raising their blades and swords, then charged at Ye Qin.

The young thug who had just snatched the spirit whip cried out in triumph, "Boss, I got the whip!" But as he turned to look, his joyous shout abruptly choked off. His expression solidified into pure horror.

The broad-faced brute and the other two were already tightly entangled on the ground by three living Fire Thorns, completely immobilized. They were terrified to the point of near incontinence.

Ye Qin stared coldly at the last young brute.

That young man swallowed hard, hastily dropping the whip, and stumbled backward in terror, shrinking against the rock wall.

"Stay put!"

Ye Qin tossed him a single Fire Thorn seed, which instantly coiled around the last thug as well, before he gracefully departed the mine.

The few low-tier miners who had been watching stood frozen.

They dared not untangle the captured brutes.

Ye Qin wandered through the mine shafts. The North Camp Mountain tunnels were vast; it would likely take ten days or half a month just to explore them all. Moreover, they were rich in variety, yielding spirit stones of all five elements: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

However, only a few dozen tunnels had active miners; the remaining hundreds were abandoned shafts, completely unworked.

Such depleted mines had already had their rich veins hollowed out. What little remained was not worth the effort, with perhaps only a dozen spirit stones visible on the hundreds of feet of cavern wall—worthless to standard miners.

Ye Qin selected a remote, abandoned shaft where no one else was present and slipped inside. For him, consuming only three or four spirit stones daily, a defunct mine would suffice for a very long time.

Far from the Azure Elixir Sect and away from the other miners, he settled into this derelict shaft, commencing his routine: mining, transferring the stones into his Purple Mansion to cultivate spirit herbs, and then using the Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace to refine spirit pills.

He began his life of dedicated seclusion.

Cultivators at the Qi Refining stage could not achieve the Bigu state (abstaining from grains); they still needed to eat something daily.

This posed no difficulty for Ye Qin.

He could cultivate thorny vines in his Purple Mansion that produced berries. He had tested them previously in the Bat Cave, discovering that the berries from both the regular Wood Thorns and the Fire Thorns were edible raw. When hungry, one berry was enough to fill his stomach, eliminating any need to leave the mine for food.

This secluded cultivation continued day after monotonous day—simple, dry, even tedious.

Beyond pill refinement, Ye Qin began developing the idea of cultivating mutated spirit herbs using the different elemental spirit stones.

He recalled how planting a first-tier Wood Thorn seed with a Fire Spirit Stone in the Bat Cave unexpectedly cultivated a second-tier Fire Thorn, which was fire-resistant and greatly boosted his power.

If he could use the other elemental stones to cultivate other variations, perhaps they too would possess unique effects. Since the spirit stones in this mine were inexhaustible, he had ample time and resources for experimentation.

Ye Qin thought this was an excellent idea and excitedly began his trials.

He decided not to test the spirit herbs used for his primary elixirs; those for his own consumption could not be tampered with recklessly.

His main experiments focused on the aggressive Wood Thorn seeds. In his nursery plot, he simultaneously sowed three hundred Wood Thorn seeds, feeding them alternately with Gold, Earth, Water, Wood, and Fire Spirit Stones.

"Gold Spirit Stones: The shells of three hundred seeds turned as hard as diamond, but they absorbed only a minimal amount of Gold Mana before dying."

"Wood Spirit Stones: Well, Wood Thorns are already of the Wood element; they just grew more Wood Thorns. No need to test that."

"Water Spirit Stones: Three hundred seeds absorbed Water Mana, and three strains successfully mutated. However, these Water Thorns seemed merely somewhat cold and sinister, lacking any significant power."

"Fire Spirit Stones: Already tested; the mutation rate is extremely low."

"Earth Spirit Stones: The shells of three hundred seeds absorbed Earth Mana; the outer shell turned yellow, but they failed to sprout—no mutation at all." (To be continued. For the rest of the story, please visit www**com for more chapters, support the author, and read legitimate releases!)