Bei Xing and his team walk through the entrance of the mine and begin heading down a long corridor. This entry path way sits at around a 45 degree angle running down into the ground. Since Luse Village does not have any magic users of the mystic arts they have to use torches on the walls to give light, giving a dim and erie look to the pathway.

For the next hour or so Bei Xing leads his team on the path to get to his secret cave. Now that he let the cat out of the bag he will have to find a new secret spot, but since he’s going to Silver Peak Academy soon this doesn’t worry him.

After navigating the labyrinth of tunnels deep in the mine they reach Bei Xing’s hideout. The scene remains the same as when he left; various scuffle marks show in the dirt where he fell and climbed back up, and the small hole that sucked him down into the cavern is still there.

“We’re here, just inside this hole is the cavern I mentioned to you and my father earlier.”

Jin Zhung nods his head and sets down his gear bag.

“Alright team, light a torch from your bag and get ready to go down. I shall open up this hole as best as possible so we can fit in and out with ease.”

All the miners accompanying Bei Xing and Jin Zhung quickly pull a torch out of their backpack and light it with their spark rocks. Each of them holds a serious face and dutiful gaze as if they are serving this mission out on the orders of the Emperor. Which in all fairness, Lao Xing is better than the Emperor in their eyes.

Just by gazing at these miners one can tell they’re very experienced. Each of them obviously has the body for it, but they also have scars showing their work in the mines as well as a confident aura. For most people, entering into a mine can be hard. Especially if they have never done it before. Mining is a scary and dangerous job, plus no one knows what they will find while mining in the depths of the world. Hence the only way to get rid of this fear and timid attitude is by doing the job for a while and gaining lots of experience.

Jin Zhung begins digging out the hole with a shovel-like tool and expands the opening so that it can fit the larger men. It takes him around 5 minutes to both expand the hole and then reinforce it by using water to turn it to hardened mud. Should the hole collapse or close up again while they are inside the cavern below then getting out would be near impossible. This was a good measure for them to take.

“Young master I believe we’re ready now, lead the way.”

Bei Xing nods and then tosses his equipment into the hole before getting on his back and sliding down the dirt incline into the cavern. He is followed by the other miners who each repeat the same process.

Now that Bei Xing has light he can actually see around himself in this cavern, and he finally realizes just how large it is. Each of the miners all look on in astonishment at the area they now sit in, which is roughly 3x larger than the town center building.

“Alright everyone, grab the bell from your bag and attach it to your waist. Begin searching for any tunnels or other openings in this cavern. If you find those or any resources then ring the bell once. If you get into trouble then ring three times."

The miners all nod in agreement to Bei Xing’s command and each of them begin attaching the small silver bell to their waist band. This bell is a special item that miners use because it has a magical effect that amplifies the sound of its ring. Hence in the mines where visibility is low sound is the best option.

Once everyone is sure that their bells are attached they spread out and begin scouring the cavern for resources.

Bei Xing walks forward only accompanied by the light from his torch, the torch gives him a circular area of lighting roughly 3 meters in diameter around him. Had he not seen the amulet’s glowing red light then there would’ve been no way for him to escape the last time he fell down here, but thankfully he has a torch this time.

The group searches for around half an hour and finally one of the crew members shakes his bell once, signaling he found something. Everyone follows the sound of the bell until they can see the light of the miner’s torch. Once the entire team is gathered there they look on at a truly beautiful sight.

Resting between two large rocks is a small crack big enough for a skinny child to slip through, but beyond that crack the miners can see a group of glowing purple stones.

Jin Zhung looks to Bei Xing.

“Can you fit through this crack young master?”

Bei Xing shakes his head.

“Perhaps a month ago, but my body has grown since practicing martial arts and so I doubt it.”

Jin Zhung begins thinking long and hard with a furrowed brow and his arms crossed.

Bei Xing notices this and interrupts his train of thought.

“I can just break the rocks for us to pass through…”

Jin Zhung jolts his head up in surprise.

“What do you mean young master? That would be incredibly difficult. Plus if you use such force on the rocks it could cause the cave to collapse.”

“Not really, these two large rocks are surrounded by many other dislodged ones. If you look at the structure of this pile you can tell they are not connected to the wall of the cave even in the slightest. Hence if we use the ample amount of force we can break them and not disrupt the actual cave walls at all.”

Jin Zhung’s look of shock is now gone and he closes his eyes and smiles.

“Young master was not lying when he said he knew the caves well, you are even more intelligent than this man.”

“Senior Zhung has his own intelligence, you’re a great leader for the mining team and the only man we all trust to carry out the job well.”

Each of the miners looks on in agreement, they’d been working with Jin Zhung for years now and had the utmost confidence in his ability to lead the mining teams.

Jin Zhung laughs and pats the shoulder of Bei Xing.

“Thank you for your kindness young master, shall we then?”

Bei Xing nods and then gestures for the miners to step back. He strikes a pose with his body facing sideways and his face looking at the wall. He puts one foot out front and leaves the other to the back before raising his fists. In an instant he launches forward and uses the destruction fist skill to gather qi in his hand and unleash it on the rocks.

A large dust cloud forms that blinds the miners from the scene for several minutes. A few rocks can be heard falling in the dust cloud alongside Bei Xing’s coughing. He emerges from the cloud and sits to the side of Jin Zhung.

“It’s been done, once the dust clears we’ll head in.”

After a few more minutes the dust cloud has dispersed and the miners enter the cave. As they do their eyes light up with a purple glint and large smiles grow on their face.

Countless glowing stones can be seen around the area, all apart of the cave walls. The mining team spreads out and begins investigating the mysterious mineral.

“What is this? It’s a beautiful stone and has stored qi inside of it...”

Jin Zhung is gliding his hand across one of the stones and can feel the power within it.

Before Bei Xing can respond Siwang jolts forward in his conscious and begins talking to him.

“Quickly my disciple, touch the stone I think I know what it is!”

“Okay master.”

“What was that young master?”

Jin Zhung looks over at Bei Xing.

“Uh, nothing! Don’t worry about it just me talking to myself.”

“Haha okay, but do you know what this stone is?”

“I’m not sure let me get a closer look.”

He reaches out and touches the stone. Qi begins gathering where his hand touches the stone and Siwang lights up with excitement in his head.

“Disciple, this is the Amethyst Qi Stone. It used to be a normal amethyst crystal, but after gathering natural qi from the world it solidified into a glowing stone.”

“What uses does this have master?”

“Are you kidding me? This stone is extremely valuable both for you and your village. Not only can you use it to help in your training, but merchants will pay hefty prices for it! Thus knocking out two birds with one stone!”

Bei Xing becomes overjoyed and lets out a happy laugh.

“What is it younger master?”

“These are Amethyst Qi Stones, I remember reading about them in a book.”

He has to lie about how he knew the name of the stone so as not to unveil his secret.

“They are extremely valuable for the village. Practitioners of the mystic arts can use them to increase their training speed, hence we can use them for training and even sell them for vast amounts of wealth.”

“How much would you say they are worth?”

Bei Xing waits for his master to give him the answer.

From within Bei Xing’s head…

“I would say around 1,000 golden coins for a rock the size of your fist. Depending on how pure it is the stone will go for 1,000 to 2,500 in fact.”

Over a thousand gold for a single stone the size of his fist? Bei Xing could not believe his master’s words. With the sheer quantity of stones in this cave area the village could make millions of gold coins and still have more to use for training!

In the Siver Empire the currency used is a set of coins. Bronze coins are the lowest valued, above them is silver, above those is gold, and above gold is jade. The value of a coin type is based off the previous coin before it. 10 bronze coins are worth 1 silver, 10 silvers are worth 1 gold, and so on so forth until reaching jade. 100 gold pieces are worth 1 jade coin, hence jade coins are very valuable and rare. In most of the empire gold is the most commonly used coin type though.

“Senior Zhung, for a stone the size of my fist it will sell for a minimum of 1,000 gold coins. If the stone is extremely pure it can sell for even more!”

Not only Jin Zhung heard this, but the entire mining team. All of them now look at Bei Xing with their mouths ajar. Saying that they found a gold mine would be inadequate, rather it’s like they found an emperor’s treasure!

With the stones here in this cavern the village would prosper for years to come, and no one would need to worry about leaving the village due to a lack of money.

“Young master we did it! Thank the heavens we did it! This is all thanks to you.”

Jin Zhung rests his arms at his side and bows to Bei Xing.

“Really there’s no need to worry about it, I needed your guys’ help too. We did this together. Now quickly, this journey was faster than we thought it would be. Let’s gather a few stones to bring back with us and return top side, all of you may keep 3 as a gift from the noble lord!”

All of the miners erupt in cheers and begin mining out a few stones to bring back with them, the young master is truly kind for giving them such a gift!

Just as everyone had gathered around 10 stones and placed them in their bags a loud BANG could be heard from the cavern which they entered from.

All of the miners freeze in place and dare not turn around. What caused that bang? It didn’t sound like rocks or shifting earth, but rather a stomp.

Bei Xing’s eyes grow large as he turns around to see a large creature standing on the other side of the rock formation he broke down. Its eyes are white and cloudy while its body stands in at over 3 meters tall. The fangs inside its mouth are sharper than daggers as it flashes them toward something below its large foot. No hair can be seen on its bare, pink body.

Bei Xing thinks to himself, what is that thing!? Its massive and utterly disgusting!

Siwang immediately begins yelling inside his disciple’s head.

“Be very careful! It is a blind devil badger that lives deep inside caves. Unlike other badger species it lives underground and cannot see or smell because of it. Therefore it uses sound to hunt. Those claws can cut through rock like a blade through butter.”

“How strong is it master?”

“I would say it is a 3-star demon beast, and a formidable one at that. We are in his terrority.”

Bei Xing relaxes a little and Siwang notices.

“Why are you relaxing child, you and your team could die right now!”

“Master it’s only a 3-star demon beast, didn’t you want to train me by fighting these types of monsters anyway?”

Hearing Bei Xing’s argument makes Siwang feel somewhat stupid. After all, it was his idea to train Bei Xing on the way to the academy by having him hunt 3-star demon beasts.

“Fine then disciple, do you think you are ready to take it on?”

Bei Xing replies confidently.

“Yes master I do.”

Siwang smiles deep inside, but hides it from his disciple. He’s happy to have a student so willing to work hard and face adversity to grow stronger.

“The weakness of this demon beast is its over-sensitive ears. Since it relies purely on sound you can have your team distract it using noise in order to get an opening to attack it. The entire body is fleshy, so anywhere will do. However to get a clean kill you should obviously go for the heart or behead it so as to keep the core in tact.”

Bei Xing replies to his master with a simple “mhm,” then gets ready to attack.

Just before he leaps forward he notices that the badger still hasn’t moved. Why is that? Moments ago it was stomping on the ground. What caused it to remain still?

Suddenly a moan for help could be heard coming from the direction of the blind devil badger. Under its foot that it stomped with was Bei Xing’s uncle, She Xing!

What’s he doing down here!?

Chapter End.