Qin Li froze.
Turning his head sideways, he saw two young girls.
Su Qingxue stood at the back, looking at him with a smile, while Zhao Lingzhi stood to the side.
Qin Li smiled, “Does Miss Su have any instructions?”
“Instruction doesn’t count.”Su Qingxue stretched out her slender jade hand and pointed at the cold iron ore on the ground, saying, “This piece of cold iron, it looks like it has a good colour, but in reality, it is actually dyed with a kind of blue silver grass, the quality is extremely poor, so buying it would definitely be a loss.”
“Oh!”Qin Li came to be interested and raised his hand to strike a flame, calcining that piece of cold iron, which really burned off a layer of blue paint, revealing the refractory essence.
The stall owner smiled awkwardly.
Qin Li, however, was greatly curious: “I can’t imagine that Miss Su is so familiar with ores.”
“A slight study.”Su Qingxue’s eyes contain a smile, like a noble white blossom blooming in the night, stunning the party. Even with the veil, she still had a seductive aura, no wonder Zhang Yuanwu was willing to be the flower protector.
Zhao Lingzhi wrapped her arms around herself and said smugly, “Our Earth Flame Sect is one of the top refining sects in the Southern Region, and Miss is even a Third Grade Refiner, identifying ores is as simple as drinking water.”
“You are a Third Grade Weapon Refiner.”Qin Li was somewhat surprised.
Su Qingxue waved her hand and said, “It’s just a third grade, it’s nothing. That being said, is Mr Jin picking out ores to take to Chaoha City to buy and sell upside down?”
“Nonetheless!”Qin Li replied honestly, “I want to take the ores to practice and perhaps become a refiner.”
Zhao Lingzhi revealed an expression of surprise, then laughed heartily, “Hahaha! For you to want to become a weapon refiner with this poor look, it’s simply whimsical! Do you know how much a refiner costs? Do you know how precious a refiner’s heritage is?”
“Lingzhi!”
Su Qingxue glared at the maid.
Zhao Lingzhi closed her mouth resentfully, but looking at her expression, she still had a mocking face.
Su Qingxue softly apologised, “Mr Jin, I’m sorry, my maid is rather straight-talking, don’t take it personally. By the way, do you have your own smithing cauldron?”
“No!”Qin Li shook his head.
Su Qingxue casually took out a large cauldron and said, “This is the First Grade Hundred Refining Cauldron that I used to use before, now that I can’t use it anymore, so I’ll just give it to Mister Jin and make a good karmic gesture.”
The refining cauldron was not small in size, not only was it one size larger than the alchemy furnace, but the walls of the cauldron were even thicker. This was because refining was heavy on firepower, and in order to melt the materials, they were often calcined at extremely high temperatures, so if the refining tripod wasn’t thicker, it would likely be melted through.
“Miss, no!”
Zhao Lingzhi panicked and stopped, “The Weapon Refining Tripod is incredibly precious, even if it’s a first-rate product, its value is still equivalent to a third-rate Immortal Soldier, how can it be casually given to a stranger.”
Su Qingxue said decisively, “I speak in a throw of the dice and give it away when I say so, it’s impossible to take it back.”
Qin Li happened to be short of an artefact refining cauldron, so he graciously accepted it and thanked, “Many thanks for the gift of the cauldron, Miss Su, I wonder how I can repay you?”
Su Qingxue giggles, her voice as clear and crisp as a large pearl falling from a jade tray, very pleasing to the ears, “It’s very simple for Mr Jin to want to repay, just take off the hood, after all, you and I are quite familiar with each other, but we’ve never seen Mr Jin’s real face.”
“Of course, if mister has any inconveniences, I won’t force myself, the Hundred Refinement Tripod will still be delivered.”
Qin Li laughed, “There is no inconvenience.”
Saying so, he uncovered his black hood, revealing a plain, unimpressive, popular face.
Zhao Lingzhi took an expectant look, then shook her head in disappointment, “I thought you had some kind of stunning appearance from wearing the hood all the time. Now that I look at it, it’s ordinary, and I don’t know why you cover yourself with a black robe all day long and die without seeing anyone.”
“Lingzhi, you can’t judge a person by their appearance, so cut the crap!”Su Qingxue admonished the maid and casually smiled sweetly at Qin Li:
“Although Mr Jin is not overly good looking, these eyes are truly beautiful, clear and transparent, flawless and dirt-free, they also glow with a faint golden radiance, just like the sunrise at its first birth, it’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen such shocking eyes.”
Zhao Lingzhi deflated, “But just beautiful eyes, compared to our Earth Flame Sect’s Eldest Senior Brother’s handsome face, it’s far from it.”
Qin Li smiled without saying anything.
In the distance.
Amidst the rolling tides of people.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuanwu gritted his teeth in anger and went crazy with jealousy, “Damn loose cultivator, actually receiving a gift from Miss Su, I don’t even have this treatment.”
……
The next day.
Eleven people arrived.
The people prepared fresh water and food and were ready to go.
“Old senior, now that the sun is shining, it’s time for us to set off.”Su Qingxue said.
Old Iron Head took out a jade mouth pipe, took a puff of dry smoke and smiled, “Wait for a while, at midday, when the yang energy of heaven and earth is in full bloom, suppressing the yin energy, the ghost fog will naturally retract back into the mine, we will set off again at that time, it will be much safer.”
The crowd nodded and sat on the ground.
Qin Li closed his eyes to recuperate.
Zhang Yuanwu came over with good fortune and lowered his voice, “Dead casual cultivator, hand over the Returning Sheath and the Hundred Refinement Tripod, or you’ll die a horrible death.”
Qin Li didn’t even bother to lift his eyes.
Being ignored, Zhang Yuanwu’s heart grew even hotter, “Do you really think I don’t dare to kill you? If not for Miss Su being here, you would have died a hundred times over.”
Qin Li opened his eyes and replied back, “If it wasn’t for Su Qingxue being here, you would already be dead!”
Zhang Yuanwu’s lungs were about to explode as he gritted his teeth and said, “This young master has been rampaging for many years, but I’ve never seen you be so arrogant, don’t let me catch you, otherwise I’ll make you beg for your life and beg for your death.”
Qin Li was completely silent.
In the distance.
Su Qingxue shook her head helplessly.
Why are these two baring it out, looking like they won’t stop until they die.
Forget it, when we come up from the mine, we’ll bring Mr Jin back to the Earth Yan Sect to take shelter, lest we be hunted down by the forces of Chaoxia City.
“It’s almost time!”
Old Iron Head looked at the sun, hanging high in the centre with infinite light, “The sun is good today, it’s a good omen, let’s go to Thousand Eyes Valley and prepare to go down to the mine.”
A group of people set off and arrived at the Thousand Eyes Valley, the walk was full of different sized mining caves, eerie, even if it was a hot day at noon, a slight cold wind blew out.
“Before going down the mine cave, each person, on the side of the mine cave, insert a cone of dead man’s incense.”Old Iron Head distributed a kind of black sandalwood incense to several people.
Su Qingxue was puzzled and asked, “Old senior, what are the instructions for inserting incense in the lower mine cave?”
The old iron head laughed: “Dead man’s incense is unlucky, if you guys are coming back from the mine, pull out the residual incense, if you can’t come back, the residual incense will be kept to warn the future generations.”
Hearing the words.
The crowd was violently startled.
When they took a closer look, they realised that there were hundreds of remnant incense on the side of the mine, behind them were hundreds of human lives, and it was only the remnant incense in front of one mine.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do!”Qin Li inserted a dead man’s incense, his heart was inexplicably a little uneasy, even though he was already an Immortal King cultivator, he was still a little weak in the face of the unknown ancient mines. After all, the mine pit had buried many Immortal Kings.
The crowd inserted a cone of dead man’s incense one after another.
“Depart!”
Old Iron Head greeted.
Eleven people entered the mine cave one after another.
The temperature around them dropped violently, as if they were walking from summer into winter.
Behind them was the warm and prosperous earth, and in front of them was the dark and gloomy mine tunnel, and the crowd felt like they had stepped into a ghostly doorway, with chills running down their spines.
“All follow me closely!”
Old Tie Tou took out the white lantern for guiding the way, with four big words written on it, “All evils retreat”. He used a jade mouth dry pipe to light the white candle inside,
At this moment, everyone realised that the flame on the candle was a ghostly blue colour, without a trace of heat.
“Yin fire!”Qin Li raised an eyebrow.
At this time.
Old Iron Head cautioned, “When going down the mine pit, there are three iron rules. First, one must never light a yang fire. Second, one must never open their mouths to speak. Third, one must never leave the group!”
The crowd nodded their heads.
Old Iron Head smiled in satisfaction and carried the Yin Flame Lantern, heading deeper into the mine.
With a stooped figure and a waxy face, he carried a miserable white lantern, like a mythical Yellow Springs guide, leading everyone into the underworld.
The further inward they went, the more exaggerated the drop in temperature became, and even though everyone was at the Immortal Lord level and didn’t fear the cold, their hearts were furtive and there was a coldness that came from within.
The mine is very deep and deep, seven turns and eight turns, filled with endless darkness and dead silence, giving a cramped and narrow feeling of bitterness, like someone is choking their neck from behind, and like a huge stone is pressed on their chest, very uncomfortable.
To know unusual people in the small dark room, stay a few days, will be depressed. And everyone was walking in the darkness in the mine, and a thought inexplicably popped up in their hearts, would the mine collapse?
As soon as this thought popped up, a primal fear arose, accompanied by no sound, which grew and grew, forcing people to speak, as if breaking this dead silence would dispel the fear. It was a kind of inability to survive, as if screaming into the darkness while in the wilderness could disperse wild beasts.
“So depressing!”
Zhang Yuanwu said.
