Although they are the weakest and at the lowest rung, the nial disciples of Cangyan Sect also have dreams and practice cultivation silently.
Each of them hopes that one day, their cultivation level will break through, freeing them from their status as mining disciples.
Even becoming an ordinary nial disciple serving tea and delivering als in the sect would be much better than their current situation.
However, the re hundred pieces of a lower-grade royal spirit stone per month are truly a drop in the bucket for them. Using this to advance is as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Therefore, for the Cangyan Sect disciples sent to mine the spirit stone veins, except for the extrely rare exceptions, most see no hope of advancent, destined to spend their lives here.
At this mont, in the northwest corner of the open-air spirit stone vein, two tall and robust young n with slightly dark skin were swinging their tools, extracting spirit stones from the mountain body ahead.
The large bearlike basket behind them was almost filled with spirit stones.
"Hero, if we keep working like this, when will it ever end?"
The man on the left, with tiger-like eyes and a wide mouth, as strong as an ox, throws a spirit stone into the basket behind him, then transmits a depressed voice to the companion on his right.
The man on the right, called Hero, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, broad shoulders, and bear-like waist, was about the sa height as his companion on the left. He sighed upon hearing those words and said, "When will it end... I don’t know either! It’s just that we are too weak; we can’t even escape!"
After a pause, he added, "Niu Ben, you must not act rashly. We must continue to endure! I believe that sooner or later, we can rid ourselves of the mining disciple status!"
The two strong n speaking were none other than Fang Bai’s disciples, Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong, gathered in the secular world.
A few years ago, after arriving at the Three Thousand Worlds simultaneously and wandering for a while, they felt the place too dangerous, and their strength too weak, making survival a problem in the long run.
During their pass through Cangyan Sect, the two heard of its renowned reputation and joined in, hoping to find temporary shelter and protection.
The two initially thought that after entering the Cangyan Sect, they could be like other ordinary disciples and receive a fair amount of cultivation resources monthly for Martial Dao Cultivation, without needing to do anything else.
Unexpectedly, with their initial Soul Severing cultivation level, they could only start as nial disciples. Additionally, in the test a year later, they were still the weakest among nial disciples.
Of course, their weakness did not stem from poor talents.
On the contrary, one had the Innate Earth Spirit Root, and the other the Innate Fire Spirit Root— both were rare Martial Dao geniuses and had been taught by Fang Bai. Given enough cultivation resources, their cultivation levels could rapidly advance.
But the two rembered their master Fang Bai’s advice to never publicly reveal the Martial Arts Techniques learned from him before gaining the ability to protect themselves, for fear of inviting deadly harm.
Therefore, in the year since joining Cangyan Sect, they spent most of their ti practicing only the relatively simple Martial Arts Techniques taught by Cangyan Sect.
Moreover, being nial disciples, the cultivation resources they received monthly were too little to significantly aid their cultivation, resulting in extrely slow progress in their Martial Dao.
In this way, they beca the two weakest among the nial disciples.
In fact, the Steward of Cangyan Sect who initially accepted Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong had discerned their extraordinary talent but, as they did not acknowledge the hint to present him with a tribute of cultivation resources, the steward was displeased and did not report it to the Sect Master.
Later, that steward deliberately oppressed them, dispatching them here to beco mining disciples.
The oppression from the upper echelons and ridicule from fellow sect mbers left the two feeling aggrieved and indignant, yet they were powerless to rebel, leaving them no choice but to grudgingly endure the hardship, awaiting the day they could rise above.
"Niu Ben, Xiong Yingxiong, you two go to Pit No. 16 and continue extracting spirit stones!"
While the two were transmitting sound using Thread Condensation, suddenly, a loud voice from a Cangyan Sect disciple shouted.
The one calling, nad Zong Jinhai, with the cultivation of one stage of Heavenly Tribulation, was a core disciple of Cangyan Sect, overseeing this area.
This Zong Jinhai had a good relationship with the steward who suppressed Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong. Under the steward’s instructions, Zong Jinhai often provoked trouble for the two, assigning them the toughest and most exhausting tasks.
Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong heard from a friendly nial disciple about the relationship between Zong Jinhai and the steward, which made them hate Zong Jinhai to the core.
As Niu Ben said, if he ever beca powerful, the first person he would defeat would be Zong Jinhai, followed by the steward oppressing them.
However, Zong Jinhai was a Heavenly Tribulation one-stage powerhouse, while they were rely at the initial Soul Severing stage—a colossal gap making any plan for revenge a re fantasy for now.
As Zong Jinhai watched Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong obediently enter the depth of the hundred-zhang-deep Pit No. 16 with their baskets on their backs, a trace of a cold smile appeared on his lips.
"If you two die, don’t bla ; bla Steward Qiu!"
A hundred breaths later, with this thought in mind, Zong Jinhai suddenly leaped to the front of Pit No. 16, stomped heavily on the ground with his right foot, then returned to his original spot.
Being a one-stage Heavenly Tribulation powerhouse, his strength was enormous. When he stomped down, the ground within a few hundred zhang began to tremble.
"Boom..."
A series of loud rumbles occurred as rocks on the summit of the mountain valley began to tumble.
The nial disciples mining spirit stone veins at the valley bottom dodged to avoid being crushed by the falling rocks.
Pit No. 16, where Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong were located, had long been at risk of collapsing in recent days. Yet, only a few people knew this; it hadn’t been made public, and Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong were kept in the dark.
With Zong Jinhai’s stomp, the force transmitted deep into the pit, imdiately triggering a mountain collapse.
A great mountain instantly diminished in height.
"Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong are buried under the mountain!"
"The pit is a hundred zhang deep. With the mountain pressed down, how could they survive?"
"They’re dood!"
"Alas!"
....
Among nearly a thousand nial disciples, those who were on good terms with Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong could not help but sigh with regret at the sight.
Many of them knew of Zong Jinhai’s intention to let Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong enter the dangerous Pit No. 16, likely with the aim of harming them, but who would dare speak out publicly?
Watching the vanished Pit No. 16 and the collapsed mountain, Zong Jinhai thought to himself that no matter how great Niu Ben and Xiong Yingxiong’s abilities were, it would be hard for them to escape death this ti, and he couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased.
"What are you looking at? Mountain collapse is a commonplace in mining the spirit stone veins... stop looking and get back to work!"
Seeing many nial disciples looking his way, Zong Jinhai shouted sternly.
He assigned so nial disciples to clear away the spirit stones scattered by the collapse, while he left temporarily, intending to report this matter to Steward Qiu and gain so benefits from him.
User Comments
0 comments from readers