When they saw a stranger walk in, all the miners in the cave instinctively glanced up at him before quickly lowering their heads again, focusing on mining. They used their pickaxes to chip away at the rock wall, without saying a word.
Long Xuan nodded slightly, not greeting them further, and directed his attention to the mine.
After a few glances inside, he finally understood why ordinary people couldn't be used to mine the Geng Metal vein, and only Gu cultivators proficient in body refinement were suitable.
There was no soil here, only rock. And it wasn’t just ordinary rock—it was incredibly hard, impossible to break with regular pickaxes. Only spiritual pickaxes could be used, and the higher the quality, the faster the mining speed.
Geng Metal was the hardest metal in the Gu world, and everyone could imagine how rare it was.
Even though this was a massive Geng Metal vein, Geng Metal couldn’t be found in clusters. Its density was extremely low, and each miner had to dig for a long time to find even a single piece.
And the ones they found were all raw ores filled with impurities. It took about dozens of these raw ores to be purified through flame to get less than a fist-sized piece of Geng Metal.
Pure Geng Metal was even rarer. It would be impressive to find a walnut-sized piece after two years of mining.
Moreover, the rocks here were extremely hard. If you used an Earth Master to dig, their teeth would shatter. Hence, this place could only be mined manually, making production very low.
Otherwise, why would the Long Clan of the Western Lands be so generous as to allow this group of geniuses to mine here for a month?
Even given a month, they wouldn’t be able to mine much Geng Metal.
There were too many people here right now, making it inconvenient to mine the pure Geng Metal. Long Xuan's eyes shifted as a plan formed in his mind. He took out his pickaxe and started chipping away at a stone wall far from where the pure Geng Metal was hidden.
In his view, there was a raw Geng Metal ore hidden behind this section of the stone wall.
The geniuses in this batch were given special treatment and used high-grade spiritual pickaxes, while the regular miners were only equipped with low-grade ones.
As soon as he pulled out his high-grade spiritual pickaxe, it immediately caught the attention of many miners, who gave him envious glances.
Long Xuan was a master of body refinement, possessing great strength. Combined with his high-quality spiritual pickaxe, his mining speed was naturally far superior to that of the ordinary miners.
Under his strikes, the noise was deafening, and stone chips fell in large pieces. The hard stone wall couldn’t withstand his chipping, and before long, he saw the raw Geng Metal ore hidden behind the wall, about the size of a basketball.
Of course, this was just a raw ore filled with impurities, and after purification, there wouldn’t be much left.
Long Xuan was overjoyed and quickly dug out the raw Geng Metal ore. Then, with a clear target in mind, he moved on to the next piece of raw Geng Metal.
Others were blindly using the "fishbone mining method," which meant that even after a hundred tries, it would be difficult to find a piece of raw Geng Metal.
But every time Long Xuan swung his pickaxe, he found raw Geng Metal. Every strike guaranteed a gain.
This was why he had asked Long Qian for a pile of storage bags. With his mining efficiency, one storage bag wasn’t enough. At this rate, even five might not be sufficient.
Before long, Long Xuan had dug out five pieces of raw Geng Metal. He then placed these five pieces into a section of the wall that concealed two more pieces of raw Geng Metal and began shouting excitedly.
“Hahaha... this mine is so rich! I just dug randomly and found five pieces of raw Geng Metal all in one spot! What great luck!”
Long Xuan’s laughter immediately drew the attention of all the miners.
“What? He found five pieces in the same spot? Where? Let me see!”
Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up with excitement, and they rushed into the cave from which the sound had come.
After all, while boundaries could be marked on the surface, how could they be marked underground?
It was too easy to accidentally dig too far, and it would be difficult for either side to judge if they had crossed the boundary. They probably didn’t even know where the boundary was underground.
Even if one side did cross the boundary, they would end up in a quarrel, and the matter would be settled through a duel. In the end, the issue would be left unresolved.
Long Xuan was all too familiar with this scenario. When the various clans in the Far West excavated fossil veins, it was common for someone to dig across the boundary.
The Long and Feng Clans, in particular, had many conflicts over this, which were ultimately settled through duels.
So even if he was caught digging across the boundary, it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, Long Xuan quickly shook his head. By nature, he was suspicious and cautious, unwilling to take even the slightest risk.
In his view, digging across the boundary still posed some risk and he couldn’t act recklessly, unless he found a way to eliminate the three Bai Clan overseers at the Spiritual Sea stage. Otherwise, it would never be completely safe to venture over.
Just as Long Xuan was contemplating this, he suddenly frowned, as if he sensed something. He reached out and knocked on the stone wall beside him, and to his surprise, heard a hollow sound.
He was shocked to find that there was a hidden passage leading to the Bai Clan's mining area. He had just thought about digging a secret tunnel over there, but now an existing passage had appeared right in front of him.
Was this a coincidence? Wasn't this luring him into a trap?
He had just dismissed the idea of digging a secret tunnel to sneak over, and now a ready-made tunnel had appeared to tempt him. How could he resist such temptation?
Long Xuan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, his expression showing deep thought.
No, this blocked passage was clearly man-made. No ordinary miner would have the guts to dig a private tunnel. It was most likely the work of overseers at the Spiritual Sea stage.
Was it the work of the three overseers from the Long Clan, or the three from the Bai Clan?
What was their purpose in digging this tunnel? What did they intend to do by sneaking over here? It certainly couldn't be anything good; there must be a conspiracy.
He still naively thought that his clones were watching outside, but those Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators from the Bai Clan could come over directly through here.
Long Xuan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. At this moment, how could he dare to sneak through this ready-made tunnel? What if he ran straight into those three Spiritual Sea stage overseers who were coming over?
He didn’t even dare to stand next to this tunnel entrance now, let alone go in. He quickly left and moved far away, afraid of accidentally running into the Bai Clan overseers. This place was no longer safe to stay.
...
At this moment, some distance away from the Geng Metal vein, a small boat descended from the sky and slowly landed here.
Since this place was far from the mine, the people at the mine didn’t notice the boat approaching and a few uninvited guests disembarking.
“Haha, I’ve finally been able to welcome the three clan brothers. With your help, the six of us Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators working together should be able to break through that formation in no more than half a month.”
Bai Ye walked over with a smile to greet the three men. If Long Xuan were here, he would definitely recognize this person as the Bai Clan Spiritual Sea stage overseer who had previously looked at him with a venomous gaze.
He was the only overseer here to welcome the three, as the other two Bai Clan overseers were still at the mining site. After all, the mine couldn’t be left unattended, and being able to leave one person was already the limit.
However, the three Bai Clan Gu cultivators who arrived by spirit boat did not land directly at the mine. Instead, they landed far away from the mine, avoiding anyone's detection, which was rather intriguing.
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