Half an hour passed slowly inside the cavern, and the rhythmic sound of pickaxes striking the stone walls echoed through the entire excavation site. Arthur stood before the section of rock assigned to their group and swung the pickaxe in steady intervals, each strike sending fragments of stone scattering across the ground.
From time to time a faint glow appeared within the broken rock as a spirit stone revealed itself, and Arthur calmly crouched to pick them up before placing them into the small pouch the guards had provided earlier.
After collecting a few, he examined one of the spirit stones carefully. The crystal glowed softly with a pale blue radiance, and the moment he focused on it he could clearly feel the refined spiritual energy contained inside.
Compared to the spirit stones of the mortal cultivation world, the energy within these stones was far denser and purer. Arthur discreetly absorbed a spirit stone and guided the energy into his body to test its efficacy.
The energy flowed smoothly through his body and was directed towards the Aether Energy Reactor; it was far more efficient than the mana stones he had previously used. But what he wasn't aware of was that a newly ascended cultivator would need a full day to absorb a single low grade spirit stone, where he had absorbed it within a few seconds.
There were ways to improve the absorption rate of spiritual energy, that was by using top grade cultivation manuals but even then it was impossible to absorb a spirit stone in just a few seconds. If anyone ever sees him absorbing a spirit stone they would probably think the spirit stone was fake than to believe he could absorb it that fast.
As he continued mining, another thought crossed his mind. If he could bring some of these spirit stones back to Avalon, they might significantly accelerate the progress of Selene and the others.
However, the moment that thought appeared, another complication followed immediately. Mana and spiritual energy were fundamentally different forms of power. Allowing someone whose body was accustomed to mana to absorb spiritual energy directly could easily cause conflicts inside their body.
Arthur exhaled slowly and struck the rock again with the pickaxe while contemplating the problem. If he wanted Selene and his friends to use these stones safely, he would have to create a cultivation method specifically designed to harmonize mana with spiritual energy.
That was not impossible for him, but it would require research and proper reference materials. The cultivation manual given by the Spirit Pagoda Sect master was useful, but it was designed for mortal cultivators. If he could obtain an immortal cultivation manual from this realm, the techniques would likely be far superior.
…
While pretending to mine normally, Arthur also discreetly released several microscopic probes after taking them out from his dimensional storage. The tiny microbots dispersed silently into the surrounding cavern, intending to gather information about the mine, the guards, and the environment.
Arthur continued swinging the pickaxe while waiting for the information to return, but barely a few minutes passed before he lost contact with a few of his probes, the microbots were destroyed one after another.
Arthur sighed quietly and continued mining without changing his expression. Clearly the immortal realm had detection mechanisms capable of identifying intrusion even at micro level, which meant simple microbots were useless here.
If he wanted to gather information using machines, he would need something far more sophisticated. Perhaps reconnaissance drones equipped with stealth runes or concealment formations. He made a mental note to work on that later and continued mining normally.
Several hours passed in relative silence until suddenly the deep sound of a horn echoed across the mine. The sound reverberated through the tunnels, and the guards immediately began shouting orders for everyone to stop working.
The mining shift had ended for the day. Arthur looked down at the small pile of spirit stones he had collected. In reality, he had mined hundreds of spirit stones during the past few hours, but most of them were already stored within his Sea of Consciousness.
Only a bit more than a hundred remained visible in the pouch. Meanwhile Zhang Haoran and the other three members of their group gathered their stones together. Each of them had also collected a little more than a hundred stones individually.
When they combined everything, the total number barely crossed five hundred. Just enough to meet the minimum requirement.
Zhang Haoran wiped the sweat from his forehead and said. "With this amount of spirit stones we should be rewarded handsomely," he said proudly while tying the pouch closed.
One of the women nodded excitedly. "What could be the rewards? Would they just give us a few spirit stones or something else to improve our cultivation?"
Zhang Haoran replied, "Who knows, but we will soon find out."
…
After gathering the spirit stones they were about to leave the mining tunnel and head toward the collection area when a group of five burly men approached from the side. Their physiques were larger than average, and the way they walked carried an obvious sense of arrogance.
One of them snickered as he saw Arthur's group holding their pouch of spirit stones. "Looks like our luck is good today," he said mockingly.
Another laughed loudly. "We didn't even have to search for them." The man walking in the middle, clearly their leader, glanced at the pouch with a crooked grin.
"Da Ge, look at their harvest," one of the thugs said. "If it were any lower they would have been punished by the guards."
The man called Da Ge chuckled and looked at Arthur's group. "You five," he said lazily. "Hand over your spirit stones if you don't want to get beaten."
The moment the threat was spoken, Zhang Haoran and the others visibly stiffened. They shut their mouths as they were going to ask what punishment they were talking about after hearing the threat. Their faces turned pale as they sensed the strength of the five men standing before them.
Arthur could clearly feel that the thugs were slightly stronger than the average cultivators in the mine. They were probably close to breaking through to the Middle stage of the Hollow Immortal realm.
Seeing his group members trembling with fear, Arthur clicked his tongue in mild annoyance and stepped forward. The situation was so cliched that he almost found it amusing. Perhaps it could serve as a small warm-up for him, and he might even obtain some useful information from them.
Da Ge laughed when he saw Arthur approaching. "Look at this," he said mockingly to his companions. "We have a hero among us."
His expression gradually became cruel. "Come here then," he continued. "Let me show you how the immortal world really works."
The other thugs burst into laughter. Arthur continued walking toward them calmly, and when he was only a few meters away, he suddenly vanished from their sight. Da Ge's eyes widened in shock, but before he could react, Arthur appeared behind him and drove a punch into the back of his head.
"ARGHH!" Da Ge screamed as his body flew forward and slammed violently into the stone wall of the cavern.
The other four thugs stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend how Arthur had disappeared. They immediately went on guard, but Arthur moved again before they could respond. Within seconds he closed the distance and began beating the sh*t out of them one after another.
His fists and kicks struck them with overwhelming speed. Bones cracked, bodies were slammed into the ground, and miserable screams echoed through the tunnel for the next few minutes.
Even though these men possessed enough strength to destroy entire countries in a mortal world, in the immortal realm they were among the weakest cultivators. Arthur did not even need to use his full strength. For nearly five minutes he beat them thoroughly until all five were kneeling on the ground, bruised and trembling.
Arthur stood before them calmly and said, "I will ask you some questions, and you will answer truthfully." He raised his fist up menacingly. "Otherwise…"
The five thugs instantly turned pale. Da Ge hurriedly nodded while trembling. "W…We will tell you everything! P…Please don't hurt us again!"
Arthur began questioning them and patiently extracted every useful piece of information they knew. From them he learned about the cultivation hierarchy of the immortal realm.
Cultivators who ascended from lower worlds were in the Hollow Immortal Realm. Above that were the True Immortal Realm and the Golden Immortal Realm. Each realm was divided into four stages: Primary, Middle, Late, and Peak. There were another six realms above these three but these thugs were not aware of them.
These thugs were currently in the Primary stage of Hollow Immortal realm, though they were close to breaking through to the Middle stage, which was why they had been bullying weaker cultivators.
Arthur also learned that there were countless Ascension Pools scattered throughout the immortal realm, each connected to different mortal worlds. The immortal realm itself was unimaginably vast, and no one truly knew where its boundaries ended.
When Arthur asked about the Five Element Immortal Sect, the thugs could only provide limited information. They knew that the strongest guard overseeing the mine was a cultivator at the Peak of the True Immortal realm.
He then asked them what they were saying about punishments and they told him that there was a very strict quota on the number of spirit stones they needed to submit. If a group failed to submit five hundred spirit stones by the end of the day, they would be publicly whipped and forced to continue mining throughout the night.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, he had already guessed this but hearing it was actually true still made his frown in disgust.
After gathering all the information he needed, he waved his hand dismissively. "You can leave."
The five men did not hesitate for even a second. They scrambled to their feet and fled the tunnel in panic. Once they were gone, Arthur turned back to his group. Zhang Haoran and the others were staring at him as if they had just witnessed something impossible.
Their expressions were filled with shock and fear. It was not common for a newly ascended cultivator to defeat five opponents who were close to the Middle stage of the Hollow Immortal realm so effortlessly.
Arthur glanced at them and said casually, "Are you going to keep standing there, or are we going to submit the spirit stones?"
Zhang Haoran snapped out of his daze and immediately stuttered, "Y…Yes… senior brother!"
The four of them hurriedly gathered the pouch of spirit stones and followed Arthur out of the tunnel toward the guards who were waiting to collect the day's harvest.
***
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