Chapter 79: Changes in the Mine

The clan chief, elders, the great leader, Yi Tian, and others who were cultivating or resting in the tribe were all alarmed. When they saw the eruption of brilliant yuan energy blazing into the sky, they couldn't help but exclaim in shock—something was amiss.

The place where the yuan energy shot up was precisely the location of their large yuan vein mine. Such a commotion unsettled them; at this critical moment, all the powers in Black Dragon City, including the top-tier forces that had not yet departed, surely noticed this astonishing anomaly.

Fortunately, the dazzling yuan energy gradually faded after just a dozen breaths. Even the powerful human-level cultivators, though aware of the disturbance, could not arrive at the outskirts of the Fulong Mountains in such a short time to investigate its source.

On the ancestral temple, the clan chief and the senior elders gazed toward the location of the large yuan vein mine, their faces showing both excitement and deep worry. They had not anticipated such a grand phenomenon upon reaching the mine’s core.

"Let’s hope we can keep this hidden from others," the clan chief said, his face tinged with hope.

It turned out the large yuan vein mine had been excavated to the innermost core, yielding a wealth of high-grade yuan stones. According to their calculations, Yi Zhen and his team had reached the central area, where yuan crystals were formed—an area dense with yuan energy and immense pressure.

"The mine is deep within a fissure of Peach Blossom Valley; no one should be able to discover it," the senior elder quickly regained his composure.

They could well imagine Yi Zhen and his team unearthing the core, the birthplace of yuan crystals, unleashing a powerful surge as vast yuan energy erupted. They could only wonder whether there had been casualties.

Their hearts were far from calm. After more than a year of arduous excavation, they had finally opened a channel to the core of the yuan vein mine, about to obtain the yuan crystals they had dreamed of for so long.

With the aid of these yuan crystals, the clan chief and senior elders were confident they could break through to the human level within a month or two.

However, for safety’s sake, the clan chief and elders summoned Yi Tian overnight.

After discussing matters with Yi Tian, he promptly left the ancestral temple, leading the five members of the Reincarnation Squad out of the tribe, speeding toward Peach Blossom Valley.

On the way, Yi Feng, Yi Shan, and the others didn’t ask for details. Considering the previous anomaly, they had already a vague understanding of the reason.

Each member of the Reincarnation Squad was a ninth-tier warrior. Having mastered the Flying Feather Technique, their speed was lightning-fast, and in just a couple hundred breaths, they covered several dozen miles, alighting on the cliffs above Peach Blossom Valley before drifting down to the valley floor.

Yi Tian and his companions quickly entered the yuan vein mine.

After more than a year of grueling work, Yi Zhen had led over a hundred tribal warriors to dig a narrow underground tunnel, wide enough for three people to walk abreast.

As soon as Yi Tian and his group entered the mine’s tunnel, they were spotted by the warriors on guard.

This was Yi Tian’s first return here in over a year.

The underground passage was now extremely long, stretching over a hundred miles—a testament to the efforts of the tribe’s warriors over the past year.

Yi Tian and his team were brought to a vast cavern within the mine, where the warriors gathered. Flanking the passage were smaller caves, which served as training quarters for the warriors.

In this huge cavern, Yi Tian saw many injured warriors, with others tending to their wounds.

Clearly, the recent yuan energy upheaval had greatly affected the mining warriors, causing many injuries.

"Deputy Leader, the clan chief has ordered our Reincarnation Squad to guard the yuan vein mine," Yi Tian reported to Deputy Leader Yi Zhen, who was busy assessing the casualties.

Yi Zhen looked at Yi Tian, Yi Feng, Yi Shan, Yi Kuang, Yi Hong—the five members of the Reincarnation Squad—and said with relief, "This is good. Over the years, I’ve often heard news of your exploits, especially you, Yi Tian. You’ve become the strongest in Black Dragon City. With you here, I can rest easy."

"Uncle Yi Zhen, you’re no slouch yourself—far too modest!" Yi Hong spoke up.

His father, Yi Ke, and Deputy Leader Yi Zhen were close comrades, bonded through life and death, so Yi Hong was familiar and unreserved with Yi Zhen.

Yi Tian and his team had already noticed that Yi Zhen had, in just over a year, broken through to the ninth tier—faster even than Great Leader Yi Ke by several months.

Moreover, the mining warriors had all advanced to higher tiers.

Among these more than a hundred advanced warriors, at least thirty had reached the eighth tier, doubling the tribe’s strength overnight.

This was thanks to the cultivation speed within the yuan vein mine, far surpassing the outside world. Immersed in the dense yuan energy, their aptitudes improved constantly, and their cultivation sped up dramatically.

Yi Tian learned from Deputy Leader Yi Zhen that the yuan energy surge had not resulted in any deaths.

This was a stroke of luck.

The warriors chosen to mine the yuan vein had all significantly advanced in strength over the past year; the weakest among them was a seventh-tier warrior, possessing remarkable physical resilience. During the yuan energy upheaval, their true energy shielded them from most of the force, enabling them to survive by a hair’s breadth.

Even so, at least thirty warriors mining in the core area had suffered serious injuries.

After grasping the overall situation, Yi Tian and his team carved out caves along the sides of the mine tunnel for temporary residence and cultivation.

As for the core area, after the yuan energy eruption, Deputy Leader Yi Zhen sealed off that region with everyone’s help.

Only when conditions permitted would they resume excavating the mine’s most precious yuan crystals.

Day by day, time passed.

Yi Tian and the other warriors of the tribe cultivated in the underground caves of the yuan vein mine.

For the first time, surrounded by countless buried yuan stones in the subterranean tunnels, Yi Tian and his team felt as if they were swimming in an ocean of yuan energy. Their cultivation speed matched, if not exceeded, the speed at which they could absorb yuan stones.

Even when not actively cultivating, the ambient yuan energy constantly tempered their flesh and blood.

Fortunately, their location was hundreds of feet underground, with layers of rock and soil blocking the spread of yuan energy.

Otherwise, if the yuan energy concentration in this area grew too dense, it would surely attract fierce beasts and monsters to settle, cause plants to flourish wildly, and such unusual phenomena would draw the attention of outsiders.

In the days that followed, Yi Tian’s Reincarnation Squad stood guard over the yuan vein mine.

Because the yuan vein’s eruption had attracted the attention and search of many factions, Deputy Leader Yi Zhen forbade all warriors from venturing out—even Peach Blossom Valley was off-limits, lest their tracks be discovered and the location of the mine exposed.

"Uncle Yi Zhen, how long can our food supplies last?" Yi Tian asked one day as they dined, the preserved meat of fierce beasts brought out for roasting and stewing.

But today, Yi Tian noticed their food seemed diminished.

Yi Zhen smiled wryly, "The preserved meat stored deep in the caves lasts a long time—we have about a hundred thousand pounds left. But with over a hundred of us, all high-tier warriors, each meal consumes dozens of pounds per person. At this rate, we can barely last ten to twenty days."

"Less than a month?" Yi Tian’s brows furrowed at this news.

It was a worrying situation. If their meat supply ran out, hunting would become necessary.

For high-tier warriors like themselves, every meal required substantial food to replenish their bodies. No matter how resistant they were to hunger, they could not go without eating.

The true energy in their bodies, though a form of energy, could not replace the energy expended by their bodies.

These were two distinct types of energy. With their cultivation, they could not convert one into the other.

True energy was pure energy, but the body consumed life energy; only by absorbing the life energy from plant seeds and the blood and flesh of fierce beasts could they compensate for their consumption and avoid hunger.

Only when their cultivation reached a certain realm could they absorb yuan energy from heaven and earth and transform it into life energy, achieving true fasting—needing neither food nor drink.