Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Lu Ye did not rest for too long. There was still a sword stuck in his leg, and intense pain was assaulting his nerves. Besides, the spot where he was injured was not good. It would be over if the injury had hit a vital spot. Therefore, he began checking on his wound after a short rest. He reached out to tear open the clothing surrounding his wound. After examining his injuries carefully, he finally breathed out a sigh of relief. The injury might look bad, but it was just a flesh wound.
Even so, he did not mindlessly pull out the sword. That was because he would inevitably suffer massive blood loss the moment he pulled out the sword. If he failed to handle things well, he might faint after a short while. First, he tore the clothes he was wearing into long strips of cloth and tied them tightly around his leg, starting from the base of his thigh. Subsequently, he completely stripped away the clothes surrounding the injured area to reveal the location of his wound.
After that, he cast his gaze toward the waist area of Manager Yang’s corpse. There was a fist-sized cloth bag hanging there. He could recognize that item. It was what cultivators called a Storage Bag. Both the Healing Pill Manager Yang had given him previously and the sword stuck in his leg had been taken out of this Storage Bag. A cultivator’s Storage Bag generally carried all of their belongings.
Hence, he pulled Manager Yang’s body over to him and retrieved the Storage Bag hanging around Manager Yang’s waist. He studied the item carefully and was amazed. A large space seemed to be contained inside this small cloth bag, allowing it to store many things inside.
He still didn’t know much about cultivation-related matters despite being in Jiu Zhou for more than a year, but he had heard a lot about the items in the Cultivation World. It was said that every cultivator’s Storage Bag had a mysterious and invisible lock on it. This lock could only be unlocked by the cultivator themselves. Even if other people got their hands on the Storage Bag, they could not open the Storage Bag easily unless they had special means to break the lock. That kind of lock was known among the cultivators as a ‘Restraining Lock’!
Although the Storage Bag in Lu Ye’s hands looked like a cloth bag, it was actually made from the skin of an unknown animal. He secretly prayed in his heart. [Please don’t let this Storage Bag be locked.]
Opening the bag, he reached his hand inside nervously…
Soon, a look of joy spread over his face. This Storage Bag had not been locked! He could already feel some of the contents inside the Storage Bag. Thinking about it, it made sense. When Manager Yang was faced with danger, he had hurriedly taken out a longsword from within the Storage Bag to confront his enemy. At the time, his cultivation had been obstructed by the Yuan Metal Force Field. Where would he find the time or energy to lock his Storage Bag?
[I’m saved!] Lu Ye calmed down considerably and kept taking out the contents of the Storage Bag. He was looking for the Qi Blood Pill, as well as the Healing Pill Manager Yang had given to him before. After pulling out the sword later, he would surely suffer from blood loss. He could lessen the dangers if he could use the Qi Blood Pill to replenish his Qi and Blood. In addition, the Healing Pill was undoubtedly an excellent item that would also be suitable for the current circumstances.
Soon, a messy pile of stuff formed next to him… There were bottles and jars, tons of food, a few large water sacs, some books, and even some toilet paper. He couldn’t help feeling rather speechless. However, there was nothing wrong with bringing some extra items considering Manager Yang had escaped to this place to seek refuge from the dangers outside.
He searched through the bottles and quickly found the Qi Blood Pills and Healing Pills that he needed. There were many of the Qi Blood Pills. There were as many as 10 bottles, and each bottle contained 20 to 30 pills. Meanwhile, there was only one bottle of Healing Pills with 7 or 8 left inside.
Manager Yang had been in charge of providing Qi Blood Pills to the mining slaves in exchange for Contribution Points, so it was only natural for him to carry around large quantities of Qi Blood Pills. This made Lu Ye extremely happy. In the past, he needed 10 Contribution Points just to obtain 1 Qi Blood Pill. He only managed to obtain 30 pills over the course of a year. On the other hand, he instantly received 200 to 300 of those Qi Blood Pills all at once just by killing Manager Yang. [I’m rich!]
He took out a Qi Blood Pill and prepared to consume it. Pondering for a moment, he added two more pills and stuffed them into his mouth. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to eat more of them but that it was pointless to eat so many of them in one go. Then, he took out the Healing Pills and swallowed one.
Immediately after that, he grabbed one of the large water sacs, untied the mouth of the bag, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and used the clean water to wash his wound. A slightly chilly feeling spread across his wound. Although the water agitated his injury, it also brought about a bit of coolness at the same time. His forehead oozed with sweat. When he finished cleaning his wound, he took out another Healing Pill and set it aside for later use.
He had done what he needed to do. Taking a deep breath, he wrapped his hands around the hilt of the sword and yanked it out abruptly. At that moment, his entire body shuddered in response. Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and did not make a single sound.
He had no time for delays. He swiftly picked up the Healing Pill he had set aside earlier, crushed it into powder in his hands, and scattered the powder on his wound. Healing Pills could be consumed directly, but he did not know whether it had any effect if used externally. Thus, he could only give it a try.
Untying the clothes tied around the base of his thigh, he bandaged his wound properly. After all his efforts, he was practically soaked in sweat. He lay down directly on the ground and didn’t feel like moving in the slightest as he gradually lost consciousness.
He did not know how long had passed by the time he woke up again. He struggled to sit up and leaned against the rock wall. Then, he lifted a hand and pressed the area around the injury on his leg. Although it hurt, there was no inflammation. That was a good thing. It would seem that both consuming the Healing Pill and applying it externally had worked. The most dangerous period was over, and he finally relaxed slightly.
A rumbling sound came from his stomach. Before encountering Manager Yang, he had not eaten anything for more than half a day. He planned to exchange his Contribution Points for some food after turning in the ores he had harvested. Who could have known that Manager Yang would force him to enter the depths of the mining tunnels? Afterwards, he even fought a deadly battle with Manager Yang and was wounded in the end. Fortunately, he found a lot of food in Manager Yang’s Storage Bag. Taking out a piece of dried meat, he ate it with some water to wash it down.
His hunger slowly faded. Since this place was practically inaccessible and he was safe for the time being, he gradually began showing interest in the items Manager Yang left behind. While eating, he rifled through the items he had taken out of Manager Yang’s Storage Bag. He could recognize the Qi Blood Pills and Healing Pills. However, there were some Spirit Pills that he had never seen before. He had no idea what they were used for. Moreover, some of those Spirit Pills were exuding a pungent spell. It was obviously something nasty.
Putting those Spirit Pills aside, Lu Ye casually picked up a book and flipped through it under the flickering torchlight. The contents of the book instantly enraptured him. It would seem that Manager Yang had been a rather ‘passionate’ man. That book wasn’t just rich in content, but it was also rich in pictures. He did not know who had drawn those pictures, but those pictures were incredibly skilful. They were very detailed and life-like…
His physical condition was very weak at the moment. It was not a suitable time to read this kind of erotic content. Thus, he tossed it to the side and picked up another book. This book contained words on the cover. Reading the title, it turned out to be a biography of a Sword Saint. That aroused his interest, so he read a few pages of it only to discover that it was a storybook.
Tossing that book to the side, he picked up the third book. When he read the title on the cover, his heart skipped a beat. [The Golden Liberation Technique!?] He hurriedly flipped through it, and his expression became increasingly excited. It was a book on cultivation techniques! It was similar to the first book. It was filled with pictures and texts, which were very easy to understand. From the looks of it, it seemed to be the cultivation technique that Manager Yang had been cultivating.
Following his excitement, he suddenly realized a very real problem. He had yet to unlock his Spiritual Points. Even with a cultivation technique placed right in front of him, it was completely useless to him. He sighed softly and placed the Golden Liberation Technique down. Since he couldn’t cultivate it, there was no point in reading it any further. He had tried unlocking his Spiritual Points over the course of the year but his efforts had proven fruitless so far.
After a moment of depression, he picked up Manager Yang’s Storage Bag again. There were still some items inside that he had not taken out yet. Reaching his hand into the bag, he took out the items, one by one. He did not find anything else that seemed valuable, but there were many rare ores. Among those rare ores were several fist-sized pieces of Yuan Metal. These were probably the ores that Manager Yang had secretly stashed away. Who knows what he had planned to do with them? ．
Lu Ye had mined a lot of rare minerals after mining in this place for a year, so he had seen most of these ores before. Even if he didn’t know what they were called or what they were used for, he had seen them all before. That was until he took out a dark red piece of ore that was the size of a person’s head…
He had never seen something like this before, and he did not know which mining slave had mined this piece of ore either. In the end, it had eventually ended up in Manager Yang’s possession. It was a bit strange, but most items were valuable precisely because they were rare. Something even he had never seen before must be of great value.
Just as he was about to put down that ore, he felt his psyche becoming disoriented for a moment. Immediately after that, a blurry shadow appeared in front of him and transformed into a tree. It was that Shadowy Tree!
He was greatly astonished. There was one condition for the Shadowy Tree to appear, the condition being that he needed to focus. Moreover, it did not appear every time. Sometimes, it would appear; sometimes, it wouldn’t. But, the Shadowy Tree had shown up all by itself this time.
While he was trying to make sense of the situation, that vague Shadowy Tree suddenly grew roots, and those tree roots then plunged into the dark red ore in his hand.
In the next moment, a cracking sound rang out and the ore split into two. An orange-yellow light entered his vision, frightening him out of his wits. That was because the ore had cracked open to reveal a fire inside!
He subconsciously tried to throw the ball of fire away, but that fire was stuck to his hands. He could not get it off his hands no matter how he wrung his hands. In that short moment of panic, he suddenly realized that the changes in the dark red ore were probably related to the appearance of the Shadowy Tree. What amazed him even more was that he didn’t feel any sensation of being burned.
Meanwhile, the orange-yellow flame was shrinking rapidly as if it was being absorbed by something. In just a few moments, that ball of fire vanished before his very eyes. He was still caught up in his astonishment when a scorching force surged up from his dantian. That force drew upon the strength of his Qi and blood, converging toward that location.
An unspeakable pain followed. He suddenly felt a tremendous force stirring in his lower abdomen, almost as if it was going to rip him apart completely. He couldn’t help groaning in pain, and his clothes were instantly soaked in sweat. Just when he thought he was going to die, a soft sound came from his lower abdomen. He could sense that something had been broken at that moment.
The pain quickly disappeared. At the same time, the world in Lu Ye’s eyes underwent a wondrous change. A strange and surreal feeling bloomed in him. He could distinctly sense a mysterious power gathering around his dantian in his lower abdomen. Then, a wave of overwhelming surprise washed over him… He had unlocked his Spiritual Points!