Cultivation: I have an omnipotent land

Chapter 3 Miners

Flame Valley is a canyon south of Wuyifang. The valley is filled with raging fires, flowing lava, and poisonous miasma, making it a forbidden place where mortals will surely die if they enter.

However, although the environment here is harsh, it also contains treasures that cultivators flock to.

Rehmannia essence is an excellent auxiliary material for refining fire-attribute magical artifacts. It has been purchased in large quantities in the market, and some of the best quality ones are even offered to sects.

Driven by demand, the profession of miner came into being.

Xiao Ming walked on the scorching, blackened, rocky road. In front of and behind him were densely packed people, forming long queues of people going back and forth.

Soon after, Xiao Ming finally arrived at his destination.

Between the two giant rocks, a burly man stood on the left and a voluptuous woman in red stood on the right. The two were maintaining order and checking the passes of passersby.

Above the two sat an elderly man with white hair and beard, whose cultivation had reached the late stage of Qi Refining.

Although the Flame Valley is an unclaimed mine, it still has mine owners who each occupy a section of the mine and charge mining fees and protection fees to the independent cultivators.

For most low-level independent cultivators, although they have to pay an extra fee, these mine owners do maintain a certain level of order, prevent excessive conflicts and killings, and sometimes even help drive away monsters.

In general, order is always better than disorder.

Finally, it was Xiao Ming's turn. He walked up to the hot female cultivator in red and handed her his wooden token.

The female cultivator in red stared at the name on the wooden plaque, and couldn't help but glance at Xiao Ming a few more times.

"You're Xiao Ming?"

Xiao Ming felt a lump in his throat. He naturally knew what the other party meant by those words, because Liu Di from the enforcement team had posted a big-character poster, which had completely ruined his reputation in Wuyifang.

"That's me," Xiao Ming said somewhat nervously.

The woman in red crossed her arms and sized up the shy boy who had lowered his head and dared not look at her. She noticed that he was at the second level of Qi Refining and couldn't help but chuckle, knowing that there might be something fishy going on.

"Go in."

She didn't care about the truth, as long as the mining fees and protection fees were paid.

"Thank you, fairy." Xiao Ming nodded gratefully.

After passing this checkpoint, Xiao Ming finally entered the mine.

He stood atop a boulder, gazing down at the slope below, and saw fiery embers surging within the cracks, surrounded by a thin layer of red mist.

This red mist is formed from the evil energy of earth fire. Mortals who touch it will die. Even cultivators will suffer from fire poison entering their bodies if they are exposed to it for a long time, causing their internal organs to be eroded and causing unspeakable pain.

The original owner of Xiao Ming's body, Xiao Ming's mother, died from fire poison.

To ward off this fiery evil energy, one needs to wear a fire-repelling talisman.

At this moment, as the earth fire evil energy surged upward, Xiao Ming's nose immediately smelled a faint burnt smell, and a feeling of heat welled up in his heart. He immediately took out a fire-repelling talisman and stuck it on his body.

It was as if I had put on a layer of ice silk, and the feeling of heat immediately disappeared.

However, only a minority of people used the fire-repelling talisman at the scene, while most of the rogue cultivators stared at the red mist below, turning a blind eye.

These fire-repelling talismans aren't cheap; each one costs one spirit stone, which is almost equivalent to several days' income for these mining rogues. Naturally, they need to use them sparingly, as this amount of fire poison is still within their tolerable range.

A group of people stood on the steep slope, watching the changes in the mist below. They could vaguely see the shadows of some living creatures, which were fire-type demonic beasts active in the earth fire evil energy.

Just then, a large bird engulfed in flames suddenly burst forth. It flapped its wings, tearing a gap in the red mist, and pecked at something in a crack in the earth's veins.

"What a powerful demon beast." Xiao Ming estimated that it was at least a third-tier demon beast, stronger than an ordinary late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

After an unknown amount of time, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "The earth fire's malevolent energy is about to dissipate!"

The earth vein activity in the Flaming Valley is cyclical. As the fiery evil energy dissipates, it also means that the earth vein activity enters a low period.

So everyone present rushed down and headed towards the various collection points.

With more wolves than meat, some physical conflict is inevitable, but as long as it doesn't escalate too much, the mine owners will turn a blind eye.

Some of the stronger independent cultivators had already joined forces before setting off to occupy some safe large gathering points.

For a weakling like Xiao Ming, there are only two choices: either choose a small mining site with limited reserves, or go to an area that others are unwilling to venture into.

Xiao Ming had no interest in competing with these people, so he strode towards the area where the fire poison was more concentrated.

There was still a faint red mist that hadn't dissipated, and the fire poison was even more concentrated. A fire-avoiding talisman that an ordinary rogue cultivator could use for half a month if he was careful might not even last a day here. Trying to tough it out with his body would only lead to a quicker death. So it was not worth it for other miners.

But for Xiao Ming, it was just right. He had plenty of fire-repelling talismans, all freshly made from the ground.

Because other miners have also ventured into this area, there is an even greater amount of Rehmannia glutinosa extract here.

Xiao Ming walked to the mouth of a rift valley, where a large amount of earth fire evil energy gushed out. After the scorching airflow came into contact with the cold air, it immediately cooled into a light red liquid. This light red liquid slowly cooled and turned into hard yellow crystals called Rehmannia glutinosa.

Standing here, even with the fire-repelling talisman on, Xiao Ming felt his mouth and nose burning and his tongue bitter. He had to take out another fire-repelling talisman and stick it on.

Then, Xiao Ming took out a fine iron spear and forcefully struck the yellow crystals. As the yellow crystals were broken, some shimmering yellow sand fell out, which was the essence of Rehmannia glutinosa.

This Rehmannia glutinosa has a strong corrosive effect and can also affect storage bags, so it can only be stored in a basket that has been soaked in a special medicinal solution.

"Not bad, the purity is very high." Xiao Ming thought to himself that after returning home, he would also plant this top-quality Rehmannia glutinosa in the ground.

Over the next few days, Xiao Ming happily became a miner.

Unbeknownst to him, he ventured deeper into the area. Looking at the surrounding terrain, Xiao Ming suddenly realized that it looked familiar. This seemed to be the hunting ground of that third-tier demon beast.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming became both alert and excited. If it could attract a third-tier demon beast, there must be something good here.

Based on his previous memories, Xiao Ming arrived at a rift in the earth's veins and saw that a large number of yellow crystals had been destroyed, with the finest Rehmannia essence scattered on the ground.

Xiao Ming immediately felt a pang of heartache and quickly collected the Rehmannia glutinosa extract.

"No, these rehmannia essences scattered on the ground prove that they are not what the monster is looking for, so there must be something else." Xiao Ming took out his fine iron spear and began to strike the remaining yellow crystals forcefully.

As the outermost layer of crystals is peeled off, the color inside gradually deepens and turns redder, eventually becoming blood red.

Xiao Ming took out a crystal. It was clear that the blood-red crystal was hollow and contained some crystal sand, which looked like sparks in the sunlight, making it exceptionally beautiful.

"This is Flame Essence, an important material for crafting high-grade magical artifacts, and also one of the materials for refining fire-attribute talismans." Xiao Ming was overjoyed; this thing was more than ten times the value of Rehmannia Essence.

Looking at the remaining Rehmannia glutinosa crystals in front of him, Xiao Ming immediately became energetic and began mining with great enthusiasm.

As dusk approached, Xiao Ming suddenly felt a burning sensation in his body, and the surrounding mist began to thicken.

Suddenly, scorching fire erupted from the crack in the earth's veins, like a fire dragon soaring into the sky.

The fire-repelling talisman on Xiao Ming's body instantly burst into flames.

"The earth's veins are becoming active again." Xiao Ming hurriedly took out two more fire-repelling talismans and stuck them on his body, then ran up the mountain without looking back.

Behind him, red mist surged like waves, and the roars of monsters could be faintly heard.

"The ley lines have revived! Run!"

The other miners also noticed something was wrong and quickly and desperately ran up the mountain.

Some of the slower ones, upon being hit by the intense earth fire energy, had their fire-repelling talismans instantly rendered ineffective. The fire poison entered their bodies, causing their limbs to become weak and making it difficult for them to even stand.

Finally, they were caught up by the demonic beasts in the fiery aura of the earth and became its prey.

Even those who managed to escape were far from safe; many had red skin and bloody tears in the corners of their eyes.

This is a mild poisoning condition. It will take at least half a month of rest to recover. If left untreated, the poison will eventually erode the body, leading to a painful death.

This is the experience of a miner. It is a bit dangerous, but a miner can earn a high income of dozens of spirit stones a year.

Nowhere else can a cultivator in the early stages of Qi Refining earn such a substantial income; how could they not flock to it?