bookrandom Chapter 22 Bodhisattva
Chapter 22 Bodhisattva
It was Zhong Ming's first time entering the mine tunnels, and he was very curious about everything around him.
The side rock walls are grayish-black and very hard. If you keep walking along the passage, you will see a stone door.
In room number 2A3, there is a small jack on the side. After inserting the key, the entire stone door starts moving.
A common trick in the world of cultivation.
Upon entering, Zhong Ming was amazed by the ingenious structure of the room: a circular room with a stone bed and a stone table in the center, on which were placed daily necessities such as bowls and chopsticks, and surrounded by many stones.
Some of the bells were familiar to Zhong Ming. For example, the "dentures" that the old Taoist priest had fitted for him contained similar air stones. These stones could store a large amount of air and could be used for a long time. If you held them in your mouth, you would hardly have to worry about suffocating when you went into the water.
There are also some I don't recognize at all.
There are notes or words pasted next to the stones; some simply say "Don't touch," while others explain in detail how to use the stones.
Cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining are too weak, not much different from ordinary people. They still need to eat, sleep, and rest. Here, a red stone is thoughtfully provided. It will light up and make a sound when it's time to eat, notifying everyone to go to "Landlord Old Wang's" place for dinner.
If you don't want to be disturbed, just remove the stone from the gap in the rock wall.
There are two passages nearby, one leading to the toilet and the other to a separate mine tunnel. It is clearly stated that digging is only allowed to proceed straight ahead, and caution should be taken to avoid digging into the adjacent mine tunnel.
On the stone wall, there are carvings.
The moment Zhong Ming looked in that direction, he realized it was a spell.
A spell given away for free.
The technique for probing nearby spirit stones suggests that since they're being given away for free here, they must be common, mass-produced items. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed true.
The Spirit Detection Technique has a detection range of no more than three meters to prevent you from detecting ore in the adjacent mine and then digging all the way there. In other words, you are only allowed to dig about three meters to the side at most.
It's fair to say that the success of mining depends entirely on luck.
Zhong Ming spent a full hour studying the spells carved on the stone wall before he finally learned how to circulate spiritual energy.
He then decided to try mining for the first time...
The road ahead is very long, indicating that the previous resident here has lived here for quite some time. It is highly likely that the previous resident broke through the cultivation level and left for the next level.
He walked slowly, carefully observing the excavation marks left on the surrounding mine tunnels. Suddenly, a huge impact came from next door, like a battering ram hitting a city gate, making a great commotion.
Zhong Ming suddenly felt an irresistible urge to test my skills.
Let's see who's louder, the one next door or the one next door.
He focused his energy in his dantian, calmed his mind, and swung his pickaxe at the rock wall beside him.
"Bang~"
With lightning speed, Zhong Ming frantically turned his head to the left, barely dodging his own hoe.
Is this thing so hard?
The moment the hoe struck, a tremendous rebound force erupted, and the other side of the hoe went straight for Zhong Ming's forehead. Luckily, he reacted quickly, or he would have cracked his own skull open.
Even so, he's not in much better shape. He touched his head and found a cut below his temple. The wound wasn't deep, and hopefully it wouldn't affect his work.
Zhong Ming looked down and carefully examined the spot he had dug; the pit he had left was about an inch deep.
It's strange. In the early stage of Qi Refining, my physique was definitely considered strong, so why is it so difficult for me to mine?
Just as I was wondering, a piercing sound with an extremely high frequency came from afar.
'Oh, dinner's served?'
Zhong Ming strode quickly across the passage, grabbed the bowl and chopsticks, and headed straight for the entrance without slowing down. He didn't notice that the sound didn't come from the stone that symbolized the start of the meal.
.....
Zhong Ming stepped out of his mine tunnel, and a whirlwind suddenly swept up in front of him.
An exceptionally muscular man rushed past him, and Zhong Ming was startled. Those muscles... that speed...
How many heroes there are in the world!
For the first time, Zhong Ming felt pressure in the face of his usually dominant physique.
It seems...maybe, perhaps I can't beat this big guy in hand-to-hand combat.
In the blink of an eye, the other person had already run quite a distance, and Zhong Ming immediately followed.
When Zhong Ming arrived at the "landlord's" lobby, it was already crowded with people.
The person sitting in the very center wasn't "Landlord Wang" but rather... a Bodhisattva?
In the very center sat a Buddhist monk, draped in a large robe that covered his body completely, his eyes closed, meditating in peace.
Zhong Ming tried to make out his face, but the harder he tried, the blurrier the other person's face became.
The "landlord" sat on the far end, urging the people behind him to hurry up:
"Hurry up, all of you, show us what you're good at... Hey, hey, I didn't actually ask you to come and eat."
He stopped Zhong Ming, looking at him speechlessly.
"I called the emergency assembly call, not for lunch! Well, although there's no difference this time, since you're late, just find a place to sit on the outskirts. I really don't know whether to say you're lucky or unlucky."
Zhong Ming sat in the position closest to the mine tunnel for easy escape.
He knew nothing, so he could only prick up his ears and secretly listen to the conversations around him.
"How lucky! The Bodhisattva of Universal Salvation actually came to our place today. It seems that I have a good chance of breaking through to the fourth level of Qi Refining this time."
"Brother, I haven't been here long, what should I do?"
"Hey, don't worry about anything else, just focus on your cultivation technique. Absorb as much spiritual energy as you can, and how much you manage to grab depends on your skill."
"Shh, shh, speak softly, don't offend the Bodhisattva. He's a great cultivator in the Golden Core stage. He can send us flying with a wave of his hand."
"Ah, a Golden Core cultivator, what are you doing here?"
"You don't understand. The great path they cultivate is to save all living beings. When you break through a realm, do you need to prepare a lot of spirit stones? They don't need to. They just crush the spirit stones and distribute them to us. What is that... accumulating merit? When they break through, they are blessed by gods and Buddhas. They don't need to prepare spirit stones at all. There are no bottlenecks or heavenly tribulations."
"Wow, that's amazing... Will I break even? I bet I spent more spirit stones than I would have gotten from a normal breakthrough, right?"
"What do you know? The value of having no bottlenecks? They don't have heavenly tribulations, and they have excellent interpersonal relationships. Don't you want to cultivate the Great Dao peacefully and ascend to immortality?"
......
Zhong Ming became more and more confused. Why would he benefit from giving us spiritual energy?
hiss~~~
Could he be a talent like Gao Jin?
If everyone absorbed his spiritual energy, a cultivator at the Golden Core Realm might very well be able to control the entire mine.
Zhong Ming frowned slightly and pulled everyone to his side.
"Kid, where are you going? You're such a hopeless guy." Old Wang shook his head helplessly.
"Can I not participate?"
"No, once you're here, there's no going back. If you really don't want to participate, just stop using your cultivation technique."
Old Wang turned his head away and ignored the little guy.
"Amitabha".
The Bodhisattva chanted a Buddhist prayer.
Everyone immediately sat up straight, and the "universal" ceremony began.