NOVEL NEXT Chapter 44 Qi Crystal
44 Qi Crystal
The hill was rocky and appeared inconspicuous among the other hills. However, the moment Lu Zhen touched the leaves, they crumbled, revealing a vast cave. Lu Zhen had expected this, but he was still stunned by the size of the cave.
The cave was enormous, and Lu Zhen couldn't help but wonder how the snake managed to conceal its entrance with leaves.
Without looking back, Lu Zhen entered the cave.
"Lu Zhen should be safe if he is so confident in himself," Xia Mei thought as she watched Lu Zhen enter the cave.
"If something happens to him, you are dead," Xia Mei said domineeringly as she sat cross-legged.
Hearing this, Xia Long just smiled.
"Does this bitch think that she can give me a death warning? Our statuses are equal," Xia Long thought as he silently took out a bag.
After all, although the pink autumn sect was powerful she was just an inner disciple, technically his and Xia Mei status were the same.
He ate the pill hidden under his mouth and opened the bag; the moment it opened, an invisible substance began to spread.
Meanwhile Lu Zhen who entered the cave, was met with dim darkness, with a long passage that he could barely see due to the lack of light.
He could hear water drops falling to the ground and strange noises.
Although his diving physique had heightened his five senses, he still couldn't see in the darkness. Noticing this, Lu Zhen frowned.
"I will have to think of a better option for the future," Lu Zhen thought with a frown as he slowly walked along the passageway. Seeing in the darkness was a common skill among martial artists, but being new to the martial world, Lu Zhen hadn't learned many techniques yet.
The only techniques he had just begun to grasp were the [Verdant Whirlwind Slash] and the cultivation technique, the Verdant Saber Art. Apart from these, he hadn't acquired any other practical skills.
This was a problem Lu Zhen had just noticed. He didn't have the time to properly train combat arts right now, as he was getting distracted by various factors.
However, it wasn't without benefits. His skills had improved, and he had levelled up significantly compared to staying in seclusion and focusing solely on martial arts. From his perspective, remaining in seclusion was worse; depending on his talent, he couldn't train combat arts effectively.
Lu Zhen faced two choices: either remain secluded to learn more techniques while slowly leveling up, or level up rapidly with limited combat skills and rely primarily on his innate abilities for killing.
Of course, Lu Zhen chose both options. He wasn't one to reject benefits. When the time was right, he would engage in combat, and when it was peaceful, he would focus on seclusion. From what Lu Zhen had seen, the higher his level, the faster he could train, combat and cultivate, so choosing both options was the way to go.
Lu Zhen felt something plain and smooth on the ground and looked down, which stunned him.
The floor of the cave was actually made of marble, which surprised him. Lu Zhen crouched down to observe it and felt its smooth texture, causing him to frown.
"Huh, this looks like a man-made cave for sure; it doesn't look like a cave made by a snake," Lu Zhen thought with a frown, feeling confused.
"There must have been humans living in the cave before the snake made its den," Lu Zhen thought while rubbing his hands.
"Let's explore," Lu Zhen thought as he walked along the long passageway of the cave.
Since the snake had managed to hide here for so long, there must be a secret within that allowed it to remain concealed and grow stronger.
Thak! Thak!
Footsteps resounded in the cave as Lu Zhen made his way along the passageway. After a short two-minute journey, he noticed the passage was getting bigger, and there was faint light coming from the other end, which he could barely see as he walked quickly while staying alert to any danger. He saw a faint light in the distance, prompting him to run faster.
He also observed that the passageway was getting wider as he travelled. Finally, after five minutes of travel, he reached the light. What greeted his eyes was a place filled with crystals that glittered in the light.
Seeing this, Lu Zhen's eyes sparkled with greed upon reading the description of the crystals.
[Qi Crystal]
[Remark: An ore that has absorbed qi and been compressed in stone for so long that the qi became trapped in the stone, turning it into a qi stone. Can be used as currency.]
When Lu Zhen saw the description, he was undoubtedly surprised. Qi crystals were a very rare resource in this world, used by martial artists for trade and cultivation. Gold and other ordinary materials were useless to martial artists, so they used qi crystals as currency. Even if they didn't use them for trading, they could use them to aid in cultivation, as third-stage martial artists or higher could directly absorb the dense, attributeless qi through their qi pathways, greatly increasing their cultivation speed.
Lu Zhen, even as the heir of the Lu family, didn't get many qi crystals, only five per year, which was the same as the salary of an ordinary family elder. Seeing an entire mine of crystals was undoubtedly a cause for joy, even if the mine was relatively small, containing around 500 to 800 qi crystals based on his knowledge.
Lu Zhen, ignoring his happiness, looked around and found some snake-shedded skin on the floor next to a small pond.
[Shedded Skin of Gorgon Snake]
[Remarks: What more do you want?]
Seeing the status of the shedded skin of the gorgon snake, Lu Zhen knew that the snake Xia Long was talking about must be the gorgon snake he had just defeated. Thinking of this, Lu Zhen smirked a little.
"Pretentious bastard is going to die soon," Lu Zhen thought.
Lu Zhen undoubtedly found it amusing and was curious about who was writing these descriptions for him.
However, the way of speaking was a little too similar to the way Lu Zhen had trolled some newbies when he had accidentally modded his favorite game or when he had created a game that flopped and was abandoned before it even started.
Lu Zhen, ignoring his amusing thoughts, looked at the pool that was oozing a meager amount of qi.
[Qi Pool]
[Remark: The dense qi from the qi crystals made the surrounding qi so abundant that it formed in a liquid state. However, there are six eggs in the pond, which has caused the pool's qi to be less than it was supposed to be.]
Seeing this, Lu Zhen was a little angry.
"So, these little eggs…" Lu Zhen was about to continue, but he thought of something. He jumped into the pool and took the six eggs out to examine their status.
[Gorgon Egg]
[State: Fetus]
[Remarks: Stronger than other gorgon snakes]
Hearing the remarks, Lu Zhen almost threw the eggs in a fit of rage, but he restrained himself. It would be a waste to throw them away, so he held onto them.
Suddenly, he thought of something. Since Xia Long said that he had the flower, why hadn't Lu Zhen found it at all?
Lu Zhen found this strange.
He decided to go back but, before doing so, he looked at the mine one last time with a greedy look and then continued.
"I will come for you again, my treasure," Lu Zhen said as he reluctantly left the place, stashing the eggs in his pouch.
Lu Zhen carefully looked all the way back but didn't find a single trace of any flower as he retraced his steps.
"So he was lying, huh…" Lu Zhen thought.
"What is he planning to do?" Lu Zhen said as he returned. As he was returning, he sensed a fishy smell in the air. The moment he inhaled the air, he, who was perfectly fit, suddenly started feeling dizzy.
[You have been affected by poison.]
Lu Zhen's eyes began to shut as he tried to stay awake; however, he just couldn't even stand still. As he fell to the floor with his eyes half closed, the sudden pain from having his head hit the floor woke him up from his sleep.
[You have adapted to grinwar poison.]
[Your adapt skill has levelled up from level 2 to level 3]
Seeing the prompt lu zhen was terrified. Just taking a whiff almost knocked me out cold? Lu zhen thought with shock.
In this world, poison is pretty useless unless you want to kill a mortal or a martial trainee because, after one becomes a third-stage martial artist, they basically become immune to most of the poisons in this world. Even if there were poisons, they were expensive to make, as they needed countless resources to even be created, which could very well nurture a first-stage martial artist just to kill a third-stage martial artist, and there were countless methods to counter poisons, so poisons were rarely used in anything.