Two days later.
"You want to head down the mountain for Xuesha City?"
The goateed superintendent lounged deep in a wooden recliner, his eyes half-lidded as he gazed down at Lu Lin.
Xuesha City was a majestic city that the Xuesha Demonic Sect had built at the foot of the mountain, the most important hub between the Sect and the outside world.
In the city sprawled a marketplace, which had pooled all kinds of resources from across or even nearby the Kingdom of Yan and channeled them up the mountain into the Sect; also, the Sect's product flowed through the marketplace out into the outside world.
In the city, there were not only what cultivators needed but also what warriors sought----restaurants, weapon smithies, alchemy shops, whorehouses... all needs could be met here in this extremely prosperous city.
According to the regulations that governed warrior-miners, every month, one could ask for a day off, as long as their monthly task had been finished. But many never dared to relax a bit and made the most of time mining and training, afraid that they might fall behind even one step and slip into a bottomless abyss.
Over the past three months, Lu Lin had never applied for it, either.
"Sir, your subordinate wants to draw his salary and ease up a little." Lu Lin made a cupped-hand salute.
"Well, one shouldn't be high-strung all the time. It would not hurt to relax every so often." The goateed man slowly took out a yellowing ledger before his finger traced across line under line of figures. After quite a while, he said, "Well, I've figured it out. You've earned in total....one hundred silver coins."
"One hundred?" Lu Lin showed an indiscernible frown and asked hastily, "Sir, the number... is something wrong there?"
Before stepping into the Body Tempering Realm, one would not be rewarded for their daily three-jin task but for anything beyond that. What's more, every shoddy spiritual stone would earn a reward of ten silver coins.
These three months, he had turned in a total of twelve shoddy spiritual stones. Counting the Xuan-iron ore that he had mined beyond the Sect's requirement, he estimated that his earnings were around one hundred fifty silver coins.
How could there be only one hundred silver coins?
"Em?" The goateed superintendent lifted his eyelids as his gaze instantly turned icy-cold and thrust like two sharp swords Lu Lin's way, "You mean I've given the wrong number?"
Lu Lin's fists tightened in the sleeves, white-knuckled.
Fuck, so black-hearted! There were only one hundred fifty in total, yet he had skimmed off fifty silver coins!
He swore angrily, secretly, but squeezed out a 'terrified' and 'enlightened' smile on his face, "No, I wouldn't dare! Your subordinate is muddled-headed and has remembered incorrectly. It's one hundred silver coins, no more than that! "
Only by then did the goateed superintendent make a satisfied humph as the dark clouds on his face parted. He withdrew two fifty-silver-coin notes from the desk drawer and passed them along with a weighty, jet-black identity badge, engraved with the word 'Martial', to Lu Lin. "Here. This badge can prove your identity. Those wandering warriors will give way to you if they see it."
Lu Lin accepted them and stuffed them into his chest lining.
"Take my word," the goateed man gave a straightforward warning in an abruptly cold voice. "Don't get any wrong idea! You have in you a mark implanted by an immortal. No matter how far away you have fled, they can seize you back and put you to the most miserable death! Understand?"
A chill crept into Lu Lin's heart as he hung his head and made a cupped-hand salute. "Understood!"
...
Xuesha City was sixty Lis(one Li equals half a kilometer) from the Xuan-iron mine. It was split into the East City and the West City. The East City was where immortals communicated, cultivated in quiet solitude, or swapped treasures, and mortal warriors were barred from setting foot in unless an immortal walked him in.
Only West City was a place for warriors.
The journey to the city gate of the West City took Lu Lin a Shichen(two hours). Barely through the gate, a broad cityscape opened up before his eyes!
A massive street over a hundred Zhangs(one Zhang equals 3.3 meters) wide stretched ahead, the shops along it showed a dense, neat pattern, lines of pedestrians crossed each other as though weaving cloth, and the bustle and hustle sounded like boiling water; the city could rival those metropolises from Lu Lin's memory in prosperity.
It did make sense on second thought.
The Xuesha Demonic Sect, ranking among the Kingdom of Yan's top five, was a vast power and had boundless resources. So, naturally, the city would draw guests from all directions. It was said that the West City had a population of over two million, among which were not only opportunity-seeking mortals from around the Kingdom of Yan but also from other countries.
"Where to find bookshops selling classics and martial arts manuals?" Along the way, Lu Lin's eyes searched all around.
His top priority on this trip was to buy books that taught one about mining; incidentally, he would also look for other useful things.
Finally, half a Shichen later(an hour later), he happened upon a shop called Tens of Thousands of Volumes.
It housed all kinds of books and, on the second floor, there were even martial arts manuals for sale, though most were Body Tempering Realm ones and costly- the cheapest one sold for hundreds of silver coins, not affordable for the present Lu Lin.
Fortunately, he soon came across what he wanted.
Essential Guidance for Miners, which elaborated on the identifying, searching, and mining of a Xuan-iron vein and, in passing, touched upon how to find accompanying shoddy spiritual stones; it met all Lu Lin's current needs.
It was not expensive and cost only twelve silver coins.
In addition, he also stumbled upon an auxiliary technique--- Self Concealment Technique, which enabled one to hide one's power aura. If his mastery of it had reached the pinnacle, cultivators under the Foundation Establishment Realm would fail to see through him.
This was what technique he needed urgently. With the Martial Dao Furnace, his training would progress at a rate unrivaled by anyone. Only with this technique, providing cover, could he avoid others' suspicions, thereby averting follow-up trouble.
This book cost sixty silver coins. The two of them had set him back seventy-two silver coins.
Placing the books in his bosom, he walked outside. When he came to a deserted corner, with a mere thought, the books were gone in his chest, showing up in the one-foot Inner Space of the Furnace.
"I began with one hundred silver coins, yet the next thing I knew, only twenty-eight were left....I will see if I can chance upon something else." Lu Lin carried on his stroll down the bustling street.
Having burned through his lunch, in the afternoon, he rambled to a market.
This was not a market for cultivators but what warriors had built to imitate one. The items for sale in it were of varied quality and even included martial arts, but incomplete, inferior ones that covered only the first three Levels in the Body Tempering Realm, thus of little value to him.
"Treasures unearthed from the ruins of an immortal's residence. Step right up! Don't miss out!"
A flurry of slightly dramatic hollers attracted Lu Lin's attention.
He followed the sound. A hawker, scrawny like a monkey, made an immediate, enthusiastic greeting, "Lad, have a look! All these come from the ruins of an immortal's residence and are absolutely part of his inheritance, rare and precious, giving you your money's worth.... "
Lu Lin swept his gaze over the stall, which held nothing but broken clay pots, rusty steel plates, rotting wood...Nothing intact there.
"All rubbish...Eh?"
Lu Lin came to a sudden, unnoticeable stillness.
Just a moment ago, he clearly sensed a slight vibration from the Marital Dao Furnace.
This feeling was no different from when he held a shoddy spiritual stone.
There was spiritual energy here!
Moreover, without touching, the Martial Dao Furnace had automatically detected the energy. There must be far more of it in this item than a shoddy spiritual stone!
Lu Lin was shaken to the depths but still feigned an unperturbed look. He pretended to be observing the pieces of rubbish on the stall while running his seemingly absent-minded fingertips across them...
"Not this...not this, either..."
He tried them piece by piece.
"Lad, have a look, all I have put out is authentic treasures. They have been brought back from the ruins, an immortal's items. Buy one, and it casts off bad luck and wards off evil spirits." The skinny hawker was hard at work pitching, spraying spit.
Giving no reply, Lu Lin went on with his observation. Suddenly, his fingertip froze on a rust-spotted iron plate.
It was palm-sized and had gathered a thick layer of brownish-red rust, looking no different than a piece of scrap iron tossed away by the roadside.
Yet, from the Martial Dao Furnace deep in his mind had come a distinct, strong reminder:
[Discovered: lower-class spiritual energy. Exchange for three years of hard training? Y/N]