What? Three years?
Lu Lin's heart gave an abrupt leap that almost escaped his rib cage, and his blood raced, sending a slight shiver up his spine.
A shoddy spiritual stone could be converted to only one month's hard training, yet this plain-looking iron plate could turn into three years' worth?
Could this possibly be...a fragment of an immortal's magical weapon?
Exchange! Surely!
Wait!
Lu Lin suddenly came back to his senses.
The vision struck him of a shoddy spiritual stone crumbling into ashes upon being converted.
If he did it on the spot, the piece of iron might well be reduced to ashes after its spiritual energy had run dry. By then, any chance that the lean hawker would let it go? They would get tangled up and draw the attention of passers-by or even immortals, which was a consequence he hated to think of!
He was not to take any risk! He had to buy it before using it in a safe place!
Having contained his excitement, Lu Lin's fingertip did not stop but slid smoothly to the next item, playing casual.
"Young Man, anything catches your eye? I can tell you're a nice guy, so I will give you a killer discount!" The hawker eagerly leaned closer.
"This clay pot, how much?" Lu Lin picked up a chipped clay pot and asked offhandedly.
"Aha! Young man, you have good eyes!" The hawker slapped his thigh, his eyes glowing, "That is not an ordinary clay pot, but what immortals used to store pills! It keeps spiritual Qi from drifting away. It's our luck to meet each other, so I will slash its price by half. Pay 100 silver coins, then you can walk away with it."
Lu Lin shook his head and thrust up a finger, uttering three words, "One silver coin."
"What?" The hawker gaped and thought he had misheard. Only quite a while later did he react, showing a grimace. "Young Man, you've really... driven a hard bargain, haven't you? After all, it's what an immortal once had..."
"We both know about these things." Lu Lin said in a calm tone. "I want it as no more than a decor item. If you won't sell it, that's okay." With this, he looked about to walk away.
"Hey! Wait a minute! Young man, don't leave. We can talk about it! Could you add... add a little more?... Alas, okay, okay! To make friends with you, I don't mind even if I suffer a loss. One silver coin, deal!" The hawker seemed beaten down with a great loss, pounding his chest and stomping his foot.
Lu Lin's lip corner twitched, creating a smile hardly noticeable. He turned back and grabbed the clay pot up, then picked up the piece of iron with affected hesitation, saying, "Alright. I can't have you suffering too much of a loss, so I will buy another one. Two silver coins. "
"Alright! Young Man, I appreciate your forthrightness! It's yours!" The hawker accepted the two coins in a hurry, afraid that Lu Lin would reverse himself.
The moment Lu Lin spun around, the lip corners of both of them uncontrollably soared upward.
Both believed themselves to be the one who had gotten a sweet deal.
Lu Lin went on scouting around, yet had no more to show for it. So, he no longer stayed and started back for Xuesha Demonic Sect.
The bunkhouse was all empty, as other miners were still working. Lu Lin swung the door shut behind him and drew a deep breath. With the piece of iron in hand, a thought sprang up, 'Exchange!'
In a flash, from the iron plate gushed a torrent of spiritual energy, far more generous and purer than a shoddy spiritual stone, surging up his arm vein into his mind.
The Martial Dao Furnace flickered with light, then the information above instantly refreshed.
Owner of Martial Dao Furnace: Lu Lin
Realm: Body Tempering Realm(First Level)
Training Time: 3 years
Martial Arts: Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art
Inner Space: one foot
The piece of iron in his hand, as expected, soundlessly turned into a handful of rust-colored powder, sliding through his fingers.
Yet, Lu Lin did not spend the Training Time elevating his Realm at once.
He reined in his urge to channel it into Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art and took out the 'Essential Guidance for Miners' and started reading it with due focus.
His reading went on for a few straight hours until the sun began its downward journey in the west.
Suddenly...
On the information panel of the Martial Dao Furnace, a new line of text quietly appeared.
Essential Guidance for Miners: Absolute Beginner
"Could it be that...I can also spend Training Time enhancing my mastery of a book." Lu Lin's eyes momentarily lit up.
Have a try!
At once, he willed one month's Training Time into the Essential Guidance for Miners.
[ A miner's skills do not mature fast. It takes years of practice to become an experienced miner who knows his trade. Over the past backbreaking month, you have been observing, thinking, and reflecting, remarkably boosting your mining experience. Now you're a Beginner. ]
For a moment, Lu Lin fell into a stupor, as if having gone through a month's mining without a break. Tons of fragmented knowledge---on how to identify a vein, make out the rock structure, angle the pickaxe strikes, and work out a vein's direction----flooded into his brain and connected into a whole.
On the Furnace's panel, the line of text also changed along with this.
Essential Guidance for Miners: Beginner.
It worked!
"Keep going! It wouldn't hurt to become an expert miner!" Lu Lin showed little hesitation.
Though spending the Training Time on it would not improve his strength, he would become a more adept miner who could dig up more shoddy spiritual stones. With a continuous stream of spiritual stones, would he need to fret over the growth of his strength?
He channeled month after month into it.
[You have gone through a backbreaking month of mining and thinking. Your mastery of Essential Guidance for Miners has steadily grown.]
[You have gone through a backbreaking month of mining and thinking. Your mastery of Essential Guidance for Miners has steadily grown.]
....
Six reminders flashed by in one go.
Essential Guidance for Miners: Small Proficiency
In half a year, he went from Beginner to Small Proficiency, too fast to be possible in the real world, for tiredness, distraction, and fault were unavoidable. But the 'hard training' of the Furnace was of complete focus and full speed!
"Keep going!" Lu Lin was not the least stingy and continued pouring the Training Time into Essential Guidance for Miners.
Proceeding from Small Proficiency to Proficiency was way more difficult.
Not until Lu Lin had channeled one and a half years in did he break through the bottleneck!
The moment he stepped into Proficiency in Essential Guidance for Miners, a downpour of knowledge, experience, and tricks on mining surged into Lu Lin's mind; various vein textures, signs of accompanying ores, and digging tricks became what he knew like the back of his hand. He felt like a seasoned miner with decades' worth of experience.
He looked toward the panel of the Furnace.
Training Time: 11 months.
"My proficiency in mining is more than enough for now. Now check out Self Concealment Technique." Lu Lin took out the Self-Concealment Technique booklet.
Only a few hundred words long, it was about Qi and Blood circulation, pore closure, and aura withdrawal. He browsed it, then, sure enough, a new line was added to the panel.
Self Concealment Technique: Absolute Beginner.
"Upgrade!" Lu Lin, without the least hesitation, channeled the remaining Training Time of 11 months into Self Concealment Technique.
[Over eleven months' concentrated training, you have constantly adjusted your Qi and Blood and speculated on the way of concealing, breaking through into Small Proficiency in Self Concealment Technique. ]
He looked back at the updated information panel.
Owner of Martial Dao Furnace: Lu Lin.
Realm: Body Tempering Realm(First Level)
Training Time: Zero
Martial Arts: Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art (First Level)
Essential Guidance for Miners: Proficiency
Self Concealment Technique: Small Proficiency
Inner Space: one foot
Lu Lin immediately willed Self Concealment Technique to work. The next moment, all his muscles subtly adjusted themselves, instantly shutting his pores. His racing Qi and Blood sank into dormancy before his aura collapsed, and he looked no different from an ordinary man.
"Most superintendents are at Body Tempering Seventh or Eighth Level. This would be enough to fool them. But, if it is immortals at Qi Refining Realm Seventh or Eighth Level, I might not be able to manage that." Lu Lin secretly judged, "But, according to the Technique, if I can make it to the Fullest Mastery, even an immortal at Qi Refining Realm Tenth Level would have difficulty seeing through me."
By then, those warriors had already begun coming back from work. As their noises drew near, Lu Lin discreetly cleaned up all the traces, then went to the mess hall as usual, having a meal, before returning to the bunkhouse.
"By the way, why has Lu Shi been missing today?"
Lu Lin swept his eyes over Lu Shi's bed, asking casually,
"You must not know that Lu Lin failed his mining task and was...seized by a superintendent."
A roommate replied.
Lu Lin's palms suddenly tightened.
He didn't have to be told the ending of anyone that a superintendent had seized for failing the task.
"Alas, if not for Blood Wolves Gang, that bunch of leeches, how could Lu Shi have failed his task?"
"In such a swamp, what can we do?"
A few roommates heaved a sigh, feeling sympathetic deep inside.
Lu Lin silently went to bed, yet deep in his gaze was hidden a hint of icy coldness.
The next day, done with the routine training, carrying his tools, Lu Lin did not head into the depths of the cave but began surveying on the outskirts of the mining area.
At the moment, those confused rock layers, soil colors, and mineral distribution told his eyes a lot more than ever.
Every stripe and every colored piece of gravel was soundlessly speaking about the vein's direction and abundance of Xuan-iron ore, and even... the traces of accompanying spiritual stones!
"The soil is black yet white-spotted and has gleaming gravel embedded in it... the sign of a neighboring vein of spiritual stone...in this direction..." Guided by his knowledge, he chose a cave.
As he progressed, he kept an eye on the stripes on the wall.
A while later, he came to a stop and began swinging his pickaxe.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
After only a few pickaxe strikes, a familiar dark shade exposed from within the rock.
Nothing more than Xuan-iron ore!
Lu Lin's spirits lifted, and he wielded his pickaxe a few more times before a one-jin (roughly 1.1 pound)piece of Xuan-iron ore fell into the basket.
A strong start!
His motivation doubled as he dug. About half a Shichen( half a Shichen equals an hour)later, in the dim cave, a lustrous milky-white spot revealed itself to Lu Lin's eyes.
A shoddy spiritual stone!
Sure enough, there it was! His judgement proved accurate!
Lu Lin unearthed it carefully. Soon afterwards, he pocketed a shoddy spiritual stone.
"Previously, it took me five or six days to chance upon a piece, but now I have spent only half a Shichen! The difference in efficiency is outrageous!" Lu Lin's eyes sparkled with excitement.
With a thought, the spiritual stone in his hand turned into ashes, while the Training Time increased by 1 month.
"This area should have no more spiritual stone. Switch places!" Lu Lin decisively left. With his proficiency in Essential Guidance for Miners, he once again set about to look for the ore.
His luck from then on evened out, but in the following two hours, he still managed to find a second shoddy spiritual stone!
Toward sundown.
His haul today was three shoddy spiritual stones, alongside a staggering twenty-jin basketful of Xuan-iron ore. And this resulted from his focused search for shoddy spiritual stones. The efficiency difference was simply vast.
Lu Lin dug a pit on the spot and buried roughly ten jins of Xuan-iron ore.
He would attract too much attention by bringing back twenty jin at once. Ten jins of it was enough.
All in all, the Inner Space was too small to hold much.
Then, he took out that cherished Qi-Blood Pill and swallowed it down, before channeling one month of Training Time into Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art.
[Consuming a Qi-Blood Pill, your accumulation of Qi and Blood has significantly accelerated. Ten days later, the effect of the pill has passed, and the rate at which your accumulates Qi and Blood falls back. Solely relying on food and the thin natural energy, your training progresses slowly. ]
He could feel that his Qi and Blood had indeed fattened up, mostly thanks to the big boost from the Qi-Blood Pill. Once the effect passed, his Qi and Blood accumulation was more than ten times slower.
Without hesitation, Lu Lin poured the remaining two months into it, his training proceeding steadily.
In the blink of an eye, twenty days flew by.
In the ill-lit depths of a cave, Lu Lin was sitting cross-legged as his body quivered. From his skin wafted out a thick haze of blood, gradually flowing together to form blood-red currents that wheeled around him a few times and then were drawn into his mouth and nostrils.
Had there been a warrior at or above Body Tempering Third Level nearby, he would have been shocked, for this phenomenon suggested a breakthrough into the very Tempering Body Third Level.
Quite some time later, all the blood-colored haze withdrew deep into his tendons and flesh.
Lu Lin slowly opened his eyes, revealing a piercing glint inside, like two stars in the night sky.
Twenty days! Tearing through two Levels into Body Tempering Third Level! Such progress was simply appalling!
During these twenty days, he had dug up a total of sixty shoddy spiritual stones relying on his proficiency as a miner and converted them into five years' Training Time. And he had also received two Qi-Blood Pills... With the help of these resources, how could his training take a slow pace?
Deep in his mind, he looked toward the panel of the Furnace:
Training Time: Zero.
All five years had been used up.
Had he had enough Qi-Blood Pills, it would have taken only one and a half years to achieve this. But the reality was the opposite. He could only heap up five years in training.
"Lu Lin, as expected, there you are. Two Qi-Blood Pills, time to turn them over."
A cold voice rang out before several figures popped out and closed in on Lu Lin.
The leader was none other than Li Zitong.