NOVPUBChu Xuan stood ten zhang away, not taking another step forward. He could tell that most of Shang Xingchen's injuries were faked. The goal was to provoke him into acting. However, Shang Xingchen had indeed poisoned Song Lingfeng, or else Song Lingfeng would not have been so easily killed.
At this point, Dong Qi had helped Su Jue to his feet. He looked toward Chu Xuan, unable to stop himself from saying, "You're Chu Xuan, right? I think I remember you. You're from Heavenly Infinite Sect, aren't you?"
Chu Xuan smiled. "That's right. Back in Heaven-Six City, I lost contact with all of you. I've been barely surviving on the Heavenly Metal Battlefield these days, suffering quite a lot." 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
Shang Xingchen couldn't help but sneer. Look at how full your Spiritual Qi is. Barely surviving? Suffering?
As Dong Qi and Su Jue spoke, they began to retreat. But Chu Xuan took a few steps forward. "I have some healing pills here. Would you two like some?" He spoke while pulling out the pills, his face full of smiles.
Dong Qi forced a smile. "No need, no need. Healing pills are quite precious now. Fellow Daoist Chu, you should keep them for yourself."
Su Jue coughed up a mouthful of blood. "It's nothing... just a few fatal wounds. I'll recover after some time. No need to waste your pills, Fellow Daoist Chu."
Chu Xuan took another few steps forward. "Really don't want them? I, Chu Xuan, rarely give things to others."
Dong Qi and Su Jue took several steps back.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, we still have matters to attend to, so we'll take our leave. We don't need these mining puppets or anything else. We'll leave them to you, Fellow Daoist Chu!"
With that, both of them used their escape technique and vanished in an instant.
Chu Xuan sighed lightly. "What a pity."
Shang Xingchen smiled. "A pity for the healing pills, or for them?"
Chu Xuan casually replied, "Both, really."
Shang Xingchen smiled again. "Those two were no pushovers. They probably still had trump cards."
Chu Xuan waved his hand. "Do you want this big spirit stone mine?"
Shang Xingchen's lips curled upwards. "If I say I want it, can you give it to me?"
"No, I can't."
Shang Xingchen chuckled. "Well then, that settles it. But you being able to easily kill Song Lingfeng, I must say, I had a part in that. I won't fight you for the big spirit stone mine, but I do need some healing pills and spirit stones."
Chu Xuan nodded. "That's fine."
The reason he didn't act earlier was because he strongly suspected that Shang Xingchen still had some hidden cards. He had already suspected that Shang Xingchen was a cautious individual and would never fall easily to Song Lingfeng.
As expected, Song Lingfeng was poisoned by Shang Xingchen. When Chu Xuan walked toward him earlier, if he hadn't been prepared, he might've fallen victim to the poison himself. At that point, the situation would have been reversed.
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Since they could still work together as partners, giving up a little in exchange was no problem at all. It was entirely acceptable. Having this big spirit stone mine meant he could continuously produce large quantities of spirit stones in the future.
A moment later, dozens of mining puppets cleared the collapsed entrance.
Chu Xuan strode into the mine. When he saw that Shang Xingchen had no intention of entering, he casually asked, "Aren't you coming in?"
Shang Xingchen waved his hand. "The mine's too cramped. It's more suited for you to make your move. I'll wait outside."
Chu Xuan smiled. "Alright." He quickly took a tour of the great spirit stone mine. When he saw the mountain of great spirit stones piled up in the warehouse, a satisfied smile spread across his face. This trip had been worthwhile!
Although the entrance to the mine had been destroyed, the mining puppets hadn't ceased working. They kept digging until their internal spirit stone energy was exhausted, then stopped. Chu Xuan scanned the area with his spiritual sense and immediately understood the quantity of spirit stones.
- Great spirit stones: 7,000.
- Medium Spiritual Stones: 185,000.
- Small Spiritual Stones: nearly a million.
The mine was built atop an entire spirit stone vein, not just for producing great spirit stones. It was only called a big spirit stone mine because great spirit stones were the highest grade it could produce. Similarly, medium spiritual stone mines could produce both medium and small spiritual stones.
Chu Xuan took a top-tier storage bag and collected all the spirit stones. Then, he replenished the mining puppets with more spirit stones, causing them to resume their work, only then did he leave the mine. He casually tossed a storage bag towards Shang Xingchen. At the same time, he sighed deeply. "What a waste of a trip. The spirit stones here are few. There are only about 500 great spirit stones, and not even 10,000 medium spiritual stones."
Shang Xingchen caught the storage bag, and his heart finally settled. Inside were 100 great spirit stones and 1,000 medium spiritual stones. If used carefully, it would be enough to last him a long time. As for Chu Xuan's words, he didn't believe a single one of them.
Shang Xingchen suddenly asked, "How will we contact each other in the future?"
Chu Xuan threw over a stone.
"This item is similar to the Mother Son Stone. If the Heart-Linking Stone on your side cracks, the one on mine will too, and vice versa. If there's any news, we can meet outside Heaven-Three City."
Shang Xingchen put on a pair of white silk gloves before taking the Heart-Linking Stone, making sure not to directly touch it. He nodded and turned to leave.
Chu Xuan, on the other hand, began setting up formations in the mine. Once he had placed various attack formations, defensive formations, mist formations, sound-blocking formations, and light-absorbing formations, he sat down on a stone bed.
"With this big spirit stone mine, I now have a solid foundation for my survival. Thinking back now, Heavenly River True Master from the Reincarnation Divine Sect and Tian Mozi from Heaven Shaking Divine Sect must have already taken over a big spirit stone mine, right? Their cultivation levels shouldn't have dropped much. Getting treasure from them now is still quite difficult."
Chu Xuan smiled faintly. Not now, then he would wait. Sooner or later, even Deity Transformation cultivators would be affected by external factors and their cultivation would decline. As long as he maintained his current battle power by then, he would be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
"This is probably the only time and place where Nascent Soul cultivators can stand on equal footing with Deity Transformation cultivators," Chu Xuan mused with a light laugh. The Reincarnation Divine Sect's desperate final move had actually provided him with a great opportunity for profit. Should he thank those righteous cultivators from the Reincarnation Divine Sect?
"I'll definitely collect your corpses in the future," Chu Xuan said seriously, raising his hands towards the direction of the Heaven-Nine City.
...
Shang Xingchen returned to the medium spiritual stone mine, now with several more chilling wounds on his body. Wei Ji was currently healing. Seeing Shang Xingchen stumbling back, he hurried over to support him.
Shang Xingchen waved him off, "It's nothing, nothing serious."
"What happened? Who ultimately took the big spirit stone mine?" Wei Ji asked anxiously.
Shang Xingchen sighed lightly, "Chu Xuan made his move. He killed Song Lingfeng, forced back Dong Qi and Su Jue, and now the big spirit stone mine belongs to him."
Wei Ji exclaimed, "So we got nothing and even lost quite a bit?"
Shang Xingchen threw him a storage bag. "We still got something. Ten great spirit stones, one hundred medium spiritual stones. I poisoned Song Lingfeng to help Chu Xuan kill him. This is what he gave me, so we'll split it."
