On the Avenue.

Chapter 715 Lower-Level Immortals
Many immortals in the mining area, seeing the suffering before them and reflecting on their own lives over the years, felt moved and gathered around the shouting immortal, looking up to listen to him speak.

At this moment, an elder among the immortals shouted, "What are you all doing gathered here? Have you struck gold? Have you made any money? Are you out of your minds?! Scatter, all of you! If the Heavenly Court finds out, they'll chop off your heads!"

The crowd gradually dispersed.

However, many people stayed behind to ask the young immortal about the Celestial Court.

"We immortals must have our own celestial court, not the heavenly court of the gods!"

The young immortal was still very excited and said, "The Earthly Immortal Realm was created by immortals, not by gods! We ascend not to eat chaff and wild vegetables, nor to risk our lives to mine for the gods! Why should we be oppressed by the gods after joining the Celestial Court?"

As Chen Shi passed by, he glanced at the young immortal and saw that the man was full of enthusiasm and passion, and his demeanor did not seem to be feigned.

He probably really wanted to overthrow the Heavenly Court and change the world.

Such a heart is that of a child, but it is easily exploited.

"Looking back at the many dynasties that have risen and fallen in the ancestral court, it is mostly noble families who have become the emperors of the current dynasty. Now, they are just noble families in the Earth Immortal Realm. They have seen that the lower-level immortals cannot survive, and the conflicts have been ignited, like oil being poured on a raging fire."

Chen Shi thought to himself, "This has led them to consider changing dynasties, wanting to add fuel to the fire and overthrow the Heavenly Court to become the Heavenly Emperor and ruler themselves. However, they haven't changed the world. Those who control the resources of the Holy Land still control them; the immortals are merely taking the resources from the Holy Land that the gods control and putting them into their own pockets. But how can we truly change this era?"

Suddenly, a sword light flew past him and pierced through the young immortal with a whoosh, causing blood to splatter everywhere!

A monkey-like figure leaped and flew to the young immortal's side, grabbed the flying immortal sword, and with one hand holding the sword, the other hand grabbed the young immortal's neck and lifted him up.

"laugh!"

With lightning speed, he severed the young immortal's head, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He laughed, "This traitor's head can be taken to the yamen for a reward! Another fortune! What are you looking at? You want to become traitors too?"

The immortals who had just listened to his lecture were not frightened away by his words, but stared at him with hatred in their eyes.

"Heavenly Court lackeys!" a middle-aged immortal spat coldly.

The ape-like immortal was startled, realizing he had incurred the wrath of the crowd, and immediately took flight, fleeing into the depths of the mining area.

One after another, magical artifacts followed closely behind, emitting sharp, piercing sounds as the crowd charged towards him.

Chen Shi did not chase after him, but stared silently at the headless corpse of the young immortal.

Guan Qinshuang followed and said, "Young Master, don't look anymore. This kind of thing is very common in Beihai."

Composing himself, Chen Shi asked, "Are these people always fighting each other?"

Guan Qinshuang said, "I've never been to the mining area, so I don't know. But the Celestial Court and the Heavenly Court often fight each other."

Chen Shi learned after inquiring that the Celestial Court had many people in places like the North Sea, spreading the word everywhere and recruiting those immortals who were unhappy with their lives. The Heavenly Court also realized the Celestial Court's intentions and thus issued an order to kill them.

Guan Qinshuang said, "In the North Sea, one can often see the gods of the Heavenly Court searching for immortals of the Celestial Court, and battles between the two sides are commonplace. The Heavenly Court issues warrants for the heads of the Celestial Court's immortals, with a clearly stated price. The Celestial Court also offers bounties for the heads of its gods. The North Sea is close to Beiju Luzhou, which is a lawless place."

Chen Shi did not ask any further questions and walked forward.

They soon arrived deep within the mining area, where immortals had already begun mining.

Chen Shi stopped to watch and saw that the distances between the immortals' mining operations were quite far apart, and it was rare to see two or three people mining together.

The first step in mining is site selection. One uses magical abilities like divine eyes or immortal pupils to observe the mine, or uses exotic beasts like treasure-hunting rats to search for it, or uses fortune-telling methods to calculate its location.

After selecting the location, the first step is to set up a killing formation. This formation is not intended to deal with the dangers within the mine, but rather to guard against outsiders.

Chen Shi saw that some people had set up sword formations, while others had used demon blood to forge treasures and make flags, which were then planted in different locations. There were also strange contraptions such as eyes, insects, mirrors, and altars, and all sorts of bizarre spells.

Then comes mining.

The mining of this open-pit mine is also different from that in Penglai West. First, one must deal with the "breath soil." Breath soil expands rapidly upon contact with air, and a slight mishap could crush a person to death.

The Five Elements Stones are extremely heavy and even somewhat unstable. If struck, they could easily cause the Five Elements to go out of control, which would be very dangerous.

What's remarkable is that the rigid Five Elements Stones form a stable balance with the Breath Soil. The Breath Soil envelops the Five Elements Stones, preventing them from expanding. And the Five Elements Stones, being enveloped by the Breath Soil, do not experience any disorder in their Five Elements.

Therefore, miners must be extremely careful to ensure that the soil does not fall during mining, and they must not use brute force to mine the Five Elements Stone.

Fourthly, one must distinguish whether the stones encased in the Breath Soil are Five Elements Stones, treasures, or some other strange and unusual objects. This is also the time with the highest mortality rate, because there are quite a few other ancient remnants in the Immortal Mine.

Of course, it's also possible to extract waste gas trapped in the ore vein, which would basically lead to a mining disaster.

Fifth, after mining a treasure, one should discreetly collect it, search for the next vein, and then quietly leave when no one is watching, handing the treasure over to the mine owner in exchange for money.

Chen Shi observed for a long time to make sure he was familiar with the process before he went to mine.

Guan Qinshuang originally thought that this young master would give up the idea of ​​understanding the people's conditions after suffering enough, and would reveal his identity to take her away. However, she did not expect that Chen Shi would actually start mining in a very professional manner.

He carefully selected a mining location and set up defensive formations, proceeding with extreme caution during the mining process, lest he release the Breath Soil. After obtaining the stones, he cautiously probed the Breath Soil to determine whether they were ordinary Five Elements Stones, treasures, or artifacts from ancient times.

However, the stones he dug up were all ordinary stones; he didn't find any real treasures.

In fact, with Chen Shi's cultivation and Taoist skills, it would be easy for him to distinguish whether the mineral vein emanating an unusual aura was a precious ore, the remains of a great demon, or something from an ancient era.

He was well-versed in unorthodox practices, able to discern the unorthodox elements hidden within the remains of a great demon, as well as the strange artifacts from ancient times. Once those were ruled out, the one emanating an unusual aura was a treasure.

He didn't use that ability; instead, he mined like a normal immortal.

His purpose in coming here was not to mine; the celestial mines and jade produced here were of no interest to him. Penglai West was one of the best holy lands in the world, and the celestial mines and jade produced there were the truly superior treasures.

His purpose in coming here was to follow the path that the Immortal Wencheng had walked.

He wanted to see what exactly caused the Immortal Wencheng to commit such evil deeds.

"This young master finds everything new and exciting. He'll leave after a few days of hardship," Guan Qinshuang thought to herself.

To her surprise, Chen Shi stayed in the mining area for half a year, spending his days mining and ignoring everything else.

Occasionally, Chen Shi could unearth valuable jade or immortal ore, but when he tried to exchange it for money, the mine owner would offer a significantly lower price. Moreover, after exchanging the money, he needed to buy immortal energy elixir to replenish his cultivation, and the remaining money was used to purchase magical artifacts for setting up formations.

—In the mining area, because it is filled with heretical aura, magical artifacts will break down very quickly, especially those used for setting up formations, which need to be replaced every once in a while.

Therefore, he didn't have much money left.

Other mining immortals were much like him; they worked hard at mining, even risking their lives, but in the end, they only got a few scattered Tianyuan coins.

Some of them would carefully save the money, plan for the future, intending to use the savings to purchase better cultivation methods, achieve something in the future, and leave this place.

Some, however, live a dissolute life, squandering their money on lavish lifestyles and extravagant living, only to return to the mining area and continue mining once it's all gone.

Some people get addicted to gambling, hoping to double their winnings at the gambling table and win all the other people's money, but they often end up penniless.

Chen Shi's residence was called Hidden Immortal Abode, a beautiful name, but it was actually the dwelling place of low-level immortals who mined. It was a 480-story building with a formidable array of magical formations, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The place where the mining immortals live has a living room that can accommodate two or three people. The immortals will have attendant children who can live in the room.

There is a communal alchemy room in the Hidden Immortal Abode; you can go in and refine pills for a small fee.

There are also special workshops for cultivating puppets, where the puppets are as lifelike as real people, exquisitely beautiful. If one cannot resist their desires, they can spend very little money to satisfy them.

The Hidden Immortal Abode also has a magic array set up to gather the spiritual energy from the vicinity of the North Sea, making it a very livable place.

However, after only six months, Chen Shi discovered that his neighbors had changed several times.

Those vanished neighbors, I don't know if they died or if they found a treasure mine and left.

Chen Shi continued mining, but of the immortals who had entered the fourth mining area of ​​Blackwater Mountain with him, only 30% remained.

Guan Qinshuang is still alive, but she is missing an arm.

When Chen Shi last met her, she stammered that she had accidentally triggered the "breathing soil" while mining, and her hand had been crushed.

"When will the young master leave?" she asked listlessly, her eyes devoid of any sparkle.

"Let's wait a little longer," Chen Shi said.

More than a month later, Chen Shi met Guan Qinshuang again. She was pale and emaciated.

She said she had fallen in love with a young immortal in the mining area and didn't want to continue working as a gangster anymore, as it was too immoral.

"That's a good thing."

Chen Shi said, "After you get out, live a good life with that immortal and don't do anything immoral again."

“He died seven days ago,” Guan Qinshuang said, her eyes fixed on him.

Chen Shi was stunned, somewhat at a loss for what to do.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up with anticipation as she looked at Chen Shi: "Young Master, when are we leaving? I can't stay here any longer!"

She started crying again, laughing and crying at the same time, and slapped herself with her good right arm.

"I sent so many immortals here! I committed so many sins! I killed so many people! Haha, I deserve it!"

Chen Shi entered the mining area once again. When he reached the deepest part of the mining area, at a corner, he saw a corpse lying on the ground.

He recognized the man.

This young immortal often manages to mine high-quality minerals, and people say he has a lucky body and a mining body.

Some people say he was born with great luck, a mining prodigy, and can always turn misfortune into good fortune even when he encounters danger.

This time, however, it seems the young man has run out of luck.

He died in the fourth mining area.

Chen Shi buried the young man's body in the mining area, stopped mining, and walked away.

New mining experts have arrived in the mining area. An experienced miner shouted to them, "There are insects in the Blackwater River! Don't get your hands wet! If the insects get on your skin, cut the skin off immediately; there's still hope. If you're too slow, you'll have to have your legs cut off!"

Another immortal angrily declared, "Fellow Daoists, this is not the world we desire... Overthrow the Heavenly Court and establish our own Celestial Court!"

Chen Shi walked outside but did not see Guan Qinshuang.

He searched for a while but couldn't find her. He then went to the Hidden Immortal Abode, but still couldn't find her. The immortal who managed the Hidden Immortal Abode said that Guan Qinshuang hadn't returned for several days.

Do you know where she went?

"Who knows? Maybe they're gone, maybe they're dead."

……

Chen Shi went to see the mine manager and told him that he wanted to buy his freedom.

The mine foreman laughed, "You've saved up some money? You're pretty good, kid. I think you're a born mining genius, you're incredibly lucky! You're sure to find some ancient treasures in the mine! Don't leave, from now on I'll charge you 10% less for the stones you mine!"

Chen Shi shook his head and said, "I've seen too many dead people; I don't dare stay here."

The mine foreman immediately lost interest in him and said lazily, "What a pity."

Have you ever met Guan Qinshuang?

Chen Shi asked, "Is it that Black Bodyguard I sold in? She's a woman, not bad looking, and she's missing her left arm."

The mine foreman lazily fiddled with a piece of jade, not even looking up at him, and said in a muffled voice, "You didn't find her in the mining area? Then she's dead. A woman like that, once she's dead, she's dead. No pity. She's harmed a lot of people. Don't you think so?"

Chen Shi said, "Yes."

He walked out of the mining area.

The sunlight outside was blinding.

As Chen Shi walked out, his eyes stung, and he couldn't help but shed tears.

He walked along, choking back tears, and then raised his sleeve to wipe them away, like a mining sage who had been swindled out of all his money by the mine owner.

He walked to the roadside, unable to stop his tears, and sat down on a rock to cry.

"This is no way the world should be like this..." he said, head down, eyes red, sobbing.

After a long while, he mustered his courage and left the North Sea, heading towards Beiju Luzhou.

He did not travel by star raft, but flew like an ordinary immortal, stopping to rest when he was tired. Two months later, he arrived at Beiju Luzhou and found the beast-hunting team of the prehistoric continent.

“Master, I want to sell myself to you.”

Chen Shi revealed a simple smile, like that of other newly ascended immortals. "I want to earn some money to improve my cultivation."

The captain of the hunting team was a burly man, a bear-like figure, who laughed and said, "Have you run out of options?"

"Yes. We're at our wits' end."

"Come with us. The beasts we capture are for the Heavenly Court. It's a life-or-death job, but if you survive, you'll make a fortune!"

(End of this chapter)