Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter Ninety-Four: The Sandworm Attack

The spiritual vein that the Xiao family found this time was only a very small one, and it couldn't be mined for very long. In addition, with the series of reward systems introduced by Xiao Chong, the miners worked with great enthusiasm, so after only half a month, the spiritual vein was almost exhausted.

In the past two weeks, not only Xiao Chong and Yin Changkong, but also the other ten disciples who accompanied them have been working hard to cultivate.

In the past, these ten disciples received very limited cultivation resources, mostly consisting of pills they received from the clan each month. If that wasn't enough, they had to buy them themselves.

Apart from Fatty and Yin Feng, the other disciples were all selected by the Xiao family from families outside Feiyue City. Their family backgrounds were very ordinary, and they basically had no extra money to buy cultivation resources themselves.

As for high-grade items like Yuan Stones, there's no need to even mention them.

Fatty was alright; as a disciple of the Xiao family's main sect, although he wasn't eligible for spirit stones at his cultivation level, he still received some financial assistance from his family. Yin Feng, on the other hand, benefited from Yin Changkong's influence, managing to squeeze a piece or two out of his father's money every now and then.

But now things are much better. Everyone received a box of spirit stones from Captain Xiao, so they no longer have to worry about the predicament of having no resources available for cultivation.

Therefore, during this period, apart from arranging for miners to mine the spiritual veins every day, all other time was spent cultivating.

That's not all. In the past, martial arts instructors in the Zongxue were mostly martial arts students and warriors, and their teaching level was very limited.

But things are different now. Because there are fewer people, Yin Changkong occasionally gives them pointers when he's not cultivating.

What level is Yin Changkong at? He's a veteran martial arts master! Even if he just casually utters a few words, it would be enough for them to carefully study for a year and a half.

With the combined influence of the spirit stones and the renowned teacher, the ten disciples made rapid progress in their cultivation, all advancing by leaps and bounds. Even the lazybones Fatty, who only knew how to eat all day, reached the Martial Apprentice realm under Xiao Chong's encouragement.

Of all the people, Xiao Chong's cultivation progress was slow and unsatisfactory.

Although twenty-six acupoints in his body have been opened, eight more than half a month ago, these acupoints, after being refined by the star power of the Greedy Wolf Star, have an astonishing capacity to contain primordial energy.

Others could fill one or two acupoints in their bodies with just one or two spirit stones, but Xiao Chong's acupoints were like bottomless pits. Even after more than ten spirit stones were thrown down, not a ripple could be made.

Moreover, under the impact of stellar power, sometimes even though the acupoints are already filled with primordial energy, they inexplicably liquefy and eventually become a tiny, insignificant crystal.

This is not a good situation. Although Xiao Chong has countless spirit stones, he still needs to absorb them little by little. This is a slow and steady process that requires a long period of accumulation, and there is absolutely no shortcut.

The only thing that brought Xiao Chong any comfort was the change in the spirit of the cauldron.

With the support of hundreds of beast cores and a large number of elemental stones, the cauldron spirit's recovery speed has greatly increased. It is no longer as weak as it was when it was a spirit body, looking like it was about to dissipate at any moment.

He now possesses a robust body, though it is much smaller than that of a normal person. According to him, with a little more effort, transforming into human form is only a matter of time.

Xiao Chong was very much looking forward to this. Anyone who dared to go toe-to-toe with Lü Daka, even if he really was a monster as Lü Daka said, was still a remarkable monster.

Moreover, Dingling was cunning and treacherous, always coming up with all sorts of dirty tricks. With such a seasoned villain as an ally, Xiao Chong felt that although the world was vast, it was still worth exploring.

Everything was perfect, except that my cultivation progress was a bit slow, and the spiritual vein was almost completely depleted.

While cultivation progress can be taken slowly, the depletion of spiritual veins necessitates a swift search for alternatives. Therefore, early this morning, Xiao Chong gathered everyone together to discuss the next steps.

“Uncle Yin, this spiritual vein is about to dry up, and we need to find another one. Do you have any suggestions?” Xiao Chong asked Yin Changkong, tapping the table lightly with two fingers.

Yin Changkong was clearly more mature and prudent. After pondering for a while, he said, "We definitely need to search, but we need to have a plan. I think these miners are all very tired. Why don't we take them back to Tiannan Town to rest for a while? Once we find a new spiritual vein, we can have them come with us."

"Yes, that's good too. Without these people, we can find the spiritual veins faster, and we can also send the spirit stones we've collected these past few days back to Tiannan Town." Xiao Chong thought for a moment and agreed.

Yin Changkong said, "Then it's settled?"

"Let's settle on that," Xiao Chong nodded, then said to Fatty and Yin Feng, "There's no time to lose. You two go and get ready. Once we've harvested the last bit today, we'll set off tonight."

"No problem." Seeing that everyone had finished discussing, Fatty and Yin Feng agreed and went to make their own preparations.

Just then, a loud bang was heard as the door was kicked open. Everyone looked up and saw a miner stumble in, his clothes covered in blood.

"Captain, something bad has happened! Something bad has happened!" the miner shouted in a panic as he rushed in.

"Don't panic, what happened? Tell me slowly," Xiao Chong asked.

“It’s like this,” the miner said breathlessly, “This morning when we entered the mine, we found that there were many sand worms. Several brothers were injured, and three brothers were bitten to death by the sand worms.”

Everyone was startled and stood up.

Xiao Chong slammed his hand on the table and said urgently to everyone, "Is that so? Then let's go and see."

After saying that, he took the lead and rushed out the door.

"go!"

"Go take a look!"

"..."

The crowd agreed and followed Xiao Chong toward the mine.

The mine was not far from the barracks, just a short distance away, but it was already in complete chaos inside.

A group of miners were scrambling to evacuate, with a few young and strong miners at the back holding various tools and desperately trying to fend off the sandworms' attacks.

Seeing the dense swarms of sandworms in the mine, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Sandworms are unique wild beasts found only in the southern wilderness, named for their long-term life in the sand.

This wild beast looks very similar to an earthworm. It has no hands or feet, is entirely white, and moves and jumps by stretching and contracting its joints.

However, compared to earthworms, sandworms are much larger. Adult sandworms are as thick as a child's arm, and regardless of whether they are male or female, they are at least three feet long.

Because they have been living in the dark, their eyesight has deteriorated significantly, and they can only attack enemies by sound and smell.

Despite its ugly appearance, this wild beast is actually a rare delicacy.

Sandworms do not have animal kernels, but their entire body is valuable. Their flesh is thick and juicy, making them a rare and highly nutritious food.

Whether fried, boiled, steamed, stewed, or braised, whether stir-fried with vinegar, braised in soy sauce, or even dipped in wasabi, it always tastes fresh and delicious.

Especially these sandworms in front of us, born under the spiritual vein, each one nourished by spiritual energy, have all grown to be over ten feet long and thicker than a bowl, making them even more rare and precious.

However, its attack power is also much stronger than that of ordinary sandworms.

"Back off! Back off quickly! Don't panic!" Among the crowd, Xiao Chong and Yin Changkong had the most profound cultivation. They immediately leaped over the miners' heads, shouting as they desperately held off the sandworms' attacks.

"Aren't sandworms supposed to live deep underground? Why are they coming to the surface?" Yin Changkong punched a sandworm that was flying towards him, blasting it away, and casually asked Xiao Chong beside him.

Xiao Chong also punched and kicked, knocking down several sandworms that jumped in front of him, and said in a moment, "I don't know either, but there must be some special reason. Do you remember the pack of Crimson-Eyed Flame Wolves we encountered last time?"

Yin Changkong asked casually, "What? Although that group was fierce, weren't they eventually wiped out by us?"

Xiao Chong threw another heavy punch, sending several sandworms flying, and said, "The Crimson-Eyed Flaming Wolf and these sandworms in front of us are rarely seen."

Why would those crimson-eyed flame wolves, living in the deepest parts of the Southern Wilderness, easily come out? And why would these sand worms, living perfectly well underground, move around on the surface?

This kind of thing happening once could be considered a coincidence, but for it to happen repeatedly, that's abnormal. If you say there's no special reason behind it, I simply won't believe it.

“That makes sense. After we deal with these sandworms, we need to go back and investigate the cause.” Yin Changkong nodded in agreement with Xiao Chong’s opinion while fighting the sandworms.

With the help of the other disciples, nearly a hundred miners had evacuated the mine. The disciples turned around, drew their swords, and joined the battle.

Although these ten disciples were at a very low level, only martial apprentices, they were still capable of fighting against sand worms, a wild beast whose attack power was not very strong.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..." With punches and kicks, knives and swords, the ground was soon piled high with the corpses of sandworms.

"Ah—" A sudden scream suddenly came from the crowd during the battle.

Xiao Chong turned his head and saw that the fat man had been bitten by a sand worm that had sprung up because he was not agile enough.

The sandworm chose a rather peculiar spot, pouncing right on the fat man's buttocks.

From Xiao Chong's perspective, he could just see the sandworm opening its two rows of sharp teeth and biting tightly into the fat man's buttocks.

The fat man grimaced in pain, howling and wildly slapping his hands, but the sand worms were biting too tightly and he couldn't get rid of them immediately.

Xiao Chong found it amusing, but he didn't dare to be careless. He quickly jumped over and punched the fat man's buttocks hard.

"Ah!" The fat man screamed again, with half a sandworm corpse still attached to his buttocks, and quickly ran behind the group.

Xiao Chong ignored him and simply weaved through the crowd, rushing to help wherever danger arose, just like a firefighter.

In contrast, Yin Changkong was incredibly efficient. When he activated his force, he was like a humanoid machine, rushing into the sandworm swarm and crushing them.

However, there were simply too many sandworms, and their intelligence was rather low; they had no idea how to retreat. Therefore, despite round after round of attacks from the group, their numbers not only failed to decrease but actually increased.