Chapter 19: Advancement Within the Belly of the Mine Dragon

This was one of Lei Xiang’s most formidable trump cards: the Celestial Crystal Bead.

He’d obtained one from the Heaven’s Cripple Gang, and in the past two months, using the Lotus Disc, had managed to copy only four more. The Lotus Disc’s replication ability was severely limited: it could only be used on the first and fifteenth day of each month, and each item could only be replicated once—if you wanted more, you had to use the newly copied one as a seed. Even with wealth rivaling a nation’s, Lei Xiang was loath to waste these precious beads lightly.

A tremendous explosion thundered, followed by a blinding white flash. Waves of force swept out in all directions, overwhelming everything.

Lei Xiang, who had shot five fathoms into the air at an angle, waited until the shockwaves subsided before looking down. He drew a sharp breath.

The turbulent quagmire from moments ago had been utterly obliterated, revealing beneath a pool of clear water. The water was extraordinary, nearly transparent—much like the Celestial Crystal Bead itself—and spun rapidly, forming a vortex that grew deeper and wider.

With a whoosh, the water was sucked down the vortex, and in the blink of an eye, the pool was drained dry. Suspended nearly ten fathoms above the ground, Lei Xiang suddenly felt an overwhelming pull, as if the very heart of the earth were dragging him in.

There was no time to cast a wind spell; the force yanked him down, spinning and tumbling violently—one moment head over heels, the next spinning clockwise.

“Damn it, a roller coaster ride for free? This is not the thrill I was looking for,” Lei Xiang grumbled inwardly. He felt terrible, and though he’d already thrown up a beast-skin tent as a shield, the relentless tossing about made him feel he’d retch at any moment.

Battered up and down, he endured a ride that lasted the time it would take to eat a meal before things finally calmed. Looking ahead, he found himself hurtling toward a massive cavern entrance, its mouth ringed with dozens of sharp stalactites.

Lei Xiang desperately wished to stop, but it was impossible. He tried six or seven different methods to change his course, all in vain. The closer he drew, the clearer he saw: it was not a cave at all, nor were those stalactites. It was a gaping maw lined with razor-sharp teeth, waiting for him to deliver himself.

With a strong will, he made a split-second decision, quickly forming a hand seal and shouting, “Immovable as Mount Tai!” Instantly, a thick shield enveloped him, his body grew heavier, and he dropped his hips as if anchoring himself to the ground like a martial artist performing the Thousand-Pound Drop.

Yet even so, the suction did not lessen; as he made himself heavier, the pull only grew stronger—tenfold the increase of his own weight. Did his adversary possess endless spiritual power?

Before he could puzzle it out, Lei Xiang was already at the monstrous maw. Thirty-odd fangs snapped shut, but he slipped through with agility, dodging the beast’s bite by a hair and sliding down a “stone slide,” continuing his wild descent. If the earlier suction had been a roller coaster, this was at least a whitewater ride—a wild and harrowing thrill.

As he bounced along, Lei Xiang noticed something: the further he slid, the denser the spiritual energy became—dozens of times richer than even the core of the Purplewood Spirit Root mountain.

What kind of monster was this?

Lei Xiang scoured his memory, even recalling the web novels he’d read in his previous life—never had he seen such a creature.

But as he opened his eyes, he was even more shocked. On both sides of the sliding walls, beneath him, and ahead—everywhere in the beast’s belly—were spirit stones.

Even if they were only lower-grade stones, the sheer number of them was staggering—enough to buy up half the Eastern Yue Kingdom.

While Lei Xiang marvelled, the beast’s stomach changed again: as he moved through the piles of spirit stones, the walls randomly sprayed a foul, acrid liquid.

Holding his breath, Lei Xiang guessed it was digestive fluid—the beast was eager to dissolve him. Suddenly, to his horror, he saw that where the liquid touched his beast-skin tent, wisps of white smoke rose and holes appeared.

Sprayed by the digestive juices, the tent was quickly riddled with holes, but Lei Xiang was unfazed; he’d planned for this before coming in—otherwise, he’d never have jumped in so willingly.

When he’d glimpsed the beast’s gaping maw, he’d immediately thought of the Monkey King in the Princess Iron Fan’s belly. Why couldn’t he do the same?

Now that he was inside, it was time to put his plan into action. With a sweep of his hand over his storage pouch, he produced a five-pronged steel fork. With a flick of his wrist, pure white flames ignited in the four gaps of the fork. He thrust it at the wall.

With a faint pop, the fork was easily deflected. Lei Xiang twisted his wrist, repositioned the fork, and jabbed it upward.

Again, it was blocked. The spirit stones were packed too tightly for ordinary methods to work. Meanwhile, his beast-skin tent was now utterly useless. Without hesitation, Lei Xiang snapped his thumb and middle finger, producing a crisp snap. The green ring on his index finger flew off, hovering above his head and projecting a gentle green light that enveloped him.

With the protection of the Jade Ring, Lei Xiang put away the steel fork, took out the Chrysanthemum Spike, and poured all his spiritual power into his right arm. Running two fingers along the spike, he channeled his energy into it. Amid the silvery-white spirit stones, the Chrysanthemum Spike glowed faintly orange-yellow.

He gripped it with his left hand, wedged its tip into a crack between the stones, drew out the Thunder Hammer with his right, formed a thunder spell, and brought the hammer down onto the spike’s tail.

With a clang, the impact left his arms tingling, but Lei Xiang gritted his teeth and pressed on. The crack widened only to the width of a needle’s eye, but that was enough to prove his method worked.

An hour later, Lei Xiang examined a piece of lower-grade spirit stone in his hand—genuine, with at least 99.999% purity. He put it into his storage pouch, baring his little tiger teeth in a grin.

The rest would be much easier. It was like scaling fish—once you scraped off a patch of scales, the rest came off in sheets.

As he pondered, inspiration struck. He recalled the comb he’d gotten from High Heaven’s Cripple. His master, Zhu Chi, had said it was a high-grade artifact called the Chu Tian Comb, whose greatest power was to untangle and organize virtually anything. Why not try it on all these spirit stones?

He cast the comb, infused it with a navy-blue spell, and it began to hum and tremble. Thirteen comb teeth radiated apricot-yellow light, stretching out into the distance.

Lei Xiang watched intently. In ten breaths’ time, thirteen dark beams snapped back, each carrying a row of spirit stones—at least thirty or more in each row.

“We’re rich!” Lei Xiang didn’t put the stones in his pouch. Instead, he sat cross-legged, stretched out his arms, puffed his chest, and let the stones stick to him with a crackle. They encased him completely.

He tapped the Chu Tian Comb again, and the comb teeth swept him with a gentle apricot glow, combing him three times. The stones were sorted into a seamless suit of spirit stone armor—no more fear of corrosive digestive juices. Mobility was limited, but Lei Xiang had no plans to move.

With spirit stones of such purity, he could attempt a breakthrough. He silently began the first layer of the Spirit-Refining Treasure Canon, circulating the energy from the armor through his meridians. Spiritual energy seeped constantly through his skin, filling his vast inner sea.

He pushed the Spirit-Refining Canon relentlessly, forming a closed loop of energy. Gradually, the armor’s color darkened and dulled, finally turning ashen.

He activated the Chu Tian Comb again, shedding the spent armor and replacing it with fresh stones, ready for another round of absorption.

After seven changes of armor, Lei Xiang had formed a powerful vortex of spiritual energy within, and the number of spirit threads soared to over twenty thousand. The quantity was now sufficient; it was time for a qualitative leap.

He circulated the Spirit-Refining Canon, gathering the energy into a mass, moving it through his meridians three cycles, then pouring it all into his inner sea, where it spun and fused in the vortex.

Gradually, each thread of energy released a wisp of impurity. Over twenty thousand threads—the sheer volume of filth was staggering.

Lei Xiang dared not be careless, sinking his power to guide the impurities out, bit by bit. Too much at once, and he’d explode.

Even in batches, the noise was startling, like firecrackers in his ears.

“Bang, bang, bang-bang-bang, bang!”

Inside the beast, it sounded as if countless shells exploded, shattering spirit stones for dozens of miles around—collapses and sinkholes everywhere, the entire tunnel in ruins.

A roar!

Some unknown monster outside let out a long howl, then fell silent.

“What happened? Eh!” Zhu Chi emerged from Lei Xiang’s forehead, stunned. “This is outrageous! Most people only make this noise during the Foundation Establishment tribulation, yet you’re causing a tribulation just ascending to the thirteenth layer of Qi Refining? And it’s even more powerful than the foundation tribulation!”

Lei Xiang didn’t stop; he continued madly absorbing the spiritual energy from the shattered stones, preparing for the fourteenth layer.

Seeing Lei Xiang ignore him, Zhu Chi gave a wry smile and sat down to cultivate as well. With spiritual energy so abundant, it would be a waste not to absorb it.

After a long while, Lei Xiang sighed softly, “Still not enough! Master, you think my inner sea is too greedy? Even if I absorbed all the energy here, I couldn’t fill half of it.”

Zhu Chi snapped, “Your energy sea is already the size of someone in mid-Foundation Establishment. Who could ever fill that?”

“Master, why are there so many spirit stones in this beast’s belly, and of such high purity?”

“This isn’t a beast at all. This is the abundant spiritual land I spoke of—the spirit stone vein of the Black Miasma Marsh. That ‘monster’ you spoke of is just a spirit stone mine dragon formed after eons as the vein gained sentience.”

“And that roar just now was from it?”

Zhu Chi nodded. “You destroyed the spirit vein, absorbed all its energy, and now the spirit stone mine dragon is finished.”

Lei Xiang grinned, showing his tiger teeth. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Zhu Chi replied, “Don’t play the innocent. Now, hurry northeast to the Black Miasma Ravine and find the three-legged toad. Remember, you must capture it alive. Within twelve hours, swallow its essence blood with the Hundred-Fathom Saliva, and the Myriad Demon Blood Curse in your body will be lifted.”

“What about you, Master? Sounds like you’re not coming.”

“I’ll wait here in this ruined mine. The abundant energy will help restore my soul. Come find me after you’ve broken the curse—and be careful. The three-legged toad is a fourth-rank demon beast.”

“Understood! Take care, Master.”

PS: More updates tonight.