Danxia Spirit Stone Mine.
Inside the main hall.
Li Hu sat upright on a stone chair in the center of the hall, dressed in a brocade robe. His aura, that of a third-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, was steady and powerful. His gaze slowly swept over the people standing below.
These were all core managers and key guards of the mine, their expressions respectful, eyes lowered, not daring to make the slightest move.
Qin Changsheng's avatar, Wang Cheng, was also standing here.
"Has the income from the Danxia Spirit Stone Mine this year been tallied?" Li Hu asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged cultivator dressed in a dark blue manager's robe immediately stepped forward: "Reporting to Young Master, this year's mine production totaled 350,000 low-grade spirit stones."
This man was Chen Peng, the mine's manager, in charge of counting and tallying the mine's spirit stones.
"350,000?"
"How come there's only such a small income?" Li Hu looked at Chen Peng with some doubt.
Last year, the Danxia Spirit Stone Mine yielded a full 600,000 spirit stones.
But today, the output has inexplicably decreased by half.
"Young Master, since February this year, mining spirit stones has become exceptionally difficult. Previously, each miner could extract a dozen or so spirit stones per day, but this year, even with their best efforts, they can only extract a few, and some haven't even found a single one in a whole day," Chen Peng replied.
"Are the mine slaves slacking off?" Li Hu asked.
"Young Master, the mine slaves aren't slacking off!"
Chen Peng was also at a loss.
He had initially thought the mine slaves were being lazy.
But the miners were digging very diligently and hard every day, yet they couldn't find any spirit stones.
The spirit stones hidden in the mine had inexplicably decreased.
Hearing Chen Peng's words, Li Hu was also very puzzled.
Meanwhile, Qin Changsheng, inside the hidden mine, clearly heard the conversation in the main hall.
Qin Changsheng was very clear about why the spirit stone mine had decreased this year.
It was all due to the effect of the golden attribute [Cultivation] in his hand.
The Heavenly Dao attribute [Cultivation] couldn't conjure up so many spirit stones out of thin air.
It must have extracted the spirit stones from the Danxia spirit stone mine.
Over time, the spiritual energy and spirit stones in other areas of the mine would become increasingly scarce, greatly increasing the difficulty of mining.
Inside the main hall, Li Hu's brows furrowed once again.
His heart was filled with doubt.
He felt there was something very strange about the matter.
However, after pondering it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what was unusual.
Li Hu looked down at Wang Cheng and then asked, "Wang Cheng, have you discovered anything unusual during your inspections of the mine this past year?"
"Over the past year, my subordinates have been patrolling the mine every day, checking everything from the outer mine tunnels to the deep mine pits, and have not found anything unusual."
Wang Cheng stepped forward and reported.
Hearing Wang Cheng's words, the doubt in Li Hu's eyes gradually dissipated.
After all, Wang Cheng was a member of the Blood Demon Sect; there was no way he would betray him.
Since Wang Cheng hadn't found anything unusual during his long inspection,
the decrease in spirit stones in the spirit stone mine was probably just a coincidence.
Li Hu sat down in his chair, his gaze turning to Chen Peng below: "How's the preparation of the materials I asked you to prepare for the body-snatching? Any progress?"
"Young Master, everything is ready!" Chen Peng replied.
"Good!" Li Hu's face was full of joy.
All the materials had now been collected.
Once he cultivated the Blood Demon Technique to perfection, he could begin the possession process.
If he successfully possessed Hu Nan, their Blood Demon Sect's grand undertaking would succeed.
He would also gain the ancient divine power of rebirth!
Deep in the mine, Qin Changsheng heard Li Hu's words but showed no reaction.
After all, Li Hu's possession target was Hu Nan.
And Hu Nan was merely an external avatar.
Li Hu's possession attempt was destined to be a complete failure.
...
Heavenly Sword Sect.
Qingyun Tower.
Qingyun Tower was a gathering place for many Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators.
Every year, many fellow villagers or people of similar cultivation levels would gather here.
The Azure Cloud Tower has five floors. The higher the floor, the higher the status of the cultivators received, and the purer the spiritual energy becomes. The fourth floor is always occupied by Foundation Establishment cultivators, making it inaccessible to ordinary cultivators.
On this day, Qin Changsheng brought Hu Nan to the outside of the Azure Cloud Tower.
Qin Changsheng had Hu Nan come here to gather information on the major events that had occurred in the sect over the past year.
He also wanted some special materials, clues about body-refining techniques, and clues about fragments of the Heavenly Dao.
Hu Nan had just arrived on the second floor when he saw his fellow townsmen from Beihai County.
Seeing Hu Nan approach, they all stood up to greet him.
However, Hu Nan ignored them and headed directly to the fourth floor.
The private rooms on the fourth floor were already crowded with people, mostly Foundation Establishment cultivators Qin Changsheng knew, and some who had recently achieved Foundation Establishment.
These people sat in small groups, chatting about their cultivation insights or discussing resource exchanges, the atmosphere lively and harmonious.
As soon as Hu Nan entered the private room, he sensed two powerful waves of hostility.
Looking up, Hu Nan quickly discovered that these two hostile forces came from Li Hu and Lin Hao.
However, Li Hu quickly concealed his killing intent, while Lin Hao's hostility was completely undisguised.
"Senior Brother Hu! We've been waiting for you!" Li Hu greeted Hu Nan with a smile as he approached.
"Sorry, something came up on the way!" Hu Nan explained.
Li Hu then exchanged pleasantries with Hu Nan, discussing everything from cultivation insights to sect matters and the situation at the mine, his tone intimate and his words conveying familiarity, as if they were longtime friends.
The surrounding cultivators, witnessing this scene, all assumed that Li Hu and Hu Nan were good friends.
No one suspected that these two seemingly conversing intimately were actually mortal enemies.
A short while later, Jiang Lijuan raised her hand, signaling for silence: "Fellow disciples, it is a rare opportunity for us to gather at Qingyun Tower today. Why don't we all share our cultivation experiences from the past year, exchange ideas, and improve together? What do you all think?"
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone began to share their cultivation insights.
Some shared their experiences with sword flight.
Some shared their experiences with magic.
Some shared their experiences with swordsmanship.
"Senior Brother Lin, didn't you obtain a body-refining technique?"
"Could you tell me about your insights into body refining techniques?" Half an hour later, Junior Brother Wu suddenly looked at Lin Hao beside him.
Qin Changsheng, far away in the spirit stone mine, heard this news and his heart skipped a beat.
He had been searching for a body refining technique.
But unexpectedly, Lin Hao actually possessed one.
Lin Hao was Lin Zhentian's son, and the body refining technique Lin Zhentian had given him was definitely at least a mid-grade Xuan level.
If he could get his hands on Lin Hao's body refining technique, he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of searching for one anymore.
At this moment, Lin Hao stood up and said, "For the past year, I have indeed been diligently cultivating body-refining techniques, but with little progress."
Upon hearing this, everyone showed curiosity. Someone asked, "Senior Brother Lin, your father is an Elder of Law Enforcement; he must provide you with the best cultivation resources. How could your cultivation be so difficult? Have you encountered some insurmountable obstacle?"
Hearing this, Lin Hao smiled wryly and slowly said, "To be honest, my father did place high hopes on me. Over a year ago, he specially found a body-refining technique and bestowed it upon me, hoping I could temper my physical body, compensate for my insufficient spiritual power, and break through to the next level as soon as possible."
"Senior Brother Lin, what is the name of this body-refining technique?" someone suddenly asked.
"This body-refining technique is the Xuan-level high-grade 'Diamond Body Refining Technique.' It is said that when cultivated to perfection, the physical body can withstand a full-force attack from a Golden Core cultivator, and can even withstand attacks from Earth-level magic weapons. Its power is extremely formidable," Lin Hao replied.
Hearing Lin Hao's words, everyone looked at him with envy.
Most of them were just ordinary disciples.
All resources and cultivation techniques had to be found through their own efforts.
But Lin Hao's resources and cultivation techniques had all been prepared in advance by Lin Zhentian.