Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 454 - 454 0320 Mining Tunnel

Chapter 454: Chapter 0320 Mining Tunnel Chapter 454: Chapter 0320 Mining Tunnel Chapter 0320: Mine Passage

The mine was shaped like a trumpet mouth, smaller on top and larger at the bottom. Even the smallest entrance of the mine spanned an area of more than two hundred square meters. Upon entering the entrance, one would find a massive trumpet-shaped mine shaft. The center of the shaft had been hollowed out. Around the shaft walls there were numerous entrances. These were places where the native cultivators mine ores. Going in through these entrances led to a series of mine tunnels.

Currently, all the indigenous cultivators had hidden within these tunnels. When Qi Tian entered the mine, some ambitious cultivators had already launched an attack on the hiding native cultivators. Some cultivators didn’t want to risk it, so they flew towards the quieter tunnels. Some cultivators seemed to have some tactics, muttering incantations and selecting a direction before finally starting to move again.

When Qi Tian entered the mine, he turned on the detection function of the Heavenly Dao Engine. Now, the range of the Heavenly Dao Engine had increased significantly, easily helping Qi Tian locate areas that contained large amounts of high-grade spirit stones.

Initially, Qi Tian had plans to kill some of the native cultivators who carried a large amount of spirit stones. Unfortunately, the native cultivators moved swiftly and had already hidden in the mine tunnels. Tracking them among hundreds or even thousands of tunnels was not an easy task. Qi Tian didn’t want to waste time. If he could find a native cultivator, it would be best; if not, he would search for spirit stones.

While riding on his flying sword, Qi Tian descended while scanning the surroundings. To his frustration, this mine had been exploited by the native cultivators for quite a long time. Within the detection range of the Heavenly Dao Engine, although some undiscovered spirit stones could still be sensed, neither the quantity nor the quality was enough to make Qi Tian go and mine them.

Qi Tian couldn’t help but smirk, at this point, it all depended on luck. He had tried to avoid entering the tunnels and chose a direction but it didn’t seem to work. Thus, he carefully observed the hundreds of tunnel entrances around him and ultimately decided to follow his intuition and chose a tunnel furthest from him. It was the deepest tunnel in the mine shaft, surely over thirty miles from the surface.

This tunnel was relatively eye-catching among all the tunnels. Before Qi Tian chose it, someone else had already gone in. After Qi Tian entered, several more cultivators chose the same tunnel. There was really no other way around it. Though the native cultivators had dug many tunnels, they were limited in number. The Wanjie Commerce had sent more than eight thousand cultivators. On average, several cultivators were assigned to each tunnel, especially a noticeable one like this.

Upon entering this tunnel, Qi Tian put his guard up. He was not only wary of the native cultivators but also of the cultivators from the Wanjie Commerce. He definitely needed to prepare in advance to prevent any potential threats.

While moving forward, he was simultaneously looking for an escape route from this tunnel. However, before he could find one, he heard the sound of a fight up ahead. He held his breath and crept forward cautiously.

Soon, Qi Tian saw the two fighting parties in the tunnel, one being the native cultivators, and the other dressed in clothes of the Wanjie Commerce. The fight was fierce, but surprisingly, it was the cultivator from the Wanjie Commerce being oppressed, not the native cultivator.

“Sir, quick, help me!” Called one cultivator from the Wanjie Commerce, in Qi Tian’s direction. It wasn’t clear if the cultivator was bluffing or if he had really seen something.

The native cultivators exchanged glances, then two of them left off surrounding the Wanjie Commerce cultivator and started to approach Qi Tian’s direction.

These two native cultivators were not weak, one was a Half-step Golden Core, and the other was at the Foundation Establishment Peak.

Qi Tian smirked slightly at the corner of his mouth. Who gave these native cultivators such courage? Was it Jingru? How could they dare to confront him with only two people?

Qi Tian pulled out his Red Hoop Stick and charged towards the two native cultivators. He didn’t want to waste time here and activated the Speed Multiplier Mode of the Heavenly Dao Engine. In an instant, he dashed in front of the two native cultivators. Before they could react, Qi Tian’s Red Hoop Stick made its move.

With a bang, the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator was the first to be hit. He was swept away by Qi Tian’s stick, flew backwards, crashed into the tunnel wall, and lost consciousness. The Half-step Golden Core cultivator somehow managed to react quickly enough to conjure up a shield around himself, but before he could make a second move or launch an attack, Qi Tian’s Red Hoop Stick swept over towards him.

Again, with a bang, the shield that could withstand a full blow from a Foundation Establishment Peak broke instantly, not even lasting ten seconds.

The Half-step Golden Core cultivator panicked, hurriedly revealing his weapon, a pestle, half a person tall and jade green, like it was made of jade.

Qi Tian’s Red Hoop Stick swept across, colliding with the pestle of the Half-step Golden Core. The Half-step Golden Core felt as if he were a raging bull colliding with an impassable wall. His pestle couldn’t withstand Qi Tian’s terrific brute force, and he, like his fellow cultivators, was propelled into the air. However, he was luckier than his companions. On one hand, he was more capable, and on the other, the pestle had absorbed some of Qi Tian’s force, making the impact somewhat more bearable.

Having landed heavily, the Half-step Golden Core quickly got up from the ground. “Let’s go, he’s too tough.”

The native cultivators hastily gave up on killing the Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators and turned to escape.

Qi Tian retracted his Red Hoop Stick, and the few saved Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators hurriedly walked towards him. “Thank you, sir, for saving us.”

Just as they were about to reach him, Qi Tian unexpectedly swung his Red Hoop Stick, striking one of the Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators and instantly killing him.

“Sir, what are you doing?” One of the Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators shouted in shock and anger.

Without saying a word, Qi Tian continued to wield his Red Hoop Stick and attacked the remaining Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators.

These cultivators from Wanjie Commerce, both unprepared for Qi Tian’s sudden attack and far weaker in comparison, couldn’t last long under his assault and were all swiftly killed.

With a cold hum, Qi Tian looked down at the bodies of the Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators lying in pools of blood and shook his head. Qi Tian kept his Heavenly Dao Engine activated at all times, sensing the Spirit Qi around him, which includes scanning the cultivators.

These Wanjie Commerce’s cultivators, although they appeared to be from Wanjie City like Qi Tian, were in actuality native cultivators in disguise. The cultivation methods and physical constitutions of the native cultivators were significantly different from those of the cultivators from Wanjie City. Regardless of how well these native cultivators disguised themselves, their essence could not be changed, and a single scan from the Heavenly Dao Engine could identify them as different kind. For those of a different kind, Qi Tian certainly wouldn’t show mercy.

With a wave of his hand, Qi Tian collected the bodies of the native cultivators into the storage room of the Heavenly Dao Engine. He frowned as he felt more cultivators coming down the mine shaft. However, Qi Tian had no intention of stopping to wait for them. Since he had chosen to enter the mine, he was prepared to face all possible consequences.

With the Red Hoop Stick in his hand, Qi Tian continued deeper into the mine. Before long, he found the mine split into two paths. Just like before, where he could no longer distinctly sense a large amount of Spirit Qi. The deeply buried spirit stone mine still fell outside the detection range of his Heavenly Dao Engine.

Having no other options, Qi Tian had to rely on luck and chose the left tunnel. He first marked the spot and then proceeded forward.

This time, Qi Tian didn’t encounter any native cultivators. However, as he went deeper, he frequently came across bifurcations in the mine and had to make choices repeatedly. Eventually, Qi Tian had lost count of how many branches he had navigated through.

After walking in the mine for over an hour, Qi Tian estimated he had covered nearly a hundred miles without reaching the end of the mine. This caused Qi Tian to wonder. The surface reach of this spiritual stone vein was limited, and the information provided by the Wanjie Commerce had also not mentioned that this vein spanned such a large area.

Based on the information Qi Tian had read, a spirit stone vein extending twenty to thirty miles was already considered astonishing. The companion ores of a spirit stone vein were usually very hard and difficult to excavate. Even if cultivators armed with suitable mining tools were employed as miners and went deep into the vein, they would not be able to gather many spirit stones in a day.

By the same logic, if these native cultivators had dug such a long, deep tunnel, the history of this tunnel would be at least two to three hundred years old, which was an abnormality.

Qi Tian’s expression became grave, he had a hunch that this mine was not a true mine, but had other purposes.