Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 464 - 464 0327 Could Collapse At Any Time

Chapter 464: Chapter 0327: Could Collapse At Any Time Chapter 464: Chapter 0327: Could Collapse At Any Time Chapter 0327 Potentially on the Verge of Collapse

After emerging from the mine, Qi Tian fed his war blade to the Heavenly Dao Engine as fuel and did the same with his clothes. After changing into a new set, he continued along the mine tunnel.

This time, all went smoothly, with no special incidents on the way.

However, when he reached the bottom of the mine tunnel, he felt that something was not right. According to the blueprint he had obtained, the depth of this tunnel was clearly marked. Logically, the tunnel has not reached its end at this location, yet before him was solid rock. The touch of the rock was hard and cold, and its color and traces were consistent with the rest of the tunnel, indicating an ancient origin.

This suggested that the people who dug this far didn’t continue because they believed there were no more spirit stones beyond this point. Hence, they stopped mining and moved on to other places.

However, this contradicted the information from the blueprint that Qi Tian had received, making the situation quite mysterious.

Anyone else coming upon this situation would either turn back immediately or make a few attempts with mining tools. Upon failing, they would definitely turn and leave, not willing to waste their precious time in fruitless efforts.

But Qi Tian was no ordinary man. He firmly believed there was no mistake with the blueprint he obtained. For one, the place where he had found the blueprint was not accessible to ordinary people. Also, the tunnels highlighted in the blueprint had been heavily guarded by people dispatched from Wanjie Commerce, providing indirect verification of the blueprint’s accuracy.

There was only one explanation—this inexplicably existing wall was likely created artificially. Crafty cultivators could make an earth-element cultivator use some means to create such an effect. Judging by the antiquity of the wall blocking the tunnel, it was likely created by native cultivators a long time ago. It might be so old, in fact, that many cultivators are unaware of its existence. Thus, Wanjie Commerce couldn’t collect information about it. Otherwise, given their domineering nature, they would not have overlooked this tunnel.

Of course, there were other possibilities. But Qi Tian believed that his guess was likely the closest to the truth. After scrutinizing the stone wall, he released the Spirit Qi sensing function of the Heavenly Dao Engine. As he had suspected, there was a slight discrepancy between the wall blocking the tunnel and the walls on the sides. The blocked wall was identified to be carrying slight Spirit Qi fluctuations.

Any objects condensed through spells carry Spirit Qi of their own attributes, strongest at the beginning but gradually weakening over time until they eventually dissipate.

Furthermore, through the images fed to him by the Heavenly Dao Engine, Qi Tian determined that this wall was not infinitely thick, but had a finite thickness of about a hundred meters, with emptiness beyond it. The previously mined tunnel was still there and not filled in.

Qi Tian sighed in relief, as he knew the blueprint he had obtained was correct. After looking around and making sure no one was heading in his direction by scanning using the Heavenly Dao Engine, he walked into the mine. He didn’t want to break open the wall blocking the tunnel, as it would give other cultivators a clear sign of his path.

Once he was inside the mine, he started digging. He created only a tiny tunnel that he could crawl through. After crawling a short distance, he used a technique to seal up the tunnel behind him. With countless tricks up his sleeve from his confiscated spoils of war, it was no problem to create this illusion.

With the aid of an Innate Spirit Treasure Level shovel, he didn’t take long to dig a roundabout tunnel to reach the other side of the wall blocking the mine and re-enter the tunnel. The area was quiet and extremely dark. Qi Tian took out a Night Pearl for light and began to sprint.

With no one in the tunnel to disturb Qi Tian, he was free to do whatever he wanted. Soon, he reached the true bottom of the mine. When he used the Heavenly Dao Engine to scan his surroundings here, the images revealed to Qi Tian a large volume of spirit stones emitting brilliant light.

After estimating the distance and leaving a safe margin to avoid a possible collision with miners from Wanjie Commerce, Qi Tian started to dig furiously, using the Innate Spirit Treasure Level shovel.

Qi Tian spent a full ten days mining this rich vein of mineral resources—not because he had used up the vein’s resources, but because he chose not to touch a certain part of the rich resources. Even so, he estimated that, relying on his own power and the Innate Spirit Treasure-level shovel, it would have taken him at least a month to exhaust the entire vein.

Now, Qi Tian finally understood why Wanjie Commerce made frantic attempts at any cost to seize control of the Spirit Stone Mine of the native cultivators. This was just one of the rich mineral veins; considering other locations, the total wealth within the Spirit Stone Mine site must be astronomical.