Chapter 404: Searching For Blackstone
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"I’m called Mo Wuji, newbie. How may I address this senior sister?" As he followed behind this black robed girl, Mo Wuji took the initiative to greet her.
He had just came to Half Immortal Domain, and because he didn’t know anything, he was scammed by Lang Hao. Since this girl was his team, he naturally had to form good relations with her and get some details from her. After all, this was his first time excavating for ores.
"Jia Qi." After that black robed girl casually stated her name, she looked at Mo Wuji’s empty basket with interest. However, she didn’t say anything else.
What a weird name. Mo Wuji could see that this girl was not one of many words. Even though he wanted to ask more questions, he didn’t want to create any ill will. When they reached the mining area, he would just see how she searched for blackstone, and he would just follow suit.
At the entrance of Half Immortal Domain, there was a huge flying ship parked. Many cultivators were queuing up to enter the flying ship; Mo Wuji and Jia Qi joined the queue.
The seats on the flying ship were very clearly labelled; there were various signs for Mining Areas A, B, C, D, etc. Mo Wuji and Jia Qi were going to Mining Area F, so they could only sit at F seats.
Roughly two hours later, the flying ship started to tremble as it shot out towards the sky. Soon, Half Moon Immortal Domain was but a point in the distance.
Besides Jia Qi, Mo Wuji didn’t recognise anyone else on the flying ship. Moreover, he couldn’t cultivate on the flying ship; he could only sit around idly until they reached the mining areas.
Mo Wuji extended his spiritual will outside; not only were the lands black and murky, the surrounding air was also turbid, it was not as clean and pristine as Half Immortal Domain.
Half a day later, Mo Wuji could no longer hold it in as he asked, "Senior Jia Qi, I want to ask you about a person. He’s called Qiao Aolun, have you heard of him?"
"No." Jia Qi’s answer was very simple. After that single word, she did not speak any further.
Qiao Aolun was the first Star Lord of Star King Mountain. According to Star King Mountain’s records, Qiao Aolun had broken through the void. If breaking through the void led to these mines, that Qiao Aolun might actually be here.
Seeing that Jia Qi did not have any intention of continuing, Mo Wuji did not bother asking about people like Meng Yinsan. Firstly, Meng Yinsan and the others were involved with Half Moon Prison. Secondly, Meng Yinsan, himself, had escaped from Half Moon Prison after killing the prison warden. This was some shady business. He was not close to Jia Qi, so it was best if he didn’t ask aboutit.
After flying for another day, Mo Wuji heard announcements that they had arrived at certain mining areas, and some people would jump out of the flying ship. After another four hours, Mo Wuji finally heard an announcement on the ship, "We’ve arrived at Mining Area F."
Following this announcement, all the cultivators of this area stood up, then jumped out of the exit of the flying ship. Mo Wuji and Jia Qi followed behind them.
When he landed, he was welcomed by a vast, black wilderness. Here, Mo Wuji could finally feel the faint traces of a magical array.
This black wilderness was separated into many different areas. Each areas would write their respective number.
Clearly, this was not Jia Qi’s first time here. She sped quickly along the signs while Mo Wuji followed behind her. After half an incense’s of time, she stopped.
In front of Mo Wuji, there was a sign: Mining Area 5109F.
Jia Qi glanced at Mo Wuji, then swiftly ran into this mining area. Mo Wuji continued to follow behind her, entering into this mining area. His spiritual will had seen it clearly; the moment Jia Qi and him entered, the lamp at the entrance of the mining area lit up.
"You can do whatever you want. Five days later, we’ll meet back at where we dropped off from the flying ship," Jia Qi looked at Mo Wuji and said indifferently.
Mo Wuji was instantly shocked. After a few breaths time, he said, "Senior Jia Qi, I heard that excavating blackstone requires two people to work together…"
"No need." Jia Qi directly interrupted Mo Wuji’s words." Firstly, you’re unable to help me. Secondly, I don’t want to work with you. The blackstone that I dig will be for myself, I’m unable to give any to you."
Mo Wuji was speechless; so this woman was afraid that he would take adcantage of her. Even when he was back on Earth, he would’t take advantage of people. In such a place, all the more he wouldn’t take advantage of a woman like you.
"Dao Friend Jia Qi, I’ve never excavated blackstone before, I just want to see how you do it. If I’m unable to do it, I promise that I won’t take advantage of you. If you know the uses of blackstone…"
Mo Wuji had yet to finish his words before Jia Qi started to wave her hands, "I also don’t know. Don’t follow me."
Thereafter, she did not continue to care about Mo Wuji, turning and speeding into the depths of Mining Area 5109F.
Inside her heart, she was sneering. She found it hard to understand how a person like Mo Wuji could enter Longevity Sect. The moment he heard that she wouldn’t let herself be exploited, he immediately changed his way of addressing her to "dao friend". She especially despised this kind of people.
Mo Wuji shook his head speechlessly. Right from the start, this woman put up this indifferent mask, thinking that he would take advantage of her. Naturally, he wouldn’t behave warmly to this cold shoulder. Just like he would call Lou Chuanhe his senior, but he would address Bian Shuangbi as merely a dao friend.
This sort of senior sister, he didn’t want it. He wouldn’t even address her like so.
Ten people appeared not faraway. Mo Wuji did not recognise these people; from the looks of it, these people weren’t from Longevity Sect.
Without a partner, Mo Wuji could only start searching by himself. He had never seen blackstone before, he didn’t even know what blackstone was. He could only depend on his spiritual will.
Two hours later, Mo Wuji finally understood why blackstone was so hard to find. Even though this plot of land seemed to be vast and endless, it was completely filled with murky black rock and sand. It was indeed hard to find a similarly black and murky blackstone if he used his spiritual will to scan these black and murky rock and sand.
This was not the main point; the main point was that Mo Wuji discovered that his spiritual will could only penetrate around 3 meters into the black ground. Any further and he would feel an faint pain in his sea of consciousness. If he forcefully tried to extend his spiritual will, his sea of consciousness would even start to bubble. The only good thing was, he could use this method to temper his sea of consciousness, allowing his sea of consciousness to get bigger and his spiritual will to get tougher.
However, Mo Wuji knew that he wasn’t here to temper his sea of consciousness; he was here to search for blackstone. And to temper his sea of consciousness, he would require a large amount of Spirit Strengthening Pills.
Spirit Strengthening Pills could replenish the sea of consciousness, but it was merely an elementary grade spiritual pill. Now that he was at Worldly Immortal Stage Level 4, he needed tens of the Spirit Strengthening Pill in order to receive even the slightest of effects.
A day passed by just like this. Not only was Mo Wuji unable to excavate any blackstone, he didn’t even get to see what blackstone looked like.
By the second day’s afternoon, Mo Wuji gave up on searching for blackstone. He decided to look for other people and see how they dug for blackstone.
After circling the area for half a day, Mo Wuji finally found two other cultivators excavating for blackstone. He hurriedly ran over.
When the two saw Mo Wuji speeding over, they started to be on guard. Because of the distribution ratios of the mining areas, forcefully snatching blackstones did not usually happen, but it did not mean that it would never happen.
"These two dao friends, because I had just arrived here, I don’t know how to find blackstone. May I ask these two dao friends if you could teach me how to search for blackstone?" Mo Wuji was very courteous as he clasped his fists and asked.
"Where’s your partner?" One of the cultivators stared at Mo Wuji doubtfully and asked.
Mo Wuji could only explain, "My partner thinks that my abilities are limited, so she went off by herself."
These two people did not seem to find it here. There were no small amounts of people who found that their partners were incapable and decided to work by themselves.
"Blackstones are usually found 3 to 30 meters under the ground. The deeper you go, the more likely you are to find blackstone. Under usual circumstances, one person would lock in to the blackstone with spiritual will, while the other digs." This cultivator did not hide anything; this was all common knowledge.
"There’s a need to lock in?" Mo Wuji asked in astonishment.
That cultivator that answered Mo Wuji chuckled loudly, "Of course. Blackstone has its own spirituality. The moment spiritual will touches it, it would quickly run away."
After answering Mo Wuji, the two left swiftly. To them, there was not much value in befriending a newbie like Mo Wuji.
Mo Wuji calmed down; no wonder why he couldn’t find any blackstone. His spiritual will could only reach 3 meters into the ground. If he was lucky, he could actually find some blackstone. But after he found the blackstone, he still had to rush and dig it out.
From the looks of it, this black ground must be very hard. As he thought of this, Mo Wuji brought out his Tian Ji Pole. With a casual swing, only a small bit of land was dug out.
My cultivation was really too low ah, Mo Wuji sighed in his heart. His spiritual will could only seep in 3 meters into the ground. Still, he did not mind too much aout it, this place was able to temper his spiritual will. As long as he stayed here for a few decades, his spiritual will would get stronger, and his range would naturally get wider.
However, he had an advantage that no one else had; he had the spirit storage channel. Mo Wuji released his spiritual will from his spirit storage channel. Soon, Mo Wuji was met with a pleasant surprise.
Because his spirit storage channel was not controlled by his sea of consciousness, his spiritual will could reach up to 15 to 18 meters into the ground. And this was just the beginning. If he became more familiar with this terrain, his spiritual will might even reach 30 meters into the ground.
Even if his usual spiritual will was tempered, it wouldn’t reach such a level right?
Mo Wuji decided, as he walked around this area, he was going to start using his spirit storage channel’s spiritual will. The depletion of his spirit storage channel’s spiritual will could be replenished with his sea of consciousness. As long as he didn’t use spiritual will directly from his sea of consciousness, it would be fine.
In merely four hours, Mo Wuji stopped. His spirit storage channel had found six blackstones that were joined together. Even though these six blackstones had the same colour as the surrounding rock and sand, Mo Wuji was sure that this was blackstone. He had never touched blackstone with his hands before, but his spiritual will did interact with it before.
These six blackstones were roughly 9 meters in the ground. Indeed, when Mo Wuji’s spiritual will interacted with these blackstones, they started to tremble. He did not dare retract his spiritual will. He was worried that when he did that, these six blackstones would run away.