I am a full-level celestial master, you let me enter the strange talk of rules?

Since someone else was going to do the complicated task, Zhang Yangqing nodded to signal him to begin, thinking there was no problem.

Without further ado, the old miner shouldered his pickaxe and carefully made his way towards the fluorite vein.

He didn't rush in. He first gently tapped the rock wall with the handle of his pick to confirm its structure and stability, and then chose a spot where the ore vein was relatively concentrated and the surrounding rocks provided good support.

His digging movements became unusually gentle and cautious, unlike when he was digging for other ores before. Instead, he used small, precise taps and prying motions to peel away the rock encasing the fluorite little by little.

A short while later, the old miner let out a suppressed gasp: "It's done!"

He carefully retreated, holding a fist-sized piece of ore in both hands. It was a soft, deep blue color, and its interior seemed to have extremely faint, firefly-like specks of light flowing within it.

A few rock fragments still adhered to the surface of the ore, but the main body was intact.

Almost the instant the old miner successfully peeled off the piece of fluorite and held it in his palm, both of them clearly felt that the chilling killing intent that had been looming over them like a thorn in their backs receded rapidly like a tide!
The suffocating sense of oppression and the feeling of being watched in the air also dissipated considerably.

Although the surrounding black mist and horrific scene remained, the deadly threat of being "cut in half by an invisible blade in the next second" was gone.

The conditions of the rule have been met.

"Let's go." Zhang Yangqing didn't say anything more. He gestured for the old miner to put away the fluorite, and the two of them quickened their pace and headed towards the other end of the bisected area.

This time, the journey went exceptionally smoothly, with no further incidents.

The few eerie creatures that couldn't come out from the shadows saw this scene and swore in a language that humans couldn't understand, but their tone seemed to be saying: Damn it, we are terrifying eerie creatures, are you using us as a teaching tool?
For the first time, these people, who often slaughtered humans, felt like they were being played by humans.

Especially the human in the lead, who seemed to have slapped them in the face without their knowledge, but they didn't retaliate. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but that the other side hadn't broken any rules, so they couldn't get out.

This is a loss that's hard to swallow; whoever suffers in silence will be miserable!

Perhaps many viewers outside the big screen feel that Zhang Tianshi has not encountered any serious dangers along the way, and has been relaxed and carefree, even having the leisure to teach old miners.

However, the live streams of the other chosen ones were a completely different picture of hell.

The dangers were minor; many of the chosen ones had already been injured. Some were bitten by suddenly appearing poisonous insects, their arms swelling up badly; others strayed into landslide areas and were hit on the head by falling rocks, bleeding profusely.

Even worse, in the previous "cut-off zone," because the rules were not analyzed in time or the ticket ore was misjudged, the death condition was triggered. After a few short screams and terrifying sounds of bones breaking, the screen went completely black.

In fact, the area Zhang Yangqing had just passed through was full of potholes.

Besides the most obvious "half-cut" rule, the thin black gas permeating the air itself has a slight corrosive effect, and prolonged inhalation can lead to dizziness and accelerated loss of physical strength.

Tiny, blood-sucking parasites may be hiding in the puddles and puddles on the ground.

The chosen ones need to pay attention to these details themselves.

It wasn't that Zhang Yangqing wasn't in danger, but rather that he used an almost precognitive insight to analyze all potential dangers in advance and avoided them in the most concise and efficient way.

Behind his ability to turn danger into safety lies an extraordinary capacity for observation, analysis, and judgment that is beyond the reach of ordinary people—this is Zhang Tianshi's skill.

At this point, the countdown timer on my wrist had been ticking for nearly two hours.

There is only a little over an hour left until the three-hour "safe time limit".

The chances of finding anything left behind by the savior in such a short time are slim.

Moreover, so far, there have been too few clear clues about the rules that have been triggered, and there is absolutely no clue about that "thing that does not belong to this world." Zhang Yangqing adjusted his phased goals.

The most urgent task is to find food and minerals that can be used for cultivation.

At the very least, one must first break free from this extremely weak state of body and replenish sufficient energy before considering further cultivation and deeper exploration.

However, finding food is by no means easy.

The corpses that can be seen everywhere in the mine, whether human or other creatures, mostly died by strange means. The corpses themselves are contaminated, and eating them is tantamount to suicide.

To find edible meat, one can only hope to find relatively normal, still-living animals.

The idea is simple: follow the trail of the powerful, deer-like, tiger-like beast that was previously discovered being surrounded and killed by mutated rats.

But the challenge lies in how to defeat them.

Without considering eating rat meat, the target naturally falls to powerful beasts.

But considering the corpses they had seen earlier and the battle scenes nearby, they knew that this was no easy opponent.

After exploring for about five more minutes, deep in a relatively dry and well-ventilated side passage, the old miner made a discovery, relying on the scent tracking method pointed out by Zhang Yangqing.

"Boss, there's movement up ahead! The smell is really fresh!"

The old miner lay prone behind the rock wall, cautiously peeking out. His expression changed immediately, and he quickly withdrew, lowering his voice with barely concealed tension.

"It's one of those 'horned tiger beasts'! They're resting in the small cave ahead!"

Zhang Yangqing quietly approached and peered out from behind the rock face.

In front of them, in a naturally formed cave of about ten square meters, a strange beast, about the size of a calf, was lying on a relatively flat stone platform, seemingly asleep.

It has long, slender limbs and forked antlers similar to a deer, but its head is more like a tiger's, with exposed fangs. Its body is covered with thick, dark blue, spotted skin, and its muscles undulate slightly with each breath, exuding an explosive sense of power.

Even from a distance, you can feel the ferocious aura of a predator emanating from it.

The old miner's palms were sweating with nervousness, and his voice trembled slightly: "Boss, this thing can definitely be considered a low-level demonic beast! It has thick skin and flesh, immense strength, and is fast! Last time we encountered one, a newcomer from the Qing Tong family who had just become a charioteer was stabbed through the stomach by it and died a miserable death!"
In the end, it took several skilled individuals working together and paying a considerable price to take it down. What about us? Should we set a trap? How can I help you?

As he spoke, he saw that Zhang Yangqing had somehow pulled out a piece of dark red ore with unusually sharp edges from the tattered cloth bag at his waist.

It was about a foot long and irregularly shaped, but the broken edge gleamed with a cold light, and could barely be used as a rough short blade or spike.

However, Zhang Yangqing's answer almost made the old miner's heart jump out of his chest.

"It's no big deal, I'll be right back." Zhang Yangqing weighed the sharp stone in his hand, his tone as casual as if he were talking about picking some wild vegetables.

"Boss! You can't do that! It's not that I don't trust you! But this guy is really dangerous!"

The old miner was shocked and, without bothering to lower his voice, grabbed Zhang Yangqing's arm.

Zhang Yangqing gently pulled her hand away from his and nodded to show her understanding: "I understand your concerns, but you can just wait."

That expression seemed to say: Watch closely, I'll only pretend this once! (End of Chapter)