Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

The pile of waste paper in the corner grew thicker and thicker, and the porcelain vases and talismans on the table also accumulated more and more.

The bottleneck that had been blocked for ten years was loosening more and more rapidly with the continuous supply of high-grade Yuan Qi powder and spirit stones. The spiritual power in his dantian was becoming more condensed and profound every day, and he was only one step away from the fourth level of Qi Refining.

Everything is moving in a positive direction.

Early that morning, just as dawn broke, someone pounded on the courtyard gate, the sound filled with barely suppressed urgency.

"Brother Xu! Brother Xu! Are you there?"

It was Qian Shi's voice.

Xu Yuan put down the wolf-hair brush in his hand, frowned, and got up to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Qian Shi rushed in. He was wearing a drab gray outfit, his face was deathly pale, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, his lips were chapped, and his eyes were red, as if he had suffered a great shock.

"What's wrong?" Xu Yuan stepped aside to let him in, and closed the door behind him.

Qian Shi entered the house, but instead of sitting down, he stood there, rubbing his hands together and pacing around in circles. After pacing around several times, he finally stopped, looked at Xu Yuan, and his voice was trembling.

"Brother Xu, I'm feeling uneasy, so I came here specifically to ask you for advice."

"Take your time, don't rush." ​​Xu Yuan poured him a cup of iced tea and handed it to him.

Qian Shi took the teacup, drank it all in one gulp, and only then did he catch his breath. He swallowed and said, "Do you still remember those two brothers who escaped from the Canghu trap with me last time? Sun Hu and Zhao Dazhuang, both of them were at the second level of Qi Refining."

Xu Yuan thought for a moment and nodded.

When Qian Shi returned covered in blood last time, he mentioned these two people. They were independent cultivators who had banded together with him. They had no background and relied entirely on their strength to make a living.

"What happened to them?"

"They've taken on a job," Qian Shi said, his voice even lower. "A mining job in the Xiling Mine. They'll be going down into the mine in three days."

Xu Yuan's eyebrows twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything.

Xiling Mine was the man-eating graveyard that Li Qinghe had tried to push him into. Everyone in the rogue cultivator circle knew that nine out of ten who went there never came back; either the mine collapsed or monsters attacked. Every year, at least eighty or a hundred rogue cultivators died there.

"I've tried to persuade them, I've practically worn my lips out, telling them the mine tunnels are dangerous and they shouldn't go. But they won't listen!" Qian Shi stamped his feet in frustration. "They say that although the mine tunnels are dangerous, they pay a lot of spirit stones—eight spirit stones for each trip down the mine, which is equivalent to half a year's worth of farming spirit fields!"

He grew increasingly agitated as he spoke, his eyes bloodshot: "I couldn't stop them, and I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, so I thought I'd come and ask for your opinion. Brother Xu, what do you think... should I go on this assignment?"

After he finished speaking, he looked at Xu Yuan with an almost blind trust in his eyes.

Ever since Xu Yuan's advice saved Qian Shi's life in the tiger cub trap, Qian Shi has held firm to one principle: whatever Xu Yuan says is forbidden, he must never do.

Xu Yuan did not answer immediately.

He lowered his eyes, his mind slightly stirred.

Last night at midnight, today's intelligence had already been updated. He was busy pondering the fire control technique at the time and only glanced at it, not having had time to examine it closely. Now, with a thought, the line of text immediately appeared clearly before his eyes.

[White Intelligence: In three days, a large-scale collapse will occur deep within the Xiling Mine. All the unaffiliated cultivators who went down into the mine will perish; not a single one will survive.]

There was no chance of survival; not a single person could return alive.

Those ten words were like ten cold knives, piercing one's eyes painfully.

Xu Yuan raised his head, looked at Qian Shi's honest face, and remained silent for a moment.

"Brother Qian, do you trust me?" he asked.

"I believe you!" Qian Shi blurted out without hesitation. "You saved my life! I believe whatever you say!"

"Then listen to me." Xu Yuan's voice was neither loud nor soft, his tone as calm as if he were talking about the weather, but every word carried undeniable weight. "The Xiling Mine is absolutely off-limits. Not only can you not go, but you must also tell your two brothers that they absolutely cannot go. If they go, they won't come back."

Qian Shi's face turned pale instantly, and the teacup in his hand clattered against the edge of the table.

"Is...is something really going to happen?"

"Yes," Xu Yuan said, offering only one word.

He didn't explain why, nor could he. The system was his biggest secret, one he could never tell a second person. In this world of cultivation, some things are either believed or not, no amount of explanation will change that.

Qian Shi did not press the matter further.

He took a deep breath, nodded vigorously, and his eyes instantly hardened: "I understand! I'll go tell them right now, even if it means tying them up, I'll get them tied up!"

After saying that, he turned around and was about to rush out.

"Brother Qian," Xu Yuan called out to him.

Qian Shi turned around and looked at him anxiously.

Xu Yuan looked at him calmly: "All you can do is deliver the message and explain the pros and cons. Whether they listen or not is their fate. You've done your best; don't get yourself involved."

Qian Shi paused for a moment, then a bitter look appeared on his face, and he nodded heavily: "I understand."

He bowed respectfully to Xu Yuan and strode out.

Xu Yuan stood at the door, watching his figure disappear into the alley before slowly closing the door.

He leaned against the door, feeling a mix of emotions he couldn't quite describe.

The collapse of the Xiling mine tunnel killed low-level cultivators like him. They probably also had people they wanted to protect, unfinished dreams of cultivation, and, like him, the desire to survive in this cannibalistic world.

But he can't save everyone.

He wasn't even entirely sure if he could survive the bloodbath six months later. All he could do was remind those who believed in him, and then, before the disaster struck, desperately become stronger, accumulate enough trump cards, and lead those who believed in him out alive.

That's it.

In the afternoon, the sun was beginning to set.

Xu Yuan was in the courtyard, trying to use the method of transforming spiritual energy into threads to control the spiritual fire to quench a small piece of refined iron, when the courtyard gate was knocked on again.

Open the door, and there's still Qian Shi.

This time, his face looked even worse than in the morning. His lips were pressed into a tight line, the light in his eyes had completely dimmed, and he looked listless, as if his soul had been taken away.

"They won't listen, will they?" Xu Yuan could guess seven or eight parts of the truth just by looking at his expression.

Qian Shi didn't speak. He walked into the courtyard with his head down, plopped down on the stone bench in the courtyard, put his hands on his knees, and after a long while, finally squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth.

"Sun Hu said... that you are a coward who has only reached the third level of Qi Refining in ten years. You don't dare to earn spirit stones yourself, and you can't stand seeing others get rich."

His voice grew softer and softer, filled with deep resentment and frustration.

"Zhao Dazhuang went even further, saying that I was bewitched by you and that I wasn't thinking straight. He also said... he also said that if you were really capable, how come you've been stuck at the third level of Qi Refining for ten years? What gives you the right to interfere in other people's affairs?"

Xu Yuan's expression remained unchanged after hearing this.

He'd heard those kinds of things for ten years; he was immune to them by now.

He poured himself a cup of tea and sipped it slowly without saying a word.

"And then?" he asked.

"Then they kicked me out." Qian Shi gave a bitter smile, looked up at Xu Yuan, his eyes full of exhaustion. "Sun Hu also said that when they come back from the mine and earn spirit stones, they will treat me to a good meal at Zuixianlou, so that I can broaden my horizons and stop following a good-for-nothing."

Xu Yuan paused, holding the teacup, and looked up at Qian Shi.

Qian Shi's eyes held grievance and anger, but even more so, an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

"Brother Xu, do you think I've been meddling too much?"

"Yes."

Xu Yuan's answer was crisp and decisive, offering no comfort whatsoever.

Qian Shi suddenly raised his head, stunned, and looked at Xu Yuan, as if he hadn't expected him to say that.

"You've delivered the message, done everything you could." Xu Yuan put down his teacup, his tone indifferent. "They didn't listen; that's their choice, their fate. You insisted on stopping them, but not only did you fail, you only caused trouble for yourself. What's the point?"

Qian Shi opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back.

After a long silence, he slowly stood up and dusted off his bottom.

"I see."

He walked to the courtyard gate, then suddenly stopped without turning around, his voice muffled.

"Brother Xu, do you think... they really will die?"

Xu Yuan did not answer the question.

He simply watched Qian Shi's retreating figure and said something else.

"Brother Qian, everyone has their own destiny. Your survival is the best thing you can do for them."

Qian Shi's shoulders trembled slightly. He didn't say anything more, strode out of the courtyard, and his footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Xu Yuan closed the door and bolted it.

He stopped thinking about Sun Hu and Zhao Dazhuang, turned around and went back into the house, where he sat cross-legged on the couch.

On the table were two round and plump high-grade Yuanqi pills, which he had just refined that morning. They were fragrant with medicinal aroma and contained spiritual energy.

It's been ten years.

After ten years of cultivating to the third level of Qi Refining, he endured endless scorn and cold treatment. Li Qinghe swallowed his spirit stones, Zhou Chengxian flaunted his achievements in front of him, Liu Yue'er sarcastically distanced herself from him, and Sun Hu and Zhao Dazhuang called him a coward...

He never took these things to heart.

It wasn't because he was magnanimous, but because he understood all too well. In this world of cultivation, emotions are the least valuable thing. Anger solves nothing, and resentment doesn't earn you spirit stones. Only solid cultivation is the foundation for survival.

He closed his eyes and put a high-grade Yuan Qi into his mouth.

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, and its warm medicinal power flowed through the meridians and into the dantian in an instant.

Then, the second one.

The two high-grade Qi-building pills took effect simultaneously, their combined medicinal power like two scalding torrents rushing through his meridians.

Xu Yuan gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, sweat streaming down his face, but he didn't stop for a moment. He circulated his cultivation technique with all his might, guiding the powerful medicinal force to rush into the bottleneck deep in his dantian that had been blocked for ten years.

pain.

Heart-piercing pain.

It felt as if something was being forcibly torn apart from his body. His dantian throbbed with pain, and his meridians felt like they were about to burst from the strain of the medicine, but he didn't stop.

Ten years of accumulation, the consumption of hundreds of spirit stones, the sedimentation of dozens of batches of pills, and the control over spiritual power brought by the True Understanding of Fire Control—

At this moment, all the forces converged into an unstoppable torrent.

Break it!

Xu Yuan let out a silent roar in his heart.

boom--

Deep within his dantian, the barrier that had blocked him for ten years shattered at this moment!

The spiritual energy surged like a flood bursting its banks, rushing wildly into the newly opened meridians, roaring and surging within his body, completing one cycle, two cycles, three cycles...

With each rotation, the spiritual energy becomes more condensed and purer.

Xu Yuan felt as if he were soaking in warm water, with every pore on his body opening up, and the suffocating feeling that had been suppressed for ten years was swept away.

Instead, there is an unprecedented sense of ease and abundant power.

Fourth level of Qi Refining.

Mid-stage of Qi Refining.

He did it.

Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, and a glint of light flashed deep within them.

He looked down at his hands, and the spiritual energy in his palms was more than twice as strong as before. He could clearly feel the flow of spiritual energy in the air when he gently clenched his fingers.

ten years.

He finally overcame this hurdle.

But just then, he suddenly frowned, looked up sharply, and stared at the direction of the courtyard wall.

When I broke through just now, my spiritual energy leaked out. Although the restrictions in the courtyard blocked most of it, there was still a slight fluctuation that leaked out.

Not many, but enough for a discerning person to notice.

He held his breath and listened intently.

In the neighboring courtyard lived a rogue cultivator at the second level of Qi Refining, who rarely ventured out. At that moment, a slight noise came from there, as if someone had come out of the house.

Not just the neighbor's.

Two alleys away to the east of the market, a faint divine sense swept towards his courtyard.

They were Li Qinghe's spies planted in the market.

Xu Yuan's gaze instantly darkened.

Looks like we're in trouble!

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Xu Yuan was awakened by a knock on the door.

After breaking through last night, he had been consolidating his cultivation and didn't fall asleep until late at night. His mind was still a little groggy.

The knocking was neither hurried nor slow; three knocks, a pause, then three more.

With a deliberate politeness, yet exuding an undeniable forcefulness, Xu Yuan was all too familiar with this rhythm.

Li Qinghe.

He rolled out of bed, put on an outer robe, took a deep breath, adjusted his facial expression to look like he had just woken up and was still a little dazed, and quickly walked over to unlatch the door.

Standing outside the door was indeed Li Qinghe.

Today, the old man was dressed in a brand-new royal blue brocade robe, with a piece of fine mutton-fat jade hanging from his waist. He was carrying an exquisite wooden box in his hand, his face was radiant, and he was smiling like a Maitreya Buddha. There was not a trace of the sinister nature he had shown before.

"Brother Xu!" Upon meeting, Li Qinghe cupped his hands in greeting, his voice booming like a theatrical performance, "Congratulations! I heard you've broken through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, so I rushed over early this morning to offer my congratulations. Truly, your accumulated efforts have finally paid off; a cause for celebration!"

As he spoke, without waiting for Xu Yuanrang, he strode straight into the courtyard, as if he knew the place like the back of his own home.

Xu Yuan stepped aside, his face showing just the right amount of surprise and flattery. He quickly cupped his hands in greeting: "Manager Li, your information network is excellent! I only just broke through last night, and you already knew this morning?"