Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

Unbeknownst to them, Zhou Qing and his group of eight had been on duty at the mining area for more than half a month.

Today, after handing over the patrol duties to the other disciples, Zhou Qing has been meditating in the stone house in the mining area.

After settling down each time, he would always review the current situation.

Besides the magical artifacts, pills, talismans, and other items he usually carries with him, he also brought the Azure Phoenix Egg and the Heavenly Crystal Ant with him to the Nine Kingdoms Alliance this time.

After he established his foundation, he took advantage of the weakened state of the Heavenly Crystal Ant Queen and placed a restriction on it.

As for the crystal ant eggs, they are much simpler to obtain.

Zhou Qing set up a divine control array, dripped in some essence blood, and easily completed the divine control ritual of recognizing the master.

After gaining control, Zhou Qing began to find ways to make them reproduce quickly. These crystal ant eggs were still of a low level and not sharp enough in individual combat. Only when they reached a large scale would they become terrifying.

Fortunately, Zhou Qing discovered that these crystal ants reproduced quite quickly. As long as there was enough food, they could produce three or four generations a year without any problem. He believed that it wouldn't be long before he could have a super-large crystal ant colony with tens of thousands of members.

However, there was one thing that gave Zhou Qing a real headache: the Azure Phoenix Egg.

Four years have passed, and the spirit egg still shows no signs of hatching.

This made Zhou Qing realize that if he continued to rely solely on the Spirit Gathering Array to continuously gather spiritual energy for nourishment, there would be no possibility of breaking through the shell in a short period of time. He had to think of other methods.

Zhou Qing took out the jade slip containing information about the Azure Phoenix and scanned it again. He found that it mentioned that wind-attribute spiritual objects might be helpful in the hatching process.

After putting away the jade slip, Zhou Qing thought to himself, "It seems I need to collect more wind-attribute spiritual items in the future, such as wind-attribute spirit stones and wind-attribute spirit ores."

Just then, a shout came from outside the stone house.

"Senior Brother Zhou, are you inside?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing recognized the voice as that of the disciple from Baiqiao Academy.

This man was named Lu Gongshu. He had a slightly yellow complexion, an average build, and a gentle demeanor. He was always amiable and had a good relationship with everyone in the group.

However, since Zhou Qing and he both came from the same Yunmeng Three Sects, their relationship was naturally better, so he would always come to Zhou Qing for advice when he encountered problems.

Zhou Qing quickly got up, removed the battle flags, and walked out of the stone house.

As soon as he reached the door, he saw Lu Gongshu standing not far outside. As soon as he saw the formation disappear, he strode over.

Zhou Qing asked, "Junior Brother Lu, didn't you go to inspect the mine? Why are you back so soon?"

Lu Gongshu shook his head, seemingly somewhat helpless, and said in a deep voice, "Sigh, don't mention it. I don't know what happened, but a senior brother from Huangshamen has been deliberately targeting a junior brother from Yanyue Sect. The two of them couldn't agree on anything and started arguing on the road, so this inspection trip was abandoned. I just don't understand, we're all here to resist the Mulan people, why are we acting like enemies?"

Zhou Qing patted his arm, then looked at the cliff not far away and said, "I happen to have nothing to do right now, let's talk as we walk."

On the way, Zhou Qing explained the reason to Lu Gongshu.

"Junior Brother Lu, you must know about the invasion by both the righteous and demonic factions back then, right?" Zhou Qing asked.

Lu Gongshu replied in a serious tone, "Of course, this is one of the most important events in Tiannan in the last hundred years! Although I wasn't born at the time, I had seen this in the classics and heard many of my fellow disciples mention it."

Zhou Qing nodded and then continued, "Back then, when the demonic path invaded Yue Kingdom, the six sects of Yue Kingdom were defeated and retreated. They were forced to move into the Nine Kingdoms Alliance and chose to rebuild their sect in Beiliang Kingdom, which had the fewest sects in the Nine Kingdoms Alliance."

Although the cultivation resources of the Northern Liang Kingdom are at the bottom among the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, some original local sects still occupy this place.

It should be understood that spiritual veins and spiritual mines are the foundation for cultivators to establish themselves and the basis for the survival of various sects in Tiannan. How could the local sects easily hand over their own resources?

Therefore, the six factions of Yue inevitably clashed with local sects over resources, and the two sides fought openly and covertly for decades until today when the six factions have barely managed to gain a foothold.

Even so, the six factions still live in constant fear, relying on sticking together for warmth and slowly recovering their lost vitality.

The Hidden Moon Sect is one of the six sects of the Yue Kingdom, while the Yellow Sand Sect is a local sect of the Northern Liang Kingdom.

Now you know why they're such bitter enemies.

After hearing this, Lu Gongshu finally understood the reason and nodded thoughtfully.

Just then, an ordinary person rushed up from the bottom of the cliff; he was a middle-aged miner.

Zhou Qing raised his hand, and a surge of spiritual energy lifted him up and moved him in front of him.

"What happened? Why do you look so flustered?"

The middle-aged miner, panting heavily and looking very flustered, took several breaths before saying, "Master, the mine has collapsed!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing and Lu Gongshu quickly exchanged a glance, both immediately sensing that something was terribly wrong. The mine had collapsed, and this was no small matter.

"Let's go take a look," Zhou Qing said immediately, then flew down the cliff and headed straight for the mine entrance, with Lu Gongshu following closely behind.

When Zhou Qing arrived at the mine entrance, he found many ordinary miners running out frantically, shouting wildly.

His expression remained unchanged. He knew that he couldn't rush things and had to be cautious. He calmly summoned a spirit shield with his right hand to protect his head, while holding a wooden shield talisman in his left hand and casting a defensive spell on his body.

Seeing this, Lu Gongshu also summoned his magical artifact and cast a defensive spell on himself.

The two entered the mine shaft one on the left and one on the right. They ignored the fleeing miners they encountered along the way and continued deeper into the mine in the direction they had come from.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the two finally reached the landslide site.

The landslide wasn't actually that big, but it happened to block the only access road deep inside the mine, trapping some miners inside.

Seeing this, the two decisively used their magical artifacts to create an opening at the edge of the landslide, rescuing the miners.

The miner, having narrowly escaped death, knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Gongshu and Zhou Qing, expressing his deepest gratitude.

Zhou Qing waved his hand, signaling them to leave quickly. Lu Gongshu saw that many of them were injured, and kindly gave them two healing pills, instructing them to dissolve them in water and take them in turn.

Although it was just a small landslide, Zhou Qing did not dare to underestimate it. He carefully observed the geological structure around the landslide and suddenly discovered a red crystal in a pile of rocks.

"What's wrong? Did Senior Brother Zhou notice something amiss?"

"Something seems off about this red crystal. Why is it containing so little fire-attribute spiritual energy?"

Zhou Qing studied fire-attribute cultivation techniques, so he was naturally more sensitive to fire-attribute spiritual energy in the world. In addition, the color of this red crystal was somewhat duller than that of a normal red crystal, which is why he could tell something was wrong at a glance.

He then grasped the red crystal with his right hand, protected his palm with spiritual power, and gently squeezed it, causing the red crystal to shatter into several pieces.

When Lu Gongshu saw this, he could hardly believe it. These ores, which contained the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and were far harder than ordinary stones, were crushed so easily by Zhou Qing.

"Senior Brother Zhou, you have incredible strength!" Lu Gongshu suddenly exclaimed.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing was speechless. He collected the few small pieces of the red crystal and walked outside.

"Let's go outside and talk. There are some things we need to find out from the mine supervisor."