Chapter 7
“There is.”
Those two words were like an open skylight, pleasantly illuminating Qi Miao’s inner world.
Qi Miao looked up at the steward of Fortune Fate Hall with eager eyes, appearing studious and seeking answers.
The steward did not withhold information: “You can go into the mineral veins yourself to search for stones. With some luck, you might find rare materials.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Miao first asked, “Is there a fee to enter the mineral veins?”
The steward was amused by her frugality, laughing as he said, “It’s our own mineral veins, so no fee is required. But when you leave, you must hand over one-tenth of the stones you find to the Refining Workshop.”
That wasn’t much.
Qi Miao’s eyes sparkled.
She suddenly realized that the mineral veins were a way to gather materials for someone like her, who was a ‘poor cultivator.’
Just as she was tempted, the steward’s tone suddenly shifted: “Going into the mineral veins to search sounds good, but there’s a risk when you go personally.”
“If you’re only looking for common stones, it’s relatively safe. But if you want rare stones, you have to venture deeper inside. The deeper you go, the greater the danger.”
The steward of Fortune Fate Hall saw that Qi Miao had no prior knowledge of the mineral veins, so he explained in detail: “Deep within the veins, there are places with toxic gases and areas guarded by demonic beasts. If you encounter danger inside, the Refining Workshop will not intervene.”
In simple terms, entering the mineral veins meant opportunities and risks coexisted.
Qi Miao understood and thanked the steward, then returned her attention to the storage room.
The existence of the mineral veins gave Qi Miao another option. She couldn’t help but think again about the wolframite.
She wandered around the storage room. Since she had arrived late this month, the remaining ores in Fortune Fate Hall were all quite ordinary. So Qi Miao decided to first visit the mineral veins and then consider whether to spend her share all on wolframite.
Qi Miao acted decisively.
She immediately left Fortune Fate Hall and headed straight to the mineral veins.
The veins were located in the northernmost territory of the Cangwu Sect. Just after dismounting her spirit beast, she was hit by a biting cold wind.
She shivered uncontrollably, stamped her feet, and after a while, found the entrance to the mineral veins on the snow-covered mountain.
Entering or exiting the veins required activating a special formation. Qi Miao registered with the steward at the entrance, took a mining pick with her disciple badge for artifact refining, then stood on the formation and, as instructed, injected spiritual power into the formation’s core.
When she opened her eyes again, she was already inside the veins.
The underground light was dim, and it was even colder and damper than outside.
Qi Miao touched the layered rock walls carefully and proceeded inward, knowing her limits—this time, she would not cross the safe boundaries.
Just finding a few common stones would satisfy her.
The shallow layer of the veins was littered with many broken rocks. Qi Miao picked up a lump of grayish-white stone nearby and identified it by the light.
It was feldspar.
Her first reaction was to recall the properties of this stone: low melting point, high transparency...
Her second realization was that feldspar was also common in this world. She hadn’t seen it in Fortune Fate Hall earlier and had thought the cultivator world’s mineral veins might be different.
Seeing the abundance of feldspar here, she understood—it was likely too common, which was why Fortune Fate Hall didn’t keep it.
Moreover, these ores were scattered carelessly on the ground, indicating they had little use in artifact forging.
Honestly, feldspar wasn’t very useful to her either, but after pondering, she decisively put it into her storage pouch.
Then she bent down and began collecting those stones discarded by others.
—Even if they couldn’t be used for artifact forging, they could be used to practice refining stones.
Qi Miao spent half an hour gathering stones.
She finally stopped because of the cold.
She raised her wrist to touch her chilly cheek and knew it was time to leave.
She packed her pouch and, before leaving, cast a fond glance at the stones lying on the ground ahead.
She would return after she finished using them.
Qi Miao returned through the formation to the mineral vein entrance. The steward saw her come out and silently tapped the table, signaling to inspect the stones she had gathered.
Qi Miao stepped forward and emptied the stones from her pouch onto the table.
She quickly emptied the pouch and quietly waited for the steward to take one-tenth.
However, after a few seconds without a movement, Qi Miao looked up, meeting the steward’s equally puzzled black-clad eyes.
The two stared at each other for a moment.
The black-robed steward seemed to realize something, scrutinizing the pile of stones Qi Miao had dumped on the table with a tone mixed with disbelief: “These broken stones are all you found this trip?”
Qi Miao blinked and quietly replied, “Yes.”
The steward’s gaze shifted complicatedly between Qi Miao and the stones, then after a long silence, he waved his hand weakly: “You don’t need to hand over any of these to the Refining Workshop. Take these... stones away.”
Qi Miao: “...”
He must have meant to say ‘trash.’
Qi Miao wanted to defend the stones, but just then another disciple emerged from the mineral veins. The steward, seeing them like a relative, quickly excused himself, walking away briskly to distance himself from Qi Miao and the stones that offended his eyes.
“...”
Qi Miao returned to Fortune Fate Hall, took the wolframite, and then went back to Xuan Yue Peak to tinker with the stones she had picked up in her dormitory.
Ore was harder to refine than wood.
Qi Miao held a piece of quartz, her expression solemn as she thought.
She tried refining it with controlled energy three times and failed.
Quartz had a low melting point which she could easily melt, but she always failed to rapidly control its temperature to a glassy solid state.
She didn’t get discouraged, reviewing the problems while persistently starting new attempts.
After some stumbling practice, sweat beaded on Qi Miao’s forehead, and the corners of her eyes reddened slightly. She carefully controlled her spiritual energy, focusing intently on the transparent thin sheet gradually forming.
Fifteen minutes later, Qi Miao looked at the glass sheet quietly resting in her palm, still feeling somewhat unreal.
She wanted to practice again, but her body was exhausted, and her palm could no longer gather spiritual energy. Reluctantly, Qi Miao lay back down on the bed.
Her excitement remained undiminished. She pondered how to raise her realm, practiced energy control, and lamented how useless the ores were.
Tonight she had consumed ten pieces of stone. At this pace, she would soon need to visit the mineral veins again.
Next time, she would dress warmer and try to bring back more...
*
Qi Miao underestimated the mineral veins’ power.
When she woke the next day, she immediately felt something was wrong.
Her body was burning hot, her head dizzy, and even keeping her eyes open made her tired.
Qi Miao raised her hand to touch her forehead—it was burning.
She had a fever.
Instinctively, she called out to her intelligent assistant: “Shuang Yi, send me to the treatment chamber.”
Then she suddenly remembered she had been transported here several days ago.
She sat up drowsily, threw off the quilt, and looked around but couldn’t find her spirit token. She sat dumbfounded for a few minutes, as if struck by a blow, then weakly forced herself up.
At dawn, Qi Miao walked slowly out of the dormitory. Hesitating between two closed doors on either side, she chose the one on the left.
“Knock knock knock—”
After knocking, she waited obediently.
The door opened quickly, revealing a woman in a pink dress, ethereal and beautiful like an immortal butterfly.
Qi Miao stared blankly at the woman. She didn’t know this senior sister, but Jiang Ran had told her there were two senior sisters in the same courtyard: Gan Jinlei of the Physical Technique Hall and Meng Xiaoci of the Daoist Court.
The woman before her had a golden butterfly hairpin dangling from her three thousand strands of black hair, and a red crystal hairpin dazzling in her bun. She didn’t look like the brawler physical cultivator Jiang Ran had described.
“Senior sister Meng,” Qi Miao pressed her dry lips, swaying unsteadily, “I’m the newly moved Qi Miao from the Beast Taming Valley. Senior sister Jiang Ran said if I had trouble, I could ask you for help.”
Gan Jinlei raised an eyebrow, about to correct the newcomer’s mistake when Qi Miao suddenly said, “Senior sister Meng, please take me to the infirmary,” then her body swayed sharply and collapsed backward.
“!”
Gan Jinlei quickly caught Qi Miao.
Qi Miao’s burning temperature radiated through her clothes. Gan Jinlei looked down to see the girl’s unnaturally flushed cheeks.
“...What kind of trouble is this?” Gan Jinlei sighed helplessly, took Qi Miao’s wrist, transmitted some spiritual energy to her, then took out her spirit token to inform Jiang Ran.
Then, resigned, she escorted Qi Miao to the infirmary.
*
Qi Miao’s consciousness was hazy, faintly smelling familiar medicinal fragrances.
Someone beside her quietly asked about her condition. Words like “cold energy entering the body” and “fatigue” drifted intermittently into her ears. From time to time, medical disciples came by to feed her some soup.
By the time her awareness fully returned, it was already evening.
The fever on her head had mostly subsided, and her body no longer ached. Qi Miao rubbed her belly and was surprised she wasn’t hungry after a whole day without food, unsure if it was because of the medicinal nourishment from the medical sisters.
Now fully awake, she also remembered where her spirit token was, which she hadn’t found that morning. She sulkily took it out of her storage pouch.
She had been too dizzy earlier to think about it.
She opened the spirit token and many unread messages flooded her sight.
Two people had sent her the most messages.
One was Jiang Ran, who messaged every half-hour asking if she was awake. Qi Miao hurriedly replied.
The other was Qiu Tu, a medical cultivator senior brother from the Herbal Garden, who was bombarding her with messages as usual.
“?”
“???”
“No way...”
“Ancestor! My dear ancestor!”
“It’s only been a day, why are you in the infirmary again?!”
Qi Miao felt Qiu Tu’s resentment even through the screen. She awkwardly scratched her cheek and carefully typed: “Senior brother Qiu Tu, today’s visit to the infirmary was an accident.”
Qiu Tu seemed to be squatting beside the spirit token, and the next message he sent was just two words: “Hehe.”
Qi Miao: “...”
Feeling guilty, she knew her frequent infirmary visits were not very convincing.
Before she could think of a reply, Fang Xiaoyu and Zhu Danning entered the room together.
Zhu Danning glanced at the spirit token Qi Miao was holding and raised an eyebrow with a smile: “Are you messaging Qiu Tu?”
Qi Miao looked up, confused.
Seeing her confusion, Zhu Danning teased, “Qiu Tu just messaged me saying you’re awake and told me to hurry and check if your brain is fried from the fever.”
“...”
Zhu Danning stepped forward, felt her pulse, observed Qi Miao’s complexion, then concluded: “There’s nothing serious now. Just rest for a few days.”
Fang Xiaoyu moved a chair to sit on the edge of the bed and asked, “Can she leave the infirmary?”
“Yes, it’s just a wind-cold, nothing requiring observation,” Zhu Danning smiled, then told Qi Miao, “I’ll go reply to Qiu Tu and the others so they stop bothering me.”
After sending off the medical sister, Qi Miao turned to Fang Xiaoyu. “Senior brother Fang, why are you here too?”
“The elders sent me,” Fang Xiaoyu said with a deep glance at Qi Miao. “Elder Zhao wanted to come in person but was blocked at the Refining Workshop by elders from other sects. So I was sent to check on you and inform you of something.”
Qi Miao felt a bad premonition rise in her heart. “What is it?”
“The elders have decided that until you have enough self-protection ability, you are no longer allowed to enter the mineral veins.”
Hearing this, Qi Miao felt as if struck by lightning. She struggled, lacking confidence, and repeated the excuse she’d told Qiu Tu: “My visit to the infirmary today was an accident.”
Fang Xiaoyu cut her off: “Before that, if you need any stones, just take them directly from Fortune Fate Hall. They won’t charge you.”
Just as Qi Miao’s sadness began to form, it vanished with Fang Xiaoyu’s words.
She was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly asked, “Really?”
Was there such a wonderful thing?
Fang Xiaoyu nodded and repeated the elders’ words word for word: “This is the sect’s decision. Your illness after going into the mineral veins this time made the elders of other sects take it seriously. They worry about you encountering accidents if you return, so each contributed some money. As long as you don’t go down the veins, they will buy the materials you need.”
In short, one sentence:
Qi Miao must stay alive and well until she repays her debts.