Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 195: Discovering a Spirit Stone Mine

“Sweep the perimeter. Secure anything of value. We leave immediately!” Wang Hao commanded, his eyes scanning the darkening canopy. “And remember, handle those Blue Ghost Spider eggs with extreme care. That species has decent potential; they would make excellent spirit beasts for each of you.”

They had lingered too long in the spider’s nest, and twilight was fast approaching. Wang Hao needed to get them out before true night fell.

The adult Blue Ghost Spider had been reduced to pulp by Wang Hao’s earlier assault, greatly diminishing the value of its corpse. However, certain scraps were still precious to Qi Refining cultivators. Wang Hao claimed only the Beast Soul, leaving the rest of the carcass to Wang Wenjiang and the other four juniors.

Wang Wenzhu pointed to a dark purple flower. “Fifth Brother, look! A Purple Nether Orchid!”

Wang Hao looked up. It was indeed a Purple Nether Orchid, an herb that grew only where poisonous vapors lingered. The forest’s miasma and venomous spiders made this place suitable for it.

The orchid could be used in several pills. It was the main ingredient in Purple Nether Pills, prized as an antidote.

It had been a long time since Wang Hao found a new seed. He carefully cupped the Purple Nether Orchid in his hands. “Not bad. Another second-tier herb. You are much luckier than I was.”

Remembering how often he had met robbers on his own early journeys, Wang Hao smiled bitterly.

Moments later, the group had packed their harvest, leaving nothing behind, and rapidly retreated from the dense forest.

Two days later, the group arrived at a desolate stone forest. The terrain was littered with shattered boulders, where Double-Tailed Scorpions lived.

As they passed through a narrow gap between two megaliths, a piercing whistle tore through the air from above.

“Watch out! Above us!” Wang Wuxiang screamed the warning, instantly triggering a protective spell on himself.

Wang Hao raised his Cloud Billow Shield to protect everyone. More than a dozen wind blades struck it with dull thuds.

Two black Double-Tailed Scorpions, each more than two zhang long, leaped down from the boulders. Both were low-grade second-tier beasts.

Two scorpions were too much for the five hunters. Wang Hao decided to kill one and leave them to fight the other.

The scorpions whipped their tails forward, firing a volley of venomous stingers.

“Another demon beast with two spell abilities?” Wang Hao was surprised. He had not met one even during the beast tide, yet here he had met two kinds in succession.

The pair might be male and female. For a moment he considered catching them to breed.

No, forget it. Demon Beasts were unruly by nature. Taming them required excessive resources and time. The return on investment simply wasn’t there.

Wang Hao gave up the idea of taking them alive. Green light flashed beneath his feet.

An instant later, one of the Double-Tailed Scorpions lay dead on the ground.

Wang Wenzhu and the others gasped in shock.

This time, they hadn’t even worn down the beast’s demonic power. Wang Hao had simply obliterated it with a single sword strike.

“The remaining one is yours,” Wang Hao said lazily. He flourished his sword with a stylish spin, turned his back on the battle, and unstoppered his gourd for a sip of spirit wine.

The surviving scorpion, witnessing the instant death of its mate, shrieked in terror and attempted to flee. Wang Hao flickered, his movement technique carrying him directly into its path. With a brutal punch, he sent the creature flying back toward the juniors.

Wang Wenjiang brought out his magic tool and attacked.

The Double-Tailed Scorpion let out a hissing roar, its fear turning into cornered rage as it launched a frantic assault on the five cultivators.

Wang Wenjiang brought out a green fruit. He channeled spiritual energy into it and dropped it. Roots and shoots sprang up at once, followed by long vines that bound the scorpion.

The beast struggled violently, snapping vine after vine, but the magical plants seemed endless, regenerating and tightening their grip with every second.

Wang Wenzhu and the others seized the opportunity, unleashing a barrage of spells and artifacts.

Beams of spiritual light slashed through the air.

With its limbs bound, the scorpion couldn’t dodge. It was forced to spit wind blades from its maw to intercept the incoming fire.

Explosions rang out as the wind blades collided with the cultivators’ attacks, neutralizing the first wave.

Suddenly, Wang Wenjiang’s short sword shot forward like a viper. The scorpion failed to react in time. Clang!

The blade struck home, but scorpion-type Demon Beasts were renowned for their armored carapaces. The strike left only a faint white scratch on the shell, failing to draw blood.

Despite the lack of lethal damage, the beast was terrified and outnumbered. It was gradually being ground down.

The juniors released their puppet beasts to join the fray, adding kinetic force to their magical bombardment.

Even the toughest carapace has a breaking point. After fifteen minutes of sustained fire, a sickening crack echoed through the stone forest. The scorpion screamed as its shell shattered. Spells bombarded its exposed flesh, drawing green ichor and leaving its two long tails dragging limply on the ground.

The juniors grinned, relaxing their guard as they moved in to harvest the corpse.

Suddenly, a pulse of ochre light enveloped the “dying” scorpion. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the earth.

Wang Wenzhu stared at the empty ground, dumbfounded. “That bastard played dead!”

“Did you think a Tier 2 Demon Beast would be so easy to kill?” Wang Hao’s voice was cool. “Don’t just stand there—chase it! It’s heavily wounded; it can’t travel far underground.”

Wang Hao had kept the scorpion in sight on his Wicked Map. The map was occasionally reliable.

He had initially assumed the beast was feigning death to launch a desperate counter-attack—a lesson he wanted the juniors to learn the hard way. He hadn’t expected it to choose immediate flight.

With a wave of his hand, Wang Hao swept the first scorpion’s corpse into his Storage Bag. “Follow me.”

He enveloped the group in spiritual light and led them underground using an earth-escape technique.

By then, it had fled two or three li underground. Its severe wounds left a strong scent of blood, which the five hunters could still follow.

Fifteen minutes later, they breached into a subterranean cavern. The space was rough and uneven, the floor littered with jagged debris.

The Double-Tailed Scorpion lay huddled against a rock wall, its aura barely flickering.

Seeing them, the scorpion chirped and glowed yellow as it tried to burrow into the stone wall again.

Thud.

Instead of passing through, the beast slammed into the wall and bounced off. The stone was impenetrable.

Wang Hao cut it down with one stroke. He had spotted something in the cave more valuable than the scorpion and did not want to waste time.

Wang Wenzhu and the others looked around the cave, confused. “Fifth Brother, is this some kind of mineral vein? These rocks seem incredibly hard. Even the scorpion’s earth escape failed against them.”

“The main reason it failed was its injuries. Under normal circumstances, this stone shouldn’t have stopped it,” Wang Hao shook his head, his eyes fixed on the glittering cave walls. “However, look at the shimmer. These rocks are saturated with Spiritual Qi. It looks like raw spiritual material. Wenjiang, Wenzhu—hack a piece off for me.”

“Yes!”

The two summoned their Magical Artifacts and struck the wall with full force.

Clang!

The blows made a harsh metallic sound, but several strikes knocked loose only a few chips. They still could not identify the ore.

“Your luck… it’s almost frightening,” Wang Hao muttered, unable to suppress a twinge of jealousy. If Tier 1 Magical Artifacts were this ineffective, this was almost certainly a Tier 2 mineral vein.

His gaze grew heated. Although the Wang Clan occupied two Tier 2 spiritual mountains, they possessed no Tier 2 mines. Their revenue stream relied heavily on agriculture and Pill sales.

Those industries were labor-intensive, slow, and carried high overhead costs.

A mine would be different. Its ore could be dug out, processed simply, and exchanged for spirit stones. Mining families tended to be wealthy.

Wang Hao drew his Green Light Sword and slashed at the wall.

Crack!

With a crisp sound, a two-foot fissure appeared in the rock face. Embedded within the fracture were several glowing, greenish stones.

Wang Hao moved quickly, reaching into the fissure to pry out one of the green chunks. He held it up, feeling the hum of energy.

“There is no mistake. This is raw spirit stone ore. With a little processing, it will become spirit stones!”

Spirit stone ore absorbed spiritual energy and often formed above a spiritual vein. Over hundreds or thousands of years, that energy turned the ore into spirit stones.