Cultivation Begins From The Desert

The mine shaft of the Spirit Stone Ore suddenly collapsed, burying all the cultivators mining inside deep underground.

Due to the sudden incident, although there were those like Zhouyang who swiftly made the right decision to save their lives, there were also those unfortunate souls who were crushed and buried alive under billions of sand and mud.

Even the survivors did not dare to linger underground and hurriedly escaped to the surface to find out the details of the mine collapse.

However, as soon as these people emerged from the ground, before they could even glimpse the outside world, they were instantly struck dead by thunder that descended from the sky.

The Golden Roc hovered high in the sky, watching the ground closely, ready to strike anyone who showed their face with a bolt of thunder.

After killing seven or eight cultivators who had emerged from the underground in succession, finally, no one dared to reveal themselves anymore.

"Only this many people? This doesn't match the number of mine entrance points!"

Its gaze fell upon the corpses charred by the thunder, a thoughtful look flickering in its eyes.

With its intelligence, comparing the previously visible mine entrance indexes, it knew that the number of people inside the Spirit Stone Mine definitely exceeded those killed by its hand.

However, there was a special force field within the Spirit Stone Mine, making it impossible, even with its cultivation level, to detect the locations of those hiding underground, let alone perform pinpoint strikes.

Therefore, after pondering over it, it eventually muttered in regret, "Forget it, even if there are a few ground rats hiding below, they won't be able to continue mining Spirit Stones for a while, it's not worth wasting this precious time of mine on those few ground rats!"

Having said this, it immediately waved a claw at the corpses on the ground, collected all the storage bags from the bodies, swallowed them into its belly, and then spread its wings to return to the Broken Cloud Mountain Range.

Only until three or four days later did the cultivators who had survived by chance quietly emerge from underground.

These individuals escaped to the surface, and upon seeing the cultivators' corpses charred by the thunder, they all showed a look of distress, not daring to linger for even a moment, quickly leaving the place.

Zhouyang waited for seven days before escaping to the surface.

He initially wanted to escape to the surface to understand the situation after encountering the collapse.

But upon further contemplation, he realized that this was not wise.

Even if he escaped to the surface to understand the situation, what good would it do?

Regardless of whether the attack on the mine shaft was from human cultivators or demon beasts, they most certainly harbored evil intentions toward those mining; a confrontation would be inevitable upon his understanding.

Thus, it was preferable to remain underground for a few days, allowing this matter to cool down.

At this point, upon escaping underground and seeing the charred corpses, he realized he had thus avoided a fatal encounter!

"The path of cultivation is indeed fraught with treacherous steps!"

He let out a long sigh of relief, showing a look of luck, and immediately tossed a flying sword, preparing to leave this place of danger without delay.

However, just then, his expression suddenly changed as he sharply looked back at a certain location and shouted, "Who is there spying on Zhou?"

Before the shouting had ended, the flying sword he had thrown began to glow, instantly shooting towards the direction his gaze was fixed upon.

Immediately, a crimson flying sword broke through the ground, intercepting Zhouyang's flying sword.

Then, with a flash of yellow light, two figures appeared in Zhouyang's sight.

"It's you!"

Zhouyang's gaze fell upon one of the two, his pupils contracted in shock as he involuntarily exclaimed.

It turned out one of those spying on him was the same yellow-faced middle-aged man who discovered the Spirit Stone Mine that day.

After exclaiming in surprise, his face turned stern, and before the yellow-faced middle-aged man could speak, he asked coldly, "What is the meaning of this, fellow Daoists? Why spy on Zhou in secret?"

Upon hearing his question, the two exchanged glances, then the yellow-faced middle-aged man sneered, shouting loudly, "Kid, since you've found out, let's not waste words, hand over the top-grade Spirit Stone you mined from the Spirit Stone Mine, and we'll spare your life, otherwise don't blame us for being impolite!"

"Oh, you know Zhou has top-grade Spirit Stones?"

Zhouyang's face stiffened, looking at the yellow-faced middle-aged man with complete surprise, a touch of disbelief flashing in his eyes.

The yellow-faced middle-aged man's sinister expression showed he was not trying to bluff him but had indeed somehow confirmed that Zhouyang carried top-grade Spirit Stones, which made him rather curious.

It should be known that the top-grade Spirit Stone was stored in his storage bag, moreover, enclosed within a jade box.

Additionally, such treasures naturally contained spiritual power and did not reveal any aura, logically speaking even Golden Core Stage cultivators who practiced special pupil technique divine techniques facing him would unlikely detect it.

"Hmph, now it's Guo asking you questions, are you handing over the top-grade Spirit Stones or not?"

The middle-aged man with a yellow face clearly didn't want to tell Zhouyang how he knew he had top-grade Spirit Stones on him, and directly gave him a cold snort as a final ultimatum.

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang immediately sneered and said, "Since you know it's top-grade Spirit Stones, don't you find your question quite ridiculous?"

"You..."

The yellow-faced middle-aged man's expression changed, seemingly not expecting Zhouyang's response to be so brazen, leaving him speechless with anger.

Meanwhile, another cultivator by his side, who had not spoken since earlier and was the one who released a red Flying Sword to block Zhouyang's Flying Sword, an old man with a goatee, suddenly looked at him with displeasure and said:

"See, I've already told you before, since we decided to do this kind of thing, we shouldn't hesitate and harbor luck!"

"Less nonsense, quickly deal with this kid so we can continue ambushing the next person!"

Before finishing his words, the old man with a goatee quickly formed a spell with his hands, releasing a Tier Three Middle Grade Spell, the "Fire Dragon Technique," towards Zhouyang.

Being able to release a Tier Three Middle Grade Spell in just a few breaths of time shows the strong power of the old man with a goatee.

In fact, the cultivation level of the old man with a goatee was indeed as high as Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment, not like Zhou Minghan who had just reached Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment, but someone who had lingered in this realm for over twenty years, making him a formidable character.

It was precisely because of the support of the old man with a goatee that the yellow-faced middle-aged man dared to threaten Zhouyang, a Seventh-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator, with his Sixth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivation.

Now seeing the old man with a goatee take action, the yellow-faced middle-aged man's face turned fiercely, and he followed suit, wielding a yellow-axe Magical Artifact towards Zhouyang.

But unfortunately, these two clearly did not realize how formidable the person they were facing was.

Seeing the two take the lead, Zhouyang's heart suddenly had no more apprehension, and with a wave of his sleeve, he summoned the Defensive Spiritual Artifact Shield refined by the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan using materials from the "Gold-devouring Beast" to protect himself, then patted the Spirit Beast Bag at his waist, releasing the Eagle Lion Beast.

"Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast!"

Upon the appearance of the Eagle Lion Beast, its imposing aura as a Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast instantly intimidated the two attackers opposite, the yellow-faced middle-aged man's face drastically changed as he couldn't help but cry out in shock.

The old man with a goatee also had a flash of surprise in his eyes, repeatedly shouting, "This is challenging, retreat first!"

Having said that, he quickly formed a spell with his hands, a yellow light flashed on him, preparing to use the "Earth Escape Technique" to flee.

Being able to tame a Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast as a Spirit Pet with Seventh-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivation means one's strength cannot be judged by apparent cultivation.

The old man with a goatee deeply understood this, so seeing the changes in the situation, he immediately gave up on the idea of killing and seizing treasures, opting to escape first.

But despite his decisive actions, he still underestimated the enemy's means.

Since Zhouyang acted, how could he let people escape?

His eyes widened suddenly, and an invisible Divine Sense Needle instantly pierced into the old man with a goatee's sea of consciousness, causing the "Earth Escape Technique" that was about to activate to dissipate due to losing control.

Simultaneously, as the old man with a goatee cried out in agony holding his head, the Eagle Lion Beast, following its master's order, directly spat out a Wind Blade, severing his neck.

In the blink of an eye, a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator on the verge of advancing to Purple Mansion fell silently at the hands of Zhouyang and his companion.

This scene instantly stunned the yellow-faced middle-aged man.

"You, you... Are you really a Foundation Establishment Cultivator?"

He pointed at Zhouyang with a face full of horror and asked with a trembling voice.

Before encountering Zhouyang, he and the old man with a goatee had already teamed up to kill several Foundation Establishment Cultivators mining at the Spirit Stone Ore, fully aware of the powerful strength of the old man with a goatee.

However, he never expected that the immensely powerful old man with a goatee would be so easily killed by Zhouyang, without even having time to escape!

This shocked him while also making him doubt whether he had seen wrong, thinking that the handsome youth in front of him might not be a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but a Purple Mansion Cultivator in disguise.

"If I were a Purple Mansion Cultivator, how would Elder Cao not notice? Cut the crap, tell me how you know I have top-grade Spirit Stones, and I'll abolish your cultivation but spare your life, otherwise blame me for being merciless with my sword!"

Zhouyang looked at the yellow-faced middle-aged man coldly and said, without any arrogance despite having killed a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

No one knows his strength better than himself; within the Foundation Establishment Stage, in a one-on-one situation, he's nearly invincible!

He can virtually handle any situation unless he's surrounded by four or five Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Upon hearing Zhouyang's words, the yellow-faced middle-aged man's expression changed, then he looked at him with resentment and shouted angrily, "So, just abolish my cultivation! Then you might as well kill me!"

Having said that, his expression turned fierce, and he suddenly reached out to slap his waist Storage Bag.