Chapter 118: Chapter 105: Chicken Blood Stone Jungle, Tier Three Extraordinary

Private mining is illegal. Unless you turn it in.

Someone else disagreed, saying it was unlikely: "Who just stumbles on a mine that easily? You’re letting your imagination run wild."

"That’s not a given. He already dug up shells and conches, so you never know what other good stuff might be in there."

Li Xiang peeked at the screen from behind the scenes. ’This current crop of fans has way too much imagination,’ he thought. ’They actually guessed right.’

’But they don’t have any proof, so they can say what they like.’

He glanced at the searchlight. The beam had been so bright before that it must have caused some refraction, making the cave flash with red light for a moment.

He bent down and sifted through the rubble to find the stone from before. Holding the bright red part under the searchlight, he observed it carefully. Sure enough, it was a dazzling red, just like blood. The base was also remarkably translucent.

’This isn’t a ruby. It must be Chicken Blood Stone.’

Li Xiang went outside and took out his White Fang Dagger. He pared the stone block as easily as if peeling an apple. Soon, he had carved out the dazzling piece of Chicken Blood Stone. It was about the size of his palm, roughly twenty centimeters long and five centimeters wide and high. The texture was fine and smooth, as crystalline as jade. Wisps of crimson seemed to float within, as if fresh blood were flowing through it.

It was stunningly beautiful.

The "blood content" of this piece of Chicken Blood Stone was at least 70%, classifying it as a world-class treasure.

Of course, the red substance inside Chicken Blood Stone is actually cinnabar, so more isn’t necessarily better. If it were 100% "chicken blood," it would just be a piece of cinnabar, not a hard stone.

The piece of Chicken Blood Stone in Li Xiang’s hand was harder than an ordinary stone. He could tell when he used the White Fang Dagger to pare away the outer layer, as it required a bit more Power than shaving a regular stone.

His control over his Power was masterful, reaching a realm where he could lift the heavy as if it were light, the light as if it were heavy, with microscopic precision. To put it in numbers, he could perceive a difference of about five percent.

In other words, if he held an item weighing one jin, he could detect a discrepancy of about half a liang (25 grams) just by weighing it in his hand.

That was a pretty insane level of sensitivity. When he went grocery shopping, he’d know instantly if a vendor was trying to short him on the weight.

But precisely because of this, he knew there was still a huge room for improvement. For instance, could he become accurate to 1 gram for a one-jin item? Or 0.1 grams, 0.01 grams, 0.001 grams, or even 0.0001 grams? That would be just like a precision scale.

For a High-level Transcendent, that was achievable.

Li Xiang placed this precious piece of Chicken Blood Stone into his Otherworldly Warehouse, then went back to mining more.

He stopped his brutish hacking with the Iron Pickaxe. Instead, he used the White Fang Dagger to score and cut the rock, then used the Iron Pickaxe as an aid to slowly excavate large chunks of ore.

The raw Chicken Blood Stone ores came in all sizes and qualities. The large ones weighed five to six hundred jin, while the smaller ones were only ten jin, or even just a few. He put them all into his Otherworldly Warehouse. By the time he finished work at nightfall, he had harvested a total of over six thousand jin.

He naturally kept the high-quality pieces—the ones with abundant, pure, and vivid blood-red coloration—in his Otherworldly Warehouse. As for the poor-quality ones, especially the huge, colorful chunks that looked pretty but had impure coloration and a dark base, he considered using them for landscaping in his yard.

In truth, he’d already cut open a few of the raw stones but hadn’t found any good material inside. Though the rest might contain something valuable, he couldn’t be bothered to cut them. After all, the White Fang Dagger was relatively small, making it inconvenient to handle a large stone weighing several hundred jin.

Later that night, when all was still and quiet, Li Xiang went to his backyard to perform a bit of "Creation Out of Thin Air." He settled into a horse stance, held his hands forward in a lifting gesture, and a colorful, five- to six-hundred-jin stone materialized above his arms. He then gently set it on the ground.

Holy crap. The dog and the Little Fox were both dumbfounded.

They had woken up the moment Li Xiang entered the backyard, but it was too cold to come out. They just poked their heads out of the doghouse, ready to dash out at his call.

But Li Xiang didn’t call for them. Instead, he performed a "miracle."

Er Huang already knew his master was formidable, but even he was dumbstruck, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. The Little Fox was even more overwhelmed. Its intelligent foxy eyes were wide with shock!

"Woof~" Er Huang let out a soft bark and shot forward. The Little Fox followed close behind. The dog and fox duo ran to Li Xiang’s side and began circling him.

Seeing Er Huang rubbing against Li Xiang’s leg, the Little Fox copied him, nuzzling against his other leg.

Li Xiang didn’t mind. After all, these two little creatures wouldn’t betray his secrets.

Besides, a moderate display of power would only make the Little Fox more loyal.

And just like that, the Little Fox was already acting more affectionate toward him than before.

Li Xiang then performed "Creation Out of Thin Air" several more times, completely blowing Er Huang and the Little Fox’s minds. The initial shock in their eyes—one pair canine, one pair vulpine—transformed into boundless adoration.

Li Xiang placed seven or eight large raw stones around the backyard. When he looked at it again, he felt it added a great deal of "color" to the place.

The next day, he went back to mining. Since he’d found Chicken Blood Stone, he decided not to livestream anymore to avoid attracting unnecessary trouble.

High-quality Chicken Blood Stone, especially treasured pieces with over 50% "blood" content, vibrant colors, and a clear base, are quite expensive. They are comparable to jadeite and can fetch prices in the millions, or even tens of millions.

In ancient times, many an Emperor’s seal was carved from Chicken Blood Stone. Scholars and artists throughout the ages also held it in high esteem, hailing it as one of the "Four Great National Stones of China."

Of course, the poor-quality ones weren’t worth much and were usually sold by the jin, which was why Li Xiang used them as ornamental stones to decorate his yard and add to the scenery.

...

「Village Committee Office.」

Li Jinyu, his hair completely white, sat on a chair by the door, listening to an opera and basking in the sun. He tapped out the rhythm as he listened, singing along in a state of leisurely contentment.

It was the classic opera, *The Case of Chai Mei*: "Prince Consort, draw near and look closely. It says Qin Xianglian, thirty-two years of age, accuses the court’s own Prince Consort, of lying to the king, deceiving the Emperor, a man who broke his vows to become a royal son-in-law..."

In his youth, Li Jinyu had been a *zhengsheng*, or lead male actor, in an opera troupe. It was just a rustic village troupe, but they knew both Beijing and Sichuan Opera. As time went on, the audience for opera dwindled, and the troupe eventually disbanded. He still had a complete, if rather old, set of percussion and props at home. They were still usable, but it was just hard to get the old-timers together anymore.

Those old-timers were all from Li Family Village and the surrounding hamlets. But they were old now, and the other villages were far apart. A few of them had even "passed on" early.

"Ah, what memories." Everyone has their glory days.

"And placed the petition upon my great hall’s desk~~~"

Li Jinyu continued singing, but his age showed. He strained to hit some of the high notes. Just as he was drawing out the last word of the line, "...de~sk," his phone rang.

"Oh! Director, hello! What could be so important that you’d call me personally?" Li Jinyu was surprised. This was a major official from the town. He had met him a few times, but the man rarely contacted him directly.

"Here’s the situation. We received a report that a man from your village named Li Xiang is privately excavating a mineral deposit..." The man on the other end explained what had happened.

Li Jinyu froze. He might be old, but his mind was still sharp. He immediately laughed. "Oh, that’s a misunderstanding. He’s just digging a small root cellar on the mountain to store sweet potatoes and cabbage, so they don’t freeze in the winter... How big could it be? It’s just a little pit for vegetables... He’s not secretly mining anything. Our Li Family Village is dirt-poor, what kind of mine could we possibly have? You know that as well as I do."

"Good, as long as that’s all it is. But keep an eye on him. And tell him not to livestream that kind of thing anymore. It sends the wrong message," the town official advised.

"Absolutely, absolutely. I’ll call him over right now and give him a stern talking-to!" After hanging up, Li Jinyu immediately called Li Xiang to tell him what happened.

Li Xiang was speechless. ’So someone really did report me?’ he thought. ’Good thing I ended the stream quickly yesterday.’

In reality, it wasn’t one of his fans who had reported him, but a rival streamer. Jealous of his viewership, they had rashly filed a report without a second thought.

"I’ve already stopped streaming. I’ll be more careful in the future." Li Xiang hung up, unfazed. It takes all sorts to make a world, and he had seen far more disgusting and despicable things during the Apocalypse.

He’d even killed his fair share of them.

A petty trick like this in a peaceful era was hardly worth mentioning.

Li Xiang continued mining. A week later, he had not only completed the hundred-meter-deep tunnel but had also excavated a space below it roughly the size of a three-bedroom apartment. Meanwhile, the raw Chicken Blood Stones in his backyard had grown into a veritable jungle.

At the same time, he had finished the entire gourd of Medicinal Wine. Through his arduous "mining" cultivation during this period, his strength leaped another tier. He had successfully formed a third Spiritual Power Vortex, this one in his left calf.

He was now a Tier Three Transcendent.

System: "Congratulations, Host, on breaking through to a new Realm. Reward: 1000 Achievement Points. Surprise Reward: System’s Otherworldly Warehouse side length x2."

Previously, Li Xiang’s warehouse had expanded to have sides of 4 meters, for a total volume of 64 cubic meters. Now, with the side length doubled to 8 meters, the volume instantly ballooned to 8x8x8 meters, or 512 cubic meters.

Reaching Tier Three in less than half a year, on top of having such an incredible warehouse... it was something he could never have imagined in his previous life.

At this rate, Li Xiang felt it was highly probable he could reach the Saint Tier before the Apocalypse arrived.

After reaching the Saint Tier, he would be able to fly through the heavens and tunnel through the earth, soaring freely through the Qingming, all on his own power.

He carefully examined his body and noticed that upon breaking through to Tier Three, a rune had also manifested within the Spiritual Power Vortex in his left calf, where it now floated and bobbed.

’Divine Movement Technique x2.’

He activated it slightly, and his body blurred into an afterimage as he shot forward. His speed was now two to three times faster than before.

Before, his burst speed could reach about 30 meters per second, comparable to the fastest cheetah. Now, it was sixty to seventy meters per second; he could catch a cheetah with ease. If he were running long-distance, he could probably cover four to five hundred kilometers at a constant speed of around 100 km/h without resting.

With a few short rests and some replenishment, his range would be even greater. A thousand li in a day would be a sure thing.

’Can’t get complacent. I have to keep pushing.’ Li Xiang did a quick calculation and realized that even at full burst, he couldn’t outrun a high-speed train. High-speed rail could hit top speeds of around 350 km/h, while his own Extreme Speed was only about 250 km/h. He still had a long way to go.

And as for missiles, the Hongqi-19 that just debuted at the Zhuhai Air Show had a terminal velocity of Mach 17 (about 6,000 m/s).

The thought of that terrifying speed instantly made Li Xiang feel he should keep a low profile. After all, during the Apocalypse, even these advanced missiles were useless against powerful Demon Beasts.

During the Apocalypse, some of the mightiest Demon Beast kings would dive down from outer space at speeds exceeding Mach 60. They were so fast that the journey from space to the ground took a mere instant. A powerful "shield" would form in front of them; this "air wall" alone was compressed until it was harder than steel. Due to the extreme friction, the air molecules in this "wall of air" would break down, forming a brilliant, firework-like plasma. Humanity’s most advanced weapons, even Laser Weapons, couldn’t intercept them. There was no time to lock on, and even if a lock was acquired, the target couldn’t be destroyed. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Of course, there were also relatively weak members among the Demon Beast races. If every single one of them had been that powerful, humanity would have been wiped out long ago.

The Demon Beast races treated humanity as "tasty little snacks"—not a main course, but something to cleanse the palate. They planned to make it last, so they hadn’t hunted humans to extinction.