Chapter 383: The Forces in the Cave
Liu Ming looked at the man on the ground. After a slight hesitation, he took out a silver needle with a size of several inches from his body. His arm extended and turned into an afterimage image, quickly pricking the man a few times. After that, he condensed out a cluster of water and poured on top of the man’s head to wake him up.
At the moment when he channeled his spiritual power to launch a waterball, Liu Ming could not help but frown again. His face looked uncertain.
He could clearly feel that although it was just a small spell, the consumption of spiritual power in the body was far more than three or four times the usual!
He had already noticed something was wrong when he released the fireball earlier ago.
“How could this be……”
Liu Ming’s thoughts turned quickly. He seemed to remember something. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes with a dignified expression on his face.
Shortly after a few breaths, his face changed suddenly.
He found that the aura of this place was extremely thin. It was even less than 10% of the outside world.
Under the influence of the inexplicable suppression force here, the natural spirit he could extract from the space nearby was even less.
This meant that it was difficult to replenish spiritual power in the body through meditation. Maybe he could only replenish the spiritual power in his body through items like spirit stone or elixir.
After such an exploration, Liu Ming now finally understood why the man in front of him who was not weak would end up like this.
“Hehe, the new kid, don’t think you can show off here just because you can use spiritual power. Hmph, let me go if you are smart. Otherwise…”
At this moment, the skinny man who woke up slowly let out an ironic laughter after seeing Liu Ming extracting spirits. His tone was full of threats.
Upon hearing this, Liu Ming opened his eyes. A hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. Without saying a word, he raised one hand and tapped on the man.
With a cold flash from his fingers flickered, it went into the skinny man’s body. The man could not help flashing a look of horror in his eyes.
“What do you want to do?”
“Ah! Stop it!”
An indescribable itching spread all over his body and penetrated into his bone marrow. It was just like countless ants biting, making this Condensation Period man roll on the ground and let out a painful scream.
Liu Ming looked at this scene coldly, letting him struggle in pain, but he still looked indifferent.
After 15 minutes, the screaming gradually weakened. However, the man curled up. His skin was covered with blood, and his breath was very weak. He looked like he was dying.
Only then Liu Ming raised his arm again and tapped on him across the air.
The itchiness in the man’s body disappeared suddenly. As he looked relieved, Liu Ming’s cold voice came into his ears. He couldn’t help feeling shocked. His eyes looking at Liu Ming was full of fear.
“Tell you honestly about everything here. If there is anything hiding from me, I don’t mind letting you try the taste just now.”
Liu Ming’s voice was not loud, but it was like a voice from the evil ghost after passing into his ears. His body shuddered. He almost moved back subconsciously, then he quickly began telling everything.
It turned out that this place was the largest deep sea mineral vein under the jurisdiction of Siren King. There were many rare materials buried in the mineral vein that were very rare for the outside world.
At the moment, Liu Ming was located in a huge mine formed by countless slave miners.
This underground world had now reached a radius of a hundred miles, and it had formed a world on its own.
The miners here were the cultivators of all clans that Siren King and his subordinates captured around. Now the number of people was about three to four hundred. Most of them were the Condensation Period cultivator like the skinny man, but there were some rare Spiritual Disciple cultivators among them.
When the man said this, Liu Ming was slightly stunned. He suddenly asked, “Spiritual Disciple, can these slave miners also survive?”
“The reason why these Spiritual Disciple cultivators can survive is either their talents or there are other powerhouses taking care of them. Otherwise, in such a dangerous location, they can’t even live for the first month at all.” The skinny man quickly explained.
“Oh, is there anything special here?” Liu Ming asked seemingly casually.
“You are so smart! For an unknown reason, the natural spirit here is rare, and it also emits a strange energy that can suppress part of the cultivation of every cultivator. Therefore, no matter how much spiritual power a person has, his spiritual power will be emptied after staying in this underground mine for a few months or half a year. After that, even if he wants to replenish spiritual power through extracting spirit from the surroundings, the efficiency is a thousand time harder than the outside world. ” The skinny man finally said something that Liu Ming had vaguely guessed.
“Don’t those guards come down to check?” Liu Ming asked coldly after his eyes flickering.
“Those guards generally won’t come down here, and let us live on our own here. Only at the end of each month, they will show up at a fixed place to collect rare ores in exchange for antidote and some other things.” As the skinny man talked about the guard, he clenched his fist hard. His face was showing an expression that he gnashed his teeth.
Through the following conversation, Liu Ming learned that in the depths of the mine, it seemed to be connected to an unknown channel of the bottomless abyss. So, after a period of time, there would be a kind monster called evil beast rushed out of it, devouring the slave miners.
This evil beast wasn’t huge. Its strength was only at the Condensation Period, but it was very bloodthirsty and cruel which made it hard to deal with
Therefore, every time the evil beast appeared, everyone would join forces to kill it. Therefore, the spiritual power that was often replenished would be emptied out to protect one’s life.
As for those spiritual weapons on the cultivators, they were still usable when they first arrived here. But if the spiritual power was exhausted, these spiritual weapons would only be regarded as relatively sharp weapons.
Some lower-level spiritual weapons, because of the inability to replenish aura for a long time, and the erosion of mysterious energy in the mine, would gradually revert to ordinary iron.
As a result, those small spiritual weapons couldn’t play a big role. Instead, the weapons that were crafted from the evil beast’s bones were more practical.
After the skinny man finished speaking, he remained silent. He looked pretty honest.
“Did you forget anything else?” Liu Ming hesitated for a while, then he suddenly said faintly.
“I have told you all the information about this place. I absolutely did not hide anything.” The skinny man explained quickly as he heard Liu Ming.
As Liu Ming listened, he narrowed his eyes. He extended his finger to tap on the person without hesitation.
Suddenly, the pain of being eaten by ten thousand ants hit him again!
After the man screamed, he immediately curled up again. His hands kept tearing and scratching the skin, and he shouted in extreme fear, “Please spare me, friend. I say… I say everything!”
Upon hearing this, Liu Ming stopped the gesture in his hand again.
“Say it then, if you still dare to hide from me, I will never stop so easily.” Liu Ming said with a blank expression.
The skinny man dared not to hesitate. He immediately revealed all he knew, “To tell the truth, except for the Condensation Period cultivators in this mine, there is still a Crystallisation Period beastkin powerhouse, and he is a leader of a huge force in this place.”
“There is actually a Crystallization Period powerhouse here!” As Liu Ming heard this, he was a little surprised.
“However, although this person is a Crystallisation Period powerhouse, his cultivation is also suppressed. His spiritual power is low after continuous consumption. Now, he becomes a leader in the mine with his strong physical body. The skinny man hurriedly smiled apologetically and explained.
“Oh, it turns out to be the case…”
Liu Ming nodded, then he showed a look of enlightenment. He then immediately asked, “Since this Crystallisation Period powerhouse is only the leader of a force, what other forces are in this mine and how are they divided?”
Watching Liu Ming’s face looked slightly calm, the skinny man was relieved. He said with a smile, “To answer your questions, there are only two large forces in the cave. One is led by the Beastkin Clan Crystallisation Period powerhouse, and the other is led by a Bronze Gong Clan powerhouse of the Condensation Period later stage.
“The Condensation Period later stage can actually compete with the Crystallization Period powerhouse, the person must have something that excels?” Liu Ming said thoughtfully.
“Yes, sir. This person is actually one of the rare Bronze Gong Clan. Although he is only at the Condensation Period later stage, he is born with bronze muscle and steel bone. His body can still slightly gain the upper hand fighting the Crystallisation Period Beastkin Clan powerhouse. In this place with a thin spirit, he can of course be the leader of one force. However, you also have a powerful body. As long as you show some strength, there will be someone joining you. At that time, you could possibly be the third force.” The skinny man said with flattery, but he had been gritting his teeth. There were countless malicious thoughts in his mind in a moment. He was going to take revenge on Liu Ming afterward.
In the following time, this person was forced by Liu Ming a little bit to ask other important things.
For example, although this underground mine was huge, there were very few edible things in it. In addition, it was extremely difficult for everyone to absorb the aura of the outside world, so it was impossible for them to fast for a long time. Usually, if they wanted to survive, they either had to kill the evil beast and eat its flesh and blood or they could exchange food and spirit stone from the guard with a large amount of ore.
Although this deep sea mineral vein was rich in various ore sources, after a long period of mining, the outer mining area had gradually become scarce. If the cultivators wanted to find enough ore, they could only continue to move deeper. The possibility of encountering an evil beast was naturally several times greater.
In the mine caves, slave miners come from different origins, and there were races of all kinds. In such a situation where they could not guarantee their every meal, the incidents of robbing ores and foods from each other was common in the cave.
When they fought, the loser would be severely wounded and lose everything if it was a minor case; if it was a serious case, the loser might even lose his life.