Chapter 1 When Searching for Minerals

While Xu Jingming and the others searched for mineral deposits in the original Jinshan Mountains, other high-dimensional lifeforms were naturally present within the vast mountain range.

Whoosh!

A strange beast carefully made its way through a cavern within the original Jinshan Mountains.

"The outer reaches of the mountains have been explored countless times. Discovering even a single yuan-gold bead is considered good luck," the beast muttered, its yellow eyes gazing ahead. "So, if you want to make a fortune, you have to take risks and venture deep into the mountains!"

"I don't ask for much! As long as I find 100 yuan-gold beads, I'll leave the original Jinshan Mountains immediately," the beast thought to itself. "100 yuan-gold beads are enough for me to exchange for the resources I need to break through to the Eternal Realm."

It was a naturally born high-dimensional lifeform named Yi San.

When it was born, it had two brothers. Their mother had named them Yi Da, Yi Er, and Yi San. While their mother was alive, she sheltered her three weak, nascent high-dimensional offspring, and they lived comfortably enough.

Later, when their mother went to a trading location, she never returned; she died. Over time, the three brothers had various conflicts and completely separated, each living alone.

"Before I knew it, I'd already cultivated to the peak of the Nascent Realm. But how should I cultivate from here on out? There are too many things I'm confused about in the inheritance my mother left behind," Yi San thought, troubled.

"Mining and exchanging for a better, more detailed inheritance, or even exchanging for personal guidance from an Eternal Realm expert, and I'll definitely be able to break through," Yi San muttered to himself as he moved, with strands of his hair transforming into avatars.

His avatars probed ahead.

Avatars were very limited in strength, so Xu Jingming dispatched his true bodies to explore.

But most high-dimensional lifeforms had no choice; they only had one true body! And they couldn't afford to hire a powerhouse from the Mind Realm lineage to help, so they could only condense simple avatars to scout the way.

"Chirp." One of the avatars scouting ahead died, and Yi San wasn't clear on the exact danger, as the avatar was too weak.

"Change route."

After the avatar died, Yi San immediately turned back to the original fork in the road and went to another cavern.

Deep in the new cavern, Yi San happily sensed a faint aura.

"The aura of yuan-gold!" Yi San was overjoyed. "Although the aura is weak, there are probably only a small number of one or two yuan-gold beads."

Yi San looked at a mountain wall ahead and immediately took out his two short spear weapons, holding them and bombarding the wall. Bang, bang, bang, the mountain stones of the original Jinshan Mountains were extremely hard and also excellent high-dimensional materials. If refined, they could produce some 'yuan-gold stone liquid.'

It was just that this type of material was everywhere in the original Jinshan Mountains, so it wasn't worth much. Yuan-gold stone liquid could sell for a good price, mainly because refining it was very troublesome.

"Bang, bang, bang." Yi San, as a peak Nascent Realm high-dimensional lifeform, exerted all his strength, slamming his double spears furiously for half an hour before finally smashing a small piece of rock and seeing that one yuan-gold bead.

"Another yuan-gold bead. I've accumulated 19 of them," Yi San said gleefully, picking up the yuan-gold bead.

But the instant he touched this yuan-gold bead, *buzz!* A darkness completely enveloped Yi San, enveloping the area around this cavern.

Yi San immediately felt a chill in his heart, realizing he was in a desperate situation.

"Mother, Big Brother, Second Brother," Yi San thought, at the moment of his death, of his closest relatives since birth. He had once had conflicts with his two brothers, but at the moment of his death, he felt only longing for them. "Big Brother, Second Brother, you must live well."

In the dense, ink-like darkness, Yi San couldn't even last a breath before completely losing his voice.

In the darkness, a faint shadow of the Abyss descended, taking the high-dimensional lifeform away.

More than ten minutes later.

A figure in a gray robe appeared leisurely here. He looked at the darkness enveloping the area and casually stretched out a hand, causing large swaths of darkness to pour into his hand.

"This time's prey is just a Nascent Realm high-dimensional lifeform. The reward from sacrificing him to the Abyss is pitifully small," the gray-robed figure said with some distaste, looking at the artifacts left behind after Yi San's death.

"Oh? This Nascent Realm lifeform is quite wealthy. Counting these yuan-gold beads, he's accumulated 20,000 Abyss True Blood," the gray-robed figure said, finally slightly satisfied. He glanced around and said, "Time to set a trap somewhere else."

…

The original Jinshan Mountains were too vast, with some high-dimensional lifeforms even establishing cave residences and palaces here.

Inside one of these palaces.

The gray-robed figure returned and looked at the figure in golden armor in the distance. "Nato, I'm always the one painstakingly setting traps and collecting prey. You're so carefree… just spacing out here."

"I'm gazing at the Abyss," the golden-armored figure said as he stood there, with the shadow of the Abyss in his eyes. "The Abyss is omnipresent. Even deep in the original Jinshan Mountains, you can still observe it. Du Ying, how was the harvest this time?"

"How much can you get from a small Nascent Realm prey? Including the rewards for sacrificing to the Abyss, it's a total of just over 20,000 drops of Abyss True Blood," the gray-robed figure said. "Oh, right, we need to go to a trading location to sell some of the spoils we've hunted over the years."

They didn't need many of the various items; they would sell them to exchange for what they needed.

"How much have we accumulated in spoils?" the golden-armored figure asked.

"About 470,000 Abyss True Blood worth," the gray-robed figure said.

"Once we reach 500,000, we'll go to Ancient Tree World to trade them off," the golden-armored figure decided.

"Alright, whatever you say," the gray-robed figure said obediently. He was the one who did all the hard and dirty work, but when it came to distributing the spoils, he could only take 30%, while the other party took 70%. The gray-robed figure obediently walked toward the depths of the cave residence. "I'm still too weak. If I were strong enough, I wouldn't need to rely on Nato. I could act alone, and all the benefits would be mine."

"But right now? If I encounter powerful prey while setting a trap, I won't be able to handle it. I still have to rely on Nato," the gray-robed figure thought.

******

Xu Jingming bathed in the Black Lotus Flame, flying powerfully through the cavern. Wherever he passed, the flames spread everywhere.

As a member of the Mind Realm lineage, and just a clone, he explored and traveled far more powerfully than Yi San.

"Hmm?" As Xu Jingming flew to a certain spot, he sensed a spatial-temporal distortion, and the surrounding scene changed.

"Where is this?"

Xu Jingming looked around. The surroundings were a chaotic space. Based on the connection with his other clones, Xu Jingming could deduce his approximate location. "This should be in the space layer between the Nan Ting 3609 Sector and the Ba Gu 1107 Sector."

"Return." Xu Jingming returned to the Mind Realm with a thought, and then, through Mind Realm teleportation, returned to the original Jinshan Mountains area. With other clones as coordinates, he could easily descend directly to other clones through the Mind Realm.

Xu Jingming, the Dean, the Tower Master, and the Island Master began to turn back.

"My exploration clone encountered a spatial-temporal disorientation," Xu Jingming said. "The spatial-temporal disorientation there isn't too dangerous; it sent me to a chaotic space layer area outside of this sector."

"Being sent to a chaotic space layer isn't too dangerous?" the Dean said with a smile. "If the Tower Master and I were exiled there, neither of us would be able to return."

Xu Jingming and the Island Master both had ways to return, especially Xu Jingming, who could return in a matter of seconds, so he naturally didn't think it was a big deal.

"The dangers of the original Jinshan Mountains are manageable. The main thing is spatial-temporal disorientation," Xu Jingming said with a sigh. "If it were some more dangerous perilous places, it wouldn't be so easy for me to deal with."

"It was because we considered Jingming's strengths that we chose this place," the Tower Master said. "With the four of us working together, among the ten most dangerous places in this sector, this is the most suitable for us."

Xu Jingming nodded.

…

Spatial-temporal disorientation: Xu Jingming encountered it almost once every ten days or half a month.

Other regions within this sector, chaotic space layers, other sectors, the interior of the Abyss, unknown mysterious places! Xu Jingming was exiled to these places by 'spatial-temporal disorientation.'

"Where is this?" Xu Jingming looked at the huge dark vortex in front of him, somewhat shocked. "Here, I can't lock onto the location of other clones. I can't even sense the Mind Realm."

Unable to sense the Mind Realm, Xu Jingming had no way to leave.

"Whoosh." The terrifying power of the dark vortex enveloped him. Xu Jingming couldn't break free and ultimately had no choice but to self-destruct.

*Boom!* His body was completely annihilated, self-dissipating.

The annihilation of a clone was a small matter. Xu Jingming didn't dare to touch unknown dangers; it might affect all of his clones.

…

In the blink of an eye, Xu Jingming and the others had been in the original Jinshan Mountains for more than five years. There were only two times when the danger was truly uncontrollable, forcing Xu Jingming to immediately self-destruct his clone. He was able to return from the other dangers his clone encountered.

"In more than five years, I've only obtained 20 yuan-gold beads in the original Jinshan Mountains," Xu Jingming thought as he bathed in the Black Lotus Flame, flying at high speed through the cavern.

"I haven't discovered a single mineral deposit. Each time, it's just one or two yuan-gold beads. The most I've found at once was just three yuan-gold beads," Xu Jingming said, shaking his head. A yuan-gold bead was already the smallest unit.

Xu Jingming dreamed of seeing a yuan-gold block the size of his palm.

After all, such a large yuan-gold block might be worth thousands of yuan-gold beads.

"According to the Dean's plan, we're planning to explore for a thousand years this time. No need to rush," Xu Jingming thought, with enough patience.

*Whoosh.*

Xu Jingming stopped abruptly as he flew to a certain spot.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming looked at a mountain wall. He could sense the aura of yuan-gold.

Immediately, the Black Lotus Flame scorched the spot. With crackling sounds, the mountain wall's stones were quickly burned and cracked open, revealing that one yuan-gold bead.

"Another yuan-gold bead," Xu Jingming said. With a wave of his hand, the yuan-gold bead flew toward him.

At the instant the yuan-gold bead flew up and moved—

*Buzz!*

A darkness as thick as ink instantly enveloped the surrounding area, naturally also enveloping Xu Jingming.

Xu Jingming was somewhat surprised. With his strength, he instantly sensed a lot of information. "This isn't a naturally formed spatial-temporal disorientation. It's a trap deliberately set by a high-dimensional lifeform, using a trap to deal with high-dimensional lifeforms who are mining?"

At that moment, in that cave residence, the gray-robed figure 'Du Ying' remotely sensed that one of the traps he had set had been triggered. "Trap number 19 has been triggered. Is it an Eternal Realm prey?"

"Hmm? An Eternal Realm expert from the Mind Realm lineage, Wu Ming of Myriad Star Island?" Du Ying immediately identified the prey's identity and immediately had a headache.

He knew the intelligence of most of the Eternal Realm experts in the entire sector, so he naturally knew that Myriad Star Island was not to be trifled with! In their initial war of establishing dominance in this sector, Myriad Star Island had killed Yu Fangtuo and the Thousand-Eyed Abyss Spider Demon.

"Nato, my trap number 19 has trapped Wu Ming of Myriad Star Island," the gray-robed figure immediately told his companion.

"Those three monsters from Myriad Star Island are not to be trifled with! Release Wu Ming and let him leave," Nato responded.