From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 49 Four Years
Spring, summer, autumn and winter, the four seasons rotate and time passes.

Four years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the Qianyuan Immortal Dynasty, the southernmost part of Zhennan Prefecture was Yunbian County.

Yunbian County is separated from its neighboring Baiyue Immortal Dynasty by a barren mountain range.

The Huangze Mountains stretch for thousands of miles from east to west, with mountain branches and countless rivers and lakes separating the two immortal dynasties.

The boundless mountains and ancient forests hide demonic beasts comparable to immortals. It is said that in certain forbidden areas, there are second-level demonic beasts comparable to great cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage.

At this time, somewhere in the Desolate Mountains.

"Hmph! Hmph! Hmph!..."

Xu Xiaoniu waved the mining pickaxe and worked hard. The pickaxe made a clanging sound as it hit the hard rock, occasionally emitting a few sparks.

He swings a hoe at home, and he swings a hoe here as well.

Not far away, a few men gathered together and sat in the shade to rest.

"Captain, take a break."

"Sergeant, the commander is not here, why are you working so hard?"

"Yeah, take a break."

"Forget it, don't call him. Our squad leader has that kind of personality. He wouldn't even fart even if the sky falls." Someone who was familiar with Xu Xiaoniu said.

"Pfft, when will this hellish day end? Can we ever finish digging all the rocks in the mountain?"

"Just be content. It's better than being sent to clean up the battlefield."

"What do you know? Cleaning up the battlefield is the best thing to do. It will be beneficial."

"Benefits? I'm afraid it's the benefits of turning around."

"It's really a rip-off. The immortals want the spirit stones and treat us as cannon fodder. They really don't think our lives are worth anything."

"Shh~~Keep your voice down, don't let anyone hear you."

They claimed to be conscripted soldiers, but in reality they were just laborers doing hard labor. With the Immortals present, their meager fighting power was of no consequence.

Besides, this is not actually a war between the Qianyuan Immortal Dynasty and the Baiyue Immortal Dynasty.

A few years ago, a gold mine was discovered in the Huangze Mountains. This gold mine is relatively close to Lanting County in Yunbian County.

It was normal to have gold mines in such a vast and desolate mountain range, and it did not attract much attention. People were sent from Lanting County to mine the gold mines.

However, they soon discovered that the gold mines were accompanied by inferior spiritual ores!
The so-called spiritual mines are veins containing spiritual stones. Spiritual stones are the hard currency of immortal cultivation and are indispensable and precious items.

The news spread quickly and attracted the attention of many immortals.

Soon the news spread to the Baiyue Immortal Dynasty, attracting the covetousness of the immortals there.

The spiritual mine was located in the Huangze Mountains, and originally did not belong to the Qianyuan Immortal Dynasty, but was simply closer to Yunbian County. Thus, the immortals of both sides engaged in a fierce battle to control the spiritual mine.

Since it was a low-grade spiritual ore, most of it was broken spiritual crystals, with the occasional low-grade spiritual stone found. The proven spiritual ore reserves were average, and the veins were complex and difficult to mine.

The Qianyuan Immortal Dynasty looked down upon spiritual minerals of this level. Only low-level cultivators who lacked resources flocked to it and fought each other to the point of bloodshed in order to scramble for the spiritual stones.

While the immortals of Yunbian County participated in the war, they also recruited a large number of ordinary people to explore and mine.

As the scale of the operation grew, more and more supplies and manpower were needed. The people of Yunbian County were unable to meet the demand and were struggling to make a living. Many of them even fled the famine.

Yunbian County then sought assistance from several other counties in Zhennan Prefecture, paying with spirit stones. Among them was Yuanli County, where Tonggu County was located.

To obtain the spirit stones, the immortals recruited troops and headed to Yunbian County. Tens of millions of soldiers entered the Huangze Mountains and were stationed near the spirit mining area.

----

Xu Xiaoniu worked hard. He was neither lazy nor worked too hard. He maintained normal work efficiency.

Everyone else knows about his physical strength from the third level of standing meditation.

Therefore, he was appointed as the "team leader" and led a team of more than ten people to work.

In the few years since he came here, he has strictly followed the rules his father taught him: not to compete for merit, not to stand out, and not to touch any treasures. If he had competed for merit, he would have been promoted to centurion or grand centurion long ago.

He also stayed away from any dangerous areas and only did dirty, tiring work that no one liked to do.

Over the years, a large number of soldiers were drafted, and it is unknown how many of them died.

Xu Xiaoniu has lived safely to this day by being low-key, cautious and not greedy for money.

As for the other people from Baihe Village who came with him at that time, they had long been separated from other acquaintances because of the division of troops here. He didn't know where those people were or whether they were still alive. At this moment, he noticed someone coming from a distance.

"The Overseer is here!"

He spoke in a low voice, reminding the men under his command.

The few people who were resting in the cool air quickly got up and began to pretend to work.

The man wearing the military governor's uniform was called Zhang Zhou. He was a local officer and soldier from Yunbian County, and his status was different from that of the conscripted soldiers.

Zhang Zhou walked over to Xu Xiaoniu and asked, "Hey, Sergeant Xu, how much have you dug up today?"

"It's all here."

Xu Xiaoniu pointed to the gold ore piled up like a small hill next to him, which was mixed with bits of gold.

As for how much gold can be extracted from those gold ores, Xu Xiaoniu doesn't care.

Immortals don’t care about gold ore, they only care about spirit stones.

"That's quite a lot. Of all the teams I supervise, yours is the most efficient."

Zhang Zhou likes people like Xu Xiaoniu the most: he is not lazy and is easy to manage.

At this moment, a man also wearing a military governor's uniform hurried past.

"What is so urgent?"

Zhang Zhou was puzzled.

The man shouted, "Quick, there's a spirit crystal! It's a spirit crystal!"

When Zhang Zhou heard the word "Spirit Crystal", his eyes lit up.

Ten pieces of broken spirit crystals are equal to one low-grade spirit stone.

Spirit crystals are priceless treasures for ordinary people.

Generous immortals are willing to spend thousands of taels of silver to buy a spiritual crystal, while stingy immortals are willing to kill people to take the spiritual crystal.

Zhang Zhou followed him. If a spirit crystal mine was discovered in the mining area they managed, they would be rewarded as the commander-in-chief.

"It's a spirit crystal, Sergeant, shall we go over and take a look?"

Several of Xu Xiaoniu's men were ready to make a move.

"Don't go."

Xu Xiaoniu didn't even raise his head, but walked in the opposite direction.

"Don't go either."

He reminded his men.

However, there were still two disobedient ones who sneaked over.

Xu Xiaoniu didn't bother to pay attention to this and only cared about himself.

So he continued to wield his mining pickaxe, grunting and working hard with his head down.

After a while, an immortal flew over our heads.

Xu Xiaoniu stayed here for a long time and gradually got to know the immortals.

An immortal who can fly is at least in the late stage of Qi training.

In the early stages of Qi training, one can only be as light as a swallow and travel quickly, which is similar to the martial arts masters who have practiced light skills.

In the middle stage of Qi training, he could float a hundred meters away with a touch of his toes.

Only in the later stages of Qi training can one raise the Qi and fly in the air.

There is an even more terrifying existence: the great monk who has established his foundation!

Half a day later, several Qi-cultivating monks arrived, as well as some innate warriors.

Xu Xiaoniu and others were driven to a farther mining area, and his two subordinates who had come to join in the fun did not come back.

He also heard that General Zhang Zhou was burned to death by an immortal's fireball spell because he secretly kept two spirit crystals.

(End of this chapter)