I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Deep inside the cave, the atmosphere of despair seemed to solidify.

Just as the swarm of rats screeched and pounced within feet of me, a foul stench assaulted my senses.

"Sizzle—!"

A dazzling, extremely sharp golden blade aura, like lightning tearing through the darkness, swept in from the direction of the cave entrance!

As the blade flashed, the air hissed sharply. The dozen or so iron-eating rats at the forefront didn't even have time to scream before they were shredded into a cloud of blood mist and minced flesh in the golden light!

The violent aftershocks of the blade energy scattered the remaining rat swarm, halting their offensive.

This sudden turn of events caused Jiang Heng and He Yu, who had been waiting for death with their eyes closed, to widen their eyes in disbelief and look in the direction from which the blade energy was coming.

In the dim light and shadow at the cave entrance, stained by the aftershocks of the battle and rat blood, a figure slowly stepped in.

The newcomer was dressed in an inconspicuous gray cloth robe, with a weathered face and a long, black knife in his hand.

His body emanated a clearly discernible early Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure, carrying a metallic sharpness and a chilling aura.

His eyes were calm and unwavering, as if the swift and incomparable strike that had just annihilated more than ten first-tier demonic beasts was as simple as brushing away dust.

"You two, it seems... you need some help?" A slightly deep, hoarse voice rang out in the blood-scented cave.

Watching the terrifying blade energy that easily tore through the rat swarm, and feeling the real, heart-pounding pressure of the Foundation Establishment stage aura emanating from the other party.

Jiang Heng and He Yu's eyes instantly blazed with the ecstatic joy of escaping a desperate situation!

"Senior! Help!"

"Thank you so much for saving me! I will never forget your kindness!"

The two shouted out excitedly almost simultaneously, their voices trembling with relief at surviving the ordeal.

A barely perceptible curve appeared at the corner of Lin Che's mouth.

That's exactly what he wanted to hear.

Without another word, he moved swiftly, disappearing into the remaining swarm of rats like a ghost.

The pure metal-elemental spiritual energy condensed into an invisible sharp edge, and wherever it passed, the iron-eating rats died one after another, with an efficiency that was astonishing.

In just a few breaths, the remaining dozens of iron-eating rats in the cave were all cleared out.

After resolving the trouble, Lin Che leisurely strolled over to the two still-shaken individuals.

Jiang Heng and He Yu barely managed to calm their racing hearts and heavy breathing. They struggled to stand up straight, ignoring their injuries, and respectfully clasped their hands in a gesture of utmost humility.

"Junior He Yu, thank you for saving my life, senior! I will always remember this kindness and never forget it!" He Yu's voice was still filled with lingering fear.

"Junior Jiang Heng thanks you for your help, senior! Without your assistance today, we would both be food for rats. If you ever need anything in the future, please feel free to ask. Jiang Heng will do his utmost to repay this kindness!"

Hearing their tearful words of gratitude, Lin Che smiled a kind smile.

"Of course, of course. Both of you young friends are grateful and have excellent character." He nodded, his tone amiable.

"It's quite a coincidence that I just discovered a good mine nearby, containing a lot of fine iron ore, and I just need some reliable manpower to help mine it."

Since you two young friends are willing to repay this debt, how about you do me this favor? Mine some ore to repay your kindness today, and we'll be even. What do you say?

Upon hearing this, the grateful smiles on Jiang Heng and He Yu's faces froze instantly, and a look of astonishment and confusion flashed in their eyes.

What? A newly discovered vein? Iron ore concentrate?

The two men instinctively glanced around at the cave they had fought so hard to find, nearly losing their lives in the process. Wasn't this the iron ore vein the other person was talking about?!

How did it suddenly become something this senior just discovered?

But looking at Lin Che's seemingly gentle smile and feeling the faint Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure emanating from him, one could see the difference.

The doubts and rebuttals that were on the tip of their tongues were swallowed back down.

The situation is beyond our control; this senior was clearly not genuinely trying to negotiate with them.

Oh well, I'll just keep mining. It's better than dying just now.

At least their lives were saved, and this senior didn't seem to want anything else from them.

The two exchanged a quick, helpless, and resigned look, then forced out smiles that looked more like tears, and bowed, saying:

"Since you have given your orders, I will naturally obey."

"It is our honor to serve our seniors. Leave the mining to us."

"Very good." Lin Che nodded in satisfaction, regardless of whether they were sincere or not.

He took out the array flag, raised his hand and cast several spells, setting up a simple yet sturdy second-tier trapping array at the cave entrance to ensure that the two could not leave easily.

He then waved his hand to set up an illusion array to conceal the fluctuations of spiritual energy in the area, preventing other cultivators from noticing anything unusual as they passed by.

After doing all this, he clapped his hands and said to the two men in the mine whose faces were contorted with bitterness:

"Work hard, once the ore is mined, just pile it up over there." With that, he vanished from the cave entrance array in a flash.

Once Lin Che's aura had completely dissipated, only Jiang Heng and He Yu remained in the cave, along with the second-tier trapping array that emitted a faint light and isolated the inside from the outside.

The two looked at the light screen at the cave entrance, then at the corpses of iron-eating rats scattered on the ground and the exposed ore, their faces filled with grief, indignation and helplessness.

"Brother Jiang, we are..." He Yu was on the verge of tears.

"What else can we do? Let's dig. At least this senior didn't kill us." Jiang Heng sighed, resignedly took out a magic weapon shaped like a pickaxe, and walked towards the mine wall.

Thus began his tragic life as a miner.

……

After leaving the mine, Lin Che did not linger, and even ignored the occasional first-tier weapon fragments or the valuable first-tier mid-grade "Yin Soul Grass" unique to the Mist Forest.

His figure transformed into a faint gray shadow, pushing his speed to the limit, and he passed straight through the Mist Forest.

Before long, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a more expansive yet desolate and bleak landscape.

This is the Plain of Bones.

It's less of a plain and more of a vast ancient war graveyard.

As far as the eye could see, the earth was a dark brown, as if it had been soaked in dried blood for countless years.

Most shockingly, the ground was covered with all sorts of broken and tattered weapons.

Broken longswords, rusted spears, chipped swords, and shattered shields formed an endless and chilling "forest of spears and swords".

A dense, almost tangible, gray-black aura of malevolence flowed and spread slowly across the plain like a thin mist.

The air was thick with the smell of rust, decay, and a chilling, bone-deep killing intent.

Clearly, this was once an extremely brutal ancient battlefield.

Based on the information provided by Liu Fang, it is speculated that this may be a fragment of the core battlefield after a small world was shattered.

Not only are there Qi Refining stage cultivators and Foundation Establishment stage cultivators here, but there are also Golden Core stage cultivators who have perished.

This shows just how fierce the battle that took place here back then was.

However, for cultivators who have now entered the secret realm, this plain of bones is undoubtedly a sea of ​​opportunities.

Perhaps some spiritual materials remain in those broken weapons;

Beside the remains of a cultivator, there may be a storage bag or personal magical artifact that has not yet completely decayed.

Just now, a lucky cultivator dug out a basically intact storage bag from under a skeleton, instantly triggering a small-scale frenzy of fighting and killing.

Many more cultivators learned their lesson, or, realizing their own inadequacy, fled to deeper, more remote areas of the plains.

Try to avoid the crowds and search slowly on your own, hoping for a lucky break.

Just as Lin Che landed on the edge of the plain and began to observe, a tragedy occurred not far away.

A rogue cultivator at the mid-stage of Qi Refining excitedly discovered a skeleton in a relatively secluded cluster of swords, with a ring on its finger bones.

He looked around cautiously to make sure no one was watching before he prepared to dig.

However, he was completely focused on the opportunity before him.

But they didn't notice that not far behind them, a broken blade, half-inserted into the ground, silently detached from the ground and floated up.

puff!

A soft sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out.

The rogue cultivator's body suddenly stiffened, and the ecstasy on his face instantly froze. Looking down, he saw a rusty blade tip, wrapped in a gray-black aura, protruding from his chest.

He struggled to turn around, but all he saw was a monster made of white bones, with broken metal pieces embedded in its joints, and two crimson soul flames burning in its eye sockets.

He was slowly pulling the blade out of his body.

That broken knife was actually part of its arm!

"Soldier Beast..." Lin Che murmured to himself upon seeing this scene.

This is a monster formed over many years by the twisting and fusion of the remains of cultivators or demonic beasts, broken weapons, and the endless resentment and unwilling will accumulated on the battlefield, all within a special environment of malevolent energy.

Lacking intelligence and possessing only a killing instinct, they are the most dangerous beings on this plain of bones.

Seemingly sensing the presence of a new life form, the puppet beast that had just dealt with the rogue cultivator suddenly turned its head, its crimson soul fire locking onto Lin Che not far away.

It let out a silent roar, brandishing the broken knife embedded in its arm bone, and charged towards Lin Che with stiff yet swift steps. The blade tore through the air, bringing with it a foul-smelling gust of wind.

Lin Che remained expressionless and did not even use the black knife behind his back.

When the puppet beast rushed close, he pointed his fingers like a sword, and a wisp of extremely refined pale golden spiritual power pulsed at his fingertips as he casually slashed forward.

"Snap!"

A sharp golden light flashed, and the entire arm bone of the puppet beast holding the sword, along with part of its torso bones, snapped in two, sending bone fragments flying everywhere.

However, the monster seemed oblivious to pain, and despite losing an arm, it still staggered forward.

Lin Che frowned slightly, turned his body slightly to avoid the attack, and struck the joint of the spine with his backhand.

"Bang!"

The pure golden spiritual energy poured in, instantly shattering the core evil energy node.

The soul fire in the eyes of the puppet beast suddenly went out, and with a crash, it scattered into a pile of lifeless broken bones and scrap iron.

Lin Che stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the broken longsword that had fallen after the puppet beast died.

The blade was severely rusted, covered with cracks and nicks, but it was cool to the touch, and one could faintly sense a trace of extremely weak, strange malevolent energy and fragments of will that originated from the same source as this battlefield.

"Is this the 'key'?" Lin Che narrowed his eyes, carefully examining the inconspicuous broken knife in his hand.

According to the information pieced together by Liu Fang, in order to open the hidden place in Sword Tomb Mountain that has been targeted by the Demon Palace of Rebellion, it is necessary to collect these broken weapons transformed from the "cores" of the puppet beasts as "keys".

There appear to be four types of weapons: knives, spears, swords, and shields. However, the information does not specify the exact number or combination required to collect them.

All that is known is that when the secret realm opened last time, a senior from the Rebellious Demon Palace only managed to glimpse its secret at the very last moment, but failed due to insufficient time, and still remembers it to this day.

The reason for sending his personal disciple here is to settle this matter that has been on his mind.

Store the broken knife in a specially made blue storage bag.

Lin Che turned around and walked to the side of the dead rogue cultivator. With a blank expression, he ransacked the man's body, taking all his valuables: a few bottles of pills, a few talismans, a low-level magic weapon, and some spirit stones.

And the storage ring on the wreckage's hand, its spiritual light fading.

Even a mosquito's leg is meat; you can never have too many resources.

As for the spirit pattern token on the waist of the rogue cultivator, which was used to exchange storage bags outside the secret realm, Lin Che didn't even glance at it.

That thing is bound to the cultivator's soul aura, so even if an outsider takes it, they cannot claim it.

This is a rule established by Chuyang City and Fen Gu City to prevent explorers from killing each other over tokens.

Just as Lin Che stood up, preparing to continue his journey deeper into the plains.

"Ugh—!"

A deep, resounding wail, seemingly emanating from the depths of the netherworld, suddenly came from the direction of Sword Tomb Mountain in the center of the plain!

Immediately afterwards, a visible, dark gray-black aura of malevolent energy, like a burst dam, swept outwards from the summit of Sword Tomb Mountain in all directions!

Wherever the gale passed, the remaining soldiers stuck in the ground trembled and buzzed, and the fine bone fragments and gravel on the ground were swirled up, forming a dark and ominous storm.

It was moving extremely fast, and it was about to affect the area where Lin Che was located!