It was already blistering hot summer outside, but this cave lacked the slightest trace of heat, instead feeling extremely gloomy and cold.

Those water rats immediately disappeared without a trace, this cave thus appearing extremely clean.

After walking a dozen or so steps in, Lin Xi saw that the ground was covered in chisel marks, immediately understanding that this region wasn’t naturally formed either, instead flattened to make it easier to mine.

After taking a few more steps forward, it suddenly became spacious and well-lit. Lin Xi astonishingly discovered that he seemed to have entered a spacious main hall, countless rocks were piled up inside, among them, there were some that were made into rectangular shaped stones and some completely irregular large stones.

There were many piles of round wood in this large cave, their surface smooth, still didn’t rot yet. Lin Xi knew that this was the wood used to transport the stone materials in the past.

Not far from his left hand, he saw several man-made stone rooms that were cut out.

Lin Xi walked into these stone rooms first, immediately seeing that the insides of these stone rooms were a mess, as well as some ruined kitchen platforms. It was obvious that the miners often ate and resided here.

When he walked into the second stone room, the corners of his lips couldn’t help but raise upwards again.

There was a pot there.

Next to the abandoned kitchen counter was an ordinary black pot with a crack on its opening. The pot itself and the inside of the pot were covered in dust, but aside from this, it was still in good shape.

“This can be considered a cultural relic as well, right? ... If it was in that other world, using the same things as the past generations to cook and eat really would seem a bit extravagant.”

Lin Xi said to himself with a light laugh. He was already almost certain that since the miners used to cook and eat here, then the ventilation shouldn’t be too much of an issue. According to what he learned in Green Luan Academy, as long as this type of cave exceeded a few dozen meters in height and as long as there was no direct vertical opening, the smoke would condense and be filtered by the cracks in the mountain. This was especially the case in these rock caves at the bottom of mountain peaks, even if there were paths straight up, after two to three hundred meters of altitude, there was still almost no way for the smoke of a small fire to escape the mountain and be detected by others.

However, if this quarry had other entrances, someone easily finding this place while he gorged on food, then that really would be extreme joy turning to sorrow.

That was why even though right now, Lin Xi really didn’t want to take even an extra step, he still forcefully restricted his urge to immediately bring the three Silver Matron Dragons here to fill his stomach, instead continuing to explore this quarry cave.

He only saw that there was another large cave not far inside, no way out visible, the ground covered in earth, growing some lichens and other things. This large cave was even taller. When Lin Xi raised his head, he saw many stone cracks and many vine-like tree roots hanging down, some even touching the bottom of this cave.

When he saw that this stone quarry was merely two connected caves less than a hundred meters deep, Lin Xi now completely relaxed.

Since he couldn’t be found, he wasn’t in a rush. As long as his injuries improved, even after the three Silver Matron Dragons were completely finished, he could still think of a way to catch water rats and fish, allowing him to stay here for as long as he wanted. However, the great army transferred over from East Forest Province and those cultivators definitely couldn’t wait forever.

In this type of game, as long as one side didn’t need to feel worry, then they were already in an invincible position.

The stone mushrooms, lichens and others were also nutrient filled species for cultivators. Moreover, even the ordinary edible lichen which could be found in this rock cave could be considered as vegetables for Lin Xi. Otherwise, no matter how tasty the Silver Matron Dragons were, without some other flavors to balance it out, he would still get extremely tired of it.

Cultivation was a dry and dull matter to begin with, but the body of a cultivator allowed them to do many more interesting things. Many things in this world were precisely like this as well.

When he was certain that his stamina was still fine, he continued into a place where the lichen grew more abundantly. Lin Xi saw that this area didn’t have signs of rock being removed. This large cave most likely already had many cracks, with earth mixed in between, not all that tightly packed, so if it was mined, it was easy for this place to collapse. As such, they only carried out mining on the tough rock outside.

When he saw that what grew on the ground were all some ordinary stone lichen, since his left hand’s five fingers could only move slightly, Lin Xi used his feet to scrape along the ground, trying to gather the thick layer of lichen together, and then tried to hold it with his arms.

When he already gathered two or three jin of the lichen, he noticed that there were some plants growing on the old vine-like roots hanging from the topmost part of this cave, giving him an extremely familiar feeling.

The things taught in Green Luan Academy’s Wilderness Survival course were extremely diverse. Moreover, because caves were great sources of food for cultivators in the wilderness to begin with, all types of knowledge regarding caves was passed down, which was why Lin Xi knew that those were all parasitic plants.

After taking a few steps forward, Lin Xi saw them clearly in the darkness.

These were some plants that were finger thick, the length less than a foot tall. On the long scarlet red stem grew some white fur, making one feel as if they were small pig tails.

“Scarlet Hemp Tail!”

Suddenly, Lin Xi remembered what this was, immediately becoming stunned.

The cave immediately became quiet.

Faint green lights made their way out from below the cave wall.

These fat water rats saw Lin Xi who stood in this cave, momentarily cowering, not daring to make any movements.

Lin Xi moved.

He raised his left hand with great difficulty, pulling off a stalk of the scarlet plant.

Because of his left arm’s swelling and splitting pain, his movement was extremely rigid and difficult, looking a bit laughable.

However, all of the fat water rats scurried away in panic.

Lin Xi who was originally seated outside wasn’t scary to them, but those Silver Matron Dragons were extremely terrifying in their eyes. Meanwhile, those Silver Matron Dragons appeared, yet Lin Xi still walked in just fine, thus making Lin Xi suddenly become incredibly terrifying in their small brains.

…

“There weren’t any cheat books, but there is still some good stuff. For better or for worse, this was a quarry left behind by the people of the past.”

Lin Xi looked at the small ‘pig tail’ resting in his palm with a satisfied smile on his face, quite moved.

The Scarlet Hemp Tail was usually used to stew chicken, the taste extremely fine. It even had longevity effects, also extremely beneficial for cultivators…

He finally recalled what this was, and then quickly remembered the corresponding information regarding it.

This type of thing normally grew in forests, inside earth, able to grow extremely tall and strong, but those didn’t have much medicinal effects. Only those that grew on some old vines, in this type of dark environment, would develop some especially beneficial nutrients for the human body.

This type of thing was more fond of earth, preferred self-reliance. That was why it would always grow in the mud around a woodland, never in nearby tree roots. Only when it was transplanted onto a tree root, unable to make contact with earth, thus needing nutrients, would it be forced to take root in other trees’ roots.

That was why these Scarlet Hemp Tails should all have been grown by those White Cloud Monastery daoists. Lin Xi saw quite a few thick scars that were made on some old vines, Scarlet Hemp Tails were most likely grown there.

It was rumored that back then, those idle daoists who didn’t understand cultivation, only knowing to maintain good health, all lived for a long time, so they definitely always used this type of thing to stew chicken… That was why back then, the forests of Three Reeds Peak should have had quite a few Scarlet Hemp Tails, but they were all seized by these idle daoists who didn’t need to chant scriptures and dao, and transplanted them here.

The idle daoists who often used these things to stew chicken should now all be gone, so later on, no one knew where the stone material used to build White Cloud Monastery and Dragon Light Tower came from. That was why these twenty or so stalks that remained ended up waiting for Lin Xi who originally just wanted to gather some lichen.

Since no one was going to fight with him over these things to stew chicken and because the effects of fresh ingredients would be better, eating too much only causing him to develop an excess of internal heat, Lin Xi only picked two stalks and then brought them out together with a small clump of lichen.

…

The washed pot that now carried clean mountain stream water inside was brought into the inner stone room.

A fire was quickly started.

The pot was picked up by Lin Xi. Place on the side of a washed wooden board was a large pile of thick skin that had been cut off the three Silver Matron Dragons. The outer skin of these large fish was silvery-white and half transparent, extremely soft and flexible. If Lin Xi had to use two words to describe it, with his nature, he would definitely say that it was ‘extremely cute’.

[1]

When the water began to boil, Lin Xi placed the two stalks of Scarlet Hemp Tails and several large pieces of fish skin inside, and then cut off a large piece of fish meat to roast over the flame.

Then, Lin Xi began to use his left hand that he could still move a bit to make a small cast. Then, with both his hands and mouth, he fastened his broken right wrist in place.

After completing these things, the smell of meat already spread from this stone room used by quarry miners hundreds of years ago.

Lin Xi frowned slightly. The piece of fish meat he cut off and roasted over the fire was already done. Without caring about the heat, he began to eat it in large mouthfuls.

The injury on his left chest had stopped bleeding again, the other stabs and scrapes on his back and body even more so didn’t need any further care. The only thing he had to pay attention to were the wounds on his arms.

Even though his left hand could still be moved, his arm bone, under Xue Wantao’s strike, produced several bone fractures. Right now, every single movement would bring tremendous suffering.

This type of pain and the Scarlet Hemp Tails stewed with Silver Matron Dragon were both inadvertently brought by Xue Wantao, and Lin Xi knew that all of this was extremely beneficial towards his cultivation.

However, he still absolutely had to kill Xue Wantao.

It wasn’t only because he was a deathsworn knight that wanted him dead, it was also because his nature became a bit distorted after his five fingers were cut off by him, as if losing even more of his humanity. Meanwhile, Lin Xi was sure that once he went out and Xue Wantao knew that he wasn’t dead, he might go even more crazy.

1. The raw is ‘very Q’, Q sounds like cute, so chinese people sometimes uses it in this way.

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