Chapter 141: Digging Earthworms

"You shall go forth and lure those here."

Zhao Mo looked at Li Mu, giving instructions without a trace of expression.

Seeing so many spade-beasts, Li Mu quickly understood Zhao Mo's intent. Venturing into the territory of the spade-beasts meant placing oneself in grave danger. With so many second-rank spiritual pets packed into a relatively small area, even a cultivator at the Pulse-Refining stage would find them extremely difficult to handle. However, if one hid within the passageway and lured them continuously, they could be easily annihilated.

Yet, the person responsible for luring the spade-beasts faced immense peril; the slightest mishap would plunge them directly into the onslaught of the beasts.

"Go on, move quickly."

Li Mu smiled, slowly taking a few steps forward. Waving his hand, he sent a massive burst of flame toward the spade-beasts.

"You idiot, those things are not afraid of fire!" Zhao Mo roared from behind.

Instead of his violet flame, Li Mu cast an ordinary flame, yet embedded within the released fire were countless grains of sand.

Boom!

The fire exploded upon a cluster of spade-beasts, and the sand rained down like a downpour.

Clang, clang! The sand struck the spade-beasts, sounding like colliding metals, sparking hurried clashes, but causing no actual damage to the creatures. Li Mu felt a trace of admiration. Even without exerting much true energy, he could tell that the shells of the spade-beasts were exceptionally hard—truly prime materials for forging fine protective robes.

Having suffered the attack, the spade-beasts let out soft, low cries, locked onto the direction, and charged straight toward Li Mu.

The ground gradually began to heave with rising earth as if they were tunneling, attempting to approach from underground.

Zhao Mo looked slightly surprised. "What kind of magical treasure is this of yours? Not bad."

"Nothing much, just ordinary sand." Li Mu immediately retreated backward, as if frightened by the spade-beasts.

"Let me take a look later." A flash of greed crossed Zhao Mo's eyes. He had seen it clearly: the sand was extraordinary, flashing with brilliant light and pulsating with rich spiritual energy, far from ordinary goods.

Li Mu had already retreated behind him, and the spade-beasts were already closing in, numbering at least several dozen.

Zhao Mo stepped forward, slashing the saber in his hand. A green wave of energy, thin as paper, emerged from the sturdy, curved blade and sliced rapidly into the earth.

Soil splattered everywhere, and a trench several meters long instantly materialized on the ground.

Several spade-beasts had their heads cleanly severed, collapsing onto the ground and twitching continuously.

"Lord Zhao's might is peerless!"

The other cultivator immediately stepped forward with lavish praise.

Li Mu remained silent, though a measure of respect arose within his heart. The saber was merely a standard second-rank magical instrument, but the blade-wave it unleashed achieved an exceptionally high level of proficiency in both force and speed. Even better was its precision. The moment the saber-wave was released, it kept vibrating to adjust its trajectory, striking precisely at the weak spot of the spade-beasts—the junction between their hard back shells and head shells—succeeding in a single blow.

That was the hallmark of a Pulse-Refining stage cultivator; their control over true energy was terrifyingly formidable.

The remaining spade-beasts detoured, accelerating their pace. A few of them even burrowed into the rock walls, advancing rapidly along the edges of the passageway.

"Overestimating your own capabilities!"

The saber slashed again, launching wave after wave of curved light in rapid succession.

Chilling winds swept through as the earthen trenches crisscrossed. Mere dozens of breaths later, all the dozens of spade-beasts were cut to pieces.

Zhao Mo stood his ground, resting the saber with a rather proud look on his face. "Go over and see if there are any beast cores. The hard shells can be stripped off, and the tentacles as well. Be careful and don't waste anything."

Without a word, Li Mu followed closely behind the other cultivator.

Very quickly, a pile of pitch-black hard shells and tentacles was tossed aside, and two beast cores were brought over.

Utterly satisfied, Zhao Mo waved his hand, sweeping all the spoils into his storage ring, and then turned to Li Mu. "Keep luring them. You can bring more this time."

Li Mu repeated his previous actions, pulling a massive swarm toward them. The more he used the sand, the more delighted Zhao Mo became.

Feigning ignorance, Li Mu used the opportunity to practice, carefully probing with his spiritual sense to observe the formation and strike of the saber waves. As he watched, he suddenly sensed something rather peculiar: no matter from which angle he observed those saber-waves, it felt as though the saber itself wasn't being used at all, but was merely there as a deliberate concealment.

Seeing that the spade-beasts were about to be wiped out once more, Zhao Mo pointed at the other cultivator. "You go and lure them this time." Then, turning his gaze to Li Mu, he said, "Hand your sand over to me. I can see you aren't very skilled in using it; I will show you a much better way to utilize it."

Internally, Li Mu sneered with contempt, yet his outward expression showed not a shred of dissatisfaction as he directly handed over several hundred grains of sand.

Examining the sand in his palm and rubbing it incessantly, Zhao Mo wore a deeply satisfied expression. "Kid, your sand isn't forged very well. I, your lord, am feeling generous; I'll teach you how to refine it properly and return it to you later. Do you have any more of this sand? Hand it all over to me for refinement."

"I have none left, I only have this much. Once you've refined it, Lord, please return it to me," Li Mu said indifferently. "This is my only poor excuse for a magical treasure; without it, protecting my life will be difficult."

"Rest assured, when would your lord ever covet your belongings?"

Zhao Mo stowed the sand into his storage ring with a face full of joy, harboring entirely different calculations in his heart.

"Ah—!"

A sudden, miserable scream echoed from ahead.

"Useless trash, unable to handle even a simple task," Zhao Mo cursed angrily, looking forward.

Employing his spiritual sense, Li Mu felt an involuntary wave of shock ripple through his heart.

Further down the passageway, the spade-beasts had completely vanished. In their place, a circular pit spanning several tens of meters had suddenly appeared. It was unknown how it came to be, presenting a deeply astonishing sight.

The miserable cry had clearly emanated from within that pit.

Zhao Mo also sensed that something was amiss, but instead of stepping forward, a look of profound gravity settled upon his face.

"My lord, what happened to him?" Having never been to a spiritual crystal mine before, Li Mu had no idea what kind of situation this was.

Staring at the pit, Zhao Mo murmured in a low voice, "I never expected that even such a small spiritual crystal mine would harbor an Earth-Borrowing Worm."

Before he finished speaking, a peculiar glint suddenly appeared in his eyes, radiating intense excitement.

Li Mu's heart stirred slightly. An Earth-Borrowing Worm?

While he wasn't familiar with it, he knew it was an extremely rare third-rank spiritual pet. In terms of habits, it differed little from ordinary earthworms, loving to burrow and living entirely underground. However, the body of an Earth-Borrowing Worm was tens of thousands of times larger than an earthworm, stretching beyond several tens of meters. Moreover, its temperament was extraordinarily fierce, much like a serpent.

Finding one of them by chance within a spiritual crystal mine happened because, just like cultivators, they harbored a fondness for spiritual crystals—though cultivators viewed them purely as pests.

Yet, the moment one laid eyes on an Earth-Borrowing Worm, it was akin to discovering a priceless treasure. Wherever an Earth-Borrowing Worm resided, a massive cache of spiritual crystals was guaranteed to be found nearby.

Their sensitivity to spiritual crystals surpassed even that of cultivators; even the smallest underground crystal deposits could be detected by them, after which they would hoard the crystals within their nests.

Zhao Mo was profoundly tempted, his heart nearly driving him wild. "To think that this trip to the spiritual crystal mine would yield such a magnificent prize, truly wonderful! That Earth-Borrowing Worm is rather tricky to deal with underground. The subterranean realm is its domain, and I cannot defeat it there—I can only lure it out."

At this thought, Zhao Mo cast his gaze toward Li Mu, who stood quietly at the side looking foolish, and a sudden wave of delight washed over him.

Smiling, Zhao Mo approached Li Mu. "Kid, whose disciple are you?"

Li Mu smiled faintly. "I lack that fortunate destiny; no master has ever taken me in."

A trace of unconcealed joy flashed across Zhao Mo's face.

Within the Bright Jade Valley, not every cultivator had a master. The higher-ups would only select the most promising disciples from the outer ranks to nurture personally. As for the rest of the cultivators, aside from receiving essential provisions, they were left entirely to fend for themselves, drifting along freely. Many of those who practiced unorthodox paths in Bright Jade Valley had come up this way.

Had this Li Mu been the disciple of some elder, Zhao Mo would certainly not have dared to use him as cannon fodder.

"Kid, look over there. There's an Earth-Borrowing Worm. Its temperament is gentle; it simply loves digging tunnels and detests being disturbed. Your companion has likely met his end—go take a look near that pit and find a way to rescue him."

Zhao Mo smiled, pointing toward the pit ahead.

Although Li Mu did not yet know what an Earth-Borrowing Worm was, the cunning and sinister look on Zhao Mo's face made it abundantly clear that the man's intentions were anything but kind.