Chapter 88: Improved Aura Crystal Quality

The Thousand Source Bug was still gnawing at that fire crystal ore.

Xu Ning closed the secret compartment, shut his eyes, and prepared to rest.

He hoped that this Thousand Source Bug, which did not resemble an actual Thousand Source Bug, could bring some surprises to him.

Two days went by.

Xu Ning was still mining hard in the mines.

A supervisor was patrolling back and forth nearby.

Xu Ning had basically adapted to the rhythm of mining.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Inside the mine, Xu Ning suddenly heard the sound of a wall cracking behind him.

He glanced back subconsciously.

He then saw a crack suddenly appear on the wall more than ten meters behind him, accompanied by a rustling sound.

There were several miners in front of the wall.

After seeing the crack, their expression changed.

“Run!”

Jiang Mian suddenly shouted to Xu Ning.

He pulled Xu Ning and ran back vigorously.

“What’s happening?”

Xu Ning asked.

“An associated demon beast of the Fire Crystal Mine!”

Jiang Mian replied while running.

As soon as Jiang Mian finished speaking, he saw the wall suddenly completely crack open.

He then saw a scaly monster that looked like a big lizard crawling out of the wall.

It was more than five meters long, and its tail was half of its length. Although it looked slender, its claws were sharp and its overall appearance was hideous.

The moment the monster crawled out of the wall, it flicked its tail and rushed towards a nearby miner.

It waved its claws and swept its tail, instantly killing the miner.

“Quick, call the guards!”

When the supervisor in the mine saw this, his expression changed drastically and he ran away shouting.

After the monster killed one person, it kept moving forward and hunted down the miners.

Xu Ning and Jiang Mian moved quickly. They had already fled to the first layer of the mine.

The guards had arrived in full gear, and their movements were quick.

Afterwards, Xu Ning heard the roar of the monster and the echoing sound of fighting from the second layer of the mine.

“How scary.”

After escaping the mine, everyone crowded together.

For the miners with relatively weak strength, they were all lucky to still be alive.

“Stand here, don’t move. When the associated demon beast underneath is sorted, you will go back to work!”

Several supervisors came forward, surrounding the miners and restricting their movement.

Xu Ning was in the center of the crowd, looking at the mine.

‘Associated demon beast…’

Xu Ning thought about this.

According to his observation just now, the explosive power displayed by the demon beast should be comparable to his own strength.

But Xu Ning didn’t know how durable it was. If he really confronted it head-on, he really wasn’t sure if he would be able to injure it.

As such, the demon beast was still a threat to him.

Xu Ning had only heard about spirit medicines having associated demon beasts.

The so-called associated demon beasts of spirit medicine were attracted to the spirit medicine itself. It would then use the spirit medicine to spread its energy and grow.

Without killing or scaring away the associated beast, it was impossible to harvest the spirit medicine.

Of course, spirit medicines that had associated demon beasts around it were of the best quality.

‘Since this Fire Crystal Mine has associated demon beasts, then it must contain substances beneficial to the demon beasts…’

Xu Ning thought, ‘But this kind of substance should not contain aura, otherwise I can absorb it directly…’

“In the future, we will often encounter this situation.”

Jiang Mian said while standing next to Xu Ning, “This Fire Crystal Mine is extremely large, so there is more than one associated demon beast. They even have their own small pack here…”

“If you hear sounds in the walls in the future, or find any cracks in the wall, remember to run away immediately.”

“I see, thanks.”

Xu Ning replied.

Although Jiang Mian was a little expressionless, he was actually a nice person.

Time quickly passed.

At the entrance of the mine, more than a dozen guards with armor drenched in blood walked out.

Some of them were injured, but no one was dead.

The guards dragged the body of the associated demon beast; it was obviously dead.

“Okay, the trouble is solved, go back to work!”

The supervisor drove everyone in the mine again.

…

Two days went by.

Over the past few days, Xu Ning felt quite anxious.

It was because his own Thousand Source Bug had not discharged any Aura Crystals for the past four days.

Prior to this, the Thousand Source Bug would expel Aura Crystals at least every three days.

Xu Ning was a little worried about whether the Thousand Source Bug would still be able to absorb aura after eating the fire crystal ore.

Night time.

Xu Ning secretly opened the hidden compartment.

This time, Xu Ning was not disappointed. Xu Ning finally saw a red Aura Crystal.

‘It finally discharged an Aura Crystal!’

Xu Ning finally felt relieved.

This meant that after swallowing the fire crystal ore, the Thousand Source Bug did not lose its ability to produce Aura Crystals.

‘The Aura Crystal is light red. Is it because it ate too much fire crystal ore?’

Xu Ning couldn’t wait to see if this new Aura Crystal was different.

Xu Ning used his fingers to grab the red Aura Crystal.

—

Discovered energy: 2 units-

Absorb?

Yes/No

—

“Yes!”

Xu Ning absorbed the two units of energy.

‘Sure enough, this Aura Crystal is worth 2 units!’

Xu Ning was relieved.

Obviously, this Thousand Source Bug not only absorbed the aura in the air, but also absorbed the energy in the fire crystal ore.

The Thousand Source Bug was like an energy converter for Xu Ning.

‘In the past, the Thousand Source Bug produced an Aura Crystal that is worth one unit of energy every two to three days. In one month, the total energy I could obtain is about 12 units.’

‘Now, the Thousand Source Bug would produce an Aura Crystal that is worth two units of energy every four days. In one month, I can get about 15 units of energy.’

Xu Ning frowned when he thought about this.

It seemed that the rate of increase was somewhat small.

‘I’ll wait a few days and check again. Maybe after a few days, the Thousand Source Bug will adapt to the fire crystal ore, and the speed of it producing Aura Crystals will increase.’

Thousand Source Bugs would increase Aura Crystal production as they grew.

Xu Ning also planned to obtain some higher-quality crystal ore for the Thousand Source Bug to consume.

Some of the fire crystal ore in the mine had duller surfaces, while some had clear and bright surfaces—this showed the difference in quality.

‘If this continues on, I’ll be able to escape sooner.’

Although Xu Ning was still deep in this predicament, he had become more hopeful.

…

The days went by quickly.

In the blink of an eye, five months had passed.

Xu Ning had been working in the mine for more than 150 days.

Although Xu Ning did not suffer any substantial harm, he had experienced being attacked by associated demon beasts several times.

Had it not been for Xu Ning’s quick response, he would have died already.

Xu Ning was very excited today.

He had accumulated 133 units of energy!

As long as he obtained two more units of energy, he could break through to the mortal realm seventh stage.

By then, he would be able to break the shackles, look for opportunities, and escape from this Fire Crystal Mine.

Just as Xu Ning predicted, the Thousand Source Bug adapted to the fire crystal ore. As long as it continued to consume fire crystal ore, it would regularly produce an Aura Crystal worth two units of energy every three days.

Xu Ning could now harvest 20 units of energy a month.

Inside the cage, Xu Ning waited for the Thousand Source Bug to produce an Aura Crystal again.

“You seem to be in a good mood these days…”

Jiang Mian took the initiative to speak to Xu Ning, which was rare.

Unlike Xu Ning, Jiang Mian’s condition had deteriorated a lot in the past few months.

Aside from his unkempt appearance, he also looked much older.

Jiang Mian explained to Xu Ning that he was corroded by the poisonous gas in the mine.

Jiang Mian was in the internal qi realm, so he had plenty of internal qi.

But three months ago, he was sneakily attacked by an associated demon beast, and was injured. In his injured state, he was definitely not as strong as before.

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