On this evening, Meng Zhang secretly arrived at the location of the Scarlet Copper Mine. He took out the Spirit Beast Jar, infused it with True Qi, and gently activated it.
After a while, the ground started to tremble, and large holes appeared in front of him. Nine sandworms, each of them now grown in number, emerged from the ground.
Previously unruly, these sandworms now behaved obediently like children, automatically forming several rows in front of Meng Zhang.
Meng Zhang used the Deception Breaking Eye to carefully examine the bellies of the sandworms in front of him. Their large bodies had become swollen, obviously filled with Scarlet Copper ores.
Through repeated attempts, Meng Zhang discovered that approximately every ten days, the sandworms' bellies would be nearly full. Controlled and tamed by the Spirit Beast Jar, they overcame their natural instincts and reduced their sleep time.
Once released by Meng Zhang, they would automatically burrow into the ground, not wandering around aimlessly but directly entering the veins of the Scarlet Copper Mine to devour its ores. After consuming for a certain period, the sandworms would rest for a while before resuming their feeding.
In this way, the diligent workers continued their mining work until their bellies were full.
After collecting all the sandworms back into the Spirit Beast Jar, under the cover of night, Meng Zhang returned to Taiyi Sect.
Once back at Taiyi Sect, Meng Zhang released all the sandworms and forcefully made them spit out all the ores they had consumed. Disciples from the sect were responsible for cleaning up the Scarlet Copper ores spat out.
After taking out the specially purchased food for feeding the demonic insects, Meng Zhang fed all the sandworms and then stored them back in the Spirit Beast Jar.
The sandworms needed to rest inside the jar for a few days to recover their expended strength and energy.
The Scarlet Copper ores cleaned by the disciples would be sent to the Refining Room.
The so-called Refining Room was nothing but a recently constructed separate hall. Inside, there was a First Rank Lower Grade refining furnace and numerous spirit woods used as fuel.
Most of the time, Tian Li would be presiding in the Refining Room. By now, Tian Li had become a qualified apprentice tool refiner.
He made use of all his spare time from cultivation to refine the Scarlet Copper ores.
In fact, despite Meng Zhang also spending considerable time refining the ores, he could not match the speed at which the sandworms mined them.
Seeing the Scarlet Copper ores piling up in the storage room, yet unable to refine them all in time, it was a happy dilemma.
Meng Zhang was not in a hurry. He planned to refine them slowly and sell them over time; it was not a bad idea.
Directly selling the Scarlet Copper ores would not only result in a significant loss of profit but could also expose the existence of the Scarlet Copper Mine.
Deep Earth Spirit General's initial speculation was correct. This Scarlet Copper Mine contained several associated minerals.
These associated minerals, the Flame Crystals, and Profound Gold, were much more precious than Scarlet Copper.
Meng Zhang separated these associated minerals with care and refined them separately.
The income from this Scarlet Copper Mine had become the most stable source of wealth for Taiyi Sect.
Meng Zhang was considering whether to cultivate several more apprentice tool refiners among the disciples. The cost of training them was not high, and for those with poor aptitude, learning an additional skill would be beneficial.
With more apprentice tool refiners, the speed of refining the Scarlet Copper ores could be greatly accelerated.
However, this matter was not urgent and could be set aside for the time being.
Currently, there were only about ten disciples in the sect, and not many of them practiced Fire-attribute Cultivation.
At this point, it had been almost two months since Deep Earth Spirit General fell into slumber.
After the earthquake, cultivators from all over rushed to the area, turning it upside down. Even the seemingly bottomless pit was thoroughly explored.
However, none of the cultivators found any valuable clues in the area. The legendary cultivator's cave was nowhere to be found.
Even after hearing this news, Meng Zhang found it quite strange.
He had clearly discovered the cultivator's cave and the protective formation outside it, not to mention the trapped cultivators within the formation.
How could they all disappear without a trace, leaving no clues behind?
Nevertheless, regardless of his curiosity, Meng Zhang firmly remembered Deep Earth Spirit General's instructions never to enter that area again and to stay as far away as possible.
The popularity of the Cultivation World came and went quickly.
The cultivators who found nothing of value in the area soon lost their patience and dispersed.
The Cultivation World had many places worth exploring, so there was no need to waste time in a place with no value.
With the matter settled, Meng Zhang also relaxed. He instructed Li Xuan to keep the secret of their exploration deep in their hearts and not let it leak.
After that incident, Meng Zhang learned from Deep Earth Spirit General and occasionally patrolled around Taiyi Sect.
If he found any issues, he could deal with them promptly.
Taking advantage of the sandworms resting in the Spirit Beast Jar, Meng Zhang decided to go a little further away.
As if guided by a whim, Meng Zhang rode his Wind Chasing Horse and ended up at the abandoned Meng Family Oasis.
More than ten years ago, the Meng Family Oasis was breached by Sand Monsters during the chaos. Like all other oases attacked by Sand Monsters, the Spirit Vein inside the Meng Family Oasis was destroyed, and the oasis rapidly degenerated into a desert.
What was once a thriving oasis had now turned into a complete ruin.
Meng Zhang circled around the Meng Family Oasis before heading north, where the earthquake had occurred, and where they had escaped from initially.
Meng Zhang didn't dare to enter that area actively and changed his direction, continuing to ride his Wind Chasing Horse forward.
Meng Zhang headed south, and after riding for about fifty miles, he slowed down his pace.
Ahead, there were a series of hills surrounding a valley of about a hundred acres.
Meng Zhang carefully sensed the spiritual energy from the hilltop. Indeed, there was a relatively concentrated aura here.
Using the Deception Breaking Eye, he carefully surveyed the surroundings.
Then, he employed the Earth Escape Spell and directly burrowed underground.
After a good half day, Meng Zhang finally emerged from the ground.
He hadn't been mistaken; a brand new Spirit Vein had appeared here somehow.
Meng Zhang had passed through this area before, and it was clearly just barren hills and wilderness with no Spirit Vein in sight.
Meng Zhang had a basic understanding of geomancy and conducted a detailed survey around the area.
Afterward, he had a rough guess in his mind.
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