The Bladefang Mercenaries were a rough crew of six, excluding Ling Tian. They were experienced in surviving the harsh Scarred Earth, but their morale and organization were weak.
The Jade Crystal Mine was a deep, unstable shaft carved into the canyon wall. The danger wasn't just the unstable structure; it was the Rock Lizards—Mid-Immortal Foundation level beasts whose scales were reinforced by years of absorbing crystal essence, making them notoriously difficult to kill.
"Remember, Brother Ling Tian," Hu Lie instructed, clutching the small wooden box containing the Tier-7 pill Ling Tian had given him. "Our goal is clearing the first three levels. Don't fight the Lizards head-on; aim for the soft spot under their jaws. Our Immortal Qi is strong, but their scales are tougher."
Ling Tian nodded curtly. Aim for the soft spot? Such low-level combat philosophy.
Hidden Efficiency
As they descended, the density of the Rock Lizards increased. The mercenaries fought clumsily, using brute force and noisy Qi techniques.
The Rock Lizards' scales repelled most of their attacks. The mercenaries had to expend massive amounts of Qi for every kill, leaving them exhausted.
Ling Tian moved differently. He used minimal movement, relying on his Perfect Golden Chaos Core to calculate the most efficient path.
When a Rock Lizard lunged at him, Ling Tian didn't use a powerful punch. He simply touched the Lizard's forehead with the tip of his finger.
HISS.
A minute thread of Primordial Chaos energy was injected directly into the Lizard's brain and spiritual core. The Lizard didn't explode; it instantly stiffened and collapsed, its life extinguished silently and completely, leaving no external damage.
He moved through the mine like a phantom. While the other six mercenaries were struggling with three Lizards, Ling Tian had silently dispatched ten more in the surrounding tunnels.
"Where is Ling Tian?" Hu Lie yelled, breathing heavily after finally killing a Lizard. "Is he hiding?"
A mercenary pointed toward a side tunnel, where ten perfectly preserved Lizard corpses lay.
"He... he killed them all, Boss. Look, their scales aren't even scratched."
Hu Lie rushed over, his jaw dropping. He touched the corpses. The Lizards were stone cold, their spiritual cores completely extinguished, but their bodies were pristine.
"Not only is he efficient," Hu Lie whispered, "he's saving the scales! Those scales are Tier-3 materials! He's maximizing profit while minimizing effort!"
The Real Goal
By the time they cleared the three levels, the mercenaries were exhausted, but Ling Tian was only slightly winded. He had performed the labor of ten men and conserved 90% of his energy.
"The contract is finished," Hu Lie announced. "We take the crystals and leave."
"Wait," Ling Tian said. "My payment. The waste materials."
Ling Tian walked to the deepest part of the mine—the abandoned sections that were riddled with spiritual pollution and Qi impurities. The mercenaries tossed him several sacks of crystalline residue and polluted rock fragments.
"This stuff is useless, Brother Ling Tian," Hu Lie shrugged. "It's polluted."
"Perfect," Ling Tian replied with a cold smile.
The polluted waste was useless to conventional Immortal Cultivators because their cores couldn't purify the Qi impurities.
But Ling Tian's Primordial Chaos Core was the ultimate purifier. It could devour and refine even this spiritual garbage, extracting the minute trace of usable Immortal Qi while annihilating the pollution.
Ling Tian sat down right there in the waste section and began his silent cultivation.
He opened his pores, and the vast piles of polluted rock fragments began to rapidly disintegrate, turning into fine dust as Ling Tian's Core greedily consumed the fragmented energy within.
This slow grind... it will not last long, Ling Tian thought, feeling the sluggish, but steady, growth of his power. I will break through this Early Golden Core stage faster than anyone in this Realm has ever conceived.
Hu Lie and his crew watched in stunned silence as the young man, whom they had initially mocked, sat calmly amidst the spiritual pollution, draining the energy from the "useless" materials they had discarded. They now knew they had found a monster, and fear—mixed with immense respect—filled their hearts.