True Martial World
Chapter 1568: Crystal Refinement

"Brother Yi, you are now in trouble. I can't help you even if I wanted to. I don't even have enough Chaos Ores for myself."

"It's fine. Thanks."

Yi Yun knew the predicament Tie Mu was in, and besides, he had only just acquainted himself with Tie Mu. He was in urgent need to recover some amount of strength, no matter how little. If not, he might very well perish while mining.

"How far away are we from the next mine?" asked Yi Yun.

"Not far. It will take at most twenty days."

"What about the Chaos Heavens?" asked Yi Yun again.

"The Chaos Heavens are far. It would take at least half a year of flight. Why? You wish to return?"

"Never mind…" answered Yi Yun tersely. Half a year was at the cruiser's speed. If he had to fly by himself, the time taken would increase severalfold. Thankfully, he did not insist on continuing his solo flight; if he did, even if he managed to arrive in the Chaos Heavens, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm would likely not have made it.

"I underestimated the dangers posed by the multiverse barriers," said Bai Yueyin in Yi Yun's soul sea. Too much time has passed and space itself was in flux. There were too many unpredictables.

Yi Yun said, "The practice of martial arts is to go against the heavens, not to mention the Ancestor God's guillotine above my head. Death would be certain if I stayed in the Sinkhole. There would not even be a sliver of hope. But first things first, I need to restore my strength."

Without strength, Yi Yun did not even dare make trades with others. In fact, Yi Yun had expended all his natural treasures on his venture into the Chaos Heavens. As for things that could be used to exchange for Chaos Crystals, such as the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals he once gifted Lin Xintong but were returned to him, he did not dare produce them in his present condition. It would only invite trouble.

…

Most of Purple Light Hall's rooms were empty, so Yi Yun randomly chose one to stay in.

The room was very simple. There was a living room and a cultivation chamber.

He sat cross-legged in the cultivation chamber as he took out the wooden box from his interspatial ring.

He gently opened the box as a few coarse Chaos Ores appeared in front of him.

Yi Yun took out these Chaos Ores and crushed them casually.

"Pa!"

The Chaos Ores instantly turned to powder, and amid the dust was crystalline light. The points of light appeared like stars in the dark cultivation chamber as they slowly flew towards Yi Yun and into his dantian.

At that instant, Yi Yun gained an understanding of what Tie Mu felt. It was no wonder he had an intoxicated look when he reminisced about using Chaos Ores. The feeling was indeed comforting. It felt like all his pores had opened up to welcome a baptism.

Unfortunately, this baptism did not last long. It did not even last three seconds. He felt like a weary and dirty traveler who finally found an opportunity to shower, only to run out of water moments after beginning.

"Not even a thousandth of my Yuan Qi has been replenished." Yi Yun looked at the grayish powder of the Chaos Ores and shook his head. He had to think of means to obtain Chaos Crystals.

"Brother Yi." At that moment, Tie Mu's voice sounded from outside Yi Yun's room. "Brother Yi, why don't you join me in extracting the ores? Although the income is nothing, it's better than sitting around."

Extracting ores?

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback. It was not something he was averse to. Since this was his first time in the Chaos Heavens, there were many things that eluded him, especially matters regarding Chaos Crystals. Furthermore, he had some ideas regarding ore extraction.

"Alright." Yi Yun agreed at once.

"Alright, if it's okay for you, let us set off now," said Tie Mu excitedly. Such a state of mind impressed Yi Yun. Tie Mu was still able to remain so optimistic while living amid such tight cracks.

Yi Yun walked out of the room and found, besides Tie Mu, there were three others. Tie Mu introduced them one by one.

One of them was naked from the waist up, his muscles covered in black tattoos. His name was Taishan.

Another elegantly-dressed, voluptuous woman's name was Songyue.

Finally, there was a youth that looked dispirited. He was a man of few words, and he had a single name—Chuan.

"This is Yi Yun. He will be a member of our team in the future."

Tie Mu did the introductions. It was quite cordial as Taishan immediately greeted Yi Yun. Songyue gave Yi Yun a nonchalant glance before turning to leave.

"Haha, don't mind her. Songyue is like this to everyone. She's a girl after all. It's difficult to survive in such environments and, with time, her defensive mechanisms only became stronger…" Tie Mu's words seemed to indicate something deeper.

Yi Yun nodded. On this ore mining spirit cruiser, there were a lot more men than women. Although they were all martial artists, they had their desires as well. For a woman to be surrounded by men, only to face men who were stronger and more powerful than her, the difficulty of protecting herself was obvious.

Besides, the Chaos Heavens was a world where the law of the jungle ruled. There was not the protection of moral laws.

"Don't underestimate Songyue. She's not like you think. She has means to protect herself, so much so that Cang Gu doesn't dare touch her."

"Oh?" Yi Yun was stunned.

"Songyue has it best among us." Tie Mu kept Yi Yun guessing.

Yi Yun was somewhat puzzled. If Songyue had extraordinary abilities, it would naturally mean that she was worth more. If that were the case, why would she join them in doing the dirty and menial job of ore extraction?

Yi Yun followed Tie Mu to an underground palace. After passing through a long tunnel, Yi Yun went through a huge door to see everything in front of him turn bright.

There was another pocket world in the underground palace, and this pocket world was even bigger than the pocket world aboveground!

The pocket world was divided into twelve zones. Each zone had rows of erected black towers that resembled bamboo shoots!

These black towers numbered in the hundreds and varied in size. The bigger ones were a few stories tall, and the smaller ones were just half the height of a person.

Tie Mu brought Yi Yun in front of a tiny black tower. Surrounding the tower was a pile of Chaos Ores which were blanketed by an array formation.

"This tower is the furnace used to refine ores?" asked Yi Yun.

"Oh? Is this your first time seeing it? It's called a Crystal Refining Furnace. The cost of constructing every furnace is astounding. There are more than a thousand furnaces here, and when this place is at its peak, tens of thousands of people will be gathered here to extract the ores."

Tie Mu gave Yi Yun an odd glance. He immediately guessed that it was possible that Yi Yun had come from a particular Great World to the Chaos Heavens. He knew nothing, and under normal circumstances, such people died the fastest.

"Oh?"

When Yi Yun placed his perception on the pile of Chaos Ores, he suddenly felt that the Chaos Ores were being locked on by some psyche energy.

This is…

Yi Yun looked up abruptly and saw that high above the pocket world was a immortal palace the size of a palm.

However, Yi Yun could sense a terrifying suppression from the palace. The psyche energy that had locked onto the Chaos Ores came from the palace.

Could it be… a Godly Monarch!?

Yi Yun felt his heart quake. Only Godly Monarchs could produce such might!

This pocket world actually had a Godly Monarch!

He had split his psyche energies into thousands of portions, with each portion locking onto a pile of Chaos Ores.

I see…

Yi Yun shook his head in silence. He had held hopes of secretly restoring his energy by quietly absorbing a tiny amount of Chaos Yuan Qi during the ore extraction, but he never expected Taixia Ancient Mining to have a Godly Monarch presiding over it. With a Godly Monarch's perception, any pile of Chaos Ores which had its energy siphoned off would probably be detected instantly.

"Indeed, there's no free lunch in this world. The Taixia Ancient Mining has been around for so many years. It naturally has gathered impressive resources. How can it have loopholes that are so easily exploited…"

Although Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal which prevented the discovery of his energy absorption, if the energy contained within the Chaos Ores were to vanish for no reason, that would still be suspicious. It was impossible to fool a Godly Monarch.

"Brother Yi, don't look at that immortal palace. Doing that for an extended period will damage your psyche." Tie Mu noticed Yi Yun's gaze. "That immortal palace has our Taixia Ancient Mining's divine-level Crystal Refinement Master. Even Steward Zhou has to be reverent when he comes before the palace."

"Crystal Refinement Master?"

"You aren't aware of Crystal Refinement Masters? From the looks of it, you are indeed new to the Chaos Heavens. The Chaos Ores dug out from the Chaos Heavens are mostly crude. In our line, mining for ores is difficult, but refinement of the ores is even more difficult. If a Crystal Refinement Master extracts and refines the crude ore, it turns into refined ore. Then, from refined ore to Chaos Crystal, the price would increase severalfold."

"Putting Chaos Crystals aside, just refined ores are of much greater quality than crude ores. A genius of a real faction will not even consider crude ores. They would use refined ores for cultivation. Of course, for bumpkins like us, having crude ores is quite a luxury. The crude ores we receive as salary are the remnants of the ores which the Crystal Refinement Master didn't finish refining."

As Tie Mu spoke, he gestured for Yi Yun to look at Songyue.

"Remember how I mentioned that Songyue is different from us? Songyue is a beginner Crystal Refinement Master. She is able to refine refined ores! So no one dares to touch her. Her usual salary is much higher than ours. She is paid in refined ores."

"I see…"

Yi Yun was enlightened. It was no wonder that Songyue came for the ore extraction. Her trade was that to begin with.

Yi Yun took a look at Songyue and saw her standing in front of a Crystal Refining Furnace. As for Tie Mu and company, Yi Yun originally guessed that they would be involved in the ore extraction, but it turned out they were there to run odd jobs for Songyue.

Apart from filling up the ores and pouring away the slag, they would be standing inside the Crystal Refining Furnace's array formation, providing the Crystal Refining Furnace with their energies. Songyue's realm was limited and she could not power the Crystal Refining Furnace's operations independently.

"What are you idling for? Hurry up and work!"

Songyue looked at Yi Yun, her voice ice-cold.

At that moment, Tie Mu and company had already injected their Yuan Qi into the array formation. Yi Yun was the only one standing there idly.

"Senior Sister Songyue, Brother Yi is new. He's not very familiar with the operations. Besides, he's injured. The amount of Yuan Qi he can provide while standing inside the array formation is limited as well."

Upon hearing Tie Mu, Songyue frowned. Clearly, she was very displeased with an errand boy like Yi Yun.

"Then stand there and watch for now. Study what Tie Mu and the rest are doing."