Chapter 420: Piles of Blackstone
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Dao friend Mo is right, there indeed are some traces of arrays left behind, but I’ve never heard of anyone warding off Colourless Leeches with arrays before. So why would the person set up an array here?" Master Pu Zi replied with a stern face.
To Master Pu Zi, the blackstone quarry could just take a backseat. The uncompleted battleship was the real priority.
Mo Wuji shook his head, "No, if that person also has an extremely strong flame like myself, he can definitely block out the Colourless Leeches through arrays…"
Before Mo Wuji could complete his sentence, Master Pu Zi interrupted him, "Dao friend Mo, you can use arrays to block out Colourless Leeches? Are you planning to mark out an area for me to complete the battleship, on top of searching for blackstone here?"
If Mo Wuji could really do so, then it would be the best choice to finish up on the battleship in the Mining Area of Death.
"Yes, I do have such an intention. What do you think about it?" Mo Wuji said as he looked towards Master Pu Zi.
In his heart, Master Pu Zi instantly understood Mo Wuji’s thoughts. If Mo Wuji could really set up such an array in the Mining Area of Death, then he would be able to carry on forging the battleship with a peace of mind. Moreover, the other intention would be to prevent him from leaving. Even after completing the battleship, he would not be able to take it out of the Mining Area of Death without Mo Wuji’s permission.
Master Pu Zi shot a gaze at Mo Wuji once more. He did not think that Mo Wuji was doing something wrong, as he would do the same in Mo Wuji’s position. If Mo Wuji put the battleship into his hands after hearing a few words from him, that would make him even more uneasy.
How would a callous cultivator steer them to the other side of the Immortal Chasm? No wonder he dared to face Lord Axe alone, and still managed to exchange some stone slags. The only unknown was how many stone slags he obtained. Was there a thousand? If so, then dao friend Mo was much stronger than imagined.
The reason that Mo Wuji wanted to do things this way was to prevent others from disturbing Master Pu Zi from smithing. But just as Master Pu Zi had correctly interpreted, he also had to keep his guard up against Master Pu Zi.
As long as he could set up the defensive array in the Mining Area of Death, then Master Pu Zi would be able to stay within it to forge the battleship, and would not be able to leave without his permission.
This place was swarming with Colourless Leeches. Even if a flying ship could take off, the Colourless Leeches would swiftly invade the interior of it.
"I agree, this is indeed a good location.: Master Pu Zi nodded his head in agreement of Mo Wuji’s idea without hesitation.
"Brother Mo, you said that there was someone that set up arrays around he? Could that person also be here to cultivate or hide?" Lou Chuanhe asked. If the other party was here only to mine for blackstone, then he would only have to sustain a defensive layer of fire, and would not have to set up any defensive arrays.
"No, if I’m not wrong, this person is probably here to mine blackstone. On top of that, his spiritual will can reach at least 10m below the surface. He set up an array here because there was a pile of blackstone here previously." Mo Wuji’s spiritual will could detect the freshly dug soil. No matter how fast the black soil readjusted itself, there were still traces that blackstone had just been mined from the area. The reason why the person set up an array was due to the large amount if blackstone present.
Jia Qi also understood what Mo Wuji meant, but since Master Pu Zi didn’t seem to be on the same page, she continued to keep her mouth shut.
"Dao friend Mo, when I’m forging the battleship, I cannot be disturbed. Since someone has been here before, will he affect my smithing?" Master Pu Zi asked with a tinge of worry in his voice.
Smiling, Mo Wuji replied, "No problem. I assure you that there will be no one else but us around. If my defensive array can be broken so easily, I wouldn’t think of even coming here."
When Master Pu Zi heard Mo Wuji’s words, he heaved a sigh of relief.
On the surface, it might seem like Mo Wuji’s battleship was not a magic treasure. However, such a battleship was extremely challenging to forge, as every piece of material was difficult to cut or smelt. The carving of every single rune on it had to be done with utmost precision too. The slightest error could reduce the battleship’s defensive capabilities. Otherwise, why would Wu You have gathered 10 of the most outstanding smiths to work on it?
"Dao friend Mo, where will we set up camp?" Jia Qi couldn’t help but ask as she saw that Mo Wuji had no intention of stopping. At this point, they were all like Master Pu Zi, simply following Mo Wuji into the depths of the Mining Area of Death, and anything that happened after that was beyond them.
"There’s no rush, wait till I find some blackstone." Mo Wuji replied.
From the time that they entered the Mining Area of Death, Mo Wuji had found at least a few hundred blackstone with his spiritual will. The largest patch had even up to a few tens of them, but this was not enough to make Mo Wuji move. His number one priority for coming here was to forge the battleship, and the second was to cultivate. Mining for blackstone was only third on his list. Moreover, it was too close to the outside, and they had to move further inwards first.
Since Jia Qi mentioned that someone had found thousands of blackstones in a mining area before, then it should be the same in the Mining Area of Death. Based on Mo Wuji’s inference, since blackstone mines were called mines, those small collections of them were of no significance. The real mine would be a large patch of them, so even thousands of blackstones would not be considered as one.
The deeper they went, the denser the Colourless Leeches in the air became. While everyone was protected in Mo Wuji’s Scholar’s heart, the endless sound of Colourless Leeches sizzling upon contact with it could be heard.
A day passed by, and even Master Pu Zi became worried. A person had limited elemental energy and spiritual will. No matter how strong Mo Wuji was, the amount of energy expended to maintain such a large veil of fire was definitely not small. Once the smallest of cracks appeared in the layer of Scholar’s heart, and a few Colourless Leeches creep in, their lives would be over.
Just as Master Pu Zi was about to voice out a reminder, Mo Wuji suddenly stopped.
"Dao friend Mo, what’s up?" The jittery Master Pu Zi asked.
However, Mo Wuji did not respond immediately, as the spiritual will in his spirit storage channel stretched into the ground. The soil in the border of the Mining Area of Death seemed to be a different shade of grey from the soil here. Tens of breaths later, Mo Wuji lifted up his head and said to the group, "I suspect that there’s a large patch of blackstone here, possibly over a thousand…"
"Ah…" Upon hearing Mo Wuji’s words, even Master Pu Zi stared at him with a gaping mouth.
Master Pu Zi had the most experience in the Half Immortal Domain, hence he naturally knew what it meant to find over a thousand blackstones.
"Dao friend Mo, are you sure?" Jia Qi couldn’t believe what she just heard. She had heard of many blackstone patches of over a hundred, but those with over a thousand were really far and few between.
Mo Wuji nodded his head, "I’m sure, and a thousand is only a conservative estimate, because I can’t sense if there’s more any deeper." This was no lie. It was already a stretch for his spirit storage channel’s spiritual will to reach where the blackstone patch was, 20m into the ground. It looked to be just a small corner, and Mo Wuji suspected that there was much more blackstone underneath. Of course, this was just speculation.
"How deep is it?" Master Pu Zi asked frantically.
"Around 20m and below…"
"..." The three of them stared at each other quizzically after hearing Mo Wuji’s words. Didn’t Mo Wuji say that he could find blackstone within 15m? So why can he sense those even 20m deep?
"Dao friend Mo, is it really below 20m? Can you detect what’s 15m beneath the ground?" Master Pu Zi spoke to rushedly. He had heard rumors of what these blackstones were for. If they could make it across the Immortal Chasm and into the Immortal Domain, it would be necessary to have as many blackstone as possible.
"That’s right, I can only sense 20m deep into the ground, which is why I can’t confirm the amount of blackstone underneath. At the very least there’s over a thousand. Everyone, I plan to set up a defensive array here. Brother Lou and dao friend Jia, please start digging at the position that I mark out. Once I’ve completed the array, I will undergo closed door cultivation, while the two of you mine blackstone and Master Pu Zi forges the battleship, ok?" Mo Wuji said confidently.
"Sure." Master Pu Zi immediately agreed.
"I’m ok too." Lou Chuanhe and Jia Qi answered in unison.
Mo Wuji had put in the most work while being of the lowest cultivation level, so it was natural for him to undergo closed door cultivation.
After nodding his head, Mo Wuji carried on, "So let’s discuss how we’ll split the blackstone…"
"I only want 10%." Lou Chuanhe was the first to respond. He did not want to put Mo Wuji in a spot, so he just made his request straight up. Only 10% for him, and now Master Pu Zi naturally could not ask for much more.
Jia Qi spoke, "This time dao friend Mo contributed the most, followed by Master Pu Zi. Moreover, when we cross the Immortal Chasm, we still have to take the battleship, so 10% is enough for me too."
Jia Qi original share was 20%, but that was when their basis of cooperation was for obtaining blackstone. Now, they only functioned as pure manual labour when mining for blackstone in the Mining Area of Death, while Mo Wuji and Master Pu Zi were the real cavalry.
Seeing that Lou Chuanhe and Jia Qi had already made their positions known, Master Pu Zi quickly spoke, "The first person we have to thank for the opportunity for everyone to come together to work is dao friend Mo. He probably did about 90% of the work. Moreover, as a team, we must have a leader, and dao friend Mo is the most suitable for the job. I’ll only take 10% of the blackstone, so dao friend Mo will have 70%."