Lin Mu cleared out the Immortal Stone mine section by section and made his way inwards.
Since the growth of the Immortal Stones was according to their grades, Lin Mu had only gathered the Low Grade Immortal Stones by now. The outer radius of the mine would only be composed of low graded immortal stones after all.
In fact, about fifty percent of the Immortal Stone mine was composed of low grade immortal stones. The mid grade immortal stones were at around forty percent while the high grade immortal stones were nine percent.
The peak grade immortal stones were barely a percent or even less than that.
After all, they would only form around the Source vein of the entire mine.
Lin Mu had not touched the Peak Grade Immortal Stones other than making the incision as he didn't want to disturb the energy flow of the mine any more. He had already removed the Source Vein, thus the structure of the mine would get a bit unstable.
The source vein was quite literally the core of the mine, after all. Removing it was similar to removing the spine of a person. The only reason the mine was still standing was because Lin Mu had let the Peak Grade Immortal Stones stay there.
He would have to mine all the immortal stones from the outside and go inwards before finally taking the Peak Grad ones.
That way, he would be able to strip all of the mine clean and make the least amount of waste.
But even then, the task was not easy.
Lin Mu easily spent over two days in doing all this. He regularly had to take breaks and check to ensure the integrity of the mine. He didn't want it to collapse randomly after all. In these two days, Little Shrubby had also finished gathering all that he could and was now assizing Lin Mu.
~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~
~SHING~SHING~SHING~
A man, beast and two swords flew around everywhere in the mine.
The swords and the beast cut the Immortal Stones while the man stored them in the ring. This way an efficient cycle was made and the process was sped up even more.
'If the twins could help as well, it would be good, but they might just end up causing the mine to collapse.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
The Yin Yang Twin Serpents had only broken through recently and were still adjusting to their freshly increased strength. Plus, with their young age, it wasn't unusual for them to do some mischief.
They were quite literally toddlers, after all.
And while Lin Mu didn't mind them eating the Immortal Stones, he didn't want the mine to collapse before they finished gathering them all.
Thus, the decision to leave them out for now was taken. Though Lin Mu did wish to interact with them more, as it was the best way to improve their intelligence and teach them things.
Xukong had also said that it would allow them to learn how to speak faster. It was similar to how one would teach babies to speak. You were just supposed to talk to them normally and they would automatically learn.
It was no different for the twin snakes… Even if they were strong enough to destroy a few mountains, unlike other babies.
Thankfully, Lin Mu hadn't had to deal with any tantrums yet.
Time continued to pass like this, and on the fifty Day Lin Mu was finally back in the center of the area.
~phew~
"We're finally here…" Lin Mu let out a breath.
He looked around the cave that was now barren. It was the complete opposite of how it looked when Lin Mu had first arrived and had become a lot darker.
Its beauty was gone and it looked disappointing.
"It's almost a shame to destroy a beautiful place like this…" Lin Mu muttered. "Wonder if Saintess would have liked it too."
~SHUA~
"We're done with that part." Little Shrubby came to his side and spoke.
"Done? Good." Lin Mu nodded his head and stored away the last chunk of High Grade Immortal Stones.
Now the only part that was left was the Peak Grade Immortal Stone Cluster in the center.
"I'll do this one alone." Lin Mu stated.
"Okay~" Little Shrubby had no issues with that.
"You two should go back for now too. You did good." Lin Mu spoke to his two swords.
~HUMM~ HUMM~
Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker chimed in response and were sent to the ring.
Lin Mu was pleased with their work too and was intending to reward them for it too. Making Sword Nurturing Boxes was something he wished to do for a while now. It was a chance for Lin Mu to try out the knowledge that Jing Wei and Jing Luo had passed onto him, as well as apply his own formation skills.
A Sword Nurturing Box needed both Weapon Forging as well as Formation Creation skills to make and was a good way for Lin Mu to further improve his skills. It would also help his sword too of course and help them further improve.
'Wonder how good a Sword Nurturing Box Made with Peak Grade Immortal Stones will be like?' Lin Mu thought to himself, while looking at the crystal cluster.
With that in mind, Lin Mu decided to keep the entire cluster intact as it would give him a large volume to work with later on.
"Yeah, that should be fine." Lin Mu nodded to himself before extending his hand.
~SHUA~
The effects of meld directly covered the entire crystal chunk and separated it from the surface of the cave.
It disappeared into thin air in the next second, having been stored in Lin Mu's ring. Now all that was left behind was a depression in the center of the cave. It gave one a feeling of emptiness and loss, though they wouldn't know why they were feeling it.
"And there we go." Lin Mu said having finished his task.
Just as he said that though, he felt a tremor.
~CRUMBLE~
