Additionally, some cultivators with high cultivation levels can sustain themselves by merely absorbing the primordial Qi of heaven and earth, without the need for food.

However... in a place like Qianyan Island, where fire element primordial Qi is dense and explosive, especially with fire toxins, it’s clearly not suitable for a cultivator to cultivate here.

Unless a cultivator possesses profound fire attribute divine techniques, staying here for extended periods will only lead to a regression in cultivation and an unstable foundation.

Furthermore, due to the severe lack of heaven and earth primordial Qi, their internal True Qi and mana essence would deplete, shortening their life span as well.

This is one reason why these miners look weak, quite aged, and with many blisters on their faces and bodies.

"These people are truly ruthless..."

Gu Yuan shook his head in secret, muttering, "It’s obvious they’re treating these miners like beasts of burden."

"No, even for beasts like cattle and horses, a master would at least provide them well to ensure they work properly. But these people are treating miners purely as expendables. Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter—if they die, they die..."

Gu Yuan pondered for a moment and decided to continue lurking.

When evening came, he stepped out of the shadows and approached a lone guard from behind, merely extending a finger.

The guard didn’t even make a sound before collapsing softly to the ground.

Gu Yuan reached out and grabbed, directly extracting the guard’s divine soul. With streams of spiritual light swirling in his eyes, he began probing the memories within the soul.

After thoroughly reviewing the memories, Gu Yuan waved his hand, crushing the body into powder and letting it dissipate into the heavens and earth.

Then, Gu Yuan transformed into the guard’s appearance, blending in amongst the other guards.

Gu Yuan planned to use the guard’s identity to gather information, ideally to learn which mines had rich reserves, and if there was any possibility of Five Elements Immortal Iron.

However, the guard’s rank was too low, knowing little of useful information, so Gu Yuan decided to employ the Great Divine Technique of Dream Illusionary Flowers to steal the memories of nearby guards while they slept.

After several days, he indeed made some gains.

According to Gu Yuan’s knowledge, a Yin God Giant, named Xuan Guang True Master, now oversees this Qianyan Island and is a disciple of Elder Chaotic Heaven.

The reason for this is not only to guard the place but also to utilize some of the island’s unusual fire element primordial Qi to cultivate a certain divine technique.

However, this Xuan Guang True Master is usually elusive, rarely showing himself, tending to stay hidden in a certain place, so there’s no need to overly concern oneself.

Just be cautious and avoid places where Xuan Guang True Master might appear.

Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that from these people’s memories, Gu Yuan learned about the Five Elements Immortal Iron and the location of its producing mine.

Moreover, he also learned that, surprisingly, a Yang Spirit powerhouse exists on this Qianyan Island!

Of course, this Yang Spirit powerhouse is not Elder Chaotic Heaven, but an adversary of Elder Chaotic Heaven, named Ancestor Jinsha. A loose cultivator, who once offended Elder Chaotic Heaven, leading to a great conflict between them.

In the end, Ancestor Jinsha was defeated, but Elder Chaotic Heaven did not deal a fatal blow, choosing instead to cripple his cultivation and abandon him on Qianyan Island to mine daily, an alternative form of torture.

Initially, Gu Yuan merely found it amusing but later discovered that the place where Ancestor Jinsha was stationed happened to be the mine producing Five Elements Immortal Iron.

With a brief thought, he devised some ideas.

The next day, Gu Yuan arrived outside the mine where Ancestor Jinsha was located, disguised as an average, unremarkable miner, and blended in.

Clink, clink, clink! Clink, clink, clink!

Gu Yuan, carrying a bamboo basket and a pickaxe, walked deeper along the mine path. The inside of the mine wasn’t a single winding tunnel but was more complex than an ant nest, crisscrossing with many passages, and from time to time, the sound of stones being struck could be heard.

Because of this, miners often got lost inside, leading to them being trapped, and over time, many would starve to death inside.

Without divine thought, combined with the fire attribute primordial Qi permeating the air, and the thick presence of fire toxins, it often affected mental clarity and willpower, causing people to become irritable, angry, and lose their sense of direction.

Fortunately, Gu Yuan’s cultivation wasn’t sealed, so he didn’t have to worry about this at all.

Traversing the mine back and forth, Gu Yuan reached the deepest part after more than an hour.

Clink, clink, clink! Clink, clink, clink!

In a small mine ahead, a series of rhythmic sounds echoed. Gu Yuan glanced inside and saw an old man swinging a pickaxe at the cave wall.

The old man looked small and thin, with messy gray-white hair like a bird’s nest, and his clothes were tattered, his skin covered with a thick layer of dust,

yet his eyes were cold and calm. Seeing Gu Yuan enter, he merely glanced a few times, not paying much attention, and continued striking the wall.

The cave wall was black-red or black-gray, appearing extremely hard, which was indeed the case.

These walls had been tempered and washed by heaven and earth primordial Qi, especially Geng Metal Qi, over many years, becoming as hard as ordinary Profound Iron or Copper Essence.

In such a situation, mining was truly difficult. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Ordinary people could barely leave a scratch on these walls, let alone mine them, like a miracle.

So, to mine, one at least needed to be a Celestial Human Realm Cultivator.

In some areas of the wall, a faint spiritual light shimmered, suggesting valuable ores might be hidden below these spots.

Gu Yuan, acting nonchalant, approached a wall and swung his pickaxe.

Bam!!!

With mana infused, the pickaxe in Gu Yuan’s hand emitted a faint spiritual light and struck the wall. With a dull sound, the wall shattered, revealing a large hole.

Common stones crumbled, while two pieces of ores, glinting with strange metallic hues, tumbled to the ground.

Gu Yuan bent down to pick them up and found they were both Earth Fire Copper Essence, glowing a dark red, with a dense and fine texture, heavy in his hand, very hard, with a burning sensation like touching a coal ember.

"Not bad, there are indeed good things here..."

Seemingly unaware, Gu Yuan casually tossed the two ores into the bamboo basket on his back.

Earth Fire Copper Essence might not be the topmost spiritual material for artifact refining, incomparable to supreme divine gold, yet it still counts as rare upper-grade spiritual materials, suitable for forging top magical artifacts or treasures.

For an ordinary cultivator, obtaining two pieces of Earth Fire Copper Essence would ensure no shortage of cultivation resources for a short period.