In an unremarkable mountain, a secret chamber had been carved out within its depths.
Chu Zhousheng, his face adorned with mysterious tattoos, stood at the center of a ritual, holding a bizarre goat-headed staff ablaze with purple flames. The ritual array had five corners, four of which were already lit, leaving only the green corner unlit.
He was performing an ancient ritual known as the Cursed Demon Body. Once completed, he would attain the Cursed Demon Body and break through to the level of a Saint Curse Master, wielding power comparable to that of a Monarch-level Beast Tamer.
The ancient ritual of the Cursed Demon Body had a crucial requirement: five individuals with the fate of the Lone Star of Heavenly Calamity must be cursed to death using curses of the five elemental attributes.
Those with the Lone Star of Heavenly Calamity fate are prone to losing their loved ones, yet their own fate is extraordinarily resilient, making them extremely difficult to curse to death.
Fortunately, the ancient ritual of the Cursed Demon Body came with a set of ancient curses specifically designed to overcome such resilient fates.
The Abyssal Fire Curse (Fire) claimed one life.
The Earth Fissure Curse (Earth) claimed another.
The Beheading Curse (Metal) took a third.
The Maritime Disaster Curse (Water) claimed the fourth.
Only the life of the person afflicted with the Peach Blossom Calamity Curse (Wood) remained.
Originally, he only needed to wait two years until the cursed youth turned eighteen, when the curse would erupt and claim his life, completing the ritual.
But an unexpected turn of events occurred. A few days ago, a new force emerged within the youth's body, suppressing the ancient Peach Blossom Calamity Curse, indefinitely delaying its eruption.
Chu Zhousheng was eager to understand what had happened to the youth, but the ritual was already underway. Leaving now would render all his efforts futile, and the ritual's power had also blocked all electronic devices, preventing him from investigating the youth's condition.
However, he wasn't overly concerned. The ancient Peach Blossom Calamity Curse would grow stronger when near women, and it would eventually break free from the suppression.
But then, another unexpected event occurred. Just a few days ago, the force suppressing the Peach Blossom Calamity Curse grew even stronger (on the day it absorbed the Red Dragon Curse), and its rate of growth far surpassed that of the Peach Blossom Calamity Curse.
He could no longer sit still.
If that force continued to grow stronger, the Peach Blossom Calamity Curse would be permanently suppressed, and his ritual would never be completed.
After much deliberation, Chu Zhousheng decided to use the forbidden technique, Curse Connection, to hasten the youth's death and prevent further complications.
As for the possibility of failing to curse the youth to death within a hundred days and being killed by the backlash of the Curse Connection, he didn't even consider it.
He, a Grand Curse Master capable of battling a Dominator-level Beast Tamer and secretly killing a Monarch, was willing to sacrifice his lifespan. How could he fail to curse a youth who had just embarked on the path of transcendence?
Li Cunxu paid no attention to the strengthening Peach Blossom Calamity Curse and continued to focus on his mining and cultivation.
Given the rate at which the Peach Blossom Calamity Curse was strengthening, it would take roughly twenty days to fully suppress the Golden Dragon Curse and the Evil Dragon Curse before erupting and killing him.
Twenty days of mining in the Vein Realm passed in the blink of an eye.
He harvested a small amount of gold, a large quantity of silver, and an abundance of iron.
Meanwhile, White Spider successfully mutated Iron Slime and Silver Slime by feeding them iron and silver ores.
[Pet Beast]: Iron Slime
[Skill]: Ironization
The Iron Slime's body had a metallic, iron-gray texture, heavy as iron, and it fed on iron.
Its skill, Ironization, was a Bronze-level ability that could make its body as hard as iron.
Li Cunxu highly valued the Ironization skill, which had a hidden effect: the more it was hit, the faster its proficiency would increase.
[Pet Beast]: Silver Slime
[Skill]: Silver Sword
The surface of the Silver Slime was covered with a silvery skin resembling silver.
Its skill, Silver Sword, was a silver-tier ability that summoned a silver sword to slash the opponent. It possessed considerable attack power and had the added effect of warding off evil spirits, dealing double damage to undead-type Pet Beasts.
Li Cunxu didn't feel the slightest bit of regret feeding silver to the Silver Slime.
When a Silver Slime died, it would drop silver blocks, bypassing the need for silver ore purification.
However, the reproduction of Silver Slimes and Iron Slimes was quite troublesome.
A Silver Slime would only split into smaller Silver Slimes after accumulating a certain amount of silver within its body, and the same applied to Iron Slimes.
Compared to Silver Slimes, Iron Slimes were slightly better off.
After all, iron ore was more abundant.
"Should I leave the Silver Slimes and Iron Slimes in the Vein Realm?"
"The Silver Slimes and Iron Slimes can find food here, grow quickly, and reproduce rapidly."
Both silver and iron were materials imbued with Spirit Energy. When consumed by Silver Slimes and Iron Slimes, their cultivation levels would soar. This not only allowed the Silver and Iron Slime populations to thrive but also enhanced the strength of both types of Slimes, enabling them to contribute more in taxes.
As for the Miner Slimes, Li Cunxu had no intention of leaving them in the Vein Realm.
While Miner Slimes were indeed skilled at mining, this Secret Realm didn't require them. The Vein Realm was a welfare realm designed to give the younger generation a taste of the underground world.
If Miner Slimes were left behind, they would dig up ores and pile them on both sides of the tunnels. Those entering would only need to follow the paths dug by the Miner Slimes to enjoy the experience of picking up ores.
However, this would go against the original purpose of opening this realm, which was to let people experience the joy of mining and adapt to life in the underground world, not to simply pick up ores.
Thus, even if Miner Slimes were left behind, they would eventually be driven out.
Staring at a seemingly ordinary pile of dirt, Li Cunxu suddenly realized he had overlooked something: there wasn't a single earthworm in the soil.
"Leave them? No, not a single Silver Slime or Iron Slime can stay. I forgot about this—ever since the Blood God Sect caused trouble in this realm, the alliance has been periodically controlling the Mystic Realm Core to expel all living beings from the realm as a safety measure."
In other words, if Li Cunxu left the Silver Slimes and Iron Slimes here, they would soon be forcibly expelled from the realm through human intervention.
Due to the limited space in his Pet Pouch, Li Cunxu had Xiao Ruan command the Silver Slimes, Iron Slimes, and Miner Slimes to eliminate the Earth Slimes.
However, some Earth Slimes were inevitably left behind in the realm.
These remaining Earth Slimes were the ones Li Cunxu had sent to search for underground rivers but had gotten lost.
Because they were lost, Li Cunxu didn't know their whereabouts and couldn't send them back to the Soul Kingdom.
"This journey to the Secret Realm has two regrets," Li Cunxu lamented.
Regret one: He didn't manage to mutate a Golden Slime.
The Golden Slime held a status in the Slime clan equivalent to that of a dragon in the Pet Beast world.
A Golden Slime possessed two skills: a gold-tier skill, Golden Shield, and a silver-tier skill, Golden Shield Strike.
Starting off with a gold-tier skill made it capable of instantly defeating 99% of the Slime population.
Regret number two: Li Cunxu's spiritual power didn't break through to the Black Iron Intermediate Stage; it was just a bit short.
"Once I return and wait for Xiao Ruan to collect the monthly tax, my spiritual power should be able to break through."
The tax collection day had already arrived.
During this tax collection, Xiao Ruan discovered that it was possible to delay the tax collection by ten days. It might have always been possible to delay it, but perhaps he was too anxious the first time and didn't notice this aspect.
So, Li Cunxu asked to delay the tax collection by a few days. He wanted to make a breakthrough to the Black Iron Intermediate Stage through his own efforts before Xiao Ruan collected the tax.
But in the end... it's a sad story, no need to elaborate. Everyone knows he didn't break through.
After leaving the Secret Realm, Li Cunxu first compensated the Gatekeeper with 5,000 yuan for the Iron Pickaxe.
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