Chapter Eleven: The Earth Beast

The Essence of the Earth is the vital energy of the earth’s veins, only condensing when the qi grows sufficiently dense. Directly ingesting and refining it not only tempers the body and strengthens one’s defenses, but also nourishes the internal organs and fortifies the vital essence. Ordinary ores cannot be refined, nor can they be taken away. The Earth Corporation has a detection array in place; leaving Star 10 with anything would immediately be discovered. But the Essence of the Earth could be refined personally.

Staring at the thirteen drops of the Essence of the Earth before him, he was completely captivated. As for loyalty to the company? What wage slave at the bottom truly pledges loyalty to a corporation? He did not take the essence immediately, as this would stir its energy, causing fluctuations in the golden-earth particles, triggering the radar alarm and resulting in the loss of the essence.

Golden-earth particles circulated along the mech’s engravings, gathering the surrounding spiritual particles and forming a unique wave that enveloped the Essence of the Earth. Only then did Jiang Taichu wrap the essence with golden-earth particles, extract it, and store it in his backpack. The radar remained silent.

No wonder his genius younger brother had excelled—his studies had not gone to waste.

Having secured the Essence of the Earth, he did not hurry back, but continued to wander. To return early would be to tip others off that he’d had a stroke of luck again. He loitered until dusk, returned to the rest area for dinner, and then retired to his room to cultivate.

Taking out a drop of the Essence of the Earth, a heavy aura swept over him, as though he stood before a towering mountain. Without hesitation, he swallowed it.

A surge of power exploded through his limbs and bones; Jiang Taichu’s body shuddered, feeling as if he bore the weight of a small mountain. A crackling sound came from his bones as the earthen yellow radiance seeped into every corner of his flesh, making him feel as if his body had turned to stone, unbearably heavy.

He activated the Tai Chi Guiding Technique. Vital essence circulated, refining the energy of the Essence of the Earth and opening hidden meridians. His internal energy grew more robust, his cultivation statistics rising once again. The peculiar sensation of his body being as heavy as stone gradually faded.

After an hour, a single drop of the Essence of the Earth had been fully refined.

Internal refinement progressed: 3.1%!

That was worth more than two pills!

His skin now gleamed with a bronze luster, his flesh tougher, his bones sturdier. The mech itself had not improved, but he could feel his defenses had soared.

He opened the simulation training once more and plunged into the virtual battlefield. This time, he chose to battle the mech, but without donning one himself.

Bang.

His fist collided with the mech, vital energy surging; the mech was also enhanced with golden-earth particles, though its power was capped at sixteen percent.

The force of the collision whipped up fierce winds around him. Jiang Taichu staggered backward, his arm numb.

He increased the mech’s power to eighteen percent.

Once again, he faced off with the mech, its fists trailing afterimages, its legs lashing like steel whips.

Jiang Taichu refrained from deploying the Yin-Yang Intent, opting to withstand the blows with sheer physical strength.

With a resounding crash, he was sent flying, yet his body remained unscathed.

A single drop of the Essence of the Earth could not grant such defense on its own, but he also had the Tai Chi Diagram’s two-hundred percent defense bonus.

The mech’s power was now at thirty-five percent, making his total defense two-hundred-thirty-five percent.

This time, he set the mech’s power to twenty percent.

—

Sparks crackled.

The mech struck so swiftly that Jiang Taichu saw only a blur before pain exploded in his abdomen and he was sent flying. He crashed heavily to the ground, a fist-shaped mark left on his abdomen, his organs rattled and his vital energy churning.

Before he could recover, the mech struck again, sending him airborne with punch after punch.

Jiang Taichu had no appetite for a beating and quickly paused the simulation.

Sitting on the ground, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling much better afterward.

“Earth, how many punches did I take just now?” he asked the array spirit.

A cold voice replied, “Fifty-six punches, thirty-two whip kicks.”

An excited glint flickered in Jiang Taichu’s eyes. “A mech at twenty percent far exceeds my current level, equivalent to twenty percent of the first stage of Qi Refinement.”

According to the Heavenly Dao energy network’s data, a fully mastered internal refinement stage contains energy equal to about twenty to thirty percent of the first stage of Qi Refinement. At present, his own vital energy was only about ten percent of that first stage.

He could wield about forty to fifty percent of the mech’s power.

After enduring a barrage from a foe with twenty percent of the first Qi Refinement stage, all he did was cough up blood.

Now, with an internal refinement value of thirty-eight point five percent, once he achieved perfection in this stage, he might be able to ignore half the attacks from someone at the first stage of Qi Refinement.

And this was because the Tai Chi Guiding Technique was not a body-tempering method, but a way to strengthen essence and health. If he could obtain a true body-forging technique, his defenses would grow even stronger.

Perhaps, one day, he could withstand bullets with his flesh!

Suppressing his excitement, he piloted the mech and resumed sparring.

This time, he employed the Yin-Yang Intent. The Tai Chi Diagram flickered faintly; as his palms met the mech’s blows, a tremendous force erupted, his Intent scattered instantly.

His vital energy could not sustain the Intent; only the true energy of the Qi Refinement stage would suffice.

He then began channeling mech energy, clashing with the mech.

With the mech’s energy boosting him, the Yin-Yang Intent spread, a unique Dao resonance emanating from him, allowing him to easily parry attacks from a mech of equal power.

He kept increasing the energy—up to thirty percent, where he could no longer keep up with the mech’s speed and was thoroughly thrashed.

His cultivation was simply too far from the mech’s, making it impossible to maintain the Intent for long.

Abandoning the Yin-Yang Intent, he continued training against the mech.

The training space resounded with further collisions—the two Mountain Patrol mechs engaged in relentless combat.

Jiang Taichu’s energy control continued to improve.

Thirteen point one, thirteen point three, thirteen point five… eighteen percent!

By midnight, he could control eighteen percent of the energy perfectly, and his reflexes had improved accordingly.

But his bullet-dodging range remained at six meters.

For shells, however, he’d gained ground; within nineteen meters, he could escape in time.

After training, he collapsed into sleep.

The next day, he resumed work as usual, swiftly scanning his assigned area before wandering at leisure.

Surveying the repetitive scenery, Tang Yu’s complaint came through the comms: “So boring! Why doesn’t Earth Corporation try planting some grass or something?”

“Stop your whining,” Zhang Jing sighed. “Taichu, when are you going to find something valuable for me?”

“I’d like to, but there really isn’t anything on your side,” Jiang Taichu replied helplessly.

Zhang Jing was truly unlucky—Jiang had searched his area more than once, but not a single find; the earth veins there were so fine it was almost absurd.

“Heavenly Dao, open your eyes and look upon your child!” Zhang Jing lamented to the sky.

Tang Yu laughed, “Heavenly Dao doesn’t care about this; you should ask Earth Corporation!”

With a single Earth Vein Gem found, Tang Yu was already content.

Jiang Taichu strolled leisurely, inspecting peak after peak.

—

As evening approached, the earth vein patterns emerged. At a crossing point, a gemstone caught his eye.

An Earth Vein Gem!

“Enough talk, I’m off to get rich,” Jiang Taichu laughed, diving into the mountain’s heart.

Beep beep.

The spirit particle radar sounded again. Jiang Taichu extracted the Earth Vein Gem. It was about the same as before—enough to exchange for a pill, so not bad.

“This luck… Tang, Zhang?”

He called out, sensing something was off. With their personalities, they should be grumbling in envy by now, but there was only silence.

“Tang, Zhang.” Jiang Taichu called again, bursting from the mountain.

The moment he emerged, a terrifying shockwave swept by. A massive figure burst from underground, its rocky body swinging toward him.

Earth Beast!

Jiang Taichu’s expression changed, both palms raised before him.

Boom!

Monstrous force sent him flying, crashing him into a mountainside.

The beast’s body was three meters long, covered in stone-like armor, eyeless, its maw lined with sharp teeth. Its four legs ended in razor claws, easily able to tear through rock.

Earth Beast!

Roaring, the beast kicked up sand and stones, charging at him.

His mech whirred, burrowing into the mountain and soaring skyward.

The Earth Beast crashed into the mountain, tunneling through effortlessly.

Earth Beasts are born to burrow!

Jiang Taichu ran the energy up to eighteen percent, shooting skyward while readying his semi-automatic rifle.

The Earth Beast burst from the mountain, jaws agape, seeking to swallow him whole.

Ratatatat…

He answered with a barrage from the rifle.

“Take a full clip first!”

The bullets flew straight into the beast’s gaping mouth, punching through its body and out the other side.

At less than a hundred meters, even mechs couldn’t withstand an assault rifle at full blast.

The forty-round magazine emptied in a flash.

With a pained howl, the massive creature crashed to the ground, leaving a crater and sending a cloud of dust skyward.

Bang!

Suddenly, a bullet tore through the air.

A surge of danger seized Jiang Taichu; his firearm intuition kicked in, and he dodged sideways as the bullet whistled past.

Who was trying to kill him?

A jealous coworker? Or was it tied to his parents’ deaths?

The thoughts flickered through Jiang Taichu’s mind as he looked toward the direction the shot had come from.