Chapter 6: Is Cultivation Meant for Mining?

Chen Chushi had descended from the summit of Qingshui Mountain, leaving the main road and its surveillance behind. He had now spent over twenty-four hours wandering through the forested slopes. The Department of Earth’s Last Descendant Research, led by Li Yuanzhe, was gripped by a palpable sense of anxiety. In the live-streaming chat rooms of the Xia nation, viewers grew restless, their concern for Chen Chushi mounting—not only was he one of their own, but he was also the legendary figure who had brought the practice of cultivating immortality into the real world.

Netizens began to flood the official social media of the Qingshui Mountain Scenic Area, hoping to glean even the slightest update about him. But those from the scenic area were themselves aboard the spaceship; their superiors were well aware that the higher-ups were focusing on the Last Descendant of Earth and dared not speak recklessly. Besides, with everyone now in space, what did Qingshui Mountain matter to them?

After some time, a newly registered user appeared, claiming to be a friend of a staff member from the scenic area, offering information about Qingshui Mountain. The mountain, standing over a thousand meters high, was shrouded in heavy humidity. Mornings and evenings were typically enveloped in mist. To prevent tourists from suffering the adverse effects of overnight stays at the summit, only daytime tickets were sold, and every evening the staff would check tickets and persuade visitors to descend.

Even so, some tourists would slip into the groves, eager to experience the mountain’s nocturnal scenery. Such adventures nearly proved fatal; the dampness, the swarms of insects, and even wild snakes were too much for the fragile constitution of modern people. Those who were rescued were often at death’s doorstep, just hours away from the end.

This news sent shockwaves through the live-stream. The barrage of comments was immediate: prayers for the safety of Earth’s last human, collective blessings from all Xia nation netizens, and countless messages hoping that nothing had happened to him.

In the Department of Earth’s Last Descendant Research, Li Yuanzhe’s eyes were bloodshot from a sleepless night glued to his monitors, his eyelids heavy with exhaustion and his hope crumbling. He dared not even sip water, his fingers tightly interlaced, praying for a miracle. Just as his vision blurred from staring too long at the screen, his assistant’s sudden, excited voice jolted him: “There’s a change in the satellite’s life detection data!”

Life detection systems would register fluctuations even in the period before death, though typically as declining numbers. Dizzy and disoriented, Li Yuanzhe slapped himself awake and rushed to his assistant’s computer to examine the data.

Sure enough, the Last Descendant’s life indicators were steadily rising. Li Yuanzhe clutched his assistant’s shoulder, trembling. “It’s not unreasonable for something incomprehensible to happen when cultivating immortality is involved. Keep monitoring the data—I need to consult the elders immediately…”

On Earth, atop Qingshui Mountain, Chen Chushi’s posture remained unchanged from when he first sat down. Yet after a night in the mountains, his clothes were soaked through with dew. Despite this, his face and skin appeared parched, like a mummy not yet fully dried.

Before him, ripples began to spread across the creek, multiplying until the water seemed to boil. An invisible aura was rising.

The birds of Qingshui Mountain, sensing an overwhelming pressure, fluttered in a frenzy, scrambling to escape the forest’s confines.

A crackling sound issued from within Chen Chushi—a symphony of shifting bones. His skin began to flake away, revealing baby-soft flesh beneath. The steam rising from his drenched clothing lent him the appearance of an immortal shrouded in mist.

His old skin completely shed.

Slowly, his eyelids lifted, revealing eyes of striking clarity and depth, exuding a hint of the supernatural.

He gazed at his hands. “With enough spiritual energy to support me, cultivation truly becomes twice as effective with half the effort.” Sensing the mana in his dantian and his physical state, he pondered how to classify his current level, borrowing from the ranks in cultivation novels…

He had officially stepped into the Qi Refining Realm, breaking through to the second layer!

The purity of his mana was now on a different order altogether.

Much of the mountain’s ambient spiritual energy had been drawn into him. Turning, he watched as the creek continued to emit streams of spiritual energy.

Chen Chushi fell into contemplation. Although the spiritual energy on Qingshui Mountain was rich, he couldn’t afford to sit here and practice endlessly like a hermit. How wonderful it would be if wherever he went, spiritual energy followed him inexhaustibly…

With that thought, he hesitated briefly. Then he activated his water technique. A mass of water separated from the stream, coiling around his two fingers, forming a conical shape. It elongated and drove itself forcefully into the rock above the creek, sending water spraying as it etched millimeter-deep grooves into the stone.

He frowned. He had seen water-cutting machines online, and tried to simulate a drill’s action on the rock, but why was the effect so poor?

He immediately took out his phone to search for information.

Despite the poor signal in the mountains, the internet was still accessible.

He soon learned that industrial waterjet cutters worked by using ultra-high-pressure jets mixed with fine abrasive sand, allowing them to cut through metal.

Sitting by the creek, having reached the second layer of Qi Refining, his mana was now thick and pure, and his control over water had become much more precise. Channeling his mana to repeatedly pressurize and jet the creek water, he gathered the scattered droplets and reused them over and over. After several attempts, he tried adding ordinary sand to the water and was delighted to discover that he, too, could bore deep holes into the rock.

From this, he realized he could use water impact for drilling, or water-cutting and similar techniques.

A sound akin to an angle grinder echoed through Qingshui Mountain.

On both palms, Chen Chushi spun large quantities of sand-laden creek water, compressing it with mana until it flattened into twin discs, black and glossy, rotating rapidly around the edges of his hands.

He named this technique: "Water Technique Series – Twin Disc Water Cutter!"

With both hands, he alternated cutting through rock. When the cuts were nearly joined, he pressed his palms together, fusing the two water discs into a single drill bit, boring ever deeper. The deeper he dug, the richer the spiritual energy became. When his mana was depleted, he would sit and meditate for twenty minutes, returning quickly to peak condition.

In this way, he transformed from a cultivator into a mining monk, ferociously tunneling deeper and deeper…

Aboard the spaceship, the researchers in the Department of Earth’s Last Descendant were utterly bewildered.

The Last Descendant’s life data had climbed to healthy levels and showed no sign of stopping—his vitality was only growing. This was certainly good news.

But what was he doing, hiding in the forest and refusing to come out? Unless he returned to the main road, they couldn’t observe him directly. The dense canopy of the forest made it so that even satellite images showed only a sea of treetops.

Usually, surveillance cameras were equipped with microphones, and the scenic area’s cameras were no exception. Through the nearest microphone, they picked up loud noises—cutting and drilling against hard surfaces. The staff looked at one another in confusion. With only the Last Descendant left on Earth, who else would be working, mining, or cutting rock in Qingshui Mountain?

But it couldn’t be him, they reasoned—he’d gone up the mountain in a sightseeing cart, and came down with nothing but a guidebook and a pen, certainly not with any cutting machines or impact drills. For now, they dismissed the possibility that it was his doing…