"What is brittle blue crystal?"
Xue Chang was sitting silently to the side of the cavern chipping away at its walls with the butt of his sword.
The crystals on the wall shattered under impact and drizzled down into the open palm of his hands.
"It's quite a good thing. Despite being called a crystal, it is more of a drug that can numb a person's mind and body for a short period of time. The Heavenly Demon cult used to use it to create horrible warriors that feared neither death nor pain. The drawback is that extended use can permanently cripple your mind."
A feeling of disgust welled up within Xue Chang's heart while looking at the strange powder.
The other guild members were also collecting the strange crystal like he was, but unlike him they were trying to break off chunks rather than smashing it into powder.
The only reason Xue Chang did this was because Yong Heng told him it was much better to keep it in its powdered form, the crystalized form was basically useless until broken apart.
"The drawback is too much for such an affect, how can something like this be considered a 'good thing'?"
After the deal he made with Yong Heng weeks ago, he was able to communicate with the voice normally. He no longer needed to pass out to do so. Unfortunately Yong Heng had the tendency to fall into deep sleeps that could last days sometimes.
He said it was because he was expending too much energy keeping the world from striking at him due to his aeon comprehension, but Xue Chang was sure it was just because he was lazy.
"Well the drug itself isn't such a bad thing. The numbing is only a side effect of the real ability. In fact, it can be used to strengthen the soul quite a bit."
"Strengthen the soul?" This startled Xue Chang a little and even caused him to pause in thought. No one knew his condition better than he did, his soul was dissipating rapidly and wouldn't last long.
If what Yong Heng said was true, then this drug might be able to alleviate his situation temporarily.
"That's why I said it was a good thing, brittle blue crystal is quite a rare find in a backwater place such as this. Must be quite the luck you have here Xue Chang." Yong Heng couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. He was already thinking of ways to help Xue Chang repair his broken soul, but unexpectedly something like this appeared in front of them.
Seems his chosen one really was a miracle worker.
"At the very least don't look down on it, plus you're not supposed to take it in its raw form anyway. Only idiots like that cult would do that."
"Then how am I supposed to take it?"
"As a pill of course. Brittle blue crystal is one of three main ingredients to the soul condensing Pill. While its soul strengthening effect will be weakened by a bit, it has absolutely no drawback whatsoever."
Yong Heng quickly named out the ingredients and description of each one. Xue Chang took to memorizing them and would ask the guild about it later. If he could truly get these things and condense them into the medicine he needed, it would be a great boon for him.
Right now his main focus should be collecting the powder first however.
He told the others a bit about what he knew of the crystals and everyone followed his lead as they started to smash the crystals into powder.
Yet unexpectedly he met some resistance.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"
Liu Yang, who stepped out of the area for a few seconds, returned to find the guild members destroying the crystals they were charged with collecting.
One of the cultivators approaches him and explained the situation. When he heard what was happening, a dark expression appeared on his face.
"And you all believe him?! Who the hell, is to say he isn't lying! How do we know his words are even the truth?"
The cultivator paused for a second in realization. It's true that they had no way of knowing whether this intro Xue Chang had given them was real or not.
"What reason would I have to lie about this?" Suddenly a light squeaky voiced sounded from the back of the room.
Xue Chang was squatted down continuing to smack at the wall. He figured he would need a large amount of crystal since this was something he needed but had to give half of it away.
Liu Yang gave a snort as he walked up behind him and kicked the canister he was using to collect he dust aside.
"It doesn't matter what reason you have for lying, what matters is that you have absolutely no evidence that what you say is true. If the guild tells us that this crystal becomes useless after being smashed to pieces, then we would've came here for nothing."
He wanted to lash out and punch Xue Chang across the head, but the weird pressure he felt at the entrance of the cave still weighed heavily on his mind.
Although the origin of the pressure was not known to him, Liu Yang was sure this strange man in front of him had something to do with it.
But even so, he wouldn't back down. He refused to believe someone who got his rank through back door methods was stronger than him!
Without saying a word, Xue Chang just stretched his arm out behind him and opened up his palm.
Within it was the blue powder they were all mining for.
"If you're so adamant that my method is wrong, then how about taking some of this 'now useless powder' and testing out its effects?"
Xue Chang's words caused everyone in the group to pause in surprise. No one expected the quiet and not outspoken hunter to suddenly retaliate at this moment when he never had before.
More than that, no one expected him to be so confident in his own knowledge to even dare ask the expedition leader to test out the effects of the possible drugs.
Although nothing would happen if his words were wrong, other than a small fine from the guild, if what Xue Chang said about the powder was true, then the side effect they'd get from testing it out was quite serious.
No one wanted to take that risk, least of all Liu Yang who knew how important good mental health was for a breakthrough.
Although he still didn't want to believe in Xue Chang's words, in the off chance that they were true...
It was too risky!
He hated that he had to take a step back, but he really couldn't take the risk. As such he could only stare at Xue Chang menacingly as he mumbled, "Fine, I'll give it to you this time. But next time I won't be so lenient, at least show some evidence of your words."
Turning around he roared at the others to continue their work. The other members could only turn around silently and begin collecting the crystals again, but some of them remembering Liu Yang's words began collecting whole crystals again instead of powder.
Xue Chang saw this and shrugged silently to himself, whatever they did didn't matter to him. As long as they didn't get in his way, he wouldn't mind them.
But he couldn't help but think about Liu Yang. Despite the strong show he was giving, he really was a nice guy.
It was obvious to Xue Chang that while he acted like he didn't want to suffer a loss from the destroyed crystals, the truth wasn't so.
He was actually just worried about the others not getting any rewards for the powder if it was useless.
Xue Chang didn't sense any greed in his eyes, only worry and care for the team. He was someone who took his responsibility as a leader seriously. And this was something Xue Chang could actually respect.
He didn't allow his own desires to control him.
"It won't be long before that guy makes a breakthrough. He's a little emotional right now but his thoughts are clear and concise."
Yong Heng's words furthered fueled his speculation.
Although he and Liu Yang definitely didn't see eye to eye, he didn't hate the guy.
The group finished collecting what they needed from the cave walls. After a bit of exploration, a hole going deeper into the cavern was discovered and a vote commenced on whether or not that should explore it.
Unable to help their desires, most of them chose to go deeper into the cavern. Only a few A ranks and most of the cultivators thought that collected more than enough resources.
"But we have to take into consideration the damages. If Yong Heng's words aren't true and the crystals really have become useless, we need to find something to recuperate the loss!"
Talks like that spread across the gang until the voice's of dissent were silenced.
Xue Chang also believed that they had collected enough but he had no choice but to follow them down due to his own mission.
Once a conclusion was made everyone once again trekked down the hard stone path and stepped even deeper into the darkness.
And while Xue Chang was lost in thought, Yong Heng's voice silently sounded out in his mind full of confusion.
"How odd, although these crystals are pretty detrimental to humans, they're an addicting drug to beasts. Yet not a single creature is here guarding this treasure trove, how odd..."
Other than Yong Heng's, Xue Chang didn't hear anything else.
Neither him, Liu Yang, nor any hunter or cultivator in the expedition squad heard the slithering that sounded out deep within this chamber.