The Monster Stone was not large, about the size of a calf at most. It had a slender body, and its claws were exceptionally sharp. After it was killed, its body quickly petrified.
Only at the broken end of the body, a faint red light could be seen.
Wei Cheng thought to himself, could it be the Flame Stone?
He used his pickaxe to break the Monster's Stone corpse and, as expected, found a fist-sized Flame Stone inside.
So, the Flame Stone was what the Monster Stone's heart turned into after it died.
Wei Cheng was beginning to understand.
Could it be that this so-called mine was actually the graveyard of the Monster Stone's family?
Previously, Shen Qianshan found a Flame Stone, and the reason why he was attacked by the Monster Stone was because he detonated a Flame Stone?
But there are other ores here. So could there be more than one Monster Stone and more than one type of Monster Stone?
Were the red ones the male and the green ones the female monsters?
Quickly dismissing this silly idea, Wei Cheng glanced at the others, still in cultivation, completely unaware of what had just happened.
This was something that needed vigilance. They were all rookies and yet, unbelievably, had no one kept guard.
But then again, everyone was racing against the clock to cultivate. Who would dare waste time?
At this moment, Wei Cheng turned his gaze inward, no longer seeing meridians, but the Visualization Diagram of the Moving Mountain.
This thing was extraordinarily powerful, boosting his overall strength by four or five times, if not more, whether in offense or defense.
However, this Visualization Diagram of the Moving Mountain did not affect the amount and quality of the Moving Mountain's Inner Strength.
He currently still had an Inner Strength of two Hook Levels plus thirty years.
In this regard, there was no difference between him and the others.
So, he needed to diligently cultivate, strive to cultivate to the Third Hook Level of Inner Strength, and open up the third Innate Meridian.
After a little thought, Wei Cheng circled around the mine. As expected, this space also had four mining tunnels in the four cardinal directions. But apart from the tunnel which had been dug through, the other three were blocked.
Before, in the massive tunnel where the Spider Demon was, there were still two mining tunnels that were blocked.
Wei Cheng analysed the situation in his mind and shook his head.
He was certain that the two blocked tunnels in the Spider Demon Cave did not lead to the Bat Demon Cave.
"This place is arranged in a strange way."
Wei Cheng looked at the three sealed mining tunnels here. One of them, in the direction from which the sound of the Flame Stone explosion had come previously, there had to be people that way.
But if he mined through to that side, he wasn't necessarily going to be met with joyful tears like when meeting a fellow villager.
"What about mining through the two remaining tunnels in the Spider Demon Cave?"
"If the Spider Demon Cave is a level 1 checkpoint, and the Bat Demon Cave is a level 2 checkpoint, if I mine through, I will likely end up following behind others."
After pondering for a while, Wei Cheng was still puzzled. When he tried pressing his ear against the stone wall and listening to the three blocked tunnels, he heard no movement at all.
In the end, he returned to where he started and continued cultivating the Method of the Moving Mountain with the others.
Although he had wasted quite a lot of time, his current cultivation speed was extraordinary, directly using the mountain image of the Visualization Diagram to circulate.
The speed of each cycle was more than half faster than the others, and the Moving Mountain Inner Strength gained was almost 20% more.
This slight advantage, when accumulated, naturally became an overwhelming advantage.
So, about three days later, when Baldy, Yu Liang, Hu Hailong, Wang Wei, Cheng An and others gradually achieved the Inner Strength of two Hook Levels for the Method of the Moving Mountain, and opened up the second Innate Meridian, Wei Cheng had already taken a half-day lead, achieving the Inner Strength of the third Hook Level, and was successful in opening up the third Innate Meridian.
He finally had a height that others could hardly reach and had completely increased the gap between them.
However, this was only among their little group.
Because if other groups were present, there must be people who could also get the first kill of the Stele, then be bathed in that magical light, and hence gain strong spiritual power.
If they calmed down, they might not be unable to get a similar Visualization Diagram as him.
Therefore, they needed to keep moving forward.
"Brother Wei, should we continue to wait?"
At this time, Yu Liang asked eagerly, with inner strength of two Hook Levels, he could feel his power had incredibly surpassed his previous strength after he unblocked the second Innate Meridian, pairing that with the first layer of Iron Cloth Shirt, his confidence was soaring.
So, he was extremely annoyed looking at Zhang Yong and Han Dong who were still cultivating.
Damn it, the arrogance of the Purple Mist had infuriated him.
"Let them continue cultivating, we can start clearing the mine tunnel in the meantime, so we can multitask." After glancing at Zhang Yong and Han Dong, Wei Cheng noted that the Purple Cloud Method's cultivation speed was too slow, in the same amount of time, they had only just managed to cultivate forty years of inner strength.
"However, let me clarify, we still need to tolerate each other. Our little team originally had three professions, now we're down to two, the upcoming challenges will probably be harder, we can't afford any infighting."
"Yes, we'll follow Brother Wei's lead."
Yu Liang and others immediately affirmed their stance.
At this moment, Cheng An suddenly asked, "Brother Wei, which mine tunnel are we going to clear? I remember there are two sealed mine tunnels in the Spider Demon Cave, but judging from their direction, they definitely don't lead here, why don't we clear those two first?"
"Of course, I don't have any other intentions, I just got into a habit from playing games of clearing the map, if I see any unchecked territories or question marks, it makes me uncomfortable."
Cheng An's comment drew a chuckle from everyone, it was very much the case indeed.
However, Wei Cheng shook his head, "I was the first to touch the transmission Stele in the Spider Demon Cave, its glow shone on me for two seconds, but the transmission Stele in the Bat Demon Cave, which appeared to be no different, shone on me for three seconds. In addition, calculate for yourselves, isn't the method obtained from the second transmission stele slightly better?"
"So, we cannot go back to the Spider Demon Cave, as for the three sealed mine tunnels here, based on likelihood, one should lead to a higher-level stage, the other two may lead to hurdles of the same level. Don't forget, a transmission Stele can only carry ten people, but an initial team comprises fifty people."
Upon hearing Wei Cheng's explanation, everyone seemed to understand, it was not difficult to comprehend.
"Let's clear this one first."
At this point, Wei Cheng pointed to the one directly opposite the Spider Demon Cave, because there was once an explosion from the one on its side.
In addition, in a straight line, there is a greater likelihood that it leads to the underlying stage.
Taking immediate action, the nine of them started to remove the blocking stones in the mine tunnel.
The scenario now was completely different than before.
At that time, Zhang Yong was still bossing others around, and the Purple Mist was exceedingly arrogant. They who were cultivating the Method of the Moving Mountain could only be bullied, and they had to be very cautious while laboring.
But tables had turned now.
Take Zhang Yong and Han Dong for instance, they are still striving relentlessly, while they now have an inner strength of two Hook Levels. If they could get ahead of them, clear the mine tunnel, and touch the transmission stele, wouldn't it be wonderful?
So, everyone was making great efforts, they cleared over thirty meters in less than half a day, based on their previous experience, they were almost at the end.
By now, looking at the progress of Zhang Yong and Han Dong, it would take them two more days to gather enough inner strength of two Hook Levels to unblock the second Innate Meridian.
"Let's rest for a while. Hu Hailong, you go over there and wait for Zhang Yong and Han Dong to complete their cultivation cycle, then call them over."
After contemplating, Wei Cheng commanded so.
With his current strength, he was very confident, but he also understood the merit of being prudent.
There were only eleven of them left now, it would be foolish to split two fairly capable allies away.
Seeing Wei Cheng talking in such a manner, everyone else kept silent. After all, no one wanted to break the prestige of Wei Cheng, this good guy.
About two hours later, Hu Hailong called over Zhang Yong and Han Dong.
Both of them were just a few years shy of accumulating the two Hook Levels of inner strength.
"I don't really understand what's your hurry?" Zhang Yong was a little upset, but turned to Wei Cheng after finishing, "Of course, Brother Wei, I'm not pointing at you."
"Yu Liang, Hu Hailong, Cheng An, you few, don't think I don't know what's on your mind. Isn't it just that matter? I admit I was quite an asshole before, so many people died, I admit I am somewhat responsible. Now we only have eleven people left, isn't it good to be a little more cautious? Wait for me and Han Dong to unblock the second Innate Meridian, at least we can stabilize half of the situation, by then, I won't touch the stele if necessary."
Zhang Yong rambled on, his voice inevitably raised a little, scaring the bald guy into attempting to silence him with hand signals. But the Monster Stone did not appear.
On the other hand, Wei Cheng was all set to intervene.
Then there was a long silence.
"What do you think, Brother Wei?"
The usually quiet Han Dong suddenly asked.