Once inside the Death Mines, the sound of colorless leeches being incinerated into ashes constantly crackled outside Mo Wuji's flame shield. Suan Pan and Ku Ya immediately understood what was happening, exchanging shocked glances.

They were then filled with gratitude, thankful that they had chosen to join Mo Wuji's team. If Mo Wuji could even enter the Death Mines, what place was beyond his reach? Perhaps one day, Mo Wuji could truly reach the Immortal World.

Despite the numerous Earth Immortal cultivators in the Half-Immortal Domain, these cultivators spent their days mining black stones to exchange for spirit stones, just trying to survive. In truth, every single one of them yearned to enter the Immortal World. Everyone knew that staying in the Half-Immortal Domain offered no hope for advancement.

"I found a place with three black stones!" After walking for about an hour and a half, Suan Pan exclaimed excitedly.

He knew that black stones were plentiful in the Death Mines, but he hadn't expected them to be this abundant. How long had they been here? He had already found three black stones, and they were only located about two zhang beneath the black soil.

Hearing Suan Pan's words, Tong Ye chuckled, "Brother Suan Pan, if we stop to mine every three black stones, Fellow Daoist Mo would probably rather use that time to cultivate."

"Ah..." Ku Ya and Suan Pan looked at Mo Wuji in surprise. Not to mention three black stones, even one black stone was not to be missed, right? They didn't quite understand what Tong Ye meant.

Mo Wuji smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Tong Ye is right. Although there are many of us, we can't waste our time mining just three black stones."

Seeing that Mo Wuji really didn't want to mine the three black stones, Suan Pan sighed and said nothing more. He recalled how Mo Wuji had previously taken out two hundred black stones at once for Axe Master, and he assumed that Mo Wuji had the ability to find large black stone mines.

Afterwards, he found several more places with black stones, the most being six in one spot. He thought about it and decided not to mention it. Since Mo Wuji had the ability to find black stones, he must be able to find the ones he discovered. Since Mo Wuji didn't make a move, it meant that he still didn't think much of them. Even six black stones weren't worth his attention; this Fellow Daoist Mo was mining black stones with too much wealth.

In fact, Suan Pan didn't know that Mo Wuji had discovered several places with even hundreds of black stones under five zhang, but Mo Wuji also didn't think much of them. In Mo Wuji's opinion, there were eight of them now. If eight people were going to mine together, they should at least find a black stone mine with tens of thousands of stones, and preferably one with over a million stones like last time.

Another day passed, and just when Suan Pan and Ku Ya were wondering if Mo Wuji even intended to mine black stones, Mo Wuji suddenly stopped.

"Fellow Daoist Mo, did you find something?" Master Pu Zi was the first to steady himself.

Mo Wuji nodded. "Right here. I'll set up a formation later. We'll probably have to mine here for half a month. This place is no smaller than last time."

The reason they spent more than a year mining last time was because there were only Lou Chuanhe and Jia Qi. This time, however, they had eight people, including two top-notch mining experts, the Tong brothers.

"But there are no black stones here? Could they be under three zhang?" Ku Ya asked doubtfully. Her ability to find black stones was even stronger than Suan Pan's. She could find them even near three zhang, which was why she was so puzzled.

Mo Wuji had already begun setting up formation flags. Hearing Ku Ya's words, he replied, "Yes, the black stones here are indeed deeper, about five zhang."

Mo Wuji's cultivation had increased, and now his spiritual will could penetrate nearly nine zhang below the black soil. This black stone mine was shallower than the last one, only about five zhang deep. Because Mo Wuji's spiritual will was stronger this time, he had clearly scanned the size of the black stone mine, and he was sure that mining it would yield no less than last time, perhaps even more.

Half a day later, Mo Wuji had set up a massive protective formation.

With Mo Wuji's guidance, eight people mining together in one day was definitely more effective than one person mining for eight days.

In just half a day, the five-zhang mine shaft was dug out.

When Suan Pan and Ku Ya saw the dense black stone mine below, they were completely stunned. It seemed that the entire Half-Immortal Domain's annual black stone production wasn't even as much as this one mine.

Suan Pan looked at Mo Wuji with reverence. He finally understood why Mo Wuji didn't care about a few or even a dozen scattered black stones. If it were him, he wouldn't waste time on a few black stones either.

With the black stones exposed, the mining became even faster. In just a few days, the eight of them had mined nearly a million stones.

...

A flying ship stopped a thousand miles outside the Death Mines. Several people emerged from the ship, led by the Dao Lord of the Half-Immortal Domain, Guang Quan. Beside him was not Meng Tianyu, but Qian Yue, the leader of the Great Desert Alliance.

"Leader Qian, just ahead is the Death Mines. Do you think Mo Wuji and the others could have gone to the Death Mines?" Guang Quan frowned, staring at the Death Mines in the distance.

Standing beside him, Qian Yue shook his head. "That's absolutely impossible. Not to mention Mo Wuji, even people from the Immortal World wouldn't dare to go to the Death Mines. Moreover, even if Mo Wuji had the strength to go to the Death Mines, what about the others?"

"This person is indeed troublesome. I thought he would definitely come looking for me, but he didn't even go to my Dao Lord's Mansion. Could it be that he saw through something?" Guang Quan's tone revealed helplessness.

"There's another possibility: that he's colluded with Gong Hou. If he's colluded with Gong Hou, he wouldn't even need to go to the Dao Lord's Mansion," Qian Yue said.

Guang Quan fell silent for a long time before saying, "What you said is probably true. If Hong Axe Master was killed by Mo Wuji, then Suan Pan and Ku Ya wouldn't be following Mo Wuji. Perhaps Hong Axe Master was killed by Gong Hou, who wanted Mo Wuji to replace Hong Axe Master. Even so, Mo Wuji should still come looking for me. Gong Hou definitely can't give him too many spirit stones. Judging from Mo Wuji's demands of Meng Tianyu last time, his appetite can't be satisfied with just tens or even hundreds of thousands of spirit stones. This person can resolve the sharp wood aura, so he should be able to cultivate with all his strength here. Cultivating with all his strength naturally requires a lot of spirit stones."

"Brother Guang, there's actually another breakthrough. Aren't there two other people in the Half-Immortal Domain who came from the same cultivation star as Mo Wuji, namely the Twin Walls and Mu Yingqiao? We can use these two to find a breakthrough and maybe find Mo Wuji's whereabouts," Qian Yue said.

Guang Quan nodded. "That's right. Mo Wuji also has a great feud with Cang Xue of the Seeking Immortal Alliance. Cang Xue is also a breakthrough. Let's go. Instead of blindly searching for him out here, we should go back and find these people as you said. We've been searching for months now, and continuing to search will probably yield no results."

As soon as Guang Quan finished speaking, a booming thunderclap suddenly rang out, followed by streaks of lightning cascading down in the distance.

"Someone is undergoing tribulation!" Guang Quan and Qian Yue exchanged glances, both seeing deep apprehension in each other's eyes.

How many years had it been? How many years had it been since someone underwent the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation in the Half-Immortal Domain? According to his agreement with the Immortal World, in addition to trading black stones, they also had to report the names of cultivators capable of undergoing tribulation here to the Immortal World.

"Let's go, go take a look," Guang Quan said without hesitation. As he spoke, he had already sent out a message.

...

"Huh, someone is actually undergoing the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation?" Mo Wuji and the others, who were mining in the Death Mines, also saw it. Master Pu Zi exclaimed in surprise, looking at the lightning-filled sky in the distance.

Mo Wuji immediately thought of the Half-Moon Prison. Could this cultivator undergoing the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation be taken to the Immortal World and then sent to the Half-Moon Prison?

"Those who can undergo the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation here are geniuses among geniuses, powerhouses among powerhouses. But the person I admire most is Fellow Daoist Mo. In just a few months, we've actually mined tens of millions of black stones. I would never have believed it before," Suan Pan said admiringly, after sending hundreds of black stones at once to a pile on the side.

Not only him, but everyone else thought the same.

Others mined black stones one or two at a time. Those who were lucky enough to find hundreds or thousands at once were rare.

Mo Wuji, on the other hand, searched for mines with millions of stones, and even found a large mine with nearly five million stones once. The only difference was that the shallowest mine Mo Wuji found was also five zhang deep. It was clear that the true storage place for black stones was not on the surface, but underground.

After most of the day had passed, the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation in the distance had just disappeared when the communication bead hanging on Mo Wuji's waist flickered.

Mo Wuji scanned it with his spiritual will and said in confusion, "It's only been half a year, why is Gong Hou sending me a message?"

"Is he saying he's coming over?" Tong Sheng immediately asked.

Mo Wuji nodded. "Yes, he said he's already arrived and wants me to go see him immediately and have the black stones ready."

"It should be about that cultivator who underwent the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation. The people from the Immortal World are here for that person, and buying black stones is just a side matter," Tong Sheng replied.

"How do they know?" Jia Qi asked subconsciously.

Tong Sheng sneered, "Naturally, it's because someone in the Half-Immortal Domain is informing on them. Ever since the Half-Immortal Domain existed, the people from the Immortal World would be the first to know whenever someone undergoes the Heavenly Immortal Lightning Tribulation here. I heard Master Bo Qin say that it's not a good thing for these people who advance to Heavenly Immortals to be taken to the Immortal World."

"Why? Aren't they all eager to go to the Immortal World?" Ku Ya asked.

Tong Sheng shook his head. "I don't know, but I believe Master Bo Qin's words."

Mo Wuji said in a deep voice, "Master Bo Qin is right. These people are being imprisoned when they are brought to the Immortal World."