The moment the antidote pill went down, his HP's fall slowed at once.
At last it halted at: 67/100.
The wound salve's effect gradually took hold too.
His HP climbed at a point a minute.
Yang Ling wasn't stingy — he simply downed two more bottles of wound salve.
The salve healed slowly, but used well, it could keep his HP at a safe level at all times.
He opened the fire-starter and looked around.
The mine worm that had just stung him was gone.
He looked down at his ankle; there was a tiny puncture on it.
"Goddamn, a mine worm creeps up without the slightest sound. If I'd been stung like this when I first got here, there'd have been no time to save me — I'd have died on the spot."
Yang Ling's face was sour.
Back then he'd had only 30 HP.
This one sting had taken 33 HP outright; without the antidote pill, he suspected he'd have lost another dozen or more.
How could an ordinary person survive that?
After resting on the spot for half an hour, once his HP was full again, Yang Ling pressed on deeper into the cave.
He wasn't about to turn tail over a single mine worm.
He still had plenty of flatbread and water this time, and he meant to squeeze out one more level before leaving.
But he'd gone only a few steps, just around one bend, when Yang Ling sensed something wrong.
In the pitch-dark, some mass of things seemed to be squirming.
Yang Ling flicked open the fire-starter for a look — and turned and ran!
Behind him, a dense swarm of black scorpions came surging.
By the look of the numbers, there were eight hundred if not a thousand!
"That's the thing that stung me just now! One sting took a third of my HP — if this swarm catches me, I'll drop dead in seconds!"
Yang Ling's face went pale.
He was truly frightened.
"They say mine worms move in scattered handfuls — how did I run into a whole swarm?"
"Will these mine worms crawl out of the cave?"
"Wait — mine worms love ore, but ordinary ore couldn't draw this many. Could it be..."
"An ore essence!?"
Yang Ling gave a violent start, his steps slowing despite himself.
There was no more sound behind him; the swarm hadn't given chase.
"I heard Uncle Wang and the others chatting once — some veins, after enough years, nurture an ore essence, a thing of extraordinary value..."
"Could this swarm have found a Fire Crystal Ore Essence?"
"Mining something like that — the experience it gives can't be small, surely?"
Yang Ling's heart burned, then a bucket of cold water doused it at once.
With that many mine worms, even Overseer Wu could only stand and stare.
"Is there any way to deal with these mine worms?"
"When it comes down to it, they're just bugs — no intelligence to speak of. If I can't get rid of them, maybe I can go around..."
Yang Ling opened the map at once and studied it several times, only to find that path was a dead end, with no other fork to skirt around.
"No help for it..."
Yang Ling sighed and started back.
Cave No. 5 clearly wasn't a place to stay any longer.
He'd switch to another cave and keep grinding experience.
"Wait — there might still be a way!"
Just as he stepped out of the cave, an idea surged up in Yang Ling's mind.
"To deal with bugs, maybe I can use fire!"
"Though 「Divine Realm」 doesn't seem to have gasoline..."
Yang Ling deflated a little.
His vision of burning the swarm to death would clearly stay just a vision, hard to pull off.
"Fire won't work — what about water?"
"But I can't very well haul water barrels in openly..."
"Hm..."
Yang Ling's gaze suddenly swept across a huge boulder, and his mind stirred at once.
He turned on the spot and headed back into the cave.
Half a shichen later, he'd found thirty-odd boulders the size of watermelons.
Each weighed at least sixty or seventy catties.
Some of the bigger ones weighed a good hundred and more.
Yang Ling casually hefted one, weighed it in his hands a while, then began practicing throwing rocks in the cave.
His strength now was frightful.
Even without gripping the refined steel pick, he had 10 Strength.
A rock of dozens of catties, hurled with force, could fly a dozen-odd meters no problem.
"Strength's no issue, and my stamina's decent too."
"If crushing these mine worms gives experience, then I've got strength to spare."
"All I need now is to work on my aim."
At that thought, Yang Ling grew all the more patient.
A full day and night later.
Yang Ling had found his rhythm for throwing.
His aim wasn't pinpoint, but he could keep the deviation to within half a meter!
"Worth a try."
Yang Ling hauled the rocks to preset spots, roughly one every ten meters, then walked toward the depths.
Sure enough, just like last time, the moment he passed that bend, the swarm came chasing after him.
This time Yang Ling didn't panic; he deliberately controlled his pace as he ran out.
He kept a safe distance of a dozen-odd meters from the mine worms.
Before long he spotted his prepared boulders.
He bent at once to scoop one up, spun, and hurled it.
The boulder tore through the air with a whistle and came down hard in the middle of the swarm.
BOOM—
With a great crash, countless black scorpions were smashed flat, bursting in a spray of juices.
One icy breath after another poured into Yang Ling's body.
"Experience!"
Yang Ling was overjoyed.
The swarm scattered briefly, then resumed the chase.
Without a word Yang Ling fled at once.
Reaching the next rock, he snatched it up and hurled it again.
BOOM—
Another mass of mine worms was crushed dead, juices flying everywhere.
Countless points of experience poured into Yang Ling's body.
"Ding!"
「Congratulations, you have leveled up and gained 1 Free Attribute Point」
Leveled up?!
Hahaha!
Yang Ling laughed inwardly, offhandedly dumping the point into Strength.
His Strength jumped at once from 10 to 11.
He kept running, kept throwing.
Gradually, the swarming mass thinned away.
Yang Ling stopped running and turned to stare.
A single mine worm, all alone, was closing on him fast.
"Come on then — a fair fight, one on one!"
Yang Ling took up the pick at his waist.
As the mine worm neared him.
He drew a boulder from behind and hurled it.
SQUELCH—
Juices laced with venom splattered everywhere.
The last mine worm died, dissolving into a stream of experience that poured into Yang Ling.
"So mine worms do give experience. The system must judge that they threaten me, so they yield it. Old Fifth that time was judged no threat to me at all, so he gave none."
Reasoning it through, Yang Ling pressed warily toward the depths of the cave.
He met no mine worms on the way.
When he reached the dead end, he saw at once a fist-sized piece of Fire Crystal Ore radiating a dazzling glow.
Unlike ordinary Fire Crystal Ore, it was crystal-clear through and through, like a gemstone.
Behind it lay an antique-looking tome.
"This has to be the Fire Crystal Ore Essence — but that tome is..."
Fire-starter in hand, Yang Ling drew closer step by step.
The glow from the Fire Crystal Ore Essence lit the tome brightly.
On it were written several large characters:
【Vajra Wisdom King Art】
In that instant, Yang Ling felt a little dazed — it seemed he understood everything now.