Chapter 91

Tianzhu Mountain Track, Floating Port.

Countless shuttles temporarily docked, arriving and departing.

“You take the shuttle back first.”

The cabin door opened; Jiang Jian stepped down the gangway, backpack on his back.

Jixue agreed, tapped the screen with her claws, and input the command.

The interzone shuttle rose into the air and flew toward the campus.

Nearby.

Another interzone shuttle landed, lowering its gangway.

“Jiang Jian, we’re the same—you and I both drew routine monsters.”

Liu Tiezhu stood at the cabin door, winking at Jiang Jian.

Beside him.

Stood two semi-transparent plant-spirit entities and one burly guardian monster.

And a cat spirit, tapping a holographic screen, piloting the interzone shuttle.

Seeing Jiang Jian enter the cabin, Shanye, Shixuan, and Yinyin all smiled and greeted him.

“Classmate Jiang Jian.”

“Jiang Jian.”

Shixuan stepped forward, his expression eager: “This learning mission will earn us a huge amount of credits!”

The cabin door closed; the interzone shuttle slowly rose into the air, leaving the floating port.

Shanye said: “Geopulse 1103 is the newest discovered branch.”

“Our job is to clear all obstacles along the way so the bureau’s mining crew can advance smoothly.”

“Mining has just begun; progress is easy—credits are practically free.”

Shixuan sipped his drink and patted Liu Tiezhu on the shoulder: “Thanks to Liu Tiezhu.”

“No need to thank me.”

Liu Tiezhu crossed his arms, leaning against the bar, his smile simple and sincere.

“Last time Jiang Jian got forty pieces of refined iron and gave each of us seven—we made a few million Alliance coins for free. I had to do something too.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the cat spirit: “Accelerate immediately—head to Tianzhu Mountain Lu , Geopulse 1103.”

“Got it.”

The cat spirit’s voice was clear and melodic as her fluffy white paws swept across the controls.

The interzone shuttle pierced through the sea of clouds, trailing blazing exhaust as it headed toward Tianzhu Mountain Lu .

Jiang Jian found a seat, set down his backpack, and asked: “If credits are awarded based on distance advanced, is there a cap?”

The cabin fell silent for a moment.

Shanye spoke first: “No cap.”

“For every kilometer advanced, we earn 1,000 credits—each person gets 200.”

She pointed to the plant-spirit entities: “In our learning squad, I can restore Qi, but I can’t heal injuries.”

“So Yinyin and I exchanged for plant-spirit entities.”

“Shixuan chose the guardian monster.”

“It’s better for both this mission and any future group activities.”

Hearing this,

Liu Tiezhu cleared his throat and spread his hands: “You say that like you’re implying Jiang Jian and I aren’t team players.”

Shanye raised an eyebrow: “Don’t go saying things you didn’t mean. Two plant-spirit entities and one guardian monster are more than enough.”

Shixuan took another sip of his drink, clearly unconcerned: “Our learning squad is already this strong—does it really matter what rare pets we bring?”

Whether Shanye or Yinyin, both were from elite families of Linjiang Prefecture.

Liu Tiezhu’s origins were unknown, yet his wealth was equally substantial.

Even Shixuan, neglected by his family, lacked no cultivation resources.

Rare pets were merely icing on the cake.

On the rear seats, Yinyin looked at Liu Tiezhu and said seriously: “Two plant-spirit entities fully compensate for the squad’s weaknesses—more would be useless.”

Jiang Jian gently stroked Hanguang and asked: “How far have other geopulse branches been mined?”

Shanye opened her identity device, scanning data as she spoke: “Professional clearing teams usually advance over 20 kilometers.”

“We’re different.”

“The geopulses assigned to Divine Gift University are issued as learning missions.”

“According to past records,”

“First-year students max out at 3 to 5 kilometers.”

“Even second-year students rarely go beyond 7 kilometers.”

Shanye lifted her gaze from the screen: “Our Divine Gift cultivation levels are all around 15%.”

“With two aloe spirits and one brown bear guardian,”

“We should manage 5 kilometers without trouble.”

“That’s 5,000 credits total.”

As she spoke,

Everyone in the cabin smiled.

The base reward for clearing Tianzhu Mountain was already 10,000 credits—the most lucrative learning mission in the first-year campus.

If they cleared 5 kilometers, they’d earn an extra 5,000 credits.

That meant 3,000 credits per person on average!

At Divine Gift University, credits were essential cultivation resources.

No one ever had too many credits.

“By the way,”

Shanye suddenly spoke: “Who’s the one in our school with 37% Divine Gift cultivation?”

No one answered.

Shixuan hesitated slightly, then said: “I asked my cousin—she and Mu

Shan Ye frowned. “That’s strange—Shanjiang Academy has seventeen departments, and if there’s a prodigy among the new students, why isn’t he in our First Department?”

Hearing this,

Liu Tiezhu’s gaze shifted slightly toward Jiang Jian.

From the moment he saw Jiang Jian,

Liu Tiezhu, through his innate sense, was nearly certain.

On the academy’s test rankings, the new student with a Divine Gift at 37%—that was Jiang Jian!

But Jiang Jian had not volunteered this information.

Liu Tiezhu said nothing to expose it.

“Approaching the foot of Tianzhu Mountain, Branch 1103.”

The white-furred cat spirit waved its paws, voice crisp.

It had used Liu Tiezhu’s identity device to take over the autopilot system, manually piloting the entire journey along the Tianzhu Mountain rail.

“Got addicted to driving?”

Liu Tiezhu sighed, stepped forward, and ruffled the cat spirit’s head. “Land quickly.”

“Alright.”

The cat spirit widened its eyes, crouched over the virtual control stick, and its paws blurred with rapid motion.

The interdimensional shuttle slowed, descending toward the mountain foothill canyon.

A few seconds later,

“Too narrow here—can’t land.”

The cat spirit turned its head, blinking. “We can only deploy the boarding ramp.”

“Fine,” Liu Tiezhu stared at it. “Go find somewhere to wait. Don’t hover in the air and waste my fuel.”

Shi Xuan, carrying Yueyue Dao, strode ahead to the hatch, his expression eager.

A brown bear demon stood beside him, three meters tall, broad and mountainous.

“Jiang Jian, I didn’t know you had a younger sister.”

Yin Yin reached the doorway and stopped. “Your sister is very beautiful.”

On the Divine Gift University forum, students from Anhe Academy had already posted gossip threads.

Though the thread had few replies, Yin Yin had clearly seen that article.

“Thank you.”

Jiang Jian offered a polite smile. “You’re beautiful too.”

The girl returned a sweet smile and stepped down the ramp.

Branch 1103 lies at the mountain’s fissure.

The terrain is low, forming a hidden river canyon.

“Where are the government officials?”

Shi Xuan landed on the ground and scanned the surroundings, seeing not a single soul.

Liu Tiezhu activated his identity device, glanced at it, and said, “I just sent the notification—wait a moment.”

Jiang Jian followed the underground river to the entrance of the earth vein branch and peered inside.

The earth vein is the foundation of Tianzhu Mountain.

Standing here, one could almost clearly feel the dense spiritual energy surging toward them.

The jagged edge of the entrance was lined with sharp shards of rock—clearly a recently discovered earth vein branch.

Tianzhu Mountain loomed grand and majestic, its earth vein brimming with potent spiritual energy, nurturing countless spiritual resources—and also giving rise to many demonic spirits and malevolent entities.

The Linjiang Prefectural Office has been mining the Tianzhu Mountain range for centuries.

Yet even the surface earth veins have not been fully exhausted.

The primary reason is that there are simply too few humans devoted to cultivation.

The vast majority of Earth citizens received divine gifts unsuitable for cultivation.

Cultivation is hard.

It demands vast resources, suitable talent, and relentless daily perseverance.

To prevent the Planetary Accord from becoming worthless paper.

Across the Earth-Moon Four Realms, there are one hundred and thirty prefectures.

Each prefectural office allocates abundant resources to humans with exceptional talent.

Yet many, even those with decent talent who pass the Divine Gift University entrance exam, have no interest in cultivation at all.

Instead, they trade their academy resources for connections.

After graduation, they either go into business or join the prefectural bureaucracy.

Once cultivation progress is delayed, it can never be regained.

After all, the resources consumed by cultivation are terrifying.

These resources, converted into Alliance credits, could buy a lifetime of luxury and comfort.

“They’re here.”

Suddenly, Liu Tiezhu lifted his head.

A small aerial shuttle pierced the mountain pass, its brilliant lights blazing as it landed.

The cabin door opened.

Several staff members, carrying various instruments and clad in Prefectural Office Mining Division uniforms, stepped out one by one and approached Liu Tiezhu.

The leader was a tall woman.

“Why are you first-year students?”

The woman frowned, staring at Liu Tiezhu’s school uniform, muttering under her breath.

Liu Tiezhu’s eyes flickered; he stepped forward and extended his hand. “Hello.”

The woman, wearing gloves, lightly touched his hand. “Hello. I’m Li Lu, team leader of the Mining Division. You can call me Team Leader Li.”

Liu Tiezhu smiled. “Team Leader Li.”

Li Lu ignored him, scanning the area with a critical gaze.

“You Shijia kids—why aren’t you staying in your academy? Why come here to meddle?”

Her eyes fell on the three rare pets, and she spoke without restraint: “With just these pets, how far do you think you can clear?”

Shi Xuan’s eyes flashed with anger—he was about to speak, but Shan Ye held him back.

Shan Ye shook his head slightly at him and nodded toward Liu Tiezhu.

The assignment was taken by Liu Tiezhu.

Liu Tiezhu’s expression turned slightly cold. “Team Leader Li, this doesn’t concern you.”

“As staff, your job is only to mine resources from behind.”

“Clearing the path doesn’t require your input.”

As he spoke, spiritual energy surged around him, carrying a faint aura of pressure.

Li Lu stepped back half a pace, her face pale. “Fine. I’ll see what kind of tricks you first-year students can pull off.”

She turned and waved to the staff. “Grab your gear—prepare to enter the earth vein branch!”

Jiang Jian stood to the side, holding Hanguang, silently sensing the aura of these people.

Though he lacked Liu Tiezhu’s sensing talent,

Jiang Jian could still faintly perceive that these staff members had very low spiritual cultivation.

Likely between Divine Gift Realm 3% and 5%.

Even Team Leader Li Lu probably didn’t exceed Divine Gift Realm 10%.

Liu Tiezhu walked over to Jiang Jian. “Let’s go in.”

Beside Shi Xuan, the brown bear demon growled low and strode into the cavern, kicking up flying shards of rock.

(End of Chapter)