"Don't use a shred of magical power, use pure physical strength to dig!"
Yang Hong withdrew his divine sense, his face pale!
Not only was the turbulent spiritual energy of heaven and earth harming his divine sense, but he was also horrified by the hellish tragedy unfolding outside in the mortal world.
Beyond the cave, as far as his divine sense could see, there were only dead people and those on the verge of death.
The cultivators, usually high and mighty, were no different from ordinary mortals in the face of this sudden natural disaster. Once covered by the sand, there was no chance of survival.
The high-grade magical artifacts of the cultivators, under the barrage of countless sand particles, were defenseless. They were shot through, rendered useless, and then the cultivators themselves were killed by the sand.
"These sands contain a lot of Jun Stone, and they're accelerated by the sandstorm. Not only are they fast and hard, but they also carry high temperatures. We must dig downwards faster."
Taking out a crescent shovel of Grade 7 magical artifact quality from his storage ring, Yang Hong pushed aside the women and began to dig desperately.
"Husband~ Do you have this kind of crescent shovel too? Let's dig together."
Seeing the crescent shovel, Zhu Yu Yan's eyes lit up. Such a tool was the most useful.
"Yes, but at most two people can dig at a time. The rest should collect the rocks and debris and block the entrance."
After speaking, Yang Hong took out six more crescent shovels, his hands not daring to stop.
"I'll go first, then we'll take turns digging."
After years of getting along, Zhu Yu Yan had firmly secured her position as the eldest sister. Naturally, no one objected. The women immediately began to take turns digging at the rocks according to their usual ranking.
The hardness of these rocks was extremely high.
From the beginning, when the crescent shovel could go three to four feet deep with a "swoosh," it later became a continuous "crackling" sound, only managing to dig three to four inches each time.
After digging only two to three li into the mountain, even Yang Hong, who had a strong physique, felt his hands go weak and tremble.
"Crack!"
With a crisp sound, the Grade 7 magical artifact, worth tens of millions of spirit stones in the outside world, was broken by Yang Hong.
If the monks of Budong Temple saw this, they would surely die of heartache.
"Husband, we've already dug quite deep. Let's rest for a while."
"Yes, Master. We should be safe. I just took a look outside. Although the sandstorm hasn't stopped, it's much sparser now."
"Then let's rest."
Yang Hong swept his divine sense towards the outside of the mountain. He didn't push himself and collapsed onto the ground. He was truly exhausted.
"Husband~ Master~"
Zhu Yu Yan and the others quickly gathered around, massaging Yang Hong's hands to relax them. They knew the hardness of these rocks. They could only exert their strength within the first li of the underground passage. Beyond that, they were just along for the ride.
With their combined strength at the late stage of Body Integration and early stage of Spirit Severing, they could hardly exert much force on these rocks.
"Husband, I've discovered that these stones seem to be Sword Gall Iron ore, and they're of quite high quality."
While they were resting, Li Li Zhi, who was knowledgeable about artifact refining, exclaimed as she picked up a stone.
"Hmm~ Spirit Appraisal Technique!"
Yang Hong casually picked up a stone and cast a Spirit Appraisal Technique on it. a pale red spiritual light emanated.
"Hmm~ Grade 6 spirit iron should be Sword Gall Iron ore. This is an unexpected surprise. Sword Gall Iron is the best spirit iron for refining flying swords, second only to Sword Heart Iron. Let's collect some of the ore. After we're stable, we'll refine some better flying swords."
Yang Hong was also somewhat surprised to find that the stones they dug down were actually Grade 6 spirit iron. To be able to dig up Grade 6 spirit iron while escaping for their lives was something else.
"Husband, we've already used a lot of this ore to block the cave."
"So what if we used it? We'll just keep digging in."
"Husband, you rest first. We'll dig."
Li Li Zhi said, picking up another Grade 7 crescent shovel and starting to dig into the cave wall with clanging sounds.
However, the Sword Gall Iron ore was truly hard. Without using any magical power, Li Li Zhi dug for half the day and only managed to extract a piece the size of a fist.
"This is too troublesome. It's been a quarter of an hour, hasn't it? And I've only dug out such a small piece."
Looking at the fist-sized ore in her hand, Li Li Zhi complained with a tearful face.
"It is indeed hard. Although we're not using magical power, the physical quality of the Spirit Severing realm is at least a million jin of strength with each swing. As expected of one of the best spirit irons for refining flying swords."
"I'll also refine a flying sword with Sword Gall Iron later."
Zhu Yu Yan and the others were also pleasantly surprised. The difficulty of digging Sword Gall Iron ore proved its quality and could better ensure their safety. After all, they were digging this cave to escape the black despair.
However, their joy was short-lived.
"Ah~ Everyone be careful, something shot through my hand!"
Just as they felt safe, Li Xue Feng suddenly cried out in pain and shouted a warning.
Yang Hong immediately jumped up from the ground and rushed to her side. He saw that Li Xue Feng's right arm had a wound the width of a little finger, and there were burn marks around the wound. He looked up and saw a small hole in the ceiling, vaguely revealing a subtle yellow-red sky.
Underground, Yang Hong's divine sense also detected a small hole that penetrated a hundred zhang deep into the ground.
"Hiss! Everyone be careful~ Special sand is shooting in. Everyone spread out your divine sense to the fullest, be careful of being shot. Li Zhi, move aside, I'll dig!"
As he spoke, Yang Hong shifted his stance to the right, and a black-red sand particle shot into the ground, narrowly missing his trousers right before his eyes. If it weren't for his robust physique, his lower body would have been ruined. However, the intense pain made him secretly tremble. If this sand came in large quantities, it could kill him too!
Not daring to be careless, he immediately snatched the crescent shovel from Li Li Zhi's hand, circulated the Qingfeng Body Tempering Technique, and began to frantically dig at the cave wall with clanging sounds! He didn't care about the needle-like pain throughout his body as he circulated his technique. Compared to the pain, death was far more terrifying. After all, Yang Hong and the others were already several li deep underground, and that sand particle could pierce the body of Li Xue Feng, a cultivator at the sixth stage of Spirit Severing. Killing a person was definitely not a problem!
"Everyone spread out a bit, leave enough space for movement, spread your divine sense to the fullest, and take out your defensive artifacts for protection."
Zhu Yu Yan dodged a grain of sand and quickly reminded everyone. Looking at the small hole emitting green smoke at her feet, her face also turned pale. The speed of these sands was too fast, and they were too hard. They could pass through at least four hundred zhang of a mineral mountain. Even a cultivator at the seventh stage of Body Integration might not be able to achieve this!
Afterward, Zhu Yu Yan and the others danced, constantly shifting and evading. It was also their powerful divine sense that allowed them to penetrate the rocks and soil for one to two li, enabling them to detect the sand shooting in from outside the mountain in time.
Yang Hong dug desperately while spreading his divine sense to its fullest. Due to being deep underground, he could only see the situation in the area about twenty li outside the mountain.
One sentence could describe it: a living hell!
At this time, not much sand was falling from the sky, but the sand blown by the strong winds was like an iron brush, sweeping across the ground again and again. Within the range of his divine sense, all the trees were blown down, uprooted, and rolled into the sky to be torn into pieces; the cultivators who had survived the first round of sandstorms were also swept into the air, and in the debris of trees and杂物, they were ground into dust! Even if a powerful cultivator's Nascent Soul detached from their body, it was quickly ground into dust by the yellow-red hurricane, scattering their soul.
"Is this the black despair? Even a cultivator at the seventh stage of Body Integration would despair if caught in the sandstorm."
Sighing, Yang Hong increased the circulation of the 《Qingfeng Body Tempering Technique》, enduring the pain all over his body, and accelerated his digging into the Sword Gall ore mountain, hoping to reach a sufficient depth to survive this ordeal!