Volume One: The Strong One Who Walked Out of the Mine

Chapter One: The Earth Miner

"Please, immortal master, check the goods..."

Covered in dust, Evan Parker carried a black iron mining pick as he walked out of the deep mine shaft, heading straight to a young man in green robes.

As an outer disciple guarding the family's spirit stone mine, this man's innate cultivation was among the lowest of the million cultivators on Xuanyuan Star. Yet, when facing Evan Parker, a miner whose status was even lower than that of ordinary commoners, he couldn't help but show a trace of impatience and disdain.

However, when he saw the three spirit stones Evan Parker handed over, his expression changed slightly.

"These are actually low-grade fire spirit crystals... Kid, you really hit the jackpot. Just one of these is worth half a year's income for an ordinary miner!"

Evan Parker grinned foolishly and replied in a silly tone, "Just lucky, hehe!"

After all, lucky folks like Evan Parker weren't unheard of. The man in green didn't probe further. After putting the three low-grade fire spirit crystals into his storage bracelet, he counted out nine hundred supply coins, stuffed them into a small cloth bag, and tossed it to Evan Parker.

"Thank you, immortal master."

Evan Parker took the pouch of supply coins and hurried in big strides toward the marketplace over a thousand meters from the mine entrance.

This marketplace was a place for miners to rest and relax. It was also a paradise where the tens of thousands who had no fate with cultivation—miners who could only earn a living through hard labor—could enjoy themselves after days or even dozens of days of toil.

Having worked here for over half a year, Evan Parker was naturally familiar with the place. He spent ten supply coins to book the best room in the marketplace's finest restaurant, ordered a large table of food, and even extravagantly spent fifty supply coins on a pot of "Hundred Spirit Brew."

This "Hundred Spirit Brew" was no ordinary wine. It was a specialty secret brew of the Supreme Yuanyang Sect, the cultivation sect that owned the mining rights here.

Of course, this so-called "good stuff" was only defined as such for laborers like Evan Parker and the tens of billions of commoners on Xuanyuan Star. For the million cultivators on the planet, the value of "Hundred Spirit Brew" was at most equivalent to a bottle of beer back on Earth where Evan Parker came from.

Drinking alone, after half an hour, Evan Parker was already tipsy, murmuring, "Looks like I'll never see my family and friends on Earth again in this life..."

Two years ago, Evan Parker was still on Earth. A graduate of a prestigious university's architecture department, he had only been in the workforce for just over two years and already owned a fortune of a million. On the surface, he was an internationally renowned architectural designer, but in secret, Evan Parker was a tomb raider.

The reason for this rather shocking hobby was all due to Evan Parker's closest great-grandfather. Most of Evan Parker's impressive skills—remarkable even by modern standards—were learned from his great-grandfather.

As for why Evan Parker ended up on Xuanyuan Star, it was all because of an unremarkable stone orb, said to have been unearthed from the tomb of Bai Qi, the Qin general known as the "God of Slaughter."

When his great-grandfather gave him the stone orb he wore around his neck on his deathbed, Evan Parker would never have believed that this thing would cause him to traverse the stars and arrive on a completely unfamiliar planet.

Rubbing the stone orb hanging from his chest, Evan Parker couldn't help but grit his teeth in hatred. If he didn't still hold a sliver of hope that this wretched thing might once again flare up and activate that hexagram-like teleportation array to send him back to Earth, he probably would have smashed it to pieces long ago.

After two years on Xuanyuan Star, Evan Parker gradually emerged from despair and helplessness. This was a planet far beyond his imagination. Here, there was no modern technology—everything was so ancient. If that were all, it would be fine; he could treat it as being reborn in ancient times and perhaps use his modern knowledge to carve out a good life for himself.

But clearly, fate did not grant Evan Parker such an easy wish. Xuanyuan Star was a planet dominated by cultivators. Although there were vast numbers of commoners, the planet was ruled by the small minority of cultivators who could fly through the skies and burrow through the earth, split mountains, and part seas.

A million cultivators lived here. On Xuanyuan Star, becoming an immortal was the only way to live a better life. But this path was so difficult that even someone as famously determined as Evan Parker had nearly given up several times.

Taking another big swig of "Hundred Spirit Brew," Evan Parker rubbed the dull stone orb on his chest, recalling all that had happened since he first arrived on Xuanyuan Star, and couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

Xuanyuan Star was many times larger than Earth, though its mountains and rivers were quite similar. There were nine great nations and over a hundred smaller countries dependent on them. The combined population was definitely over ten billion. However, the nine great nations were not the true rulers of Xuanyuan Star; behind them stood the nine supreme sects, who held absolute power.