The Strongest Talent Tree

"Really?" Feng Hao couldn’t help but ask curiously. "What part of it is so difficult, exactly?"

Jin Li shot him a glance, secretly pausing her cultivation. "For us in the Earth Spirit Race, we just need to devour minerals to strengthen our bodies," she said in a teasing tone. "But you humans can’t do that."

"If I recall correctly, your human strengthening Secret Techniques require branding Demon Patterns directly onto the body. While the method is effective, it puts the body through an incredible trial. Most people can’t bear that kind of pain."

"What the hell?! Branding Demon Patterns on your body?!" Feng Hao was stunned.

’So strengthening Secret Techniques involve branding the entire structure onto your body.’ The very thought was horrifying. ’You have to understand, the framework of a Secret Technique requires constant trial and error. To build a complete one, you’d fail at least dozens of times, maybe even a hundred.’

’And every time you fail, you have to start all over again.’

’If it were just a matter of using Divine Sense to form it in one’s Sea of Consciousness, that would be one thing. But a strengthening Secret Technique meant branding patterns onto the body. That’s like carving yourself up with a knife over and over again. You don’t have to be a genius to know how much that would hurt.’

’What’s more, a single Secret Technique framework has at least a thousand lines, which means a thousand cuts on your body. Factoring in the failures, the number of times you’d get cut is simply unimaginable.’

’It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it death by a thousand cuts. No wonder everyone says strengthening Secret Techniques are so hard to practice. This is just straight-up self-mutilation!’

It was hard to imagine how much Ming Xin Yan must have suffered while practicing the Golden Man Secret Technique.

Seeing Feng Hao’s shocked and doubtful expression, Jin Li gave a faint smile and continued, "Anyway, I don’t really understand why you humans insist on practicing strengthening Secret Techniques. In my opinion, you humans are clearly more gifted when it comes to magical arts."

"Maybe some people just like the pain." The corner of Feng Hao’s mouth twitched. He sized up Jin Li again and asked curiously, "By the way, how tough has your body become?"

"Probably equivalent to Level 5 Refined Profound Steel," Jin Li mused. "But after I refine this Tri-color Crystal, I should be able to reach the level of Level 6 Refined Profound Steel."

"Level 5 Refined Profound Steel? For real?" Feng Hao asked in disbelief.

"What do you think?" Jin Li asked with a smile.

Feng Hao nodded sheepishly, his mind still reeling from the shock. As an heir to a line of smiths, he was very knowledgeable about all kinds of metals.

The main characteristics of Profound Steel were its high hardness and high toughness. Though not the hardest metal, it was the most common and widespread. The bodies and casings of many mechanical products were made from Profound Steel.

’For a person’s body to be comparable to Level 5 Refined Profound Steel... the very thought is terrifying.’

No wonder the Earth Spirit Race could move so easily underground. With bodies tough as iron, they could probably climb a mountain of blades or plunge into a Sea of Fire without a problem.

As his thoughts drifted, a particular question popped into his head. His gaze drifted down to a... certain part of Jin Li’s anatomy. With a strange expression, he asked, "Say, is the physical anatomy of your Earth Spirit Race any different from ours?"

Jin Li was about to answer when she noticed his gaze. Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red, and she snapped indignantly, "Pervert!"

"Uh," Feng Hao laughed awkwardly and quickly looked away. ’So there’s no difference, then.’

’Since their anatomy is the same, then the Earth Spirit Race must be uniquely gifted in... *that* department, right?’

’Besides, the legendary "unyielding golden spear" must be referring to Earth Spirit men. And as for Earth Spirit women... I can’t even imagine. I definitely don’t have the confidence to handle one of them.’

’Are you kidding me? How could a body of mere flesh and blood play with a body of indestructible steel?’

Though the atmosphere had turned awkward, the journey continued. Accompanied by the dynamic rhythm of the DJ, the group continued their trek deeper into the mountain range.

...

「Two days passed in a flash.」

The party had ventured deep into the mountain range without even realizing it.

They had cleared out a few scattered Spirit Beasts along the way. Yao Girl still hadn’t found the treasure her intuition was leading her to, but Jin Li had discovered a mineral vein.

The four of them were naturally thrilled to have finally found a mineral vein.

And so, Feng Hao and Sirlius immediately pulled out their mining machines and started setting them up.

But they were met with Jin Li’s disdain. "Tch. With me here, you still need these crappy machines?"

"That’s true. In front of a member of the Earth Spirit Race, a mining machine really is nothing special," Sirlius couldn’t help but chuckle.

Feng Hao nodded grudgingly and snapped, "Then what are you standing around for? Hurry up and dig!"

"Hmph!" Jin Li snorted, gritting her teeth. She dove into the earth like a fish into water, disappearing into the mineral vein in the blink of an eye.

After Jin Li went down, Feng Hao set up his mining machine with a cold smile and began to dig.

Xi Yueyao was taken aback for a moment but quickly understood Feng Hao’s intent. Sirlius, however, was completely baffled. "Brother Feng, what are you doing? Didn’t Jin Li already go down?"

"You’re still too naive, Brother Xilu," Feng Hao said with the air of an elder. "Do you really think she’s going to obediently mine for us?"

"Uh." Sirlius was speechless but had to admit Feng Hao had a point. "You’re worried Jin Li will hoard the ore for herself, Brother Feng?"

"I’m not worried about her hoarding it—we can always shake her down for it later. The real problem is that she’ll eat it on the sly."

Feng Hao let out a small, huffing laugh and, on his own, steered the mining machine’s drill downward, quickly reaching the vein.

"Holy cow, it’s a Black Gold Vein! And it looks like it has huge reserves," Feng Hao exclaimed. He hurriedly controlled the drill to push toward the center of the vein, trying to find Jin Li’s location as quickly as possible.

"Another rare metal vein? Our luck is just too good, isn’t it?" Sirlius said, pleasantly surprised.

Hearing this, Xi Yueyao shot him a disdainful look. "Get it straight. This is *my* luck, not yours."

Sirlius froze, then remembered what Feng Hao had said earlier. On second thought, finding two rare mineral veins in a row really was all thanks to Xi Yueyao. After all, they had been following her intuition the entire time.

’Could it be that Xi Yueyao really possesses some kind of immense luck? Or some special treasure-sensing ability?’

’If that’s true, that’s incredible. In either case, she would be a highly sought-after recruit for any top sect.’

Meanwhile, Feng Hao had already located Jin Li with the mining machine’s drill. With his Divine Sense attached to the drill bit, he could clearly perceive everything happening below.

In the dim depths underground, Jin Li had already carved out a massive cavern. The dark Black Gold Ore was as soft as tofu to her; she tore it apart with ease, casually tossing it into her Spatial Ring. Now and then, she’d pop a few pieces into her mouth, a contented look on her face.

"Haha, rare minerals taste so good," Jin Li laughed to herself. Thinking of Feng Hao’s earlier oppression and exploitation, she couldn’t help but sneer. ’He’s only giving me a twenty percent cut for all this ore? How shameless! Let’s just see how much *you* end up with!’

With that, she defiantly swallowed a few more chunks of ore and began to hum a little tune.

Just as she was reveling in her cleverness, Feng Hao’s drill broke through into the cavern.

Seeing the scene before him, Feng Hao was instantly furious. He activated the Divine Sense within the drill and sneered, "You little sneak, I knew you’d be secretly eating. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop stuffing your face right now. Otherwise, you’ll be sorry!"

"You... H-how did you get down here?" Jin Li froze, her face turning pale with shock.