Ren Qing steadied his mind and carefully listened to the digging sounds coming from the surrounding mine tunnels, estimating their approximate depths based on distance.
Song Zongwu had likely already excavated over two thousand meters.
Next was the fist-marked tunnel at around one thousand meters, followed by the slightly shallower claw-marked tunnel.
Huang Ziwan's tunnel was the shallowest, probably less than five hundred meters since his toxin corrosion wasn't very effective.
Ren Qing looked at the stone wall before him, gripping the pickaxe with both hands as his arm muscles slightly bulged, using his waist for additional leverage.
He didn't plan to hold back.
Mainly because the physical difference between Half-Corpse realm and Martial Practitioner realm wasn't significant, not even comparable to body-enhancing techniques.
Hah!!
The pickaxe slammed down heavily.
Only a crisp clanging sound was heard as the wooden handle broke in two, the pickaxe head flying away from the residual force.
Fortunately Ren Qing's Double Pupils allowed him to react in time, otherwise he would have at least been left with bruises.
"..."
His lips twitched, realizing he had still underestimated the task.
Ren Qing changed to another pickaxe, this time not daring to use too much force, only leaving a shallow dent in the stone wall.
He gradually increased his strength, but the pickaxe still didn't last long.
Ren Qing simply closed his eyes and carefully recalled, his whole body's muscles tensing and relaxing accordingly, occasionally simulating striking motions.
The information stream gave Ren Qing extremely strong control over his body, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to wield the Great Miao Blade so flexibly.
Now what he needed to do was let his body learn how to swing a pickaxe.
In the adjacent tunnel, Huang Ziwan noticed Ren Qing had stopped.
He couldn't help raising his eyebrows, someone personally taught by Song Zongwu couldn't possibly give up so casually, could he?
He stopped spraying venom and leaned against the wall to wait.
After a while, the striking sounds resumed, still at a steady pace.
Huang Ziwan shook his head with a smile. Just as he was about to continue digging, suddenly the striking frequency started increasing, the impacts growing louder.
How was this possible...
His expression became somewhat shocked, had the other party already mastered this through practice?
Huang Ziwan waited a while longer, thinking Ren Qing would soon exhaust himself, but the speed increased yet again.
He hurriedly spat venom to corrode the stone wall. If a junior who wasn't even a Restraint Officer caught up to him, he wouldn't be able to hold his head up in the future.
Ren Qing dug continuously for over ten minutes before choosing to rest briefly.
He noticed that while each pickaxe swing could chip off large chunks of rock, his arms ached from the recoil and his palms had split open.
But the hardest part was the beginning. Once his arms regained feeling, Ren Qing continued digging.
After alternating between work and rest for most of the day, his tunnel had extended several meters, but the originally light yellow rock layer had slightly darkened in color.
Ren Qing tested with a shovel, sure enough, the walls had become harder.
This meant that to maintain efficiency, he had to keep improving...
He sighed deeply, then concentrated on striking. After a long time, his rhythm recovered and even improved slightly.
Ren Qing also discovered a benefit of digging, the recoil from the pickaxe was gradually being dispersed throughout his body by instinct.
The Human Skin Book was unconsciously exercised, his skin tingling slightly.
Ren Qing dug even more vigorously, even seeing hope of advancing to Skin Refiner without consuming lifespan.
Whenever his stamina ran out, he ate some pig eyes to recover, repeating the cycle.
Even Huang Ziwan, stimulated by him, stayed in the tunnel for five full hours before leaving while muttering complaints.
By the time Song Zongwu noticed Ren Qing's unusual state, it was already deep into the night without him realizing.
Ren Qing came to his senses and found he had completely exhausted his strength, lying on the ground in a sorry state, his clothes soaked with sweat.
Song Zongwu looked somewhat helpless, Ren Qing had been reluctant before, how had it suddenly developed to the point of neglecting food and drink?
But the tunnel's expansion of over ten meters wasn't fake, meaning the increasingly hard rock layers hadn't stopped Ren Qing either.
Song Zongwu dragged Ren Qing out and threw him into a military tent. In the blink of an eye, thunderous snoring came from inside.
The next day,
without needing Song Zongwu's reminder, Ren Qing first hunted a lone wolf in the mountains, then brought some dry rations and plunged into the tunnel.
Ren Qing could feel the Human Skin Book progressing visibly, ordinary blunt strikes would hardly injure him now.
Over the following days, his daily routine consisted of digging and cultivation, though he did get to know all the Restraint Officers in the camp.
Most Restraint Officers were rather cold, some even ignoring him outright.
The claw-digging Restraint Officer's nickname was "Earth Rat." His technique was similar to Divine Leg Sutra, but under mutation erosion he had become half-human half-beast.
His appearance resembled a ground rat, his hands completely transformed into animal claws.
Another Restraint Officer named Xu Shilin likely could manipulate mist, but he was elusive and hard to track down.
When Ren Qing had dug over a hundred meters, he began preparing to try the Great Miao Blade, though for safety he first practiced chopping hardwood stakes.
While practicing his blade techniques, suddenly the camp outskirts became extremely noisy.
Ren Qing quickly sheathed his blade and went over.
He saw a Restraint Officer leading a dense crowd of over a hundred people toward Twin Peaks Mountain.
Yamen runners made up only twenty to thirty percent, the rest almost all being shackled prisoners, with some dressed as hunters.
Ren Qing noticed the prisoners walked stiffly, as if controlled by something.
The remaining yamen runners and hunters still had their wits, but their gazes at the leading Restraint Officer were filled with fear.
Song Zongwu raised his hand to signal the crowd to stop.
Li Yaoyang smiled, opening his mouth as black insects poured out from the prisoners' eyes, ears, noses and mouths, finally returning to his body.
Dozens of prisoners collapsed twitching, some even lifeless.
Song Zongwu's expression turned grim: "Li Yaoyang, I didn't tell you to bring these people."
"Don't mind it, Elder Song. Considering the trouble level of the Disaster Dispelling Forbidden Zone, I mobilized more manpower."
Li Yaoyang licked his lips and added: "These prisoners' bodies deteriorated from long imprisonment, so extreme measures were needed."
Song Zongwu said no more. He knew in his heart that using prisoners instead of yamen runners could speed up digging several times over.
But Ren Qing couldn't help frowning, his eyes scanning the hunters.
Could Song Rong be hiding among them to conceal himself? But under so many Restraint Officers' watch, that seemed unrealistic?
If true, he'd find an opportunity to expose him using the information stream.
Song Zongwu also realized the issue and asked: "Why are there over a dozen hunters?"
"The mountain villages near the forbidden zone all need relocating, so we temporarily recruited some hunters. They'll be paid well."
Song Zongwu nodded. Among the present Restraint Officers, apart from him at Yin Runner realm, the rest had reached Ghost Envoy realm.
They couldn't delay sealing the forbidden zone over groundless suspicions. Moreover, with Li Yaoyang's insects, they could temporarily seal the Disaster Dispelling Forbidden Zone using three techniques.