For two consecutive days, the Red Knight went out early and returned late, clearing out the entire 20-mile radius around the pit, not even letting go of wild dogs, and of course, the group of terrifying apes. It is said that it took some effort at the time, especially the leader who was half a foot tall, who actually reached the peak of the fighting master. It was all thanks to Qi Hong's efforts that he cut off the opponent's head. Otherwise, I don't know how many lives would have been used to fill it.

But what is surprising is that in addition to some bones, weapon fragments and other debris in the ape cave, there are actually thousands of pieces of ore. Everyone cheered: It's a good sign to have such a big harvest before mining!

Suddenly enlightened, Xia Ming finally understood the source of the apes' tyranny, probably because of the long-term irradiation of the star stone. But he didn't regret it. To snatch the ore from the apes was purely to seek death.

"Okay, these two pieces are for you. I promised you to work hard!" At noon on the third day, Ling Haofei brought Xia Ming two pieces of iron ore, which weighed dozens of pounds, enough to refine a heavy sword.

"Thank you, Miss Ling!" Xia Ming saluted with gratitude.

"Okay, practice well, God rewards hard work!" After encouraging him, Ling Haofei patted Xia Ming on the shoulder and turned away. I came out to play for a while and met an interesting boy. It was also a novelty. I will leave in the afternoon. It can be regarded as a good start and a good end.

Looking at the girl's back gradually going away, Xia Ming shrugged his shoulders and grinned: "This girl has a good personality. She is not as hypocritical as those young ladies. I just don't know why she was so hostile to me at the beginning?" He smiled and shook his head, and he put it behind him.

The speed of logging was much faster afterwards. It took only seven or eight days to reach the col, and the villagers also changed from loggers to miners.

Worried that the cave would be discovered, Xia Ming asked Yuan Shouzhen for permission to stay at the mine, under the pretext of staying with his father for a few more days.

Seeing that the progress was good and there was no interference from wild beasts, Yuan Linshan and Yuan Shouzhen returned to the town one after another, leaving only the township assistant to guard and count the number.

After a month, Xia Ming's arm was restored to its original state, and he taught the "Lijian Jue" to his father and Li Tieshan.

The two were stunned, knowing that it was a gift from a noble person, and they praised it all the time.

Xia Ming didn't take it seriously, and his attention was all on "Xingchen Jue". After a month of polishing, his strength, which had improved by leaps and bounds, had been completely stabilized. In order to test his actual combat power, he ran 30 miles away and used animal attracting powder to attract a group of wild boars.

The leader was a boar weighing 500-600 kilograms, with three-inch-long tusks as sharp as knives. The impact force generated by the instant acceleration was close to the level of a fighting master, and he rushed over with his head down.

With a gleam of light in his eyes, Xia Ming did not retreat but advanced, gathering all his strength and punching hard at the opponent's head.

"Bang!"

The two sides were evenly matched, and both of them stagnated.

But Xia Ming did not need distance to speed up, and his fists fell directly like raindrops.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

After punch after punch, the crazy wild boar leader was stunned, retreated repeatedly, and was finally knocked down. The rest turned around and ran away, disappearing without a trace.

"My skin and flesh are stronger than hardwood, and my strength is close to a thousand pounds. I have reached the perfection of the body tempering realm. It's time to break through the internal organs refining realm!" Rubbing his fist without any pain, Xia Ming nodded with satisfaction, and then, with a bitter face, "Where can I find the star stone..."

Sure enough, in the next three months, the practice of "Star Art" returned to a snail's pace again, and "Purple Qi Art" improved a lot. It should be within two years in advance of the estimated three years.

The time for the guard is almost up, and we can't always waste it here. Seeing that the woman didn't appear again and the secret cave was not exposed, Xia Ming said goodbye to his father and took advantage of the change of shifts to return to the town with the stone transport team.

After three or four months, Li Changgui reached the level of a third-level fighter. Under the introduction of Li Erhu, he also went to the patrol area and his body shape gradually recovered. The three brothers met, and it was a lively scene. They went to Chen's noodle restaurant and talked while eating.

"Brother Erhu, when was the furnace outside the town built? Isn't there a blacksmith shop in the town?" Thinking about where the ore would eventually be delivered, Xia Ming asked curiously.

"The blacksmith shop in the town can only do some repairs and make some crude iron products. This fine iron ore is used to refine weapons, so it naturally requires professional masters. They all came from the county a month and a half ago." Li Erhu said anxiously with a red face.

"Refine it on the spot?" With a thought in his mind, Xia Ming thought that his own pieces of ore might be refined into swords.

"Well, ore is not easy to transport, so it's more convenient to refine it into standard weapons! The first batch is almost done, and it will be shipped to the county in a few days." Li Changgui also heard about this and rushed to say.

Xia Ming has been thinking about one thing recently: since there are spiritual stones, there may be spiritual herbs. His own cultivation has encountered a bottleneck, and he needs to find another way! He went around the medicine shops in the town and found nothing useful. He had wanted to go to the county to have a look, but because the guard duty was still two months away, it was inconvenient to leave early. After hearing what Li Changgui said, he wondered if there was a chance to go there on official assignment, and smiled and said, "With so many fine iron swords, someone must be escorting them, do you need us to go?"

"The county has sent its own escort team, but the town should also have someone. Yuan Youjiao is responsible for this matter, so you have to ask him. However, many people want to go to the county to have a look, and it's not easy to grab a spot." Not only Xia Ming thought so, Li Erhu also thought about this and knew something about it.

"Oh, then I have to ask, maybe there is a chance!" After all, he still had some face with Youjiao, and Xia Ming's eyes lit up and he felt that there was a way.

On the second day of rest, Xia Ming was waiting outside the classroom early. After everyone dispersed, he hurried in and greeted the patrol with a smile: "Sir, I wonder if there are any of our people in the escort team going to the county. I haven't seen the county yet and want to go with me to take a look."

"You little brat, you are well-informed, but many people are vying for it, and you have to have some strength, at least to be a level 6 fighter or above, I'm afraid you are a little short!" As they were quite familiar with each other, Yuan Shouzhen didn't beat around the bush when he spoke.

"That's no problem. I haven't wasted these three months. I have gained a lot of strength!" Xia Ming smiled happily and showed off his biceps.

"Oh?!" Yuan Shouzhen raised his eyebrows, looked suspicious, pointed to the stone pillar next to him, and said seriously: "The biggest one, if you can lift it with one arm, I will believe it!"

Turning his head, Xia Ming found that the stone pillar was close to one-fifth of a cubic meter. The material of the slab stone should be about 600 to 700 kilograms. If you want to lift it with one arm, you must be a fighter above level six. With a smile on his lips, he didn't say anything. He stepped forward, hugged it with both arms, threw it gently into the air, and held it with one arm.

With his eyes wide open, Yuan Shouzhen looked at this scene in shock and didn't say anything for a long time.

Xia Ming didn't urge him, it's okay, and he moved it up and down a few times, showing that he was at ease.

Looking at the boy who was not red in the face and out of breath, Yuan Shouzhen swallowed his saliva and hurriedly said: "Okay, okay, I believe it, put it down!"

Nodding with a smile, Xia Ming gently put it back to its original position, without any error.

"You are such a freak!" Looking up and down at Xia Ming, Yuan Youjiao was full of surprise. The strength just now was at least 800 kilograms, which was equivalent to an eighth-level fighter, far beyond the limit of the human race he knew! He smiled bitterly and said, "No wonder Lord Qing values ​​you. Okay, I've approved it. I'll let you know when I leave in a few days!"

"Thank you, Lord!" He hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted, but Xia Ming did not move.

"Anything else?" Seeing Xia Ming motionless, Yuan Shouzhen raised his eyebrows.

"Hehe, Lord Qing gave me the sword formula at the beginning, and now I'm still short of a handy guy. I have the raw materials, all given by Miss Ling, but I need someone to help refine it. Do you think the master from the county can..." Xia Ming's smile was extremely shameless, and his eyes blinked.

"You are really greedy!" Yuan Shouzhen pointed at Xia Ming and scolded him with a smile, then said: "Bring the ore here, tell me the size, and I will ask the master to forge it for you later. I won't charge for the forging fee, but you can't just give 3 silver coins without any reason, so as to avoid the other party's indifference!" Knowing how much money Xia Ming had, he was not polite.

"So many?" Xia Ming frowned slightly. There were less than ten silver coins left in his pocket. He was reluctant to take out three at once.

"This is still a lot, don't be ungrateful, this is a long sword made of fine iron, and ordinary ones are 100 silver coins. The forging fee is ten silver coins. The master asked for two or three, and I am still saving you money!" Yuan Shouzhen rolled his eyes at Xia Ming and said unceremoniously.

"Hey, thank you, sir. I've brought all the materials. I just need a three-and-a-half-foot heavy sword!" Grinning, Xia Ming stopped talking nonsense and took out three pieces of ore from the package behind him, and then took out three silver coins and placed them in front of Yuan Shouzhen.

After weighing a few pieces of ore, they weighed about 60 to 70 kilograms in total. If they were forged, they would weigh at least 30 kilograms. Yuan Shouzhen said strangely, "I heard from Lord Qing that you want to use a heavy sword, but this is too heavy. The standard one weighs less than 10 kilograms!"

"I'm not a fighter. After level 7, I can release my fighting spirit. It depends on strength. This is not heavy!" Grinning, Xia Ming explained.

Nodding, Yuan Shouzhen could understand, and then waved his hand, "Okay, go and get busy. I'll give it to you on the day you leave. Three silver coins, you've picked up a big bargain!"

"Thank you!" Knowing that he owed Yuan Shouzhen a favor this time, Xia Ming smiled and thanked him, secretly keeping it in his heart.

In fact, he still had some regrets in his heart. If he had mastered the Purple Qi Technique to a high level, he would have been able to draw a simple formation on the heavy sword when it was formed. After inlaying spirit stones, it would have been able to emit the power of magic and greatly enhance its might. Now, he could only make do with it.