The moment the antidote pill was consumed, the rate at which his health was dropping slowed instantly.

Finally, it stopped at: 67/100

The healing salve also began to take effect gradually.

His health increased at a rate of one point per minute.

Yang Ling wasn't stingy and directly consumed two more bottles of healing salve.

Although the recovery speed of this salve was slow, as long as it was used well, it could keep him at a safe health level at all times.

He lit the fire tinder and looked around.

The mine bug that had just stung him was nowhere to be seen.

He glanced down at his ankle, where there was a small puncture wound.

"Damn it, these mine bugs approach so silently. If I had been stung like this when I first came here, I wouldn't have had time to save myself and would have died instantly."

Yang Ling's expression was sullen.

At that time, he only had 30 health points.

This time, the mine bug's sting took away 33 points. If it weren't for the antidote pill, he suspected he might have lost another dozen or so points.

How could an ordinary person withstand that?

After resting in place for half an hour and waiting for his health to fully recover, Yang Ling continued deeper into the mine.

He wouldn't be discouraged by a single mine bug.

This time, he still had plenty of food and water left, and he aimed to level up once more before leaving.

But after just a few steps and a turn, Yang Ling sensed something was wrong.

In the pitch-black environment, there seemed to be something wriggling.

Yang Ling lit the fire tinder for a look and immediately turned to run!

Behind him, a dense swarm of black scorpions surged forward.

Judging by the numbers, there were at least eight hundred to a thousand!

"It was this thing that stung me earlier! It took away a third of my health in one go. If this swarm catches up to me, I'd be dead in no time!"

Yang Ling's face turned pale.

He was genuinely scared.

"They say mine bugs usually act in small numbers. How did I encounter a whole swarm?"

"Could these mine bugs crawl out of the mine?"

"Wait, mine bugs love ores, but ordinary ores shouldn't attract so many. Could it be..."

"Ore Essence!?"

Yang Ling's body tensed, and his pace involuntarily slowed.

There was no more noise behind him; the swarm of mine bugs hadn't followed.

"I remember Uncle Wang and the others chatting about how some mine veins, over time, can nurture ore essence, which is incredibly valuable..."

"Could this swarm of mine bugs have found a Fire Crystal Rock Ore Essence?"

"Extracting this thing should yield a lot of experience points, right?"

Yang Ling's heart burned with excitement, but it was quickly doused with a cold realization.

With the number of mine bugs, even Supervisor Wu would be helpless.

"Is there any way to deal with these mine bugs?"

"In the end, they're just bugs, without intelligence. If I can't deal with them, maybe I can avoid them..."

Yang Ling immediately opened the map to check, going over it several times, only to find that the path was a dead end with no other branches to bypass.

"No choice then..."

Yang Ling sighed and started to head back.

The No. 5 mine was clearly no longer a place to stay.

He needed to find another mine to continue grinding for experience.

"Wait, there might be another way!"

Just as he exited the mine, an idea popped into Yang Ling's mind.

"To deal with bugs, maybe I can use fire!"

"But the 'Divine Realm' doesn't have gasoline..."

Yang Ling felt a bit deflated.

The idea of burning the swarm of mine bugs with fire was clearly just a fantasy, hard to realize.

"If fire won't work, how about water?"

"I can't exactly carry buckets of water in there..."

"Hmm..."

Yang Ling's gaze suddenly fell on a large rock, and an idea struck him.

He immediately turned back into the mine.

Half an hour later, he had gathered over thirty watermelon-sized boulders.

Each boulder weighed at least sixty to seventy pounds.

Some of the larger ones weighed over a hundred pounds.

Yang Ling casually picked one up, weighed it in his hand for a moment, and then began practicing throwing stones in the mine.

His strength was now astonishing.

Even without wielding the refined steel pickaxe, he had a strength attribute of 10 points.

With effort, he could throw a stone weighing several dozen pounds over ten meters.

"Strength isn't an issue, and my stamina is decent."

"If crushing this swarm of mine bugs gives me experience, then I won't run out of strength."

"All I need to practice now is accuracy."

With that in mind, Yang Ling became even more patient.

After a day and a night.

Yang Ling had gotten the hang of it.

Although his accuracy wasn't perfect, he could control the deviation within half a meter!

"It's time to give it a try."

Yang Ling moved the stones to predetermined spots, roughly one every ten meters, and then headed deeper into the mine.

Sure enough, just like last time, as soon as he passed that bend, the swarm of mine bugs started chasing him.

This time, Yang Ling didn't panic but deliberately controlled his speed, running towards the exit.

He maintained a safe distance of over ten meters from the mine bugs.

Before long, he spotted the boulders he had prepared.

He immediately bent down to grab one and hurled it at the swarm.

The boulder made a whooshing sound as it flew through the air and landed heavily among the swarm.

Boom—

With a loud crash, countless black scorpions were crushed, their juices splattering everywhere.

A cold sensation surged into Yang Ling's body.

"There's experience points!"

Yang Ling was overjoyed.

After a brief scattering, the swarm of mine bugs continued to chase him.

Without hesitation, Yang Ling ran to the next boulder spot and threw another stone.

Boom—

Another group of mine bugs was crushed, juices splattering.

Countless experience points surged into Yang Ling's body.

"Ding!"

"Congratulations, you have leveled up, gaining 1 free attribute point."

Leveled up?!

Hahaha!

Yang Ling laughed heartily, casually adding the point to his strength.

His strength attribute immediately increased from 10 to 11.

He kept running and kept throwing.

Gradually, the swarm of bugs disappeared.

Yang Ling stopped running and turned to look.

He saw a lone mine bug quickly approaching him.

"Come on, let's have a fair fight!"

Yang Ling picked up the pickaxe from his waist.

As the mine bug neared him.

He pulled out a boulder from behind and hurled it.

Splat—

Venomous juices splattered everywhere.

The last mine bug died, turning into a stream of experience that surged into Yang Ling's body.

"So mine bugs do give experience. The system must have judged them as a threat to me, hence the experience points.

Last time with Fifth Brother, it must have judged him as no threat, so no experience was given."

Yang Ling pondered as he cautiously moved deeper into the mine.

He encountered no mine bugs along the way.

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When he reached the dead end, he saw a fist-sized, brilliantly glowing Fire Crystal Rock.

Unlike ordinary Fire Crystal Rocks, it was completely transparent, like a gemstone.

Behind it was an ancient-looking tome.

"This must be the Fire Crystal Rock Ore Essence, but this tome is..."

Holding the fire tinder, Yang Ling approached step by step.

The light from the Fire Crystal Rock Ore Essence illuminated the tome brightly.

On it were several large characters:

[Vajra King Technique]

In that instant, Yang Ling felt a sense of clarity, as if he understood everything.