My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 376: Chapter 257: Earth Pivot Tour: Qinling Alchemy, the Longevity Bowl’s Splendor, and Dragon Vein Repair

Night fell, and Li Xiang arrived at the Qinling Mountain Range. It was the closest to him.

The Qinling Mountain Range originates from the Kunlun Mountains and ends at the Dabie Mountains, forming the watershed between the great Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. Like a Giant Dragon, it stretches across the Central Region of China, carrying thousands of years of Chinese history and splendor. Ancient legends have long called it the Ancestral Vein of Chinese civilization.

Li Xiang’s body glowed with an earthy yellow light as he used Earth Escape, traveling and exploring deep beneath the Qinling Mountain Range.

He activated his Earth Vein Perception Ability. With him at the center, he had a clear view of everything within a two- to three-thousand-meter radius.

In his search for the Dragon Vein, he discovered that many of the mountains were hollow, containing a magnificent "Underground Great Wall."

According to CCTV news reports, this Underground Great Wall was a full five thousand kilometers long. However, the space was still limited and unsuitable to serve as an Underground City for China’s 1.4 billion people.

These were, after all, strategic facilities. All sorts of "packages" with lifespans as long as the heavens were stored inside, making them rather inconvenient for living.

He had already reported the coming Apocalypse to the government. Matters such as how to observe the Black Mist Star Realm, how to construct the Underground Cities, how many to build, and what reserves and countermeasures to prepare were no longer his concern.

He just had to take care of his own little corner of the world.

He didn’t linger near the Underground Great Wall, instead bypassing it. Deep underground, he discovered many unexcavated, precious mineral deposits.

The problem was, he didn’t recognize many of them. He could only identify gold and silver deposits, as well as the types of Ore he had encountered when investigating the Crystal Vein in his hometown with Jiang Cai’Er. As for the rest, he was utterly in the dark.

Even if he made a few guesses, he couldn’t be sure.

’Looks like I’ll have to bring Cai’Er along. She’s about to have her monthly break soon anyway.’ Li Xiang found himself missing his young fiancée.

Li Xiang searched for a long time but didn’t find any special Earth Veins. The Qinling Mountain Range was vast, after all, and special Earth Veins were well hidden. Even though his Earth Vein Perception could cover a radius of over two thousand meters, it was nothing compared to the entirety of the Qinling Mountain Range.

Things like gold and silver mines were definitely not where a Dragon Vein would be. They were too common, or rather, too ordinary.

So, Li Xiang began using his "Crystal Vein Armor" ability to condense pure gold. He certainly wasn’t going to miss out on the large gold deposits.

This skill could condense high-strength Battle Armor or Spiritual Soldiers. With a slight modification, it could naturally be used to purify Ore as well. The key to its use was imagination, and his mind was flexible; he wasn’t the type to be rigid and inflexible.

He first chose a gold mine hidden deep underground with enormous reserves of at least two hundred tons. In just three nights, Li Xiang had refined most of the gold. He also refined the accompanying silver deposits while he was at it. As for the rest, he left it all behind.

His energy was limited, so he only took what was valuable.

But doing this work constantly was actually quite boring and arduous. During his breaks, he used his skill to make a few little trinkets.

Making trinkets was relatively simple and didn’t consume much mental effort or Spiritual Power.

Using pure gold, he condensed a golden bowl decorated with six "Shou" (longevity) characters in seal script and simple, ancient cloud patterns.

He flicked the side of the bowl with his finger. The resulting chime was as clear as a bianzhong bell, with a long, lingering resonance. "It’s quite beautiful. I’ll give it to Grandma to use for her meals."

This was for relaxation, different from work. Li Xiang, full of enthusiasm, went on to condense many more golden bowls, plates, spoons, and chopsticks of various sizes, as well as gold bracelets. He planned to replace all the tableware at home.

As for the gold bracelets, he could give them away as gifts. ’The price of gold is high right now. A single one of these, at fifty or sixty grams, would be worth at least several tens of thousands of yuan, right? It’s just that the designs I came up with myself are pretty average.’

But on second thought, using all-gold tableware was a bit too flashy. So, he only kept the golden bowl, chopsticks, and spoon for his grandma and then created a new set of silver tableware.

Silver wasn’t worth much these days, only a few yuan per gram, so using silver tableware wouldn’t attract as much attention.

Since the breakthrough in aluminum electrolysis technology, most of the silver on the market didn’t come from mining. Instead, it was mainly a byproduct of the aluminum industry, produced from the anode sludge of aluminum electrolytic cells.

Since it was a byproduct, its supply was inelastic. In other words, no matter how much the price of silver fell, its production volume wouldn’t decrease. The output was tied only to aluminum production, unaffected by the price of silver.

Because working underground offered concealment, Li Xiang would come over to practice Alchemy even during broad daylight. By the time Jiang Cai’Er’s holiday break began, he had already refined over two thousand tons of pure gold, nearly exhausting all the undiscovered gold mines in the Qinling Mountain Range.

Li Xiang cooked a meal at home for Jiang Cai’Er. His grandma’s tableware was all gold, and she especially loved the golden bowl. As for Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er, they used silver bowls, chopsticks, and spoons.

Grandma was smiling so wide she couldn’t close her mouth, moved by her grandson’s filial piety. "I’ve lived my whole life and never imagined that one day I’d be eating with such a beautiful golden bowl and chopsticks."

Jiang Cai’Er laughed. "Grandma, if you wanted to eat with a diamond bowl and diamond chopsticks, I’m sure Brother Xiang would make it happen for you."

She naturally already knew that Li Xiang had a new skill. After he returned, Li Xiang had told her about the gains from his trip to Japan. Of course, he didn’t mention a single word of the things he wasn’t supposed to, such as his encounter in Japan with Chiba Yuki and her pair of delicate, jade-like twin daughters.

He might be a bit dense, but he wasn’t that stupid. Even though he hadn’t done anything with Chiba Yuki, he knew he absolutely could not mention her.

Li Xiang also invited her to search for the Dragon Vein with him, and Jiang Cai’Er happily agreed.

Grandma chuckled. "Having a golden bowl, golden chopsticks, and a golden spoon is already more than enough happiness for me. I’m an old woman. If I have any wish left in this life, it’s for you two to have a baby soon. It would be best if you had several."