’Couldn’t find a suitably large cave. This’ll have to do!’

In the early morning, the mountains were covered in frost. After searching for a long while, Li Xiang finally found a decent enough "rock crevice" that could barely pass for a cave. It was located halfway up the mountain. Getting there from his house required crossing about two mountain peaks. It was a bit far, but this mountain had relatively few graves, so digging a tunnel here, and expanding it later, wouldn’t disturb the eternal rest of the ancestors.

The crevice was over two meters high but only fifty to sixty centimeters at its widest. The interior was filled with jagged rocks, making it impossible for a person to squeeze through. A few small animals were hiding inside, and upon seeing Li Xiang’s arrival, they all scrambled to flee. Among them were two fat rabbits.

Since Li Xiang was "commandeering" their home, he decided not to go after them this time. Besides, they were just ordinary creatures with no potential to become Extraordinary.

And so, Li Xiang got to work.

He brought an Iron Pickaxe, a shovel, a carrying pole, and two baskets for hauling stone. Of course, he also had his phone and a tripod. An event as interesting as digging a cave? How could he not livestream it?

Since the stream was going to be long, he also brought a power bank. The mountain wasn’t too far from his house, and it wasn’t a complete wilderness area, so the signal was quite strong. This was because a cell tower stood on a nearby peak.

He strapped the tripod to a tree in front of the "cave entrance" and found a good angle. After a moment’s thought, he took out a gourd filled with Spirit Wine and hung it on the tree as well.

He started the livestream. The title he chose read: "Challenge: A 100-Meter-Deep Mountain Cave. ’Yu Gong’ Mission: The One-Man Cave, Day One."

The mountain itself was massive. From its cross-section at this halfway point, the diameter was at least a hundred meters. Li Xiang’s plan was to start by digging a tunnel straight through to the other side.

One end would be the entrance, the other an escape exit. With openings on both sides, it would ensure both air circulation and light inside the tunnel.

The mountain was steep, making it inaccessible to heavy machinery. Li Xiang had only the Iron Pickaxe in his hands and his own raw strength to rely on.

This wasn’t him looking for trouble; it was "bitter cultivation."

The legacy he’d inherited made his Cultivation most efficient when he performed manual labor. If he went a single day without working, the flow of Spiritual Power throughout his body would feel sluggish.

It actually made sense. The saying goes that life is about motion, and physical labor is the best kind of exercise. He got the work done and got a workout, all while his Spiritual Power grew more refined and pure, and his foundation became more solid. On top of that, he could earn money from the livestream traffic. It was killing several birds with one stone.

Only a few dozen people had joined the stream after he started it; it was still very early.

"Damn, Brother Xiang, streaming this early in the morning? What’re you up to?"

"Is Brother Xiang always this disciplined? Doesn’t he ever sleep in?"

"It’s the dead of winter! It feels so much better to be warm in bed!"

"Is he trying to dig a cave? Going to be a caveman?"

Everyone was asking because they could see Li Xiang, arms pumping, already hammering at the rock face with his Iron Pickaxe, one strike after another.

Gradually, the viewer count rose to two or three hundred. However, Li Xiang was completely focused on his work and had no time to interact with the audience; he just let the camera roll.

Fans started commenting one after another. "A hundred-meter-deep mountain cave? Is he planning to dig straight through this mountain?"

"In these deep mountains, there are no roads. You can’t get an excavator or a tunnel-boring machine up here, and he’s not using any explosives. Relying on his strength alone... when the hell is he going to finish? This is going to take forever!"

"You don’t get it. This is a viewership goldmine. As long as he keeps digging, he’ll keep getting views. If he used heavy machinery, he’d be done in a couple of days. How would he make money from streaming then?"

"Fair point."

"He’ll probably have to build a road after he’s done with the cave. The work never ends."

"But you guys love watching it, don’t you?"

The viewer count slowly climbed to five or six hundred. Not all of them were Li Xiang’s existing followers; some were just passersby who had "stumbled" into the stream.

On the screen, they saw a man swinging an Iron Pickaxe, repeating the same motion, strike after strike. With each blow, a large chunk of rock was sure to break off. The sound of metal striking stone—THUD, THUD—was audible, but because the camera was some distance away, it wasn’t harsh. In fact, it was strangely satisfying. And so, the new viewers settled in to watch.

One fan, after watching for over three minutes, couldn’t help but comment: "Is this guy a robot or an AI? He doesn’t say anything, and his movements are so precise. He must have swung that thing hundreds of times. Doesn’t he get tired?"

"Is he a perpetual motion machine?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"What are you talking about, AI? Look, Brother Xiang is switching it up now, see?"

Just then, Li Xiang set the Iron Pickaxe aside. He turned, bent down, and started picking up the larger chunks of rock from the ground, flinging them outside with a WHOOSH, WHOOSH.

And the phone was right outside! Many of the rocks came flying straight at the camera, giving everyone a huge scare. The live chat exploded with comments.

"Are you sure he’s not an AI? That rock throwing has to be a 3D special effect, right?"

In reality, Li Xiang’s aim was impeccable. Some of the stones would skim past the phone, missing it by a mere centimeter or two without causing the slightest damage. The audience was on the edge of their seats; it was the first time any of them had seen something like this "shot from the receiving end."

After throwing all the large stones, some smaller rocks and debris remained. Li Xiang came back out, grabbed the shovel and baskets, and went back in to ferry out the rest, dumping it all on the slope outside.

Only then did Li Xiang have a moment to glance at the screen.

"Huh? I’m an AI?" Li Xiang couldn’t help but laugh. He grinned at the camera. "Good morning, everyone. I’m the rural life vlogger, Li Xiang. You know, the guy who cut off a wild boar’s head with a single slash, the one who’s super good at catching them. Right now, I’m digging a cave. Because, you know... the Apocalypse is coming. I need to build a Shelter."