The group began searching for spiritual veins within the Immortal Palace's secret realm, while other cultivators were simultaneously embarking on a search for the Immortal Palace's owner.

Regarding the issue of spiritual veins, the little black snake knows more. After all, the spirits of the Immortal Palace know more about the secret realm of the Immortal Palace.

They quickly found a top-grade spiritual vein, guided by the little black snake.

Seeing so many spirit stones, Chu Huaifeng beamed with joy: "Such a large, top-grade spirit vein can be developed until the secret realm closes down."

"It's not that big. I think it can be mined out in a month." Yang Yitian estimated the time.

Chu Huaifeng clearly thought he was bragging: "To complete the mining within a month, we'd need at least one Nascent Soul cultivator."

The higher the grade of a spiritual vein, the more difficult it is to mine. Even if you use earth-type abilities to mine it, it will consume a lot of spiritual power. Even for those in the Mahayana stage, it is not easy to mine it.

Yang Yitian laughed and said, "You don't know this, do you? We have helpers!"

"What helper?" Chu Huaifeng looked at the small black snake in his hand.

Yang Yitian said, "It's not the little black snake." As he spoke, he patted Qi Zhiheng, signaling him to quickly release his helpers!

Qi Zhiheng was indeed going to release his helpers, so he didn't care about these things anymore. With a wave of his hand, a continuous stream of Soul-Devouring Insects were released from Qi Zhiheng's sleeve (actually from his spatial storage).

Seeing this unexpected turn of events, Chu Huaifeng's perception of Qi Zhiheng and Yang Yitian was completely changed: "This is... a mutated Spirit Devouring Insect!"

Qi Zhiheng wasn't surprised at all that he would recognize her.

Chu Huaifeng felt a chill run down his spine and asked in confusion, "Why did you release the Spirit Devouring Insects? Are you going to feed them with spirit stones?"

Qi Zhiheng asked, puzzled, "Why would you think that?"

Chu Huaifeng said, "Isn't it obvious? The Spirit-Devouring Worm eats anything that contains spiritual energy, right? How else can I think about it?"

Yang Yitian: "Our Soul-Devouring Insects are different from others!"

"What's the difference? Aren't they all fed on spiritual energy? Is yours special? Do you think your spirit-devouring worms can mine spirit stones?" After saying that, he realized that what he said was too absurd, and shook his head with a smile.

Yang Yitian gave Chu Huaifeng a thumbs up: "Smart!"

Chu Huaifeng:? ? ?

Yang Yitian pointed to the Soul Devouring Insect King on the ground, which was directing the Soul Devouring Insects to work: "Look."

The Soul-Devouring Insect King commanded the Soul-Devouring Insects to enter the mine and begin digging with their teeth and claws. Before long, spirit stones were dug out from the cave walls and piled up.

"This works too?" Chu Huaifeng excitedly pointed at the Soul-Devouring Insect and said, "Are you sure this is a Soul-Devouring Insect? Soul-Devouring Insects can mine?! This is actually a different species, isn't it?"

He looked at the Qi couple, trying to get confirmation from them.

After all! Whose Soul-Eating Worms would mine minerals?

Yang Yitian pulled out a paper fan from somewhere, opened it with a "snap," and fanned himself a few times with a flourish: "My spirit pets are of course all extraordinary!"

Qi Zhiheng interjected, "Alright, time is limited, let's dig for spirit stones first."

Yang Yitian and Chu Huaifeng then stopped discussing the Soul-Devouring Insects.

The group started mining.

Yang Yitian and Chu Huaifeng took a magical artifact and began digging.

Qi Zhiheng used earth-attribute spiritual power to move the spirit stones buried in the soil, and the spirit stones were quickly unearthed one by one.

Qi Zhiheng was very fast because he secretly used his domain.

Chu Huaifeng was extremely envious: "The ability of an earth elemental root is truly enviable!"

Yang Yitian said, "Even if I return your earth spirit root, you still won't be as powerful as my Daoist partner."

Chu Huaifeng retorted, "Why can't I be more powerful than your Daoist partner? I'm a late-stage Mahayana cultivator, and I've been accumulating power in the Mahayana stage for thousands of years."

Yang Yitian curled his lip: "You haven't made any progress in all these years at the Great Ascension stage, what's there to be proud of?"

Chu Huaifeng choked for a moment, and said sourly, "That's a special case for the two of you. Go outside and ask around. How many people can enter the Mahayana stage within three thousand years? Most of them are already old men over ten thousand years old. I'm already considered lucky."

Yang Yitian didn't want to keep bringing up other people's shortcomings, so he comforted them, "What you said is not wrong. It's not that your aptitude and comprehension are lacking. It's just that we are both too outstanding. I guess there are not many cultivators like us in the Central Continent."

Chu Huaifeng was unsure whether to reconcile or refute Yang Yitian. He knew Yang Yitian was telling the truth, but he didn't want to hear Yang Yitian boast, so he was momentarily speechless.

Several people and a swarm of insects quickly dug into the spiritual vein. It took them a month to excavate almost completely. Finally, Qi Zhiheng collected the spiritual vein.

The distribution of spirit stones depends on individual ability; the more you can dig up, the more you will receive.

Qi Zhiheng dug the most, and the spiritual vein was found by the little black snake, so Chu Huaifeng naturally didn't have much of an opinion. Besides, they had gotten to know each other quite well over this period of time, so they didn't dwell on this small matter.

Moreover, the little black snake can find more than one spiritual vein; if it lacks spirit stones, it can just keep digging.

After digging out all the spirit stones from the spiritual vein, Qi Zhiheng put the spiritual vein away. For his space, the top-grade spiritual vein was a lifesaver.

The group wandered through the secret realm of the celestial palace, excavating any spiritual veins they found. They would occasionally encounter battles between opposing forces, but they all avoided them.

Qi Zhiheng's foundation in Zhongzhou is still shallow, so it's not advisable for him to get too involved in other people's struggles.

They spent a year amidst the fighting and killing outside, and Qi Zhiheng and his companions mining.

That year, they unearthed more than a dozen top-grade spiritual veins, and even found two low-grade immortal spiritual veins.

Qi Zhiheng didn't dare put the immortal spiritual vein into his space yet, fearing that the entire space would become filled with immortal spiritual energy after the change. He had to bury the immortal spiritual vein when the space underwent an anomaly, and then isolate a space specifically to store the immortal spiritual energy and the immortal spiritual vein.

For the remaining six months, Qi Zhiheng and the others continued to excavate the spiritual veins and stockpiled a large number of top-grade spirit stones. At least 700 million top-grade spirit stones were accumulated by Qi Zhiheng, Yang Yitian, and the spirit-devouring insects.

Yang Yitian was overjoyed; they could relax for a while and wouldn't need to go out to earn spirit stones. With so many top-grade spirit stones, it would take someone cultivating for hundreds or even thousands of years to possibly consume them all.

Qi Zhiheng did not want to cause spatial anomalies in the Immortal Palace Secret Realm, as it was inconvenient. Therefore, he put away the top-grade spiritual veins he later obtained, intending to return to the city first and then see how things went.

Before they knew it, it was almost time to be teleported away. For the past two years, many cultivators had been trying their best to find the cultivator who had made a contract with the Immortal Palace, but unfortunately, they had come up empty-handed.

However, leaving was not an easy task. The moment Chen Chuansong took them outside, countless messages flew out.

In an instant, people from several sects gathered together, preparing to check whether these people who came out had signed contracts with the Immortal Palace.

Before the crowd had dispersed, some people had already surrounded the dragon-slaying battlefield.

Many people had already used secret methods to send out news of the Celestial Palace while they were still in the Celestial Palace's secret realm.

At this time, several sects in Zhongzhou had already sent people to guard the exit, and they had no intention of letting anyone present leave.

Some city lords without power are about to face investigation.

Yang Yitian transmitted his voice, "Will we be exposed? Should we run away quickly?"

Qi Zhiheng transmitted his voice: "No, you can put the little black snake in my space first. There's no need to run away. It's precisely at times like this that we should leave openly and honestly. In their eyes, we are just insignificant people. They won't focus their attention on us. On the contrary, those major sects are the ones who are likely to obtain the Immortal Palace in their eyes."

Qi Zhiheng possessed powerful soul energy and overheard some of the people's whispered conversations.

"It's a rogue immortal! A rogue immortal has actually come."

"It seems this matter is being taken very seriously."

"Nonsense, this is a secret realm of the celestial palace! Who wouldn't be tempted?"

Qi Zhiheng used his soul power to shield himself and put the little black snake into his own space.

As for what he had on him...

He usually puts things directly in his spatial storage, and only keeps common items in his external spatial ring. Qi Zhiheng is not afraid of being investigated at all.

Chu Huaifeng, however, was somewhat worried about Qi Zhiheng. They had unearthed dozens of top-grade spiritual veins, containing considerable wealth. If the amount of spirit stones Qi Zhiheng possessed were exposed, many would surely try to kill him and rob him.

Qi Zhiheng could tell he was a little nervous, so he sent him a telepathic message to reassure him, assuring him that his possessions would not be noticed and urging him to calm down so that he wouldn't be detained by the sects for "tea and heart-to-heart talks".

Chu Huaifeng also realized that he had overreacted. After receiving Qi Zhiheng's assurance, he returned to his original self.

Qi Zhiheng raised his chin and said, "Let's go, let's join the queue too." Even the Loose Immortals have come to help, how could they, a bunch of Mahayana cultivators, be a match for the Loose Immortals?

Although he might be able to withstand a rogue immortal if he were to stand up for himself, there's absolutely no need for that now.

They lined up in the inspection queue, but not too far back, lest they couldn't find the Immortal Palace and have to come back for a thorough inspection again. Qi Zhiheng didn't want to waste time here.

Soon, it was their turn to be inspected, and someone would specifically check their storage rings and other items.

The three of them passed quickly.

Not long after they came out, they saw Yan Yinyue and Ning Xiu. Come to think of it, they hadn't encountered them in the secret realm either. It seems they were just not meant to be.

If we could meet Yan Yinyue and the others, we could all dig for spirit stones together.

After the group reunited, Yan Yinyue asked, "Do you want to stay and see who exactly signed the agreement with the Immortal Palace?"

Qi Zhiheng shook his head and said, "Staying here might cause some trouble. There are several loose immortals here, not to mention quite a few cultivators in the Tribulation Transcending stage. City lords like us have the least power here."