Chapter 86 First published on Jinjiang: Xuan Yin Ice Mine

Once the spring within the space was successfully installed, it was like a locked mesh, impossible to remove. Yao Sisi was still worried about Qi Mu's health and had no time to deal with this.

She urged Lingyun to fly high into the sky, hurriedly searching for a water source below. Finally, she placed Qi Mu in a mountain spring pool. The depth of the pool was unknown, and it was extremely cold to the touch. The water was bubbling up from underground. She could only submerge Lingyun in the water, making sure the pool covered the magical artifact, and then lift his body up and tilt him in front of her, so that his head was slightly tilted back and his breath was not blocked by the spring water entering his mouth and nose.

The young master's jet-black hair dipped into the water, floating like a water sprite in the cold water. The icy water made his brow relax slightly, and he let out a comfortable groan.

Yao Sisi lowered her head, her ear close to his lips, "What did you just say?"

The spatial spirit seemed to sense their arrival at the water source and, disregarding everything, began drawing water from the pool into the space. Seeing its shamelessness, Yao Sisi immediately severed the connection between the space and the outside world.

Then she saw the spirit jumping up and down in the space, finally pleading, "Master, there's so much water here, please give me a little bit!"

Yao Sisi ignored it and was curious about why the pool was so cold. Could there be something underwater?

She suppressed her urge to go down and find out more, and focused on protecting Qi Mu.

After a night of this stalemate, Qi Mu gradually regained consciousness. Dragging his heavy body, his first thought was to check where Yao Sisi had gone.

Only then did they realize that they were leaning against her, both of them soaking wet, surrounded by icy mist.

"Miss Sisi..."

Yao Sisi opened her eyes and reached out to touch his dantian. Perhaps because the location was rather awkward, Qi Mu tensed up completely and dared not move.

Yao Sisi probed in with a wisp of spiritual energy and sensed that his dantian was now very weak, but the scorching temperature was no longer so violent.

"The contract was successful?"

Qi Mu's face flushed slightly. He was glad that she couldn't see his expression while he was in her arms. Only when he spoke did he realize that his voice was very hoarse and dry, "It worked..."

Yao Sisi said, "You're still weak, don't rush to speak." She took out a cup of iced tea from her storage bag and handed it to him: "Have a sip of tea to soothe your throat!"

Qi Mu raised his hand with some difficulty. He took the teacup and drank the tea little by little, which made his dry and hoarse throat feel much better.

"I owe the successful contract to you; otherwise, I would probably be ashes by now..."

Yao Sisi took the cup from his palm and comforted him, "I was the one who called you to make the contract, how could I not care about you? Your spirit fire is very domineering, I wonder if it is a strange fire."

Qi Mu humbly replied, "It's good enough that we can form a contract; I don't care what it is."

Yao Sisi was still thinking about what was underwater, and said to him, "You stay up here for a while, I'll go down and take a look. Maybe there's some treasure hidden in this deep pool."

Qi Mu slowly got up and only then noticed his surroundings. He looked at the bottomless pool and felt a little dizzy. He held Yao Sisi tightly and said, "No, don't go down by yourself. It's too dangerous. I'm worried about you."

Seeing his nervous expression, Yao Sisi laughed and said, "Fortune favors the bold, what isn't dangerous? Isn't contracting a spirit fire dangerous?"

Seeing that she had made up her mind, Qi Mu reluctantly took her hand and said, "I feel so bad right now, can you stay with me for a while?"

Once his spiritual energy recovers somewhat, he can support her at any time.

Yao Sisi paused for a moment: "Young master, I've noticed you have a bit of a yandere side. Were you just being coquettish?"

Qi Mu was caught off guard by such a direct question, and he quickly denied it, saying, "No...no, I'm telling the truth."

Yao Sisi smiled and said, "Then I can only wait for you for a little while, because I have something to take care of back to the sect and can't stay too long."

Qi Mu asked, "Aren't you going to look for inspiration for your natal magic weapon?"

Yao Sisi shook her head: "It's too late, my cultivation is about to be overwhelmed."

She waited only a short while and, seeing that Qi Mu was in much better condition, lifted Ling Yun out of the pool, and the two landed on the ground.

"You stay here for a while, I'll go down and check on the situation."

Without waiting for a reply, she stepped into the water with Jin Yang. The icy coldness seemed to penetrate to her bones as soon as she entered the water. If it weren't for the strange fire in her body, an ordinary person would freeze to death after going very far.

Seeing her so eager to get into the water so quickly, Qi Mu, who was on the shore, walked quickly to the edge of the pool. Apart from the splashes of water after she entered, there was no sign of her at all. Moreover, the water was so dark that he couldn't see anything inside.

He unleashed a series of water control spells, pulling water out of the deep pool in streams. However, due to his low cultivation level, the water control spells he used were only as thick as buckets, swirling up water from the pool and pouring it onto the nearby ground.

But moving a pool this deep with only a few buckets of water at a time is simply a drop in the ocean.

He is too weak now, and his spiritual energy is depleted, so he has no power to stir up any bigger storms.

If he had been given more time to meditate and recover his spiritual energy, he wouldn't be in such a passive position.

On the shore, he mechanically moved the water, while Yao Sisi slowly descended into the pool. The pool was too deep; she couldn't find the end. Once she reached the bottom, it was pitch black, and she couldn't see anything.

She took out a few glowing stones from her storage bag and threw one down, only to find that the stone froze on her palm as soon as it left her hand. But the water here did not freeze. Could it be that the water is also special?

No wonder the spirit usually doesn't react to water sources, but this time it actually poured water into it on its own.

She opened her spatial connection and asked the artifact spirit, "What kind of water is this? It seems unusual."

The spirit of the artifact was eager to steal the water, but the space had been sealed off before, making it unable to operate and causing it to be afraid. It could only suppress its desire and answer, "It is the spiritual water that is associated with Xuan Yin Ice. The temperature here is so low that there must be Xuan Yin Ice ore here."

Yao Sisi searched for such a name in the information she had read and vaguely remembered it. "Since it's an ice mine, it must be very valuable. I happen to be short of money right now."

The spirit, Sihasha, asked, "Master, may I draw water from here?"

Yao Sisi: "No rush, I'm afraid you'll drown yourself if you smoke too much. Come with me first to see what dangers are in here. Your main purpose is to help me collect the ore vein, understand?"

The spirit wasn't interested in the mineral vein; what it needed was the water. But it didn't dare to object at this moment. "Can I extract the spiritual water after Master finishes absorbing the mineral vein?"

Yao Sisi: "Okay, just follow my orders when the time comes. Don't act on your own and ruin my plan, otherwise I will cut off the connection between this space and the outside world. Do you understand?"

The spirit hurriedly responded, fawningly saying, "Don't worry, I will definitely do as you say."

Yao Sisi frowned slightly. The spirit was so flexible and adaptable that it was not easy to deal with. How come its intelligence increased after absorbing the spiritual spring?

She abandoned the glowing stone that had sunk into the ground, took a new one for light, and quickly dived underwater. She didn't know how many meters she had descended, but finally saw a dark mine. Yao Sisi's eyes lit up, and she followed the direction of the mine into the mine.

Just then, the water flow ahead changed, and she sensed something rushing towards her. In an instant, a large, dark fish swam over, leaving only a dark afterimage as it moved. If she hadn't had a glowing stone in her hand to illuminate the creature and dodge its body, she would have been ambushed by it.

Yao Sisi probed forward with her spiritual energy and, good heavens, a sixth-order demon beast, and in fact, its home battlefield. Fighting here is tantamount to courting death.

The long, thin fish was some kind of unusual monster, and Yao Sisi didn't know its name. She didn't have time to think about it either. The moment it charged at her, she opened a spatial entrance and put it into the space along with the surrounding pool water.

With a mournful howl, Yao Sisi connected her thoughts to the space and saw the giant fish rolling around on the open ground, frequently spraying ice arrows in all directions.

Yao Sisi said to the artifact spirit, "Isn't this space your home turf? How come you got messed up like this by a fish?"

The spirit didn't have time to reply, as it focused all its attention on how to kill the fish. The sixth-order demon beast had considerable cultivation, and under such growth conditions, it was even more powerful than an ordinary sixth-order demon beast. This was why Yao Sisi put it into the space without hesitation.

Without the sixth-tier demonic beast causing trouble, she successfully entered the mine. After walking several hundred meters, she saw icy-like minerals scattered all over the ground, which were probably the Xuan Yin Ice Ore.

She took out a spirit axe from her storage bag, infused it with spiritual energy, and began to mine. She had done this before, having mined spirit stones in the spirit stone mine before, and used those spirit stones for a long time. Back then, the equipment for mining was ordinary. This spirit axe was specially prepared for this training. She thought she wouldn't need it and would have to go back early, but she didn't expect it to come in handy.

With the help of the spirit axe, she mined very quickly. With the idea of ​​sharing so many good things with her companions, she sent a message to Qi Mu. Anyway, it wasn't difficult for him to contract with the spirit fire, and the danger of the sixth-order demon beast was gone. Even if his cultivation level was a little lower now, she wasn't afraid.

Soon Qi Mu also came down, and the two of them started digging together.

Yao Sisi said, "When I was mining spirit stones, it was just like this. I worked day and night. I was afraid that once I left the secret realm, I wouldn't be able to find such a profitable opportunity."

Qi Mu observed her complexion and said worriedly, "This place is different from other mines. We need to go up for some fresh air before coming back down."

Yao Sisi didn't mind since she had space to breathe. "I have a way to breathe, but if you feel uncomfortable, don't try to tough it out."

Qi Mu nodded. "I know, you don't need to worry."

The two of them spent most of the day digging here, and it was completely dark when they came out. Their storage bags were full of their spoils.

Yao Sisi said happily, "No wonder everyone is willing to come out and gain experience; the rewards are immense."

Qi Mu: "My luck has improved since I came out with Miss Sisi."

Yao Sisi: "Really? I only realized how sweet your words are, young master, when I saw you praising me!"

Qi Mu's ears turned red: "I truly feel that way. Ever since I met you, I've felt incredibly lucky."

Yao Sisi was too lazy to care about her promise to the artifact spirit at this point, as it was still dealing with that sixth-order demon beast!

"Let's go back quickly. My cultivation is about to collapse after absorbing so much spiritual fire. You should too. Don't think it's nothing now. After a while, once you've absorbed the spiritual fire and the contract has stabilized, there should be a reaction."

Qi Mu nodded and said, "Alright, I also hope to improve my cultivation through this experience. By the way, Miss Sisi, can I have my hairpin back?"

Yao Sisi had forgotten about it, but after he reminded her, she remembered that she had stuck the hairpin into the ground of her space. She quickly took the hairpin out, thankfully it hadn't been damaged by the sixth-tier demon beast.

"Your hairpin has a self-repair function? I saw that its texture was blurred from being burned before, but now it's completely fine!"

Qi Mu paused, her fingers touching the hairpin. She found it even better than before, which she found strange: "I don't know either, it's never been damaged before."

At this moment, the hairpin in his hand moved slightly, as if he wanted to express something. Qi Mu quickly pressed it down, afraid that he would expose himself, and put it away.

Yao Sisi: "Is this hairpin made of some kind of spiritual plant?"

Qi Mu didn't know why she was curious about the hairpin and even asked this question. "It was indeed cut from a spiritual plant. I thought it looked nice, so I used it as a hairpin."

Yao Sisi: "Young master, why are you so nervous? I can feel your breathing is rapid."

Qi Mu pursed her lips, only then realizing how strongly she was reacting. "I'm sorry... I..."

Yao Sisi: "You don't seem to be feeling well, you should take a break!"

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Author's note: Hmm, there haven't been any clicks lately. Is nobody reading this?

Scratching his head, he realized that the female lead was only about to break through to the Golden Core stage, and was still a long way from the Nascent Soul stage.

Feeling lost and helpless...