To prevent any hidden dangers from rising too quickly in cultivation, Ji Chenhai began to compress the spiritual power in his body after breaking through to the ninth level of the Spirit Gathering Realm, and started to steadily increase his cultivation level.

Needless to say, Wuying and Wuhen steadily broke through to the seventh level of the Spirit Gathering Realm.

The guards below also broke through several levels in succession, basically reaching the fifth or sixth level of the Spirit Gathering Realm. Hu Ji was also just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to the seventh level of the Spirit Gathering Realm.

Even the two girls, Xique and Bailu, who were constantly chasing and playing in the spirit mine and hadn't focused on cultivation at all, broke through to the seventh and fifth levels of the Spirit Gathering Realm, respectively.

However, after this surge in cultivation, everyone's speed slowed down.

This must be what Ji Fengyao said:

The body's meridians have a period of self-replenishment, and this period has almost passed.

Every step forward requires them to actively and diligently cultivate their skills.

They mined spirit ore for several days in a row.

Shang Xiye allowed all the people and beasts to rest for a day.

Ji Fengming lay sprawled on a straw mat placed on a high haystack, gazing at the three towering mountains before him, and said, "I estimate that after these few days of mining, we've only extracted less than one-twentieth of the amount. Such a large spirit mine is both a joy and a worry for me. At this rate, we'll need a year just to mine it."

As he spoke, he sat up halfway and turned to Shang Xiye, who was sitting on the soft couch next to him, and said, "Brother-in-law, if we stay here for a year, your written pledge can be nullified. After we finish mining, we'll go and fight the Di Kingdom. After we finish fighting the Di Kingdom, we'll go straight back to Vulture Village, become kings of the mountain, and focus on our cultivation. We won't go back to the capital to listen to that dog emperor's babbling!"

Shadowless: "..."

Wuhen: "..."

Dog Emperor, babbling on and on...

That's a great image; I can almost see the scene!

"The mine won't run away, but if we don't go back in a year, that old hag, the Empress Dowager, won't survive," Ji Fengyao said, lying on the soft couch, comfortably fanning herself with a small round fan.

Ji Fengming still didn't understand: "What does it have to do with us whether that old hag lives or dies?"

"In this world, perhaps only that old hag knows the exact whereabouts of Xiao Jiu's birth mother, Consort Lian," Hei Xiao gently tugged at Ji Fengming's sleeve.

Ji Fengming immediately jumped up: "If that's the case, why didn't you act sooner? If it were me, I would have tied up that old hag long ago and subjected her to all sorts of cruel tortures until I got the answer. How can you be so patient!"

"You talk so casually, why don't you go and deal with those old ancestors of the Ji family? You've been hanging around with your mother and me in Vulture Village for so many years," Ji Chenhai said coolly, effectively dismantling his argument.

Ji Fengming felt a chill run down his spine when he thought of his incredibly old-fashioned uncles and grandfathers in the Ji family: they were truly a bunch of ancestors!

They really are ancestors who are stubbornly clinging to the old ways!

I don't know how these old fogies could have produced such a rebellious son like his father;

As a result, all of his siblings and he inherited his father's personality, making them quite an oddity in the Ji family.

Ji Fengming had only returned to the ancestral hall twice, but on those two occasions, he knelt there eight times. If his father and mother hadn't been angry and taken him away, his knees would have been ruined.

Thinking of this, Ji Fengming couldn't help but shudder. He knew that in matters concerning the royal family and merchants, Shang Xiye still had considerations of blood ties. Neither of them were heartless people, and blood ties couldn't be severed so easily.

Just like his father, although he always said "I will not return to the Ji family and will establish my own household", his heart never left.