Seeing Ziling staring at her, Yueling smiled and reached out her little hand to touch Ziling's nose: "Hello, Sister Ziling!"
Zi Ling was overjoyed to be called "sister" and affectionately nuzzled Yue Ling with her head: "Yue Ling, you're so cute!"
Qing Xuanzi looked at Yue Ling thoughtfully: "You said it can be used for mining?"
Yue Ling proudly puffed out her little chest: "Yes, yes! I am the spirit of the artifact, and I am most sensitive to the spiritual objects of heaven and earth!" As she spoke, she waved her little hand, and a silver light flashed, and a pile of crystal clear spirit stones suddenly appeared in front of everyone.
"Wow!" Zi Ling's eyes widened. "Did you just dig all of these?"
Yue Ling nodded proudly: "There are still many more in this vein! Master, I've absorbed all your spirit stones, and I'll go dig out lots and lots for you right now."
Rong Jiaojiao nodded and instructed, "Don't dig up all the spirit stones. Dig up all the medium-grade and above ones, and leave half of the low-grade spirit stones. Dig them in intervals, and don't destroy the vein."
Yue Ling nodded: "I know: 'Leaving half of it allows it to regenerate, just like that tiger's den last time.'"
"Oh, master, where are the two tigers?"
Rong Jiaojiao said, "They didn't want to follow us, so we released them."
"Alright, those two aren't very strong either, they're useless."
"Alright, I'm going to mine now."
After Yue Ling finished speaking, she transformed into a streak of silver light and disappeared into the ground.
Rong Jiaojiao could sense through her divine sense that it was happily traversing through the mineral vein, and wherever it passed, spirit stones of medium grade or higher disappeared and were collected into the small secret realm.
Qing Xuanzi stroked his beard and laughed, "This little fellow is quite the treasure hunter."
Zi Ling looked at Rong Jiaojiao longingly: "Master, I also want to help Yue Ling mine!"
Rong Jiaojiao chuckled: "You should just focus on your cultivation. Look, Little Gold has been cultivating all along, and nothing we say can affect it."
Zi Ling looked and saw that Xiao Jin was lying there motionless, and spiritual energy entered its body with each breath.
Zi Ling then calmed down and went to the side to cultivate.
The master and disciple exchanged a glance, smiled, sat down, and continued their cultivation.
Rong Jiaojiao consolidated her newly broken-through realm, feeling the perfect fusion of spiritual power and elemental power within her body.
She discovered that her spiritual power contained a trace of cool, moonlit aura, making her movements more fluid and natural when practicing her cultivation techniques.
Inside the mine, Yue Ling's small body moved about.
Wherever it passed, spirit stones fell off. It strictly followed its master's orders, only collecting spirit stones of medium grade or higher and half of the low-grade spirit stones, and leaving some low-grade spirit stones at intervals to ensure that the vein could continue to grow.
As Yue Ling mined, she hummed a little tune. Suddenly, she paused, sniffed the air, and her eyes lit up: "Huh? What's that smell?"
Following the fluctuations of spiritual energy, it burrowed deeper into the crevice of the mine. The deeper it went, the denser the spiritual energy became, even faintly carrying an aura that intoxicated it.
"There's treasure..." Moon Spirit excitedly quickened its pace, and finally, it passed through a narrow crevice in the rocks, and suddenly the view opened up before it—
A hidden natural stone cave appeared before it. In the center of the cave, a fist-sized crystal was suspended, with colorful liquid flowing inside and emitting a soft spiritual light.
"The core of the spiritual vein!" Yue Ling exclaimed, covering her mouth with her small hand, afraid of disturbing something.
The core of the spiritual vein is the essence of the entire vein, containing the purest spiritual power, and can even autonomously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to replenish the vein's losses.
If it's taken directly, the entire vein will gradually dry up, but if only a portion is absorbed...
Moon Spirit's eyes darted around, remembering her master's instructions: "The mine must not be destroyed..."
It tilted its head and thought for a moment, then suddenly had a brilliant idea: "I can share it in half!"
It cautiously approached the core of the spiritual vein, its small hand gently touching the surface of the crystal. A silver-blue halo spread from its palm and slowly seeped into the crystal.
"Buzz—" The crystal trembled slightly, and the seven-colored liquid inside began to separate. Half of it remained in place, while the other half flowed into its body under the guidance of the moon spirit.
"Mmm...so comfortable!" Yue Ling squinted her eyes, feeling the powerful spiritual energy flowing through her body, and her form seemed to solidify a bit more.
After absorbing the energy, Yue Ling nodded in satisfaction and left the cave to continue digging for spirit stones.
Two hours had passed by the time it had traversed the entire mine, and within the small secret realm, various spirit stones were piled up like mountains.
It was in the last place it had been, and just as it was about to go back to find its owner, it noticed a faint golden light flashing in the corner.
"Huh? There's something else?" Yue Ling flew over curiously and found a rusty metal block lying on the ground with blurry patterns engraved on it.
It picked it up and blew on it, causing the rust on the metal piece to fall off, revealing some clear runes, and a few words could be vaguely discerned—
"Snow...land..."
Yue Ling scratched her head: "What is this? Never mind, I can't see the rest clearly, let's take it back to show our master first!"
It carefully collected the metal pieces, checked the surrounding area again to make sure nothing was missing, and then drilled out of the vein with satisfaction.
On the ground, Rong Jiaojiao had just finished a round of cultivation when she suddenly sensed Yue Ling's aura approaching. She opened her eyes and saw a golden light emerge from the ground, and Yue Ling happily sat on her shoulder.
"Master! I'm back!"
Rong Jiaojiao caught it with a smile: "Finished digging?"
Yue Ling nodded vigorously: "Yes! As Master instructed, I only took the mid-grade and above spirit stones, and half of the low-grade spirit stones, and kept the other half of the low-grade spirit stones!"
As it spoke, it waved its little hand, and a pile of spirit stones appeared on the ground with a clatter. These were all of medium grade, roughly estimated to be at least tens of thousands of stones, including dozens of high grade spirit stones that exuded rich spiritual energy.
Qing Xuanzi gasped: "So many?"
Yue Ling shook her head smugly, "It's not much, just a drop in the ocean, a gift for Master."
Before Qing Xuanzi could even feel moved, it mysteriously leaned close to Rong Jiaojiao's ear and said, "Master, I also discovered this!"
It took the metal piece and handed it to Rong Jiaojiao.
Rong Jiaojiao took it and examined it carefully, while Qing Xuanzi also came over to look.
The metal piece is only a palm-sized square block with ancient and obscure runes on it, but the words "Snowy Region" can be vaguely discerned. There is also a half-incomplete pattern on the back.
Qing Xuanzi frowned and looked at it for a long time, but couldn't figure out what it was. He said, "If you can't figure out what it is, put it away for now. You'll know when the time is right."
Rong Jiaojiao nodded and put the metal piece into her sleeve.
Yue Ling really wanted to go out and play, so she asked, "Master, when are we leaving?"
Rong Jiaojiao looked at the pool that still had a lot of spiritual essence liquid left and said, "After this is absorbed, Master will also break through. Fortunately, this place is well hidden. We can leave after Master breaks through. I will also take this time to organize my treasures."
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