Upon hearing this, Wang Hao sighed inwardly. This female cultivator had at least temporarily escaped a calamity. Then he found it laughable, since the female cultivator's nascent soul had already been destroyed.
Only a complete physical body remained. Honor and disgrace, rise and fall, were no longer important to her, after all, death is like a lamp going out.
The middle-aged man talked with Xia Xue and the other Tianxing leaders for a long time, and finally asked to see the golden bamboo.
Xia Xue and the others had already anticipated this, so they generously took out a section of bamboo that had already been cut off and gave it to him directly.
Wang Hao stared wide-eyed. He was certain that it was a spiritual herb called Golden Thunder Bamboo, which could be used to refine pills, craft weapons, and cultivate lightning magic.
Chitu could no longer pretend to be calm. Just as he was about to speak, the people from Tianxing took the initiative to say, "We don't have any extras. The amount of golden bamboo we've collected is limited, and we need to keep some for experiments."
Finally, Xia Xue gave him a golden bamboo leaf, indicating that this was all she could offer.
Chi Tu felt very aggrieved. He looked at the section of golden bamboo in Wu Lei's hand, and then at the golden leaves in his own palm. There was no harm without comparison.
Wang Hao couldn't resist any longer. After observing the surrounding stone walls, he realized that they contained a considerable amount of spiritual energy. So he asked directly, "Beautiful lady, may I dig out a few stones from these stone walls?"
Upon hearing this, everyone looked surprised.
Wang Hao realized he had been a bit abrupt, so he quickly explained, "I am someone who practices breathing techniques and greatly admire such seniors. Now I have witnessed such a legend."
"I am very satisfied, but I still want to take a few rocks from here as a memento to spur myself on. I can continue to practice the breathing technique and even become immortal for a thousand years."
Chi Tu was somewhat surprised. He knew Wang Hao well and knew that he wasn't particularly fond of these mythological figures. Why had he changed his mind today and actually wanted to take a few stones as souvenirs?
A middle-aged man from the military laughed and said, "Not bad, young man. You're a martial arts fanatic, just like me when I was young. We can keep in touch in the future, even though I've now transitioned to martial arts."
"But I haven't given up on breathing techniques. If you encounter any problems you don't understand, you can come to me and I'll teach you properly."
Wang Hao immediately showed a sincere smile to express his gratitude, and took the initiative to exchange contact information with him. Of course, he left the mobile phone number that was specifically used to liaise with the exploration organization.
When the project leader and other researchers at Tianxing saw that he was in this state, and that someone from the military had spoken up, they all nodded, adopting an indifferent attitude.
In fact, they had already searched the place thoroughly. The nun did leave behind some artifacts, but they were almost all burned, and there was nothing else of value.
Moreover, they had already explored the cave dozens of times with the most advanced instruments, and found that there were no interlayers or other special substances or energy.
Wang Hao casually walked over, spotted a stone, placed his hands on it, and began to fully circulate the Innate Primordial Dao Scripture, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy from the stone wall.
He deliberately pretended to be struggling, taking a long time to pry off a piece of gravel, but in that short time, Wang Hao's cultivation level increased again.
"Young man, how about I help you?" The middle-aged man in military uniform shook his head and smiled wryly, wanting to step forward to help.
However, Wang Hao flatly refused, saying, "No need. This kind of thing is meaningful only if you do it yourself. We should respect the sages."
Helpless, the others could only step aside and watch him "laboriously" dig at the rock.
Although the cave had been cleaned, there were still charred marks in the cracks, which didn't look like they were burned by fire, but rather like they were struck by lightning.
Wang Hao dug away a total of eight stones, which took him more than half an hour. If Chi Tu hadn't called him, he probably would have dawdled for another hour or so, but even so.
His cultivation was about to break through to the late stage of the Spiritual Awareness Realm, just one step away. Moreover, one of the eight stones contained a rich spiritual energy.
Seeing this, Chi Tu was not to be outdone. He sighed and said, "I am also someone who practices useless techniques. Unfortunately, I am not good enough. Although I admire the sages of the past, my own strength is insufficient. I must also walk the path of martial arts. Take these two stones with me as souvenirs."
What could the people of Tianxing do? They had just given him a leaf; they couldn't be so biased towards one stone over the other.
"Alas, our path of useless techniques has come to an end. From now on, we can only pin our hopes on martial arts." The middle-aged man from the military stepped forward, quite saddened, and also grabbed two stones.
"How pathetic!" Mu Long sighed, tears welling in his eyes. He silently walked over and tucked two fist-sized stones into his pocket.
Wang Hao was somewhat stunned. He was certain that these three people actually knew nothing, yet they followed his example. Were they truly shrewd, or were they simply blindly following the trend?
The people from Tianxing laughed. They thought, "Trying to take advantage of us? How ridiculous! This cave has been dug out to perfection, examined a hundred and eighty times. If there were anything of value here, would we have left it for you?"
"You guys are really something." Wu Lei sighed, then turned and walked towards the elevator.
Chitu, Mulong, and the middle-aged man from the military gave slightly embarrassed smiles, knowing that everyone understood the situation.
However, while waiting for the elevator, Wu Lei casually picked a piece of gravel from the stone wall next to him, put it in his pocket without changing his expression, and led everyone to take the elevator back to the ground.
Watching this from behind, Wang Hao was genuinely impressed. This was someone who had truly seen the world; everything he did was so natural.
“Hey young man, I see you brought out quite a lot of gravel. I suddenly remembered that if my comrades ask me for some, I only have two pieces on me, not enough to share. Could you give me one or two more?”
The middle-aged man in military uniform looked at Wang Hao with a sincere expression, showing no embarrassment whatsoever.
Wang Hao was both amused and exasperated. This guy had been so polite, a martial arts fanatic who reminded him of himself in his younger days, and he'd even left his phone number. It seemed he'd been thanking him for nothing.
Wu Lei pushed up his glasses and said calmly, "Young man, give me one too. I was in too much of a hurry just now, and the stone I pried off was too small."
Good heavens, none of them are easy to deal with, they all have too many ideas in their minds. But Wang Hao didn't care, he had already thought of this possibility. Of the eight pieces he took off, only one contained rich spiritual energy.
So Wang Hao didn't say much, casually tossing the lifeless pebbles to the man in military uniform and Wu Lei. Seeing Chi Tu staring blankly to the side, he also threw over a piece.
Seeing this, Mu Long immediately became anxious and said with a smile, "Young man, you see, we're all from an exploration organization..."
"No chance, don't even think about it. When you ambushed me last time, you didn't say we were from the same organization." Wang Hao was quite decisive, leaving Mu Long speechless.
Afterwards, everyone said their goodbyes and left one after another. Although the adventure was thrilling but safe, Wang Hao had already begun to consider retiring, not wanting to put his fate on someone else's chessboard.
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