Digging a Hole
At this moment, Yue Qianchou was naturally unaware that the disciples of the Six Great Sects were praising him as brightly as a big red flower, and even less aware that the Six Great Sects had decided to end the trial ahead of schedule, and were thinking about whether they could make more money in the Demon Ghost Domain, slowly fill a month before returning.
The Three Saints of the Spirit Mist respectfully led the six towards the mountaintop, answering Yue Qianchou's questions without hesitation. The latter finally learned some details about the three monsters. All three were demons who had cultivated for over two thousand years, reaching the early Tribulation stage. The alluring woman, scantily clad, was a multicolored snake spirit named Hong Sanniang. The yellow-haired old monster, judging by his hairstyle, was a lion spirit named Huang Erwei. The more dignified-looking old monster's true form was a mountain demon named Hou Daquan.
Upon reaching the summit, the group was astonished by the sheer density of Spiritual Qi! The Spiritual Qi at the mountaintop was so dense that it could condense into mist and rain. Yue Qianchou felt the delicate fragrance mingling with the gentle spray on his skin, as if he were enveloped in a rain of perfume.
"You three certainly know how to enjoy yourselves, managing to snag such a great spot. It must be of great help to your cultivation," Yue Qianchou said to the three monsters with a cryptic smile.
This startled the three oddballs. Did they think the three of them weren't good enough to enjoy this place? It seemed this auspicious spot would have to be given away. Hong Sanniang stepped forward and said, "If you are satisfied with this place, sir, the three of us are willing to give it to you."
"Oh!" Yue Qianchou's gaze swept over the two mounds of white flesh on her chest, which were barely contained by her clothes, and he said indifferently, "Am I the kind of person who steals someone else's love?"
Hong Sanniang twisted her waist and waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "That's not what I meant. We are willing to give this place to you, sir."
"Is that so?" Yue Qianchou looked at Hou Daquan and Huang Erwei and asked, "Do you two mean the same thing?" The two strange men exchanged glances, and Hou Daquan respectfully said, "We are clumsy with words and don't know how to speak. Third Sister's meaning is our meaning."
Yue Qianchou felt it was a pity. It was a pity that this place couldn't be moved, and he couldn't stay here for long. Otherwise, if he cultivated here every day, he believed he could break through to the late Foundation Establishment very quickly. Thinking about it, he waved his hand with a pang of regret and said, "I appreciate your kindness, but there's no need."
The three strange people exchanged glances, thinking to themselves, "Bi Changchun's disciple is indeed someone who has seen all sorts of good things. He can't even appreciate such a nice place."
"Hey! That's right." Yue Qianchou asked curiously, "Why is there such a dense Spiritual Qi here? Do you know why?"
Hong Sanniang smiled somewhat reservedly, "The three of us chose to settle here because the surrounding trees were tall and the forests were dense. We stayed here for over a thousand years without seeing anything unusual. Strangely enough, about half a year ago, a fragrance suddenly appeared from somewhere, and then the Spiritual Qi became stronger and stronger, resulting in what we are now. Otherwise, with our cultivation levels back then, we wouldn't have been able to occupy such a place."
Yue Qianchou nodded, thinking that it made sense. Which demon wouldn't like such a place with abundant Spiritual Qi? With their cultivation levels from a thousand years ago, the three of them certainly couldn't have protected it. Even now, it's probably only because this phenomenon only appeared for a short time; otherwise, with their early Tribulation stage Transcending cultivation, they still wouldn't have been able to protect it.
Looking around at the surroundings, the mountain was quite strange. The foot of the mountain and the middle of the mountain were lush and green, but there was not a single tree on the top of the mountain. Instead, there were only strangely shaped stone forests. The unusually fragrant scent seemed to be coming from the stone forests.
Yue Qianchou stared at the stone forest with shining eyes and asked, "Could there be some treasure beneath this stone forest?"
"Please follow me, sir." Hong Sanniang led the way, and the group followed her into the stone forest. When they arrived at a stone cave, the fragrance became even stronger, as if it were coming from the cave itself.
Hong Sanniang pointed to the stone cave and said, "Sir, we share the same thought as the three of us. We also suspect that there is some treasure at the bottom of this mountain, so we wanted to dig a hole down to see what it is. However, the hardness of the stone here is beyond our expectations. The surface is a little better, but the deeper we go, the more difficult it is to dig. It took the three of us nearly half a year to dig to a depth of nearly 100 meters. Now we can hardly move forward. I'm afraid we won't be able to go any further without Law Treasure that can split mountains and crack rocks."
"Oh, is that so?" Yue Qianchou asked curiously. "Let's go in and take a look."
He said this and went in first. The cave wasn't big, barely big enough for two people to walk side by side, probably because it was difficult to dig. After walking a dozen meters deep, just as things started to get dark, he suddenly saw specks of light. Yue Qianchou was stunned. Fluorite? Could this be Spirit Stone mine? He only learned back when he was a miner at the Qingguang Sect that fluorite was a by-product of Spirit Stone.
They quickly headed down, as the cave was dug downwards from the mountaintop, making the slope quite steep. Every ten meters or so, the cave's direction would reverse. After walking nearly a hundred meters, they found the path ended; they had reached the end of the cave. Hong Niangzi explained from behind, "The three of us have only dug this far so far."
Yue Qianchou nodded, made a hand seal, and three cold beams shot towards the stone wall. First Company clanging sounds rang out. After the flying swords were retrieved, it was discovered that the First Company of attacks had only left a bunch of white spots on the stone wall, not even enough to create a few small pits.
"Hiss!" Yue Qianchou gasped, reaching out to touch the stone wall. "What hard stone."
A fleeting smile crossed Hong Sanniang's eyes. She thought to herself, "There must be some treasure down here. Otherwise, there wouldn't be this strange phenomenon. I only brought you here because I knew you couldn't dig it out. We'll leave it for the day when the three of us can dig it out. What's down there will still be ours."
Yue Qianchou stroked his chin, stared at the stone wall in thought for a moment, and then suddenly said, "You all go out first. No one is allowed to come in without my permission. Hong Sanniang, you three take good care of my friends. If even a hair on their head is missing, you'll have to face the consequences yourselves."
The following sentence, set against the eerie blue glow of the cave, sounded exceptionally chilling. The Three Saints of the Spirit Mist shuddered and bowed in acceptance of the order. Meanwhile, Kou Xuehua and the others muttered amongst themselves, "We're fellow disciples, when did we become your friends?" But being in such a dangerous situation, they weren't fools. They knew Yue Qianchou must have a deeper meaning in his words, so they had no choice but to resolve to cooperate.
Once there was no more movement behind him and he was sure everyone had left, Yue Qianchou produced a pair of gloves. These were the very same 'Mountain-Piercing Claws' that had once helped him steal Spirit Stone. After putting them on, he brandished the ten dark, gleaming claws and chuckled to himself, "Law Treasure that can split mountains and shatter rocks? I happen to have a pair here. I'd like to see what's down there, protected by such hard rocks. Don't disappoint me!"
"Swish, swish..." Claws flew, and stone chips began to fly from the iron-hard stone wall. The stone cave continued to descend deeper into the cave, accompanied by an unstoppable smile on Yue Qianchou's face.
After half a day, Yue Qianchou himself didn't know how deep he had dug, but it was enough to reach the lower part of the mountain. Since the mountain wasn't very high to begin with, probably only two or three hundred meters high, and apart from the nearly one hundred meters that the three idiots had dug, he estimated that he had dug two or three hundred meters as well. Thinking of this, Yue Qianchou couldn't help but curse out loud, "Damn it! Three idiots, didn't they know to dig from the bottom of the mountain? They insisted on starting from the top, making me work for nothing for so long."
After cursing, he swung his claws First Company. Suddenly, with one strike, he felt a sense of relief. A purple light was wriggling at the crack in the stone wall. Yue Qianchou overjoyed. With a few more strikes, he created a hole big enough to crawl through. He peeked inside and saw what he saw. Yue Qianchou was immediately dumbfounded, almost drooling...
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