After subduing Dajin, Wei Zhong found him a little more affectionate. Through the connection between them, Wei Zhong could now exchange some simple information with him.
"Come, show me where you came from."
Wei Zhong swung himself onto Dajin's back. The smooth fish scales made it hard to sit steady, so he simply grabbed hold of his whiskers.
Dajin did not get angry at Wei Zhong's actions. He plunged straight into the lake.
By now, the turbulence in the lake had nearly settled. Only strings of bubbles still rose from the lakebed.
Gathering up the surrounding spirit stones, Wei Zhong was in high spirits.
The spirit stones he had picked up from the lakebed alone were already worth eight or nine hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, more than twice the admission fee.
And there might even be a Spirit Stone Mine below.
The thought alone made Wei Zhong immensely excited.
Man and beast continued deeper toward the lakebed. The pitch-black depths received virtually no sunlight. Wei Zhong could barely make out his surroundings with his naked eye; only with the runes of the Spirit Seeking Art could he see spirit light in all manner of shapes.
Suddenly, a deep ravine appeared before Wei Zhong, like a fissure on the ocean floor, stretching across nearly the entire lakebed.
Wei Zhong's gaze sharpened, but he calmed himself and followed Dajin deeper inside.
Looking around, Wei Zhong unexpectedly discovered unfamiliar spirit herbs growing from the rock walls within the fissure. He grabbed several handfuls of the ones brimming with spiritual energy and stuffed them into his Storage Bag.
After diving an unknown number of zhang, Dajin made a turn and entered a passageway. There was some light within it, and certain rocks on the walls gave off a faint glow.
They actually contained a trace of spiritual energy.
Wei Zhong intended to grab some, but the glowing stones seemed stuck fast to the rock wall. Worried that forcefully digging them out might trigger another lakebed earthquake, he chose not to do so.
As Dajin continued onward, more and more of this kind of rock appeared. Some were even scattered across the floor of the passage.
"What a windfall without lifting a finger."
Overjoyed, Wei Zhong gathered them all up.
After traveling several li farther, they came upon a vast underwater cave, as bright as day within and rich in spiritual energy.
"This must be where Dajin lives."
Wei Zhong looked around and discovered that this cave within the mountain was actually several times larger than the forest lake above.
It was just a little stuffy. Though glowing stones hung overhead, the place was ultimately sealed in by rock, with no sky in sight. No wonder Dajin had been so happy upon reaching the outside world.
Aquatic plants grew throughout the cave, especially the large clump at its center.
Dajin let out a strange cry. As his master, Wei Zhong understood its meaning: this was roughly his home.
He used his whiskers to part the obstructing aquatic plants, inviting Wei Zhong inside.
A flash of spirit light suddenly crossed Wei Zhong's eyes. Within the clump of aquatic plants were two golden spirit herbs.
One tall and one short, their surfaces seemed to be covered in golden scales, somewhat similar to the fish scales on Dajin's body.
Their spiritual energy was so abundant that Wei Zhong clicked his tongue in amazement. Unfortunately, he knew little about spirit plants and recognized only a few common medicinal herbs.
It seemed he would need to cram hard on the subject after leaving the secret realm.
Could they be second-order spirit herbs?
Wei Zhong was puzzled.
Seeing Wei Zhong stare endlessly at his spirit herbs, Dajin nudged him with his fish body.
He was indicating that they were his things, and Wei Zhong was not allowed to take them.
With a sigh, Wei Zhong patted his fish head.
"Be good. I'll keep them for you first, then take you outside and return them to you afterward."
There was a trace of hesitation on Dajin's fish face, but he still trusted Wei Zhong and allowed him to dig up the two spirit herbs together with the soil beneath them before placing them in his Storage Bag.
Then Wei Zhong took out a spirit stone.
"Where have you seen something like this?"
Dajin led Wei Zhong to a corner of the cave. His whiskers pointed at a hole below, indicating that spirit stones would spray out of it at intervals.
Looking at the small opening, only large enough for one person to pass through, Wei Zhong hesitated. He turned back to look at Dajin, whose body was several times larger than his own, then took out the Spirit Beast Bag and prepared to put him inside.
Though Dajin resisted somewhat, he still obediently entered the Spirit Beast Bag at Wei Zhong's request.
He had ventured in here alone and did not know whether he could return. If the secret realm closed and he failed to retrieve the spirit beast he had subdued in time, Dajin would be left behind here.
After putting Dajin away, Wei Zhong crawled into the small opening.
Within the mine, Azurewood Sect disciples wielded all manner of tool-type magic items specially made for mining spirit stones, striking and chipping away.
In a secluded, deserted mine tunnel, Wei Zhong emerged from a small pool in the ground and saw spirit stones glowing with spirit light embedded in the rock walls.
It really is a Spirit Stone Mine.
Hearing the sounds of striking and shouting, Wei Zhong suppressed his aura to its lowest point and cautiously moved toward the source.
He caught sight of many Azurewood Sect Inner Sect Disciples dressed in blue-and-white Daoist robes.
It really was the Azurewood Sect.
As the controllers of this secret realm, it was hardly strange for the Azurewood Sect to know the locations of its resources.
What Wei Zhong had not expected was that the secret realm contained such a Spirit Stone Mine—and a medium-sized mine that even produced Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.
Good heavens. The Azurewood Sect has mined an unknown number of spirit stones here over the past century. No wonder they could overpower Hanzhu City and become Mangyuan Prefecture's foremost Golden Core force.
They truly deserve to be called a great sect with a legacy spanning several centuries.
Just as Wei Zhong was marveling inwardly, he suddenly heard a cold snort.
Someone had actually discovered him.
A streak of sword light shot toward Wei Zhong. Before he could consider how he had been exposed, he hurriedly brought out the high-grade first-order shield he had just bought.
The small sword struck the shield, nearly punching a hole through it.
Wei Zhong had no time for shock or heartache, because the next streak of sword light was already about to arrive. He could also sense that the enemy who had discovered him was rushing in this direction.
Drawing his magic sword, he exchanged a strike with the second streak of sword light, then used the recoil to flee backward.
Glancing down, he saw that a notch had already appeared on his high-grade first-order magic sword.
Wei Zhong's heart ached terribly. Those two flying swords had to be Second-Order Magic Items; otherwise, they could not have nearly crippled both his shield and flying sword in a single exchange.
Just what kind of person had the Azurewood Sect sent, to possess two second-order flying sword magic items at once?
And such terrifying spiritual senses, too—enough to discover him even when he had concealed his aura with all his might.
The mine tunnels had already fallen into chaos.
"An enemy has infiltrated! Be careful, junior brothers..."
Wei Zhong also fled in frantic haste, long since losing all sense of where he was.
"They're following far too closely, aren't they?"
Wei Zhong could feel the chill coming from behind him. The moment he slowed, a flying sword would catch up to him.
Lu Yibin, following behind, was equally surprised.
"What speed. It seems this time we have a troublesome opponent."
But Lu Yibin still did not take him seriously. With his strength, he had never let a mere Qi Refining Rogue Cultivator escape.
Yet judging by the direction in which that person was fleeing, he seemed to be heading upward toward the Inheritance Hall.
Wei Zhong continued fleeing and finally caught sight of daylight.
"I'm finally out!"
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