Yet the more things remained this way, the more uneasy the Seven Sects became about this place. Half a month earlier, they had sent another group of over twenty cultivators as reinforcements.
Their leader was a late Foundation Establishment cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain.
Naturally, this greatly strengthened the mine's defenses!
But many sensed a storm brewing and began cultivating much more diligently.
Naruto paid none of this any mind.
On the night he arrived at the Spirit Stone Mine, he sought out its original guardian, Yu Xing, an early Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Under the influence of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Yu Xing told Naruto about an underground escape passage hidden in the Spirit Stone Mine.
In the original story, Han Li had accidentally discovered the cavern containing the Ancient Teleportation Array after entering this passage.
Now, after several days of searching with his earth-traveling ability, Naruto's Earth Clone had finally discovered the Ancient Teleportation Array!
It lay in a vast cavern filled with stalactites.
In the middle of the cavern, a crystalline white spider over ten meters long stared coldly at Naruto and his companions.
"This must be that extremely rare [Blood Jade Spider]!"
Naruto looked at the spider with delight.
This spider had originally been raised by Xuan Gu, an old Nascent Soul monster from the Chaotic Star Sea, specifically to retrieve the Void Sky Cauldron from Void Sky Hall.
But his own disciple, Ji Xuan, had stolen it and fled here through the Ancient Teleportation Array.
Naruto looked behind the Blood Jade Spider and saw an exceptionally ancient-looking hexagonal teleportation array surrounded by heaps of unprocessed spirit stones.
Beside the array, a five-colored skeleton floated three feet above the ground in a cross-legged meditation posture. It held a brilliant blue token that emitted a faint glow.
The hexagonal