At last, a reward

Early the next morning.

Lin Yun returned to the canyon cliffs above the spirit stone mine.

After sweeping his spiritual sense over the surroundings and finding nothing unusual, Lin Yun used Formless Sword Escape to conceal himself in the void and flew silently into the spirit stone mine in the canyon.

Only one early Foundation Establishment cultivator from Heavenly Gate Fort was stationed in the Spirit Stone Mine, along with several dozen Qi Refining Stage disciples from various sects. The rest of the miners digging for spirit stones were mostly mortals.

Hidden in the void, Lin Yun wandered freely through the mine and unexpectedly discovered that the mortal miners here actually lived fairly well.

This surprised Lin Yun greatly, but after some thought, he found it reasonable. Spirit stones were naturally formed from the stable condensation of spiritual energy between heaven and earth, so there was no danger of explosions. Moreover, cultivators had placed restrictions and formations within the mine. Unless someone attacked from outside, there was no risk of the tunnels collapsing either.

As for their living conditions, cultivators certainly would not stint on supplies for mortal miners.

Nor would cultivators casually harm mortals. The demonic cultivators of the Heavenly South were not yet so sinister in their cultivation of demonic arts and refinement of demonic artifacts. They slaughtered only fellow cultivators to empower their artifacts, rather than using mortal flesh, blood, and living souls.

After circling through the mine several times, Lin Yun found an exceptionally long tunnel. He immediately used Formless Sword Escape to slip underground and began searching for Underground Caverns.

Only a short while later, a flash of sword light appeared in an underground cavern, and Lin Yun stood within it.

By the sword light, Lin Yun surveyed the cavern passages branching in every direction and decided that he had probably found the right place.

Not wishing to waste any more magical power, Lin Yun withdrew the sword light and concealed the Clearvoid Invisible Sword nearby, then took out a moonlight stone to light his way.

Choosing a direction at random, Lin Yun walked forward, taking care to extend his spiritual sense as well, lest the Blood Jade Spider living in the caverns ambush him.

After passing through more than ten caves, Lin Yun suddenly heard a rustling series of footsteps, like a company of soldiers marching in neat formation.

He stopped at once, concealed himself, and followed the sound.

After passing through several more caves, a spacious cavern appeared before Lin Yun.

Within it, an enormous, crystalline white spider was carrying raw spirit stone ore with its two fangs, piling the ore in heaps around an exceedingly ancient hexagonal Teleportation Array.

At last, I found it. Joy welled up in Lin Yun's heart. After nearly eight years, he finally had something to show for his efforts.

His gaze shifted to the five-colored skeleton beside the Teleportation Array, seated cross-legged three feet above the ground, and to the glowing blue token held in its hands. Lin Yun suddenly widened his eyes and murmured, "Such concentrated Five Elements Essence Qi! This... this is a strand of Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi!"

Astral Qi was, in essence, a highly refined form of the Primordial Qi of heaven and earth. However, this Primordial Qi was exceptionally pure and extreme in nature, and could only form through a fortuitous convergence of circumstances.

Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi, for instance, formed only when the five types of Five Elements Essence Qi-jia wood, bing fire, wu earth, geng metal, and ren water-achieved an exquisitely delicate balance and, by a chance convergence, gathered Qian Heaven Yang Qi from above the nine heavens.

Qianyang Five Elements Stellar Qi had a vast range of applications, with many wondrous uses in both refining magical treasures and cultivating divine abilities.

After giving the five-colored skeleton a burning look, Lin Yun shifted his gaze to the Blood Jade Spider, which was gnawing on raw spirit stone ore.

With a thought, he revealed himself and beckoned with one hand. The sword followed his will, and the Clearvoid Invisible Sword silently appeared above the Blood Jade Spider's head, unleashing a soundless, formless blade of sword qi that struck it instantly.

The sword qi knocked the Blood Jade Spider straight to the ground, but did little damage. The invisible sword qi had merely left a three-foot-long white mark on its head.

"What a hard shell! Just what I'd expect from a Level Four Demon Beast." Lin Yun gave a soft exclamation of surprise and cast aside his contempt.

As the Blood Jade Spider climbed back up, glared at him furiously, and charged, Lin Yun immediately formed a sword seal with his left hand and raised the sword fingers of his right to guide the blade, giving a low command: "Go!"

The Clearvoid Invisible Sword revealed its blade with a crisp ring and transformed into a ribbon of clear, cold sword light, abruptly slashing toward the Blood Jade Spider.

After sweeping past one of the Blood Jade Spider's legs, the sword light slashed toward another as though shifting through the void.

A rapid flurry of sword light flashed past, and all eight of the Blood Jade Spider's legs were severed at once.

At the same time, the Blood Jade Spider let out a piercing shriek and began spitting webs at Lin Yun without pause.

At a thought from Lin Yun, an enormous five-colored finger appeared before him, blocking every web.

Meanwhile, the Clearvoid Invisible Sword flashed and slashed again, striking the Blood Jade Spider's head in an instant. Two streaks of sword light crossed, and its head was severed, ending its life.

Lin Yun beckoned, and the Clearvoid Invisible Sword flew back instantly, disappearing into his Profound Aperture.

Walking over to the Blood Jade Spider's corpse, Lin Yun glanced at its eight severed legs and its still fairly intact body, then remarked, "A fine set of artifact-refining materials."

He then walked over to the five-colored skeleton, took the blue token, and examined it carefully.

"So this is what a Great Teleportation Token looks like."

With a turn of his hand, Lin Yun put away the Great Teleportation Token and looked at the Teleportation Array. Studying its complex runic patterns and damaged corner, he frowned slightly. "It looks like I'll have to ask Ruoyin to repair this formation."

Although Lin Yun was proficient in the various formations of Zu Mountain, he knew nothing at all about Teleportation Arrays.

There were no Teleportation Arrays in the Zu Mountain World, so naturally he had no understanding of them.

Although he had previously read some information about Teleportation Arrays at Xin Ruoyin's place, he had never devoted any effort to the subject.

Taking out several blank jade slips, Lin Yun copied down the Ancient Teleportation Formation. Then he looked at the five-colored skeleton with burning eyes and murmured to himself, "To think the greatest reward of this trip wasn't the Ancient Teleportation Formation, but you!"

He immediately took out the Golden Lamp containing the Solar True Fire.

Although the Golden Lamp's appearance had not changed, Lin Yun had refined it anew after reaching Foundation Establishment, perfecting its internal restrictions and greatly improving its ability to gather Solar True Fire.

Holding the Pure Yang Golden Lamp before him, Lin Yun blew gently at the soybean-sized wisp of Solar True Fire in its bowl, exhaling a stream of five-colored radiance.

The radiance swept up the Solar True Fire, instantly transforming into a mass of golden flames that licked across the five-colored skeleton. The skeleton burst into flames and, in mere moments, vanished like smoke and scattered clouds, leaving only ten five-colored beads floating in midair.

"Heaven Mending Pills!" Lin Yun put away the Pure Yang Golden Lamp,

Then beckoned, drawing the ten five-colored beads into his hand as he recalled their origins.