Back home, Qiu Wuji flopped onto the sofa, looking somewhat tired. She grabbed the Piglet Pillow from the sofa and held it, resting her chin on it as she pondered.
Chu Ge leaned back beside her to rest as well. "What exactly did you discover down there that has you so absorbed?"
"First of all, there's no source of spiritual energy in that mine at all. At least, I couldn't find one."
Chu Ge wasn't concerned. "If even you couldn't find one, there probably really isn't one... So what? It's not our mine."
Qiu Wuji hesitated. "But your esteemed father..."
"Hmm?" Chu Ge stared at her.
"U-Uncle... Oh, what's wrong with saying 'your esteemed father'?" Qiu Wuji grabbed him by the collar. "Has it been so long since I last beat you up that you've forgotten how weak you still are?"
Chu Ge raised his hands in surrender. "No, no... What about my dad?"
"There was a special rock down there. It looked no different from the other rocks, just a piece of blasted rock, the sort you could find everywhere."
"And?"
"But my Earth Escape Technique couldn't merge with it. I bumped right off." Qiu Wuji hugged the Piglet Pillow again and said absently, "No matter how I analyzed its composition, it was just a rock. But it definitely wasn't a normal rock. There must have been some subtle difference in its structure."
"The last time I heard something that made so much sense was the last time..."
"What I mean is, that rock was very likely conjured up. Whoever conjured it probably didn't understand the composition and structure of rocks very well either. They just made an imitation and left it there, so it differed from normal rock in the finer details, preventing me from merging with it."