Spirit Stone Mine

For once, Shen Fei did not go out that day. Instead, he stayed home, considering exactly how many methods he currently had at his disposal in battle.

First was the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Copying was useless now, but its perception and Genjutsu let him fight like a fish in water. It could be said that none of the current espers had a more varied arsenal than Shen Fei.

Next was Fire Release.

Shen Fei knew almost every Fire Release technique, so there was little more to say about that.

There was also Wood Release. So far, Shen Fei could use Nativity of a World of Trees, but not Advent of a World of Flowering Trees. Ultimately, his level was still too low, and the spiritual power in his body fell short of what that move required.

After all, it was an upgraded version of Nativity of a World of Trees, and even Kage would be affected by the pollen it released.

But even though he could not use Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, he could use almost all the other Wood Release techniques, so it was not much of a problem.

With Wood Release combined with Fire Release, Shen Fei did not believe anyone could stop him.

Finally, there were some basic ninjutsu: the Shadow Clone Technique, the Body Flicker Technique...

All of those were his own powers.

Aside from those, Shen Fei had another trump card: the Uchiha Gunbai.

It could reflect damage.

If an enemy was struck by reflected damage while caught off guard, they would be all but done for, just like that Devour-Slaughter Pig.

So... just how strong am I with all of these put together...? Shen Fei wondered.

Just then, a knock came from outside.

Knock, knock, knock-

Shen Fei stood and went to answer the door.

Click-

The door opened.

Shen Fei saw a familiar young woman. It was Li Yanran, whom he had saved before.

"You? What do you want?"

He was no longer surprised that someone knew where he lived. After all, he had already learned that he had been livestreamed the night before. He could now be considered famous throughout Great Xia. Shen Fei had already given this some thought and was planning to leave. Otherwise, sooner or later, plenty of people would come knocking, and that would be far too annoying.

It really is him! It really is him! Oh my god, I finally get to see him! He's so handsome... Li Yanran was delighted. She had finally met the person she had been yearning for day and night. How could she not be happy?

Seeing the lovestruck look on Li Yanran's face, Shen Fei's expression turned cold, and he prepared to close the door.

Seeing this, Li Yanran hurriedly said, "I came to thank you. Thank you for saving me."

Shen Fei said flatly, "Saving you was just incidental. There's nothing to thank me for. Anything else?"

Seeing how cold he was, Li Yanran said, "I sensed a place beyond the outskirts of the Imperial Capital with extremely strong spiritual energy fluctuations. I suspect there's a Spirit Stone mine there. I can take you."

The place she meant was somewhere outside the Imperial Capital where she had picked up a strong reaction while sensing spiritual energy fluctuations. Those fluctuations did not seem to come from a living thing, but rather from something inanimate. In the end, Li Yanran had determined that they came from Spirit Stones.

That morning, Bian Zhuyue had given Li Yanran a book about spiritual energy revival compiled by the Transcendent Administration Bureau. It contained information about Spirit Stones, which was how Li Yanran had learned about them.

If I tell you there might be a Spirit Stone mine beyond the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, you'll definitely take me along. Then I can stay with you. I refuse to believe I can't win your heart. What boy doesn't like girls, especially one who's this pretty, has so much going for her, and is even pursuing you...? Li Yanran thought.

A Spirit Stone mine?!

Shen Fei was tempted.

After all, the fastest way to increase his strength was to absorb the spiritual energy contained in Spirit Stones. But Spirit Stones were extremely precious and scarce. The eighty Spirit Stones from last time were equivalent to nearly four years of Li Hongyu's salary, which showed just how precious and scarce they were.

If there's a Spirit Stone mine, there'll be a huge number of Spirit Stones inside. Absorbing them will increase my strength enormously. Once my spiritual power increases, I might be able to use Advent of a World of Flowering Trees. It's worth going... Shen Fei thought.

So he asked, "Where?"

Li Yanran said, "I can tell you where it is, but you have to take me along."

Take you along?

Oh... Shen Fei understood. This woman wants Spirit Stones too. But why come to me? Could there be some danger there that she needs me to deal with? Or is it because I saved her before, so she believes I'm a good person she can trust?

Besides, bringing her along wouldn't be a problem. After all, she's the reason I know about this Spirit Stone mine.

In that case, there's no reason not to take her.

With that thought, Shen Fei said, "Fine."

Hearing Shen Fei agree, Li Yanran was overjoyed.

Wonderful! I finally get to spend time with him. That's the first successful step toward winning Shen Fei over... Li Yanran thought.

Shen Fei could sense that the woman before him seemed extremely happy, but he had no idea what she was thinking. He assumed she was excited about getting Spirit Stones soon.

"Wait here a moment," Shen Fei said.

He turned around and closed the door, then took down the ancient Battle Armor hanging on his wardrobe and put it on. Next, he picked up the Uchiha Gunbai beside it and slung it across his back.

Once he had put on all his equipment.

Shen Fei opened the door.

Seeing Shen Fei in his ancient Battle Armor, Li Yanran recalled his bearing when he had saved her, and her little heart began pounding wildly again.

Holding back her excitement, she said, "Let's go. I drove here, so we can take my car."

Drive?

Shen Fei paused for a moment, then nodded.

He had initially intended to refuse and simply take her there with the Body Flicker Technique, but... her body probably would not withstand it, and she would die.

If she died, he would lose the location of the Spirit Stone mine.

Soon.

With Li Yanran's less-than-stellar driving skills, it took a long five hours before they finally reached their destination.

Li Yanran stopped the car and said, "We're here. This is the place."

"Oh, I only just noticed-if you keep going down that road for another five kilometers, you'll reach the Blue Mountain Villa District. I happen to own a villa there."

Shen Fei opened the car door without responding. Money could no longer move him. He was no longer the Shen Fei he had once been. Now, he was Shen Fei playing the role of Madara Uchiha.

Seeing that Shen Fei paid her no attention, Li Yanran immediately got out as well.

There was a small mountain here, not very tall, only a little over three hundred meters.

"This is it. I can sense extremely powerful spiritual power fluctuations here, right inside the mountain."

"But it seems like the two of us won't be able to mine the Spirit Stones ourselves. Besides, it's already dark. Why don't we go rest at the Blue Mountain Villa District first?"

Li Yanran offered a suggestion.

Shen Fei ignored her and simply looked up the mountain. The vegetation here was especially lush, and with his Sharingan activated, he could indeed detect a mass of intense spiritual energy fluctuations.

Shen Fei headed up the mountain.

Li Yanran gritted her teeth and followed.

Soon, after about half an hour.

Shen Fei stopped.

Before him was a jagged, rocky cliff. It was a dead end.

But through Shen Fei's Sharingan, it looked different.

Under the Sharingan's gaze, a hole appeared in the otherwise jagged cliff, and the spiritual energy fluctuations inside were the strongest.

That meant this was a Spirit Stone mine, and someone had mined here before.

Was it the Transcendent Administration Bureau?

No, probably not. If it were the Transcendent Administration Bureau, there should be checkpoints here. There's no way the two of us could have come up the mountain without anyone from the bureau noticing.

So it wasn't mined by the Transcendent Administration Bureau.

Of course, it had not been mined by the Transcendent Administration Bureau, because the Heavenly God Cult had been mining here. With the Transcendent Administration Bureau making its move, the Heavenly God Cult had recalled the cultists mining here as well. All the Heavenly God Cult members were now in the Blue Mountain Villa District.

Shen Fei simply did not know any of this.

Of course, Shen Fei did not care whose it was, either.

Sensing the pure spiritual energy inside, Shen Fei stopped hesitating and walked in.

Li Yanran had intended to call out to stop Shen Fei, since there was no path ahead, but her eyes went wide when she saw him walk into the cliff.

She hurriedly followed him inside.

There was a faint light inside. The mine was below rather than within the mountain, so they had to head downward along an extremely long staircase.

A few minutes later.

They finally entered the mine proper.

Baskets upon baskets of Spirit Stones covered the ground here.

There were around five baskets in total.

Shen Fei did not know exactly how many stones there were, but there were at least a thousand.

Shen Fei picked up a Spirit Stone and examined it.

Although its quality was far inferior to the Spirit Stones Yun Yongfeng had given him, it was still usable. It contained spiritual energy too.

"How many Spirit Stones you can use depends on your own ability." With that, Shen Fei began absorbing the Spirit Stones.

Li Yanran sighed, took a stone from one of the baskets, and began absorbing it as Shen Fei did.

The women are just plot devices to trigger events. Stop asking me whether there's a female lead!!!

Besides, doesn't the male lead deserve a female simp??? Why should Naruto simp for Sakura, but Sakura can't simp for Naruto???