Chapter 506: Chapter 495: The Sword Cultivator Father
"Hiss... I didn’t expect the merfolk tribe to still be hiding this!" Even after Ye Qiu put away the Ice Flame, Old Turtle was still a bit dazed, and its attitude towards Little Golden Crow became even more respectful.
"I didn’t expect it either." Ye Qiu felt a twinge of emotion and couldn’t help thinking about his past life. He knew that in his previous life, Lin Shen alone had gained access to this Small Secret Realm, and not even the Wuji Sect had managed to benefit from him. But what about this Ice Flame? Had Lin Shen subdued it in his prior life? It seemed that even until "his" death, there were no rumors about this.
It seems that even the Lord of Destiny, the darling of this Small Thousand World, did not have everything go smoothly. The Ice Flame was an extreme cold object, and even Old Turtle couldn’t withstand it, so it would be normal for Lin Shen to not be able to subdue it.
"There’s still something underneath this." Old Turtle, with its sharp eyes, spotted a piece of deep blue stone at the place where the Ice Flame had been, only the bottom of the cliff was too dark, so it wasn’t noticed at first glance.
"So cold!" Old Turtle touched it with its front paw and immediately withdrew it, "It seems that the stone that evolved alongside this Ice Flame is no ordinary object either."
"It should be usable for Artifact Refining, right?" Ye Qiu stroked his chin, feeling that this stone was very suitable for his son Ye Sheng, who would become an Artifact Refining Master in the future. How could he refine artifacts without some good ore?
"I have a use for this stone, I’ll compensate you with some more Spirit Stones," Ye Qiu said directly to Old Turtle.
Old Turtle nodded generously: "Alright, I don’t need any weapons anyway, and if it weren’t for your companion, I wouldn’t have found this place. But, if you use this stone to forge a weapon in the future, could you give me one?"
"No problem, my son is an Artifact Refiner, and he will surely be able to craft powerful weapons in the future." Ye Sheng had only just started, yet Ye Qiu was generously offering praise.
Even more astonishingly, Old Turtle actually believed him, looking as though it had obtained a bargain.
Ye Qiu collected the deep blue stones into his space, putting them right underneath the recently enclosed Ice Flame, then proceeded to gather up all the merfolk corpses scattered around and placed them together.
"Where are we going now?" Old Turtle asked, its gaze involuntarily glancing towards Little Golden Crow, wishing for a few more surprises like before.
But obviously, it was wishful thinking; Little Golden Crow disdainfully turned its head away.
After collecting the Ice Flame and the deep blue stones, what followed was the main event — a palace connected to the canyon with an entire Spirit Vein!
Old Turtle’s already green eyes turned even greener. Weapons were optional for it, but Spirit Stones were different; it was about to Ascend to the Upper Realm and needed top-notch Spirit Stones for that.
Little Golden Crow was equally excited, the Spiritual Energy needed for its growth was astronomical, and just one Spirit Vein was not enough to satisfy it, but one had to start somewhere. With one Spirit Vein secured, how hard would it be to find a second one?
"You’re back," Li Yuan opened his eyes from meditating, looking much healthier.
"Senior, you’re awake." Ye Qiu nodded to him, then voiced his inner question, "Senior, we just went to the Treasure Pavilion and there were still many treasures left. Why didn’t you take them earlier?"
After hearing this, Li Yuan laughed bitterly, "Do you think I didn’t want to? When I arrived, the merfolk were still alive. It’s embarrassing to say, but I was controlled by the Array for three hundred years. Aside from the coercion from the merfolk, it was also my own greed at play. Who would have the time to collect those things? I always thought I was powerful, and it wouldn’t be too late to take those treasures after repairing the Array, but I didn’t expect that this time I would nearly turn over completely."
After saying that, Li Yuan, as if he had seen through everything, let out a liberated smile: "It’s a lucky thing that I could save my life; the treasures are yours, won by your abilities. I have no right to compete for them, especially since I still want to visit the Upper Realm. I don’t want to cultivate Heart Demons during my Tribulation and ruin my future prospects."
Li Yuan had a very clear understanding, and he also knew that even if he were covetous, it would be pointless. Although he had Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, he was seriously injured and didn’t even have the attacking power of an Early Nascent Soul cultivator. What was the point in fighting over these things?
Returning kindness with ingratitude was not his style, nor did he have the capability. He figured that if he harbored even a little bit of evil intent, that Little Red Bird would probably be able to burn him to ashes with a single breath of fire!
Hearing him speak like this, and seeing his forthright appearance that did not seem deceitful, Old Turtle looked at him with more respect. It seemed that the quality of the two human cultivators he encountered this time was not bad; it seems that human cultivators are not all bad.
"Are you here to mine this Spirit Vein?" Li Yuan had no greed, he just felt it was a pity. If this Spirit Vein were destroyed, this merfolk secret realm probably wouldn’t last much longer, right?
"There’s not much in the palace that is of use to Old Turtle, so of course we can’t shortchange it with Spirit Stones," Ye Qiu said to them. "However, I also do not wish to destroy this secret realm, so I am thinking whether it’s possible to mine as many Spirit Stones as possible without damaging the vein core."
"Is this an Active Spiritual Vein?" Old Turtle’s eyes widened in shock.
"Indeed." Based on the information transmitted by Little Golden Crow, Ye Qiu nodded in confirmation.
Li Yuan took a sharp breath, feeling that Tianyan Sect, to which Ye Qiu belonged, was going to make a huge profit this time.
It is well known in the Cultivation World that there are Dead Veins and Active Spiritual Veins. Dead Veins are classified as high-level spiritual veins or low-level spiritual veins, depending on the quality and quantity of the ores and Spirit Stones. It’s not to say that Dead Veins are inferior to Active Veins; some Dead Veins contain even more Spirit Stones than Active Veins.
But Active Veins have a unique characteristic that Dead Veins can’t compare with. Dead Vein Spirit Stones are depleted once mined, but Active Vein Spirit Stones are regenerative, continuously producing Spirit Stones, and can also grow. The higher the grade, the more Spirit Stones they produce each year. As long as there is an Active Vein, there is no worry about lack of cultivation resources for a clan or sect.
Tianyan Sect is built upon the largest Active Vein in the Xuanyuan Realm. It is able to ensure a massive amount of Spiritual Energy is produced every year to sustain the cultivation of countless cultivators without depletion.
Although this Active Vein is not as large as the one at Tianyan Sect, it should be noted that Active Veins are few and can be counted on one’s fingers. There aren’t many known in the entire Xuanyuan Realm. With it, one can look forward to future prosperity.
Li Yuan wasn’t exaggerating when he said that Tianyan Sect would make a great profit this time.
Ye Qiu was also hesitating. Now that he knew this was an Active Vein, should he still trade it with Wuji Sect?
Unable to decide, he determined that this matter should be left to his Sect Leader junior brother to handle. Right now, the most pressing matter was how to divide the remaining Spirit Stones without harming the vein core.
"I was wondering why the Spiritual Energy here was so abundant; it turns out to be an Active Vein!" Old Turtle snuggled at the bottom of the gorge with longing, like an infatuated fool, and then he sighed heavily, "The merfolk are truly impressive! They have so many great hidden treasures. No wonder as soon as they get to the Upper Realm, they become the object of envy. This shows the principle that one is not at fault for being innocent, but the possession of the jewel itself creates the crime!"
Both Ye Qiu and Li Yuan listened and fell silent.