TL: Etude
"Haha, I never expected to underestimate you. Your speed talent has actually reached the mid level. I can't accept this!" Helian Bi spat out blood, laughing in unwilling rage.
"Die!" Yun Feng waved his hand, and a blade of wind pierced through Helian Bi's chest, not giving him any more time to speak.
The attack killed Helian Bi, who was already severely injured, on the spot.
"Thankfully, I acquired a Wind Spirit Grass, which elevated my speed talent to a mid level. Otherwise, I would have been gravely injured, if not killed, by these martial masters surrounding me," Yun Feng said with relief.
Immediately, he became excited and hurriedly took away the storage bags of these people.
These many storage bags, especially Helian Bi's, were undoubtedly filled with numerous treasures, the value of which was immeasurable.
He was merely a side-branch genius of the Yun family. Even though his combat talent was high, he hadn't received much cultivation support from the Yun family. All resources had to be acquired by himself.
Now, his cultivation talent had reached the extraordinary level, making him among the top cultivators in the Demon Sea Base. With all these resources, he didn't have to worry about future cultivation.
"And there's this Spirit Stone vein with twenty units of Qi!" Yun Feng's eyes burned with passion.
These Spirit Stone veins were even more valuable. Once he killed the fierce beast guarding them, the entire vein would be his.
These Spirit Stones would truly be a massive gain!
"First, let's heal. The Spirit Stones won't run away. Once I'm fully recovered, I'll go and kill that beast," Yun Feng decided.
It took him about half an hour to fully recover his injuries and restore his energy as well as stamina.
He was now in peak condition.
Boom!
He stepped into the entrance tunnel, descending underground.
An unavoidable battle erupted.
Meanwhile, as Yun Feng fought the Earthwalking Pangolin, Ye Tian had already mined 200 Spirit Stones.
"Hehe, you guys keep fighting. Once you're done, most of the Spirit Stones will fall into my hands," Ye Tian muttered to himself.
According to his spatial sense, many Spirit Stones in this vein had been consumed by the Earthwalking Pangolin. Plus, it was a small vein, so there weren't many Spirit Stones left.
Now, the entire vein had probably only around 3,000 Spirit Stones. Though it was far less than the vein that was found ten years ago, for Ye Tian, this was an unimaginable fortune.
At this moment, Yun Feng and the Earthwalking Pangolin were embroiled in a loud battle, so as long as Ye Tian kept his mining noise to a minimum, he wouldn't attract their attention.
"Xiao Zi, don't slack off; dig with me," Ye Tian commanded.
"Master, I'll dig diligently," Xiao Zi nodded continuously.
Mining treasures was Xiao Zi's favorite activity.
It had always wanted to mine Spirit Stones but didn't dare due to the Pangolin's presence. Now, with its master to back it up, it was no longer afraid.
The man and the beast began to frantically dig within the Spirit Stone vein. Ordinary people would take a long time to mine even a single Spirit Stone because most of the material was waste rock.
However, Ye Tian, with his spatial sensing ability, could see through the layers of rock to accurately locate the Spirit Stones, thus mining at a rapid pace.
Of course, Ye Tian chose to mine only those Spirit Stones that were relatively easier to extract.
300 stones!
400 stones!
500 stones!
...
"Damn it, the defense of this beast is too high. Even my top-tier Wind Blade talent can't kill it in one shot, unless I hit its weak point. But it keeps using earth escape techniques to get away; it's too hard to kill!"
Yun Feng furrowed his brow.
"Abandoning the opportunity to kill this ferocious beast is impossible. It's already targeting me. Covertly mining isn't an option; the only way out is to eliminate it so that I can mine the Qi Stones," Yun Feng thought.
Consequently, he attempted to lure the pangolin-like creature out of its hiding place.
This action, however, greatly facilitated Ye Tian's task.
Ye Tian had been worried about being discovered by the creature and had been cautiously mining Qi Stones from a distance. Now that the creature was lured out to the surface, Ye Tian started mining more audaciously.
600 pieces!
700 pieces!
800 pieces!
Ye Tian continued to accelerate his mining speed, and the sound started to grow louder, echoing to the surface.
While struggling with the creature, Yun Feng heard the faint sounds from below. "What's going on underground?"
Yet, he didn't ponder much on it.
The creature didn't value Qi Stones much. It couldn't use them to enhance its own abilities anymore. To it, Qi Stones were merely snacks; eating too many of them would diminish its interest. Now, its most hated enemy was Yun Feng, the one who had wounded it. Even if it knew that someone had intruded from below, its first priority was to take down Yun Feng.
The creature was simple-minded, nowhere near as intelligent as Xiao Zi and Xiao Jin. Had it been more intelligent, Ye Tian wouldn't have had such an easy time mining the Qi Stones.
Time trickled away, and the underground noises grew louder.
Yun Feng even heard the sound of mining, which led him to speculate, "Could someone be mining Qi Stones?"
This possibility made Yun Feng anxious.
"I must use my trump card!"
In Yun Feng's hand appeared a bead, no ordinary one but an Array Bead. It was engraved with a minor array known as the Illusion Array. This sort of bead, known as the Illusion Bead, was a very precious artifact. Once activated, it would set up a minor illusion, but it was a one-time use item.
While not very effective on high-tier warriors, it could easily bewilder a beast of limited intelligence.
Boom!
The Array Bead activated, and the power of the Illusion Array spread out, entrapping the creature which had just surfaced.
Caught within the illusion, the creature thought it had injured Yun Feng and was feeling triumphant when suddenly a pain shot through its eyes, and its brain turned to mush.
The next moment, the creature's consciousness dispersed, leaving behind a lifeless body.
Just then, Yun Feng had seized the opportunity when the creature was trapped in the illusion. He used his Wind Blade to pierce through its eyes and enter its brain, scrambling it, thereby killing the creature.
Looking at the now dimmed Illusion Bead, Yun Feng felt a pang of regret.
But he had no time to mourn. He quickly descended through the tunnel.
Underground, within a particular passage,
Ye Tian, observing the situation above, sighed regretfully. "I can't continue mining. I didn't expect Yun Feng to have such a trump card. He killed the creature so quickly. But it's enough; I've mined nearly 1,800 Qi Stones, and Xiao Zi has mined quite a bit too. Though there are still some left, they are mostly deep within the rock. Yun Feng can dig them up if he wants."
Whoosh!
Ye Tian moved swiftly, departing the area and signalling Xiao Zi to do the same.
Together, they passed through the underground passage, quickly reaching the underground lake and making their escape.
And so, Yun Feng remained blissfully unaware that someone had mined a considerable number of Qi Stones from right under his nose.
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