TL: Etude
After retreating dozens of miles, Ye Tian and Xiao Zi finally came to a halt. It was time for Xiao Zi to hand over the Qi stones.
"Xiao Zi, where are the Qi stones?" Ye Tian inquired.
Unwillingly, Xiao Zi opened its mouth and spat out a storage bag. This bag was given to Xiao Zi by Ye Tian for the purpose of carrying Qi stones.
Ye Tian opened the storage bag and counted carefully.
"412 Qi stones, not bad!" Ye Tian praised.
Considering Xiao Zi's limited strength and the rock layers' toughness, it was no small feat that Xiao Zi managed to excavate 412 Qi stones in such a short time.
"Keep up the good work. After we get back this time, I'll take care of the items in this storage bag, and then it will belong to you," Ye Tian promised.
"Master, are you serious?" Xiao Zi quivered, not from fear but from excitement.
This was the first time it had ever seen a storage bag. With it, Xiao Zi could easily store treasures. Even though it had encountered many treasures before, it had always been unable to carry them away due to its small size.
Now things were different! The Master was actually going to gift it a storage bag; Xiao Zi couldn't contain its excitement.
"Master, I will work hard and find more treasures!" Xiao Zi vowed.
Ye Tian smiled faintly. He was simply counting on Xiao Zi to find more treasures while they were in the secret realm. Not long after leaving the realm, he could replicate Xiao Zi's talents, after which he wouldn't need Xiao Zi anymore. But of course, he wouldn't discard it; he planned to give it to his sister Ye Yu, who he assumed would love Xiao Zi.
"Let's go; let's continue our treasure hunt," Ye Tian urged.
"Okay, Master, there's another treasure over there; let's go grab it!" Xiao Zi, seemingly transformed into a female bandit, led Ye Tian on with renewed enthusiasm.
At that moment, Yun Feng entered the Qi stone mine and was dumbfounded. There were countless small holes throughout the rock layers in the tunnels. From the traces, it was evident that someone had recently been mining and had likely taken away many Qi stones.
"Who is the little thief who stole my Qi stones?" Yun Feng was infuriated. While he had been fighting above, someone had sneakily stolen his Qi stones, making him depressed. However, his mood improved somewhat when he thought of the treasures he had acquired from Helian Bi and others.
"That little thief must have run away. I've looked everywhere and haven't found him. The sound of mining has also stopped. Humph, I don't believe you could've taken many Qi stones in such a short time. Most of them should still belong to me!"
Thus, Yun Feng also began his mining process. However, the remaining time was short, only about seven or eight days, and he would have to spend two days just to travel. So, the actual mining time was only about five to six days.
No matter what, he had to leave within five or six days. Otherwise, he'd be as frustrated as Helian Bi, who had been stuck in the secret realm for a decade.
Dig! Dig! Dig!
Yun Feng mined like a man possessed, but it took a long time to dig out a single Qi stone. Furthermore, he caused severe damage to the rock layers, causing several tunnels to collapse.
For five to six continuous days, Yun Feng mined without taking any rest. By the end of it, he was covered in dust and looked utterly exhausted, yet his eyes were filled with disappointment.
"Damn it, how did it take so long to mine just 500 Qi Stones!" Yun Feng was incredibly frustrated. Rumor had it that even a small vein of Qi Stones would contain at least 10,000 stones, and the larger veins could have hundreds of thousands. The last documented Qi Stone vein had been mined for a staggering 10,000 stones. So, why had he unearthed only 500? The gap between 10,000 and 500 was just too vast.
"That petty thief couldn't have taken many Qi Stones in such a short time, maybe a hundred at most. And here I am with only 500. There must still be some deeply hidden stones, but all in all, this vein might only contain around 1,000 Qi Stones," Yun Feng estimated.
One thousand Qi Stones were indeed too few and didn't fit the reputation of a Qi Stone vein. Yun Feng could only surmise that some beast had consumed a significant number of stones. That was the only explanation. If he ever found out that Ye Tian had secretly mined over 2,000 Qi Stones, he would surely go mad.
Deciding not to continue mining, Yun Feng headed toward the spatial rift. Ye Tian also chose not to search for treasures with Xiao Zi; instead, he too made his way toward the spatial rift. In recent days, Ye Tian's gains had not been smaller than those from the Qi Stone vein. With Xiao Zi's guidance and the natural treasure trove of the secret realm, Ye Tian had amassed an astonishing number of items. He had collected as many as 50 herbs that were over a thousand years old and hundreds of herbs that were a century old. Moreover, he had found three treasures that could improve cultivation talent, as well as Ice Spirit Grass that could boost water or ice attributes—perfect for Ye Yu, who had an ice attribute talent.
"I'm satisfied!" Ye Tian was confident that among all the warriors who had entered the secret realm this time, none had a haul greater than his—not even the exceptionally lucky Yun Feng.
…
Spatial Rift, the exit.
One warrior after another rushed to this spot. Quite a few of them didn't have storage bags and carried large bundles, drawing attention. Still, nobody dared to rob or fight them; it would mean trouble later.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
One after another, the warriors exited the secret realm. At this moment, Ye Tian also arrived, flashing into the spatial rift and emerging into the outer world.
"Ye Tian, over here!" Yue Ling's voice came.
Ye Tian quickly ran over and boarded Yue Family's Wind-Controlling Ship.
"How did it go?" Yue Ling asked curiously.
"Not bad," Ye Tian nodded.
Just then, Yue Ling's eyes fell upon Xiao Zi, and he looked extraordinarily surprised. "Is that a Purple Golden Treasure Mouse?"
"Yes," Ye Tian said.
It was no surprise to Ye Tian that Yue Ling, being widely read, recognized the Purple Golden Treasure Mouse.
"Do you know how valuable a Purple Golden Treasure Mouse is? You actually tamed one!" Yue Ling looked a bit envious.
"How valuable?" Ye Tian was eager to know.
"A single one is worth 100 billion, and they're priceless because they're hard to find. With a Purple Golden Treasure Mouse, searching for treasures becomes much easier. And your Purple Golden Treasure Mouse must have consumed some treasure to enhance its bloodline talent; it must be at least of high-grade. Its price might even be as high as 200 billion. How about you sell it to me?" Yue Ling was tempted.
Upon hearing the conversation between Ye Tian and Yue Ling, Xiao Zi trembled and said nervously, "Master, please don't sell Xiao Zi!"
------ For announcements or to report mistakes, please join my Discord: https://discord.gg/2sZy2YcYSB