After Old Zhao uttered these words, he faintly passed out again.
It seemed that this statement was his obsession. Ever since he fell off the cliff, he held onto this determination to speak these words.
"Master Feng!" Elder Yu hurriedly called out.
Master Feng stepped forward, checked Old Zhao's pulse, examined his meridians, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"No harm done, he's just unconscious. Let him rest. I'll go refine some elixirs," Master Feng said.
"Thank you, Master Feng," Elder Yu replied gratefully.
Master Feng left the room, leaving Elder Yu with a serious expression.
A spiritual mine in the Great Black Mountain!
Elder Yu paced a few steps in the room, then stopped and called for a demon hunter, instructing, "Go inform Yu Chengyi to gather all the lead demon hunters. I have something important to discuss!"
The demon hunter nodded and left. Mo Hua was curious and asked, "Elder Yu, what is a spiritual mine?"
Mo Hua only knew that spiritual mines contained spiritual stones but wasn't clear on the specifics.
Seeing it was still early and gathering demon hunters would take time, Elder Yu patiently explained:
"Cultivators need spiritual energy for cultivation. However, spiritual energy in the world is thin, except in some famous mountains and rivers where it gathers. In remote places like our Tongxian City, the spiritual energy is too thin to support cultivation."
"In such cases, cultivators can only use spiritual stones for cultivation, and spiritual stones come from spiritual mines."
"A spiritual mine is formed when the dense spiritual energy or mist in the mountains solidifies over time, assimilating with the rocks and buried in the mountains due to geological changes over centuries..."
"There are also some that formed from ancient spiritual beasts, vast quantities of spiritual herbs, and other items rich in spiritual energy, buried underground due to catastrophes or various changes, eventually crystallizing into spiritual mines..."
Mo Hua nodded, recalling a question, "I read in books that ancient cultivators could move mountains and change the course of rivers. Was spiritual energy also scarce in their time?"
"Well..." Elder Yu pondered. "It's said that in ancient times, the spiritual energy was extremely rich. Later, after major calamities and changes in the world's structure, the spiritual energy gradually diluted."
"What kind of calamities?"
"I'm not sure about that. It's all legends, vague and uncertain."
After Elder Yu finished, he added, "Another reason for the thin spiritual energy is the large number of cultivators today..."
"Before the Dao Court unified the cultivation world, various forces waged wars for years, causing immense suffering to living beings and countless deaths and injuries among cultivators. After the Dao Court unified, laws were established to prohibit indiscriminate killing, allowing the cultivation world to thrive, and thus the number of cultivators increased gradually."
"However, the more cultivators there are, the more spiritual energy they absorb during cultivation, naturally reducing the spiritual energy in the world."
"Today, after twenty thousand years, the spiritual energy in the world is extremely thin, and cultivation mostly relies on refining spiritual stones."
Mo Hua suddenly realized, then worriedly asked, "But if the spiritual stones in the world run out, won't cultivators be unable to cultivate?"
"They won't run out."
Mo Hua was puzzled, "It's impossible for them not to run out."
"At least several tens of thousands of years won't be a problem."
Mo Hua frowned, "But we never have enough spiritual stones..."
"That's because we don't have spiritual mines."
Mo Hua fell silent.
Elder Yu sighed, "In this world, the Dao Court occupies half of the spiritual mines from large to small. The rest are mostly controlled by influential families and sects. We can only scrape by, getting some spiritual stones from their leftovers..."
"Those big families and sects naturally don't lack spiritual stones. It's only us wandering cultivators who are short of them."
Elder Yu looked at Mo Hua and sighed, "The heavens nurture all things with spiritual energy. Heaven is fair, but humans are not."
Mo Hua's expression turned serious, recalling a saying involuntarily:
"The Dao of Heaven reduces excess to supplement insufficiency; the Dao of Man reduces insufficiency to meet excess."
"So can we lay claim to the spiritual mine in the Great Black Mountain?" Mo Hua asked.
Elder Yu frowned, "According to convention, unclaimed medium to large spiritual mines belongs to the Dao Court's ministry. The extracted spiritual stones are used to benefit the cultivators in our province—though it's often lining their own pockets..."
"As for small spiritual mines, it's generally first come, first served."
Mo Hua inquired further, "So, is this spiritual mine in the Great Black Mountain considered first occupied by us, or by the Qian family?"
"It's hard to say," Elder Yu replied, then raised an eyebrow and said to Mo Hua, "But usually, whoever has the bigger fist gets to claim it first."
Mo Hua was stunned.
Half an hour later, demon hunters gathered in the courtyard of Elder Yu's home.
Most of them were leading demon hunters from the demon hunting team, all at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining. Mo Shan was among them.
Elder Yu sat upright in the center, with others seated on both sides.
Mo Hua was curious about the follow-up, so he pulled up a chair and listened attentively on the side.
The demon hunters on both sides couldn't help but glance at Mo Hua, who was just a teenager. Is it really okay for this child to be here during such discussions of demon hunters?
But they dared not ask, as Elder Yu was known for his temper, and seeing his solemn expression now, they refrained from speaking further.
If they angered Elder Yu, even if they were at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining, they would be scolded severely.
Well, since Mo Hua was here, he must have Elder Yu's approval. They pretended not to notice.
At this moment, Mo Hua sat not far from Elder Yu, swinging his legs on a high chair.
Everyone felt complicated about this.
Elder Yu was indeed too indulgent with this child...
But since he was, they dared not say anything.
Elder Yu felt somewhat gratified to see Mo Hua here.
In his view, with Mo Hua's talent, he would surely become a formation master in the future, and perhaps even achieve a high level and become a first-class formation master.
For wandering cultivators like them, becoming a formation master was a distant dream.
Mo Hua's concern for the demon hunters' affairs was naturally commendable.
Elder Yu silently thought.
Once everyone was gathered, Elder Yu began to explain about the spiritual mine.
The whole assembly was astonished.
This was a spiritual mine, an ownerless one!
Thinking back to how Old Zhao nearly lost his life at the hands of the Qian family, a demon hunter cursed, "Those bastards from the Qian family not only illegally mine the spiritual mine but also want to kill to cover it up!"
"Old Zhao's life was almost lost!"
"Damn it, those Qian family bastards!"
Then a cultivator suddenly remembered, "When Old Sun went missing before, could it also have been the Qian family's doing?"
People were stunned, their faces clouded with gloom.
It wasn't just Old Sun; several other demon hunters had disappeared before.
They had thought it was accidental falls or being eaten by demon beasts, but now it seemed that the Qian family might have killed them to silence them.
"This is outrageous!"
"Too much!"
The demon hunters erupted in curses, their emotions running high.
Elder Yu frowned, gesturing for quiet, and then began to give orders:
"Gather all the late-stage Qi Refining demon hunters. Tonight, under cover of darkness, we will search the mountain inch by inch and find the location of the spiritual mine."
A demon hunter asked, "What if we encounter cultivators from the Qian family?"
"Capture them and interrogate them thoroughly."
"And if we encounter a large group of Qian family cultivators?"
Elder Yu's expression turned cold, slamming the table with anger:
"Then we fight them to the death!"
(End of the Chapter)