Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 43: The Cause (Investment Bonus Chapter!)

After Zhirui learned the Needle Rain Spell, he felt that the key to this technique wasnʼt its lethality, but the sheer number of needles and the wide area it covered, which made it very convenient to integrate into stealth attacks.

Having realized this, Zhirui attempted to blend Pine Needles into it, treating them as the true killing move, and he even abandoned the Needle Rain Spellʼs killing power in pursuit of increasing the quantity of needles to achieve a better hiding effect.

Roar!

Initially, when the needle rain hit the Black Bear Devil, it didnʼt catch its attention, as it felt as negligible as a scratch, barely breaking its fur.

However, unexpectedly, at the moment it lowered its guard, nine Pine Needles, carrying the power to break magic, pierced directly into the flesh of the Black Bear Devil. One needle even blinded its left eye, causing it to howl in pain and recklessly charge towards Zhirui.

”Da Qing, block it!” Although they were defended by the Thick Earth Array, Zhirui dared not let the Black Bear Devil charge directly at them. Otherwise, exposing himself and Da Qing would pose an even greater danger.

Da Qing continuously cast several control and defensive spells, expending most of his mana, and finally had to stop.

Luckily, due to Da Qingʼs relentless efforts, the Black Bear Devil was trapped three Zhang away within the Thick Earth Array, in a mire of mud created by spells.

This was one of only two Earth-type spells that Da Qing knew. The other was Earth Spike.

Looking at the Black Bear Devil struggling frantically in the mud, sinking deeper and deeper, Zhiruiʼs wildly beating heart finally calmed down.

”Itʼs over!” Zhirui exhaled a long breath of relief as thirty-six Pine Needles flew through the air. Under Zhiruiʼs control, they entered the Black Bear Devilʼs body through its mouth, instantly mashing its brain.

After the fierce battle with the Black Bear Devil, both Zhirui and Da Qingʼs mana were greatly depleted. They simply put its carcass into a storage bag without further attention and hurried to recover their mana in case of unexpected events for which they couldnʼt respond.

Fortunately, the rest of the night passed without incident.

The next day, as the sun rose from the sea, Zhirui opened his eyes. He prepared to thoroughly search the small island to find out why the Black Bear Devil had stayed in this place.

The island wasnʼt large, about ten-plus Li across. The vegetation was dense, but there were no significant animals. The largest was a hill rat, indicating that the island indeed wasnʼt suited for large animals.

This made Zhirui even more curious as to why the Black Bear Devil would be on this deserted island, and even treat it as forbidden territory. He had just been resting on the outskirts of the island when he was attacked by it.

After some searching, Zhirui finally found the cave of the Black Bear Devil, a karst cave situated at the base of a mountain.

Zhirui applied several Defensive Talismans to himself, stowed away Da Qing, and entered the cave alone. As soon as he did, the overwhelmingly putrid stench nearly drove him back out.

Fortunately, the cave wasnʼt very deep, and Zhirui quickly reached the end. When he saw what was before him, he was stunned, and he also understood why the Black Bear Devil had stayed on the island.

For embedded in the wall before Zhirui were raw Spirit Stones!

In the depths of this deserted island, where life was scarce and Spiritual Energy thin, there was actually a vein of Spirit Stone!

Although the Black Bear Devil had low Spiritual Intelligence, it had the instinct to seek good fortune and avoid disaster. It naturally knew this place was beneficial, and its cultivation was likely gained by directly consuming Spirit Stones.

Zhirui immediately took out the Green Wood Sword, skillfully extracted the raw Spirit Stones, and later, feeling his own speed too slow, released Da Qing to help with the mining.

When Zhiruiʼs hands became so tired that he could hardly lift the Green Wood Sword, he reluctantly stopped, looking at the small mountain of raw ore in front of him, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction.

According to the standard content of spiritual energy in Spirit Stones, Li Zhirui should have had more than three thousand Spirit Stones before him.

”Is this a micro Spirit Stone Vein?” Li Zhirui frowned slightly, but then smiled wryly. He was truly avaricious by nature; even a vein that yielded tens of thousands of Spirit Stones left him feeling unsatisfied.

Li Zhirui mined deep in the cavern for several days, eventually gathering over fourteen thousand Spirit Stones, and the ore became increasingly difficult to extract. On the last day, he and Da Qing together managed to mine less than two thousand Spirit Stones!

”Iʼll leave the remaining Spirit Stones for the clan to excavate,” decided Li Zhirui, feeling it was time to conclude his training expedition.

From the results, this training trip was very successful, netting over ten thousand Spirit Stones. However, looking at the process, it was quite ordinary; Li Zhirui and Da Qing had only two real battles, failing to meet the expectations he had set before leaving.

Nonetheless, the Spirit Stone Vein was important. These tens of thousands of Spirit Stones were a considerable fortune for the Li family.

Li Zhirui chose not to return to Da Rong Island by sea ship, but instead flew through the skies on a paper crane, stopping occasionally, and finally returning to his clan the next day.

Upon landing, he immediately sought out Li Shiqing to tell him about the micro Spirit Stone Vein he had found by chance.

”Are you certain?” Such an astonishing surprise dropping onto the Li familyʼs lap left Li Shiqing almost in disbelief.

”Heh, Iʼve been mining the raw ore for several days. What do you think?” Li Zhirui said, while producing a raw stone.

Li Shiqing didnʼt dwell on Li Zhiruiʼs words, as it was the Spirit Stone Vein he had found. According to the family rules, fortune discovered by family members didnʼt need to be handed over to the clan.

”Iʼll summon twenty clan members right away. Shilian will lead the team, and you will guide them to mine that Spirit Stone Vein clean as soon as possible!” Li Shiqing was a decisive man, getting straight to work as soon as he had said it.

In less than half an hour, the family members Li Shiqing had summoned arrived in the main hall. He declared, ”Zhirui has discovered a micro Spirit Stone Vein during his recent training outing. You have been gathered here to follow his lead and extract all Spirit Stones from that vein.”

The crowdʼs eyes lit up immediately. Even though mining was difficult work, it wasnʼt without its perks; at the very least, sneaking away with a few dozen Spirit Stones, as long as not overdone, wouldnʼt lead to any major consequences.

”You must not reveal this matter to anyone else! Not even to your partners or children! Otherwise, youʼll face punishment according to clan rules!” Although all the family members summoned by Li Shiqing were trustworthy, it was necessary to warn them!

Wealth moves hearts. The Li familyʼs external environment wasnʼt very stable, and news of discovering a Spirit Stone Vein could attract even more powers to act against the Li family.

Even if the Li family claimed it was just a micro vein, not many people would believe them when the time came.

”Yes!” Everyone promised in unison.

”Then prepare some provisions, and weʼll leave tonight. Is that alright?”

One of the clan members stood up and asked, ”Clan Leader, how should we explain to the other clan members our sudden departure, especially when questioned by our families?”

”Just say I asked you to try and find a trade route to Green Mountain State,” Li Shiqing quickly provided an excuse.

Green Mountain State, located to the south of Yunping State, is an even more prosperous realm for cultivators than Yunping.

Some things canʼt be overly concealed. The more you hide, the more curiosity you arouse. Itʼs better to tell a white lie and get it over with.