44: Chapter 44: The Favored Ones of the Mineral Vein

Xiao Yuan was busy putting Spirit Stones into the Creation Cauldron Space without turning his head, "Vein's favored one? Friend of Spirit Stones? Call me whatever you want."

Su Li looked at his back with a complex look in her eyes.

This guy was ridiculously strong, ridiculously mysterious, and... ridiculously reliable.

When he said he would split the Spirit Stones with her half and half, he actually meant it. Over the past half month, the Spirit Stones she received were already enough to pay off six years of her sentence.

Moreover, the crazy drive he had when he Cultivated made even her feel inferior.

Digging ores by day, returning to the Thunder Pool for Body Tempering and to Cultivate at night. Xiao Yuan was like a tireless machine, the Five Elements spiritual power surging and circulating within his body, his Aura changing day by day.

Su Li had secretly sensed it—the total amount of spiritual power was frighteningly profound; its solidity far surpassed those of the same rank. She even doubted whether this guy was really just in the Qi Condensation Stage?

What made her panic even more was...

Unknowingly, starting from some point, the way she looked at Xiao Yuan had changed.

Previously, it was vigilance and scrutiny, carrying a bit of the aloofness of transactional cooperation.

And now?

When seeing him undergo thunder Body Tempering, she would worry about him getting injured—even though she clearly knew his skin was thick and tough.

Seeing the way his eyes lit up when he mined ore, she would think... it was a bit cute?

At night when the two of them engaged in "Dual Cultivation", she no longer just gritted her teeth to finish the task; instead, she would secretly look forward to it and subconsciously shrink into his arms after it ended.

"Su Li, oh Su Li, you are done for..." Sometimes she would cover her face and scold herself in her heart for being spineless.

But scolding aside, her body was very honest.

When Xiao Yuan asked her to stand closer to feel the residual might of the thunder, although she was afraid, she would still cautiously move over.

Xiao Yuan would hand her a bottle of perfect marrow cleansing pill; this kind of thing she had never even seen in five years at the ore vein, yet Xiao Yuan gave it to her frequently, as if he had thousands of them on him.

At those times, she would silently accept it, and then, taking advantage of when he wasn't paying attention, stuff a few pieces of exceptionally high-quality Spirit Stones she had dug herself into his Storage Pouch.

When Xiao Yuan was Cultivating at a crucial point and the Five Elements radiance flowed around his body, she would sit not far away, resting her chin in her hands and watching, often for half an hour at a time.

One night, Xiao Yuan finished Cultivating and turned his head to see Su Li staring blankly at him.

"What are you looking at?" He raised an eyebrow.

Su Li's face turned red, and she averted her gaze: "N-Nothing."

Xiao Yuan smiled, walked over, and rubbed her hair: "Are you foolish?"

Su Li didn't dodge. Instead, she gently leaned against his shoulder and whispered: "When you Cultivate... you look quite good."

Xiao Yuan was stunned and looked down at her.

Under the soft light of the illumination stone, the lines of her profile were soft and her eyelashes drooped, where was there still any trace of that cold fiend who severely injured a fellow sect member with a single finger back then?

She was clearly just a... little girl who relied on him with all her heart.

A certain part of Xiao Yuan's heart softened, and he put his arm around her shoulder: "Alright, time to sleep. We still have to sweep through the East District tomorrow."

"Mn." A flush of shyness surged onto Su Li's face.

With misty eyes, she looked towards Xiao Yuan.

---

Time flashed by, and more than a year passed.

In the Thunder Pool valley, Xiao Yuan sat cross-legged, the five-colored radiance constantly flowing around his body.

Gold, green, blue, red, and yellow, the Five Elements spiritual power surged and wandered within his body like five flood dragons, finally converging into the Five Elements Rotation array base at the center of his Dantian.

Above the array base, the creation cauldron floated quietly, absorbing the transformed Yin and Yang Qi, and the radiance of the cauldron body became increasingly warm and profound.

Over the past year or so, Xiao Yuan and Su Li had almost swept through the entire ore vein.

Relying on the five-hundred-meter perception of the Great Turtle Breathing Technique, where there were rich veins and where there were pits was clear at a glance.

The two cooperated tacitly—Xiao Yuan located, Su Li covered, and the pile of dug-up Spirit Stones was enough to build a small mountain.

And Xiao Yuan's cultivation base was also steadily progressing.

The Yin and Yang energy brought by Dual Cultivation with Su Li was continuously injected into the creation cauldron. Once the energy inside the creation cauldron was full, it would inversely push the Cultivation of the Five Elements Cultivation Technique.

The consumption was large, but the progress was also fast.

On this day, a slight humming sound came from within Xiao Yuan's body.

In his Dantian, the Five Elements Rotation array base suddenly accelerated its rotation!

The five Spiritual Roots trembled simultaneously, and his spiritual power climbed step by step!

Yimu Azure Emperor Skill — Eleventh Layer (18)

Gengjin Sword Soul Art — Eleventh Layer (18)

Guishui Ice Emperor Art — Eleventh Layer (18)

Binghuo Yang God Method — Eleventh Layer (18)

Wu Tu Sacred Body Art — Eleventh Layer (18)

All Five Elements Cultivation Techniques had Breakthrough to the Eleventh Layer of the Qi Condensation Stage!

Xiao Yuan opened his eyes, the five-colored radiance in his pupils flashing and disappearing.

He clenched his fists, feeling the surging power within his body.

"If I run into an Early Foundation Establishment practitioner now..." The corners of his mouth hooked up, "I should be able to easily handle them, right?"

It wasn't arrogance; it was intuition.

The total amount and solidity of spiritual power brought by practicing the Five Elements simultaneously far exceeded ordinary Qi Condensation Stage practitioners.

Coupled with the formidable Physical Body tempered by thunder, as well as the Gale Shadow-Chasing Sword Art and various Spell methods...

Middle Foundation Establishment? It might not be impossible to fight them!

What surprised him even more was—

The Great Turtle Breathing Technique had Breakthrough!

The original five-hundred-meter perception range spread out like a tidal wave at this moment!

Six hundred meters, seven hundred meters, eight hundred meters...

Nine hundred meters, one thousand meters!

Within a full one-thousand-meter range, everything was vividly clear down to the finest detail!

The rock layer structure, Spirit Stone distribution, mining tunnel directions, and even the subtle spiritual power fluctuations of Su Li meditating and adjusting her breath in the neighboring stone chamber were all crystal clear.

This was no longer simple "perception", but true—Divine Sense!

The intensity was comparable to the threshold of Middle Foundation Establishment!

"Good fellow..." Xiao Yuan was amused, "My cultivation base increases, and my Divine Sense increases along with it? This Great Turtle Breathing Technique is simply tailor-made for me!"

He couldn't help daydreaming: When all Five Elements Cultivation Techniques reached the Perfection of the Eighteenth Layer of the Qi Condensation Stage, just how strong would his Divine Sense become?

If the Great Turtle Breathing Technique Breakthrough to the legendary Perfection realm, what kind of scene would that be?

Clairvoyance? Clairaudience? Or directly turning into a humanoid radar?

"Tsk, I'm looking forward to it."

He stood up, stretched his muscles and bones, and walked out of the Immortal Cave.

In the neighboring stone chamber, Su Li seemed to sense something and opened her eyes, just in time to see Xiao Yuan standing at the entrance.

"Did you Breakthrough?" she asked softly.

"Mn." Xiao Yuan nodded, walked in front of her, and reached out to rub her hair, "Let's go, I'll take you somewhere."

"Where to?"

"The deepest part of the ore vein." Excitement flashed in Xiao Yuan's eyes, "I can perceive... there's a big guy over there."

Su Li looked at his eager-to-try appearance and couldn't help laughing.

In this past year or more, she had laughed more than the past five years combined.

"Alright." She stood up and very naturally linked her arm with his, "Let's go, my 'Vein's Favored One'."

Xiao Yuan looked down at her, suddenly leaned closer, and lightly pecked her lips.

"Your reward for not being scared away by me."

Su Li's face turned red, but she didn't dodge. Instead, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him back.

"Your reward for not leaving me behind."

The two smiled at each other and walked out of the stone chamber hand in hand.

The Thunder Pool was still roaring, and the silver light of the thunder illuminated the valley.

In the Thunder Pool valley, Xiao Yuan did not set off immediately. He squatted on the ground and scratched something with a branch.

Su Li leaned over to look—whoa, a map.

A schematic map of the ore vein, densely marked with red dots, blue dots, and yellow dots.

The red dots were rich veins that had already been swept, the blue dots were ordinary vein points, and the yellow dots... well, there was only one, drawn in the deepest part of the ore vein, and it was specially circled with a big circle, with a pentagram drawn next to it.