"Crack!" A large chunk of rock broke away from the cliff face. Ye Qin carefully extracted the spirit stones one by one, unexpectedly discovering a mid-grade spirit stone within—its spiritual energy was exceptionally dense. A single mid-grade spirit stone held nearly the spiritual energy equivalent of one hundred low-grade spirit stones. Mid-grade spirit stones were also far more potent in application; formations of significant scale, for instance, required them for activation.

Ye Qin was overjoyed and tucked the mid-grade spirit stone away. It was a pity such stones were rare; after digging for half a day and gathering hundreds of low-grade stones, he had only found this single mid-grade one.

While mining, Ye Qin also noticed certain patterns.

On the second level of the cavern, there were many skeletons and remains left by miners, but very few demonic beasts.

Occasionally, Ye Qin would encounter subterranean demonic beasts: cavernous spider wolves, spirit rats, and tunneling earth beasts. Against these creatures, he showed no mercy, slaughtering them completely if he could, or avoiding them entirely if he couldn't. In this network of tunnels, there was truly no demonic beast that could catch him.

Ye Qin was puzzled. There were far fewer demonic beasts in the caverns than he had anticipated before entering the mine shafts. What about the great beast tide that erupted in the Myriad Withered Ridge thousands of years ago?

He was certain that the cultivators from various sects excavating the spirit stone mines on the second level had encountered little opposition from demonic beasts; otherwise, such vast underground mining tunnels could never have been dug.

There was a long-circulating theory about that beast tide: the major sects, fiercely competing for spirit stones, dug so recklessly that they accidentally broke through into a demonic beast lair, connecting the Myriad Withered Ridge spirit stone mines directly with the beast nesting grounds—poking a hornet's nest and unleashing hordes of demonic creatures.

The lair of such a massive beast horde could certainly not be within the spirit stone mine shafts themselves; it had to be elsewhere. After all, the mining tunnels were just stone, offering no sustenance; large swarms of demonic beasts couldn't survive there long. After a brief rampage, they would surely retreat to their true dens.

These were legends passed down over millennia. Whether true or false, ordinary disciples could never ascertain the facts. Perhaps only the sect masters, elders, or patriarchs who managed the overall situation held the real answers.

A massive influx of disciples participating in the trial poured into the Myriad Withered Ridge caverns, gradually probing deeper. To avoid encountering other cultivators, Ye Qin moved deeper into the mine shafts almost every other day.

He managed to mine enough spirit stones daily to prepare a single batch for a Foundation Establishment Pill—a batch requiring the consumption of nearly one thousand to one thousand five hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Ye Qin's initial plan for participating in this cavern trial was to find a rich spirit stone vein, seal off that section, hide inside to mine stones, cultivate spirit herbs within his Purple Mansion, and refine Foundation Establishment Pills. He would repeat the process of refining pills and attempting Foundation Establishment until he succeeded before leaving the Myriad Withered Ridge.

However, as things stood, this excellent idea now presented several distinct difficulties:

First, securing a mining vein without being discovered was extremely challenging. He tried using jade slips to copy the map scrolls, then destroying the originals, but it was useless; the jade slips simply could not replicate the map scrolls. He was vexed; he hadn't anticipated the existence of map scrolls within the cavern before coming here and hadn't brought any blank scrolls.

Second, refining the Foundation Establishment Pill required continuous Yang Fire, needing a full ten days of uninterrupted refinement without a single mistake to yield one batch of pills. The Yang Fire he could summon could not sustain such a duration.

The final difficulty lay in consuming the Foundation Establishment Pill. Upon taking it, a cultivator must concentrate entirely on absorption, converting the essence into vital energy to forcefully break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck, requiring absolute focus without any distraction.

Therefore, when using the pill to attack the bottleneck, cultivators almost always sought an extremely secure location for secluded meditation, sometimes emerging only after several months. Without a sufficiently safe place, the Foundation Establishment Pill could not be consumed rashly.

Due to these concerns, Ye Qin was forced to abandon the enticing idea of achieving Foundation Establishment within the caverns. He would first gather enough spirit stones for dozens of Foundation Establishment Pills, then leave the caverns and return to Azure Pill Mountain to attempt the breakthrough. He refused to believe that dozens of batches of pills wouldn't secure success.

The deeper he ventured into the caverns, the more he began to sense a wave of heat emanating from the depths.

Ye Qin felt somewhat perplexed.

The jade slip left by the King-surnamed ghost cultivator of the Yin Profound Sect mentioned an extremely terrifying, raging hot aura deep underground that filled it with dread, preventing it from approaching.

When he was at Azure Pill Mountain, he had heard rumors of Earth Fire deep underground—a flame so hot it could rival the Innate True Fire of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Could it be that the deepest reaches of the Myriad Withered Ridge Cavern also housed Earth Fire?

Ye Qin continued another ten-plus days deeper into the second level of the cavern, mining spirit stones as he went. These ten-plus days passed without incident or danger; he rarely even encountered demonic beasts, which left him feeling somewhat bored. Fortunately, he had mined enough spirit stones for over ten Foundation Establishment Pill batches, leaving him quite satisfied.

But that scorching aura grew more intense. This Yang energy was extremely harmful to ghost cultivators, who naturally favored Yin, but it posed little hindrance to ordinary immortal cultivators. Since he was already deep underground, he might as well take the opportunity to witness the spectacle of this Earth Fire.

After more than ten days of maneuvering, the general layout among the major sects began to clarify.

Led by the Seven Great Immortal Cultivation Sects, each controlled a specific area within the first and second levels of the cavern, extending deeper. They fortified their positions with defensive formations, firmly holding onto the spirit stone veins. Simultaneously, they dispatched elite disciples to continue exploring the cavern's depths.

In the deepest recesses of the cavern's second level, within one chamber, five Golden Robe cultivators from the Ancient Artifact Sect, each wielding a low-grade magic tool, had completely surrounded a blue-robed maiden wearing a veil. Their expressions were tense, and their palms were sweating.

Another purple-robed cultivator lurked behind the Golden Robe cultivators. These five Golden Robe disciples were all core disciples of the Ancient Artifact Sect; their fathers were Foundation Establishment cultivators. Any one of them, stepping out among ordinary Qi Refining disciples, would be a renowned figure.

These cultivators were typically arrogant, valuing status and bearing, and a situation where five of them ganged up on a single person should never occur. Yet, not a trace of arrogance marked their faces; instead, their eyes held a hint of fear, preventing them from launching an attack lightly.

The reason was simple: the rumors surrounding this veiled maiden from the Azure Pill Sect had instilled in them an extreme sense of awe. These disciples hailed from the upper echelons of the Ancient Artifact Sect. Though they belonged to a different sect than the Azure Pill Sect, they were privy to many of its secrets. This veiled maiden was the only direct daughter—not granddaughter—of Ancestor Huangfu, the first ranked among the nine Nascent Soul Ancestors of the Azure Pill Sect.

This involved a tale of romantic scandal. Ancestor Huangfu was a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and his dual cultivation partner, Ancestor Chen, was a low-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. For some unknown reason, they were unable to conceive. During one of Ancestor Huangfu's travels, he met a Foundation Establishment female cultivator who bore him a daughter.

Ancestor Huangfu, already over two hundred years old, finally had this treasured daughter, whom he naturally cherished like a pearl, doting on her immensely. He brought both mother and child back to the Azure Pill Sect. However, Ancestor Chen was inwardly furious. How could she not be enraged that some alluring succubus had seduced her dual cultivation partner?

Six months later, the female cultivator, whom Ancestor Chen derisively called the "demoness," died of illness.

Dying of illness—that was surely the biggest joke in the cultivation world. Which cultivator ever succumbed to disease? Especially in the Azure Pill Sect, which possessed countless marvelous elixirs capable of extending life indefinitely; they could regrow flesh onto a mere skeleton, let alone cure simple ailments. Although there was no proof, even a fool understood the true cause of the "demoness's" demise.

Within the Azure Pill Sect, from the highest echelons down to the disciples, no one dared speak of the incident; everyone consciously became mute. Even Ancestor Huangfu could only wear a look of melancholy and said nothing. The disparity in status between a Foundation Establishment cultivator and a Nascent Soul cultivator was starkly clear. For the sake of sect harmony, he had to endure it.

However, while the "demoness" perished from illness, her daughter survived. Ancestor Huangfu, though fearful of his wife, would not allow his own flesh and blood to perish unjustly. The direct lineage of the Huangfu family had to be carried on by this daughter; the family line could not be severed.

A decade or so slipped by. This veiled maiden grew into a young woman, and her position within the Azure Pill Sect became extraordinarily unique: revered and feared by all, yet neither dared to grow overly close nor overtly distant.

This veiled maiden touched upon the reputation of two Ancestors of the Azure Pill Sect. Growing too close or seeking to flatter her risked offending Ancestor Chen. Ancestor Chen tolerated no impurities; if she dared to act against the woman favored by Ancestor Huangfu, whom else would she hesitate to confront? Conversely, offending the veiled maiden was akin to offending Ancestor Huangfu himself. Ancestor Huangfu, the most powerful Nascent Soul cultivator in the sect, truly controlled the future of the Azure Pill Sect—was he someone easily trifled with?

Unable to draw near, yet unable to retreat, the maiden remained isolated for years, almost never moving with her peers.

These five Golden Robe cultivators from the Ancient Artifact Sect, not being part of the Azure Pill Sect, could naturally speak freely about such gossip. They often enjoyed gossiping about the romantic exploits of various sect ancestors and senior uncles. Naturally, they were intimately familiar with the romantic entanglements of the Azure Pill Sect Ancestors.

But what truly made the five Golden Robe cultivators wary was not solely the formidable backing of the veiled maiden. It was also the girl’s unexpectedly formidable strength.

As soon as they discovered her presence in the mine shafts, they gave chase in joyous pursuit. To capture her, they deployed four teams: one Purple Robe disciple, four Golden Robe disciples, and sixteen Silver Robe disciples—a total of twenty-one cultivators at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining—to intercept and surround her. In the end, sixteen people died along the way, leaving only these five Golden Robe disciples and one Purple Robe disciple.

A supremely powerful Purple Robe cultivator and four Golden Robe cultivators wielding magic tools had not only failed to subdue the veiled maiden but had also suffered heavy casualties among their rank-and-file cultivators. This level of sheer power was enough to chill the blood.

They dared not even approach within ten feet of the blue-robed maiden, merely surrounding her. They also refrained from delivering a fatal blow, aiming only to capture her. Inciting the wrath of Ancestor Huangfu could provoke a full-scale war between the Azure Pill Sect and the Ancient Artifact Sect, a conflict that was not to be taken lightly.

That Purple Robe man, holding a relatively high position, remained concealed behind the five Golden Robe men, his expression serious as he squinted at the veiled maiden, remaining extremely cautious and unwilling to approach rashly.

First release