Three stone golems, though each fitted with a Soul Stone, possessed no consciousness of their own. They could only be manipulated by the sliver of will Zong Shou projected. For him, it was an utterly novel experience.

Initially, due to his lack of experience, the stone golems staggered, falling several times.

It took a good half hour before Zong Shou slowly became familiar with the mechanisms, mastering the art of command. First, he extended their legs and stretched their arms. Then, they proceeded to the locations Zong Shou designated, beginning to excavate the earth with their stone hands.

Despite their slightly clumsy movements, these golems were immensely powerful, possessing a strength of twenty thousand jin. Each downward sweep of the stone palm excavated a massive amount of soil.

In mere moments, they had dug a full ten zhang deep. When they encountered unyielding stone, Zong Shou used his Thunderfang Sword to force a path through.

“These stone golems are truly excellent! The spirit techniques of a Spirit Master are incredibly intricate, ever-changing, offering immense utility, and they are immensely practical!”

However, the capital required for these golems was steep. A single third-tier Beast Crystal cost one hundred thousand silver taels—enough wealth in the Cloud Realm to establish a moderately rich household.

Only Zong Shou, possessing vast assets in the Three Lands Bank and knowing that Beast Crystals and Soul Stones would eventually become worthless, dared to be so extravagant.

Ten Beast Crystals and two Soul Stones of the same tier represented an exorbitant price. Yet, these three stone golems could serve him for two months without worrying about a shortage of spiritual energy or primal force. Considering he now commanded three experts comparable to a ninth-vein Body Wheel Martial Master, it wasn't an excessive loss.

The excavation proceeded at a rapid pace. In less than half an hour, they easily reached the lower level.

Here opened a natural underground passage about five zhang high, beneath which flowed a shallow stream.

His Shadow Glimmer Lion was lurking not far away, keeping watch over the exterior pit.

Without hesitation, Zong Shou leaped down, followed by the three stone golems. In the passage walls, pinpricks of starlight shimmered sporadically—a dense array of crystals of every color.

By now, Chu Xue had a rough understanding of Zong Shou’s intentions. As she jumped into the river below after him, she stared at the surrounding light-reflecting crystals with utter shock.

“Young Master, are these Spirit Stones?” Chu Xue mused, thinking if they could mine all these crystals, they would be astronomically rich. Even the lowest-tier Spirit Stone was worth at least ten times the price of a first-tier Beast Crystal.

Zong Shou merely offered a wry smile and continued forward. If Spirit Stones were so easily found, they wouldn't command such exorbitant prices.

The crystals here could indeed be considered spirit crystals, but they were unclassified and held very little function. Even Spirit Masters below the Soul Gaze realm disdained using them.

To others, this might look like an unimaginable fortune, but in his eyes, it was tantamount to trash, hardly worth his attention.

Yet, as he advanced, he spread his divine sense in all directions, searching high, low, left, and right within this underground channel.

Being underground, though an eerie wind blew, it caused little harm to his soul. Previously, Zong Shou could only extend his soul tendrils ten zhang outside his body, but now he could push them out thirty zhang without strain, though he couldn't penetrate deep into the earth layer.

“I heard that a Spirit Master at the Nascent Soul Leaving stage can extend their spiritual consciousness one zhang into the soil. The Night Roaming stage triples that to a massive three zhang. And at the Vitality Returning stage, one can probe down ten zhang underground. But upon reaching the Sun Roaming stage, one can reach a hundred zhang! At that level, within a Spirit Stone vein, one only needs to sweep their consciousness across the area to locate any Spirit Stones—truly enviable. However, this method is only effective in low-tier veins; major ore bodies are invariably solidified spiritual energy, making it difficult for a Spirit Master’s soul sense to even approach.”

Zong Shou’s soul sense could only penetrate about one and a half zhang into the soil layer. With this limited detection range, the chances of finding true Spirit Stones were exceedingly slim. He cast his will outward, holding little genuine hope.

The number of (branch tunnels) here was immense; within a mere ten li of distance, there were over a dozen branching paths of unknown depth.

As he reached a corner in the underground passage, Zong Shou’s eyes suddenly lit up. He commanded the three stone golems to dig sideways. After excavating about half a zhang into the rock wall, several deep blue, transparent crystals were revealed—exactly three of them, each about the size of a fist.

Chu Xue was also slightly startled, immediately noticing the difference between these blue transparent crystals and the various other crystals lining the walls.

They were brilliantly transparent, and the spiritual energy within them surpassed the surrounding crystals several times over. If one looked closer, one could see something resembling liquid slowly flowing inside. The pure primal energy and soul power contained within could be refined effortlessly even if inhaled, leaving not a trace of hidden consequence.

Chu Xue stared blankly for a moment, unsure, and after a long pause, hesitantly asked, “Young Master, are these fourth-tier crystals?”

“Above third-tier, but not quite fourth! Still, not bad!”

Zong Shou casually tucked them into the pouch at his waist, his expression serene. A third-tier Spirit Stone was comparable to a fourth-tier Beast Crystal. Inwardly, he felt a slight regret; while he could use this water-attribute Spirit Stone, it wasn't the type he desired most.

But this confirmed it—they were near the core of a mineral deposit!

In a medium-sized second-tier deposit, only the areas richest in spiritual energy would yield third-tier Spirit Stones!

Continuing forward for about ninety zhang, Zong Shou ordered the three golems to halt.

The location of the fracture indicated by the previous fissures was here. However, looking around, he couldn't discern the cause of the spiritual energy severance. A slight probe revealed that the ambient spiritual energy here was immensely abundant, showing no other anomalies.

“Could the mine core have already been taken? But there are no signs of excavation here. What could be the reason?”

Zong Shou’s brow twitched slightly, deep in confusion. On the stone wall, following the previous method, he drew another spirit array.

This time, the inscribed runes were infinitely more refined, the lines purer. The four third-tier Earth attribute Beast Crystals he selected were also chosen to be as pure as possible and inlaid upon the array.

But when he activated the spirit technique, fissures cracked open. The thickest and largest one still plunged downward but stopped halfway. It then dispersed sideways, spreading outward, as if blocked by some force preventing further penetration.

Zong Shou’s eyes narrowed. The effectiveness of this Spirit Seeking technique had been validated countless times in later ages. A situation like this was highly abnormal.

Recalling carefully, similar instances were not entirely absent.

“Either there is a rare treasure below, obstructing my spirit technique. Or the Spirit Stones here surpass the third-tier, reaching the sixth-tier or above. But how is that possible? The last possibility is that beneath this earth layer lies an unusual beast, or perhaps some kind of spectral entity…”

Zong Shou’s brow furrowed tightly, a look of vigilance appearing. Ten Talismans of Alertness immediately flew out from his sleeve; he chanted the true mantra, causing them to ignite one by one.

A layer of earthy yellow light immediately enveloped Zong Shou and Chu Xue. Even the three earth golems glowed faintly, their forms seeming more robust, their strength increased slightly.

Since the Spirit Seeking technique failed, they would simply dig through!

As the thought arose in Zong Shou’s mind, the Black Wave Sword shot into the air and struck directly downward. Soon, it pulverized the stones below into dust, while the three stone golems, maintaining vigilance, cleared away the debris.

At about ten zhang depth, Zong Shou narrowed his eyes further, his right hand resting on the Thunderfang Sword in its left sheath.

But when this depth was forcefully breached by the stone golems, Zong Shou couldn't help but freeze, staring fixedly at the spot below.

A purplish, slab-like stone block lay spanning the bottom. Even his Black Wave Sword could not shatter it, rebounding instead! His soul sense and will similarly could not penetrate it.

The stone golems then excavated the surrounding soil and managed to extract the slab.

It was three zhang in circumference, the thickest part only about a foot deep. Fine streaks of purple-gold grain were distributed across the entire surface of the stone panel.

Zong Shou was slightly astonished. He tapped it with his sword, producing the sharp metallic clashing sound.

Then, his expression turned incredibly odd. It was neither a rare treasure, nor a sixth-tier Spirit Stone, nor any kind of spirit beast. It was merely a metallic ore intergrown with the Spirit Stone core.

It was due to insufficient experience that he had made such a grand blunder, pointlessly wasting ten Talismans of Alertness—though thankfully, Chu Xue had recently slain that Nascent Soul Leaving stage Spirit Master and replenished their stock.

“It’s Purple Spirit Iron! This material is quite rare. Using this iron, one can forge a fourth-tier Spirit Sword! This single piece is more than enough to forge four or five! Its value is not much less than a sixth-tier Spirit Stone.”

Although the material was excellent, Zong Shou had no immediate use for it. He already possessed ample materials; the problem was where to find a Spirit Refiner capable of forging a fourth-tier Spirit Sword.

And such a large piece was incredibly difficult to move.

With a soft sigh, Zong Shou still had one stone golem hoist the slab onto its shoulder and continued looking downward.

Then his gaze contracted, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks, followed by a blink born of disbelief.

After a moment, he suddenly pinched Chu Xue’s cheek, gripping hard, and asked curiously, “Xue’er, does it hurt? Are the two of us dreaming?”

Chu Xue forcibly broke free of Zong Shou’s hand, tears welling in her eyes, looking at him with an expression of grievance and accusation: “It hurts a lot! Young Master, you’re bullying me! Why are you pinching me? Xue’er didn't do anything wrong…”

Zong Shou shook his head, thinking: pain confirms it; he truly was not dreaming right now.

Below, growing in the soil beneath the black stone slab, was a spirit grass entirely black, resembling crystal. Its leaves and stems were black, exquisitely transparent, leading one to doubt if the plant was truly alive. At the top end, there was a bud. Countless silk-like black petals tightly encased it, completely revealed to Zong Shou’s sight.

Zong Shou sucked in a sharp breath, still unwilling to confirm. A ball of flame appeared in his hand again as he meticulously scrutinized it. Whether it was the grass roots, leaves, or the flame itself, everything matched the descriptions of that item in the ancient texts.

“Darkness Epiphyllum. It really is Darkness Epiphyllum…”