Deciding to travel through the underground cave system, the group of four swiftly started moving.

“Let’s leave a marker every 15 minutes in case we get lost or need to retract,” Zhao Xieren suggested.

“Alright, I’ll handle that,” Sun Hong offered. As she said that, she took her large sword and swiftly created a “X” in the cavern wall.

Continuing forward, a few minutes passed before Qian Yu noticed a shining bright object on the cavern floor. Getting closer, Qian Yu bent down with the torch in his hand as he carefully observed the object.

It was one that he had seen numerous times before as he said, “This is… a spirit stone?”

Behind him, Zhen Yue bent down as she looked at it too before asking, “Why would there be a spirit stone here?”

“At least it's free money,” Qian Yu smiled at their luck.

However, Zhao Xieren didn’t share the same sentiment as she quickly said, “Qian Yu, can you hand me the torch?”

“Of course,” Qian Yu obliged as he passed her the torch.

Taking the torch, Zhao Xieren slowly moved forward while looking at the ground.

Silently, the rest followed her as they wondered what she was trying to do.

Before long, a few minutes passed as Zhao Xieren finally stopped.

“Did you find something?” Qian Yu asked.

“It’s a spirit vein,” Zhao Xieren quietly muttered.

By the side, Zhen Yue’s eyes opened in shock as she heard Zhao Xieren. On the other hand, Sun Hong curiously asked, “What is a spirit vein?”

Similarly, Qian Yu was clueless about this as well as he anticipated Zhao Xieren’s explanation.

Turning around, Zhao Xieren explained, “Have you wondered where spirit stones come from?”

Nodding, both Qian Yu and Sun Hong realized that they never really put much thought into it. 

Continuing, Zhao Xieren said, “Spirit stones come from spirit veins formed by nature. These veins are filled with very strong and potent energy. They can fill the surrounding area with gravel and rocks with energy and these become spirit stones.”

“Ah?” Qian Yu and Sun Hong both exclaimed as they were now enlightened.

“How did you know though?” Qian Yu asked as he came forward to see what Zhao Xieren was looking at. Looking down, he saw a few faint white marks on the ground. Upon closer inspection, they were like roots as they all banded together forward.

Seeing that Qian Yu noticed the markings, Zhao Xieren simply said, “Although faint, these should be part of the spirit vein. This part of the vein is really weak which makes sense since we have only seen a spirit stone earlier.”

Biting her lip, Zhao Xieren slightly frowned as she continued, “I’ve always wondered what this mysterious group has been doing here but if it turns out it was related to a spirit vein that would make sense. It’s a real treasure alright.”

“What do you mean?” Qian Yu asked.

“Let’s start moving again,” Zhao Xieren said as they started moving forward again.

As they did, Zhao Xieren continued observing the lines on the ground occasionally while she answered, “Spirit veins are treasures. I don’t know how many exist in our country but the existence of each one is a national secret. Even the smallest of spirit veins can generate tens of thousands of spirit stones while the largest ones can create hundred of thousands, even millions of spirit stones in a day.”

“That much?!” Qian Yu was shocked. One of the most profitable periods of his life so far was during the spiritual beast horde where he was able to make, on average, 10 spirit stones per day together with Zhen Yue. Of course, this couldn’t compare to the profits of large scale businesses with stable income but nonetheless it was a rare event that let him make money.

“It’s a lot and a little,” Zhao Xieren smiled.

“In terms of a single person, or even a group like us, it’s definitely a lot. However, for sects and larger scale organizations, it’s nothing. I don’t know the specifics, but simply powering a large flying artifact could cost hundreds of spirit stones an hour. Moving on to families and clans, it takes a lot of spirit stones for daily expenses, strengthening your forces and equipment and more. Not to mention, maintaining formations and what not,” Zhao Xieren said.

“T-that’s true…” Qian Yu muttered.

‘In the past, I was happy with what I had but now, it seems like it’s nothing. Now that I remember, there were millions of people that participated in the spiritual beast horde. Even the weakest of fighters at the qi gathering stage got 1 spirit stone per day. What about the soul foundation fighters or even Martial Fighters? That was millions of spirit stones per day…’ Qian Yu sighed as he realized how insignificant the amount of spirit stones he had was.

Seeing his downcasted look, Zhao Xieren realized what Qian Yu was thinking about as she said, “Don’t worry. In the end, money isn’t everything. Relationships and connections are pretty important as well.”

Chipping in, Sun Hong tried to comfort Qian Yu as she simply said, “Personal strength is important as well.”

Seeing everyone trying to cheer him up, Qian Yu couldn’t let them down as he smiled and laughed, “Haha, you guys are right. Perhaps since I wasn’t well off as a child, I always seemed to put too much focus on money. Even though there are treasures that can help with cultivating, they aren’t that strong. In the end, I just need to remember to always work and train to the best of my abilities.”

With his mood restored, the group continued walking as they found more and more spirit stones. 

After an hour the cave path finally split into two.

“Should we continue heading towards the spirit vein? If we do though, it will increase the likelihood of running into other people who are collecting the spirit stones,” Zhao Xieren asked everyone.

“Let’s go the other way. In the end, our goal is getting to the location where the treasure is, and not the spirit vein,” Qian Yu said.

Nodding her head, Zhao Xieren was about to say something when Sun Hong quietly intervened, “Be quiet, there are a few people coming.”

As a Martial Fighter, she was undoubtedly the first to notice other people with her improved sense. Specifically, it was termed as spiritual awareness. Being able to feel the existence of other souls within a certain distance, it was another thing besides flying that separated those in the soul foundation realm from Martial Fighters. 

Hiding behind a wall, they waited without making any movement or sounds.

After a few minutes, they heard several footsteps coming from the route that led to the spirit vein.

“I was getting sick of this but it turns out we’ll be finished with this soon,” they heard a voice.

“Hahaha, yeah, we’ve been here for over half a year already and it was getting tiring. Looks like the Xia Empire’s forces are slowly getting the upper hand. The forces on the border circle have weakened significantly and the border might be breached soon,” another person said.

“I just hope the reinforcements don’t come fast enough. With only one Martial Lord and a few Martial Fighters here, I hope that the Xia forces win. Alright, let’s head back, doesn’t look like there are any more spirit stones here,” the first guy said. 

Glancing at them from behind the wall, Sun Hong quietly said, “They were both body refinement cultivators. Looks like they were just here to collect the stones.”

Nodding her head, Zhao Xieren said, “Mhm, it’s nothing new. Cheap laborers are ideal for this.”

“Anyways, we should quickly leave. If what they said was true, we need to get to Sun Hong’s treasure as soon as possible,” Qian Yu urged.

With new found knowledge, the group moved quicker than ever as they slowly navigated through the cave. Half a day later, they once again saw the white snow and sunlight again.