Mining

Ye Chuan caught the storage pouch, casually glanced inside. It contained quite a few spirit stones and some low-grade spiritual materials, nothing significant to him.

But even a mosquito's leg is meat, and little bits add up.

Ye Chuan never looked down on any amount of money he earned.

Casually performing a healing art, a wisp of pale green light coalesced at Ye Chuan's fingertip. With a flick of his finger, the green light landed on Su Qinghan's head.

Su Qinghan's head glowed with an exceptionally bright green hue, then the radiance spread across her entire body—

The moment the pale green light touched the black-purple poisoned patches, it spread like a living thing. Wherever it passed, the corroded skin regenerated at a visible rate, the black-purple toxins rapidly receded, and even the corrosion marks on the bones gradually repaired.

In mere moments, Su Qinghan's originally mangled arm was restored to its original state. Apart from the torn sleeve, there was no trace of injury.

"This... even the bones are restored?" Su Qinghan stared at her own arm in shock. She had just used spiritual medicine to counteract the poison, but could only barely suppress its spread. Yet Ye Chuan, with just a wisp of power, had completely neutralized the toxin. Not only that, he had even restored the melted bones. Such a method was simply unheard of!

Her gaze towards Ye Chuan held a bit more awe and curiosity. "Senior Hao, what kind of healing art is this? It's so miraculous..."

"You paid, I healed," Ye Chuan said, putting away the storage pouch. "Thanks for your patronage. You can find me next time you're about to die."

Su Qinghan: "..."

Why does that sound so unpleasant?

Ye Chuan turned to leave but suddenly remembered something, looking back to ask, "Oh right, your name is Su Qinghan?"

"Yes," Su Qinghan hurriedly nodded.

This name was actually the same as Bai Qianshuang's master.

Of course, that master was already dead. The sect's Holy Maiden before him couldn't possibly be the sect master of the Jade Void Sect. Still, the name wasn't particularly rare or obscure, so sharing the same name seemed fairly normal.

"Do you know the sect master of the Jade Void Sect is also called Su Qinghan?" Ye Chuan asked.

Su Qinghan was momentarily stunned, then nodded. "Yes, I share the same name as that demonic sect master Su Qinghan. It has caused some awkward situations."

"Awkward situations?"

"Some people sought me out, but upon learning I wasn't that Su Qinghan from the Jade Void Sect, they left."

"I see..."

Ye Chuan pondered, his original plan to act alone shifting slightly—after all, sharing a name with Bai Qianshuang's master was, in a sense, a rare kind of fate.

"Teleportation within this secret realm is very chaotic. Your sect disciples will likely have difficulty regrouping for a while," Ye Chuan said. "I happen to be heading deeper into the secret realm to investigate. If you're not afraid of dying, you can come with me."

Upon hearing this, a flicker of pleasant surprise passed through Su Qinghan's eyes.

She knew she would struggle to take a single step alone in the secret realm. Following a powerful expert like Ye Chuan not only guaranteed safety but might also allow her to witness more of the secret realm's opportunities.

Even before entering the secret realm, her sect's seniors had warned her of its considerable dangers, urging caution.

But Su Qinghan had thought her Frost Cloud Sect had large numbers, never expecting that upon entry, all the sect's disciples would be scattered.

She quickly bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Senior Hao! This junior will definitely not hold you back!"

Ye Chuan said nothing more, turning and walking deeper into the cavern.

The passage deeper into the cavern grew narrower. The rock walls on both sides were embedded with more rare ores, even showing several patches of minerals shimmering with a rainbow glow.

Ye Chuan, as unceremoniously as before, collected them all into his pack. Su Qinghan followed behind, watching Ye Chuan plunder the ore veins, and couldn't help shaking her head slightly.

Although these ores were quite valuable, Su Qinghan's mind was only on reuniting with her sect's disciples, with no inclination to dig for rocks.

"Don't just stand there idle either. Dig up more rocks for me." Ye Chuan moved his fingers, then conjured a pickaxe from the forging interface and handed it to Su Qinghan.

"Me... dig rocks?" Su Qinghan looked at the pickaxe in her hand, somewhat bewildered.

Moreover, she could tell the material used for this pickaxe was actually celestial meteorite iron, a premium material for forging weapons.

"You're following me, what's wrong with having you do some work?" Ye Chuan glanced at her. "Otherwise, you can go your own way."

Snapping back to reality, Su Qinghan immediately shook her head. "This junior will help right away."

Su Qinghan, clad in her daoist robes like an ice fairy, now hefted the pickaxe and began clanging away at the ore. And she wouldn't get to keep a single piece; as soon as a rock was pried loose, Ye Chuan took it.

And he collected them incredibly fast—almost the instant the rock was dislodged, it vanished.

Su Qinghan: "Impressive."

After digging up most of the area, Ye Chuan and Su Qinghan finally stopped.

"Let's go," Ye Chuan said.

"Oh... alright..."

They walked for about half an hour when a fork in the road suddenly appeared ahead. The two paths exuded different auras—the left passage was filled with dense ice-attribute spiritual energy, while the right passage carried a faint scent of blood.

"The left side seems to have the aura of a high-grade ice-attribute spirit herb!" A flash of excitement appeared in Su Qinghan's eyes. She primarily cultivated ice-attribute techniques, and such natural treasures were greatly beneficial to her cultivation.

Ye Chuan, however, wasn't very interested. Although his spiritual sense was somewhat blocked within this cavern, his own herb garden had plenty of natural treasures. He had little interest in so-called high-grade ice spirit herbs. Instead, he looked towards the other side.

"I want to check the right side first."

"You go by yourself then."

"No, I'll go with you, Senior."

Though somewhat regretful, Su Qinghan still followed.

The bloody scent in the right passage grew stronger. Not long after, an open stone chamber appeared before them. In the center of the chamber lay several demon beast corpses, while in a corner stood several Golden Sun Sect disciples. They were surrounding a woman bound by spiritual energy—

The woman wore light blue robes. Though restrained, she still stood tall and straight. She seemed to be a Frost Cloud Sect disciple separated from Su Qinghan!

The leading Golden Sun Sect disciple just sneered, "Stop struggling. You've fallen into our hands. Do you think anyone will save you?"

"How dare you!" Seeing this scene, Su Qinghan immediately shouted angrily.

The Golden Sun Sect disciples turned at the sound and saw Su Qinghan standing not far away.

The Frost Cloud Sect disciple holding on desperately cried out upon seeing Su Qinghan, "Holy Maiden!"

"Su Qinghan? Tsk, what lousy luck," the Golden Sun Sect disciple said upon seeing Su Qinghan, seeming somewhat surprised.

"But even if you're at the peak of the Golden Core realm, all of us are at the Golden Core realm. You might not be our match."

As he finished speaking, they also noticed Ye Chuan beside Su Qinghan—

The moment the Golden Sun Sect disciple got a clear look at Ye Chuan, he was first stunned, then realization dawned. "It's you! The one who insulted our junior brother earlier?"

"Heh, you two can stay here as well!"