A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 240 Returning to the Inland Sea

Luo Ming found two spirit beasts at the deepest part of the mine: the Azure Dragon was several times thicker than before, its blue scales glowed with a ghostly light, and it was surrounded by a rich wood spirit energy. It was lying on a pile of spirit stones, closing its eyes to meditate.

The black tortoise was lurking in a corner of the mine, its thick shell covered with earthy yellow patterns. The earth spirit energy was so dense that it was almost tangible. It seemed lazy, but in fact, it was always alert to the movement around it.

What made Luo Ming frown slightly was that the spirit stones these two spirit beasts had devoured over the years had already piled up like mountains, but their cultivation level had not made much progress; they had only reached the mid-stage of the sixth-level demon beast.

But after a moment's thought, he understood: it was inherently more difficult for demonic beasts to advance than for human cultivators, especially after the fifth level. Human cultivators could steadily advance simply by accumulating and refining their magical power, but demonic beasts not only had to accumulate demonic power, but also had to spend a great deal of time and spiritual energy to temper their bodies and purify their bloodlines. Every step was time-consuming and laborious, and could not be accomplished overnight.

Even his other spirit beasts, despite having their bloodlines constantly tempered by the Spirit Gathering Cauldron and being fed large amounts of demon cores, took more than sixty years to reach level six. This far exceeds the natural advancement speed of demon beasts. To advance to level seven, the time and resources required would only be more, which is something he cannot forcibly change at present.

The reason why demon cultivators are so powerful is that they are very similar to human cultivators who cultivate both body and magic. They have both supernatural powers and magic, as well as a powerful physical body. However, their supernatural powers are too singular, and once a human cultivator finds their weakness, they can easily be restrained.

If one were to invest all resources into spirit beasts in order to speed up their advancement, thus neglecting one's own cultivation progress, it would be putting the cart before the horse, and Luo Ming would certainly not do that.

Luo Ming stepped forward, and with a thought, he swept all the high-grade spirit stones that the two spirit beasts had accumulated over the years into his storage bag. The spirit stones clinked together, producing a crisp sound, and the spiritual light inside the bag surged, almost overflowing. Then, he solemnly ordered the Xuan Turtle, "Activate the Earth Element Divine Power to completely collapse and bury this entire mine, erasing all traces of mining, ensuring it is flawless."

Since the decision to evacuate has been made, the venomous dragon's trail must be cut off. The mine is its largest trace on the island, and it must not be allowed to remain as a threat. Naturally, the Xuan Turtle, skilled in earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magical ability) and earth-based supernatural powers, is best suited for manipulating the earth's veins and filling in the mine.

As soon as Luo Ming finished speaking, he turned and rushed towards the mine exit. Behind him came a series of muffled rumbling sounds, the earth shook violently, countless pieces of rock fell down, and the mine tunnel collapsed with a crash.

The Xuan Turtle slowly rose, its four limbs touching the ground. Its body surged with earthy yellow spiritual light, manipulating the layers of rock and soil underground to completely fill the collapsed mine shaft. It then used earth spiritual energy to cover up all traces of its presence. Unless someone used a teleportation technique to explore thousands of feet underground, it would be extremely difficult to discover that this place was once a giant spirit stone mine.

After dealing with the mine, Luo Ming hurriedly went to the cave where the Wind Fox Beast was in seclusion, having formed its cocoon. The jet-black spirit cocoon still floated quietly above a pile of spirit stones in the center of the cave, its surface surrounded by a faint black spiritual light. The surrounding spiritual energy gathered in an orderly manner, its aura deep and powerful, yet there was still no sign of it breaking out of the cocoon.

Luo Ming carefully examined the cocoon with his divine sense and confirmed that the Wind Fox Beast's aura was stable and that the Nether Tiger bloodline was being slowly digested and integrated without any abnormalities. Only then did he feel relieved. He condensed a wisp of spiritual power at his fingertips and carefully put the entire spirit cocoon into a specially made spirit beast bag so as not to disturb the Wind Fox Beast that was undergoing metamorphosis inside.

He thought to himself, "The Wind Fox Beast has been dormant for so long after devouring the bloodline of the Nether Tiger. Once it breaks free from its cocoon, it will surely undergo a complete transformation and its strength will experience a qualitative leap."

Finally, Luo Ming's figure flickered, and he flew to a remote and desolate place in the northwest corner of the island. This place was overgrown with weeds and jagged rocks, and at first glance it was no different from other barren places on the island. However, if one used his divine sense to delve into the ground, one would find that within a range of several hundred feet, there were countless tiny holes, each only the size of a thumb, in an astonishing number, like a honeycomb.

Looking at the holes, Luo Ming's lips curled up slightly, and he chuckled softly, "Over the years, you've devoured spirit stones here, almost emptying out the spirit stone veins hundreds of miles underground. I wonder how far you've grown." As soon as he finished speaking, his mind stirred, and a condensed wave of divine sense quietly spread out, penetrating deep underground.

At first there was no movement underground, so Luo Ming was not impatient and stood quietly in place waiting.

Ten breaths later, a faint buzzing sound came from underground. The sound grew louder and more intense, as if a large number of creatures were rapidly approaching.

Immediately afterwards, countless thumb-sized golden insects swarmed out from those tiny holes, like a golden tide, rapidly converging in the air and finally condensing into a huge golden cloud, shimmering with spiritual light and faintly exuding a fierce aura.

Luo Ming scanned the area with his divine sense, and a look of joy flashed in his eyes. The golden spots on the carapaces of these gold-devouring insects had already covered most of them, and the aura of each one was more than twice as strong as before, obviously due to the massive amounts of spirit stones they had devoured over the years.

"It seems the spirit stones I've used all these years haven't been wasted," Luo Ming thought to himself with delight. "With my current spiritual power, controlling tens of thousands of Gold-Devouring Insects at once would make even a Nascent Soul cultivator wary!"

He knew in his heart that these gold-devouring insects had never stopped for years, and each one had devoured a considerable number of spirit stones. Such terrifying resource consumption was something that even large sects in the cultivation world might not be able to easily produce.

Looking at the golden clouds before him, Luo Ming nodded in satisfaction. With a thought, he gave the order for the gold-devouring insects to return to their spirit beast pouch.

However, these insects seemed reluctant to leave, instinctively showing a slight resistance. Upon noticing this anomaly, Luo Ming's heart sank, and he thought to himself, "It seems that these Gold-Eating Insects have become quite unruly after years of secluded cultivation and their strength has greatly increased."

"snort!"

Luo Ming snorted coldly, formed hand seals, and then, relying on his powerful divine sense, forcibly activated the restrictive power within the consciousness seas of these spirit insects.

After churning for a while, the golden cloud of insects obediently split into several streams and poured into the specially made spirit beast pouch at Luo Ming's waist.

Luo Ming looked down at the nine spirit beast pouches bulging at his waist and couldn't help but smile wryly: "Having so many spirit beasts is quite a hassle. I almost became the legendary Nine-Pouch Elder. If I could refine a spatial magic treasure to house all the spirit beasts at once, it would save me a lot of trouble."

He couldn't help but think of the legendary Sumeru Mustard Seed Technique of the Great Jin Heavenly Mystery Pavilion. It was said that this technique could refine the Heavenly Mystery House or even the Heavenly Mystery Mansion from spatial rifts, forming a world within itself that could hold a large number of living beings and a vast amount of resources. If he could learn this technique or obtain a finished spatial magic weapon, he could completely solve his current troubles.

Just then, the voice of Tianjing Sanren slowly rang out in his dantian, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Boy, don't be delusional. The crafting of spatial magic treasures not only requires extremely rare spatial attribute materials, but also places extremely high demands on the cultivator's cultivation level and the strength of their soul. You haven't yet entered the Nascent Soul stage, and your mana strength is insufficient to bear the power of space. Don't think about this for now. When you reach the Nascent Soul stage, I do have the crafting method for spatial magic treasures. When you collect the materials, you can craft them yourself."

Luo Ming nodded slightly, suppressing his thoughts, though he had other plans in mind.

Now that he has plenty of spirit stones, he can try his luck at the Treasure Crafting Alliance, one of the four major merchant alliances, to see if he can purchase a larger Sumeru Bag or a large spatial magic treasure that can hold several spirit beasts at the same time, so as to temporarily alleviate his current predicament.

A spirit beast bag usually contains only one spirit beast, and a suitable cultivation environment is set up inside. If several spirit beasts are put together, it is only acceptable if they are of the same species and not too large in size, so that they will not fight when they are together. After all, demon beasts have a sense of territory, especially high-level demon beasts, who do not like to live in the same nest as other demon beasts.

Unless it's a gregarious spirit insect like the Gold-Eating Insect.

Having made up his mind, Luo Ming did not delay any longer and began to carefully clean up all traces on the island. After doing all this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he activated his divine sense at full power, like an invisible tentacle, sweeping across a hundred miles around the cave to carefully check for any signs of surveillance. Then, he and Mingyue rode the Wind-Escape Shuttle and left.

Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, a dazzling yellow light shone at the teleportation array in Tianxing City, and several cultivators emerged from it. Among them, two people, a man and a woman, were only at the Foundation Establishment stage and were inconspicuous among the teleporters.

After the two stepped out of the teleportation array, they seemed not to know each other and flew off in different directions. They were Luo Ming and Ming Yue, who had returned from Silver Shark Island.

Luo Ming planned to try his luck within the various business alliances to see if there were any high-level spatial magic treasures, and also to inquire about any news of Geng Jing.

As for Mingyue, Luo Ming arranged for her to go find his friend Ling Yuling to bring Wen Siyue back, and then return directly to Silver Shark Island.

The reason he valued Wen Siyue so much was not only because she was his grand-disciple, but also because her daughter was the reincarnation of Xin Ruyin.

Now, because of his existence, some things in this world have changed. Wen Siyue, who was originally a member of the Miaoyin Sect, has now become his grand-disciple. As a result, he is not sure whether Xin Ruyin's reincarnation will definitely become Wen Siyue's daughter. But he will try. If she is still born to Wen Siyue, then Luo Ming will prepare to raise her properly.

After all, the opponent's mastery of formations might be of great use to his future cultivation.

Luo Ming's azure light subsided slightly as he concealed most of his aura, transforming into an inconspicuous pale azure streak of light as he sped towards the depths of Tianxing City. He was planning to see if there were any spatial magic treasures after arriving at the Treasure Alliance. If there were suitable ones, he would purchase them at any cost to solve the problem of having too many spirit beasts.

Just as the light was about to pass near his original cave dwelling, Luo Ming suddenly raised an eyebrow and murmured, "Green Bamboo Pavilion?"