A cluster of flames erupted from Li Lin’s hand as he spoke. "Attempting a sneak attack from behind? Let’s see how you handle the power of my Heart Fire!"
"Stop!" "Don't!" Two shouts rang out simultaneously—one from Lin Feng, the other from Yun Mingxuan.
Li Lin had intended to ignore them, but hearing Yun Mingxuan’s voice, he paused and asked, "Why?"
Yun Mingxuan hurried to explain, "I suspect he is related to Daoist Mingyuan of the Wuling Sect. Daoist Mingyuan is notoriously protective and incredibly difficult to deal with. If he finds even the slightest excuse, he’ll never let it go. It would be a massive headache!"
Meanwhile, Lin Feng quickly scooped up the unconscious Dongfang Jing, while Yu Bin stood guard warily at his side. It was true; Dongfang Jing was a blood relative of Daoist Mingyuan. Given the Daoist’s tendency to vent his anger on anyone involved, they were all already in trouble. If anything fatal happened to Dongfang Jing, they might as well prepare for their next reincarnation.
Lin Feng and Yu Bin exchanged a brief, silent consultation via divine sense and decided it was best to leave immediately. Their side only had three combat-ready members left, while the opposing five were completely uninjured—the disparity was too great. Furthermore, the other side possessed Core Treasures, and whatever was in the woods wasn't worth risking their lives over.
At Lin Feng’s signal, Lin Hao also prepared to depart. He glanced at the injured Chu Peng and Wang Junhou, asking, "Senior Brothers, what about those two?"
Yu Bin replied coldly, "Tell a few Qi Condensation disciples to haul them back." With that, he and Lin Feng carried Dongfang Jing and flew toward the base of the mountain without looking back.
Seeing the Wuling Sect party depart, Li Lin, Ji Rufeng, and Yu Ming quickly darted into the woods. The fact that the Wuling Sect had emerged from these woods and left Chu Peng behind to stall others suggested there was definitely something significant hidden within.
Li Xue and Yun Mingxuan found Lin Fei and the other Qi Condensation disciples of the Yunjin Sect, gave them a few instructions, and sent them on their way.
"Wow!" Li Xue gasped as she reached the depths of the woods. Seeing an entire cliff face on one side of the valley composed of Earth-attribute raw stones, her mouth fell open. "Haha, we’ve struck it rich this time!"
"It’s so massive. Are we going to blast the entire cliff?" Ji Rufeng asked.
"That’s the only way. Let’s start now; the commotion from the battle earlier will serve as the perfect cover," Yu Ming said with a smile, glancing at Li Xue.
Li Xue nodded happily. She pulled out several Shattering Talismans and placed them at strategic points before detonating them. These Shattering Talismans were specifically designed for mining spirit stones in ore veins; they would fracture the raw stones without grinding them into useless powder.
After several muffled booms, the entire cliff face cracked and crumbled. The five of them first set up a simple invisibility array in the valley to hide their activities from prying eyes, then began gathering the raw stones. With such a vast quantity of Earth-attribute ore, the Dream Realm would be sustained for decades. Li Xue, Li Lin, and Yu Ming were all overjoyed.
"Huh?" Li Lin let out a sound of surprise as he overturned a pile of stones and found a small creature nestled in the center. It looked somewhat like a monkey, yet it wasn't one. The little fellow had clearly just been born; it tried to flee, but Li Lin quickly sealed its path. It began scratching its head and ears in an anxious frenzy.
"Could it be an Earth Essence?" Yu Ming asked, her voice filled with disbelief.
"An Earth Essence? An elemental spirit beast born from raw earth ore?" Li Xue recalled seeing such a description in the ancient texts within the Dream Realm.
"We really hit the jackpot!" Li Lin used a Spirit-Sealing Art to catch the little creature. Seeing that no one objected, he performed a hand seal and sent it into the Dream Realm.
Ji Rufeng was well-versed in many Beast Taming Arts. Seeing that Li Lin liked the creature, he casually tossed him a jade slip. "Here are some Beast Taming Arts. See if any of them are useful to you." Li Lin took it happily and voiced his thanks.
"The area where an Earth Essence appears is bound to have top-grade Earth-attribute raw stones. Those top-grade stones belong to the two of you! As for the rest, take as many as you want. Having the Earth Essence is enough for the three of us," Yu Ming said to Ji Rufeng and Yun Mingxuan.
"Hehe, then I won't be polite!" Yun Mingxuan happily began mining the top-grade Earth-attribute stones. Although the presence of an Earth Essence meant they would never lack raw stones in the future, that was a slow process of accumulation. It was better to take the high-quality ore available right now.
Ji Rufeng didn't hold back either and stepped forward to mine. This was a significant harvest; top-grade raw stones were exactly what his master, Daoist Ruihua, needed for his Earth-attribute spiritual root.
Once Yun Mingxuan and Ji Rufeng had finished gathering the top-grade stones, they took only a token amount of the ordinary ones. The rest were all swept into the Dream Realm by Li Xue, Li Lin, and Yu Ming. Soon, the cliff face was picked clean. To prevent anyone from deducing that an Earth Essence had appeared there, the five of them used a few more talismans to blast the area into level ground. By the time they were finished, not a single trace of the Earth-attribute ore remained in the valley.
After taking a moment to regulate their breathing and recover, the five of them gathered their gear and continued their flight into the deeper reaches of the Yun变 Mountains.
