Chapter 474 – Spiritual Stone Mines (1/2)

Her gaze drifted away, perhaps provoking him or turning him down.

“I’ve grown sick a long time ago.”

Li Qingshan retorted immediately, only to remember he should have responded with something sickly sweet like “I can never get enough”. This was an almost automatic defensive response he had developed from spending time with her.

“You, oh you!” Ru Xin smiled and shook her head gently. Who knew whether it was disappointment or relief.

“You might be rather good-looking, but it’s nowhere near enough to seduce me!”

Li Qingshan smiled too, recovering his composure. He did not wish to see their relationship destroyed because of what he felt on a whim.

“Right back at you! If you’re sick of it, then piss off. Don’t get in my way of refining pills.” Ru Xin stood up to see him off.

“But I haven’t even finished my tea.”

“It’s finished.” Ru Xin picked it up and emptied it before shooing Li Qingshan out the door.

When Li Qingshan left, he wanted to say something, but all he saw was the door being slammed in his face. As he gazed at the stone door, he felt rather reluctant to just let this end like this.

Ru Xin stared at the stone door too as light rippled through her eyes. It seemed frigid, yet also passionate.

The two of them simply stared at one another with the heavy, stone door there, unable to see one another. However, their gazes did not shift at all.

Li Qingshan suddenly smiled, turning around and leaving on a cloud. He crossed his arms leisurely. He just dismissed it as becoming slightly muddle-headed for once during his long journey of cultivation. It was fine if he was reluctant. There was still plenty of time ahead.

Ru Xin let out a gentle sigh and sneered. “Coward.” Suddenly, she began to rub her head in distress. “With all these spiritual herbs, how long do I have to refine them for!?”

She was not completely joking with what she had said earlier. Recently, she had become rather tired of refining pills, but with so many benefits laid out before her, she would put up with it no matter how tired she was.

The night deepened. The rain eased up slightly, but it continued to patter endlessly, drenching the earth and mountains.

With the arrival of spring came the season of rain.

It also rained a thousand kilometers south-west.

There was a great, ruptured mountain. The mountain was teeming with spiritual qi, which indicated the presence of a spiritual stone vein. Within the rupture, scattered pieces of spiritual stones shone gently.

Her brows were slightly furrowed on her delicate face, as if she was considering something. Her dark blue skin did not affect her beauty at all, adding a mysterious sense of charm instead.

“Sister, the daemons are retreating. What should we do? Dammit, to think they didn’t contact us!” Ye Liubo followed closely behind. Her appearance was only slightly lacklustre to Ye Liusu, but with her curves, she possessed a romantic charm that even Ye Liusu failed to match.

“Yep.”

Leading the army of night roamers, Ye LIusu attacked the various spiritual stone mines scattered throughout the land. Some mines were heavily guarded, protected by powerful cultivators, but compared to their army, they were nothing. Although they had suffered quite a lot of casualties, only a single night roamer who had undergone the first heavenly tribulation died in battle. The resistance that they faced was rather weak.

The biggest problem did not actually come from the daemons or the humans, but from themselves.

Although Li Qingshan had given Ye Liusu the task of commanding them, the various forms of strike, both open and secret, immediately began to spread through the ranks without his presence. The powerful night roamer who fell in battle died to extremely strange circumstances.

From a certain perspective, these battles no longer had anything to do with their interests. Instead, it was a form of instinct. They would harm one another as soon as the opportunity presented itself, even if it offered no benefits. It was no different from, “You’re too perfect in this area, so I couldn’t help myself but to kick you. It’s been quite some time since kicking someone has been so satisfying”.

This was the aspect that troubled Ye Liusu the most. Sometimes, she would even think in anger, Are night roamers like them really worth all my effort? However, a thought like that would vanish in a flash. It was not enough to influence an idealist like her.

Through the various trials, she developed a leader’s bearing, and her supporters gradually increased. They all found Ye Liusu extremely admirable.

Ever since the Daemon Suppression alliance and the Academy of the Hundred Schools forged an alliance in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain, they placed most of their focus on attacking the daemons that ran amok on the surface. After all, spiritual stone veins were important, but they could always steal them back if they lost them. It was not like they could be uprooted and taken away. At most, they would just lose out on some spiritual stones.

On the other hand, death was permanent. If the Clear River prefecture had actually been decimated, not only would the academy be unable to recruit any suitable disciples, the various sects would be no different. Humans had short lifespans, and the lifespans of cultivators were not particularly long either. Going a few generations without accepting any new disciples was definitely enough to end a sect’s legacy and lead it to its demise.

Although none of them cared about the lives of regular people after becoming cultivators, all of them understood the foundation of the cultivation community lay among these regular people who produced generations after generations.

As a result, these attacks from the night roamers essentially went unimpeded. Instead, they were more than willing to use these mines to keep the night roamer army busy and reduce the pressure they faced on the battlefield. As long as they defeated the daemons, did they have to worry about losing these mines for good?