585 A Dazzling Sight

Another week had passed before Lin Mu and Jing Luo arrived in at the final vein of the spirit stone mine. Till now they had mined out four veins, each of which was bigger than the previous one.

Seeing that there were so many veins, both Lin Mu and Jing Luo were surprised. Even Xukong said that they had hit a jackpot as this spirit stone mine was probably close to becoming a peak grade spirit stone mine.

Xukong estimated that in the next couple of years this mine would have evolved to become a peak grade spirit stone mine. Though it could be said that it was both a fortune and misfortune. Fortune for Lin Mu, misfortune for the Ripple Mist sect.

In addition to the spirit stones, Lin Mu and Jing Luo both had some extra gains in their cultivation base too. For Jing Luo, he had reached the border of the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm. If he accumulated more spirit Qi, he would break through to the Adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

As for Lin Mu, while his cultivation base had also progressed, it was not as much as Jing Luo. The main reason behind this being his higher capacity of spirit Qi due to a larger Dantian. Another thing was that little Shrubby had woken up a couple of days ago.

He was better than ever, and Lin Mu had paused to go meet him as well. Upon seeing him, Lin Mu realized that Little Shrubby was very close to the pseudo Nascent soul too, and to accelerate that process he had asked him to stay in the spirit stone mine with them, letting him absorb as much spirit Qi as he could.

If one looked at the scene in the spirit stone mine as of now, one would see a slightly chubby Liger lounging on a large bed made out of solid spirit stone. Lin Mu had been taking this opportunity to train his use of meld as well.

This spirit stone bed was made by him, by using meld skillfully to carve out the perfect shape. Little Shrubby quickly took it over  and laid a few animal pelts that Lin Mu had in his ring on it before sleeping.

It could be said that the beast was enjoying a life of luxury that perhaps even the Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire did not have. Little Shrubby's fur had also grown further and he now looked chubby because of that.

Lin Mu wondered how long it would grow, because if it kept growing at the same rate for a few more days, the beast might turn into a large fur ball instead. Even Xukong commented on it and thought that it was quite unusual.

~huu~

"This should be the last one…" Lin Mu spoke.

"Yeah, we've come a long way." Jing Luo agreed as he took a look at their handiwork.

There were piles upon piles of spirit stones in the cave, the value of which was incalculable to both Lin Mu and Jing Luo at this point. After a certain period, they had given up on keeping count and just kept on digging, while Lin Mu stored them.

Jing Luo also kept an emergency store of spirit stones in his rings, if he needed them later. They knew that when they escaped, they would perhaps be getting into a conflict with the Ripple mist sect and wanted to be as prepared as possible.

~BOOM~

Lin Mu punched the wall of the cave, making another tunnel in it. Quickly removing the rocks in their path, the two men progressed before eventually appearing in front of another solid wall of spirit stone.

Lin Mu scanned it over with his spirit sense and realized that it was like a large oval egg.

"This should be the source vein of the spirit stone mine," Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu nodded his head and got ready to make a door.

"Meld," He muttered while extending his hand.

~shua~

An unequal rectangle was cut from the wall, and Lin Mu instantly stored it in the ring. Stepping in, the two men saw a stunning sight.

"This is the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life…" Jing Luo spoke.

"Indeed…" Lin Mu muttered in agreement.

In the two men's eyes, the entire area they were in was dazzling. Because the final vein was an enclosed solid crystal, even a single beam of light was enough to create countless refractions. This caused the light to turn into a multitude of colors, making it seem like they were in a rainbow sea.

Each breath they took was saturated with spirit Qi such that it was now sticking to their clothes, making them moist. This was an environment, rarely anyone would ever get to experience.

"The spirit Qi here… it's so… free?" Lin Mu said as he waved his hand.

He did not even need to do much and the spirit Qi would obey his commands. It was a bizarre feeling, but pleasant at the same time.

"It feels a shame that we need to break this," Jing Luo spoke, feeling uncomfortable.

"Indeed…" Lin Mu replied before an idea suddenly popped into his head.

"WAIT! We don't need to break this entire thing!" Lin Mu spoke.

"Huh? Really?" Jing Luo asked.

"Yeah, all we need to do is remove the surrounding rock and soil. Once that is done, I'll be able to entirely store it in my ring." Lin Mu replied.

"Perfect! We'll do that then. I've never heard of such a large spirit stone mine source being used before. I know they are broken down to make peak grade spirit stones sometimes, but they are never this large." Jing Luo spoke with excitement.

Lin Mu nodded his head and the two 'miners' got to work again. Diligently excavating the rock and soil, they made sure not even an extra dent was made on the surface of the source vein. This took them two days to complete, but the final result was worth it.