Chapter 165

Because the experience of going to the Ghost Market for the first time was too tragic, Hua Changxi did not dare to be careless the second time. In addition to refining a batch of third-grade spirit pills, on the last day of the tenth lunar month, she also made a trip to the Sancha Medicine Valley, preparing to carry more top-grade fire spirit stones with her for emergencies.

The location of the fire spirit mine was too close to the Sancha Medicine Valley under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. To avoid discovery by the court, there were people from the four, You Lao, patrolling the outer layer, and moving inward, Hua Changxi had specifically set up concealment and maze arrays.

However, regarding arrays, Hua Changxi only set them up by following the pattern, and the concealment and maze arrays at the fire spirit mine were quite elementary and could not stop high-level cultivators at all.

Just like now, Hua Changxi, in the Nascent Soul realm, arrived and saw through the arrays around the fire spirit mine at a glance. She could enter the fire spirit mine without alerting anyone.

"Drawing talismans, setting up arrays..."

Previously, because she couldn't carve talisman runes, she couldn't set up teleportation arrays; now, because she didn't understand how to set up advanced arrays, she couldn't conceal the spirit mine.

Hua Changxi realized once again that on the path of cultivation, besides cultivation, there were many things to learn.

At the current stage, due to limited energy, she had no time to delve into other things, but spirit talismans, array disks, and spirit artifacts were all things she needed.

If she couldn't do it herself, she could only make friends with some cultivators who could.

The first time she went to the Ghost Market, she went with the purpose of breaking into the cultivator circle, but unfortunately, she returned empty-handed. Hopefully, she would have some gains this time.

At the fire spirit mine, Hua Changxi rarely came over. The fire spirit stones mined each month were directly stored in the underground stone cave connected to the fire spirit mine.

Hua Changxi did not alert the patrolling cultivators, nor did she alert the miners digging for spirit stones, and sneaked into the stone cave silently.

In the stone cave, boxes of fire spirit stones were neatly arranged.

Hua Changxi didn't look at the low-grade, mid-grade, or high-grade fire spirit stones and went straight to the top-grade fire spirit stones. However, when she reached the top-grade fire spirit stone area, she found that there were only a mere three boxes of top-grade fire spirit stones.

One box could hold ten thousand spirit stones; three boxes meant only thirty thousand top-grade fire spirit stones.

Hua Changxi had never withdrawn the spirit stones from here. It took two or three years to mine only this many top-grade fire spirit stones, which was a huge gap from her estimates.

Hua Changxi knew that the four, You Lao, guarding the fire spirit mine would definitely embezzle some. As long as it wasn't excessive, she couldn't be bothered to care, but looking at the three boxes of top-grade fire spirit stones in front of her, she was really somewhat angry.

This time when she came, Hua Changxi hadn't intended to alert the four, You Lao, and she hadn't even intended to see Hua Liulang, but at this moment, she decided to go see them.

After taking away the three boxes of top-grade fire spirit stones and all the high-grade spirit stones, Hua Changxi left the mine cave. Upon coming out of the mine cave, she noticed that dozens of stone caves had been opened on the cliffs on both sides of the fire spirit mine.

At this moment, there were people meditating and cultivating in all the stone caves.

Hua Changxi released her divine sense to scan the area and found that more than ten of these people were already Qi Sea realm cultivators.

Clearly, these cultivators were undoubtedly the people of the four, You Lao.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi narrowed her eyes, suddenly realizing that even if she had sent Hua Liulang to supervise, given the control the four, You Lao, had over the spirit mine, in a few more years, she feared she would be directly sidelined by them.

In a slightly larger stone cave in the valley, she 'saw' Hua Liulang gesturing wildly about something. Opposite him, You Lin, Yang Chuan, Zhuo Fan, and Jiang He were sitting leisurely, watching Hua Liulang as if watching a play.

Watching this scene, Hua Changxi's face sank immediately.

However, she did not rush up to find out the truth, but turned and sneaked into the depths of the spirit mine again.

A quarter of an hour later, a mineral spirit that emitted red light, was six or seven meters long, and shaped like a fire snake was collected by Hua Changxi into the Sumeru mustard seed on her neck.

After the mineral spirit was taken away, this fire spirit mine became a dead mine, which would no longer automatically condense new spirit stones, and it would be gone after being mined out.

This time when she came, she realized that managing the fire spirit mine was not easy. She had no one of her own; using outsiders would likely lead to being sidelined; using her own family would inevitably lead to interest disputes in the future, which was what she least wanted to face.

This was not the first time the four, You Lao, had done things behind her back. She didn't want to be someone who drained the pond to catch the fish, so she took away the mineral spirit and ruined this fire spirit mine.

But she had no energy to manage it, and the four, You Lao, were not people who could cooperate long-term. Thus, she could only interrupt the 'cooperative mining of the fire spirit mine' project here.

"You have already opened so many stone caves; you cannot open any more."

Hua Liulang was very dissatisfied with the four, You Lao, constantly opening more stone caves around the spirit mine.

You Lao smiled: "The spiritual energy around the spirit mine is rich; it would be a real pity to waste it."

Hearing this, Hua Liulang was very angry: "Don't try to fool me by thinking I don't understand anything. The spiritual energy overflowing from the spirit mine is limited. Are you calling so many people over to cultivate because you want to consume the spirit mine completely?"

Jiang He didn't want Hua Liulang to make a scene in front of Hua Changxi, so he smiled and appeased him: "Liulang, we are all Changxi's people, so our clansmen are naturally Changxi's people too. I believe Changxi is willing to cultivate her own subordinates."

Hua Liulang felt very aggrieved at this moment. Every time he encountered something, the four, You Lao, had suitable reasons to fob him off, leaving him speechless.

"Sixth Brother!"

Hua Changxi's voice rang out outside the stone cave, startling everyone. The four, You Lao, stood up with a 'whoosh' and looked at each other somewhat nervously.

Hua Liulang, however, had a happy face and walked quickly out of the stone cave: "Jiuniang, why are you here?"

Hua Changxi: "I came to withdraw a sum of spirit stones. Sixth Brother, the fire spirit mine was handed over to you to manage. If you are too busy alone, you can find helpers. But there is one thing you must remember: you are responsible for managing the people you find."

Hua Liulang immediately asked: "Then can I let my family come to help?"

Hua Changxi: "Yes, but if there are interest disputes among the family members in the future, you have to solve them yourself."

Hua Liulang thought that rather than letting the four, You Lao, take advantage, it would be better to let the Hua family take advantage: "Don't worry, I won't cause you trouble."

"Changxi, you're here?"

The four, You Lao, also came out, all smiling at Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi nodded at the four. Since the cooperation had been interrupted, she had nothing more to say to them. When she chose partners before, she was too eager, and the people she chose were unsatisfactory. Now that the project was ruined, she had to bear the consequences herself.

As for the remaining fire spirit mine, it would be used to temper her sixth brother.

"I have things to do, I'm leaving first."

Watching Hua Changxi appear suddenly and leave suddenly, without saying anything to them or asking anything, the four, You Lao, all felt suspicious in their hearts.

Was Hua Changxi too trusting of them?

"You Lao, Yang Lao, Zhuo Lao, Jiang Lao, I will let the Hua family come to help me later. At that time, I hope you will give more guidance."

Seeing that the Hua family was going to get involved, the four, You Lao, were naturally unhappy, but they couldn't stop it.

"What was meant to come has come."

"Actually, it's not entirely a bad thing for the Hua family to get involved. As long as we get along well with the Hua family, our bond with Hua Changxi will be even deeper."

"That's right. Have you noticed that Hua Changxi's aura is becoming more and more terrifying? I don't even dare to look her in the eyes. I wonder how high her cultivation is now?"

"Regardless, we cannot offend Hua Changxi. Since the Hua family is involved, we should move our hands less on the spirit stones mined."

While Yang Chuan and the other three were discussing, You Lao remained silent.

Hua Changxi coming over and ignoring them left him feeling very uneasy. He felt that Hua Changxi seemed to no longer care about this spirit mine.