Chapter 109: Hmph

The cave narrowed the deeper it went, and when Jiang Yu ran to the innermost part, she saw a handful of seven‑ to nine‑year‑old children packed together, terrifiedly staring at Jiang Tu hovering in midair.

Jiang Tu's form had swollen to about an arm's length, and his front claws were flipping round stones the size of watermelons.

"Jiang Yu, look," it said. Seeing Jiang Yu approach, it channeled its inner mana onto the round stone, and instantly countless white electric orbs burst out.

With a crackle, the orbs' color shifted from silvery white to gold, and in less than a heartbeat a thick, lightning‑woven cocoon formed on the surface.

"Thunder Mother Stone?!" Moreover, there was more than one; Jiang Yu scanned the cave floor and saw over a dozen scattered, and even under those children's feet there were some.

A few children who had only cultivated Qi to the first or second level lowered their heads following her gaze, then squealed and jumped away; the only two girls even burst into tears.

"Wuwuwu, I don't want an immortal any more, I want to go home."

"Don't kill me..."

"Stop shouting!" Jiang Tu bellowed, and the children instantly trembled like hatchlings, daring not to speak again.

"Jiang Yu, quickly gather these up; we'll search the vicinity for more of this stone." The Thunder Mother Stone's primary function is to aid cultivators in practicing thunder‑based techniques.

Unlike the brute‑force artificial Thunder Pools used for body‑refining, this stone's thunder power contains chaotic qi, which can be absorbed without harming the tendons and vessels.

It should be known that in this world, one does not need a thunder spiritual root to command thunder; otherwise, why would the market have so many Five Thunder Talismans?

The Five Elements complement each other; with the right technique secrets, water spirit power can be converted into wood spirit power, thunder spirit power, and so on, and the arts are often mutually transmutable.

However, converting water spirit power to thunder spirit power takes some time; it's feasible when drawing low‑grade spirit talismans, but most high‑grade talismans cannot be crafted without having cultivated thunder power abilities.

And in combat, it's best not to improvise; just use techniques that match one's own spiritual root.

Moreover, exotic spiritual roots like ice, wind, and thunder also arise from mutations of the second and third roots among the Five Elements.

Therefore, the Grand Void Sect specifically offers certain disciples the chance to study the ancient Cave‑Bright Thunder‑Fire Technique, not solely to induce a mutation of their spiritual root, which has an exceedingly low probability.

Rather, they hope that even those without a thunder spiritual root can wield high‑level thunder systems, but this requires the right opportunity.

These were all explained to Jiang Yu when she visited Master Lin Yuan, who parsed them one by one.

And now, the Thunder Mother Stone serves as Jiang Yu's device; she can use its continuously released thunder power to refine her body.

"These—were they placed here by someone, or does this mountain naturally contain Thunder Mother Stones?" Jiang Yu gathered all the round stones on the ground into her storage bracelet, then looked at the children and found them fairly normal, likely never having had their essence blood extracted.

To prevent accidents, she flashed in front of the children; as they shrieked, she casually cast a small fireball technique, sealing each of their dantian and sleep points, and the world instantly fell silent.

Then, together with Jiang Tu, she split open the cave's stone walls to look for any Thunder Mother Stones.

There was no way; the formation of Thunder Mother Stones is unknown, and their outer skin is a layer of Absolute Spirit.

If not for Jiang Tu's own divine ability discovering these round stones, Jiang Yu might have missed them.

Bang bang bang, as they hammered away at the cave, the foundation cultivators who had entered the capital city were also keeping busy.

Although they learned that a immortal had been recruiting disciples last year, because there were no such deceitful cultivators in the city, many were preparing to leave for the next city.

But no one expected that Qin Zhuo of the Profound Heaven Sect, while helping a commoner constable catch a thief on the street, happened to obtain a Tai Chi Fish Token from the thief's body.

A group of foundation cultivators immediately decided to approach the authorities, reveal their identities, and use elixirs to purchase the fish tokens at a high level within the city.

Think about it—how many people would covet a celestial pill that stabilizes the foundation, nurtures the core, and extends lifespan.

Thus, any wealthy official household in the capital city that possessed jade would clutch their jade and seek an immortal to grant them a celestial pill.

Xue Miao, watching the crowd jammed in front of the prefectural office, noted that none of the jade pieces were Tai Chi fish‑shaped; the more she thought, the angrier she became, "Brother Yang, it's the Profound Heaven Sect again, and they're disciples of Lord Qin Zhenjun."

She, under the jurisdiction of the Falling Moon Sect, still hadn't found a second piece; contemplating using the opportunity to search the mortal realm, she was beaten to it by someone else.

"Junior sister, where are you going?" Her senior brother, upon seeing her fly away on a sword, immediately gave chase.

"I'll wander nearby, see if any wealthy countryside households have such an item.

"You needn't follow, brother; I've already entered the later stage of foundation cultivation, and in the mortal realm without a Golden Core, who could possibly harm me?" Deep down, Xue Miao was more concerned with saving face; she refused to let her twice‑lost fish tokens become a subject of endless ridicule.

Brother Yang silently shook his head and followed; in the cultivation world, many who have reached the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages can incarnate as mortals to endure the red dust of the mundane world.

Coincidentally, the direction of their flight was exactly where Jiang Yu was.

She and Jiang Tu had chiseled a circuit of the cave, yet saw no Thunder Mother Stone.

So she sent a message to Xia Bing, temporarily sealing the cave and its occupants with a formation; Jiang Tu would then search from another mountain peak.

Jiang Tu suggested, "We fly low; whenever we spot a stone, we descend to inspect it."

"I have the same plan," Jiang Yu replied. Otherwise, the insulating skin on the outer layer of the Thunder Mother Stone would block her spiritual sight, making it undetectable.

As they searched, they eventually reached the confluence of a mountain stream and a great river, where Jiang Tu once again saw Xue Miao approaching on a sword.

She did not conceal her spiritual perception, so Xue Miao instantly pinpointed her direction, but her own spiritual sight was average, with an outward range of three li being the limit.

Yet the feeling of someone scanning her with spiritual sight was ominous: "Who is that?"

"Junior sister?" Brother Yang began to ask what she had discovered, but saw her fly toward a mountain peak.

He could only continue the chase: "Junior sister, do not act impulsively."

A distance of ten to twenty li, for a foundation‑stage cultivator flying on a sword, is covered in but a moment.

"Shall we go?" Jiang Tu asked Jiang Yu for her opinion.

"We'll head to the other side of the river to search," Jiang Yu said as she rode a cloud across the river.

Unexpectedly, Xue Miao flew over, saw it was her, and was about to pass, but then spotted a dark turtle on the cloud rolling its eyes at her.

Seeing that it was a seventh‑rank spirit beast, doubts naturally sprang up: "Jiang Yu, why did you just let your spirit beast spy on me?"

But Jiang Tu blurted out a trump card: "Who was spying on you? Isn't a flat plain quite pleasant?"

"Cough!" Just then, Brother Yang caught up, and upon hearing the words, he glanced at his junior sister, was taken aback, then quickly composed himself, only to be choked by his own words.

Jiang Yu tried to push Jiang Tu back into the spirit‑beast pouch, but was outmatched by Xue Miao's embarrassed fury, which surged forward with a splash of watery sword light.

"Junior sister, stop," Brother Yang hurriedly intervened, also seeing that the cloud‑shaped flying device bore a seventh‑rank spirit beast.

But it was too late; the sword light had already slashed straight at Jiang Tu.

Jiang Yu, of course, would not stand still to be hit; with a thought, the cloud dodged, narrowly evading the blade, while the opponent pushed the male cultivator aside and attacked again.

"Hmph." She quickly raised the cloud and hurled a barrage of water‑arrow talismans at Xue Miao.

Brother Yang turned, sweeping away the arrows, and said, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, it's just a misunderstanding. No need to go that far, right?"

Jiang Yu did not even give him a sideways glance, and went straight past him to face Xue Miao.

Both swung their swords at the same time, and also simultaneously flung toward the opponent's high-level fire talisman, Boom—