Chapter 117: Formation

"Has your spirit fire ever absorbed other fire sources?" Sui Lv Zhenjun, though a Nascent Soul cultivator, could not have personally seen every exotic fire in the world, and he had never encountered or subjugated an exotic fire.

He had cultivated for several hundred years, yet he had only been fortunate enough to meet four or five people who possessed and used different exotic fires.

But his eyesight was exceptional; from Jiang Tu's spirit fire color he could discern a bit.

The crimson‑white flame with a cyan edge could instantly burn through a formation seal, and it could not possibly be the alchemical fire spontaneously generated by a seventh‑rank dark turtle.

Jiang Tu and Jiang Yu exchanged a glance, and Jiang Tu resolved, saying: "It is the Azure Dragon Remnant Fire that Jiang Yu discovered.

It may still contain other fire types inside, and it has no spirit awareness; I don't understand."

Sui Lv Zhenjun nodded slightly: "Opportunities sometimes defy reason; they pick their targets."

"Yes, Master, at first I couldn't refine this fire, but as soon as it saw Jiang Tu it voluntarily submitted to him.

Now, as Jiang Tu's own cultivation rises, it continues to change." In any case, Jiang Yu had never seen any exotic fire; the library only recorded exotic fire rankings and characteristics, with no actual illustrations, so her ignorance was normal.

Sui Lv Zhenjun thought for a moment; the Yao Race could refine only few exotic fires, and said, "This fire must have once devoured some heavenly or earthly exotic fire; I'll go back to the fourth floor of the library to check which kind it is."

And Jiang Tu, when using it in the future, should try not to display it before higher ranks, and use it against foes for a guaranteed killing blow, so that the secret of your exotic fire does not spread.

As he spoke, he already summoned the infant fire from his dantian, burning away the entire layer of seal at the cave entrance.

"Hmm, I will, and I'll use it right in front of you," Jiang Tu said, raising his appraisal of him another level.

Jiang Yu also said, "When we duel, we are very safety‑conscious; we can win using ordinary methods and never resort to spirit fire.

It still needs to absorb more fire sources to increase its power."

Sui Lv Zhenjun nodded again and, leading the way, rode into the mine tunnel.

Jiang Yu hesitated slightly: "Master, shouldn't we first escort the Profound Heaven Sect disciples out?"

"We'll discuss it when we exit."

"Then, should I set up a defensive formation for them to prevent any mishap?"

"After all, they are Nascent Soul direct disciples; I heard Chong Xu Zhenjun is on his way."

"Hehe, that's what those Profound Heaven Sect disciples are saying, right?"

"Don't worry, Xue Daoyou is here; Chong Xu Xinxu cannot possibly come, at most he'll send his senior disciple."

"Setting a formation is fine," Sui Lv Zhenjun said, noting he had grievances against some members of the Profound Heaven Sect and Spirit Ruins Sect, but he wouldn't interfere with their disciples.

Jiang Yu, receiving the order, turned and flew to set a formation for Dai Lin, while Jiang Tu, displeased, muttered: "Why? Those Profound Heaven Sect people are so annoying."

"If he gets injured himself, it's our duty not to rescue him, but…" The person was knocked unconscious by the master; if he were to die it would be most unfortunate. Jiang Yu was there for post‑mortem care, which is why the master did not object.

She finished setting the formation and returned quickly, but the master had not gone deeper and was still waiting at the entrance.

The mine tunnel was very winding, its height was acceptable; though narrow, a person could stand upright and walk, and the initial stones had already been cleared by Sui Lv Zhenjun.

Behind, Jiang Yu, perceptive as ever, slipped past the master and went ahead to clear the passage.

Only after venturing deep did the tunnel fork; standing at the junction, she observed heavy mining marks on the right side, while the left side seemed scarcely mined.

Relying on her experience of extracting a complete spirit ore once, Jiang Yu entered the left side, drew her sword and hacked away a large chunk; after a few strokes she sliced off the outer layer of Absolute Spirit Skin, revealing a lump of mid‑grade spirit stone inside.

"Master, this vein isn't a small one.

All the mid‑grade spirit stones have been discarded; they couldn't have only taken the top‑grade spirit stones at first, could they?"

"If the one surnamed Qian truly comes from the spirit realm, this vein would be a small one for him," Sui Lv Zhenjun said, stepping past her into the interior; due to the layer of Absolute Spirit Stone, his divine sense was heavily disturbed.

But he sensed formation fluctuations inside and needed to approach to confirm.

Jiang Yu stopped hacking; she wasn't short of spirit stones, so she gathered the large chunk on the ground into her Dragon Pearl and hurried to catch up with the master.

After a short while, the master and disciple traversed an increasingly narrow passage and suddenly saw, not far ahead, another fork to the right.

Jiang Tu was the first to ask, "Does it mean the left and right passages are connected?"

No sooner had he spoken than Sui Lv Zhenjun stepped over; a flash of divine light burst forth, forcing Jiang Yu and him to close their eyes instantly.

When they opened their eyes again, Sui Lv Zhenjun was gone. "Master?"

Jiang Yu also raised a protective aura, ready to leap over, but heard the master's voice: "Hold off for now; wait until I remove the formation banner."

The moment Sui Lv Zhenjun entered, ten thousand fire‑birds swooped toward him; if it were merely a fire attack, he would have no objection to letting Jiang Yu come in for repeated refinements.

But at this moment, the flaming birds emitted shrill cries; with his cultivation level he had to shut off his auditory perception to avoid being affected.

He struck the fire‑birds repeatedly, but since they were fire, dispersing them only caused them to reconvene— a cycle of death and rebirth, endless.

Only by locating the formation's eye and removing its banner can one break out of this array completely.

Jiang Yu was unaware that the master hadn't even found the first formation eye; after waiting a moment, she set Jiang Tu down and said, "Gather the spirit stones; it won't delay us."

Jiang Tu saw her turn to hack an irregular stone wall; instead of flying over to help, he wandered around, searching for more distinctive ores.

After a short while, it transmitted a voice: "Jiang Yu, come see here; inside may be top‑grade spirit stone."

When Jiang Yu broke open the ore before her and turned her head, she saw Jiang Tu's claws slapping and scraping at the stone wall.

"Crack—crack—, the outer insulating stone skin fell away, revealing a huge slab of top‑grade spirit stone, shimmering with a radiant, ethereal glow.

But Jiang Yu shook her head, rubbed her eyes, ran closer, and focused on a corner where a jade‑like spirit stone glimmered, its brilliance incomparable.

"Jiang Tu, is it perhaps an exquisite wood spirit stone?" Speaking of it, spirit stones, like spiritual energy, each have colors—gold, wood, water, fire, earth; white, cyan, black, red, yellow.

Among them, water spirit stones are not the black of a pot bottom but black with a hint of blue.

Moreover, spirit stones are graded by the purity of their spiritual aura: low‑grade, mid‑grade, high‑grade, and exquisite.

High‑grade stones can still be found with effort, but exquisite ones are rare; so far she has never heard of any appearing anywhere.

Jiang Yu took a heavier, sturdier blade and cut carefully, fearing she might damage it.

"Use a bit more force; exquisite spirit stones are very hard and won't break," Jiang Tu said, wanting to seize the knife and handle it himself.

Jiang Yu's hand halted, not due to its influence, but because a top‑grade spirit stone under her hand was severed by her.

"Jiang Tu, should you keep looking? If there are still exquisite spirit stones, we'll truly strike it rich.

This one, let me discuss with you: how about we give it to the master?"

"What do you mean, give it to me?" Sui Lv Zhenjun happened to emerge from the right fork, and his cultivation robe surprisingly had several holes burned through.

Jiang Tu didn't object to the little companion presenting an initiation gift; using top-grade spirit stones now is truly wasteful for the two of them: "Jiang Yu wants to give you top-grade spirit stones, but she can't cut them out."

Sui Lv Zhenjun startled, took three steps in two strides to the half-opened ore; the top-grade spirit stone shone brilliantly: "Sheathe your sword, use wood spirit power to form a blade, press it against it and cut."