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Chapter 276 - Sky Island
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 07:00:07 +0000 UTCTamina didn't attempt to absorb the spiritual energy herself. She was already at the peak of the Core Formation Realm, her core filled to capacity. Without breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, she couldn't store any more Qi. Unfortunately, the void tunnel's limitations prevented her from advancing further. She could break through to the Nascent Soul Realm if she wanted, but that would mean risking her life navigating a collapsing void tunnel.
While peak Core Formation Realm cultivators had the advantage of being stronger than most here, the downside was that their cultivation progress was effectively frozen until they returned to their home continent.
After a few minutes, the rush of spiritual energy subsided as the pressure within the cavern stabilized.
Tamina stepped into the underground cavern, and her breath caught in her throat. The sight before her was nothing short of breathtaking. "Anda! We are super rich!" she shouted, her voice echoing through the vast space.
Moments later, Anda descended into the cavern, her eyes widening as she took in the scene. The cavern was a high-grade spirit stone mine, its walls embedded with massive chunks of high-grade spirit stones. All spirit stones, regardless of grade, originated from large, long branching chunks that spread far underground, resembling roots. These chunks could be broken down into smaller, uniform pieces using a specific method to be used as currency.
The smaller pieces of each grade—low, middle, and high—had distinct shapes, making it easy to identify their grade at a glance. Since this mine was theirs alone, there was no need to break the chunks into smaller pieces. They could use the large chunks directly for cultivation.
Even in the Cloud Continent, high-grade spirit stone mines were exceedingly rare, and all of them were tightly controlled by the Protectors. In fact, Anda had never even held a single high-grade spirit stone before—they were far too valuable to circulate freely.
"Tamina, if we tried to mine everything, how long do you think it would take?" Anda asked, her voice calm. Based on the radar, she knew this wasn't all of it. The spirit stone chunks they were seeing now were just those that had been pushed out as more formed underground.
Tamina's sharp eyes scanned the cavern. "Hmm... I'm not sure, Anda. I'd need to test it first. From what I know, mining spirit stones usually takes a long time because miners have to be extremely careful. Reckless mining—like hitting the chunks too hard—can cause a spiritual energy explosion. And with so many large chunks nearby, it could trigger a chain reaction of terrifying explosions. There have been many such cases in history. That's why they always use Qi Refinement Realm cultivators for mining jobs. They're not strong enough to accidentally detonate the stones. It's slower but safer."
"Uhh... that sounds dangerous. Be careful, Tamina. Don't detonate them," Anda said. The Mountain Dew Sect had jobs for Qi Refinement Realm cultivators to mine spirit stones for contribution points, but Anda had never taken on such a task, so she wasn't aware of the risks.
"Hihi. Don't worry. I'm not using a pickaxe like those miners. I only need to rearrange and separate the rocks from the spirit stone chunks," Tamina said confidently as she approached one of the chunks sticking out of the cavern wall.
As usual, she stabbed her spear into the wall, but to her surprise, it couldn't penetrate. This sent a wave of unease through her. Although the spear failed to pierce the wall, Tamina continued channeling her earth elemental Qi to manipulate the earth as usual. Her eyebrows furrowed. It seemed that the hardened earth around the spirit stone chunks had been infused with spiritual energy for so long that it repelled her Qi, making it extremely difficult to manipulate.
Refusing to give up, she tried again, pouring all her strength into overwhelming and taking control of the spiritual energy-infused earth. An hour later, she finally managed to separate a hand-sized piece of earth from the surface of the large spirit stone chunk.
Tamina turned to Anda, scratching her head awkwardly. "Heheh, this is going to be way harder than I thought, Anda. The spiritual energy from the spirit stone is interfering with my Qi a lot."
Anda sighed. "We found such a great wealth, but we can't even enjoy it. Let's go, Tamina. Remember this place. We can come back later after we have more people to help." It was unrealistic for them to stay here for a long time just to excavate the spirit stone chunks, especially since Anda still needed to find Leyvi.
Maybe they could return after reuniting with Leyvi and let Scarlet handle the digging. Although Tamina's digging talent was extraordinary, it still paled in comparison to the cheat-like abilities granted by the Talent Bead—at least for now.
"Aw..." Tamina sounded disappointed. She looked back at the high-grade spirit stones scattered throughout the cavern, feeling reluctant to leave them behind. "Pandaploration mission failed for the first time," she muttered.
Soon, the two ladies exited the spirit stone mine, and Tamina sealed the hole. They also left behind Qi imprints so they could find the place again later.
Anda summoned the cloud boat, and they rose into the sky once more. Tamina still looked down at the spirit stone mine with a reluctant expression as snow slowly began to cover the area again.
"Don't worry about it, Tamina. Once we find my husband, we'll return to the mine," Anda reassured her.
"Is your husband omnipotent or something, Anda? You always talk about him like he can solve any problem," Tamina asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course, my husband is the best man in the world!" Anda bragged.
Tamina rolled her eyes. How does that have anything to do with anything? She started to doubt whether Anda's husband even existed.
A day later, continuing along the path where the mystical clouds drifted from, they discovered a massive cloud formation about 15 kilometers above the ground. It stretched out like a boundless sea of whiteness, entirely composed of the mystical clouds they had come to know. This meant they could land and walk on the mystical cloud sea itself. The clouds were everywhere—above, below, and all around them—shifting and swirling in countless shapes and forms.
The two ladies walked across the mystical cloud sea for about fifteen minutes before something unbelievable came into view, hidden behind layers upon layers of clouds.
"Tamina, do you see what I see?" Anda asked, her voice tinged with awe.
Tamina nodded, her eyes wide. "I see it. But... how is this possible?"
In front of them was a literal floating island made of earth—a massive piece of land stretching far beyond the reach of their spiritual senses. It hovered in the sky, supported by the vast mystical cloud sea beneath it.
A sky island!
The sight left them speechless. They had tested the mystical clouds and knew that, without a steady supply of Qi, they would slowly descend. So how could this massive cloud sea stay afloat while supporting such an enormous, heavy island? There was only one plausible explanation: somewhere, there was a spiritual energy source sustaining the mystical cloud sea.
"Anda, I smell treasures," Tamina said, her eyes glinting with excitement as she glanced at Anda with a sly smile.
"Sniff, sniff. You're right, Tamina. It's time to pandaplore again!" Anda replied, matching Tamina's grin and pretending to sniff the air like they could literally smell the treasures.
"This time, I'm not letting go of any treasure I found!" Tamina added.
Filled with excitement and a sense of adventure, the two ladies stepped onto the sky island.
Since the island existed atop the mystical cloud sea, it wasn't surprising to see many areas covered with the same mystical clouds. In fact, Anda and Tamina noticed that most of the plants here had evolved to adapt to this unique environment. Their leaves shimmered faintly, and their roots seemed to intertwine with the clouds, creating an otherworldly ecosystem.
Despite being high in the sky and located within the snow region, the temperature here was only slightly cold, so they no longer needed Little Fiery to keep them warm. The air felt crisp and refreshing, carrying a faint, sweet scent.
As they explored further, they spotted many animals and demonic beasts roaming the island. But something was off. The demonic beasts here seemed unusually tame, lazy, and... fat? What was going on? Typically, most demonic beasts would stay in their enlarged forms to assert dominance, but here, all of them remained in their normal-sized forms, lounging around as if they didn't have a care in the world.
Anda and Tamina exchanged confused glances. "Did someone domesticate them or something? Does that mean someone lives here?" Tamina wondered aloud.
The two ladies gulped, their minds racing with the same question. If the sky island wasn't a natural phenomenon and someone had created it, what kind of power did that person possess? And more importantly, was it safe for them to explore this place?
Roar!
A sudden roar from behind startled them. They spun around to see a fat Demonic Lion staring at them, its golden eyes half-lidded with disinterest.
Anda and Tamina stared at each other speechlessly. Why is this lion roaring at us? Is it picking a fight? They thought.
The two ladies scrutinized the fat lion and shook their heads. Instead of Demonic Lion, it should be called Chonky Lion.
