After the cool moment faded, Anda replied calmly, "Fine. We'll do it your way this time. I won't interfere anymore."
Leyvi grinned, clearly pleased. "Hahaha! My panda wife is so understanding."
"But!" Anda suddenly said, cutting through his laugh like a blade.
Leyvi froze mid-smile.
"If you can't bring her home later, you won't have a say anymore in recruiting ladies matter. You will act according to my arrangements, understand?"
"Ugh... Anda, that's not fair. Too strict." Leyvi complained, his tone half whining, half helpless.
"Well, if you think I'm being strict, then make sure to bring her home." Anda crossed her arms, refusing to relent.
"Sure, sure." Leyvi waved his hand with a sigh, giving in. "By the way, I've completed all the basic training for my Spiritual Touch. I'll try to move the Spiritual Vein tomorrow. If I can store it, do we depart right away?"
Anda tilted her head slightly. "Leyvi, did you forget the crown prince? Are you intending to leave him behind?" she reminded.
Leyvi blinked. "Oh, right. I forgot about him already. He's still in the middle of forming his Nascent Soul. Hahaha!"
Anda shook her head. "It's been seven months since he started. Tamina said his breakthrough might last around a year if nothing went wrong. So, we have to wait at least five months, I guess."
"Then, what if that Cockroach Villain really sent more people here to cause trouble?" Leyvi raised an eyebrow.
Anda smiled mischievously. "I already took care of that. Senior Lapin stationed some of his clouds along the way from that tree, so if people try to come here, he'd notice them and inform me. That way we'd have time to respond accordingly."
Leyvi sighed. It seemed that Senior Lapin, a supposed great and mighty King Level Demonic Beast, had truly become his wife's errand boy. He couldn't imagine at all how this situation was possible.
In truth, Anda herself wasn't sure either. For some reason, Senior Lapin just kept helping her with every request she made. Anything she asked, he would fulfill without a hint of unwillingness. Eventually, she just accepted it as part of his eagerness to leave this planet and stopped questioning further.
What neither of them knew was that Lapin's reason for cooperating had nothing to do with that. It was because of Lilian. Ever since he became her secret guardian, Lapin had quietly assisted Anda whenever it involved Lilian's circle. When Lilian excitedly told Anda about the goddess back then, the matter of Lapin being her bodyguard was completely forgotten, so Anda remained unaware of it.
A day later.
Leyvi and Anda returned to the mine and went straight to Leyvi's isolated chamber.
"Leyvi, we haven't done it here yet. How about it?" Anda said, pointing at the bed with a teasing smile.
Leyvi rolled his eyes. This horny panda.
"Ahem... Anda, Barbara is here too. Don't forget." Leyvi said, coughing awkwardly.
Anda giggled, sliding over to Barbara's side and holding her hand gently.
"She can be considered family already. What problem is there? Right, Sister Barbara? Do you want to go first? I can teach you." She said mischievously.
"Big Madam, I can't... my mother will get angry. We need to get her permission first." Flustered, Barbara shook her head, her voice barely audible.
Anda chuckled softly. "Hehe. I'm just teasing. Look at your face. Like a tomato," she said, knowing when to stop.
"When Protector Alexandra introduced you back then, who would have thought that you would fall for Leyvi now. Don't worry Sister Barbara, with me around, all the ladies in the house are guaranteed to receive the best treatment in all aspects. No, even without me around, all the ladies in our household are amazing in their own way that they can work together to solve any difficulties. I believe you will fit in very well." Anda reassured the scholarly lady.
Barbara smiled shyly and nodded. Although Anda's words sounded like bragging, Barbara had already seen how she operated. Everyone here naturally followed her lead, yet despite being the one in control, Anda always prioritized her husband above all else. That was something Barbara deeply admired.
Not long ago, she had confided in Ava about her feelings and relationship with Leyvi. Ava had sighed and even apologized, saying she failed to protect her from the "sex fiend's clutch." At this point, Barbara no longer took that whole "sex fiend" label seriously. It only sounded funny to her now. Despite her teasing tone, Ava still reassured her that the Leyan Family was the best place any woman could marry into.
Meanwhile, Leyvi stood quietly beside the Spiritual Vein, ignoring the two chatting ladies.
Over the past four months, his mastery of the Spiritual Touch had advanced tremendously. While he hadn't improved much in terms of quantity, he could still only form two invisible hands. Their quality and precision had reached astounding levels. Barbara had lost count of how many times her jaw dropped after witnessing him shatter his own limits again and again. His rate of progress was simply unbelievable.
Of course, not wanting to be studied like a rare specimen by the ever-curious scholar, Leyvi made sure to downplay it all. He simply attributed his rapid improvement to Dastan's cultivation manual for spiritual cultivators.
Leyvi recalled that five months ago, he couldn't even make the Spiritual Vein budge from its position. But what about now?
A moment later, two large invisible hands materialized on both his left and right sides. He could make them larger if he wanted to, but there was no reason to do so at the moment.
According to Barbara, the reason he failed last time was likely because the Spiritual Vein was energy-locked by the top-grade spirit stones within the mine. It had achieved positional equilibrium due to those surrounding energies. To solve this, they either had to mine all the top-grade spirit stones or use a stronger force to pull them out of balance.
Leyvi didn't really understand Barbara's long explanation, but the solutions themselves were simple enough to grasp.
The mine was far too large for the few of them to empty in such a short time, so the solution remained the same; it depended on him. He simply had to apply greater strength.
The next moment, Leyvi's invisible hands clamped down on the Spiritual Vein with renewed power. Even Anda and Barbara could see that the Spiritual Vein, which had always maintained its perfect form as though nothing could affect it, began to dent slightly in several spots, rippling with faint waves of light.
Then, he poured more strength into his grip and pulled hard on the Spiritual Vein.
As Leyvi's invisible hands clamped tighter around the Spiritual Vein, its luminescent surface quivered with resistance. Barbara's eyes widened with sudden realization as her energy-sensing ability picked up the shift in the atmosphere. Her scholarly mind raced, piecing together what was about to happen based on the pattern she felt.
"The energy lock… if he pulls it free, the equilibrium will collapse. The mine's going to face a massive energy turbulence!" she gasped.
Anda, catching the urgency in Barbara's tone, turned sharply. "Turbulence? How bad?"
"Bad enough to disrupt cultivation and possibly injure anyone still channeling Qi in the mine!" Barbara replied, her usual shy demeanor replaced by sharp focus. "We need to stop everyone from cultivating in the mine for now."
Leyvi stopped as soon as he heard Barbara. "Alright, tell them to go out first. You both stay outside too. Wait until I'm done."
Anda and Barbara nodded and hurried out to evacuate the others. Being disturbed from their cultivation and told to leave, a few of them felt annoyed, especially Seraphina. Even after leaving the mine, she kept complaining. Victor was irritated too, but he stayed silent as usual. In fact, he found himself more annoyed by Seraphina's constant grumbling than by the interruption itself.
Back in the chamber, Leyvi poured every shred of focus into the task. Sweat beaded on his forehead as his invisible hands strained against the Spiritual Vein's stubborn resistance. The vein pulsed violently, as if refusing to be uprooted. His mental energy drained rapidly, far more than he had anticipated. Each pull felt like wrestling with a mountain. His vision blurred at the edges, yet he gritted his teeth, determined to see it through.
With a final, all-out pull, the Spiritual Vein tore free from its energy lock. A shockwave of chaotic energy erupted, the mine's air crackling with wild, uncontrolled spiritual force. The walls trembled, spirit stones flickering erratically as waves of turbulence surged through the cavern, shaking loose dust and pebbles.
Leyvi staggered backward, his knees nearly giving out from exhaustion, but he caught himself against the chamber wall, panting heavily. The turbulence raged for several minutes, the air thick with spiraling energy that buzzed like a swarm of angry hornets. Gradually, the chaos subsided, the mine's energy stabilizing as the spirit stones regained their steady glow.
"Whew... this is harder than I thought. Does this mean it's out of the whatever energy lock?" Leyvi muttered, raising his head to look at the Spiritual Vein, now shifted deeper into the isolated chamber.