"Now I should be able to move it freely." Leyvi straightened his posture and approached the Spiritual Vein once more.
He took out a bamboo shoot that Lilian had successfully grown and ate it. Within a minute, his mental energy recovered significantly, allowing him to form his invisible hands again.
This time, he gripped the Spiritual Vein and gave it a pull to the left, then to the right. It moved easily, following his will without resistance. It seemed Barbara was right. It had been trapped in some kind of energy lock before.
Encouraged, Leyvi tried something new. A thought crossed his mind: could he change its shape? He didn't really like its current appearance, so he decided to experiment.
At first, nothing happened. The structure seemed stubbornly fixed. But after several adjustments in pressure and technique, a small portion at the tip began to respond. It reshaped slightly and maintained that new form.
Leyvi nodded in satisfaction. That confirmed it. If he could reshape a part, he could reshape the whole thing later into whatever arrangement suited them best. Perhaps each room in the mansion could be connected to a branch of the Spiritual Vein. That way, everyone could cultivate in privacy while still benefiting from its flow.
He then focused once again, using his Spiritual Touch not to create another invisible hand, but to form countless thin layers that enveloped the entire Spiritual Vein.
Normally, other Spiritual Cultivators would have to move the Spiritual Vein into an open area before enveloping it, as their Spiritual Touch couldn't pass through solid objects. But Leyvi's control was different. His touch could penetrate obstacles freely, so he could do it right here in the mine.
Once his Spiritual Touch fully wrapped around the Spiritual Vein, Leyvi willed it into his internal storage space.
A pulse of light flashed...then silence.
He had succeeded.
The mine areas that were always illuminated by the Spiritual Vein's ethereal light quickly dimmed. Only the glow from the top-grade spirit stones remained, and their faint shimmer felt pale in comparison.
Inside his internal storage room, Leyvi looked at the Spiritual Vein floating quietly, its light pulsing like a living heart. He couldn't help but feel elated.
"Hahaha! Our Leyan Family actually obtained a Spiritual Vein!" He laughed, the sound echoing faintly within the mine.
With this, they could one day bring it to Alita to power the airship, but there was no need to rush. That was something for the future, when they had grown much stronger.
For now, with the Spiritual Vein near their family mansion, spirit stones would no longer be necessary for cultivation. Unless they traveled far away, this one treasure alone could sustain them forever.
"Alright. Let's bring it out again. Since we aren't departing yet, it can stay here for now for others to cultivate," Leyvi said to himself, still smiling.
A few moments later, he brought the Spiritual Vein out and placed it back into its original position. The mine brightened instantly, the familiar radiance returning like dawn breaking underground. He checked whether it would become energy locked again, but it didn't. It was probably something that built up slowly over time.
Satisfied, Leyvi dusted off his hands and left the mine. Once outside, he informed the others that it was safe to enter and cultivate again.
Seraphina's gaze sharpened when she saw him emerge. "What did you do inside the mine just now? Why was there chaotic energy escaping?" she questioned, her tone firm and commanding.
She was well aware that Anda's husband had been learning Spiritual Touch to take the vein away, but what she sensed earlier felt far beyond simple training.
At first, it sounded ridiculous. After all, he wasn't even a Spiritual Cultivator. But who would have thought that he'd actually manage to learn Spiritual Touch in less than a year? And not just that, his Spiritual Touch was far stronger than average. She couldn't understand how this was possible, especially since the backward Cloud Continent hadn't even established a proper cultivation system for Spiritual Cultivators yet.
A talent like that would cause an uproar in the Protogaea Continent. His future would be limitless! Yet, a person of such potential ended up as the husband of that panda. The thought made her chest tighten with envy. What virtue does that panda have to have someone like this as her husband?
"Oh that? That was my Qi fart. I absorbed too much spiritual energy, making me bloated, so I had to let it out forcefully. Did it smell?" Leyvi replied nonchalantly, clearly making things up.
"You!" Seraphina felt instantly triggered by Leyvi's trolling. Her expression twitched, but she swallowed her anger and turned away. Without another word, she entered the mine, her steps sharp and annoyed, returning to her usual place to cultivate. She realized she really couldn't afford to mess around using her little tricks anymore. They simply didn't work on that panda.
Back then, when Tamina warned that there might be intruders about four months ago, a thought had crossed her mind: to seek them out, cooperate with them, and steal the Spiritual Vein. But in the end, she discarded the idea. She might have a bad personality, but she wasn't entirely stupid. There was no guarantee those intruders wouldn't just kill her and take everything for themselves. As much as she hated Anda, there was no denying she was safe under her group's protection.
And her caution was proven right not long after. She had witnessed with her own eyes how Lilian single-handedly obliterated the intruders using her army of demonic plants. At first, Seraphina thought Lilian was just a silly gardening girl with unnecessarily overgrown front meats. But that girl turned out to be the strongest among them, most likely by a wide margin.
A faint shiver ran down Seraphina's spine at the memory. She had a premonition that if she ever tried to cause trouble again, her life would truly be in danger. It was the same near-death feeling she'd experienced when she almost died, trapped in that deadly, mysterious cement.
Looking at Seraphina, Viola could only shake her head before entering the mine as well. She had advised Seraphina countless times to stop being so arrogant, but it always fell on deaf ears. Even now, she couldn't understand why Seraphina had no gratitude toward Anda, who had literally saved her life. Why did she always insist on going against her? Was it really just pride and ego?
Before long, the others also returned to the mine, their footsteps echoing softly down the tunnel as they resumed their cultivation. Soon, only Leyvi, Anda, and Barbara remained outside near the entrance, the gentle hum of residual energy still hanging in the air.
"How is it? Did you succeed?" Anda asked. Barbara's eyes were filled with expectation as she waited for his answer.
"Hahaha! Of course! If anything happens, we can store the Spiritual Vein any time and leave the island." Leyvi gave a big thumbs up.
Anda's lips curled into a bright smile the moment she heard it. "As expected of my husband! This will be our biggest harvest here. Even if we go home now, we'll be the biggest winners with just a Spiritual Vein alone. Isn't that right, Sister Barbara?"
Barbara nodded excitedly, sharing Anda's enthusiasm, at least at first. But the thought of what awaited them back home dimmed that spark in her chest. The Protectors would surely confiscate the Spiritual Vein once they returned. She had already explained this to Anda before, but the panda only smiled mischievously, as though she had some hidden plan. It made Barbara wonder just what Anda was thinking.
"Now all we have to do is wait for that crown prince to finish his breakthrough. After that, we get ready to go to that tree," Anda said.
"I wonder how many people already arrived there?" Leyvi raised an eyebrow.
"It doesn't matter how many. We must treat all of them as our enemies. Don't let our guard down for a second," Anda reminded firmly.
"Sigh... that sounds so tiresome. Can't we work together to go home?" Leyvi exhaled, his tone weary.
Anda glanced at him, a small, knowing smile tugging at her lips. "If everyone were as nice as you, things would be easy. But unfortunately, we all know that won't happen. Since the portals are gathered together, I can already imagine someone with the strongest group there will gatekeep the portals and make people who want to go home pay them," she predicted.
Leyvi frowned. "Hmm... Now that you say it, it's probably what's going to happen...haaa...so troublesome." He sighed again.
Anda smiled. "So, the first thing we should do after we get there is to find Bellion and make him join our group."
She believed that since Bellion received Formation talent from the Talent Bead, the Array Formations at his disposal must be incredible. That would help a lot with whatever plans she wanted to put into motion later.
Leyvi blinked. "Bellion? You mean we need his Array Formation expertise?"
"His?" Anda shot a sharp glare at Leyvi.
Leyvi's neck shrank under the stare. Shit, I triggered the panda again. She is never going to let go of this issue, is she? He smiled wryly.
Barbara watched their exchange with interest. So there are times Anda will raise her temper at Leyvi too. I thought she'd always be on his side.
"What if he doesn't want to join or already joined some other group?" Leyvi asked, his tone calmer now.
"Hehe. If he doesn't want to join, you can teach him a lesson. Break all of his arrays and formations. Let it be etched into his existence that there exists a person who can smash all of his works easily, no matter how amazing his creations are. But of course I wouldn't want this to happen to him." A smile curved on Anda's lips.
Leyvi blinked. Are you trying to recruit him or traumatize him for life?