"Senior Sister Xiao!"

Inside the great hall, Xiao Qingyu looked up, surprised to see several female disciples in front of her. Their clothes were somewhat dirty and disheveled, and they spoke breathlessly, clearly having just come up from the mine. Yet, their expressions were unusually excited.

"What's the matter?" Xiao Qingyu asked.

The leading female disciple hurriedly said, "We're here to hand over Spirit Stones. Here are a thousand of them!"

Xiao Qingyu took the space ring from the female disciple and swept it with her Divine Sense. Exactly one thousand Spirit Stones floated in the space before her. After checking the amount, Xiao Qingyu said, "The mining pick."

The female disciple quickly passed over the mining pick. Xiao Qingyu took it and retrieved an ancient mirror from her space ring. The mirror reflected a ray of aqua light, which fell upon the mining pick. Instantly, patterns of intricate lines reflected outward, branding themselves into the void.

As mentioned before, mining for Spirit Stones is no easy task. These mining picks were not ordinary objects; to be precise, they were specially crafted Magic Artifacts capable of easily breaking the stable structure of a Spirit Vein, thus speeding up mining efficiency. The Sanqing Immortal Sect had lost so many Blessed Land Secret Realms that a large number of mining picks were left unused in their warehouses. Hence, in this regard, they did not restrict the Divination Sect, instead giving the picks to them for free. However, the disciples had to first bond with them using their blood before they could be used. This meant that each person could only use their own mining pick to mine. When each pick was issued, its degree of wear and tear was recorded.

And now, Xiao Qingyu only needed to use the aqua light mirror in her hand to re-check the wear on their mining picks to determine if the Spirit Stones before her were indeed mined by their own hands. This was a specific instruction from Junior Brother Wang Xiu. The purpose was to prevent a situation where the female disciples, despite agreeing to work in the mines, would have others mine for them and simply turn in the Spirit Stones to complete their task.

After a thorough inspection, Xiao Qingyu confirmed everything was in order. She nodded, opened the ledger, and found the page for the female disciple. With a stroke of her vermilion pen, she wrote:

*—Sonic Sect, Liu Yulan, borrowed one thousand Spirit Stones, loan disbursed!*

"Alright!" Xiao Qingyu put down her pen and looked toward another female disciple. "Next!"

However, Liu Yulan, the disciple from the Sonic Sect whose transaction had just been recorded, didn't step aside.

Xiao Qingyu frowned slightly. "Is there anything else?"

Liu Yulan pushed the pile of Spirit Stones toward Xiao Qingyu and said, "Senior Sister Xiao, I'd like to repay my loan!"

Xiao Qingyu's willow eyebrows rose. "You just borrowed them, and you want to repay them already?"

Liu Yulan nodded affirmatively. "Yes!"

Xiao Qingyu was momentarily at a loss for words. She soon noticed that from the very start, Liu Yulan's gaze had been fixed on her Soul Pet, the little tiger, her eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. Understanding dawned on her, and she couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, but let me remind you, if you repay the loan now and want to borrow again, you'll have to go back to mining!"

"I know!" Liu Yulan said, unable to wait.

Xiao Qingyu nodded and swiftly processed Liu Yulan's repayment, collecting the one thousand Spirit Stones. She couldn't help but sigh. The Divination Sect's lending business had been running for two months. A considerable sum had been lent out, but this was the first loan to actually be repaid. The disciples from the other Immortal Sects who borrowed money had generally invested it in themselves—buying Elixirs, Magic Artifacts, and improving their strength. They certainly couldn't repay the loans anytime soon.

But Junior Brother Wang Xiu seemed completely unworried about this. In all this time, he hadn't inquired about it even once. He hadn't even shown his face. Despite owning a mine, he showed no concern for seeing the money returned, not panicking in the slightest.

Could it be... he truly doesn't care about money at all?

With a slight shake of her head, Xiao Qingyu dismissed the jumbled thoughts. Her eyebrows lifted slightly as she looked at the other female disciples. "Is it the same with all of you?"

The women hurriedly nodded with smiles. "Yes, yes!"

Before long, all the procedures were completed.

The female disciples eagerly asked, "What about the Soul Pets? Where can we collect the Soul Pets?"

Xiao Qingyu said, "From your mine's location, head due east. When you enter the core area of the Blessed Land, you will see Jiuli Hall. Senior Jiang Yourong resides within. As long as you find her and give her the repayment voucher, she will naturally tell you what to do!"

***

"Wow, the Spiritual Energy here is so rich!"

"It really is! It's even more abundant than within the Spirit Stone Veins!"

"As expected of the core area of a Blessed Land!"

"Look, there are so many ghosts around here—Human Souls and Devil Souls alike... My goodness, have we entered the Netherworld?"

There are four Spirit Stone Mines within the Ghost Immortal Blessed Land, all located on its periphery. Consequently, these disciples from the Immortal Sects had never seen the scenery of the core area. Viewed from high above, the four Spirit Veins circled the palace at the center of the Blessed Land like stars surrounding the moon, tightly enclosing it. It also resembled a naturally formed, invisible Formation, with the palace itself as the Formation's pivot.

Regardless, deep within the core of the Blessed Land, both the density of Spiritual Energy and the abundance of heavenly treasures far exceeded those of the outer regions. It was no wonder these female cultivators were so astonished.

Of course, what attracted their attention even more were the ghosts swarming across the hills and fields. As they looked out, the wilderness seemed empty and uninhabited, yet spectral figures constantly drifted back and forth, sometimes wandering through the woods, other times standing in a daze in the middle of a road. A faint-hearted person would have been scared to death.

Fortunately, though these female disciples had lower Cultivation Levels, they were still disciples of the Sanqing Immortal Sect. Female Taoists! How could they possibly be afraid of ghosts? Seeing ghosts only made them more excited.

"So many ghosts! If we could perform salvation for them all, imagine the tremendous amount of merit we would gain!"

"Sisters, shall we do it?"

"Shh, quiet down! Have you forgotten? In this Blessed Land, apart from the Spirit Stone Mine, everything else belongs to the Divination Sect. If we go after these ghosts, what if Junior Brother Wang Xiu gets angry?"

"You're right, we mustn't be impulsive!"

"Don't cause trouble. We're here to get our Soul Pets!"

After a moment of instinctive excitement, they quickly calmed down. Steering their Magic Artifacts, they sped across the sky.

***

Jiuli Hall stood out starkly amidst a wilderness of barren mountains and ridges, so it wasn't hard to find. When they arrived, Jiang Yourong was propping her chin on her hand, dozing off.

"Senior Jiang, we're here to claim our Soul Pets!" they said, curiously sizing up Jiang Yourong. It was difficult to reconcile the languid, curvaceous woman before them, wearing a leopard-print dress, with the legendary last Saintess of the Jiuli Immortal Sect.

Jiang Yourong lifted her head and glanced at the women, a spark of life flashing in her eyes.

Someone finally arrived!

She had been stuck here for two months. Initially, she had been full of anticipation, thinking about the grand vision Wang Xiu had painted for her and pondering how to re-establish the Jiuli Immortal Sect's name in this new era. But the result... Two whole months, and not a single person had come to claim a Soul Pet. The most infuriating part was that she couldn't leave. According to Wang Xiu, what if someone arrived the moment she stepped away?

This is no different from a freaking prison sentence! If only I could beat that brat, I'd pin him to the ground and give him a serious thrashing.

"Your repayment vouchers?" Jiang Yourong sat up straight and stretched languorously. Her alluring curves nearly mesmerized the watching female disciples.

They stood stunned for a long moment before reacting and handing over their vouchers.

Jiang Yourong glanced at them and said, "Each one is for a thousand Spirit Stones. You can claim one Qi Refinement Realm Soul Pet..." She pointed to the open wilderness outside the door. "Go outside and pick a Devil Soul you like, then capture it and bring it to me."

The female disciples were stunned. "Capture it ourselves?"

Jiang Yourong rolled her eyes. "Of course. How else would I know whether you like rabbits, pigs, or dogs?"

The disciples had an epiphany and immediately beamed. "Understood, we'll go right now!"

With that, they charged out the door enthusiastically, heading straight for the myriad Devil Souls on the hillsides.

Watching their departing figures, Jiang Yourong's mood improved considerably.

Finally! I've taken the first step toward the rejuvenation of the Jiuli Immortal Sect! Maybe... I should reward myself.

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