The juvenile Golden Spirit Mouse was extremely agile, vanishing the moment it darted into the brush.
Yet Zhou Xun was no ordinary person; he was a genuine cultivator of immortality.
Channeling his spiritual power into his eyes, he quickly locked onto the trail of the small Golden Spirit Mouse dozens of paces away.
"Found you!"
He immediately infused his legs with spiritual power and pushed off lightly, his entire body springing forward with agile grace. His heartbeat synchronized perfectly with the rhythm of his footsteps, light and orderly as a drifting ghost.
It was early morning, and sunlight was beginning to pierce through the mist, casting a golden glow across the earth.
His eyes remained fixed on the golden shadow ahead like a hawk's.
Even when blocked by bushes and branches, he quickly relocated his target.
After dozens of breaths of pursuit, Zhou Xun drew closer and closer to the Golden Spirit Mouse.
Suddenly, they reached a ravine. The Golden Spirit Mouse flickered out of sight, and Zhou Xun hurriedly gave chase.
By the time he reached the mouth of the ravine, the Golden Spirit Mouse was nowhere to be seen.
Yet Zhou Xun felt no anxiety, for this very ravine was the creature's lair.
Cornered and frantic, the young Golden Spirit Mouse had bolted straight back to its den. Now, he had it trapped like a turtle in a jar.
Zhou Xun began a meticulous search, and soon discovered a cave two feet wide and five feet high in the rock face—just large enough for a person to squeeze through.
The cave was concealed by vines; without a careful search, it would have been entirely undetectable.
Zhou Xun picked up a dry pine branch, cast a Fire Spark spell to ignite it instantly, then pushed the vines aside. Holding his breath, he raised the torch and crept inside.
With his current level of cultivation, holding his breath for half an hour presented no difficulty whatsoever.
The walls of the tunnel were covered in moss. As Zhou Xun went deeper, the passage widened until he could finally stand upright and walk.
After walking about ten-odd paces inward, the stone walls began to dry, and vegetation like moss disappeared entirely.
Moreover, as he penetrated deeper, the spiritual energy within the immortal cave grew increasingly dense.
Zhou Xun's vigilance heightened. He held his throwing spear horizontally across his chest.
After proceeding for roughly a hundred paces, the space suddenly opened up before him, revealing a vast cavern.
The cavern was nearly ten zhang in size, with a three-zhang-wide pool of water at its center. In the middle of the pool stood a high platform, upon which grew four plants.
"Spirit herbs!"
Two words flashed through Zhou Xun's mind.
Unfortunately, Zhou Xun did not recognize them; the four plants strongly resembled unopened orchids from his past life.
Counting them, he saw that every single plant bore exactly seven leaves.
These leaves were a uniform, vivid green, resembling jade—a single glance revealed them to be precious spirit herbs.
Yet Zhou Xun had no thoughts of harvesting them at the moment.
He remained intensely vigilant, as the young Golden Spirit Mouse was still unaccounted for.
Suddenly, a rush of wind swept down from overhead, and Zhou Xun hastily sidestepped.
A golden blade grazed past his forehead, shearing away a wisp of his hair.
Terror gripped Zhou Xun's heart.
"That was too close!"
Burning with anger, he raised his throwing spear and lunged at the shadow before him.
With a soft *thud*, the spear pierced straight through the young Golden Spirit Mouse like a skewer. It struggled for a few moments and died.
"From now on, I must always prepare a defensive talisman!" Remembering that golden blade, Zhou Xun broke out in lingering fear.
He had nearly been decapitated.
Calming his mind, Zhou Xun retrieved his throwing spear and turned to walk out of the cave.
He had barely turned and taken a few steps when he saw Shan Xionghai entering.
"Dahai, you finished so quickly?" Zhou Xun asked in surprise.
"Those two little ones didn't run. They tried to hide and ambush me, so I pinned them both with my spear!" Shan Xionghai said with a hearty laugh, waving off the matter.
"What about their carcasses?" Zhou Xun asked.
"Already dealt with! The blood, the whiskers, the monster beast meat—I've collected the lot. By the way, let me handle yours too; if we wait too long, their value will plummet!" Shan Xionghai said, patting the large bundle on his back.
Zhou Xun nodded, figuring Shan Xionghai must have processed them while he was searching the cave.
He handed his throwing spear to Shan Xionghai, then pointed toward the four spirit herbs in the center of the cavern and asked:
"Those four look like spirit herbs. Do you recognize them?"
"Spirit herbs?" Shan Xionghai took the spear, pulled off the Golden Spirit Mouse's carcass, and raised his eyes to follow the direction of Zhou Xun's finger.
"Spirit-Gathering Grass!" Shan Xionghai gasped.
His voice carried a disbelief mingled with joy.
"Spirit-Gathering Grass?" Hearing these three names, Zhou Xun gasped as well.
"No wonder the spiritual energy was growing denser the moment we came in. Once we reached this cavern, the density is even comparable to Red Leaf Market!"
One had to know that the entire Red Leaf Market was built upon a Tier 2 Low-grade spiritual vein.
Even though the vast majority of the spiritual energy in the market was ordinarily bound by spell formations and specifically supplied to the four great clans, the concentration of spiritual energy throughout the marketplace was still comparable to a standard Rank One Superior spiritual vein.
Though he didn't recognize them, Zhou Xun had heard of the great reputation of Spirit-Gathering Grass.
As its name implied, the function of Spirit-Gathering Grass was precisely to gather spiritual energy.
The reason this cave possessed such a high concentration of spiritual energy was entirely thanks to these Spirit-Gathering Grasses.
Because of this property, many formidable cultivators loved to plant this spirit grass near their immortal caves to elevate the density of spiritual energy.
Yet what made this Spirit-Gathering Grass truly famous was not its energy-gathering utility, but a certain pill—the Spirit-Gathering Pill.
Renowned throughout the cultivation world, the Spirit-Gathering Pill—which could help mid Qi Condensation cultivators break through bottlenecks—was refined using this spirit grass as its primary ingredient.
As for the Spirit-Gathering Pill, even among the disciples of the four great clans of Red Leaf Market, only a handful of gifted prodigies or those who had rendered monumental service could obtain it; the vast majority never had such an opportunity.
Each stalk of Spirit-Gathering Grass could yield a batch of several Spirit-Gathering Pills.
From this, one could perceive the immense value of these four Spirit-Gathering Grasses, as well as the immense wealth they represented.
"With these, you, I, and Second Uncle will all have the chance to become late-stage cultivators!" Shan Xionghai seized Zhou Xun's wrist uncontrollably, speaking with excitement.
Late-stage cultivators were considered upper echelons even within the four great clans of Red Leaf Market.
Every single one of them was a pivotal figure who held down their own territory.
After a burst of excitement, the two men calmed down.
Zhou Xun pointed to the dead Golden Spirit Mouse lying on the ground:
"That Golden Spirit Mouse hasn't been dealt with yet!"
"Ah, almost forgot," Shan Xionghai chuckled, his mouth splitting into a wide grin as he said:
"What's a Golden Spirit Mouse worth? With these few stalks of Spirit-Gathering Grass, it's more than enough to trade for the resources we need to cultivate all the way to late Qi Condensation!"
Shan Xionghai's words were no exaggeration; the price of a single Spirit-Gathering Pill was enough to bankrupt even an ordinary late-stage cultivator trying to buy it.
Soon, Shan Xionghai finished processing the Golden Spirit Mouse.
Then, both men turned their gazes toward the four stalks of Spirit-Gathering Grass.
"Good thing I brought jade boxes for preserving spirit herbs this time, or we'd have to make another trip!" Shan Xionghai said, drawing four jade boxes from his bundle.
He carefully harvested the four stalks of Spirit-Gathering Grass, gently placed them into the jade boxes, and only then let out a relieved breath.
Gazing at the four jade boxes in Shan Xionghai's hands, Zhou Xun began,
"Dahai, these four..." Before he could finish, he was interrupted.
"Big Brother, you discovered all four stalks of Spirit-Gathering Grass. It's only fair we split them fifty-fifty. As for the Golden Spirit Mouse, we stick to our previous agreement!"
"We agreed—" Zhou Xun tried to speak again, only to be interrupted once more.
"Big Brother, my judgment regarding that Golden Spirit Mouse was off. If not for you, I probably would have botched it."
"And this cave—if not for Big Brother, given my temperament, I would have killed the Golden Spirit Mouse and left without ever coming inside, let alone discovering these spirit herbs. Splitting it fifty-fifty, truth be told, I'm the one taking advantage of you!"
Gazing into Shan Xionghai's sincere eyes, a trace of warmth welled up in Zhou Xun's heart, and he nodded.
"Then let it be as you say!"