Seeing his father acting this way, Xie Guannan felt a lump in his throat, accompanied by a sudden surge of warmth and joy. It showed just how deeply his father cared for him.
Recovering himself, Xie Guannan gave a deliberate cough and pitched his voice to sound more like a middle-aged man. "Ahem, well, you see... I'm Xie Guannan, the young master of the Xie family."
"Senior, you must be joking."
"How could my own child possibly possess such strength?"
"Old Xie, would you prefer I bring up what happened a dozen years ago, like that member of the demon race, Li Qingyun?"
Xie Guannan's mother, Li Qingyun, had originally belonged to the demon race, making a union with a human seemingly impossible. The truth of that past lay locked away in a single farewell letter.
Xie Wentian's expression froze in shock. It was impossible for anyone else to know about that letter; only a three- or four-year-old Xie Guannan had happened to catch a glimpse of it back then.
Little Xie had cried for a long time over it before finally calming down.
"Let's not bring that up, shall we?"
"I really am your son, the genuine Xie Guannan. I've simply had a few fortuitous encounters, so you needn't question it too closely."
His father must have assumed he had been possessed by some entity, but that was absurd!
Of course, he couldn't tell his father about the cultivation manual he was practicing right now. It leaned dangerously close to demonic arts—though it wasn't strictly one, drawing its power instead from the dark—and explaining that wouldn't sound like any orthodox technique.
With that, Xie Wentian handed the gathered beast core over to Xie Guannan, despite having slaughtered nearly a thousand beasts.
Rank 1 beast cores were practically useless to a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him, though massive quantities might hold some minor utility. Still, he would never compete with his son over them, nor was there any need. If his son wanted them, he could have them.
Just as the two men were talking, a pair of crimson eyes flashed in the darkness, and a figure lunged rapidly toward Xie Guannan!
"Naner, watch out! It's a late-stage Tier 2 ant demon!"
How could Xie Guannan have failed to sense it? He had simply been waiting for it to show its head!
*Bind the heavens and earth, halt all in their tracks!*
The lunging Tier 2 ant demon froze instantly in mid-air.
"Take it down!" Xie Wentian cried out in immense excitement. Watching the scene unfold had gotten his blood pumping, and he was eager to try out his blade on a big target!
Under Xie Wentian's continuous barrage of strikes for a full second and a half, the ant demon was hacked to pieces.
"Hey, hey, hey! The beast core! Watch the core!" Xie Guannan bit his knuckle in anguish. "My beast core!"
His father had gone hacking away without the slightest regard for where the core was!
"Haha, my bad, the core shattered!"
"Fine, fine, we've already got plenty of others anyway!"
"What should we do with all these beast carcasses?" Xie Wentian had never dealt with anything on this scale before.
With nearly a thousand bodies piling up like mountains, he had no idea how to dispose of them. Fortunately, this cavern was quite spacious, so they weren't at risk of running out of room just yet.
"I plan to have someone help consign these carcasses for auction. After all, these materials are still quite useful as rations for those fellows in the Beast Taming Sect."
"Still, we can't consign them directly; there are simply too many, and it would easily arouse suspicion."
A strange look crossed Xie Guannan's face.
It left Xie Wentian utterly baffled. What was going on? Why did his son suddenly look so cautious?
"Except, well—" Xie Guannan began, his gaze drifting immediately to the storage ring on his father's finger.
Noticing his son's stare, Xie Wentian wore a speechless expression and pointed at the two storage rings already worn on his son's hands.
"What? Aren't two rings enough for you?"
"They're full."
For a moment, Xie Wentian didn't know what to say. He looked at the storage ring on his son's finger—its quality was clearly extraordinary, offering a spatial capacity of roughly a hundred cubic meters.
And he had filled a space that vast? That was simply unbelievable!
"Just what on earth have you been packing in there?"
"Just some useless junk," Xie Guannan replied calmly.
He certainly couldn't tell his father that inside sat the corpse of a semi-drakonized Tier 5 beast and the remains of a Rank 4 Black Rock Bear! Nobody would ever believe such a tale.
Who would believe that someone at the mid-stage Qi Condensation, level six, had somehow managed to bag Tier 4 and Tier 5 beasts?
Yet this windfall of legendary proportions had indeed fallen right into Xie Guannan's lap, and with astonishing smoothness.
Xie Wentian produced his largest spatial storage device.
"This one has a capacity of one thousand cubic meters. Use it sparingly—I honestly have no idea what you're cramming into those rings of yours."
Armed with this thousand-cubic-meter storage space, Xie Guannan quickly cleared away the ant demon corpses right before their eyes.
Afterward, he slipped this new storage ring onto his other hand.
Well, it would do for now; at least it had enough room for storage.
The two men then proceeded deeper into the Spirit Vein.
Here in the depths of the vein, the spiritual energy was far denser, almost thick enough to condense into droplets of water.
"Father, let's cultivate here for the night. I'll go hand over the mining rights to someone else as soon as possible."
"Why are you in such a hurry to hand it over? We should keep it under wraps for as long as possible!" Xie Wentian couldn't fathom why his son would make such a move.
"Father, there's no need. You know as well as I do that cultivating in a place like this can produce a multitude of formidable cultivators. It's inevitable that major powers will grow envious."
Hearing this, Xie Wentian shook his head helplessly.
Deciding not to overthink it, he figured he might as well follow his son's lead—this boy was completely different from before. They could make the most of tonight and cultivate here. After all, a full meal now would sustain them through plenty of days to come.
With a tacit understanding, father and son crossed their legs and sat facing each other.
Then, Xie Guannan tossed a medicinal pill over to Xie Wentian.
"What is this?" Xie Wentian stared at the small vial in his hand.
"It's a medicinal pill."
"Pills are exceedingly scarce commodities! Why aren't you using it yourself? What are you giving it to me for?" Xie Wentian asked, completely bewildered.
How could his son possibly possess refined pills? Yet the person before him was undeniably his own flesh and blood. Could he truly have stumbled upon some heaven-defying fortune?
There was no way to be certain, so Xie Wentian stopped pondering it. He had to admit that his son harbored countless secrets, and there was no need to interrogate him about every single one.
"This is a Tier 1 Marrow Cleansing Pill. It works just as effectively for Foundation Establishment cultivators."
With that, Xie Guannan tossed a second pill to his father.
"A cultivator only needs to absorb one of these, but you're going to take two!"
"What do you mean? If one is enough, why give me two?" Xie Wentian failed to understand what his son was up to.
"Just taking precautions to pump you up!"
Following that, Xie Guannan immediately plunged into his own cultivation.
First, he produced the Tier 4 Black Rock Bear beast core.
A violent surge of energy burst outward in all directions! A fierce gust whipped against Xie Wentian's face, making his skin sting.
Once again, his father was thrown into turmoil. This was a beast core comparable to a cultivator in the fourth realm, the Spirit Transformation Realm, following hard on the heels of that Tier 5 drakonized snake demon!
How his son had come into possession of such fortunes was entirely beyond Xie Wentian's comprehension.
Xie Guannan placed the beast core right between the two of them so that his father could absorb its energy alongside him.
His father raised no objections; after all, absorbing a beast core in an environment like this would yield even greater results.
Direct absorption of the spirit stone vein itself was impossible—the energy was simply too vast!
The spiritual power contained within the core of this Tier 4 Black Rock Bear was nothing short of boundless. No matter how large two people's dantians might be, they couldn't possibly absorb the bulk of it all at once; it could only be refined away bit by bit, extremely slowly.
Fortunately, the natural energy field of the spirit mine ensured that the spiritual power within the beast core wouldn't dissipate too quickly.
The next morning.
Xie Guannan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Mid-stage Qi Condensation, level seven!
Breakthrough!
Meanwhile, his father had already reached the late-stage Foundation Establishment, level fifteen, standing just one step away from the final phase of Foundation Establishment.
Having cultivated through the entire night, both father and son felt an invigorating clarity wash over them. Cultivating in an environment like this made a person feel as though they could keep going for a lifetime.
Yet they couldn't stay here forever; life had to be taken one step at a time.
"Father, come over here quickly. This is the Origin of the Spirit Vein—a rare treasure!" Xie Guannan called out urgently, motioning for his father to approach.
"Hmm?"
The older man hurried over, imitating Xie Guannan by pressing his palm flat against the stone wall, carefully sensing the interior of the spirit vein.
"I don't feel anything!"
Xie Guannan explained, "It's the Origin of the Spirit Vein. I discovered it yesterday."
"Something like this is terrifyingly powerful. It's the true source behind the existence of this entire mine—it continuously absorbs ambient spiritual energy and converts it into mineral ore!"
The Origin of the Spirit Vein was the root cause of this entire deposit!
"Father, I need you to stand guard for me."
"Naner, you surely aren't thinking of refining this thing, are you?" Xie Wentian was stunned by the thought!
"No, I don't want to refine it. I want to borrow it!"
"Borrow it? How do you borrow it? And what would you use it for once you do?" Xie Wentian had never heard of anyone 'borrowing' such a thing, let alone what purpose it could serve!
"To open up a Spirit Sea!"
Hearing the words 'Spirit Sea,' Xie Wentian's expression twisted into complex emotions once again. Could this truly still be his useless, profligate son?
How did the boy understand so much more than he did? His knowledge had reached an utterly terrifying degree.
"I am going to use this to forge a Spirit Sea within my dantian. While I am opening it up, there will be spiritual energy spilling over. Swallow your pill first so you don't waste the ambient energy."
Obediently, Xie Wentian swallowed the medicinal pill.
Turning his back to the spirit mine, he positioned himself to guard his son, ensuring both protection and the ability to absorb the overflow of spiritual energy filling the cavern.
Normally, the spiritual energy in Jianghai was thin, making cultivation a grueling challenge.
"What kind of pill is this? I can feel something inside me breaking apart," Xie Wentian muttered, utterly astonished by the pill's effects.
"It's a pill that enhances innate talent."
Xie Wentian wore a look of utter shock. Innate talent could actually be improved?
"I'll open my Spirit Sea when night falls."
Doing it now was still a bit too strenuous; waiting for nightfall would allow him to combine it with the Black Abyss Divine Scripture!
"Nighttime?" Xie Wentian asked, still somewhat puzzled.
It would guarantee smooth sailing.
Night finally fell!
Once both Xie Guannan and his father were fully prepared, Xie Guannan threw a punch directly against the stone wall housing the Origin of the Spirit Vein.
*Boom—!*
The stone wall barely budged.
"It really is tough!"
Drawing the Xuan Sword, Xie Guannan slashed fiercely into the rock face.
Abruptly, the outer layer of spirit ore insulating the Origin of the Spirit Vein shattered.
He laid eyes directly upon the Origin of the Spirit Vein.
It was a sphere of semi-solid, semi-liquid matter floating quietly in the air.
It did not bleed spiritual energy haphazardly into the surroundings; instead, it subtly and imperceptibly influenced the environment around it.
That was precisely how spirit stone veins came to be.
Guiding this Origin of the Spirit Vein, he drew it directly toward his dantian.
Initially, the entity resisted stubbornly inside his dantian, but it was facing the Southern Emperor himself.
With the Southern Emperor's methods, how could he fail to subdue this tiny vein origin?
Under Xie Guannan's manipulation, the Origin of the Spirit Vein ultimately yielded, willingly assisting him in opening his Spirit Sea.
His dantian, which had previously been no larger than a tiny plot of land, began to expand frantically. The Origin of the Spirit Vein was consuming its own origin energy at a mad pace to fuel the process.
While origin energy could eventually regenerate, the recovery period was agonizingly long.
Xie Guannan gave no thought to how much consumption the vein origin would suffer; compared to what he was doing, even a hundred-millionth of its reserve wouldn't be used up.
The larger the Spirit Sea, the greater the benefits it would yield for his future cultivation.
His original dantian continued to expand.
Threefold...
Fourfold...
It only showed a faint sign of slowing down when it reached a hundred times its original size.
Oceans could turn into mulberry fields, and within him lay countless such fields of power.
After an unknown passage of time, the Origin of the Spirit Vein seemed to grow exhausted.
How much of this vast expanse he could ultimately retain depended entirely on Xie Guannan's own fortune.
Xie Guannan furrowed his brow slightly; holding onto a newly forged Spirit Sea was no easy feat.
Consolidation was often far more arduous than conquest.
Conquering territory was simple, but holding it was difficult.
Having never experienced this process in his past life, this was an absolute first for him. Yet, relying on his cautious methods, he was still able to retain a massive portion of it.
......
Before long, his turbulent sea of spiritual energy finally quieted down.
The excess spiritual energy continuously billowed outward.
Inside the spirit mine cave, his parents could feel the immense magnitude of this spiritual power and wasted no time, immediately absorbing and refining it.
While a Marrow Cleansing Pill could reshape a person's physique, tendons, and meridians, it contained no spiritual energy of its own.
That was why it was hailed as the simplest fairy pill.
Yet, even cultivators at much higher realms would reap monumental benefits from consuming a Tier 1 pill of this caliber.
Though brewed from ordinary herbs using ordinary flames, its effects defied comprehension, and a single mistake could lead to total failure. Because reshaping the human meridians could only be accomplished by mortals using mundane ingredients, normal alchemists never bothered to learn its formula.
Consequently, Marrow Cleansing Pills were practically impossible to obtain.
Coupled with the extreme difficulty of their refinement, let alone Xie Guannan's feat of producing ten pills from a single cauldron, it was a miracle.
His father's innate talent shackles had been blasted wide open.
Forging his Spirit Sea had taken Xie Guannan an entire night. Operating his cultivation manual through the dead of night caused his absorption rate of spiritual energy to skyrocket.
At that moment, he was able to draw in far greater amounts of dark energy.
It was as if he were the darling of the Celestial God, cradled and embraced by the forces of darkness.
He felt like the true child of the night.
"Hah!" Xie Guannan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
"The Spirit Sea is formed!"
For a mere Qi Condensation cultivator to possess such a dantean sea of energy was nothing short of defying the heavens.
He now held enough reserves for a hundred full-strength battles.
Having exhausted the utility of the Spirit Vein Origin for the moment, Xie Guannan let out a helpless sigh. What a magnificent treasure it was; if he could carry it with him everywhere, he wouldn't even need to cultivate! But once news of such a treasure leaked, death would be the least of his worries—his corpse would likely be hacked to pieces.
Once his Spirit Sea was fully established, Xie Guannan returned the Origin of the Spirit Vein to its original spot and sealed it tightly behind walls of spirit ore.
At this moment, Xie Guannan's Spirit Sea was more than a hundred times larger than his original dantian.
The sheer width of this Spirit Sea could rival the dantian of a Void Transformation Realm cultivator.
Yet his actual cultivation realm remained at the Qi Condensation stage.
It was much like using a slingshot to fire a cannonball—the vessel's capacity far exceeded its output, meaning his operational combat strength was still restricted to the Qi Condensation stage.
Without delay, he pulled out the Tier 4 Black Rock Bear beast core.
The next instant, he cracked it open and swallowed it piece by piece, as a beast core of that magnitude was too much to consume in one bite.
As the beast core entered his stomach, gentle ripples spread across his Spirit Sea.
The shattered beast core instantly converted into a torrent of spiritual power.
That surging torrent poured straight into his dantian sea, rendering it incomparably full in an instant!
A massive vortex of spiritual energy swirled within Xie Guannan's Spirit Sea, resembling a dazzling stellar nebula.
The spiritual energy pooled in this sea would provide him with endless stamina for casting techniques and drastically prolong his combat endurance.
With a Spirit Sea of this scale, breaking through realms in the future would simply be a matter of time.
While opening his Spirit Sea and devouring the beast core, his own cultivation base had also received a massive boost, directly leaping to late-stage Qi Condensation, level eleven.
"A Tier 4 beast core only pushed me up four levels?" Xie Guannan muttered with a hint of emotion.
Nearby, Xie Wentian wore a look of profound astonishment, as if his son were speaking utter nonsense.
One had to remember that a single Tier 4 beast beast could easily trample Jianghai City flat.
Yet in his son's hands, it was reduced to a mere stepping stone that only raised his Qi Condensation by four minor levels! And keep in mind, the boy had only been at the mid-stage just moments ago.
Then again, monsters couldn't be judged by common standards. When people of Xie Guannan's age back in their day were around, they had barely even stepped into the Qi Condensation stage.
Still, Xie Guannan was clearly getting off easy while complaining; a wave of deep pride welled up in his father's eyes!