Cultivation System: Elder Edition

Chapter 383

Ghosts of the Mine (XXIX)

"We're here," I announced out loud as the others started peppering the edges.

"It's... this? This stayed hidden all this while?" Shuren frowned. I turned toward others and saw similar reactions; were... were they not aware we walked through a massive set of damned arrays that blocked this particular view?

As my eyes landed on Long Tao, and as he shrugged, it turns out... Yeah, that's precisely the case. They really weren't aware. Why, though? That caused me to frown, but Long Tao's voice once again echoing in my brain revealed the truth.

"All those arrays were at least of Divine-Grade," he said. "All laid down by Emperors and Empresses. The last three, in fact, were of Origin-tier, something even my father would have struggled to see through. Perhaps you're a secret Formation Genius, Master, who has reached realms unprecedented?"

... once again, he tricked me. Par for the course, by now, as it seemed he took the opportunity often enough to 'test my limits', as it were. What were my limits? Oh, very plentiful, I imagine, but in this particular case it wasn't even me that allowed us to get here.

I just became aware of the formations, but I wasn't breaking them--even if I wanted to, I hadn't an inkling of how.

Well, may as well embrace the mysterious persona...

"The entire area, starting with when we first saw the gash," I said. "Had about eighty or so formations laid down, whose purpose was to interweave an elaborate and realistic depiction of this entire place as 'merely' a massive gash that formed a subterranean cave."

"Formations? Are you certain?" Shuren asked, not seeming to believe me. "Forgive me, Fellow Daoist. It's just that I've dabbled in arrays and formations myself, and though I can't claim I'd be able to disable them, to not even notice them..."

"All of them were at least Divine-tier."

"..." Well, that shut her up.

It did a few things extra, too--for starters, back were the slacked jaws, specifically from her and Lao Shun. Honestly, even though 'Divine-tier' sounds majestic, all I know is that it's a tier above Myth, so, to me, it's, dare I say, not that big of a deal. I mean, I've already dealt with myth-tier arts and items and such, and though they were majestic, of course, they weren't exactly impossible. So, how much of a difference was there really between the two that they looked at me with greater shock and fear than they looked at those damned bony fingers digging into the edge of the entrance behind us?

I probably shouldn't mention the Origin-tier ones, as I'm fairly certain both Lao Shun and she would crack my skull just to see what's in there.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Alright, it's your turn now," I said. "Start laying the formation as we move in."

"Y-yes," She shook herself free of shock, however little, and took a deep breath. Surprisingly, Lao Shun walked past me, too, and joined her, eyeing me with the gaze of someone torn between curiosity and respect toward their Master.

... okay, I added the last bit, but I'm sure it's in there, somewhere.

I pulled back with the rest and set up a temporary camp; from the looks of it, they first had to clean up the surrounding area and slowly unclog the entryway, so it might take a while.

"Master," Long Tao sat next to me, which prompted all other kids to go off 'exploring trees and flowers and such'.

"Do you tell them to do that?" I asked.

"They're clever enough to figure it out on their own, actually."

"Wow. Funny."

"I take after my Master, after all."

"Haah. What do you want? I'm getting a bad feeling."

"I just remembered a thing my grandmother mentioned about this place." Grandmother? Oh boy. "The reason why it was sealed in the first place, especially so tightly."

"... yeah?"

"While Yin-Repelling Art will help us descend to the lower levels, beyond the base of the Spirit Vein, there is... something. Something unfeeling, uncaring, undying. According to my grandmother, the only way to get past it and to the core of the Spirit Vein is with a special martial art."

"... why would we need to go to the core of the Spirit Vein?"

"E-eh?"

"Aren't we here just to yank some Spirit Stones from the walls and get the hell away? Why would we go any deeper?"

"... if you get the core, you can plant your own Spirit Mine anywhere and have a perpetual source of Spirit Stones. That's how most Sects are established, Master." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Are we establishing a Sect?" I asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"The art is one that allows twisting elements into its opposites--Yin into Yang, Light into Dark, Life into Death. But if you don't happen to have it in your inheritances... it's fine. We can simply pillage some Spirit Stones, like common thieves."

... wow.

Just, wow.

He got up and left, and I just had to sit there for a while in pure awe of what he just said. Honestly, I respect it. I mean, it's not like I never thought about starting a normal Sect as it'd be a perfect way to farm some points, but considering we've been living that nomad lifestyle for longer than not, I don't know how realistic it was.

Still, if we could extract the Spirit Vein Core or whatever it was called and simply hold onto it, even if we never do establish a Sect, I gather I could sell that thing for a hefty sum.

The issue is the special art he mentioned: I can check, but I'm like 99% certain I can't make it. I mean, I can, but in my exploration of the system, I'm pretty sure I came across this exact thing under the 'Unique Properties' part, and I'm just as sure it cost about 50,000 points to implement.

Is he really just testing my limits? So far, I kind of conjured up everything he wanted, so he might legitimately think I can just make shit out of thin air with no restrictions.

Ey, system, my dearest one. Any chance I can actually make this thing?

... hmm.

Why does it sometimes respond and sometimes not? Oh well.

I pulled up the creator's window immediately and shuffled over, looking for the option. There were actually several options, though even the cheapest one (and also the one that doesn't sound like it would work) called 'Temporary Elemental Inversion' still cost 14,000 points. Even if I could somehow scrape together the amount, considering the limit is 400...

Ugh. The limit. I really need to break through to push it up any further. How long will that shit take? Haah.

[--emergency quest generated]

[Cry of the Vein (???) -- due to the unusual circumstances, an equally unusual thing transpired: the core of the Spirit Vein has developed base sentience. It is currently terrified, surrounded by strange and dark Yin Spirits that are desperately trying to discover its location. Fight your way through the mine and rescue the Spirit]

[Cost: N/A]

[Rewards]

[Reward 1: A small chance Spirit might submit itself to you]

[Reward 2: 250,000 mid-Grade Spirit Stones]

Huh.

It really do be true: whine and it shall come to be!