“What the heck is this?”
Shui Miao’s heart quivered. This thing had emerged from the vein stone containing fire-elemental energy—was it possibly a fire spirit stone monster?
“One must not harbor intentions to harm others, but one must also be cautious.”
Shui Miao quickly stood up and retreated to the crevice through which he had come. If things turned dangerous, he would flee immediately. At the same time, he circulated his spiritual energy, condensing numerous ice shards that floated before him, ready to launch an attack against the monster’s large red face.
Meanwhile, the soul-devouring force continued to consume and corrode the fire-elemental energy within the vein stone.
As the monster’s face became increasingly vivid, Shui Miao couldn’t help but feel dizzy. Drawing from past experiences, he deduced this was the monster attempting to infiltrate his mind, create illusions, and possibly even control him. However, Shui Miao’s spiritual power was far too strong; the monster couldn’t penetrate his consciousness.
“If that’s the case, why not use its own method against it?”
With a thought, Shui Miao activated his illusory formation within his spiritual realm, attempting to impose illusions upon the monster.
However, he was unsuccessful. The monster only manifested a face, and Shui Miao couldn’t locate the source of its consciousness.
The temperature within the vein stone grew increasingly intense. Suddenly, Shui Miao excitedly realized—the heat contained highly refined fire-elemental energy!
With a swift thought, Shui Miao immediately retracted his soul-devouring force and stepped back several paces.
As the soul-devouring force returned into his body, Shui Miao felt a warm sensation spread throughout, instantly restoring his normal body temperature.
Having benefited from the energy, Shui Miao was reluctant to leave and wanted to absorb a bit more fire-elemental energy.
Just then, an unfamiliar and sharp voice roared inside his mind, “Get out! Or I’ll burn you to death!”
“Hmph!”
Simultaneously with the voice, a surge of flame erupted from the vein stone.
Shui Miao quickly scanned with his spiritual sense and discovered the flame contained highly refined fire-elemental energy—the very thing he desired.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I only wish to take a little fire-elemental energy—just a little. Instead of burning me, why not give me the energy contained within that flame? Then we could be friends. I can repay you somehow, even protect you.” Shui Miao wasn’t one to give up easily. He also believed that with the right leverage, no deal was impossible.
“…”
The monster’s voice fell silent for a moment, as if contemplating.
Soon, the voice spoke again, “You truly wish to cooperate with me, to be friends?”
“Of course. You should be able to sense my sincerity.”
Shui Miao nodded earnestly.
“Fine then. Do this for me—go defeat a certain enemy, and I will believe your words.”
The monster explained the situation to Shui Miao, revealing some information. Not far away, there was a large green stone, another vein stone, filled with abundant wood-elemental energy. The green vein stone was about the same size as the red one.
“Fire overcomes wood!”
“I understand now. So you have your own wars too!”
“But aren’t you all part of the same mountain? Why do you fight each other?”
Shui Miao muttered to himself while observing the flames, speculating about the monster’s true identity.
“Forget it. Since you’re helping me, I’ll tell you. Actually, the vein stones inside this mountain are pure and have no consciousness. We are all spirits who cultivated after obtaining a portion of the vein energy. But with so many enemies around, we had to compete. The one I want you to deal with is a wood-element mountain sprite within that green vein stone. It has allied with a water-element eel spirit, constantly suppressing me and pushing me to the edge, leaving me exposed. Now, help me by using that black energy of yours against the eel spirit, and I will attack and destroy them. After that, I can give you a place to exist. Then we can team up to take over all the vein energy in this mountain!”
This monster was clever enough to try to use Shui Miao against others.
Shui Miao was curious. “Then what kind of monster are you?”
“I am a phoenix spirit!” The monster replied somewhat hesitantly.
“…”
Shui Miao thought to himself, You, a phoenix? Could a phoenix really look like you?
“Haha! A phoenix? You’re more like a little fire demon escaped from hell!”
“Exactly! You’re shameless to even compare yourself to us!”
At that moment, the colors of the cave’s stones changed. The originally gray stones turned green and white, and faces of monsters appeared on them. One looked somewhat human but had branches and leaves growing from its head—it must be the mountain sprite. The other had a round head, clearly the eel spirit.
“You… you guys don’t go too far, or I’ll fight you to the death!”
The little demon monster grew fearful.
“Too far? I think you’re the one going too far, conspiring with a human to oppose us and disrupting our natural order. How despicable of you!” The mountain sprite first sneered, then roared viciously.
“Exactly! You broke the rules first, so it’s justified for me to fight you,” the eel spirit said arrogantly, confidently smiling at the little demon. “Little demon, are you ready to leave now?”
The little demon turned to Shui Miao. “Friend, help me deal with this stinky eel. I’ll handle the mountain sprite. Once I defeat the mountain sprite, I won’t fear this stinky eel anymore.”
“Fine! You dare call me a stinky eel. I’ll destroy you now!”
The white stone suddenly moved, directly pressing toward the red stone.
The eel spirit completely ignored Shui Miao’s presence.
Since he hadn’t obtained any fire-elemental energy yet, why should he help? Shui Miao deliberately pretended to be distracted, not rushing to act. He muttered to himself, “Nature is truly amazing. Vein energy can flow freely within stones, and spirits can control the vein energy to establish their domains. To control more vein energy, they fight for territory, even killing each other… Amazing! Truly amazing!”
“Brat! This is no time for daydreaming. Help me now!” The little demon was frantic, unable to resist the water-elemental stone’s attack.
Jets of steam emerged from the stones, only to be absorbed by the green wood-elemental vein stone.
The eel spirit shouted, “Old Five, go deal with that kid. Humans are the most cunning.”
“Okay…”
The mountain sprite immediately targeted Shui Miao.
Shui Miao noticed the rocks around him gradually turning green, and from the crevices, numerous plant roots began to sprout. These roots grew larger, attempting to entangle Shui Miao’s body!
“Hey, I’m just standing here, not even agreeing to help the little demon. You recklessly attack me—that’s definitely your fault.” Shui Miao seriously looked at the mountain sprite, actually trying to reason with it.
“Brat! Take this fire-elemental energy!”
Finally, the little demon had a moment of clarity. It separated a large portion of fire-elemental energy, forming it into a red stone the size of a soccer ball, which dropped to the ground by Shui Miao’s feet.
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