Shouting Labor at the Heart of the Cave
Spirit stones in the lower realm, where spiritual energy was scarce to begin with, did not form of their own accord.
A spirit stone was a substance born when a cultivator’s spiritual energy seeped into a mineral vein or a crack in rock and condensed there over time.
For that reason, one of three conditions had to be met before a spirit stone could come into being.
The first was when a cultivator comprehended the Dao beside a rock and advanced to a higher realm.
The spiritual energy that spread outward in the wake of that enlightenment would harden within the mineral, transforming it into a spirit stone.
The second was when a cultivator possessed the talent to become a high-level expert in the future, or when an avatar of a high-level cultivator spent long years cultivating in a cave.
The spiritual energy that naturally leaked from such a being would harden inside the minerals and rocks, becoming spirit stones.
The last was when the corpse of a high-level cultivator happened to fall into the lower realm and, after the passage of many years, was buried in the earth; the true energy emanating from the corpse would condense into stones.
[This place must have once been used as a cultivation site by some cultivator who stayed here in the past. The interior structure is exactly like that.]
In common sense, the chance of so many absurd coincidences piling up like that was extremely low.
That was precisely why spirit stones were so rare in the lower realm.
[Cultivators devoted to cultivation establish a hidden retreat. They then spread a barrier so it cannot be found from the outside. That is why spirit stone caves are so difficult to discover in the lower realm.]
And this one had been beneath the surface of the sea, so there was no need to say more.
Then I did good?
[You hold within you one who is hundreds of millions of times rarer than a mere spirit stone, so why should something like that matter?]
While Baek Sang-ah pouted, the gentleman cultivator in question trembled all over and braced a hand against the wall.
His eyes shone with excitement and awe at the same time.
“No, to think a cave this enormous was lying right nearby….”
Along the cave wall, dozens, hundreds of spirit stones seemed to have taken root and grown there.
Some jutted out sharp and long, while others were smooth and round like eggs.
The surface of each spirit stone was translucent, and within them blue spiritual energy churned slowly, almost lazily.
But not everything in the cave was a spirit stone.
Only the tiny fragments hardened between stone and stone, like jewels set in rock, were truly spirit stones.
Of course, even those tiny fragments were precious enough to be coveted in the lower realm.
[What matters here is not the spirit stones, but the fact that this was once a cultivator’s training place.]
“Why?”
[Think about it. In the lower realm, would an ordinary cultivator be able to artificially create a cave of this size and produce so many spirit stones with such pure spiritual energy?]
“Ah.”
[He must surely have reached a high realm. Not merely an ordinary high realm, either, but someone who glimpsed the source of the principles themselves.]
“Why?”
[Anyone capable of maintaining such density and transforming an entire cave through refined spiritual energy alone would be at that level, would they not?]
Muyeonja’s words were not absolute. Yet deep within that voice lay a weight close to certainty.
The traces of someone’s cultivation and the spiritual energy itself had been elevated into the cave’s structure.
In other words, this was not merely a spirit stone cave, but the residue of one person’s cultivation, the remnants of memory.
At that thought, Baek Sang-ah quietly looked around.
Then, while still unable to take his eyes off the wall, the gentleman cultivator cautiously checked her expression.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Me? Why are you asking me?”
“Well, this was discovered by Senior Baek, so the ownership should belong to you, shouldn’t it?”
Baek Sang-ah blinked a few times, then tilted her head.
Just a moment ago, Muyeonja had said that spirit stones were hardly important to her.
So Baek Sang-ah shook her head.
“Spirit stones. You take them.”
“Pardon?”
The gentleman cultivator’s pupils shook violently.
“You mean… I should take them?”
“Mm.”
“P-please think that over a little more carefully. Even if Senior does not use the spirit stones, if you sell the spirit stone cave to another cultivation sect, you could receive compensation equal to its value.”
“Compensation?”
“Yes, perhaps one of the sect’s secret techniques, or a spell art. Or, since Senior Baek is a cultivator above the Core Formation stage, you might even take a prestigious post.”
Baek Sang-ah had once been human, so she had a vague idea what a prestigious post was and all that.
But she had no interest in any of it.
If she got hungry right this instant, she could go hunting. She had a place to sleep, too.
Then why bother going out of her way to find another sect?
Baek Sang-ah shook her head.
“No need. I can eat now. I can rest now.”
The gentleman cultivator could not begin to keep up with such simplicity.
After all, cultivators were people who pursued their desires; there was no way someone like that would ignore such a fortuitous encounter.
“However, a secret technique from a renowned sect, not merely a lower sect like Ungyu Sect, would be passed down from the upper realms, so it would surely help Senior Baek as well.”
Baek Sang-ah did not want to say any more.
She had already made up her mind.
“You do it.”
“Pardon?”
“You can do it, can’t you?”
Baek Sang-ah had already turned her back.
At that, the gentleman cultivator found himself unable to continue speaking.
To think she would truly hand over this spirit stone cave to Ungyu Sect without demanding a single reward. What kind of noble person is this?
Instead, he dropped to his knees on the ground and bowed deeply toward Baek Sang-ah, forgetting even the barest concern for appearances.
“I will serve you as my benefactor for the rest of my life, Senior Baek!”
While Dam So-dam and Hyeongeuk tried hard to help the prostrate gentleman cultivator to his feet, Baek Sang-ah headed deeper inside the cave.
There was something that caught at her awareness.
Though it was not the consciousness of a living being, she could feel some sort of current, alive and changing.
[It is a cultivation chamber.]
Baek Sang-ah moved quietly forward. A blue radiance, like water spreading through stone, faintly seeped along the cave wall, and the pulse of an oddly familiar pattern touched the tip of her foot.
It was not a flow that came from the rock, nor the agitation of spirit stones.
It was something far older, heavier, and vast as the sky itself.
Just as Baek Sang-ah was about to reach out toward it, Muyeonja stopped her.
[It is too soon.]
“Hm?”
[What lies beyond is a thought left behind by the owner of this cave. It is something he left for whoever might come here in the future.]
“Then I can meet him.”
[Did I not just say it? The owner of this cave is no ordinary person. In your present realm, he would be too much for you.]
“Then what do I do?”
Baek Sang-ah stopped walking and narrowed her eyes.
Straight ahead, beyond the deepest wall of the cave, a single blue strand of light slowly gathered and shimmered like a ripple.
[It would be better to return after you have at least reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
Foundation Establishment Realm.
Baek Sang-ah quietly closed her eyes.
In the cave’s silence, where not even a breath could be heard, her awareness touched the current of light.
Just as Baek Sang-ah’s consciousness began to extend and approach the thought left behind—
“Krrng…?”
—that thin thread of awareness flared and vanished.
[That is why I said it was too much.]
At Muyeonja’s words, Baek Sang-ah nodded.
Still, she knew. Someday, this was a place she would have to return to.
…….
…….
…….
Ungyu Sect descended into chaos.
Overnight, a spirit stone cave had appeared.
Thanks to discovering a fated encounter containing no fewer than several hundred spirit stones.
“Hah… what are we to do now?”
For the disciples of Ungyu Sect, who had never even laid eyes on a spirit stone, it was nothing short of heaven’s favor.
But mining spirit stones was grueling work.
Unless they had a cultivator who practiced earth arts among the five elements, there was no helping it, and every disciple of Ungyu Sect was only at the qi refining stage, not even touching the five elements.
The gentleman cultivator carefully asked Baek Sang-ah,
“I know this is a shameless question, but might I ask Senior for advice? How should we mine all these spirit stones…?”
Baek Sang-ah blinked, then said,
“Can’t use earth arts? Then just use pickaxes.”
It was an answer so clear that it left no room for argument.
The moment he heard it, the gentleman cultivator led a few disciples to the blacksmith in the upper village and bought twenty pickaxes.
And just like that, the daily routine of Ungyu Sect changed overnight.
They rose earlier in the morning to practice their breathing techniques, then gathered in groups to lift pickaxes.
When nine cultivators went down into the mine with pickaxes on their shoulders, it was impossible to tell whether Ungyu Sect was a cultivation sect or some kind of miners’ association.
Even so, their zeal was impossible to ignore.
“There’s spiritual energy worth decades in each one! Move faster!”
Leading the many brothers and disciples was Hyeongeuk.
He guided the cultivators of Ungyu Sect with his nose smeared black with stone dust.
Bang, thud, bang, thud.
The sounds of rock and pickaxe colliding rang out in rhythm.
If there was one way they were better than ordinary miners, it was that they received no wages.
If there was another, it was that as cultivators, they needed no safety equipment.
Then a problem arose.
“No matter how much we dig, there’s no end to it.”
The cave was not all that large, yet the number of pure spirit stones was impossible to count.
With fewer than ten cultivators in Ungyu Sect, there was no way they could mine all of them.
And since they could not exactly bring in outside labor, the gentleman cultivator kept sighing.
“I’m terribly sorry, Senior Baek….”
“Not enough people? Then bring more.”
“Pardon? But if word of this gets out, another cultivation sect will surely interfere….”
“Then just don’t let it get out.”
This time, too, the answer was crystal clear.
As Baek Sang-ah sat on the veranda, feeling the wind on her face, she looked toward Rangi, and that enormous tiger sprang to her feet.
Then the two of them had a conversation.
“Grrr. Grrrrowl.”
“Kwaaang, krrk.”
Seven days later.
The mouth of Sect Leader Un stood agape before the main gate of Ungyu Sect, refusing to close.
Because behind Rangi, who had returned with dirt all over her body, gathered a whole host of mole-shaped demon beasts she had brought back with her.
“Grrr.”
To the underground mining operations of Ungyu Sect were added a number of moles with blue bruises all over their bodies.
Thus was born the Coal-Mining Sect.