Chapter 65: Chapter 61: Water Curtain Cave-Heaven, Spiritual Ape Mining Theft

Gu Yuan wasn’t encountering the situation of "opportunity ahead, but no path forward" for the first time.

But the Stone Liquid’s status was exceedingly high and infallible, so the waterfall before him must hold some profound mystery.

"Rumble, rumble!"

The waterfall was extremely fierce, falling from the peak’s cliff, with the torrent cutting off any sight beyond it.

With such a flow, there surely was no path ahead.

Yet Gu Yuan recalled a story from novels he read in his previous life, revealing a reminiscent smile.

"Go!"

Subsequently, he waved his hand, mana enveloping a blue paper crane, flapping its wings vigorously, charging toward the space behind the waterfall.

Beyond the water curtain, there must be another hidden world.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

But just as the paper crane was about to soar past the waterfall and enter another space, a shrill monkey cry suddenly echoed from the ancient trees on both sides of the valley.

"Whoosh!"

Then, a small seed, carrying fierce Qi power, suddenly hurled toward the paper crane, attempting to knock it down.

Seeing this, Gu Yuan was not alarmed but delighted. Inside his Dantian, the Little Giant God Seal and the Profound Turtle Seal simultaneously lit up, and a black-golden big turtle’s shadow emerged from the cascading waters, supporting the paper crane.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

On the ancient trees, the shrill cries of the monkeys resounded continuously, and a barrage of seed missiles rained down like droplets, aiming to knock the paper crane out of the sky.

But under the augmentation of the Little Giant God Seal, the Profound Turtle Seal was unlike before; its shell patterns were profound and ancient, effortlessly blocking all attacks.

Subsequently, under the protection of the Profound Turtle, the paper crane swiftly pierced through the roaring waterfall, entering a new realm.

"Indeed, a Water Curtain Cave-Heaven with another path!"

Through the paper crane’s vague perception, Gu Yuan also saw the scene behind the waterfall.

It was a large cavern, hidden behind the waterfall, shrouded by the cascading waters, impossible to discover without passing through the waterfall, extremely covert.

Inside the cavern, a group of brown-yellow furred monkeys was laboriously pounding the cliff walls deep within the cave with crude stone tools, extracting pieces of jade-colored stones.

The cavern was filled with dust, and the pounding sounds were incessant, akin to a construction site.

But the water flow of the waterfall was so intense that it drowned out all other noises.

On either side of the cavern, two large monkeys with silver-tinged fur were holding a gourd, drooling, and snoring soundly.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

At this moment, a monkey within the cavern spotted the paper crane and immediately started screeching in excitement, in a panic.

One monkey even directly threw the stone hammer it was holding, striking the loudly snoring Silverback Ape.

"Roar!"

The Silverback Ape instantly awoke, furious, glaring at the direction the hammer came from, but the brown monkeys all pointed towards the paper crane in the air.

"Hmm?"

The Silverback Ape was momentarily stunned, then frantically picked up a silver stone club, using all its strength to strike the paper crane.

This strike was powerful, the air whistling, with a Qi power of tens of thousands of pounds, extremely fierce.

"Woo!"

But the Profound Turtle Seal under the paper crane seemed to come alive, emitting a peculiar sound, and its turtle shell was exceedingly deep, firmly blocking the attack.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

The Silverback Ape panicked, quickly waking its companion, and both apes combined their strength, the stone club radiating demonic power, fiercely striking at the paper crane.

"Water Curtain Cave-Heaven, spiritual apes mining, truly interesting!"

At this moment, a tall figure, riding a jade-colored Flood Dragon, had already traversed the waterfall.

Before his body arrived, a chilling aura had already pervaded, two blue ice chains as thick as fists slid agilely like Flood Dragons, binding the two Silverback Apes.

These two Silverback Apes were merely middle-grade Spirit Beasts, with strength around the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, nowhere near Gu Yuan’s match now.

In an instant, the two Silverback Apes were firmly restrained by the Ice Lock Seal, their limbs enveloped in icy chill, unable to move, their eyes filled with terror as they gazed at Gu Yuan.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

Seeing the two Silverback Apes captured instantly, the brown monkeys deep in the cavern widened their eyes, showing fear.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Without Gu Yuan needing to speak, all the monkeys immediately dropped their tools, squatting before Gu Yuan, raising their hands in supplication as if begging for mercy.

Some even tried to curry favor by attempting to massage Gu Yuan’s back, behaving like lackeys.

Gu Yuan found it amusing, but he ignored the monkeys and looked toward a pile of jade-colored stones in the stone chamber.

A dense Spiritual Qi emanated from the pile of stones, making the crude cavern more pleasing to the eye.

This was definitely the opportunity indicated by the secret.

The stone pile consisted of freshly mined Spirit Stones!

With a rough estimate, there were nearly a thousand.

And deep within the cavern, more dense Spiritual Qi was flowing out, clearly indicating that the vein had not been fully mined.

"A hidden miniature vein, truly amazing!"

Gu Yuan marveled at the scene before him, unable to resist expressing his awe.

He had considered many possibilities for the opportunity on Spiritual Crane Island, but never imagined it would be a Spirit Stone vein.

Finding a vein is a specialized task. The Cyan Peak Daoist School has a dedicated institution called the "Mountain Shifting Hall," specifically tasked with exploring and mining veins.

Each year, the Daoist School expends considerable effort on this endeavor.

Veins are hidden deep underground, extremely difficult to detect, requiring specialized spiritual artifacts and cultivation techniques to discover them amidst the vast earth.

Among them, large veins and miniature veins are the hardest to find.

Large veins are only born in the deepest subterranean areas where Spirit Meridians are most abundant, hidden very deeply, only discoverable by Great Mages.

Miniature veins, being so small, have more than ten thousand Spirit Stones at most, and just a few thousand at least. The fluctuations in Spiritual Qi are insufficient to trigger any artifact’s resonance, akin to a firefly overshadowed by any flicker of Spiritual Light under the vast moonlight.

Of course, a genuine expert in vein hunting with Great Magical Power could surely find the miniature veins, but such individuals would not waste their time searching for such tiny gems amid vast mountains and rivers.

To be blunt, the treasury of a typical Noble Family surpasses the gleam of a miniature vein.

But this vein before him, judging by its Spiritual Qi intensity, was undoubtedly a miniature vein.

Still, even a miniature vein would yield at least a thousand Spirit Stones, which was already a massive windfall for Gu Yuan personally.

Many loose cultivators and families have become wealthy from discovering a miniature vein in the world.

"Hua la la!"

Gu Yuan didn’t hesitate, a sleeve swipe, mana surged, ready to stash the freshly mined Spirit Stones away first.

"Roar, roar!"

But just then, a large figure, accompanied by angry roars, launched an attack from behind Gu Yuan.