To ensure the worm was truly dead, Bai Xifeng drew her dagger with a practised flick of her wrist. She aimed for the vulnerable chink in its defences, the narrow, fleshy gap between the head and the first armoured segment. With a surge of Qi, she drove the blade deep into the seam. With a powerful, gut-wrenching heave, she sliced upward, completely severing the head from the rest of the body. The massive worm slumped lifelessly, its colossal, armoured carcass crashing onto the cavern floor with a resounding, bone-shaking thud.

Despite the lingering goosebumps still crawling across her skin from the sight of the creature, she immediately moved to harvest the body. She was a professional. She refused to let such rare, high-grade materials go to waste. Once the beast was safely stored away in her storage space, she stood in the centre of the glittering chamber, a bold and utterly ridiculous idea slowly taking root in her mind.

"Baishe... Baishe... Can you hear me?" Bai Xifeng called out, her consciousness reaching deep into the Mirror World.

Baishe, who had been submerged in a state of deep cultivation, slowly opened his eyes. His expression was noticeably weary, as if he had already anticipated a headache.

"What is it now?" Baishe asked, his voice echoing in her mind.

"I am currently standing in the middle of an Xien Stone Cave." Bai Xifeng said, chuckling with a clear hint of mischief in her tone.

Baishe immediately felt a sharp pang of dread. Experience had been a cruel teacher, and it had taught him that whenever Bai Xifeng chuckled in that particular way, something absurd was about to happen.

"So, what of it?" Baishe asked cautiously, bracing himself.

"I want to move this entire cave into the Mirror World. Can I?" Bai Xifeng asked brightly, as if she were asking to pick a flower rather than uproot a mountain.

Baishe was genuinely shocked, his composure slipping. "Are you serious? You want to transplant an entire geographical feature? That is not just a rock. It’s a part of the world’s crust!"

"Do you think I am joking?" Bai Xifeng shot back with a playful grin.

Baishe materialised in the physical world in front of her, his gaze sweeping over the glowing silver veins and the shimmering quicksilver pool. He had to admit, even with his high standards, it was a spectacular discovery.

"Can I bring it in or not?" Bai Xifeng pressed, her eyes wide with hope and greed.

Baishe let out a long, defeated sigh and reached out to flick her forehead.

"Ouch! That actually hurt." Bai Xifeng yelped, rubbing the growing sore spot.

"Fine... It is technically possible, but it will require a massive, almost staggering amount of energy." Baishe conceded. "Call out Heishe and Taotie as well. We will need the combined strength of everyone to uproot this place from the ground."

Tao-chan and Heishe were summoned at once, appearing in the dim light of the cave. They had been told about the plan.

"You are a total badass, Xiaofeng." Heishe praised, his eyes gleaming with excitement at her wild and daring plan.

"I don’t care about the details... But remember, I want larger food portions for your cooking." Tao-chan grumbled, making his demands known immediately.

"Alright, it’s a deal." Bai Xifeng grinned.

The group exited the cavern to begin the process. Once outside, Tao-chan returned to his true, gargantuan size, his shadow looming over the landscape. Bai Xifeng stepped back, giving her three powerful beasts the space they needed to perform the extraction.

They began to channel their power, and the air itself seemed to thicken with divine pressure. Baishe took the lead with surgical precision, using his spatial energy to "cut" the fabric of reality around the cave’s perimeter. He vibrated his aura at a frequency that matched the Xien Stone’s resonance, creating a spiritual "seam" that effectively detached the cave’s heart from the mountain’s soul.

Tao-chan acted as the living anchor. He slammed his massive, mountain-crushing claws into the earth flanking the cavern, pinning the crust in place so it wouldn’t collapse. Then, using his "Devouring" aura, he created a localised vacuum, literally sucking the massive stone structure upward.

Meanwhile, Heishe provided the raw, kinetic violence needed to snap the physical bonds. He unleashed a turbulent, dark aura that acted like thousands of invisible drills, shattering the deep bedrock until the "roots" of the silver ore were severed cleanly.

Every living being in the surrounding forest froze in primal terror as this localised apocalypse unfolded. Among those paralysed by the pressure were Zou Weizhe and his group of followers.

"Your Highness... What is that feeling?" One of the followers asked, his voice trembling.

Zou Weizhe shook his head, his face pale. He did not have an answer, but the sensation was suffocating, the unmistakable, crushing weight of divine power.

Back at the cave, the entire structure began to hover, suspended in a state of liminality by the combined auras of the three beasts.

"It’s out! Transfer it into the Mirror World now!" Baishe shouted over the roar of groaning stone.

Bai Xifeng stepped forward, her small hand touching the cave’s entrance. She became the Bridge. As she opened the portal, she had to mentally support the staggering weight of every crystal and vein of ore within the cavern. It was a gruelling test of her spiritual capacity. It took her several agonising minutes of absolute concentration, her Qi draining to the very dregs of her dantian.

When the last of the pulsing silver veins finally crossed the threshold and vanished into the Mirror World, the physical world’s vacuum sealed with a deafening crack. Bai Xifeng collapsed to her knees, utterly exhausted.

***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that means it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shameless author, ZerahNeko*