Chanchala Jin’s face darkened, "It must be. Otherwise, how do you explain such a large cave? We need to hurry. The Eternal One Sect and Artifact Refining Valley will probably arrive soon."
"Let’s go!" Kailash Ren flew straight to the end of the cave.
They saw that none of the Green Lotus Sect disciples were harmed, and among them, they spotted Renshu Chang.
"Renshu Chang!"
Renshu Chang had already heard someone coming, so he turned around before they spoke.
Seeing them, he smiled and said, "Oh, it’s the junior sisters from the Divine Maiden Sect."
"So you found out about the top-grade spiritual stone mine early on and hid nearby from the start, didn’t you?" Kailash Ren asked coldly.
"Not at all. It was my Junior Sister Amalia who informed us to come here. Are you sure you want to keep chatting with me?" Renshu Chang reminded them.
Kailash Ren said no more and found a spot where no one else was digging to start mining.
The stones left behind by the Green Lotus Sect weren’t as easy to find, but she couldn’t compete for the spots they had already dug.
After all, this cave was originally dug by the Green Lotus Sect.
Continuing to dig from here was faster than starting a new cave outside.
Of course, the real reason was that they weren’t a match for the Green Lotus Sect.
"Huh?" Chanchala Jin suddenly noticed something strange after digging for a bit, "Junior Sister, look! Aren’t the Green Lotus Sect people using their weapons to dig? They’re actually using a weapon to mine!"
"Those are their natal weapon," Kailash Ren recognized right away, her face looking a bit grim.
As cultivators, they should cherish their natal weapons more.
"But they’re digging up spirit stones much faster than we are with shovels," Chanchala Jin hesitated, seeing what they were doing made her tempted to try it too.
"Senior Sister!" Kailash Ren warned sternly.
Chanchala Jin usually feared Kailash Ren, but in this moment when every second counted, she felt it might be worth learning from the Green Lotus Sect people.
"Well, you can keep using the shovel, but Junior Sister Bai and I will use our natal weapons."
The two of them took out their natal weapons, and as soon as they started using them, they realized how much faster they were.
Before long, they were hooked on the efficiency.
Kailash Ren initially wanted to scold them, but seeing how much faster they were, and after they finally dug up some spirit stones in less than fifteen minutes, she kept quiet.
"Oh my gosh, so many top-grade spirit stones!" Chanchala Jin excitedly kept digging, quickly collecting a large number of spirit stones into her storage bag.
Junior Sister Bai was also digging with a bright, happy face, her haul only slightly less than Chanchala Jin’s.
Kailash Ren was getting fewer spirit stones than the two of them, and after holding out for a while, she couldn’t resist any longer.
Her situation was different from Renshu Chang’s, but she also learned to compromise.
Instead of using her natal weapon, she used another weapon she had with her.
It wasn’t as precise as her main weapon, but it did speed up her digging a bit.
"Senior Sister, stop digging around the edges. Let’s head towards the center of the spiritual stone mine together," Kailash Ren suddenly suggested.
Chanchala Jin paused, then realized what she meant, "You’re worried that the Green Lotus Sect people might get to the spiritual marrow first?"
"I’m not sure if there’s spiritual marrow, but if we want it, we need to dig towards the center," Kailash Ren said, noticing a smaller tunnel inside the cave.
There were two fluctuations of spiritual energy coming from the tunnel—it was likely those two people.
"Then let’s dig towards the center of the mine now. There should be more top-grade spirit stones there too, so it’s worth it," Chanchala Jin agreed and adjusted her direction.
Just as they started racing against time, the disciples from Eternal One Sect and Artifact Refining Valley were also hurrying in their direction.
"Are we the first ones here?" Vijaya Tao led the disciples of the Eternal One Sect to the top-grade spiritual stone mine.
Apart from some scattered remains on the ground, they didn’t see anyone else.
Several disciples immediately showed excitement, "Senior Brother Tao, what are we waiting for? Let’s start digging now before they arrive. There might even be spirit essence inside the mine that could help Senior Brother Yang break through from the peak of the Golden Core stage."
"Yeah, if Senior Brother Yang can break through, he might become the only Nascent Soul cultivator in the secret realm. Then neither Amalia nor Al’gath would be a match for him."
"But Senior Brother Yang is nowhere to be found. I hope he gets here soon."
After they finished talking, they went to the spot where they first discovered the top-grade spiritual stone mine and began digging.
Because they started digging in a different area, they didn’t realize that, on the opposite side, two other groups had already been digging for some time.
Not long after, Ajit Wan and Junior Brother Deng from Artifact Refining Valley arrived.
Hari Liu wasn’t with them; they had lost track of him while escaping earlier.
After searching for him for a long time without success, they decided to head back to the mine instead.
The top-grade spiritual stone mine was important, and the spirit essence at the mine’s center was even more valuable.
When they saw that the Eternal One Sect disciples were already digging, they didn’t join them but instead found their own spot and started digging furiously.
Meanwhile, in the cave across from them, Amalia and Kenny Lin had unknowingly dug over a hundred meters deep.
At first, the top-grade spiritual stones were scattered, but now they were becoming denser, which indicated that they were getting closer to the center of the spiritual stone mine.