When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

The little white tiger didn't care about others' lives or deaths—she didn't know them anyway, so why save someone who would only compete with her for treasure? She had heard countless examples in the cultivation world of people killing for treasures or becoming enemies over them. There was truly no need to take such risks.

However, Yun Qingyue couldn't simply ignore the situation—the scorpion swarm hadn't dispersed, which meant the person inside was clearly still alive.

After exchanging glances, the little white tiger ultimately conceded slightly, suggesting a compromise: "Why don't we dig first? Considering how long that person has withstood so many poison scorpions, they probably won't be in immediate danger. Let's excavate the treasure and secure it first, then rescue the person afterward to avoid potential disputes." If that person couldn't hold out, they couldn't be blamed.

Yun Qingyue wasn't heartless, but neither was she indiscriminately kind. After contemplating briefly, she nodded in agreement. Without delay, she swept her sleeve to push away all the nearby scorpions playing dead, then summoned her Fuxue Sword and began digging into the stone forest floor.

The Fuxue Sword was incredibly sharp, yet when it struck down, it only left a shallow mark on the black stone, like ordinary iron—even less effective than the small pit corroded earlier by the threatening Flame Poison Scorpion.

Yun Qingyue was surprised, and the little white cat even more so. She leapt from her Senior Sister's arms onto the ground, intending to try herself.

A flash of golden light appeared on her sharp cat claws as she forcefully swiped at the ground, but the expected shattering of stone fragments didn't occur. She keenly sensed a force drawing away the Sharp Metal Force covering her claws, and without this enhancement, flesh claws remained just flesh claws. She was still only a cub with undeveloped claws and fangs, naturally not very formidable.

Seeing this, Yun Qingyue bent down, took the little white cat's soft paw and examined it with concern: "How is it? Did you hurt your paw?" She turned it over thoroughly, only setting her mind at ease after confirming there was no injury.

The little white cat shook her head, then explained to her Senior Sister: "I'm fine, but whatever's underground is problematic. It absorbed all my Sharp Metal Force. Senior Sister, you should use your spirit sword sparingly to avoid affecting its quality—it would be terrible if its grade dropped."

Hearing this, Yun Qingyue immediately grew serious. She had been working to refine the Fuxue Sword into her primary spirit sword, diligently seeking materials to enhance and upgrade it. If it were to drop in grade because of some unknown treasure below, that would certainly be a losing proposition. She cautiously sheathed the Fuxue Sword and, after some thought, retrieved an ordinary flying sword from her storage ring used for everyday travel.

On the fine iron flying sword, white frost faintly appeared as Yun Qingyue channeled her sword intent and swung it down.

After more than a year of tempering, Yun Qingyue's sword intent had become increasingly fluid and effective. This strike was sharp yet contained—despite the wall of poison scorpions not far away, she managed to cleave the ground without disturbing the tens of thousands of scorpions.

Indeed, once executed, this strike proved quite effective.

A silent fissure over ten feet long split open in the ground, its interior pitch black, making it impossible to discern its depth.

Jiang Mo let out a small exclamation of surprise, then moved closer to peer into the crack. Yun Qingyue stood holding her sword, frowning slightly at the fissure with apparent dissatisfaction—just as the little white cat turned her head, the flying sword in Yun Qingyue's hand suddenly shattered. The slender blade didn't simply break in two, but crumbled into pieces of scrap iron, leaving only the hilt in Yun Qingyue's hand.

The little white cat was momentarily speechless, forgetting what she had intended to say, and anxiously asked Yun Qingyue: "Senior Sister, are you alright? Did it hurt your hand?" She stepped forward, seemingly wanting to examine her Senior Sister's hand just as her own paw had been checked earlier.

Yun Qingyue shook her head indicating she was fine, then casually put away the hilt and broken sword fragments—the flying sword's low quality couldn't withstand her sword intent, which was one factor, but the influence from whatever lay underground had caused it to shatter after just one strike. Moreover, the effectiveness of this strike fell short of her expectations, suggesting that whatever lay below was truly extraordinary.

The little white cat still approached, raising her paw to open her Senior Sister's palm. Only after seeing the palm remained pristine like jade without the slightest injury did she breathe a sigh of relief. After this incident, however, she realized that such forceful excavation might not be the best approach.

The little white cat tilted her head in thought, then suddenly her eyes brightened. She turned and began gathering the nearby Flame Poison Scorpions that had approached and started a new round of playing dead: "Senior Sister, why don't we try using poison?"

The image of the scorpion releasing poison to threaten them earlier remained vivid in their minds—these scorpions' venom was remarkably effective at corroding the ground. There were thousands upon thousands of Flame Poison Scorpions here; if each contributed a drop, it would likely be enough to corrode through the rocky layer. As for what lay beneath the rocks, that remained unknown—they could address challenges as they arose.

Faced with the little white cat's bright-eyed expression seeking approval, Yun Qingyue hesitated for a moment, at a loss for words.

It was the system that couldn't hold back, once again dousing its host with cold water: "Host, don't get carried away. Haven't you seen how potent these scorpions' poison is? Would you dare enter the hole they corrode? Aren't you afraid of being poisoned to death inside?!"

The little white cat responded righteously: "Senior Sister can just create a barrier. What's so difficult about that?"

The system fell silent, but judging from her Senior Sister's hesitation, the Flame Poison Scorpions' venom clearly couldn't be blocked by a simple barrier. What if the barrier was corroded? What if the poison touched their skin? Worse still, what if they inhaled the toxic fumes? This wasn't the volcanic environment where Flame Poison Scorpions typically lived—there were no spiritual flowers or herbs nearby to counteract their poison. Even as Jianbing, if truly poisoned, she would likely suffer considerably.

The little white cat's far-fetched idea ultimately wasn't adopted. Yun Qingyue pursed her lips in contemplation before finally gathering spiritual energy to form an ice sword. The ice sword gleamed crystal clear in the sunlight, emanating wisps of cold air, as if it might melt at any moment.

Yet when this seemingly fragile ice sword swung down, it produced an unexpected effect.

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Rock beneath rock, and the deeper they dug, the harder the mysterious black stone became.

Initially, Yun Qingyue could cleave three to five meters deep with a single sword strike, but gradually this diminished to two meters, one meter, half a meter, and eventually just a palm's depth... The black rock before them was covered with sword marks, each retaining traces of sword intent. Yet in the desert's extreme heat, the frost brought by the sword intent didn't linger on the black rock, leaving only a wall of fierce impressions.

Less than a thousand meters below ground, Yun Qingyue had already depleted her spiritual energy and sat down to recover for the third time, her demeanor calm without a trace of impatience.

She seemed to have forgotten the person trapped in the stone forest above, surrounded by Flame Poison Scorpions, waiting for her and the little white tiger to rescue them. She also seemed to have forgotten that her vigorous digging was meant to unearth the treasure hidden underground. As she swung her sword again and again, depleting her spiritual energy repeatedly, she gradually became immersed in the process... If Jiang Mo had been a sword cultivator, or a tiger with more knowledge, she would have noticed the subtle changes in sword intent within each mark left on the black rock.

Unfortunately, the little white tiger didn't realize this. After experimentally swiping at the black rock a few times and confirming it was futile, she dejectedly returned to her Senior Sister's side. Sensing the spiritual energy flowing around them, she also closed her eyes, lying quietly beside her Senior Sister's leg to wait.

In this manner, stopping and continuing, another three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Yun Qingyue still led the way with her ice sword, while the little white cat perched on her shoulder. Occasionally glancing upward, she noticed the daylight overhead had diminished to just a sesame seed-sized point. Then gradually, even that tiny point disappeared. Although the darkness didn't affect the vision of either human or tiger, the little white cat still felt uncomfortable. She fumbled in her storage space and found a night-luminous pearl, at least adding a touch of light to their seemingly endless treasure-hunting path.

With her tail coiled around her Senior Sister's slender neck, whenever the little white cat looked upward, she wondered if the unfortunate person surrounded by Flame Poison Scorpions above had already perished. Shortly thereafter, she would discover Flame Poison Scorpions that had accidentally fallen down and were habitually playing dead.

Oh, the Flame Poison Scorpions hadn't retreated, so that person probably wasn't dead yet—quite resilient.

The little white cat pondered idly, occasionally reaching out to poke at the scorpions playing dead. Unfortunately, they played their part too well, showing no reaction no matter how she disturbed them, and she gradually lost interest.

Finally, this day brought a change to their monotonous digging. As Yun Qingyue swung her sword down, black rock fragments scattered away to reveal not more black stone but a dazzling golden hue. This gold reflected in the night-luminous pearl's light, transforming the pearl's gentle glow into brilliant, almost blinding radiance.

Having not seen such bright light for days, the little white cat instinctively narrowed her eyes. Before she could examine what the golden substance was, the system's mechanical voice sounded in her mind: "Wow, after digging for so many days, you've finally struck a gold mine?!"

Hearing this, the little white cat's face immediately darkened: "Bah, don't speak nonsense if you lack knowledge."

In the mortal realm, gold mines were certainly valuable, but in the cultivation world, gold and silver were worthless materials nobody would bother to pick up. If she had specifically called her Senior Sister to search, exerted so much effort digging for so long, only to unearth a gold mine, she would probably dig a hole on the spot and hide inside, too embarrassed to face her Senior Sister again.

Fortunately, it wasn't a gold mine. Completely unaffected by the light, Yun Qingyue twisted her ice sword to remove all the black rock surrounding the golden gleam. Upon closer inspection, they saw the dazzling gold had a certain translucence—clearly some kind of crystal—the treasure the little white tiger had detected appeared to be a mineral deposit. However, the cultivation world contained countless minerals, many of them golden, so it remained unclear which type this was.

Sweeping away the black rock fragments with her sleeve, Yun Qingyue stared at the golden crystal thoughtfully, then suddenly retrieved a palm-length small knife from her storage ring. Despite its size, this knife was a third-grade magical tool with a dazzling, razor-sharp blade.

Yun Qingyue didn't use the small knife for anything; she merely placed it close to the crystal for a moment.

Then, as the little white tiger watched in astonishment, the small knife gradually lost its sharpness and gleam. The blade became dull, its edge no longer keen... this magical tool was clearly being ruined before their eyes.

What could this crystal possibly be, to possess such formidable power?!