The terrain gradually rose, the ancient trees growing more rugged and gnarled, their dragon-like roots exposed on the ground, tangled and intertwined. The spiritual energy permeating the air carried a hint of ancient charm, becoming more active, as if foretelling that they had stepped into the edge of the Cloud Mist Secret Realm's inner region. The danger level here was far beyond that of the periphery.
Tang Xiaoqi proceeded with even greater caution, his spiritual sense spread like the finest net, missing not a single stir of grass or movement. The rabbit spirit seemed to sense the environmental shift as well; it no longer hopped about casually as before but clung closely to Xiaoqi's feet, its ruby-red eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings, ears rotating like radar, capturing the faintest of sounds.
After advancing for roughly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, an area of bizarre, rocky terrain appeared ahead. Massive rocks were piled haphazardly, forming many narrow passages and deep crevices. The stones were covered in slippery moss, and the air carried a damp, chilly aura.
Xiaoqi was about to choose a relatively wide passage to traverse when the rabbit spirit at his feet suddenly grew restless. It tugged hard at his pant leg, emitting urgent "coo-coo" sounds, then turned and gestured toward another, much narrower, utterly inconspicuous crevice half-hidden by dense thorny bushes.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Xiaoqi stopped, looking puzzled at the rabbit spirit. This narrow crevice appeared dark and deep, far less safe than the wide passage beside it.
Seeing Xiaoqi hesitate, the rabbit spirit grew even more anxious. It tugged his pant leg again, then took the lead, darting into that narrow crevice, its figure quickly vanishing into the darkness.
Xiaoqi hesitated for a moment. Throughout this journey, he had witnessed the rabbit spirit's unusual abilities many times—whether finding relatively safe paths or warning of potential dangers—its instincts had proven quite accurate. Its current abnormal behavior, stopping him from taking the wide passage and choosing this perilous narrow path, surely had a reason.
He decided to trust the little creature once more. Circulating his spiritual energy to protect himself, he pushed aside the thorns and followed into the narrow crevice.
Inside the crevice, the light was dim, only allowing one person to pass sideways. The footing was slippery, the stone walls cold. Xiaoqi held his breath, extending his spiritual sense forward, yet detected nothing unusual.
Just as he advanced about a dozen zhang and was about to pass through this rocky area, a deafening roar erupted from the direction of the wide passage he had originally intended to take!
"BOOM—!"
Followed by the rumbling of falling rocks and trembling ground, the commotion lasted several breaths before gradually subsiding.
Xiaoqi's heart leaped. He quickly looked back, peering through the crevice's gap toward the outside. The entrance to that wide passage was now completely sealed by countless massive boulders! A strong earthy smell and chaotic spiritual energy fluctuations permeated the air.
A collapse! Or rather, some kind of triggered natural trap!
Had he chosen that path earlier, he would likely be buried alive now—even if he survived, he'd be badly injured!
Xiaoqi sucked in a sharp breath, cold sweat instantly soaking his back. He looked down at his feet; the rabbit spirit was quietly crouched there, lifting its small head to look at him, its red eyes seeming to carry a hint of "See, I told you so."
"This time... I owe you one," Xiaoqi said with lingering fear, sincere gratitude in his voice. He reached out and stroked the rabbit spirit's head; the little creature squinted contentedly.
This couldn't be explained by mere spiritual intelligence! This rabbit spirit seemed to possess an extraordinary intuition toward danger and... opportunity!
Passing through the narrow crevice, the view suddenly opened up to a relatively gentle hillside. The slope was densely vegetated, but unlike the ancient forest before, the trees here were much shorter, replaced by large expanses of shrubs and unknown wildflowers.
Xiaoqi, having just steadied his nerves, was about to find a spot to rest briefly when the rabbit spirit again displayed unusual behavior. Instead of finding a place to lie down as usual, it became exceptionally excited, circling incessantly around Xiaoqi's feet, sniffing the air vigorously, then emitting short, urgent "coo-coo" sounds toward a certain direction uphill, continuously pointing with its front paws.
"Another discovery?" Xiaoqi raised an eyebrow, curiosity growing even stronger. He followed the rabbit spirit's indicated direction; there appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary patch of shrubs, nothing special.
But after the previous lesson, he no longer doubted. Following the excited rabbit spirit, he walked toward that shrubbery.
Pushing aside the dense shrubbery leaves revealed a small, inconspicuous cave entrance, only large enough for one person to bend and enter. The entrance was concealed by vines; without the rabbit spirit's guidance, it would have been extremely difficult to discover.
A stream of spiritual energy, purer and denser than outside, slowly drifted from within the cave.
Xiaoqi's heart stirred—could there be some rare treasure inside?
He signaled the rabbit spirit to stay outside on guard while he cautiously extended his spiritual sense into the cave. The cave wasn't deep, only about a zhang; inside was empty, with no demon beasts or other dangers.
He bent down and crawled inside.
Inside the cave, the light was dim, but Xiaoqi's vision was sufficient to see clearly. The walls were ordinary rock, the ground nothing special. However, his gaze soon fell upon an area at the base of the cave wall, sparkling with soft, multicolored light points.
Those light points weren't gems but... irregular pieces of low-grade spirit stones embedded in the rock! Though individually small, they were incredibly numerous, densely packed, like a miniature spirit stone vein exposed here!
Xiaoqi crouched down, prying off a spirit stone glowing with a faint blue halo. It felt cool to the touch, pure water-attributed spiritual energy swirling around his fingertips.
He examined several more—earthy yellow, cyan-green, fiery red... low-grade spirit stones of various attributes. Though only low-grade, such a concentrated, nearly natural vein exposure held considerable value! Rough estimates suggested just the easily collectible stones on the cave wall surface numbered nearly a hundred! If one could dig deeper...
A small spirit stone vein! This rabbit spirit had actually led him to an exposed vein of a spirit stone deposit!
Xiaoqi's heart raced uncontrollably. Spirit stones were the hard currency of the cultivation world—essential for cultivation, array formation, powering magical artifacts. Such a harvest was far more substantial than a Golden Heart Grass or a few Purple Spirit Fruits!
He hesitated no longer, immediately using his dagger to carefully pry off those easily collectible spirit stones from the cave wall. It took him nearly half an hour to gather all visible stones from the surface, harvesting over one hundred twenty low-grade spirit stones of various attributes!
Though unable to dig deeper, this harvest far exceeded his total gains since entering the secret realm! Enough to support his cultivation consumption for a long time!
Tying the heavy storage bag filled with spirit stones securely, Xiaoqi exited the cave. Looking at the rabbit spirit outside, leisurely licking its paws as if it had merely done a trivial thing, his suspicion reached its peak.
Once could be coincidence, twice luck, but repeatedly avoiding fatal danger and accurately locating hidden treasures... this was beyond any ordinary beast's capability!
He crouched down, examining the rabbit spirit closely. Entirely snow-white, flawless fur, shiny and soft, red eyes lively—its appearance was no different from an ordinary rabbit, perhaps just more spirited. But the intelligence it displayed, its keen perception toward treasures and danger, rivaled that of some rare spirit beasts known for treasure-seeking!
"Little one, just what are you?" Xiaoqi whispered, his fingers gently stroking the rabbit spirit's smooth back fur. "Do you possess some treasure-seeking talent? Or... carry some special bloodline?"
He recalled some of the exotic beasts recorded in his sect's ancient texts. There was the "Dītīng," capable of sensing fortune and misfortune; the "Treasure-Seeking Rat," skilled at identifying treasures; the "Jade Rabbit," able to absorb the essence of sun and moon... but each was an ancient rarity, with bloodlines long vanished from the ordinary cultivation world.
Could this seemingly ordinary rabbit spirit be a descendant of one of those exotic beasts? Or had it undergone some unknown mutation from long-term consumption of his spiritually infused and purifying-energy food?
The rabbit spirit naturally wouldn't answer, merely enjoying his caress, emitting contented "purring" sounds.
Xiaoqi shook his head, burying his doubts deep. Regardless of the little creature's origins, for now, it was friendly toward him and brought tremendous help. That was enough.
"Whoever you are, stick close to me from now on," Xiaoqi smiled, taking out another Purple Spirit Fruit, breaking off a small piece to offer it. "This is your reward."
The rabbit spirit happily took the Purple Spirit Fruit, swallowing it in two bites, then affectionately rubbed against Xiaoqi's hand.
Having stored the spirit stones and calmed his excitement, Xiaoqi's gaze once again turned toward the deeper parts of the secret realm. With this unexpected "treasure-seeking guide," he felt even greater anticipation for the journey ahead.
Perhaps, in the depths of the Cloud Mist Secret Realm, more unexpected opportunities awaited them. And the rabbit spirit's true identity might be revealed someday in the future.