Chapter 58: Cloud-Thunder Break

Jiang Yuebai had learned from Cui Sheng that Hong Tao had come once three years ago, Li Jiuchuan had also visited once, while Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan had come every year.

A warm current surged in a corner of her heart, dispelling the pervasive gloom of this place.

Cui Sheng was extremely deferential. Knowing that Jiang Yuebai truly had powerful backing within the sect—a Golden Core True Person and a prodigy from the Lu Clan—he dared not show the slightest negligence. He personally helped Jiang Yuebai handle the procedures for leaving the mine.

"Junior Sister Jiang, although you have connections in the sect... the rules of our Yin Mountain Mine cannot be broken. Your time in the mines is just a few days short of five years. To remove the restriction and leave, you must hand over 182,000 low-grade spirit stones."

Cui Sheng was starting to sweat. Such a vast amount of spirit stones—he had never seen anyone produce it all at once.

Those sent here were either disciples who had committed unforgivable yet not capital crimes, or those who had come voluntarily to mine. Ninety percent of the disciples who ended up here found it nearly impossible to leave again.

Moreover, with the mine veins having dried up over the past two years, one couldn't even extract fifty low-grade spirit stones a day, let alone a hundred.

Jiang Yuebai had been down there for five years. Just surviving by a thread would have been an achievement—it was unlikely she had even secured a decent mining spot.

"If... if you truly can't come up with it, that's alright. We can wait for that young master from the Lu Clan to arrive and help you—"

Thud!

Four storage bags were tossed onto the table. One of them was fully packed—exactly 50,000 low-grade spirit stones.

"Count them. It should be just enough."

Cui Sheng's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He swallowed hard, picked up the storage bags, and poured his spiritual sense into them to tally.

After a long while, Cui Sheng broke into a delighted smile. "Enough, more than enough—not a single stone short. Junior Sister Jiang, you are truly exceptional. Not only did you make great progress in cultivation over these five years, but you also mined no small amount. Truly—"

"Return my storage bags."

"Ah?"

Cui Sheng was momentarily stunned before hurriedly responding, "Right, right. Please wait a moment, Junior Sister Jiang."

While waiting, Jiang Yuebai glanced around. Many were looking at her with envy and jealousy, and there were some muttered insults—mostly along the lines of her being able to leave only because she had powerful backing.

Jiang Yuebai merely smiled and paid no mind.

After completing the formalities and having the restriction erased, Jiang Yuebai inquired about the nearest market town and eagerly departed the Yin Mountain Mine.

Stepping out of the barrier, she summoned her Flying Walnut Boat and rode it against fierce winds and towering waves, charging into the vast world.

As a seventh-grade flight artifact, its speed was like lightning. Jiang Yuebai intentionally slowed down, traveling unhurriedly toward the nearby Luo River Market.

It was her first time piloting this black-canopied flying walnut boat. She examined it thoroughly—carved beams and painted rafters, exquisite yet not lacking in boldness.

The boat sailed steadily through the air, cutting off the harsh winds, quiet and stable without the slightest bump. It even had a protective formation—truly excellent.

Jiang Yuebai sat cross-legged at the bow, gazing at the majestic mountains and rivers, the churning sea of clouds, and the great river winding into the distance—upstream lay the Dragon-Subduing River of the Cang Kingdom.

"Hmm?"

Jiang Yuebai tilted her ear slightly, spreading her divine sense behind her. She sensed someone was following.

Her eyes flickered. She turned the boat's prow and plunged toward the forest below.

Two male cultivators at the late stage of Qi Refinement pursued her to the edge of the forest, only to find Jiang Yuebai had vanished.

"We finally see her come out after waiting so long. Where did she go?"

"Don’t panic. Let’s search the forest. We absolutely cannot let her return to the Tianyan Sect."

"Damn it, this job has been nothing but frustration. Guarding outside the mine day after day, eating dust, and that person only offered five thousand low-grade spirit stones—such a rip-off!"

"Catching a mere Qi Refining stage girl, how much were you expecting? Besides, if she's managed to leave the mine, she must have spirit stones on her. It won't be a loss. Just be careful—don't kill her. Break her limbs and seal her dantian. That one wants her alive."

"Understood."

In the rustling woods, beneath the dappled shadows, a bleak and haunting melody suddenly drifted through the gentle breeze.

Like a thousand-year sorrow, it could break a person's heart.

The two men felt their blood and qi churn, their divine sense tremble, their minds thrown into chaos.

The cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement could still resist, but the male cultivator beside him at the seventh layer immediately swung his large blade, driven into a frenzied state beyond control.

"Ahhhhh!!"

"What are you doing?!"

One attacked while the other retreated. Jiang Yuebai, holding the white jade ocarina, remained hidden in the tree, her gaze cool and detached as she played the Chaotic Soul Record unhurriedly.

Leaves drifted down. The eighth-layer cultivator struck his companion’s temples with a dual-palm blow, knocking him over, then forcibly sealed his own hearing acupoints.

Both men collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath—they had wounded themselves severely without even seeing their foe.

Jiang Yuebai curled her lip, put away the white jade ocarina, and leaped down from the tree. The Chaotic Soul Record worked best when deployed unexpectedly; once the enemy was on guard, it lost much of its potency.

She had already overheard their conversation earlier. The one who wanted her captured alive was naturally Jia Xiuchun. Five years had passed, yet she was still fixated on her.

Well, coincidentally, she was also thinking of her.

On the ground, the two men clearly saw Jiang Yuebai’s cultivation—at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, yet her presence was deep and imposing—and they retreated warily.

"We failed to recognize your true power. We offended you today and will leave at once."

A wise man knows when to retreat. The two supported each other, ready to flee.

"Wait," Jiang Yuebai called out. "Seeing how muddled your minds are, how about a rain to clear your heads?"

As soon as the words fell, Jiang Yuebai formed a hand seal with one hand, her fingers moving in a blur. In the span of a single breath, mist rose within the forest and a torrential downpour descended.

The two men scrambled to evade, but the rain was too heavy—they were drenched head to toe.

Finding nothing unusual about the rain, they were left bewildered when Jiang Yuebai softly uttered a single word.

"Break."

Boom!

A thunderclap erupted from the clouds, and thousands of raindrops transformed into golden needles, channeling the lightning within the clouds and erupting instantaneously.

A vast sea of silver light spread out, dazzling and brilliant.

The two men paled in terror, frantically throwing out all their hidden talismans and treasures.

The thunder sea devoured everything, waves of electricity surging wildly, arcs of lightning dancing in a breathtaking display.

By the time silence returned and the mist dispersed, the forest was scorched black, with only faint electrical arcs flickering across the withered trees nearby.

Without needing Jiang Yuebai’s call, Little Green emerged on its own to collect the souls.

"Even their storage bags were reduced to ash. What a waste."

Little Green flew over, and two words appeared on its lantern:

[So strong]

Jiang Yuebai drank some spirit wine to restore her spiritual energy, then summoned the Flying Walnut Boat to continue her journey.

Like Three Strikes of the Severed Waters, the Cloud-Thunder Break was a major finishing move—a single use completely drained her metal and water spiritual energy along with her thunder-aligned divine sense.

While spiritual energy could be quickly replenished with spirit wine, divine sense relied on Little Green refining souls to slowly recover.

Three days of travel eastward passed without further pursuers, and she smoothly arrived at Luo River Market.

Disguising herself as a sun-darkened youth, Jiang Yuebai entered the market.

Located by the river, the place was bustling, with many ornate boats and pleasure vessels docked along the shore.

The market was under the jurisdiction of the Drifting Clouds Sect, whose cultivators specialized in water techniques. Many, like Jiang Yuebai, carried gourds at their waists—though theirs weren’t filled with wine, but with various kinds of spirit water for different purposes.

The spirit beasts sold along the streets were mostly crabs, turtles, river carp, and the like, each encased in a floating bubble of water for customers to inspect.

"Crab roe buns! Freshly steamed crab roe buns! Would you like one, customer?"

"I'll have one. By the way, which is the largest trading house here?"

"That'd be Shanhai Pavilion, right around the corner. The number-one trading house in the Earth Spirit Realm—good quality, fair prices, and they never bully customers. Here's your bun—three spirit beads."

"Thanks."

Jiang Yuebai took the bun, paid the spirit beads, and headed toward Shanhai Pavilion while eating.

Spirit beads were made from leftover fragments of low-grade spirit stones and circulated mainly among mortals and low-level Qi Refining cultivators, useful for buying snacks and small items.

After five years of plain nutrition pills, spirit grain rice, and tasteless demon beast meat, the rich, oily bun nearly made Jiang Yuebai swallow her tongue along with it.

One bun left her wanting more. Jiang Yuebai pressed a hand to her stomach and glanced back at the stall, deciding to first deal with her inventory before returning to buy ten more.

"Only business, no idle questions—Shanhai Pavilion. Seems pretty good."

After reading the plaque, Jiang Yuebai stepped inside and requested a private room for her transactions.

A young male appraiser entered, and Jiang Yuebai, like a magician, pulled out one storage bag after another from various places on her person.

Thirteen storage bags piled on the table. She picked up an osmanthus cake from the tray, took a bite, and closed her eyes in delight.

"Sell everything inside. Then I need to buy one spear, two horizontal swords, talisman paper and ink, blank formation disks, and formation flags."

After speaking, she looked up and noticed the appraiser’s complete composure. She nodded in approval.

As expected of the number-one trading house in the cultivation world—they’d surely seen plenty of wealthy patrons. Her modest haul was nothing to them.

All her spirit stones, mid-grade and above talismans, thorn seeds, self-made puppets, and commonly used items were stored inside Xie Jingshan’s green jade ring.

The rest—useless beast materials, worn-out magical tools, low-grade talismans, and the like—she decided to clear out all at once in exchange for what she needed.

"This is our catalog of artifacts, materials, and jade slips suitable for Qi Refining cultivators. Please look through it first, Fellow Daoist. If you require anything for Foundation Establishment, just let me know."

The appraiser presented a jade slip, then calmly took the storage bags and began cataloguing and appraising them with an assistant beside him.

Jiang Yuebai picked up the catalog jade slip and browsed, first checking for spatial storage artifacts—after all, she intended to return the green jade ring.

A glance nearly made her drop the jade slip. She had thought herself rich after five years of accumulating over five thousand mid-grade spirit stones, only to find that even a basic spatial storage artifact cost three to five thousand mid-grade stones.

An identical ring to Xie Jingshan’s was priced at seven thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

Jiang Yuebai immediately straightened her previously casual posture, gritting her teeth inwardly. Damned cultivation world—looks like I’ll keep stuffing storage bags all over myself.

"Hmm? They actually have this many puppet blueprints here? Cloud Sparrow Puppet—can fly and scout, record sights, and self-destruct. Not bad!”