Leo walked over to a large boulder that a miner had just shifted. In truth, he had already sensed a surge of dense spiritual energy emanating from beneath it, making the search by the others unnecessary.

  Using both hands, he moved the boulder aside, revealing a stone box. Lifting the lid, Leo let out a soft exclamation. Inside, the box was divided into several compartments, containing over thirteen hundred spirit stones of various elements, including seven mid-grade spirit stones. For a mere miner to have accumulated such wealth was astounding!

  After a moment of shock, Leo realized it made sense. Zane commanded hundreds of miners. Though most of the yield went to the mine supervisors, over the course of one or two decades, even after accounting for daily expenses, accumulating this many spirit stones was not unreasonable.

  Unexpectedly, the talismans he had consumed were already recouped in an instant. Leo shook his head with a smile and began anticipating Viper's hidden collection. He promptly stored all the spirit stones into his boundary space.

  As he finished emptying the stone box, Leo noticed a small circular button at its bottom. He pressed it.

  Click! A vibration came from behind him.

  Leo spun around, spirit sword in hand. He watched as a section of the stone wall slid aside, revealing a hidden chamber. After a moment's hesitation, he stepped inside and discovered a concealed passage leading to other mine tunnels.

  "A wily hare has three burrows. It seems Zane's survival and dominance in the mine were no accident. Such precautions would protect him from sudden attacks by other miners. Even if outmatched, he could escape through this secret route."

  After two decisive battles, the other miners should think twice before causing trouble. Leo pondered for a while, then used his spirit sword to carve out two small rooms within the hidden chamber.

  "Now, with no one to disturb me, I can cultivate in peace."

  Even with the sharpness of a high-grade spirit sword, excavating two rooms cost him considerable effort. Satisfied, Leo sheathed his sword. He then took out the Ice Silkworm eggs and placed them in the chamber, setting two rare Ice Spirit Stones beside them. Absorbing the spiritual energy from the stones would accelerate hatching.

  With the silkworm eggs settled, Leo took out several orange-yellow insect eggs—the Barrier-Breaching Insect eggs. Hatching these would be far more troublesome than the Ice Silkworms. It wouldn't happen quickly. They required repeated nurturing with spiritual energy and his own power.

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  But Barrier-Breaching Insects could break through strange restrictions. Perhaps they could even unlock the black-robed old man's storage pouch. Leo was certain that pouch was extraordinary; he had never heard of a Qi Refining cultivator being unable to open a deceased owner's pouch. The more he thought about it, the more curious he became. If not for the True Explanation of Spirit Insects he obtained from Big Forehead Freak, he would never have known about such creatures. Since fate had brought him this opportunity, troublesome as it might be, he had to try.

  Leo took out a white container and placed the five Barrier-Breaching Insect eggs inside. He channeled his spiritual power to heat the container. After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he took a Void-Returning Grass from the boundary space and placed a few green leaves beside the eggs. After a long moment, the eggs showed no change. Leo shook his head and turned to leave. Just as he did, one of the yellow eggs emitted a faint, almost imperceptible glow. But Leo, with his back turned, did not see it.

  "Come out!" Leo patted his spirit beast pouch. With a puff of white mist, the leopard emerged, shaking its head and looking around with delight. Apart from their time in the Moonwatch Immortal City courtyard, it had spent most of its days cooped up in the pouch. Finally, another chance to stretch. But it found the dim light strange—it seemed to be in a cave, rather oppressive. The leopard scratched its head in a surprisingly human-like gesture of confusion.

  Leo chuckled. The leopard had picked up that mannerism from him. Back in the Moonwatch Immortal City courtyard, whenever he encountered a puzzling issue while refining pills, Leo would scratch his head. Over time, the leopard had learned to do the same.

  "Here. A bit cramped, but make do." Leo tossed a bottle of refined Beast Spirit Pills to the leopard. Delighted, the leopard leaped, caught the bottle in its mouth, pulled out the stopper, and used its paws to tip the bottle and shake out the pills. Seeing Leo take out his alchemy furnace, the leopard wisely trotted to the cave entrance with the bottle, rolling on the ground and playing with it.

  Leo smiled warmly. Cultivation was often monotonous, and loneliness occasionally crept in. Fortunately, he had this leopard, who knew nothing of solitude, to lighten his spirits.

  For mid-stage Qi Refining, White Dew Pills were far superior to Qi Condensation Pills, accelerating cultivation significantly.

  Leo took several sets of White Dew Pill ingredients from his boundary space and began refining.

  Puff... Puff...

  The process mirrored his early attempts with Qi Gathering Pills. The first dozen or so batches failed in succession. But Leo had grown accustomed to failure. Unfazed, he cleaned the furnace and tried again. Occasionally, he would pause to ponder, sometimes for half an hour, sometimes for several.

  After such reflections, his eyes would light up, and he would resume refining. A few days later, he successfully refined his first batch of White Dew Pills.

  With that breakthrough, subsequent attempts became progressively smoother.

  White Dew Pills lived up to their reputation as top-tier pills for the mid-stage. Consuming one yielded the effect of over a dozen Qi Gathering Pills. Their medicinal power was gentle and easily absorbed.

  The days that followed were simple and monotonous. Leo spent his time refining pills and absorbing their power. In between, he practiced the Puppet Shadow Art and other low-grade spells.

  With higher-grade Beast Spirit Pills, the leopard's strength grew rapidly. By the time Leo successfully broke through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, becoming a late-stage cultivator, the leopard had also advanced to second-grade demon beast, its body noticeably larger. And it was still improving quickly.

  In the stone chamber, the Ice Silkworm eggs had hatched and successfully reproduced. Over a dozen silkworms now consumed century-old Scarlet-Ice Mulberry leaves daily, spinning cool, icy cocoons.

  His cultivation and alchemy skills steadily improved. The only disappointment was the Barrier-Breaching Insect eggs, which showed no signs of life despite prolonged nurturing. And extracting silk from the cocoons proved tedious. Holding a small bag of cocoons, Leo pondered briefly before leaving the chamber and summoning Hann.