"You can see whether there's anything inside the black stones?" Luan Baifeng stared at Yang Kai with utter shock.
Over the past three days, the two of them had mined a hundred black stones. Yang Kai had taken one look at most of them and tossed them aside, ultimately keeping only twenty-seven — and every single one of those twenty-seven had yielded something, without a single exception.
This situation clearly pointed to something.
"That's impossible!" Luan Baifeng refused to believe it and grabbed one of the black stones Yang Kai had discarded earlier. It was a small piece, no bigger than a palm. She channeled her World Force and dissolved it in short order, only to find nothing inside.
"Can you really see what's inside these stones?" The evidence was right in front of her, and belief was now forced upon her. "What kind of eye technique is that, exactly?"
Yang Kai didn't answer. His brows were tightly furrowed.
Although they had obtained twenty-seven portions of cultivation resources — and the facts confirmed that Luan Baifeng had been right, the resources produced by these slightly deeper mining stars were indeed of higher grade than those from the outer regions — three of the twenty-seven turned out to be Fifth-Order.
But there were no Sixth-Order, let alone Sixth-Order Yin-Yang attribute materials.
Luan Baifeng, however, was inexplicably excited. "If you really can see inside the black stones, that would save an enormous amount of time and dramatically improve extraction efficiency."
Yang Kai slowly shook his head. "Too slow!"
Luan Baifeng was stunned. "You think even this is too slow? How fast do you want to be?"
"The two of us have been working here for three days, and all we've managed is this pittance," Yang Kai said. "It's barely worth the effort."
Luan Baifeng frowned. "You're after Sixth-Order Yin-Yang attribute materials — that naturally comes down to luck. Did you really think this mining star would be littered with exactly what you need?"
"I never thought that," Yang Kai said, still frowning. "It's just that the results are somewhat below my expectations."
Luan Baifeng pondered for a moment, then pointed into the distance. "Perhaps you could check out the mining stars even deeper in. This one beneath our feet is the farthest my mining slaves have ever ventured. Beyond this point, they've never gone. The black stones produced by those deeper mining stars might be of even higher quality."
Yang Kai looked in the direction she indicated. Countless mining stars of varying sizes stretched across the void, too many to count. After a brief deliberation, he shook his head. "There's no need. Relying on just the two of us, the mining speed is far too slow. Who knows how long it would take to gather what I need."
"You won't do this, and you won't do that!" Luan Baifeng's frustration flared without clear cause. "Either go back and bring my mining slaves here to help mine, or — with your divine ability protecting them, their cultivation being poor as it is, they wouldn't die within a short time, and they could at least contribute something."
Yang Kai shook his head at her suggestion. It was even less practical.
His divine ability could protect the two of them well enough, and perhaps a few dozen more people, but shielding all the mining slaves was out of the question. Moreover, the expenditure would be enormous, impossible to sustain for long. And he certainly couldn't remain here indefinitely maintaining Eternal Verdure to shelter those slaves.
He had no idea what the situation at the Void Land was right now — he needed to return and take charge as soon as possible.
He already had enough resources for ten people, and with the three portions the Void Land already possessed, that made thirteen in total — enough for thirteen people to advance to Sixth-Order. Perhaps he should head back first and slowly wait for Black Prison to continue its mining operations. With a bit of luck, he might obtain even more of the resources he needed.
But the thought had barely circled through his mind before Yang Kai dismissed it.
Luan Baifeng herself had said that the materials in her private stash had mostly been mined from this very star long ago. The chances of the outer mining stars producing Sixth-Order resources were slim.
With a deep sigh, Yang Kai realized he had been thinking too simplistically.
Just as he was about to head back, his body suddenly froze and he lifted his gaze toward the void.
Luan Baifeng watched him suspiciously. She read his expression — first his brows furrowed tightly, then something shifted, as though he had remembered something, and his spirits visibly surged.
"You..." Luan Baifeng stared fixedly at him.
Yang Kai broke into a grin. "That's it! Bringing the mining slaves over is too troublesome, and I can't stay here protecting them indefinitely — but we can bring a mining star back with us!"
Luan Baifeng was startled by his wild imagination, her eyes widening. "Bring a mining star back?!"
Yang Kai's expression was energized. "The outer regions of Black Prison don't have that peculiar aura — at least the area where you usually reside doesn't. If we could bring a mining star from the depths back there, we could mine it freely without worrying about our World Force continuously dissipating."
"Have you lost your mind?" Luan Baifeng stared at him as though he were an idiot. "Bring one back, then — I'd love to see you try."
"How will we know if it works unless we try?" Yang Kai rubbed his hands together, scanning the surroundings. "I noticed on the way here that the mining stars in Black Prison come in all sizes. The truly enormous ones are out of the question — we'd never be able to move them. But if we can find one that's roughly the right size, we should be able to bring it back."
"You're not joking with me?" Luan Baifeng finally realized Yang Kai was dead serious, and she was completely dumbfounded.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Yang Kai surged his World Force, enveloped Luan Baifeng, and shot toward the depths.
Since he had decided to bring a mining star back, the deeper the better — the deeper the mining star, the richer and higher-grade the resources it contained.