At the beginning, I cleaned the Sutra Library and completed the incomplete skills.

The spirit bean soldiers, like busy ants, were constantly moving things into this temporary cave dwelling.

Soon, they had filled the small cave to the brim.

Li Lan took stock and found that the harvest was indeed substantial.

The sandalwood spirit beans alone, based on their different ages, could be roughly divided into three categories.

The first category was spirit beans the size of a baby's head.

Although the exact age couldn't be determined at the moment,

Li Lan judged from his seven years of cultivation experience that these sandalwood spirit beans were at least seventy to eighty years old.

The spiritual energy contained within them was particularly astonishing.

It was even comparable to, if not better than, spirit stones.

Li Lan even had a feeling that if he could cultivate while holding these spirit beans, absorbing the spiritual energy within,

he might be able to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining without even needing to find the Spirit Vein Area C.

Of course,

he only entertained this thought briefly

and didn't put it into action.

After all,

he only had five of these seventy- to eighty-year-old sandalwood spirit beans.

Using them solely to break through a cultivation level would be a bit of a waste.

Besides, Li Lan hadn't reached a point of desperation yet.

Lower cultivation realms were relatively easy to improve,

but encountering such aged spiritual plants was truly rare.

Many Qi Refining cultivators with poor luck might not even encounter a spiritual herb older than four hundred years in their entire lives.

The second category was sandalwood spirit beans the size of a fist.

Although these spirit beans weren't as big as the first category,

Li Lan estimated that they should be around forty to fifty years old.

Li Lan had harvested a total of twelve of these fist-sized spirit beans.

The third category of sandalwood spirit beans was the size of walnuts.

These spirit beans were all harvested from the small trees next to the nearly five-hundred-year-old tree.

Although these newly grown sandalwood spirit trees were far less old than the old tree,

they were still over twenty years old.

Li Lan harvested the most of these walnut-sized sandalwood spirit beans, a total of thirty-three.

In addition to these spiritual plants with considerable age,

there were also some spiritual tree resin, spiritual soil, spiritual tree leaves, and other items.

The original value of these items was very limited.

But as the sandalwood spirit tree was about to reach five hundred years old,

the value of these scraps also increased accordingly.

The spiritual soil near the old tree's roots was constantly nurtured and naturally contained quite a significant amount of spiritual energy.

Spiritual plants cultivated with this soil would have a significantly lower mortality rate during their seedling stage.

Spiritual leaves that had reached a certain age could be used to refine Qi Gathering Pills.

After consumption,

they could not only increase the speed at which cultivators absorbed spiritual energy from the world,

but also keep the cultivator's mind clear at all times.

They could be particularly effective in certain illusionary realms or formations.

Spiritual tree resin could be used to make spiritual ink,

further enhancing the power of talismans and formations.

And those that were over a hundred years old,

could even be used to repair damage to magical artifacts or imitation treasures.

Li Lan hadn't personally tested the effects of these spiritual materials,

but had learned about them from Miao Chenfeng over the years.

In short,

for cultivators in the world of cultivation,

a spiritual plant over a hundred years old was a treasure from head to toe.

Even a worm pulled from it could become a highly sought-after treasure in the various markets.

Li Lan drove the spirit bean soldiers to transport things back and forth.

He even uprooted and transplanted the small trees, over twenty years old, next to the sandalwood old tree.

The roots of this nearly five-hundred-year-old sandalwood spirit tree were extremely deep.

The spirit bean soldiers spent three days digging away a lot of the nearby spiritual soil,

but still couldn't shake it in the slightest.

On this day,

a spirit bean soldier was routinely using the blood droplet as a container to shovel spiritual soil into the storage bag.

Suddenly, it felt a resistance in its hand,

as if it had encountered something hard.

At first,

Li Lan thought he had dug into the old tree's iron-like roots again and didn't pay attention.

But when he casually had the spirit bean soldier brush away the spiritual soil on the surface,

a dazzling, faint blue light suddenly flashed out.

A dense spiritual energy, like a solid wall, rushed towards him.

After slightly adjusting to the light,

Li Lan looked intently.

He suddenly discovered that in the position where he had just brushed away the topsoil,

a layer of stone, as clear as blue crystal, was revealed.

The faint blue light and the dense spiritual energy were reflected from the stone layer.

This is... a spirit stone?

No, to be precise, it should be a spirit stone mine.

The essence of a spirit vein is composed of spirit rock and spirit stone mines.

After years of baptism by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The rock layer at the very center of the spirit vein will gradually transform into spirit rock, and even spirit stone mines.

Discovering a spirit rock mine often means that a spirit stone mine is not far away.

Near the Guangji Temple ruins, translucent spirit rocks that have not yet completely transformed can be seen everywhere.

Therefore, Li Lan wasn't too surprised by the sudden appearance of the spirit stone mine.

What really surprised him was the location of this spirit stone mine.

Judging from the terrain,

this spirit stone mine seemed to be buried directly below this nearly five-hundred-year-old sandalwood spirit tree.

Was it that a sandalwood spirit tree accidentally grew from a spirit stone mine and became a spirit?

Or was it that after detecting the rich spiritual energy,

the sandalwood spirit tree instinctively moved itself to this spirit stone mine?

Li Lan quickly had the answer.

After a small part of the spirit stone mine was exposed,

those snake-like black vines quickly wrapped around it.

Patches of mist-like spiritual energy floated out of the spirit stone mine,

and were greedily absorbed into the vines.

Clearly,

this sandalwood spirit tree was treating this spirit stone mine as nourishment.

Li Lan simultaneously drove seventeen spirit bean soldiers to dig deeper around the tree for several days.

Only then was a small portion of the spirit stone mine's appearance exposed.

The sandalwood old tree's roots intertwined and overlapped on the spirit stone mine.

These roots were still constantly stretching and spreading downward.

It seemed to want to tightly entangle the entire spirit stone mine and embed it entirely in its embrace.

In the gaps between the black roots, a faint blue light flashed from time to time.

As this spiritual energy flowed,

the sandalwood old tree's roots were also nourished and rejuvenated.

From a distance,

the two seemed to be completely integrated.

Li Lan looked at the rather shocking scene before him and pondered secretly.

No wonder the vines on this sandalwood spirit tree could spread throughout the central area of Immortal Trace Valley.

Perhaps this spirit stone mine had contributed to it.

Or, to make a bolder guess,

maybe this old tree's Foundation Establishment aura was due to absorbing the spirit stone mine.

Li Lan was too lazy to delve into the specific reasons.

After filling all the storage bags he could use with spiritual tree resin, spiritual soil, and other items,

he drove the spirit bean soldier to take out the Spirit Splitting Pickaxe.

He found an area without black roots entwined,

raised the short pickaxe above his head, and swung it forcefully at the spirit stone mine.

A loud bang echoed in the narrow, dark underground crevice.

The surrounding soil and rocks trembled slightly.

The moment the pickaxe head came into contact with the spirit stone mine, a dazzling spiritual light burst out from the point of impact.

He saw a fine crack appear on the originally crystal-clear surface of the spirit stone.

Li Lan was overjoyed.

That Senior Brother Zhao from the Lingxiao Sect was right,

the spirit stone mine was indeed extremely hard.

He had tried many methods these days,

but no matter what grade of magical artifact he used to strike it, it was difficult to shake the spirit stone mine in the slightest.

Only by using this Spirit Splitting Pickaxe could he produce some effect.

Seeing this,

Li Lan no longer hesitated,

and immediately ordered the spirit bean soldier to continue to mine.