I am in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have a demonic beast clone!

Several days later, in the quiet room of the small courtyard on Xuankun Mountain.

Zhou Ding sat cross-legged and regulated his breathing, his aura had already stabilized at the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze clear and calm.

It's time to test our ideas.

He quietly left the valley and came to a more secluded dense forest dozens of miles away.

Ancient trees reach for the sky, vines hang down, and the ground is covered with a thick layer of decaying leaves, exuding the damp scent of earth.

Zhou Ding cautiously spread out his divine sense. Within a range of 300 meters, apart from a few low-level small beasts and insects, there was no aura of any cultivator or powerful demon beast.

"This is it."

With a thought, the spirit beast pouch at his waist flickered, and Xiao Jin's gray figure, as strong as a mutt, appeared on the ground.

Based on the feedback from the previous breakthrough and the growth over the past six months, the little golden steed is now extraordinary, especially its golden eyes, which are both lively and profoundly deep.

Without needing many instructions from Zhou Ding, Xiao Jin seemed to understand the task ahead.

A faint yellowish-brown light flashed around it, and its entire body sank silently into the thick layer of decaying leaves beneath its feet, as if it had merged into water, before disappearing into the soil, leaving only a slight trace on the ground that was quickly covered by fallen leaves.

Zhou Ding immediately focused his divine sense and carefully scanned the area where Xiao Jin had disappeared.

However, even with his current spiritual strength, which is comparable to the peak of Qi Refining, he could not sense Xiao Jin's demonic aura or existence after repeated scanning!

It was as if it had truly transformed into a wisp of earth elemental energy, completely merging with the earth.

"Such a powerful concealment effect! Combined with the Earth Escape Technique, it's truly unpredictable!" Zhou Ding's eyes flashed with admiration and satisfaction.

In this way, the biggest safety hazard is eliminated.

Without lingering, he rose gracefully, riding his newly acquired "Willow Leaf Shuttle" flying artifact, transforming into an inconspicuous streak of blue light, and swiftly returned to Xuankun Mountain.

Back in his familiar courtyard and quiet room, Zhou Ding sat cross-legged, his mind calm.

Even though we were dozens of miles apart, the "second perspective" that belonged to Xiao Jin in my mind remained clear and stable, without any lag.

He spared a sliver of his attention and focused on this.

The underground, dark and oppressive world, felt like home ground to Xiao Jin.

It uses its earth-burrowing technique to move freely through the gaps between soil and rocks, at a speed not much slower than running on the ground.

At the same time, the Earth Listening Technique continued to activate, and invisible fluctuations spread outwards from it in all directions, feeding back in great detail the earth's veins, the flow of earth energy, the outlines of buried objects, and the spiritual energy reactions within a radius of 1,500 meters.

Zhou Ding was certain.

"It works! This way, I can just stay in the sect and focus on my cultivation, while remotely controlling Little Gold to search for treasure. It saves time and effort, is discreet and safe, and I no longer have to risk my life and attract attention."

He controlled Little Gold and began to flee in a direction away from the gate of Yellow Maple Valley.

Previously, due to his own safety concerns, he only dared to move within a few dozen miles of the sect.

Now that Xiao Jin possesses the ability to burrow underground and has enhanced stealth capabilities, his safety has greatly increased, and his exploration range can naturally be greatly expanded.

The Taiyue Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, vast and boundless.

The location of the Yellow Maple Valley gate is just one of the core areas with the most abundant spiritual energy.

Within this vast mountain range, there may be hidden caves opened up by Foundation Establishment stage seniors within the sect, as well as some rogue cultivators hiding from enemies or seeking peace and quiet, and countless low-level demonic beasts roaming about.

Danger and opportunity coexist.

Xiao Jin moved through the underground with ease, silently traversing the area.

About half an hour later, as it passed through an inconspicuous hilly area, Zhou Ding noticed a "solidified light spot" located about ten feet underground, radiating stable and pure metal and earth elemental energy, in the fluctuation diagram fed back by the Earth Listening Technique.

Manipulate Xiao Jin to approach, dig through the hard soil and rock fragments, and a fist-sized metal ore, deep purple in color, with tiny, star-like sparkles inside, is revealed.

The ore feels slightly warm to the touch and contains an inner spiritual energy.

"Purple Copper!" Zhou Ding thought with a hint of joy.

This is a rather rare material for refining magical artifacts, especially suitable for refining top-tier magical artifacts and even auxiliary components for certain magical treasures. It can significantly improve the spiritual energy conductivity and structural stability of magical artifacts.

This piece is so big, and its purity doesn't seem low either. It could sell for at least two hundred low-grade spirit stones in the market.

He did not let Xiao Jin continue moving with the ore, so as not to increase the burden or expose the traces.

Instead, he manipulated Xiao Jin to carefully bury the piece of purple copper under a uniquely shaped giant rock nearby, and memorized the surrounding terrain features and relative positions.

…………

The next day.

The little gold that Zhou Ding's mind was attached to had already traveled to a valley a hundred miles away that was shrouded in a light white mist all year round.

The area is extremely humid, and the trees are exceptionally tall and lush.

As Xiao Jin passed the roots of an unnamed ancient tree that required several people to encircle and whose bark was mottled like dragon scales, the Earth Listening Technique detected an extremely warm and mellow fluctuation of wood-elemental spiritual energy, the source of which was deep within the tangled root system.

Xiao Jin carefully crawled into the crevices of the roots and found a small, egg-sized, dark amber-colored, semi-liquid object with a texture like solidified fat inside a natural tree cavity covered with thick moss.

It lay there quietly, its surface covered with natural, root-like patterns, emitting a clear and calming aroma of herbs and wood, surrounded by a faint, earthy yellow aura.

"Mu Xuanzhi!" Zhou Ding's breath hitched slightly.

This item is a rare treasure of heaven and earth, formed slowly from a spiritual tree that is over a thousand years old. Its roots are planted on a small spiritual vein node. It has absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon over a long period of time, and combined with part of the ancient tree's own essence.

For wood-attribute cultivators, it is a holy medicine for healing injuries and can also slightly purify wood-attribute mana, making its value immeasurable!

"This small bundle... is probably worth thousands of spirit stones, or even more! If it comes into the hands of a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a wood attribute who urgently needs it, the price can be raised even higher!" Zhou Ding was extremely excited.

The Taiyue Mountains are indeed rich in cultural heritage. In the past, I only felt that my gains were mediocre because my exploration scope and methods were limited.

Now that we have "earth-penetrating radar" like Xiao Jin, many treasures buried deep underground or hidden very deep are gradually revealing their traces.

On the third day, Zhou Ding's true form quietly left Xuankun Mountain.

He first went to the giant rock he had marked yesterday and easily took the buried purple copper.

Then he rushed to the vicinity of the ancient tree in the misty valley, carefully observed that no one was around, and took the precious wood resin.

Before leaving, he deliberately buried five or six metal and earth elemental spirit stones in another inconspicuous spot in the root system of the ancient tree—this was a "supply point" reserved for Xiao Jin.

After completing all this, Zhou Ding quickly returned to his sect, remaining completely hidden and attracting no attention.

In the days that followed, luck didn't seem to be as abundant as it had been at the beginning.

For more than ten days, Xiao Jin traveled hundreds of miles underground. Although his Earth Listening Technique discovered some common spiritual herbs or low-grade spiritual materials of low age, their value was far less than that of Purple Essence Copper and Wood Profound Resin.

Zhou Ding was not discouraged, knowing that treasure hunting was inherently full of chance.

Although the Taiyue Mountains are rich in resources, after countless cultivators have explored them, the treasures that are easily found on the surface and in the shallow layers have long been searched out.

Xiao Jin's skill lies in "finding hidden gems," discovering treasures that have been overlooked due to their concealed location, deep burial, or clever disguise. This requires patience and luck.

He calmed his mind and focused his main energy back on his own cultivation.

He takes Ningyuan Pills daily and circulates the Qingmu Technique to hone his magical power and expand his meridians.

No matter how many treasures you have, if you can't transform them into your own strength, they are ultimately just external things.