Chapter 265: Chapter 264: Bountiful Harvest, Spiritual Spring Core

The Aino Royal Palace.

This was a magnificent complex of palaces!

Its foundations were silver, its rooftops gold, creating a scene of brilliant splendor.

Exquisite statues of gods and marble fountains could be seen everywhere.

Within the palace, intricate, golden, terraced aqueducts had also been constructed. Sweet, clear spring water flowed through them day and night, irrigating the shaded groves and gardens.

It was exquisite and extravagant, grand and majestic, yet it also prioritized comfort!

"Not bad at all..."

Su Ye’s eyes flickered as he nodded.

He was quite satisfied with his new temporary palace!

"I’m pleased you like it, Divine Son..."

Genvieve said softly, her long, curled eyelashes fluttering gently, revealing a hint of allure.

She continued, "The royal vault is located underground. Please, follow me..."

Genvieve walked ahead, leading the way for Su Ye. Her steps were as graceful as a lotus, and her robes stretched taut, outlining the plump, perfect curves of the Aino Queen!

A smile played on Su Ye’s lips as he admired the beautiful scenery within the royal palace.

Soon, Genvieve arrived at a plaza filled with towering stone pillars. She touched the pillars in a specific sequence.

CLICK.

A few breaths later, the center of the plaza cracked open, revealing a dark, empty void. A platform resembling a white jade disc emerged from it.

Su Ye swept his Divine Sense over it, and after confirming there was no danger, he stepped onto the jade disc.

HUMMM.

The jade disc descended.

One hundred meters... three hundred meters... five hundred meters...

It only stopped when it was nearly a thousand meters below the surface.

"We’re here."

Genvieve led the way, rousing the divinity within her to open a large, dust-covered door.

WHOOSH.

The door slowly swung open, and a pale, cyan wind blew out.

Su Ye’s eyes lit up.

This wasn’t wind at all, but highly concentrated Spiritual Qi!

’Considering the nature of Spiritual Qi on the Far South Continent, to be able to form such a dense outflow... just how many Spiritual Objects are piled up in this vault?!’

Su Ye was very interested in the thousand-year accumulation of the Aino royal family!

Entering the vault, he snapped his fingers. An incandescent ball of light rose like a sky lantern, illuminating the space!

Within the hundred-square-meter space, vast quantities of Spirit Stones were piled up!

Genvieve explained, "This is the first level of the vault... It’s mainly for storing Holy Spring Stones."

Holy Spring Stone is another name for Spirit Stone.

The Spirit Stones of the Far South Continent are produced in Spiritual Springs, hence the name.

"Holy Spring Stones have a stable structure and are easy to store for long periods. That’s why past kings, when accumulating savings, would convert other resources into Holy Spring Stones before storing them."

"However, there are far fewer Holy Spring Stones now than there were in our golden age."

"The war against Tewa Kan City, aid to allied city-states, and nurturing the Divine Abomination... these matters consumed an enormous amount of resources..."

Genvieve explained cautiously.

Su Ye swept his Divine Sense across the area and, sure enough, discovered traces of things having been moved and transported on the vault floor.

However, it was just as Genvieve had said.

Su Ye could tell that these traces were from many small removals over a long period... not from a last-minute transfer to hide them from him.

"Consumed by war... and feeding a Divine Abomination?" Su Ye raised an eyebrow.

’Oh well... I’ll just consider this portion of Spirit Stones as having been converted into creation points...’

’I wonder if this counts as a food chain?’

Su Ye chuckled in spite of himself.

Then, he sent out his Divine Sense and began to inspect the Spirit Stone reserves.

Among these Spirit Stones, there were over a hundred high-grade ones alone!

And...

Su Ye looked up and could see with perfect clarity.

In the center of the vault, five Spirit Stones the size of soccer balls were placed on a golden pedestal!

Spiritual Qi flowed and billowed around them like clouds and mist, as if they were cultivators practicing breathing exercises!

’This characteristic... this is...’

A flicker of excitement crossed Su Ye’s eyes.

—Peak-grade Spirit Stones!

Each peak-grade Spirit Stone contained an amount of Spiritual Qi equivalent to at least one hundred thousand, or even more, common Spirit Stones.

Furthermore, they possessed a unique characteristic: the ability to generate their own Spiritual Qi.

Compared to common Spirit Stones, which would shatter once their Spiritual Qi was depleted, peak-grade Spirit Stones could slowly regenerate their energy, as long as it wasn’t all consumed at once.

At the same time, in an environment rich with Spiritual Qi, peak-grade Spirit Stones could also absorb the ambient Spiritual Qi from the heavens and earth to grow!

They were equivalent to a small Spiritual Furnace!

Because of this, peak-grade Spirit Stones had become the hard currency among high-level cultivators!

However, their numbers in the natural world were extremely scarce...

They could typically only be found in large Spirit Stone Veins that accompanied third-rank Spirit Veins or higher, and even then, the yield was extremely low—only one or two pieces...

But now, Su Ye was seeing five peak-grade Spirit Stones right here!

’Even without counting the peak-grade ones, the rest of the Spirit Stones here are worth nearly 3.6 million!’

’And these five peak-grade Spirit Stones, whether embedded in the Moonfall Halberd or used to power the Ghostly Flood Dragon, would provide a decent enhancement...’

’Or perhaps I could trade them?’

’After all... many high-level resources can only be exchanged for peak-grade Spirit Stones.’

Thinking this, Su Ye couldn’t help but smile.

He walked over to the pile of Spirit Stones, reached out his hand, and gently caressed these smooth, sparkling little darlings.

"Collect," Su Ye said softly.

HUMMM.

The Storage Ring flashed, generating a powerful suction force.

Like a whirlwind scattering autumn leaves, it swept all the Spirit Stones into the Storage Ring!

WHOOSH.

The first level of the vault instantly became spacious.

A large golden door was revealed, leading to the second level of the vault.

Genvieve opened the door.

The scene on the second level of the vault was laid bare.

Compared to the first level, this second one had much less space and fewer items in its collection.

But they were far more precious.

Materials from demonic beasts, special Spiritual Objects, rare flowers and exotic herbs... these strange items were all sealed in crystal to prevent their Spiritual Qi from leaking!

"A Dragon Lizard Heart. It can increase the probability of breaking through to the third tier by twenty percent..."

"A Blood Orchid Fruit, to assist in breaking through to the second tier... a fifteen percent chance..."

Genvieve walked beside Su Ye, introducing the items to him.

’These things... are they breakthrough-aiding Spiritual Objects?’

’A pity, they’re useless to me...’

Su Ye was already a Crystallization Perfected Being and, moreover, was in Harmony with the Ghostly Flood Dragon.

’But they should be pretty good for cultivating my subordinates...’

’Especially these Spiritual Objects. If I take them back to Yaoguang and ask an Alchemy Master to refine them for a specific purpose, I should be able to create a few effective Crystallization-grade spiritual items, right?’

Su Ye mused.

He collected them all.

Then, Su Ye gestured for Genvieve to take him to the next level.

Which was... the final level of the vault!

HUMMM!

As the door opened, the sound of flowing water rang out!

What appeared before Su Ye was a spring source about a hundred feet across!

Spiritual Qi as concentrated as divine nectar rippled within the spring, shimmering with auspicious energy and a radiant, rosy glow!

"A Spiritual Spring!"

"The core of Aino City’s Spiritual Spring!"

Su Ye took a deep breath, feeling utterly refreshed. Even his cultivation had advanced by a tiny, faint sliver!