Starting from the imperial palace guards, his clones spread all over the world.

Chapter 725 An unexpected gain
Liang Jin abruptly stopped in his tracks as he was about to leave the cave, forcefully turning his body around and stepping back into the nest shrouded in eerie green light.

His sharp, hawk-like gaze swept across the cave again like a searchlight, finally locking onto a rock wall on the side.

He stepped forward, stopped in front of the stone wall, tilted his head slightly, and carefully examined it.

"What the hell is this?"

Looking at the scene before him, Liang Jin frowned, a strong sense of unease rising in his heart.

His entire attention had been drawn to the enormous, majestic, and mysterious tortoise shell in the center, so much so that he subconsciously ignored some discordant details in the surrounding environment.

At this moment, when he calmed down and shifted his attention away from the tortoise shell, he was shocked to realize that there was something strange about the stone wall in front of him!

To be precise, it's not that the stone wall itself is different in structure or material, but rather that something unusual seems to be hidden inside the stone wall!

The stone wall in front of us is like a huge, naturally formed display case, inlaid with large chunks of spirit ore.

These ores vary in size, some as large as a house and others as small as grains of sand. They are like countless emerald pearls carefully adorned on dark velvet, deeply embedded in the thick rock layers.

These spirit minerals have a crystal-clear texture. Although they look similar to jade, their transparency far surpasses that of ordinary jade, making them more like crystal.

Inside the ore, the eerie green light flowed and surged slowly, like a living liquid.

It was precisely because of this extremely high transparency that when Liang Jin looked closely, he could vaguely see through several pieces of mineral stacked together with relatively dim internal light that there seemed to be a very faint scarlet dot in the depths of the rock layer behind them, which was completely out of place with the surrounding eerie green light!

The red light was so faint and dim, like a candle flickering in the wind, yet it possessed a strange stubbornness, tenaciously penetrating the layers of ore.

It remained there silently, motionless, like a cold and eerie red eye hidden in the depths of endless darkness and green light, silently and indifferently watching everything that was happening in this huge cavern.

In a world almost entirely dominated by a single, eerie green light, this striking red stood out so conspicuously, so unusually!

"It seems that its location... isn't too deep."

Liang Jin quickly made a judgment in his mind.

Although spirit ore has relatively high transparency, there is still a dense green light flowing inside, which interferes with vision, making it not easy to see things clearly through it.

Although the red light was very faint, almost drowned out by the surrounding green light, Liang Jin was still able to detect it. This indicated that it was probably hidden behind or closely adjacent to one of the rocks, and was not buried deep in the thick rock layers.

"Let me see what you really are..."

A hint of determination and curiosity flashed in Liang Jin's eyes.

Without further hesitation, he stepped forward, extended his right palm, and firmly pressed it onto the stone wall inlaid with countless luminous minerals.

The next moment, a vast and powerful internal force, as surging as the Yangtze River, burst forth from his palm and poured into the hard and cold stone wall without reservation!

“Rumble——!!!”

At that moment, the entire cave seemed to be violently shaken by an invisible giant hand!

Above, countless stalactites that had hung for millions of years creaked and swayed violently under their strain.

Some of the smaller or already loose stalactites could no longer hold on and broke off, falling from the height with a whooshing sound, crashing onto the cave floor with a "crash" sound, shattering into pieces and scattering stones everywhere!

Smoke and dust filled the air, and the earth shook violently!
Liang Jin abruptly turned his head to look at the two children hiding at the entrance of the cave, huddled together, their faces pale with fright from the sudden turn of events:

"If you don't want to be buried here, come here right now, come to my side!"

Upon hearing this, almost instinctively, A Luo used all her strength to pull up the still dazed A Shi, staggered and scrambled to Liang Jin's back, and tightly grabbed his clothes as if they were the only lifeline.

With the invisible barrier formed by Liang Jin, an unparalleled expert, using his own internal energy to protect them, the two fragile children do not need to worry about being injured by falling rocks for the time being.

And Liang Jin can now unleash his inner strength even more recklessly!

An even more surging internal force, like a torrent bursting its banks, continuously poured into the stone wall.

The internal force did not destroy blindly, but rather acted like the most skillful fingers, precisely targeting the rock structure surrounding the ore that concealed the red glow, cleverly dismantling its connection with the overall rock wall.

As Liang Jin slowly and resolutely withdrew his hand from the stone wall, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded—

A piece of spirit ore, unusually large and almost taller than an adult, was being pulled out bit by bit from the solid rock wall, seemingly by invisible threads, following the direction of Liang Jin's hand.
The moment the ore detached from the rock wall, the enormous pressure and stress from the surrounding rock layers immediately lost their balance, frantically squeezing and collapsing into the space it originally occupied!

Countless mud and gravel, like sharks smelling blood, tried to fill and smooth out the sudden void in an instant.

In order to prevent this newly opened, narrow space, which allowed him to glimpse the secrets behind it, from being immediately buried, Liang Jin had to continuously pour in a terrifying amount of internal energy to form a solid, invisible wall of internal energy on the three empty sides, desperately resisting the frenzied counterattack from the rock strata!
This makes the cavity left after the ore is removed seem to be supported by three invisible yet indestructible glass walls, preventing the inflow of soil and rocks.

It was during this brief moment of respite, sustained by internal force, that Liang Jin's gaze finally saw clearly and without obstruction the true face of that strange red light behind the huge ore!

"This is... a Soul Jade?!"

Looking at the object quietly embedded inside the rock strata, emitting a faint yet pure scarlet light, Liang Jin couldn't help but reveal an undisguised look of astonishment!
He couldn't help but reach out and carefully pull the red object out of the loose rock layer through the gap maintained by his internal force.

The object landed in his palm; it was warm to the touch, yet carried a strange energy fluctuation unlike that of spirit ore.

It is about the size of a palm, and its shape is more like polished jade than natural mineral. Its color is bright red like blood, so pure that there is not a single impurity. Against the backdrop of the surrounding eerie green light, it appears even more eerie and dazzling.

The reason Liang Jin subconsciously called it "Soul Jade" instead of ordinary "ore" was because of a key difference—internal energy.

Ordinary spirit ore, no matter how high its quality, contains only the energy generated by heaven and earth, and not the internal strength of a martial artist.

Therefore, this type of ore can only be considered as raw material, not a finished product.

Only spirit ore that has absorbed the internal energy of martial artists is the final product and can be called Soul Jade.

At this moment, Liang Jin, with his keen senses, could clearly feel that the red jade stone in his hand contained a very pure, condensed and exceptionally powerful energy!

The nature of this energy is extremely similar to the internal energy that martial artists cultivate through arduous practice, and even... its quality seems to be a higher level of power!
He had never seen anything like this with any of the spirit ores he had ever encountered before!

What shocked and amazed Liang Jin the most was that this red soul jade clearly showed signs of being artificially carved!
It is not a naturally formed irregular shape, but rather it has been carefully polished into a perfect sphere!

On the surface of the sphere, a strangely shaped beast is embossed using an extremely ancient and exquisite technique!
This strange beast looks very strange. At first glance, it looks a bit like a nine-tailed fox, but it is neither a fox nor a leopard.

Its body is agile and fluid, and you can vaguely see nine long tails like nine long snakes, coiling around it in a strange and eerie manner.

However, its facial details also possess a majesty and ferocity that are not typical of foxes, giving it a mysterious, ancient, and powerful appearance.

"A red... Soul Jade?"

"Seriously, such a thing really exists in this world?!"

A storm raged in Liang Jin's heart.

Common knowledge about Soul Jade flashed through his mind in an instant.

Soul Jade is graded, and it is generally known that there are four grades: white, blue, purple, and gold. Gold is extremely rare and can be used as a treasure of a major sect.

However, both the elders of the Dragon Transformation Gate and Yan San Niang, who had a close relationship with him, mentioned that in some of the oldest legends in this world, there exists a grade that surpasses all known Soul Jade and exists only in mythology—Red Soul Jade!
However, the red soul jade is too ethereal and is almost only used as a topic of conversation. No one has ever seen it with their own eyes, and many people even believe that it is just something made up by the ancients.

But Yan San Niang once told him in an extremely serious tone that, according to some secret records, the red soul jade possesses terrifying power beyond what ordinary people can imagine.

The "Thief Saint" Yan Guhong once devoted all his efforts to organizing many of the top martial arts masters and spending a huge amount of money in an attempt to find a piece of red soul jade that was said to be buried somewhere.

It is said that the red soul jade possesses incredible power, capable of influencing the weather and bringing continuous torrential rain to Changzhou, which was suffering from a once-in-a-century drought and was barren for thousands of miles, thus completely eliminating the drought and saving countless people!

This power, capable of directly altering the climate of an entire state, was far beyond the comprehension of martial artists. When Liang Jin first heard about it, he thought it was a fantasy, too fantastical, and did not fully believe it.

The outcome of that operation cast a tragic shadow over the Red Soul Jade—the Thief Saint organization suffered an unimaginable defeat, with extremely heavy losses in manpower. Many renowned masters, such as Meng Guang, the second-in-command of Yanshan Village, and Balong Saintess, Li Xueqing's master, perished in that jade-hunting journey.

This also made Liang Jin doubt for a long time whether the Red Soul Jade really existed in the world.

But who could have imagined it!

He hasn't even had the chance to obtain a single piece of the most precious golden soul jade yet, in this mysterious underground cave, beside this divine tortoise's nest, by sheer coincidence, he actually obtained a red soul jade that only exists in legends?!
This is an incredible opportunity!
"But here's the problem..."

After the initial euphoria, reason quickly returned, and a huge question arose in Liang Jin's mind:

"How could this clearly man-made Soul Jade be buried so deep within these rock strata?"

"Judging from the way it's surrounded by rock layers and minerals, it's probably been here for quite some time..."

There are only two possibilities.

Firstly, a thousand years ago, when this divine tortoise chose to rest here, some being, perhaps the tortoise itself, or perhaps someone else, deliberately buried this red soul jade here as some kind of "mark" or "device".

Secondly, in the more ancient times, even before these spiritual mines were formed, this red soul jade was buried deep underground in the rock strata for some reason. Then, after countless years, by chance, this rich spiritual mine vein was born here, and the divine tortoise was attracted by this vein, which is why it chose to slumber here.

Regardless of which is the truth, it means that behind this red soul jade lies an ancient secret far beyond imagination.

"No matter what, now that it's in my hands, there's no reason for me to let it go."

A sharp glint flashed in Liang Jin's eyes.

The opportunity is right here, how can we miss it?
Immediately, with a thought, he first put the huge piece of spirit ore that had been extracted, along with the red soul jade, into his [Item Inventory].

Having done all this, Liang Jin ceased maintaining the wall of internal energy that consumed so much of his power, and withdrew the internal energy from his palm—

“BOOM Boom Boom Boom!!!”

Without the support of internal energy, the surrounding rock layers and soil, which had been poised to erupt, roared like a flood bursting its banks, frantically squeezing and filling the void!

A large amount of sand and rocks instantly filled the space completely, and a lot of excess soil and rocks even gushed out from the cave entrance, piling up on the floor of the cave and stirring up clouds of dust.

Throughout the process, Liang Jin kept a portion of his attention focused on the enormous, immovable tortoise shell in the center of the cave.

However, regardless of the tremors caused by his forceful extraction of the ore and soul jade, or the roar of the collapsing earth and rocks, the huge tortoise shell remained absolutely silent, without any reaction.

It truly seemed to be just an ancient, lifeless stone mountain.

"You like sleeping so much... then you might as well stay asleep forever."

Liang Jin stared intently at the tortoise shell, thinking to himself:

"Don't wake up, you'll only cause trouble for this world... and for me."

Now that the Western Desert has been initially pacified, the various internal forces have not yet been fully reorganized, and the Black Dragon Empire is also eyeing the outside world covetously.

If, at this time, a mythical beast that only exists in mythology were to appear, regardless of its stance, it would inevitably cause unpredictable turmoil and disaster, which is definitely not what Liang Jin wants to see.

Especially considering that Liang Jin knew his strength was not yet sufficient to contend with such a legendary existence.

Although it is impossible to determine whether the divine tortoise is alive or dead, leaving it frozen in place forever is undoubtedly the best outcome at present.

He composed himself, turned to the two still-shaken children huddled together beside him, and spoke in a calm tone:

"Now that this matter is settled, we should be going."

Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed one child with each hand, as if carrying two chicks, and sped off along the path he had come from.

He pulled the two of them along the winding cave and fissures, quickly ascending. When they encountered steep and difficult places, he used his lightness skill to lightly touch the rock wall with his toes, and his figure rose several feet higher.

In a short while, the three of them leaped out of the deep underground fissure and returned to solid ground.

Standing on the ground, A Luo and A Shi looked at the familiar Gobi Desert scenery around them and the vast, star-studded night sky above them, as well as the clear, cold moon. They both felt as if they had been transported to another world, as if they had just woken up from a dream.

They never expected that Liang Jin would pull them up so easily, as if they were flying through the clouds, to climb up the crevice that would have required a great deal of physical strength and a long and arduous climb.

In the night sky, the bright moon still hangs high, its clear light shining everywhere, illuminating the continuous outline of the Yumen Mountains as if covered with a thin layer of silver frost, clear and desolate.

Before the two had fully recovered from this unreal experience, Liang Jin frowned slightly, as if he had thought of something.

He raised his foot and, seemingly casually but with immense force, stomped down on the edge of the crack!
"Boom!"

A deep, resounding sound, like the beating of a giant drum, echoed across the ground!

With that muffled thud, a powerful shockwave instantly traveled underground, centered on Liang Jin's landing point.

The rock and soil structure at the edge of the crack, which was already unstable due to the earthquake, suddenly collapsed in a chain reaction!

“BOOM Boom Boom Boom!!!”

More and larger amounts of sand and rocks rolled and poured down into the crack like a waterfall!

Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, obscuring the moonlight.

In just a dozen breaths, the entrance to the rift leading to the mysterious underground world was completely buried and blocked by a large amount of rubble and soil, and its original shape could no longer be seen!

Liang Jin didn't want any other person or creature to recklessly enter the underground cavern out of curiosity or for any other reason after he left, and disturb that sleeping ancient being.

If you wake it up, it could lead to uncontrollable consequences.

The two children stared blankly at the crack that had been instantly filled in, their mouths agape. Their faces were first blank, then filled with deep regret and worry.

The crack has been completely sealed!
This means that they will never be able to enter that cave containing the "treasure" again to search for the glowing ore that could be exchanged for money to save their father!
Despair, like a cold tide, began to seep into their young hearts little by little.

Liang Jin turned his gaze to them, naturally taking in the changes in their expressions.

His expression turned solemn, and his voice, deep and authoritative, brooked no argument:
"remember."

His gaze, almost tangible, swept over the eyes of the two children:

"You are not allowed to mention anything you saw down here tonight to anyone! Otherwise..."

He did not mention the consequences.

But the cold tone and the warning in his eyes sent a chill down A-Luo and A-Shi's spines. They nodded vigorously, their faces turning pale with fright.

Although the safest and most permanent way to silence someone is to make the person in the know disappear completely.

But Liang Jin couldn't bring himself to kill those two unarmed children.

Moreover, he had other ways to make the two children shut up.

Changing the subject, Liang Jin's tone softened slightly as he continued:

"Alright, now that I've made it up safely, it's time to keep my promise."

"Tell me, what do you want? Just tell me."

These words stunned the two children, leaving them somewhat at a loss.

A-Luo hurriedly waved her hand and said in a fearful yet ingratiating tone:

"No...we dare not ask for anything...sir, we don't want anything!"

"Please... have mercy and let us go back... we promise we won't tell anyone!"

She knew all too well the wickedness of human nature, especially in the mining area, where the promises of the powerful often came with even greater traps.

She would rather have nothing at all than be able to leave safely with her younger brother.

However, young A-Shi didn't have as many complicated thoughts as his sister. When he heard Liang Jin's words, his eyes lit up, and he blurted out without thinking:

"We want ten taels of silver! Please have a doctor come and treat my father's leg!"

A-Luo was terrified and hurriedly pulled her younger brother's hand to signal him to shut up, her eyes filled with fear and pleading.

Liang Jin narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the two children, who had very different personalities but were both struggling in hardship.

He wouldn't let the two children off easily if he didn't want them to leak the secret.

Ah Shi's words were exactly what he wanted to hear.

Then Liang Jin spoke up:
“Perfect, I am an expert in medicine.”

As he spoke, he once again took the hands of the two children without saying another word. Their hands were cold and rough, covered with tiny wounds and calluses.

“Come on, take me to see your father. I’ll treat his illness, and I guarantee he’ll be cured.”

Upon hearing this, A-Luo felt not joy, but rather increased anxiety.

Can this mysterious and powerful old man really cure diseases?
Could he... have other motives?
Ah Shi, however, was simple-minded. Upon hearing this, he immediately forgot his sister's warning, and a delighted smile bloomed on his face. He eagerly pointed out the direction of their house to Liang Jin:
"Great! Sir, our home is right over there at the mine! I'll take you there!"

Liang Jin said no more. After identifying the direction, he grabbed the two children and used his movement technique to head towards the area that A Shi had pointed out.

Their figures flashed quickly in the moonlight, traversing rugged mountains towards the mining area filled with suffering.

(End of this chapter)