I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

"We must first set up a protective barrier to completely cover this giant peak, and prevent any leaks about the mining operations!"

Zhou Yuan gazed at the majestic stone peak before him, took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and quickly regained his composure.

Discovering a spirit mine is undoubtedly a tremendous opportunity, but it also means enormous risks.

If the news leaks out, even with his peak Core Formation cultivation, he might not be able to protect this priceless treasure island.

Let alone those Nascent Soul stage monsters, even a few late-stage Core Formation stage experts working together would be enough to give him a hard time.

Moreover, this is the open sea, and with the spirit mine exposed, even powerful demons of the demon race who have taken human form will get involved.

Making a fortune quietly is the right way.

He immediately took action.

First, set up a large illusion array around the mountain peak.

This formation is the culmination of his years of research into formations, and its coverage is extremely wide, enough to envelop the entire ten-thousand-foot stone peak.

After the illusion array was activated, from the outside, the place still looked desolate and lifeless, without any abnormalities.

According to Zhou Yuan's estimation, unless a demon beast of the Transformation level or a human cultivator of the Nascent Soul stage personally lands on the island to investigate carefully, demon beasts below level seven and cultivators of the Core Formation stage would have no chance of seeing through the disguise of this illusion array.

With the illusion array and some basic isolation and restriction barriers in place, the sounds of mining spirit ore will not get out.

After setting up the formation, the next step is to start mining.

Zhou Yuanxian chose a relatively spacious area deep inside the mountain and used magic to create a large temporary cave.

This place will be used to temporarily store the mined spirit stones, and as a place for him to stay when he travels back and forth.

After the cave dwelling was completed, he took something out of his storage bag—

Six hundred puppets!

Some of these puppets were collected back then, while others were made by myself using materials.

The quality varies, but they are more than enough for mining spirit stones.

Zhou Yuan replaced the power source of each puppet with a mid-grade spirit stone, and then issued commands with his divine sense to disperse them and begin mining in this vast spirit mine.

Suddenly, a series of clanging and clattering sounds of digging echoed from deep within the mountain.

The puppets worked tirelessly and methodically, following the route set by Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan himself sat cross-legged in the cave, monitoring everything with his divine sense.

Two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Zhou Yuan opened his eyes from his cultivation and looked towards a corner of the cave.

There, spiritual stones were piled up like small mountains.

The bottom layer was filled with densely packed mid-grade spirit stones, piled up to several feet high!

Zhou Yuan roughly estimated that the number was at least over ten thousand!

More than 10,000 mid-grade spirit stones, which translates to more than one million low-grade spirit stones!

In another corner, dozens of larger, more refined high-grade spirit stones were neatly stacked.

Each piece emitted a soft green light, casting a faint turquoise hue over the entire cave.

Zhou Yuan got up and went over to count the items one by one.

"Thirty-two... thirty-two high-grade spirit stones!"

An irrepressible joy flashed in his eyes.

There are probably no more than a handful of forces in the entire Chaotic Star Sea that possess such a large reserve of high-grade spirit stones!

It's important to know that in the original story, Han Li killed Qian Laomo of the Yinluo Sect of the Great Jin Dynasty, who was a powerful cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage!

In Qian Laomo's storage bag, there were only seven or eight high-grade spirit stones!

And I now have thirty-two pieces!

If he continues mining at this pace, he should be able to gather the ten million spirit stones needed to upgrade his equipment slots in about ten years!

"With this batch of spirit stones, I can go to the Inner Sea and collect a large number of spiritual items that can assist in the formation of the Nascent Soul stage," Zhou Yuan thought to himself.

However, he also realized a problem: although these puppets were useful, they were not sentient and he needed to constantly dedicate a portion of his divine sense to control and command them.

In this way, he was firmly tied to this place and unable to escape.

"We need to think of a way..."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yuan decided to return to Tianxing City first.

First, we need to procure some supplies—mainly materials for crafting golems and equipment for constructing teleportation arrays.

He plans to build two teleportation arrays between Biling Island and Tianxing City to facilitate future travel.

Secondly, he wanted to see if he could find some reliable helpers to take over controlling these puppets. Of course, these helpers had to be absolutely trustworthy people…

Before leaving, Zhou Yuan made a bold move.

He will maintain the illusion array of that towering mountain peak, and all the spirit stones will be replaced with high-grade spirit stones!

Sixteen high-grade spirit stones were embedded in the array base, which increased the power and endurance of the entire array several times over!

Now, even if a Nascent Soul cultivator came, it would be difficult for them to see through this illusion array at a glance.

Having done all this, Zhou Yuan was preparing to use the Earth Escape Talisman to leave the island—

Suddenly, something unusual happened in the sky ahead!

There were no signs whatsoever.

Even with Zhou Yuan's powerful divine sense, comparable to that of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, he did not sense any abnormality beforehand.

At that moment, a thin black line appeared out of thin air in the sky in front of him.

To be precise, it was a spatial rift.

The crack was deep and dark, as if leading to another world.

At the crack, a small animal poked its head out, curiously gazing at the outside world.

The little beast looked like a mink, with wings on its back. It was only a few inches in size, and its body was as clear and translucent as a purple crystal, shimmering with a mesmerizing luster in the sunlight.

It has a single horn on its head that looks like a spiral drill bit, making it both cute and peculiar.

Zhou Yuan scanned it with his divine sense and vaguely sensed its level—level six.

But his heart suddenly started racing!

Spatial rifts are something that even Nascent Soul stage cultivators would find difficult to create during a battle!

Not to mention opening up spatial rifts for spatial travel, even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator might not be able to do that!

"This is... a mutated beast!"

A thought flashed through Zhou Yuan's mind in an instant.

During the process of advancement, some demonic beasts have a one in ten thousand or even lower probability of undergoing mutation, thereby awakening certain special supernatural powers.

This little purple ferret is clearly a mutated beast!

Its awakened supernatural power is—to tear open spatial rifts and travel through space!

This is an incredible, heaven-defying power!

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhou Yuan instantly formed hand seals!

Spirit control!

An invisible soul imprint shot out from between his eyebrows!

The little beast was poking its head out, looking around, ready to retreat back into the crevice and escape at any moment if it spotted danger.

Unfortunately, the spirit control technique is invisible and intangible; by the time it sensed the danger, it was already too late!

The soul imprint flashed and disappeared into its body!

With Zhou Yuan's current spiritual strength, controlling a level six demonic beast is a piece of cake.

The little beast trembled, then became docile and jumped out of the spatial rift.

Behind it, a pair of small, crystalline purple wings unfolded, and it quickly flew towards Zhou Yuan.

Then, it landed on Zhou Yuan's shoulder and rubbed its little head against his cheek.

"good."

Zhou Yuan reached out and touched it; the fur, which resembled purple crystals, felt warm and smooth to the touch.

He tried to feed it, taking out a piece of dried monster meat from his storage bag and offering it to its mouth.

The little ferret sniffed it, then turned its head away and refused to eat.

He took out another level-five demon core. The little sable brought it closer to smell it, but still showed no interest.

Finally, its gaze fell on the high-grade spirit stone that Zhou Yuan had just placed in the array base. Its eyes showed longing, and it pointed at the spirit stone with its little paws, making two "squeak" sounds.

"Could it be... that they eat spirit stones?"

Zhou Yuan's heart stirred, and he took out a mid-grade spirit stone and handed it over.

The little ferret hugged the spirit stone and began to gnaw on it with its tiny teeth, crunching and munching away with great relish.

Zhou Yuan chuckled.

This little guy is really picky about food.

This was the first time he had ever seen a demonic beast that ate spirit stones.

However, this also means that its value is even greater.

With this little gadget, you'll have an excellent help when exploring secret realms, tracking enemies, or escaping to save your life!

Zhou Yuan was in a great mood and put the little sable into his spirit beast pouch.

Then, he used an Earth Escape Talisman, merged his body into the earth, and quietly left Biling Island.

I highly recommend "I Have an Equipment Slot in Yellow Maple Valley!" Click to enter the story world.