"Uncle Shi!"
As soon as Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi stepped into the Flying Tiger Hall, they shouted loudly.
"Um..."
The old man who had helped Hu Ke'er detect the spiritual veins before was still sitting there, eyes closed, slowly fanning his palm - leaf fan.
"Um~"
Uncle Shi slowly stretched and then slightly opened his eyes.
"What's up? Why are you two in such a hurry? What do you want from me?"
"The Discipline Hall is causing trouble for us again!" Chen Tianyi said in a low voice.
"Um, those kids from the Discipline Hall. It's not the first time. Just stay here. I'll talk to their supervisor later." Uncle Shi said while fanning his palm - leaf fan, and then slowly closed his eyes again.
"By the way, stinky boy, what trouble have you caused this time? Why is the Discipline Hall after you again?"
"This time it's not my fault. It's just that the Yuan Stone spiritual vein collapsed, and that supervisor, Uncle Zhao, is shifting the blame onto us two."
"Hmm, the Yuan Stone spiritual vein collapsed... What?! Did you say the Yuan Stone spiritual vein collapsed?!" Hearing Chen Tianyi's words, Uncle Shi gave a start, woke up with a jolt, and stared at the two of them with wide - open eyes.
"What exactly happened? You two better tell me clearly!"
"Okay."
Seeing Uncle Shi's strong reaction, Hu Ke'er knew the seriousness of this matter and quickly told Uncle Shi the whole process in detail.
"Hmm... You mean that Uncle Zhao was greedy and dug the mine cave until it collapsed, and then shifted the blame onto you two?"
"Yes!" Hu Ke'er nodded her head in response to Uncle Shi's words.
"That Uncle Zhao is so shameless!" Uncle Shi said, fanning his palm - leaf fan, and then took out a wine flask from his waist and took a sip.
"Although you two are not to blame for this matter, the Yuan Stone mine vein is the foundation of our sect. It's a big deal. Since you two are involved, you'll probably be in for some trouble!" Uncle Shi said with narrowed eyes.
"What should we do then?" Hu Ke'er asked worriedly upon hearing Uncle Shi's words.
"Both of you come with me to see the sect master." Uncle Shi rarely showed a serious expression.
"By the way, is what you mentioned before about the high - purity spirit stones true?"
"Of course. Due to the passage of time, the spiritual energy has gradually seeped into the bricks, which is how those high - purity spirit stones were formed." Hu Ke'er explained softly.
"Um, if that's the case, do you still have any high - purity spirit stones on you? Otherwise, even if I talk to the sect master, he probably won't believe me."
"Yes." Hearing Uncle Shi's words, Hu Ke'er glanced at Chen Tianyi. Seeing Chen Tianyi nod his head, Hu Ke'er took out a spirit stone from her backpack.
"Uncle Shi, this is a high - purity spirit stone I refined. Although it wasn't taken from the top of the mine, the purity of the spirit stones there is about the same."
"What's this?!" Uncle Shi gently rubbed his eyes when he saw the spirit stone in Hu Ke'er's hand.
"Is this really a spirit stone? The purity is so high! You said you refined this yourself?!" Uncle Shi was stunned for a moment upon hearing Hu Ke'er's words.
"Um... Is there a problem?" Seeing Uncle Shi's excited expression, Hu Ke'er felt a bit scared and was a little timid.
"Not really. But if you can really refine such good spirit stones, even if you were the one who caused the collapse of the spiritual vein, the sect master probably wouldn't blame you!"
"Really?" Hu Ke'er was overjoyed upon hearing Uncle Shi's words.
"Of course it's true!" Uncle Shi said and then slapped the table.
"Let's go. Let's go talk to the sect master!"
Seeing Uncle Shi suddenly gain momentum, Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi also felt much more confident.
"If your master weren't in closed - door cultivation and couldn't take care of you, I definitely wouldn't have taken you on as this troublesome kid!" Uncle Shi said, looking at Chen Tianyi.
"Blame me again? It wasn't me who caused the trouble. It's clearly that Uncle Zhao who is so shameless!"
"Who else should I blame if not you? Why does trouble only come to you and not others? If it weren't for Hu Ke'er this time, you'd probably already be locked up in the Discipline Hall!" Uncle Shi said in a low voice.
"If it weren't for Little Junior Sister, I wouldn't have gone to the Yuan Stone mine either, and I wouldn't have been surrounded by the Discipline Hall!" Chen Tianyi said without any hesitation.
"Stinky boy, you still think you're right. I'll see how your master teaches you a good lesson when he comes out of closed - door cultivation!" Hearing Chen Tianyi's words, Uncle Shi fanned his palm - leaf fan and scolded with a smile. Then he reached out and took down the wine gourd from his waist and tossed it gently into the air. The wine gourd suddenly grew dozens of times larger.
"Come on. I'll take you to see the sect master."
"Okay. Thank you, Uncle Shi!" After thanking Uncle Shi, Hu Ke'er got on the gourd, while Chen Tianyi flew up on his flying sword.
"Uncle Shi, your gourd is too crowded. I'll just fly on my flying sword!"
"Stinky boy, you even嫌 my gourd is slow..." Before Uncle Shi could finish his words, Chen Tianyi had already flown away on his flying sword, disappearing from their sight like a stream of light.
"Uncle Shi, should we hurry up and catch up with him?" Hu Ke'er asked in confusion when she saw Chen Tianyi disappear from her sight.
"No need to catch up. No matter how fast that kid runs, he's just an outer - sect disciple and can't enter the inner courtyard. Even if he gets there first, he'll just have to wait." Uncle Shi slowly fanned his palm - leaf fan and then instructed Hu Ke'er.
"Hold on tight. We're leaving!"
"Okay!" Hearing Uncle Shi's words, Hu Ke'er nodded her head, and then the gourd slowly took off.
Different from the flying sword, the gourd was indeed slow, but it was much more comfortable and safer than the flying sword.
"Little girl, who taught you this method of refining spirit stones?"
"Well... Actually, many people in my place know how to do it. It's just that the way you use spirit stones now is too inefficient. As long as I'm given enough time to make a set of distillation equipment, the concentration of the spirit stones can be even higher!"
"Even higher?!" Uncle Shi was surprised upon hearing Hu Ke'er's words.
"What's this distillation equipment you're talking about?"
"Um... Well, it's a whole set of things. It's hard to explain."
"Okay. You can explain it in detail when we see the sect master." Uncle Shi grinned and then flew Hu Ke'er upwards. After about fifteen minutes, the gourd slowly stopped under a tall plaque.
"Get off. This is the inner courtyard."
"Okay." Hu Ke'er jumped off the gourd and then looked up. She saw a huge palace not far away, shrouded in white mist.
"You're so late!" Chen Tianyi greeted them when he saw them.
"Stinky boy, I told you not to run so fast. Okay, you two wait here. I'll go find the sect master."
"Okay."