Chapter 471: Chiyou Divine Cicada

Chapter 471: Chapter 471: Chiyou Divine Cicada

Upon hearing this, Li Huainan and the others finally felt relieved.

They had dared to follow the Jade Pool Divine Lady into this valley, naturally hoping for fortune, and if all the gains were monopolized by the Jade Pool Divine Lady, they certainly would not accept it.

Soon, they began to explore the depths of the mountain.

Along the way, the Jade Pool Divine Lady kept calculating, using the Way of Cause and Effect to deduce something.

Upon reaching some trees or giant rocks, she instructed everyone to dig, hoping to uncover something buried underground.

Such labor naturally fell onto Ji Chen.

In terms of lineage and status, the Jade Pool Divine Lady was self-explanatory; Wei Pingsheng was of the Dominator Body, now a peerless prodigy of the Wei Family, and Li Huainan was a direct disciple of the Purple Mansion.

The identities of these three were anything but ordinary, and naturally, they were unlikely to lower themselves to perform such menial tasks.

Therefore, only the ’unknown’ Ji Chen took on the burden.

Fortunately, Ji Chen himself did not mind much.

He possessed the Hongmeng Body, great strength, which made this so-called excavation work trivial to him.

Moreover, compared to these three, he was indeed nothing but a nobody.

"Let’s dig here too."

After digging dozens of places without any success, they reached an ancient banyan tree, where the Jade Pool Divine Lady calculated and pointed to a spot at its root.

Ji Chen was somewhat speechless, finally feeling a bit weary—not physically tired, but internally bored.

They had dug so many times, yet found nothing.

Unable to hold back, he said, "I wonder what exactly the Divine Lady is looking for. I’ve dug so many places, could you give me some clues?"

"Just dig as you’re told; otherwise, should I do it myself?" the Jade Pool Divine Lady replied indifferently.

"Brother, if you’re tired, let me take over. How can we let the Divine Lady dig personally?" Li Huainan smiled, knowing Ji Chen likely felt some emotions.

"Then go ahead."

Without bothering to respond, Ji Chen tossed the shovel to the ground and stopped caring.

Li Huainan smiled, picked up the shovel, and began to dig diligently.

However, still nothing was found.

The group continued exploring the mountain, and under the Jade Pool Divine Lady’s numerous calculations, Li Huainan and Wei Pingsheng took turns excavating several locations.

"Strange."

Throughout their journey, they had dug over thirty spots, yet found nothing.

The Jade Pool Divine Lady furrowed her brows, with her delicate fingers continuing to calculate.

She finally said, "If I’m not mistaken, the Undying Immortal Monarch set this trap of cause and effect here, making me believe these places contain Secret Treasures, when in fact, it’s just an illusion."

"So we’ve busying ourselves for nothing?" the others marveled.

"Not entirely fruitless, at least we know the Secret Treasures in the mountain are difficult to deduce with the Way of Cause and Effect of our Turquoise Pool. Since that’s the case, let’s do the opposite—ignore places I deduce as containing Secret Treasures, and those I can’t deduce are likely suspicious," she said.

Upon hearing this, Ji Chen and the others were rendered speechless, "How many places do we have to dig then?"

"There’s no other choice," she replied bluntly.

Continuing the search using this strategy, it proved successful as Ji Chen and the others harvested quite a few things, though mostly of low value.

Many had lost their original function due to being buried underground for a long time.

Arriving by a large stone, everyone took a short break.

Li Huainan sat down on the stone, paused in surprise, "What’s this?"

He stood up to find peculiar creatures on the stone, each roughly the size of a thumb, entirely gray-white, blending with the stone such that they could only be seen upon close inspection.

"Chiyou Divine Cicadas!"

Jade Pool Divine Lady squatted down to inspect them, and after a while concluded, "They’re the legendary ancient creatures; I never expected them to actually exist."

Li Huainan was also astonished, "Legend says Chiyou Divine Cicada is the ancestor of ten thousand insects, extremely sturdy, and their shells are ideal materials for forging Immortal Weapons. So many of them here!"

With a rough estimate, one could see there were nearly a thousand Divine Cicadas on the stone. If collected, they could certainly be used for two or even three Immortal Weapons.

Indeed, a tremendous find.

Saying this, Li Huainan couldn’t help but reach out and grasp a Divine Cicada off the stone, only to find it completely fossilized, having died long ago.

"They say Divine Cicada chooses stone to transform before death, and ancient words hold true—as such, they’ve all died, leaving their shells here," the Jade Pool Divine Lady explained.

Li Huainan said, "That works; less to process—use the shells directly as materials."

"Eh?"

Upon speaking, he squeezed with both hands, only to realize the fossilized Divine Cicada remained incredibly rigid, hurting his fingers without breaking the shell.

"This hard?" Wei Pingsheng frowned, quickly grabbing one.

"Squeak!"

"Squeak!"

"Squeak!"

Being extraordinary in Dominator Body, the Divine Cicada twisted in his fingertips, bending after exertion.

But it merely deformed.

"Indeed unusual, no wonder it’s used for crafting Immortal Weapons."

Even the Dominator Body struggled to destroy them, demonstrating the astounding hardness of the Divine Cicada.

As one of the nine physiques in the Immortal Realm, Dominator Body is famed for power, supposedly capable of reaching the strength of Immortal Artifacts if perfected.

"Crack!"

Just as Wei Pingsheng finished speaking, suddenly they heard a crisp sound echo.

Looking over, they saw Ji Chen holding a Divine Cicada, which imploded into powder under his grasp.

Witnessing this, the Jade Pool Divine Lady and the others were dumbfounded.

Ji Chen gave a slight smile, "Perhaps this one was dead too long, thoroughly fossilized, hence so fragile."

After speaking, he clapped his hands.

The three exchanged glances, their faces holding peculiar expressions.

Of course, they did not believe Ji Chen’s words; Divine Cicadas, no matter how long dead, could not become fragile.

Yet Ji Chen shattered one into powder by hand, a feat unimaginable unless witnessed firsthand.

After all, even something the Dominator Body struggled with.

"Turns out brother is also a rare person; we’ve underestimated," Wei Pingsheng squinted.