Three days later, Qin Dexin returned to the base camp, intending to switch shifts with the Second Elder.

This meant she would rest at the base camp while the Second Elder headed to the spirit stone mine.

Before departing, Qin Dexin casually asked, “Why haven’t we seen Qirong and Qingqing?”

Some days ago, the ancestors had mentioned to her that Qirong and Qingqing were planning to come to the secret realm for training.

She set an example of diligent cultivation and naturally supported her son’s aspirations.

Today, during the shift change, she thought it would be a good opportunity to see her son, but after searching the base camp, she didn’t find a trace of them.

The Second Elder leisurely climbed onto the giant alchemy furnace and glanced back at her, a hint of mysterious smile on his face. “Of course you won’t see them. Those kids have been busy treasure hunting lately. Hey, don’t tell me, they’ve actually found quite a few good things.”

Treasure hunting—this term, which sounded like idleness, furrowed Qin Dexin’s brow deeply.

Just as she was about to ask further, the Second Elder had already casually drifted away on the alchemy furnace.

“That old guy!”

….

“Sister, where should we go next?” Qin Qirong’s face was flushed with excitement.

A few days ago, when his sister had a sudden whim to go treasure hunting, Qirong thought she was just playing around and didn’t take it seriously.

But it turned out, her luck was explosively good.

They had circled the outskirts of the forest and found quite a few rare spiritual herbs—like millennium Lingzhi and Soulheart Grass for soul healing.

Now Qirong was completely into it, and even Qin Luwei, who was usually steady, was fascinated by this “treasure hunting” adventure.

Qin Ruqing looked at the two pairs of eager eyes staring at her and felt like she was corrupting children.

But…haha, treasure hunting was really fun! Well, let’s play for the rest of today, and tomorrow we’ll start formal cultivation.

Definitely!

Qin Ruqing said, “We’ve explored this forest area pretty thoroughly. There’s not much left here. If we want to find more, we’ll have to venture deeper. But the Second Elder warned us several times to stay on the outskirts.”

“What should we do then?” Qin Luwei asked.

Qin Ruqing pondered for a moment, then exclaimed, “Let’s go, let’s find another place!”

The three of them meandered and eventually arrived at a cliffside.

It was called a cliff, but it wasn’t very steep.

For Qi cultivators like them, its height wasn’t intimidating. If they fell, they still had time to summon their flying artifacts.

Qirong lay on the edge of the cliff, fearless but curious. “Sister, why are we here? It’s all bare rocks here, not even a blade of grass.”

Luwei, maintaining her serious attitude, scanned the surroundings and said, “Judging by the environment, it doesn’t look like a place where Broken Petal Orchids would grow.”

Broken Petal Orchid was a spiritual herb shaped like an orchid that grew specifically on cliff edges.

It wasn’t considered a treasure of heaven and earth, but it was highly prized nonetheless.

Qin Ruqing stood with her hands behind her back, looking composed. “You guys don’t understand. Cliff edges, the bottom of cliffs, or caves within cliffs—these are all high-risk places where adventures are likely to happen!”

Hadn’t they seen in novels how the protagonist would either be rescued by a mysterious expert after falling off a cliff or stumble upon an unexpected inheritance in a cave?

This indicated a high probability of good things being present.

“—And most importantly, my treasure-hunting device indicates the presence

cliff.

Since it might be here, why not take a look? All kinds of stories have this kind of plot.

Maybe there’s something mystical about it?

Upon hearing this, Qirong was bewildered, but Luwei recalled something. “Qingqing, are you talking about the adventures of cultivators in those stories?”

Hmm, so even in the world of cultivation novels, they have these clichés?

Qin Ruqing scrutinized the surroundings while asking, “What stories are you talking about?”

Qin Luwei explained, “It’s about a young scion of a disgraced noble family who clears his name step by step, returns to his family, and then rises to the peak of the immortal realm.”

Qin Ruqing: Ha!

How cliché! This kind of story is so outdated that even the little green river nowadays doesn’t attract readers.

Why not add some time travel or rebirth elements?

Putting this aside, Qin Ruqing said, “Let’s use our artifacts to descend and see if there are any caves.”

Without further ado, Qin Luwei took out her alchemy furnace, enlarged it with an incantation, and casually jumped on it.

She then turned and said, “Since we’re not in a rush, you can ride on my artifact.”

Qin Ruqing almost couldn’t hold back her laughter.

That’s right, the flying artifacts of the Qin family’s members were indeed too similar.

Couldn’t they just let the alchemy furnace do its job of refining pills? As a result, eight out of ten alchemists in the Qin family used it as a flying vehicle.

This might also be considered a characteristic of the Qin family.

The three sat on the large alchemy furnace, with Qin Luwei controlling it as they slowly descended to the base of the cliff.

During the flight, Qin Ruqing reminded Qirong, “Be careful and keep an eye out. Sister is concentrating on controlling the furnace. If you see a cave, let out a shout.”

Qirong nodded vigorously while searching for caves.

As for caves, they eventually found two. However, after exploring them, they didn’t find anything special inside.

One cave even had countless bats hanging upside down, some of which had acquired sentience and belonged to the category of demonic beasts.

Imagine the scene of those bats with their eyes wide open.

The three of them were scared out of their wits and fled, looking disheveled.

The expedition didn’t go well, and Qin Ruqing wiped her face in dismay.

“Qirong, are you okay?”

Qirong had been the one to cover their retreat as they escaped from the cave.

Qin Qirong patted his chest calmly and said, “Don’t worry, sister. Just now, two bats bit me, but their teeth broke without even piercing my skin.”

“Their teeth broke…” Qin Ruqing twitched her mouth. “Well, that’s good.”

Qin Luwei steered the alchemy furnace away from the cave with bats and asked, “Qingqing, where to now?”

Qin Ruqing still felt reluctant.

She glanced at her treasure-hunting device and noticed there was another cliff nearby. “Let’s go west and check out that cliff. There’s another cliff over there.”

Qin Luwei followed her instructions, “Are you still hoping to find treasures in cliff caves? Those novels are just deceiving people.”

Qin Ruqing remained noncommittal. “Let’s just take a look. If nothing turns up this time, we won’t come back here again.”

The cliff to the west was steeper and higher than the previous one.

After circling the base and finding nothing special, Qin Ruqing and the others finally discovered a very concealed cave in a corner.

Qin Luwei controlled the alchemy furnace and stopped it at the narrow opening of the cave was just wide enough for a single adult to pass through.

For teenagers like them, it was somewhat spacious.

“Qingqing, should we go in?” Qin Ruqing asked, flipping a coin in her hand.

With a flick of her finger, a reddish-orange flame shot out. “Let’s not rush. Let’s see if there’s anything inside.”

She cautiously flicked the fireball into the cave.

Most wild animals or low-level monsters feared fire, especially her special flame derived from an ancient technique.

If any monster was inside, it would likely flee at the sound, giving them enough time to escape.

After the flame entered, there was a loud bang, undoubtedly creating an impact. Listening closely after the explosion subsided, there was no further noise.

Qin Ruqing nodded.

It seemed unlikely there was a monster inside, but they couldn’t let their guard down. “Qi Rong and I will go first. Sister Luwei, you follow behind us.”

Qin Luwei seemed about to say something, but Qin Ruqing anticipated her concern. “It’s okay, Sister. Qirong is sturdy and can take a hit, and I have strong regenerative abilities. It’s safest if we lead. You watch our backs.”

Though Qin Luwei felt uncomfortable being protected by her younger siblings, she nodded in agreement.

Qin Ruqing and Qin Qirong jumped into the cave entrance together, slowly stooping to enter.

Halfway in, Qin Ruqing complained, “Qirong, you really need to lose weight.”

Qirong pulled in his arms defensively, feeling unfairly criticized. “I’ve already lost weight!”

Indeed, Qirong used to be chubby but had slimmed down drastically under their Ancestor’s training regimen.

Now practicing Qi absorption and awakening his constitution, he could eat without gaining weight.

He had transformed from a chubby kid into a handsome youth.

Qin Ruqing chuckled ahead, unable to resist teasing him.

Qin Luwei smirked behind them.

Inside the cave, they were surprised to find it quite spacious.

Shaped like a flattened round vase with a small entrance and a larger interior, it showed signs of recent fire damage but otherwise appeared ordinary.

“Drip, drip.” They heard water dripping—a contrast to the drier caves they’d explored before.

Qi Rong looked up, marveling, “The moss in this cave is so thick.”

Qin Luwei reached out to touch it, explaining, “Moist places like this breed moss easily.”

They explored further.

Despite the larger space inside, it was still smaller compared to other caves they had seen.

With two openings—one larger outside and a smaller inside—the cave was neither dark and winding nor eerie.

It was, as they had suspected, quite ordinary.

Qi Rong remarked, “Sister, looks like the stories were just exaggerations. There’s nothing special in this cave.”

“Unlike the previous cave, at least that one had bats and poisonous snakes. We should leave while it’s still daylight and check out a few more places,” someone suggested.

Qin Ruqing frowned, “I don’t know why, but I feel like this place is special.”

Luwei took Qin Ruqing’s opinion seriously and asked, “What’s special about it?”

Qin Ruqing thought for a moment without answering.

She walked back and forth between the two cave entrances, then stopped at the smaller one. “Don’t you feel like the spiritual energy in this cave is very strong and active?”

Qirong and Luwei exchanged glances and tried to sense it for a moment but both shook their heads. “No, we don’t feel it.”

At first, Qin Ruqing doubted herself, but after sensing it for a while, she became more certain. “No, this place is definitely different, especially this small entrance.”

Qin Ruqing had a unique body constitution that made her extremely sensitive to spiritual energy.

She didn’t say much more and began exploring the dark gray walls carefully, occasionally tapping them with her fingers. Seeing her actions, Qirong and Luwei followed suit.

Qin Ruqing had the highest talent and the most special constitution among the three of them.

If she said there was something unusual, there definitely was!

Suddenly, Qin Ruqing stopped at a spot, concentrated for a moment, and then looked up.

“The dripping water sound here is so loud.” She hesitated before using a spell, causing an explosion.

A crack appeared in the mountain wall.

Qirong pulled Qin Ruqing back, saying, “Sister, let me do it.” He punched the wall hard.

Crackling sounds followed as rocks fell to the ground.

The rock wall broke open, revealing a dark, deeper cave.

It was hollow inside!

There really was another hidden area!

The stories weren’t lying!

The hole they made was about the size of a face.

Qin Qirong instinctively put his face closer to look inside.

After a moment, he lifted his head, looking puzzled. “Sister, there’s a lot of spiritual energy inside this cave.”

Now even without Qin Ruqing’s words, he could feel it himself.

Luwei’s expression became serious.

She took a deep breath and her ears twitched. “The dripping sound is getting louder.”

“Qingqing, what should we do? Keep blasting? The dripping sound seems to be some distance away.”

Qin Ruqing tried to calm her excitement, thinking to herself, “The novel was right!”

Just as she was about to speak, she saw Qirong take out a glowing jade slip.

Qirong looked up and said, “My mother sent me a message.”

Qirong opened the message.

It was his mother, Qin Dexin, sounding a bit annoyed. “Qirong, where are you now? Instead of training, you’re busy treasure hunting all day!”

Qirong shrank back instinctively, but Qin Ruqing’s eyes lit up.

“Quick, send a message back to your mother and tell her our location. Tell her we’ve made a major discovery and she needs to come quickly!”

Qirong hesitated, “Why? If my mother comes, she’ll definitely scold me, and she might even scold you too.”

Qin Ruqing said, “You’re silly! That’s exactly why we need to call Auntie here. This place is clearly unusual, but with just the few of us, we could blast for days and still not find the source of the anomaly. Auntie is a Foundation Building cultivator. If she wants, she can blow the entire cave open!”

“If Auntie gets involved, it means she’s part of this treasure hunt. Then we’re allies. If we find anything valuable, we won’t be in trouble; we’ll be credited instead.

When the elders ask, we can say that we found something unusual during our treasure hunt and immediately sought help. We actively reported it! Trust me, they’ll reward us!”

The idea of “actively seeking help and reporting” struck Qi Rong and Lu Wei like a revelation, shaking them to their core.

Wait, can we really do this? We didn’t lie at all, but something that made us nervous suddenly feels completely justified.

Right, we are indeed actively seeking help and reporting!

If there really is a significant discovery here, we didn’t handle it privately.

We sought help from our elders right away, not delaying anything!

Qirong clapped his fist into his palm, excitedly saying, “Sister, you’re right! I’ll tell my mother right away!”

Qin Luwei, didn’t say anything but looked at her with sparkling eyes.

Receiving this solid admiration from the two of them made Qin Ruqing’s heart flutter.

So, this is a skill honed from avoiding punishment from parents and teachers since childhood.

Instead of being blamed afterward, it’s better to report proactively and earn some points for initiative.

Who knew Qirong and Luwei were so straightforward, making me seem so slick and resourceful?

No, I am very pure and righteous too.