A life of leisure is worse than a life of flowers and splendour

The camel that had stepped on the ants had been taken away, but the people who had been infected were helpless. The group ran quickly, and a swarm of fire ants quickly gathered behind them. Everyone carefully avoided areas with quicksand while trying to determine their direction.

Then, without noticing, the familiar feeling of weightlessness hit her. Du Shuangshuang's first move was to quickly adjust her posture to avoid being smashed into pieces, using her spiritual energy to protect herself for a moment. Then, she fell into a cold pool. She shivered from the cold, and then countless spiritual energy surged. That comfortable feeling of being in a secret realm, nourished by the rich spiritual energy, was truly wonderful.

The spot where Du Shuangshuang disappeared was exactly the same as before. Cousin Du Zhengze stepped onto it first and vanished shortly thereafter. Uncle Du ran over immediately after, Aunt Du clutching onto him, followed by Du Yunyan. The crowd stared in amazement as each person stepped onto it and vanished silently before their eyes. Jinxiu had always followed Du Shuangshuang, but after she activated her spiritual roots, Du Shuangshuang no longer allowed her to call herself a slave, let alone serve her. "You're a cultivator now. We're equals. There's no such thing as a lady or a maid. Your job now is to cultivate diligently and strengthen yourself!" But whenever she was around Du Shuangshuang, Jinxiu couldn't help but care for her young lady. In her heart, she was always hers. So Du Shuangshuang drove her far away, and only after her uncle and his family jumped in did she rush over and, without hesitation, followed suit.

The delay allowed the fire ants to catch up again. It was no use waiting there, but it would be difficult to find them again after leaving. The old man jumped down without hesitation, and the rest of the people did not hesitate any more, so everyone followed suit and jumped down.

So Du Shuangshuang watched from below as they continued to fall. This... this was a good thing, right? After all, the spiritual energy in this cold pond was extremely rich, and the spiritual energy in the air outside was also quite good. I hadn't expected there to be no spiritual energy in the desert, but beneath it, there was actually a place rich in spiritual energy. But she didn't know how to get out. Du Shuangshuang tried after falling down, but it was still forbidden to fly here. But everyone knew that this place should not be far from the immortal cultivation world. Theoretically, at full speed, it should only take a month or two to get there.

Fortunately, the cold pond was large enough that even with over a hundred people falling like dumplings, the space above it remained quite large. Several night-shining pearls were taken out, and the entire space became clear. The entire bottom was filled with water, and the space became increasingly smaller as one moved upwards, with no exit. If they couldn't get up, they could try slowly digging stairs, but the height was almost a hundred meters. How long would it take to get there?

Du Shuangshuang thought that besides the surface, they could explore further down. After some exploration, they discovered an underground undercurrent and the occasional spiritual bubbles emanating from below. These bubbles intrigued her and made her want to explore further. Clearly, the rich spiritual energy in this cold pond came from these bubbles.

After a discussion, everyone agreed that there must be something valuable down there, and most were willing to explore. Considering the need to leave, although some were reluctant to part with the spiritual energy here, everyone decided to leave together. Du Shuangshuang and Uncle Du took the initiative to act as scouts, exploring the front first. This was mainly because they had the highest cultivation levels, and Uncle Du also had a water-repellent bead.

The two of them followed the undercurrent downstream. The space where the undercurrent flowed was very narrow, only enough for one person to pass smoothly. Uncle Du insisted on going ahead, and Du Shuangshuang didn't compete with him. His heart of elders protecting the younger ones has never changed. Perhaps because they have only been in the world of immortal cultivation for a short time, many people still retain their old habits. After walking less than a hundred meters, the space gradually widened, and in the end, the two of them were almost side by side. However, Uncle Du subconsciously blocked in front of Du Shuangshuang, ensuring that he could protect his niece first if danger came.

Seeing the familiar barrier, Du Shuangshuang's first thought was a spirit cave. Could it be that she had encountered a spirit cave again? She had only seen one in a secret realm before, but there was actually a spirit cave underground in this desolate desert? Du Shuangshuang was both surprised and excited.

This barrier was even harder to open than the last one. Uncle Du tried several times but failed. Du Shuangshuang also tried several times but failed each time. Finally, the two of them joined forces to successfully open the barrier. The moment the barrier opened, extremely rich spiritual energy rushed towards them. The two of them quickly drilled through the opening. After losing their control, the barrier automatically closed.

The two fell into a large underground cave. From the top of the cave, many stalagmites hung down, emitting a shimmering glow. With the help of these fluorescent lights, the normally pitch-black cave could now be seen.

A quick scan with his spiritual sense revealed no danger. Besides the large cavern below, it was connected to smaller caverns, with larger caverns nested within smaller ones, and each cave connected to another, one within another. The scenery within the caverns was a myriad of exquisite beauty. Stalagmites, stone curtains, stone pillars, stone waterfalls, and stone flowers formed all sorts of magical formations. It felt like a Miao village in paradise, its spring mornings filled with poetic and picturesque scenery. Within the cavern, the West Lake, serene as a virgin, budding, resembled a fairyland, a celestial fairyland. The 800-meter-long Hexi Corridor, shrouded in dust and mist, offered breathtaking scenery. There was also the smooth, oily tri-colored crystal mud, the pristine Antarctic ice, the vast, misty Tianchi Lake of Fairy Mountain, and so much more. Everywhere one looked, stalagmites, stone curtains, stone pillars, stone waterfalls, and stone flowers shone in a dazzling array of bizarre, magical, and dazzling colors under the fluorescent light. Nature's uncanny craftsmanship was breathtaking.

Aside from the beautiful scenery and the rich aura of the mist, the two men didn't notice any danger, so Uncle Du offered to go pick them up. Because many people hadn't yet begun their cultivation, they would need the Water Repellent Beads to descend. Du Shuangshuang wouldn't be able to help much if she went back, so she decided to stay and explore the cave.

Everyone arrived one after another, and Du Shuangshuang didn't notice anything unusual during the time. The moment they arrived, they were all stunned by the beauty of the place. It was truly stunning, so beautiful it seemed otherworldly. Then everyone threw themselves into cultivation. Wouldn't it be a waste not to cultivate such rich spiritual energy?

Under this rich spiritual energy baptism, all those who had not yet embarked on the practice completed the process of sensing and guiding the Qi into the body within a month. So regardless of aptitude, as long as there is enough spiritual energy, one can quickly advance and upgrade.

Du Shuangshuang set up a separate formation in a separate location to advance to the Golden Core stage. However, this advancement took a long time. Having already reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, she had reached a bottleneck. Therefore, no matter how hard she practiced, her spiritual energy gains were minimal. She even felt a sense of stagnation, feeling suffocated. Since she hadn't achieved a Golden Core, she had to rely on herself. It wasn't until half a year later that she felt a movement. Rich spiritual energy poured madly into her body, drawing the surrounding spiritual energy into it. Thick fog swirled and rushed into her body. At this moment, Du Shuangshuang finally felt a sense of relief.

The spiritual energy stretched her meridians, causing both aching and relief. A vast amount of spiritual energy rapidly converged within her dantian, forcing her to break through the critical point. With a thud, her dantian and meridians underwent a qualitative transformation. The spiritual pressure rapidly increased, compressing the liquid within her dantian smaller and smaller. Initially, a jindan (a golden elixir) the size of a ping-pong ball took shape, but the compression continued unabated, shrinking ever smaller. When it reached half its original size, it paused, then continued to compress, this time at a noticeably slower rate, until it was only the size of a marshmallow. Du Shuangshuang nearly cried. Could the golden elixir be this small? But this wasn't the final size. After a pause, it continued to compress again, this time at a speed that could only be described as incredibly slow. If she hadn't been paying close attention to the golden elixir, she wouldn't have noticed. It took an unknown amount of time until it was reduced to the size of a soybean before finally coming to a complete stop. Du Shuangshuang was terrified, fearing the compressed mass would have vanished, indicating her dan formation had failed.

Du Shuangshuang wasn't sure if this was normal. In her memory, the woman who possessed her body also consumed a golden elixir, but hers didn't undergo the compression process. While smaller than her own initial form, it was definitely much larger than the Maltesers. Anyway, it was already like this; she'd managed to form a elixir through her own abilities. This was much better than taking pills, though it was a little too small. A tiny, shimmering golden elixir, its color seemingly thicker than gold, swirled and floated in her dantian. The more she looked at it, the more she liked it.

Du Shuangshuang opened her eyes and found that everyone was also immersed in the state of cultivation. She smelled sour and stinky. Hmm, very familiar, it was this smell! Without thinking, she used the Dust Purification Technique in her hand continuously.

Uncle Du had already reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment and was preparing for a Golden Core breakthrough. His cousin was also in the late Foundation Establishment stage, while his cousin and Second Aunt had already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. Jinxiu had also reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining and seemed to be preparing for Foundation Establishment. Everyone else was below the Sixth Level of Qi Refining, with the lowest being only at the Third Level. That wasn't bad either, having only been there for less than a year. Even outside of the field, this cultivation speed was quite impressive. So, it wasn't just aptitude; if the environment allowed, anyone with spiritual roots could cultivate.

So many people had been practicing for so long, and of course there was a bracelet secretly absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy. Du Shuangshuang didn't look. If she had, she would have noticed that her portable medicine garden had expanded a lot, and the spiritual energy concentration was very high. The spirit beast space was the same, only the storage area remained unchanged. However, the earth essence inside was also greatly consumed.

Normally, after building a foundation, one could stop eating. After arriving in the cave, the no-fly zone and other restrictions were lifted, so life here should be normal. However, Du Shuangshuang felt like she was starving. She quickly took out some food to fill her stomach, but surprisingly, her appetite was much greater than usual. A tray of meat buns felt like a gap between her teeth; she was craving meat. She took out another tray of meat buns and started stuffing them with the stir-fried meat. There were still some grilled skewers left in the space, but she took them out and devoured them all in one go, guzzling down a lot of broth. Only then did she feel a little satisfied. Then she took out some spiritual fruits and cactus, peeled them, and ate them directly with a spoon, eating until she felt a little full.