Shi Xin finally opened the cage, letting the mushroom run off. It rushed towards the nearest cavern walls, before digging into it and tunnelling away.

"You're letting it go just like that?" Yingyi ask.

"That little mushroom must be from some sort of underground tribe. Wherever they set up is sure to have plentiful resources, hahah!"

...and now the spirits were trying to rob hapless mushroom people?

Wait! From the tale she just heard, it seemed like spirits didn't have karma apply to them? Is that why the elder spirits were so shameless?

"The spirit beasts around here seem to have an innate property that makes them hard to sense with spirit sense. I won't be able to sense their village just by looking around aimlessly." Tu Teng said.

Finally, Xiuying couldn't take it anymore.

"I didn't say anything until now... but isn't this a little too much? You spirits may not be affected by karma, but that doesn't mean you can just rob people so wantonly!"

Wow. As expected of the group's "saint".

"Tsk tsk tsk!" Shi Xin said before laughing. "Young miss, you think too much! When did I say we would rob them? They have plentiful resources, so we are going to trade with them?"

"...what?" Xiuying was taken aback. "But it sounded like..."

"Since we're based in a higher world, cultivation resources that are priceless to them would be dirt cheap for us! It's much more sensible to come back every now and then to trade for whatever precious materials they find."

...so they were just motivated by profit after all.

"I see..." Xiuying was deflated.

"We'll wait here for a bit while the mushroom heads back." Shi Xin said. "Back to Battlegods?"

"Sure-" Tu Teng began.

"Wait, I just remembered!" Dian Ying suddenly said. "Shi Xin, have you opened the safes yet?"

Shi Xin froze.

"Shit! I was going too, but then I forgot because Tu Teng invited me to play Battlegods!"

"Hey, we were all playing, why are you blaming me specifically?" the nature spirit said lazily.

"Old man, seems like you've gone senile!" Dian Ying laughed.

"Oh, shut it! We'll open them now."

The grouchy grey spirit tossed out several massive safes that landed on the ground with bangs, each as tall as a person. They were shiny black and looked exceptionally sturdy.

In just a few seconds, the elder spirits had broken the formations that protected the safe. With the restrictions gone, Shi Xin simply willed the metal to bend apart as if it were dough, revealing the contents.

The elder spirits immediately began rummaging through the contents. Mei was reminded of raccoons digging through rubbish dumps for some reason...

Dian Ying pulled out a model figure of sorts.

"Gahh! This is broken! Shi Xing, you idiot, did you have to throw down the safes like that?"

"What? How is it my fault? What cultivator even makes things out of materials that will break with just a drop? Even spirit glass bottles are more durable!"

The rock and lightning spirit began bickering while the other elder spirits continued their search.

Mei and the others watched curiously.

From one of the safes were all sort of miscellaneous materials they immediately stashed away, while another was filled with all sorts of machine models and dysfunct artefacts. The third was filled with all sorts of expired medicines.

"Bah! All useless! This junk is only worth 10,000 Jade tops!" Shi Xin spat.

...well if they didn't appreciate it, Mei would be very happy to receive that sum.

"Wait, there's a secret compartment here, on the artefact safe!" Dian Ying said.

The elder spirits swarmed over and pried it apart, only to find a single jade.

"This... it's a jade detailing how they made their artefacts!" Shi Xin brightened up.

Oh. So the old "finding amazing whatever" in ruins still applied. Good for them.

The spirits began to shove each other around as each of them forced their wills into the jade.

After several minutes, Shi Xin let out a huff of frustration.

"I thought there might have been a few geniuses in that ancient sect from how they could construct such a guardian, but they just copied blueprints from higher worlds! No research value at all!"

"Here, you make artefacts, right? Just take it." Shi Xin shoved the jade to Liu Qiang.

"Oh." he was taken back for a bit. "Thanks!"

Mei stared at the chubby boy enviously. Would be nice if she got something too...

"What? There were no farming jades in the safe." Shi Xin said.

Mei: ...

After Tu Teng sensed the mushroom's signal fade, they immediately began tunnelling in their "hamster ball" again.

"Their village must have a Sense Halting formation." the nature spirit explained.

Minutes of tunneling later, with a loud crumble, they broke into a long corridor.

For a few moments, scuttling could be heard, before suddenly, silence.

Under the faint light of the lantern, Mei saw to her horror massive ants peering at them from the darkness.

They had pitch-black carapaces, with long and stiff grey hairs.

Most of them were as big as a person, but in the distance, she could see a towering one with mandibles big enough to snap someone in half with a single bite. Its head was massive, looking to be at least half the ant's body mass.

Wang Wei looked like he was about to scream, but had frozen in terror.

A flare of soulsense came from each of the ants, reverberating through the tunnel.

"Intruder!" Mei briefly understood.

The massive ant barreled over in at a speed unbefitting its bulk, shaking its head to knock all the ants in its path away,

With a horrifying bang, the massive ant charged over and clamped its jaws on the glass-like ball. A nauseating screech echoed as the mandibles slid across the sphere harmlessly.

The ant had been so fast, only now did the disciples react, screaming.

Mei realised she bit her tongue in her fright and her heart was beating rapidly.

"Damn! Did that stupid mushroom dig into some sort of ant nest by accident?" Shi Xin cursed. "Just how unlucky is he?"

Wobbling, the massive ant scuttered a short distance away before laying itself on the ground. It rubbed its mandibles tenderly with its front legs, letting a low whining sound.