The sounds of battle echoed continuously in the underground space. There were very few powerful individuals among the Resentful Slimes, and with the presence of the Elder-level Illusory Butterflies, there was no need to worry even if they couldn't win and had to flee.
Moreover, the Illusory Butterflies that came were all powerful warriors, belonging to the elite level. Dealing with the Resentful Slimes here was like dealing with regular soldiers versus guerrilla fighters; they were simply not on the same level.
Pushing forward through the depths of the spiritual veins, only a few Champion-level Resentful Slimes required the intervention of the Elder-level Illusory Butterflies. The rest were effortlessly dealt with by the Illusory Butterfly warriors. In the end, Bexia only needed to watch over and occasionally use Light of Expulsion, followed by using the Soul Collection Diagram to gather soul power.
Of course, there was a small incident that occurred along the way. It was when Luo Cai Ling and Luo Ning Xian, these two little lolis, suddenly fell from a hole, coincidentally landing on top of Bexia. His powerful perception was of no use on these two little lolis.
"I told you to stay outside, why did you both come in?" Bexia held one person's collar with one hand, looking at Luo Ning Xian with watery eyes full of grievances. Bexia knew that this adorable little loli wouldn't do such a thing, so his gaze turned to the other red-haired loli in his other hand.
"Luo Cai Ling!"
"What's wrong? Big brother, why is your face so dark? Is it because it's too dirty in here? Do you want me to wipe it for you?" Luo Cai Ling looked innocent, giving off a completely inexplicable appearance as she looked at Bexia.
"Speak up for yourself!" Bexia was not buying it, but he wasn't angry either. To be honest, he couldn't bring himself to harm these two adorable little lolis.
"I'm sorry, okay~" Luo Cai Ling eventually succumbed to Bexia's "stern" gaze. She pouted and lowered her head to apologize.
"I'm not blaming you. It's really not safe inside. If anything happens to you, what am I going to do?" Bexia said with a serious tone, putting down the two little lolis and reaching out to pinch Luo Cai Ling's cheeks.
"Do you understand now?"
"I'm sorry, is that not enough~! And don't pinch my face." Luo Cai Ling shook off Bexia's hand, feeling dissatisfied with his action that left her cheeks red.
"Big brother, don't blame sister, we're safe, don't worry~ Dad gave us protective charms!" Luo Ning Xian, afraid that Bexia wouldn't believe her, picked up the blue ornament around her waist and showed it to him. Bexia remembered that the powerful youth had taken away a red one from him before.
"Alright! Maybe I was just overthinking." Bexia could sense a subtle fluctuation within the ornament and thought that maybe he had underestimated them. But he still needed to keep an eye on these cheeky little kids. After all, even if their means of self-defense were strong, they could still encounter even stronger beings.
"But you must not misuse the tools your family gave you. If you encounter some extremely powerful beings, these props might not be able to guarantee your safety. Do you understand?" Bexia crouched down to their level, looking at the innocent eyes of the two little lolis.
"If you misbehave, there won't be any snacks for you every day!"
"No! Xian'er is very obedient! It's all An'an's fault! Why does Xian'er have to be involved too, big brother~" Luo Ning Xian let out a wail of sorrow and looked at him with a pitiful expression. Tears were already welling up in the big watery eyes of the blue-haired adorable loli.
"Hmph! You bad person…" muttered Luo Caiying under her breath.
"What!? Then from now on, let's eat less, what's the use of eating so much?"
"But I'll starve~"
"How can you be like this!"
"Well, if you all listen to me obediently, otherwise, see if I dare to do this?" Bexia said fiercely.
"You... Can't I make amends?"
"Then will you listen to me well in the future?"
Reluctantly, Luo Caiying glanced at Bexia, and with a pitiful look, she faced the long-term "evil oppression" of this freeloader, and finally had to sign various "unequal treaties".
In the end, they were just two little girls, nothing more than troublemakers. Bexia didn't really hold a grudge against them. Some discipline was necessary. He might have ignored it before, but the Flame Emperor had already told him to take care of them. So, he was no longer just their ordinary big brother, but rather their temporary guardian.
If not, who knows what trouble these two little troublemakers might cause? If they stirred up something powerful, Bexia wouldn't be able to protect them, and he might not even have a chance to escape himself.
Luo Caiying's dissatisfaction didn't last long and dissipated, especially after Bexia took out Christine's special honey-roast meat. She still cheerfully called him "Big Brother," completely forgetting his earlier stern appearance. After all, they were just innocent children, and Bexia had encountered similar situations in the church before.
The cleanup of the mine unexpectedly went smoothly. It took a day, but the inside and outside of the mine were thoroughly cleared. All the grudge slimes inside were killed, although some managed to escape. But that wasn't a problem as long as no one disturbed him for a while. After all, he didn't use the spiritual vein for long.
After cleaning up the grudge slimes in the spiritual vein, Bexia began to arrange the formation according to what Lady Cloud had tasked him with. This was a necessary step to condense the projection dolls, requiring a massive amount of energy to support it.
What Lady Cloud instructed wasn't exactly a formation, but rather a ritual called the Heaven and Earth Nourishment Grand Ceremony. Sacrifice everything in the formation to gain the power of Heaven and Earth's nourishment in one go. This power had tremendous strength, allowing Bexia to create projection dolls surpassing countless levels with its assistance.
So, Bexia's ultimate goal was to sacrifice the entire spiritual vein. It might seem crazy, but it was definitely possible, provided no one disturbed or destroyed it. After he arranged all the ritual formations on the entire spiritual vein and activated them with the residual power in the Taiji Bagua Diagram, he would pour the obtained materials into it. At that time, the projection dolls would be created, and Lady Cloud would be able to descend into this world.
All the arrangements of the ritual formations relied on the Taiji Bagua Diagram. Bexia only needed to pay the energy to carve the formations. However, this was a huge formation and not easy to arrange. Bexia's Primordial Qi was of high quality and quantity, but he couldn't even arrange one percent of it at once. Clearly, it took him only a day to clean up the grudge slimes, but it took him a full five days to arrange one formation.
For the five days, Bexia spent her entire day setting up formations and restoring energy. The large quantity of restorative potions she had prepared were now depleted by half. Nonetheless, she managed to complete the task within the five-day timeframe. Without them, relying solely on natural recovery, it would have taken at least a month to finish.
