That's right.

Lin Ziming was one hundred percent sure that the black stone in his hand was indeed a Spirit Stone!

Nowadays, Lin Ziming had officially started his cultivation journey and was soon to break through to the Fourth-Layer Qi Cultivation.

Although he hadn't developed spiritual perception yet, through sheer effort, he remained in the leading echelon at the base camp.

It's worth mentioning that the phrase "sheer effort" is not just a courtesy.

Despite Lin Ziming being the overall commander of the camp's troops, he didn't receive any preferential treatment in terms of cultivation resources; the resources were distributed as to any ordinary warrior with three Spiritual Roots.

Currently, there are dozens of warriors with three Spiritual Roots in the camp, and Lin Ziming manages to maintain his position around fifth or sixth despite handling a lot of internal affairs daily.

At the moment, the highest cultivation realm in the camp is naturally held by Cao Yi and Elder Yuan, followed by Lin Ziming, representing the Third-Layer Qi Cultivation warriors.

At this realm, cultivators already possess a certain level of sensing ability.

Thus, when Lin Ziming first picked up this little black stone, he felt something was off for no apparent reason.

After all, a completely black stone is different from a Fei Qiu.

Fei Qiu are everywhere in reality, just like many of Liu's classmates belong to this category.

But completely black stones are not common in ordinary forests; they are the type you feel are abundant, but when seriously searched for, are hard to find.

Moreover, not only was this stone completely black, its surface emitted a strange reflection.

It's somewhat similar to native obsidian.

Rather than an ordinary stone, it would be better to call it a black crystal.

Additionally, when touching the stone, Lin Ziming felt it emit some strange rhythmic energy, stirring his inner sea.

This feeling was only encountered by Lin Ziming on one object—Spirit Stone.

Thus he tried inputting some spiritual energy, and to his surprise, the stone responded.

Black Spirit Stone!

After confirming this, Lin Ziming immediately turned back to find Patriarch Wei.

He handed the black Spirit Stone over and said:

"Patriarch, have a look at this. Also, don't try to draw spiritual energy from it."

Patriarch Wei took the Spirit Stone and inspected it, inputting a little spiritual energy as Lin Ziming had earlier.

Soon after, his brows raised in surprise as he exclaimed:

"This is... a Spirit Stone!"

Seeing Patriarch Wei also confirm the black stone's origin, Lin Ziming quickly asked:

"Patriarch Wei, have you ever seen such a black Spirit Stone before?"

Patriarch Wei shook his head decisively, without a hint of hesitation:

"Never seen.

Colonel Lin, you should know that Spirit Stones in the Damo Realm are divided into four grades: superior, medium, inferior, and top-grade.

Most of the time, the ones we see— or can see— are inferior Spirit Stones.

Although Spirit Stones of other grades are extremely rare, they are all exclusively green.

The higher the grade of Spirit Stone, the deeper the green hue becomes, according to lore.

By the time it reaches top-grade, the appearance becomes a deep, dark green.

But no matter how deep the color, it could never have a black exterior."

Lin Ziming nodded lightly, examining the black Spirit Stone again.

He clearly sensed that there was still a small amount of spiritual energy in the Spirit Stone that could be extracted with slight guidance.

However, considering its somewhat intimidating appearance, Lin Ziming dared not try such a thing here.

After all, stories like SPC are heard by many these days, who knows if this could be some kind of infectious source?

He then carefully put the Spirit Stone into a ziplock bag, and said to Zhang Yaqing:

"Company Commander Zhang, please organize a thorough search to see if there are any more of these black Spirit Stones inside the cave."

Then he turned to Liu Ming and continued the conversation he hadn't completed earlier:

"Xiaoliu, where is that pit you mentioned, take me to see it."

Liu Ming nodded, gestured towards the back of the altar, and said:

"Colonel Lin, the pit is right behind the altar, please follow me."

Under Liu Ming's guidance, they retraced their steps for a few moments and soon arrived at a giant pit behind the altar.

The mouth of this pit was somewhat egg-shaped, with a maximum width of about two to three meters.

Inside was pitch black and bottomless.

At the moment, barriers had already been set up around the pit to prevent anyone from accidentally falling in.

Additionally, a military laser measuring device was placed on the left side of the pit, currently displaying a black-and-white screen.

Once everyone reached the edge of the pit, Liu Ming introduced:

"Colonel Lin, the widest diameter of this pit mouth is 2.8 meters, the shortest is 1.9 meters.

We planned to drop a stone down after the laser rangefinder failed, but considering the unknown risks, we decided against it."

Lin Ziming stared at the pit, contemplating for a few seconds, then suddenly thought of a possibility:

"Xiaoliu, could it be that under the pit is something like a light gate space, that's why the detector can't find the bottom?"

Hearing this, Liu Ming shook his head, denying Lin Ziming's guess:

"Colonel Lin, though the laser, at its maximum power, didn't reach the bottom, the light was still visible and wasn't swallowed or blocked.

Besides, we adjusted the angle slightly, trying to make it illuminate the rock wall—the results proved the distance to the rock wall could be accurately measured.

If the deep pit was a different space channel like a light gate, then the laser certainly wouldn't be able to measure any information."

Lin Ziming contemplated for a few seconds in silence, then waved at the warriors around, saying:

"Alright, Xiaoliu, let everyone rest for now and adjust the equipment.

Director Lei Wenjun is on his way; they are exploration experts, let's see if they discover anything."

Lin Ziming then cautiously stepped to the edge of the pit and peered inside.

Though he wanted to try calling out into it, considering this was the Damo Realm, he eventually abandoned such a whimsical idea.

After all, who knows if there's any life underground?

Awakening a boss with a pebble is a classic trope.

Sure, there aren't any underground people in native lands.

But this is the Damo Realm, where any kind of alien lifeform could potentially exist.

According to extreme simulations from the command center, the Damo Realm's ecological conditions combined with spiritual energy could even give birth to giant creatures hundreds of meters in size!

Of course.

This type of biological entity is presently just a speculation.

Even if they exist, their skeletons would struggle to withstand immense pressure, thus movement would certainly be limited.

While Lin Ziming was pondering, Zhang Yaqing quickly approached:

"Captain Lin, we've found two more black Spirit Stones."

Hearing this, Lin Ziming's expression tightened, accepting two stones of the same size:

"Company Commander Zhang, well done."

Before Lin Li and other key personnel arrived on-site, Zhang Yaqing and his team conducted a relatively simple search of the cave.

Just to see if there was any obvious evidence of human remnants or large items.

The cave's area was a full three to four hundred square meters, with numerous irregular rocks scattered around.

Considering Zhang Yaqing could only command five to six people, missing areas during incomplete exploration was quite normal.

Now that Lin Ziming was at the scene, with the search team having a solid leader, it was expected to find new discoveries with all equipment and manpower deployed.

And at the moment Lin Ziming took the two Spirit Stones.

Inexplicably, a sudden urge flashed in his mind—to refine the Spirit Stones and jump into the pit.

Though this impulse came and went quickly, it still startled him into alertness.

Lin Ziming then looked sharply at the Spirit Stones.

Not to boast, but being the current main commander of the troops, Lin Ziming's awareness and mental state are beyond question.

It was unlikely for him to form such inexplicable thoughts just from looking at two Spirit Stones.

Thinking of this, he quickly turned to Patriarch Wei:

"Patriarch, do you have anything that can block spiritual perception and seal these two... these three Spirit Stones together?"

Though Patriarch Wei found Lin Ziming's reaction strange, he still replied:

"That's not difficult, I have an item called the Ice Spirit Box that can do exactly that.

This item is often carried by Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators when traveling in the Damo Realm, to prevent collecting or preserving treasures and spirit materials unexpectedly.

Colonel Lin, hold on for a moment... oh, found it."

Patriarch Wei retrieved a seemingly ordinary small box from his storage pouch and enclosed the three Spirit Stones, handing them to Zhang Yaqing.

Seeing this, Lin Ziming exhaled a sigh of relief.

Just then, the sound of a helicopter echoed outside the cave.

Brr brr brr—

Lei Wenjun had arrived.

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