The so-called lightning pearl was some sort of crystallized lightning essence, similar to Xiang Shaoyun's Yun Flame and yin devil wind. The Purple Lightning Pool was filled with extremely powerful lightning energy that even Soul Foundation Realm cultivators could use to cultivate. It also proved that the lightning power in the space was at the Sovereign level.

Thus, a lightning pearl formed at a place like this was most likely of a higher grade than Xiang Shaoyun's Yun Flame and yin devil wind. That was how Money had grown so rapidly in less than a month. Xiang Shaoyun was envious, but he did not feel any malice. He treated Money as his brother, and to see a brother grow stronger was a joyful thing.

"Boss, let's continue cultivating here. I can sense that the pool still contains lightning energy of extreme purity. It's enough for us to keep growing," proposed Money.

Xiang Shaoyun gave it some thought before saying, "I'm not staying, but if you want to stay, I won't object."

He had already reached his limit of how much lightning energy he could suppress within him. It was time to gather other energies and balance his nine energies before advancing.

"I'll go with you, boss. I'm afraid I will really get kidnapped. Humans are too evil!"

The smile vanished from Xiang Shaoyun's face as he was a human as well.

And thus, the two left the space together. But before that, Money went back into Xiang Shaoyun's astral cosmos sea so others wouldn't notice him. After paying over 200,000 contribution points, Xiang Shaoyun went straight into the zone Vicious Steel Mist.

This independent space was completely different from the space containing the Purple Lightning Pool. It was actually an area filled with golden mountains. A large number of academy members could be seen mining for goldsteel stones in the area.

The goldsteel stones could be used as crafting materials, and those found here would be the best of the best, classified as sovereign-grade materials. Furthermore, high quality spirit crystal veins could be found as well. In fact, there were rumors that there was also a saint gold crystal here.

The saint gold crystal was similar to the saint lightning crystal. Both were more than just regular spirit crystals, as they both contained pure and boundless energy. A single saint crystal was comparable to over 10,000 regular spirit crystals.

It was obvious how valuable a single saint crystal could be. More importantly, even when one offered 10,000 high-grade spirit crystals for a saint crystal, the holder of the saint crystal would still be unwilling to sell it. As for the big piece of saint lightning crystal Xiang Shaoyun had gotten from Money, it could be cut into about 30 crystals the size of a regular crystal.

That meant that the saint lightning crystal in his hand was worth about 300,000 spirit crystals. The goldsteel stone mines and the high-grade spirit crystal mines in the space belonged to the academy. Thus, to take any of the mined ores required one to pay the equivalent amount of contribution points.

Additionally, there were also missions to be completed, namely mining or protecting the mines from being taken over by non-humans. A certain life form known as the goldmen resided here.

A goldman was an odd humanoid life form that was about twice as tall as a regular human and had a body of gold that contained boundless strength. They could directly consume metallic ores, goldsteel stones, and spirit crystals to grow.

One could say that this independent space was their habitat, one that the academy had taken over. Nevertheless, the academy had not killed them off and had left half the Vicious Steel Mist for them to live in.

Of course, the goldmen were unhappy with the arrangement, as the space had originally been their territory and half had been taken from them. And thus, they would frequently come over to the human side to steal the mined materials.

For them, the materials were sources of food that they would not give up. Of course, they were also afraid of angering the academy's higher-ups. Thus, they would generally only send some Emperor Realm goldmen to do the thieving instead of launching a large-scale attack.

That was something the Dragon Phoenix Academy would still accept. After all, they also hoped to pressure their disciples with the goldmen so that their disciples could grow faster. This was something Xiang Shaoyun had learned from Tang Longfei.

Currently, both Tang Longfei and Lady Shura were probably cultivating somewhere in the Vicious Steel Mist. The zone was filled with high-quality gold energy capable of allowing any gold cultivator to grow rapidly. Ownership of these unique zones were the reason why the academy had been able to remain strong and powerful all this while.

Upon his arrival, Xiang Shaoyun sensed strands of rich gold energy all around him. He couldn't help but circulate his cultivation method, pulling the energy into his gold star. As he scanned his surroundings, he found that there were many more people here than in the lightning zone. After all, there were far more cultivators of the traditional five elements than of the wind, lightning, light, and darkness elements.

As Xiang Shaoyun walked around, he found that mist rich with vicious energy shrouded the peaks of the zone's golden mountains. Absorbing the vicious energy would increase the offensive power of one's gold energy. That was probably how this place had earned its name. Xiang Shaoyun picked a random nearby mountain and started heading over.

But before he could approach the mountain, a warning came, "Stop your approach, or don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

The voice forced Xiang Shaoyun to stop. He rubbed his nose and muttered, "Looks like I need to figure out which spot is empty."

He then spread the senses of his Nether Soul Domain around the more than 10 mountains near him, but he found that all of them were occupied. Although he could always snatch one with force, he decided against it. He viewed himself as a kind person who would not bully the weak.

Of course, any of his ex-enemies would spit at that. Would a self-proclaimed overlord actually be kind?

Xiang Shaoyun continued traveling around, and he discovered that some mountains were heavily barricaded and nobody was allowed to approach. The people manning the barricades were academy overseers and disciples. There were also some miners hired from outside the academy.

Xiang Shaoyun couldn't resist exclaiming inwardly, The academy is really, really rich. Just look at all the mines they own!

He took a detour around the mines and continued looking for a spot to cultivate. After a while, he suddenly sensed an intense battle ahead of him. He wasn't interested in getting involved in it, but he suddenly sensed a familiar aura. Curious, he extended his senses. What he saw filled him with fury.