With that thought, the cultivator addressed as Second Brother slowly drew his divine sense into the spatial ring in his hand.
The spatial ring held a jumble of miscellaneous items.
And at the very center of the spatial ring lay a large pile of spirit stones, piled high.
The quality and size of these spirit stones were identical to those in Li Qi's own Dixu Realm.
Counting carefully, there were twenty of these spirit stones in total.
With a thought, Second Brother took out one of them.
This particular spirit stone appeared somewhat dim, its spiritual essence not very apparent. It seemed to have been used multiple times, yet not completely drained of its spiritual energy.
Holding the spirit stone in his hand, he brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply. A faint trace of pure spiritual energy was drawn from the stone and into Second Brother's nostrils.
Second Brother's face was filled with intoxication.
Beside him, the cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage immediately spoke sternly.
"Be economical with them. Grandpa only gave us twenty spirit stones each for this journey, to be used along the way. Don't you use yours up first and then come asking me for more when you're unwilling to absorb the thin, impure spiritual energy."
"Got it, Eldest Brother, I know my limits,"
Second Brother returned the spirit stone to his spatial ring, saying sheepishly.
Immediately, the two figures sped onward through the void.
These two brothers continued their journey for another half a month.
After half a month of travel in the void, both their spirits and bodies were extremely fatigued.
"Eldest Brother, I really can't take it anymore. Why don't we find a lower realm to rest for a while? This void is simply too difficult to endure."
Second Brother said weakly.
Eldest Brother nodded upon hearing this.
"Indeed, then let's try to find a nearby lower realm where we can rest."
Half a day later, the gazes of the two brothers fell upon one direction.
There, a lower realm existed.
The two brothers exchanged a glance, their speed increasing slightly as they prepared to enter the lower realm directly to rest.
And at that very moment.
From within this lower realm, a figure suddenly appeared, speaking with a rather unfriendly tone.
"Who are you? What are you doing coming to our Dixu Realm?"
Li Qi eyed the two with vigilance.
These two had been not far from the Dixu Realm earlier, and as the Plane Lord, his authority had already sensed them.
Only when he confirmed that these two were heading towards the Dixu Realm did Li Qi finally appear.
After all, as the Plane Lord of the Dixu Realm, he couldn't just let such unknown individuals into his realm.
The sudden appearance of Li Qi startled the two of them.
Although Li Qi's cultivation realm seemed to be still some distance away from their peak Nascent Soul stage, for some unknown reason, these two brothers felt that Li Qi before them was extremely dangerous.
"You... are you the Plane Lord of this lower realm?"
"Yes, so what? What do you want?"
Li Qi looked at the two and replied.
Hearing this, the two brothers exchanged a look.
Then, the Eldest Brother clasped his hands respectfully towards Li Qi.
"Esteemed sir, my name is Zhang Qing'an, and this is my brother, Zhang Qingfeng. We are from the Cangyun Realm. We have been traveling through this void for quite some time and wish to enter your world to rest and recover our spiritual energy. May I ask if you could accommodate us?"
"If you are worried that we might harm the people of your world, you can simply place us in the Heavenly Dao Space."
"Cangyun Realm?"
Zhang Qing'an smiled, "Esteemed sir, Cangyun Realm is the name of the upper realm that cultivators from lower realms like yours ascend to."
Hearing this, Li Qi was surprised.
Someone from the upper realm?
"If you people from the upper realm are doing well, why are you out and about?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qing'an and Zhang Qingfeng exchanged a look and smiled.
"Esteemed sir, everyone has their secrets, and it is not convenient for us to explain clearly."
Zhang Qing'an paused for a moment, then continued.
"However, esteemed sir, if you are willing to let us rest in your world for a period, we will naturally not absorb your world's spiritual energy for free; we will pay compensation."
Hearing Zhang Qing'an's words, Li Qi knew he had overstepped. It was indeed not wise to ask for such details.
Perhaps the more he asked, the sooner he would die.
"It's fine to let you rest in the Heavenly Dao Space, but your compensation..."
Li Qi sized them up and then said.
At the same time, he felt a little excited. After all, they were people from the upper realm, so the compensation they offered should at least be something valuable.
Zhang Qing'an thought for a moment, as if making a decision, and finally gritted his teeth and said.
"Esteemed sir, we are both at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. If we enter your world to recover our spiritual energy, how about we give you one spirit stone each as compensation?"
"?"
Li Qi slowly formed a question mark.
One spirit stone?
As compensation for peak Nascent Soul experts recovering their spiritual energy in my world?
No, could it be that the spirit stones they mentioned are different from the spirit stones in my Dixu Realm?
Li Qi thought to himself.
He then turned his gaze back to the Zhang Qing'an brothers.
"What kind of spirit stones are you talking about? Could you show me one first?"
Hearing Li Qi's words, the two brothers exchanged a look.
Zhang Qingfeng, the younger brother, sent a divine sense to secretly speak to his elder brother, Zhang Qing'an.
"Eldest Brother, this world seems to be more barren than we could have ever imagined. Even the Plane Lord has never seen a spirit stone."
Eldest Brother Zhang Qing'an's expression remained unchanged. "It's normal. I've heard from Grandpa before that some lower realms are extremely resource-poor, and cannot even produce spirit stones. They can only rely on absorbing the impure spiritual energy from the heavens and earth to improve their strength."
"However, it is a small world after all, and the spiritual energy concentration is much better than in the void. We shouldn't be too picky. We'll leave after resting and replenishing our spiritual energy."
After Zhang Qing'an finished his private conversation with his brother, he waved his hand, and a spirit stone appeared in his hand.
A faint smile appeared on Zhang Qing'an's face.
"Esteemed sir, please take a look. This is the spirit stone I was referring to."
Li Qi fell silent after looking at it.
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
If you don't want to give spirit stones, then don't! Why insult me by giving me one?
However, Li Qi still wanted to ask about the upper realm from these two, so he didn't directly lash out and kick them out.
"Um... um... you two peak Nascent Soul cultivators, one spirit stone each... isn't that... a bit too little...?"
Hearing Li Qi's words.
Second Brother Zhang Qingfeng's expression immediately changed.
The Plane Lord of this world was too greedy!
"No way, two spirit stones aren't enough for you? We're just two Nascent Soul cultivators; our consumption isn't high. You're clearly making a huge profit by taking two spirit stones of pure spiritual energy. We're not some Void Refinement or Tribulation Crossing stage experts who need to absorb a massive amount of spiritual energy from your small world."
"Is this lower realm of yours made of gold, or is the spiritual energy in your lower realm made of gold?"