Opening the Treasure

Deep within the World Within a World, late at night.

Luo Feng and his four companions temporarily joined the North Dragon City faction. The most central area of the entire plain was mainly divided into five major factions.

Within the North Dragon City faction.

“Senior Brother, these are Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen, whom I mentioned.” Luo Feng and his four companions were conversing with the North Dragon City members, and He Ruo was introducing them. “This is my Senior Brother, ‘Kashanlun’.”

“So you’re the ones who saved my two junior brothers, thank you. Oh, I have important matters to attend to, so I’ll leave you to Junior Brother He Ruo.” Kashanlun smiled and departed. He was very lean, about 1.5 meters tall, with eyes faintly glowing green, exuding a strong aura of malevolence.

Watching Kashanlun leave.

Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen exchanged glances. Clearly, Kashanlun hadn't paid them much mind. It was likely only out of respect for He Ruo that he bothered to show up at all.

“My Senior Brother is just like that, don’t mind him,” He Ruo explained.

“It’s fine,” Luo Feng replied with a smile.

“Our North Dragon City faction has about 2100 people in total, divided into formations of 100 people each. This is mainly to prevent chaos.” He Ruo gestured around. Adventurers were gathered in groups of 100, so if one formation experienced unrest, it wouldn't affect the others.

“Where would you like to go? There are six formations with some vacancies right now,” He Ruo said with a smile.

“We’ll try to stay close to your North Dragon City’s main organization’s formation,” Luo Feng said.

“Alright, no problem.”

...

The 18th formation of the North Dragon City faction was where Luo Feng and his companions were currently located.

The next morning.

After chatting with other members of the formation for most of the night, Luo Feng and his four companions had learned a lot of information.

“So, the treasure is there!” Luo Feng gazed at the central area surrounded by the five major factions. It was a castle built on the plain, entirely deep blue.

“The five major factions’ guesses are very reasonable,” Lei Shen nodded. “Throughout the World Within a World, swamps, deserts, lakes, plains, mountains, grasslands, and so on, are all natural environments. Only this one building exists! And it’s built in the absolute core of the World Within a World. Above it is the light sphere! A castle in such a location is indeed very likely to be where the treasure is hidden.”

“The treasure!”

“The treasure is inside the castle, but none of the five factions dare to make a move,” Luo Feng said, shaking his head.

Hong chuckled, “That’s normal. Initially, there weren’t many people from the five factions in the core area. They were worried that if they started fighting, a large number of independent adventurers would ‘reap the benefits of their struggle.’ So, they began to continuously recruit more people; if one side recruited, all five sides did! Now they’re just waiting for the right moment to seize it.”

“I wonder when they’ll finally make their move,” Lei Shen muttered.

“They’re not in a hurry. The vanguard of the 2 million strong army from outside is probably just entering the World Within a World now,” Luo Feng said with a smile. “It’ll take about seven more days to fly from the edge of the World Within a World to the core area.”

“So, the battle will likely erupt within seven days!”

...

Luo Feng's prediction was correct. On their third day after joining the North Dragon City faction, a major event occurred.

Within the World Within a World, a white light sphere hung suspended in the air, casting down its radiance.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In the sky, dense streams of dark figures suddenly flew from afar towards the five major factions.

“So many people?”

“How did so many people suddenly appear?” There was some commotion within the five major factions.

Luo Feng, mingling in the crowd, looked up at the sky. With a glance, he roughly confirmed the number: “Around six hundred people? And from the looks of it, they seem to be from the same force. Six hundred people, for the five major factions, completely upsets the balance.”

The tens of thousands of adventurers across the five major factions began to whisper amongst themselves.

“Heilong Mountain, Saqisen greets His Royal Highness, the Ninth Prince!” A loud voice echoed across the sky.

“Greetings to His Royal Highness, the Ninth Prince!”

In perfect unison, as if the heavens were thundering, a large group from the Heilong Mountain Holy Land respectfully bowed simultaneously. In the high sky, over six hundred people surrounded a pale-skinned youth. The youth stood mid-air, his eyes like lightning, surveying the scene below. His voice resonated in the ears of everyone present: “I, the Ninth Prince of the Empire, ‘Buluolin’, intend to claim this treasure. Those who stand in my way, die!!!”

Silence!

All five major factions fell silent. The Heilong Mountain faction naturally supported the imperial family, as the Heilong Mountain Holy Land was the very foundation of the imperial family!

The other four major factions were momentarily thrown into disarray.

“Impressive.”

In the crowd, Luo Feng watched the incredibly arrogant Ninth Prince in the sky, marveling inwardly, “This Ninth Prince didn’t appear at first, but instead continuously gathered forces in the surrounding areas, then suddenly showed up at the crucial moment! This instantly boosted Heilong Mountain’s strength and caught the other four sides off guard.”

...

On the plain, the other four major factions buzzed with low whispers.

“Your Royal Highness, Ninth Prince.” A high-pitched, powerful voice came from the Hundred Tiger Tower faction. A burly, muscular young man, with two curved black horns on his forehead, looked up at the Ninth Prince in the sky and declared loudly, “This World Within a World treasure, for you to try and swallow it alone, isn’t that a bit too—”

Swoosh!

A blinding white light instantly pierced through the burly young man, his head vanishing into nothingness in an instant.

Silence!

All five major factions were stunned.

A visual afterimage of the white light faintly lingered in their vision. Everyone was somewhat dazed, yet they all understood what had just happened! Just now, a laser beam had killed the leader of the Hundred Tiger Tower.

...

In the crowd.

Luo Feng and his four companions were all shocked. Lei Shen whispered, “It was too fast. That laser weapon seemed to have no charge-up time; it fired instantly.”

“Yes, very fast, an instant kill,” Luo Feng thought, secretly alarmed.

Back then, he had used a B6-grade laser cannon to attack the Golden Horned Beast! That laser cannon required a certain amount of time to charge before firing. However, just now... that laser beam had no warning whatsoever.

...

In the sky.

Behind His Royal Highness, the Ninth Prince, stood nine bodyguards. Each of them held a weapon about three meters long with a caliber of approximately thirty centimeters, resembling an enlarged version of a ‘man-portable rocket launcher’ from Earth.

“Allow me to introduce these.”

“Nine C2-grade laser guns! These are the latest models, just acquired.” His Royal Highness, the Ninth Prince, swept his gaze across the crowd below, noticing the pale faces of the other faction leaders, and couldn’t help but smile. “As for their power, one shot can almost kill a Universe-level Second-tier expert. I brought a few along for safety when I came to the Thunder World for my probationary assessment. I never expected to encounter something like the ‘World Within a World’.”

“I trust no one will try to stop me, right?”

The Ninth Prince, ‘Buluolin’, swept his gaze across the major factions below.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Nine C2-grade laser guns. Generally, energy weapons reaching C-grade were considered restricted. They were extremely difficult to acquire, and even if one could, the price would be astronomical! The cost of a single C2-grade laser gun was not much lower than that of a Universe-level First-tier or Second-tier slave.

Astronomical weapons!

“Excellent. Everyone is very cooperative.” The Ninth Prince smiled and swooped down, followed by over six hundred people.

Immediately, the Ninth Prince, leading over six hundred people and a large contingent from the Heilong Mountain faction, marched grandly towards the castle. The other four major factions hesitated slightly, but then, a step slower, followed alongside, also heading towards the castle.

...

The crowd moved forward, Luo Feng and his four companions mingled within the North Dragon City faction.

“Damn, just like that, it’s stolen?” Lei Shen’s eyes widened.

“It’s frustrating,” Luo Feng said, looking at the figures far in the lead.

“He has nine C2-grade laser guns, making his peak combat power ‘invincible’. And he has three to four thousand people under him! With both overwhelming combat power and a large force, plus his identity as a ‘Prince’—a Prince of the Heilong Mountain Empire, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill the elites of those organizations,” Hong shook his head. “With such momentum, no one can stop him.”

Luo Feng and his four companions could only watch helplessly.

...

Large contingents from North Dragon City, Black Cloud Society, Hundred Tiger Tower, and the Holy Land Ice Sea Divine Kingdom—these four major factions—could only watch this scene unfold.

Those nine C2-grade laser guns, among adventurer teams without Universe-level experts, were absolutely invincible deterrent weapons! Whoever he wanted to kill... no one could escape. If he only had nine laser guns, he wouldn’t be able to deter the tens of thousands of adventurers from the four factions. The main reason was that he already had three to four thousand people under his command!

“Stop!” The Ninth Prince, Buluolin, raised his left hand high.

Whoosh!

The forces from the Heilong Mountain Holy Land halted, and the other four factions could only stop as well.

In the distant crowd.

“Truly impressive,” Lei Shen murmured in admiration.

“This is momentum, the grand momentum has been established,” Hong sighed.

“No one can stop him now,” Luo Feng watched silently.

After the Ninth Prince, ‘Buluolin’, gave his command, the forces of all major factions halted. The Ninth Prince, ‘Buluolin’, then proceeded towards the castle with his nine bodyguards. Under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, he slowly and cautiously approached the castle.

“Sangbi, open the castle for me,” the Ninth Prince, ‘Buluolin’, commanded, pointing at the castle.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

One of the bodyguards behind him respectfully replied. The curly-haired bodyguard, clad in black alloy combat armor, suddenly had a helmet automatically form, encasing his entire head. Then, this bodyguard cautiously walked towards the ancient castle, a structure that had stood for tens of millions of years, never opened by anyone.

The castle gate was 12 meters high and 8 meters wide.

The bodyguard reached the gate, placed his hands on the castle door, and exerted force...

...

Tens of thousands of adventurers were all staring at the castle...

The Ninth Prince, ‘Buluolin’, also stared at the castle, a flush of excitement on his face...

In the crowd, Luo Feng and his four companions also watched from afar as the bodyguard pushed the door...

...

As the bodyguard exerted force, the castle gate trembled slightly, and faint dust and debris drifted down from all directions.

Sizzle! Sizzle!~

Streaks of electric snakes suddenly burst forth from various parts of the castle. Massive amounts of lightning enveloped the entire structure. Almost instantly, before the bodyguard could even retreat, the lightning had already pierced his body. With a sizzle, as if his hair had been singed, the bodyguard was directly reduced to ashes, leaving behind only his glowing red, scorching alloy combat armor.

This scene astonished tens of thousands of adventurers.

“This—” Cold sweat beaded on the Ninth Prince, Buluolin’s forehead. He flashed back, retreating into the group of bodyguards behind him. If he had been the one to push the door, he probably would have died too.

The electric snakes continued to circulate around the castle.

The lightning grew more intense. Gradually, the entire castle transformed into a lightning castle, bathed in electrical currents.

Luo Feng and his four companions in the distant crowd also watched the scene before them in shock.