Mad for Treasure

In the crowd, Luo Feng looked up at the screen formed by converging light beams above the distant castle. The 68 priceless treasures displayed on the screen ignited a strong desire for possession within Luo Feng. He knew that probably none of the more than ten thousand adventurers present didn't want them; they simply lacked the ability to obtain them. "Too bad no one dares to contend with the Ninth Prince. If the situation weren't chaotic, I'd just have to watch helplessly." Luo Feng's gaze swept over the Ninth Prince, who was surrounded by his retinue at the very front. "Do you wish to obtain these treasures?" The white-bearded old man laughed heartily, "You only need to exchange them for Leiting Shi! Every single treasure here can be exchanged for Leiting Shi. Look, each treasure has a detailed price!" Immediately, the list on the adjacent screen shifted slightly. "No. 1: Complete set of spatial secret technique inheritance crystal ball bank deposit account (triple account). Each account requires 10 million Leiting Shi. Combine all three accounts to retrieve the deposited inheritance crystal ball from the Universe First Bank. No. 2: Master's bank deposit account, requires 8 million Leiting Shi. No. 3: Domain Lord-level bloodline potion (one dose), each dose requires 3 million Leiting Shi. No. 4: ... No. 9: Life Fruits (three), each fruit requires 800,000 Leiting Shi. ... No. 32: D6-class Railguns (three), each requires 210,000 Leiting Shi. ... No. 68: Fifth-tier Origin Weapon, Skyfire Wheel (one piece), each requires 100,000 Leiting Shi." The entire list instantly drove everyone below into a frenzy. "What is Leiting Shi?" "Never heard of this Leiting Shi thing before?" "To be able to exchange for these treasures, Leiting Shi must be incredibly valuable." Discussions erupted ceaselessly. "Are you all wondering what Leiting Shi is?" The white-bearded old man, formed by converging light beams above the castle, smiled. "Leiting Shi is the name I gave it. This stone is unique to this world within a world. Frankly, it's not worth much on its own! But it is exclusive to this world within a world." "Look closely, this is Leiting Shi!" A picture of Leiting Shi appeared on the screen, along with a detailed description. Silence. The more than ten thousand adventurers fell silent. They carefully observed the appearance of Leiting Shi, or quickly recorded the information using their auxiliary optical computers and intelligent optical computers. "However, Leiting Shi is different from Cosmic Crystals. Leiting Shi has very low energy, so your 'energy detectors' will find it difficult to detect. To make things easier for you..." "This is the Leiting Shi distribution map." The white-bearded old man waved his hand again, and a map appeared next to the screen. "This is a simplified map of the world within a world. The entire world within a world is divided into 26 regions based on mountains, swamps, deserts, and so on. Leiting Shi is scattered in certain places within these 26 regions, and its distribution is shown on this simplified map." "Go! Go and mine Leiting Shi! You can kill each other to compete for Leiting Shi; I won't interfere. As long as you have enough Leiting Shi, you can exchange it with me for any treasure you desire." A hint of madness gleamed in the white-bearded old man's eyes. "If you want treasures, then fight for them. I'll be waiting for you in the castle! Obtain Leiting Shi, come to the castle, and exchange it with me for treasures! Go!" The white-bearded old man's light projection dissipated, leaving only the large screen above the castle. The more than ten thousand people remained silent for a moment, then discussions gradually grew louder. In the crowd. "This is great!" Lei Shen whispered, a look of excitement on his face. Luo Feng's heart was also filled with excitement and joy. "Exchanging for Leiting Shi, and it's Leiting Shi unique to this world within a world. What exactly is this sentient AI, 'white-bearded old man,' planning?" Babata's voice rang out. "Judging by his demeanor, this guy has definitely evolved into a sentient AI. Lonely for tens of millions of years... sentient AIs also possess emotions like 'gratitude, attachment, hatred, loneliness.' After tens of millions of years of solitude, this white-bearded old man must have become twisted." "Babata, twisted or not, as long as he lets us exchange for treasures, it's fine," Luo Feng thought. "Understood. I'm just surprised to encounter a sentient AI, that's all," Babata said. Sentient AIs were very rare. Because evolving into a sentient AI was extremely difficult. First, one had to be an extremely advanced AI, and only after experiencing numerous events and a long period of time would there occasionally be a chance of evolution. If they didn't evolve, AIs were merely tools. But once they broke through, they became a special form of life! For example, one of the peak races in the vast cosmos, the 'Machine Race,' was essentially a race of sentient AIs. They were simply sentient AIs possessing mechanical bodies and so on. "Hurry up. Quick, quick. The 17th, 18th, and 19th major formations will form one squad. You are to head to the nearest swamp region on the map to mine Leiting Shi!" The people from North Dragon City shouted loudly, rapidly dividing into teams. "All free adventurers, if you wish to leave the Thunder World and survive to depart Canglan Star, please assist us." "Quick, everyone move! Over here, over here!" Below the castle, the five factions quickly mobilized. Squads of two to three hundred people swiftly flew in various directions, beginning their scramble for Leiting Shi! Everyone understood... Those who started digging earliest had the best chance of getting their hands on it. Luo Feng and his four companions were part of North Dragon City's 18th formation. They had now gathered into a team of nearly 300 people and were rapidly heading towards the swamp region. The vast crowd flew rapidly through the air. "Crazy," Lei Shen shook his head. "This scramble for Leiting Shi will drive everyone mad. Just now, I saw the Ninth Prince, who was at the very front, his expression suddenly turned very ugly." "How could it not be ugly?" Luo Feng chuckled. "The Ninth Prince originally intended to monopolize this treasure, but who knew such a situation would arise! And rightly so, after a true super-expert dies, everyone will want a share of their legacy. It was like that with the Yunmo Star Master, and it's the same with this Kabu Realm Lord." "Luo Feng. When we first arrived, I detected two Leiting Shi regions during our reconnaissance. At the time, I thought they were worthless and ignored them," Babata's voice chimed in. "Two Leiting Shi regions?" Luo Feng's heart surged with wild joy. The Leiting Shi distribution map on the simplified map was very basic. One must know that the entire world within a world spanned millions of kilometers. That distribution map, at most, only let people know that Leiting Shi was roughly within a certain range. As for the exact location, they would have to search slowly! "Leiting Shi has a very low energy signature, much lower than Cosmic Crystals. So, finding Leiting Shi will be difficult for other adventurers. At least, in the early stages, we have an advantage." "However, once those two million troops arrive! I believe those two million troops will definitely bring many valuable detection instruments. Our advantage will be gone by then," Babata said. Luo Feng nodded in understanding. This treasure had already attracted the attention of several of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's largest powers. How could the subsequent armies not be thoroughly prepared? The team of nearly 300 people flew above the world within a world, and along the way, members occasionally deserted. "Leiting Shi is the real treasure. We'll go mine Leiting Shi ourselves. Even if we rely on Leiting Shi to join other organizations like the Black Cloud Society, Hundred Tiger Tower, or Black Dragon Mountain, those organizations would surely be willing to pay a high price for Leiting Shi. Then, we'll naturally be able to leave Canglan Star safely. If we're lucky, we might even exchange for a treasure. Then we'd be rich!" Many adventurers harbored such thoughts. After seeing the treasures, the ambitious ones, like Luo Feng and his group, wanted to exchange for them. Even those with less ambition wanted to acquire Leiting Shi to join other organizations and sell it for a high price! This caused frequent desertions from the nearly 300-person team during their flight, and North Dragon City's internal personnel were powerless to restrain them. In the world within a world, the sky was pitch black. Five streaks of light were rapidly flying through the air—it was Luo Feng and his four companions, who had escaped from the team. "Babata, how much longer?" Luo Feng was in a state of exhilaration. "At this speed, you'll reach that Leiting Shi region in 3 hours and 29 minutes," Babata replied. "Good!" Luo Feng felt his blood boiling. 68 kinds of treasures! Each one was thousands, even tens of thousands of times more valuable than all of Luo Feng's current wealth combined! Even a single treasure was enough to make a Domain Lord-level expert covet it madly. One could imagine how precious these treasures were! "If I don't fight for an opportunity like this, I'll be struck by lightning!" Luo Feng thought to himself. "If gods block, kill gods! If Buddhas block, kill Buddhas!" Lei Shen roared in Chinese. Madness. People would go mad! A 300% profit was enough to drive merchants insane. A tenfold profit was enough to make financial investors like Luo Hua's blood boil with madness! And the treasures Luo Feng and his companions now faced... even Cosmic-level experts would fight desperately, and Domain Lords would slaughter each other! What about them, Star-level practitioners? How many wouldn't go mad? They encountered another adventurer team midway, took a slight detour, and arrived at their destination 3 hours and 40 minutes later. The sky was still pitch black. It was a grassland area, amidst lush weeds. Five figures crouched there: Luo Feng, Hong, Lei Shen, Tienan River, and Aogu. "Leiting Shi begins at about 800 meters below the surface. Within a 20-kilometer radius, there are a total of 128,926 Leiting Shi," Babata's voice echoed in Luo Feng's mind. "There might be more in the surrounding area, but that would require careful investigation. I can only scan a 20-kilometer radius right now." "128,926 pieces?" Luo Feng's eyes lit up, his pupils faintly bloodshot. He clearly remembered the exchange prices for the 68 treasures on the screen. Among them, the last item, the Fifth-tier Origin Weapon 'Skyfire Wheel,' only required 100,000 pieces to exchange! This meant that the Leiting Shi discovered within the current 20-kilometer radius was already enough to acquire one treasure. "Luo Feng, how many Leiting Shi are there?" Hong and Lei Shen both looked at Luo Feng. "128,926 pieces," Luo Feng whispered. Hong's face instantly flushed. Hong, eyes wide, almost bulging out, could only exclaim, "Holy crap!" "We're really rich now," Hong couldn't help but say. "We'll get even richer. If we don't seize this immense opportunity, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives!" Luo Feng said, barely containing his excitement. "Quickly, let's go down and start collecting Leiting Shi. Tienan River, you're in charge of concealing our surroundings." "Yes, Master," Tienan River replied respectfully. Swoosh! Luo Feng led the way, drilling directly into the ground first, followed by Hong, Lei Shen, Aogu, and Tienan River. "Go, Moyun!" With a thought from Luo Feng, slender vines instantly extended from his arm, like dozens of arms, rapidly stretching out to grasp the Leiting Shi.