Tense Moments

Leiting Shi are relatively smooth, and each one is similar in size, with the largest being only twice the size of the smallest. At the same time, Leiting Shi contain faint traces of thunder energy. This led Luo Feng to speculate that this type of Leiting Shi was likely a peculiar stone born during the 'opening of the Realm-within-a-Realm'. 128,926 pieces!

Even if they could grab 100 pieces per second, it would still take nearly 1300 seconds. Moreover, even with Moyun Teng extending numerous vines, and even some branched tendrils, the need to burrow through the ground consumed a significant amount of time.

“Even collecting Leiting Shi takes a considerable amount of time,” Lei Shen remarked in the underground cave.

“We have Moyun Teng, so it’s relatively fast. If we relied purely on warriors to search, even with a mentalist, burrowing through the ground would be troublesome. It would probably take a thousand people to match the speed of a single Moyun Teng,” Luo Feng chuckled. As a plant, Moyun Teng’s roots are naturally adept at penetrating soil, and its slender form allows it to burrow quickly.

If it were humans, given the toughness of the soil and rocks in the Realm-within-a-Realm, it would indeed take a very long time.

...

Luo Feng and the other four waited patiently in the cave, leaving all the hard work to Moyun Teng.

More than two hours later.

“All done,” Luo Feng exclaimed, thrilled. He couldn’t help but touch a section of vine wrapped around his arm. “Moyun, you’ve worked hard. I’ll need your help these next few days. Here, have a Muya Jing.” Luo Feng tossed a Muya Jing to Moyun Teng, and the extended vine immediately twisted excitedly.

Having undergone its first evolution, it had already acknowledged Luo Feng as its master.

Thus, Moyun Teng was very attached to Luo Feng, much like a child to its parents.

“This is Leiting Shi,” Luo Feng said, turning his hand to reveal a piece of Leiting Shi.

The stone was incredibly smooth, faintly containing a trace of thunder energy, though the energy was very, very sparse.

“Let me see,” Lei Shen said, curiously taking it.

“Over 120,000 pieces of Leiting Shi,” Hong couldn’t help but exclaim. “This kind of opportunity truly is an incredible stroke of luck.”

“Hurry up, time is Leiting Shi now! Time is treasure!” Luo Feng said with a laugh, leading the way as he rushed towards the surface.

“Let’s go, up we go.”

The five quickly reached the surface.

“Luo Feng, the Leiting Shi in this area is probably spread out over more than 20 kilometers. Check around again,” Babata’s voice echoed in Luo Feng’s mind.

“Understood.”

Luo Feng and the other four began moving rapidly around the area.

“This 20-kilometer radius has 16,924 pieces.”

“This 20-kilometer radius has 9,156 pieces.”

“This 20-kilometer radius has 3,208 pieces.”

“This 20-kilometer radius has 853 pieces.”

...

“Haha, we’re rich, Luo Feng! This 20-kilometer radius actually has 159,835 pieces of Leiting Shi, almost 160,000!” Babata shouted excitedly.

Indeed.

The Leiting Shi in this area was spread over roughly a hundred-kilometer radius, with two particularly concentrated spots. One was where Luo Feng and his team first mined, yielding 128,926 pieces. The other, discovered later, contained nearly 160,000 pieces. Other locations had over ten thousand pieces at most, and less than a hundred at least.

Fortunately, Babata’s detection was incredibly precise.

“This is truly a massive treasure trove,” Lei Shen exclaimed, thrilled.

“So many treasures,” Tienan River and Aogu, the two servants, also marveled. These Leiting Shi represented incredibly valuable treasures, items even Realm Lords held in high regard. If used to purchase Ninth-tier Star-level servants, they could easily form a powerful army.

“Start digging,” Luo Feng commanded, his eyes gleaming.

Immediately, Luo Feng and the other four began burrowing into the ground.

Relying on Moyun Teng, they swiftly began the process of collecting Leiting Shi.

Fortunately, this area was very far from the core region. Luo Feng and his team had flown continuously from day to night to reach it. The other ten thousand-plus adventurers had mostly begun their search closer to the core region. After all, there were many Leiting Shi areas.

Comparatively, over ten thousand adventurers was actually a small number.

“Moyun, you’ve worked hard,” Luo Feng said, his mood incredibly joyful, feeling his blood boil with excitement.

This time, it took over eight hours, but they finally excavated all the Leiting Shi from this area, not a single piece left!

“How many?” Hong couldn’t help but ask.

“Sanzi, how much Leiting Shi do we have now?” Lei Shen also couldn’t resist asking.

“Adding the 128,926 pieces we dug up initially, our total amount of Leiting Shi now is...” Luo Feng smiled, “396,201 pieces.”

“Damn, nearly 400,000?” Lei Shen’s eyes widened.

“Just this one area alone has made us rich,” Hong laughed.

Indeed.

If other teams had tried to excavate the Leiting Shi in this area, it would have been difficult to clear it completely. Some were densely packed, others sparsely scattered. Luo Feng, relying on Babata’s detection, managed to dig up all the Leiting Shi. Acquiring nearly 400,000 pieces of Leiting Shi in one go was significant, considering a Fifth-tier primal energy weapon like the Skyfire Wheel only cost 100,000 pieces.

“Let’s go, no time to waste, to the next location,” Luo Feng urged.

On their way here, Babata had incidentally discovered two locations. This was just one of them.

“Yes, the next place,” Lei Shen said, his eyes shining as if a beggar had stumbled upon a mountain of gold.

...

It took nearly 10 hours to reach the first excavation site from the core region, and the excavation itself took almost 11 hours.

Luo Feng and his team continued flying.

After another nearly 38 hours, they finally arrived at the mountainous region of the second excavation site.

...

The sky was pitch black.

It was a continuous mountainous region, with lush vegetation and trees covering the peaks.

“According to the simplified map of Leiting Shi distribution, there are two Leiting Shi areas within this 20,000-kilometer radius. However, a 20,000-kilometer radius! Each area would take a considerable amount of time to search, and ordinary detection equipment is completely ineffective. Only the two most advanced sets of equipment work, but how long would it take for two sets of equipment to cover a 20,000-kilometer diameter?”

“Stop complaining and get to work.”

A vast team of over a thousand people was spread out, continuously searching, and the previous conversation was between two members of that search party.

18 kilometers away from this team.

Luo Feng, Hong, Lei Shen, Tienan River, and Aogu were crouching on the ground.

“Big trouble,” Hong whispered.

“The 2-million-strong army outside has arrived,” Luo Feng said, a hint of anxiety in his voice. “At least in this mountain forest, there’s a team of nearly ten thousand people.” They had been preparing to go to the second excavation site, but unexpectedly encountered a thousand-person team midway, so they immediately detoured. After detouring, they ran into another thousand-person team.

Adding to that, some people were spotted flying in the air from a distance.

They speculated...

...that there should be a large force of nearly ten thousand people gathered in this mountainous region.

The original adventurers numbered just over ten thousand; it was impossible for so many to appear all at once. There was only one possibility—the 2-million-strong army had arrived! In fact, when the castle revealed the treasure list, the vanguard of the 2-million-strong army had already arrived, but they were in the surrounding areas then. Two or three days had passed since.

In many areas of the Realm-within-a-Realm, various divisions of the 2-million-strong army had appeared.

Regarding the ‘simplified map of Leiting Shi distribution’, it was clear that the 2-million-strong army had also obtained it.

“Quick, continue detouring,” Luo Feng commanded.

Night fell in the mountains.

Luo Feng and the other four quickly detoured again, encountering another thousand-person team midway, and detoured once more... After flying several thousand kilometers, they finally reached the second excavation site!

...

“They haven’t dug here yet,” Luo Feng and the other four exclaimed, hiding excitedly in the thorny bushes.

Clearly, there were no signs of excavation in this area.

Babata’s detection also confirmed that there was a large quantity of Leiting Shi underground.

“Leiting Shi isn’t like Cosmic Crystal; it’s very difficult to detect. From the conversation of those search team members just now, we learned that this large force only has two sets of the most advanced equipment capable of detecting it,” Babata said proudly. “And that Leiting Shi distribution map is just a simplified diagram. The entire Realm-within-a-Realm spans millions of kilometers, at most it tells people that Leiting Shi exists in a general area spanning tens of thousands of kilometers.”

“Start digging,” Luo Feng ordered decisively.

The five quickly burrowed into the ground, with Tienan River responsible for concealing the surface of the excavated holes.

Underground.

“This 20-kilometer radius has 210,397 pieces of Leiting Shi,” Babata stated.

“Moyun, it’s all up to you,” Luo Feng said without hesitation. With a thought, numerous slender vines extended from Luo Feng’s arm, rapidly penetrating the soil and delving deeper in all directions.

Babata was in charge of guidance.

Moyun Teng was responsible for grabbing each piece of Leiting Shi. As the vines extended into the rock and soil, upon encountering a piece of Leiting Shi, the vine would immediately sprout tendril-leaves and swiftly wrap around it.

...

A distance of 20,000 kilometers, under the terrifying gravity of the Realm-within-a-Realm, would take even a Ninth-tier Star-level being nearly an hour to fly. Most importantly... a 20,000-kilometer diameter area would require repeated flights back and forth. Such top-tier equipment, precisely because its detection was so meticulous, had a limited range. Babata’s 20-kilometer range was already considered very powerful.

Even if a 20-kilometer scan was done once, a 20,000-kilometer width would require 1000 scans!

If one scan took an hour of flight, with two sets of equipment, it would still take a full 500 hours to complete the scan.

...

Underground.

After more than three hours of excavation.

The slender vines rapidly retracted, shrinking and merging back into Luo Feng’s skin.

“Excellent, this area has been fully excavated. Let’s check the surroundings,” Luo Feng transmitted telepathically. “Everyone, be careful not to be discovered.”

“Understood.”

The five cautiously and swiftly emerged from underground and began a rapid exploration of the surroundings. Soon, they had thoroughly explored the area. This Leiting Shi region was 96 kilometers long and 129 kilometers wide. Within this vast area, there were three particularly concentrated spots: 210,397 pieces (just excavated), 128,302 pieces, and 198,355 pieces.

Other locations had less than 50,000 pieces, with the fewest being only a few hundred.

Overall, this area yielded a slightly larger total quantity than the previous area Luo Feng had excavated.

“To the next spot, the one with 198,355 pieces, let’s dig,” Luo Feng ordered swiftly.

Every second counted!

Every minute meant a large quantity of Leiting Shi being excavated. As Luo Feng and his team nervously dug underground, some teams occasionally flew overhead, unaware that people were right beneath them.

“You all, go dig over there. This area hasn’t been detected by instruments yet.”

“Yes, Captain.”

A small team finally headed directly towards the area Luo Feng and his team were excavating.

“Captain, Leiting Shi! There’s Leiting Shi here!!!”

“What, Leiting Shi?”

“Quickly inform the General Captain and the Realm Lord.”

...

Underground.

“Luo Feng, hurry, someone is burrowing down!” Babata’s voice rang in Luo Feng’s mind.

Luo Feng’s expression changed.

Meanwhile, Moyun Teng was rapidly excavating, the number of Leiting Shi pieces dug up increasing every second.

“They’ve found Leiting Shi and reported it! Quick, many team members are coming down! Get out of here!” Babata roared.

“Moyun, faster, faster, faster,” Luo Feng commanded repeatedly.

Moyun Teng rapidly retracted, no longer caring about the remaining Leiting Shi, and in the blink of an eye, it completely withdrew back into Luo Feng’s arm.

“Go!” Luo Feng commanded.

“Everyone, be careful. The moment we emerge, follow me and run quickly. There are already over a thousand Ninth-tier Star-level beings outside. However, since it’s a mountainous forest, we still have a chance to escape,” Luo Feng instructed via primal energy transmission, and the other four nodded slightly.