Exchanging Treasures in the Fortress

The flowers and grass on the plains swayed gently with the wind, while in the distance, vast armies of adventurers heavily encircled Thunder Fortress layer by layer.

"So many people have surrounded Thunder Fortress?" Luo Feng watched from afar, frowning.

The scene before him clearly indicated that this massive force had likely joined hands to blockade the path to Thunder Fortress. Even if one possessed Leiting Shi, what could they do if they were blocked outside the fortress and couldn't enter?

"Big Brother, Second Brother, I'm going to contact Lord Mingyu," Luo Feng transmitted via primal energy.

"Mm." Hong and Lei Shen nodded slightly.

Luo Feng closed his eyes and quickly connected to the Virtual Universe Network.

...

In the Virtual Universe, on Black Dragon Mountain Island, Nine Star Bay.

Luo Feng stood on his lawn, a screen appearing before him. On the screen was an exceptionally majestic and burly man, none other than the external deacon of the Martial Department, Black Dragon Mountain Branch of the Virtual Universe Company.

"Haha, Luo Feng," Mingyu laughed heartily, his smile full of joy.

"Lord Mingyu," Luo Feng bowed slightly in respect. "I see the core area is heavily surrounded by a large army of adventurers. What's going on?"

"Oh, a monopoly!"

On the screen, Mingyu smiled. "This is a unified decision made by the major organizations after learning about the fortress's intelligent life bounty! They've had each faction send out ten percent of their forces to form a joint army. They've heavily encircled and controlled the area around the fortress, prohibiting anyone from non-affiliated forces from entering to exchange treasures."

"Oh," Luo Feng realized.

How overbearing!

Ten percent of the forces, that's roughly 200,000 strong!

A 200,000-strong Ninth-tier Star-level army, blockading the path to a single fortress, was far too easy. This way, even if other unaligned adventurers obtained Leiting Shi, they wouldn't be able to enter and exchange them.

"But you won't have any problems. Your, Hong's, and Lei Shen's avatars and information have been sent to the temporary command post under the names of my subordinates! So, if you go... the 200,000-strong army will know you are under my command, Mingyu of Three Axe Mountain, and won't stop you," Mingyu said with a smile.

Luo Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

How cautious!

They actually collected information on every single person; if you weren't on the list, you simply couldn't enter Thunder Fortress.

"Lord Mingyu, my squad has two more members," Luo Feng said, sending over the simple information, including the avatars, of Tienan River and Aogu.

"Alright, they can also go under the names of my subordinates," Mingyu said with a smile.

"Thank you, Lord Mingyu. I'll disconnect from the Virtual Universe Network now," Luo Feng said, bowing slightly.

"Haha... By the way, Luo Feng, you're going to the fortress now, so you must have made some gains?" Mingyu asked, a hint of expectation in his eyes.

"Lord Mingyu must be aware of the situation within the World of Worlds," Luo Feng said helplessly. "With 2 million troops arriving, my five-person squad has no chance of struggling."

On the screen, Mingyu nodded slightly.

"But we will work hard and won't disappoint Lord Mingyu! If we can exchange for treasures by fighting with all our might..." Luo Feng chuckled.

"Don't worry, I will certainly not treat you unfairly," Mingyu said directly.

"Thank you, Lord."

The communication then disconnected.

...

World of Worlds.

The wind howled as Luo Feng and his five companions swiftly flew towards the distant joint army.

"Halt!" The vast army of adventurers was like an impenetrable wall; not even a mosquito could sneak in. A burly man with a lion's head stretched out his hand and roared.

Luo Feng and his five companions landed.

"We are subordinates of Lord Mingyu of Three Axe Mountain," Lei Shen called out.

"Oh?"

The lion-headed strongman's deep yellow pupils scanned Luo Feng and his five companions. Behind him, nearly a thousand people stood in formation! Around the fortress, there were almost 200,000 troops in total, divided into thirty-six joint defense teams, each with a thousand people. At any given moment, 36,000 people were on alert, then replaced by another batch, ensuring that no one from non-affiliated forces was missed.

"Beep." The lion-headed strongman lowered his head to look at the smart optical computer screen on his arm. Indeed, the simple information, including the avatars of Luo Feng and his five companions, appeared on the screen. The lion-headed strongman scrutinized them.

"Haha..." The lion-headed strongman let out a hearty laugh. "So you're brothers from Three Axe Mountain. Three Axe Mountain's forces aren't far from here; you five just need to ask around a bit, and you'll find them."

"Thank you," Luo Feng smiled.

The five of them directly entered the vast crowd.

The lion-headed strongman immediately transmitted via primal energy: "Five of you, do you have any Leiting Shi for sale? We are willing to pay 10 cosmic crystals per Leiting Shi."

"Apologies, my lord forbids buying or selling," Luo Feng transmitted mentally, glancing at him.

"Anyway, your lord won't know how much Leiting Shi you've obtained here," the lion-headed strongman transmitted. "Why not sell a bit and exchange it for some cosmic crystals?"

"Oh... let me think about it," Luo Feng smiled.

He then quickly left with the other four.

Watching Luo Feng and his five companions depart, the lion-headed strongman rubbed his thick, large nose and snorted in displeasure, clearly unhappy about not acquiring any Leiting Shi.

...

The joint army was stationed with tight external security but loose internal control.

The thirty-six external alert teams were incredibly serious, but inside, there was a cacophony of laughter and chatter. There were even many clandestine transactions for 'Leiting Shi'. As the saying goes, 'Every man for himself, or heaven and earth will destroy him.' Everyone was a Ninth-tier Star-level, and quite a few were indeed buying and selling Leiting Shi.

Amidst the crowd.

Luo Feng and his five companions sat in a circle on the grass. The entire joint army was also seated in small groups, and many people were moving about, conducting various transactions.

"That lion-head was quite greedy just now, offering 10 cosmic crystals for one of our Leiting Shi. Look, over here, some transactions are going for 100 cosmic crystals, and even 200 cosmic crystals for a single Leiting Shi!" Lei Shen said indignantly.

"Cosmic crystals are valuable, but compared to those treasures, they're nothing," Hong said.

"Exchanging for treasures."

Luo Feng looked at the ancient fortress directly ahead.

One minute, two minutes...

One hour, two hours...

Luo Feng watched the fortress for a full three hours. During this time, he noticed something rather peculiar: occasionally, people wearing combat armor with helmets covering their entire heads would enter the fortress. In just three hours, nearly 100 people had entered.

"Could it be that 100 people went in to exchange for treasures in three hours? There are only 312 treasures in total!" Luo Feng wondered.

"Haha, brother, you're mistaken."

A thin, monkey-like figure walking by stopped and looked at Luo Feng with a smile. "Brother, nine out of ten people who enter this fortress are just joining the fun! You see... this joint army, though called a joint army, is actually divided into small squads, each representing various Domain Lords and Realm Lords."

"With 2 million troops, the fighting behind us must be brutal. So, no one wants others to know what treasures they've obtained."

"So, they arrange for their subordinates to enter the fortress, deliberately misleading people. They even pay people from other teams to go in. After all, just strolling through the fortress can earn a large sum of money. Who wouldn't want that?" The thin monkey-like man smiled at Luo Feng.

Luo Feng understood.

Releasing smoke bombs?

Exactly!

The joint army was called a joint army, but internally, they weren't united; they were all wary of each other.

"Brother, do you have any Leiting Shi for sale? I can offer you a high price of 250 cosmic crystals per Leiting Shi," the thin monkey-like man chuckled again.

"I'll offer 300 cosmic crystals for one of your Leiting Shi," Luo Feng said, looking at him.

The thin monkey-like man gave an awkward smile and quickly walked away.

Leiting Shi represented those treasures, and no price was too high for them. It was just that some forces now took advantage of Ninth-tier Star-levels who couldn't resist the temptation of money! 300 cosmic crystals were equivalent to 1 billion Ganwu coins. How could an ordinary Ninth-tier Star-level resist such temptation?

However, those treasures...

For example, Fifth-tier primal energy weapons, when sold outside, commanded terrifyingly high prices.

Ordinary Third-tier primal energy weapons sold for 20-30 billion Heilong coins (average price). Fourth-tier primal energy weapons sold for nearly 100 billion Ganwu coins. Fifth-tier primal energy weapons had an average price of nearly 100 billion cosmic coins! That was equivalent to almost 100 million cosmic crystals! Even a Domain Lord who had just broken through to become a Realm Lord would feel a pang of heartache.

Only a 'Kabu Realm Lord', a peak Realm Lord who was incredibly wealthy, comparable to a 'poor Immortal', possessed such astonishing wealth.

...

Time passed, minute by minute.

People frequently entered the ancient fortress, almost all wearing masked helmets, so no one knew who had exchanged for treasures and who hadn't.

"Whoosh!"

Luo Feng secretly took a breath, wearing alloy combat armor and a helmet that only revealed his eyes. He walked directly towards the fortress.

Stepping out of the crowd, he walked alone towards the fortress.

This made many people look over, scrutinizing Luo Feng... No one could confirm whether the person walking towards the fortress was genuinely going to exchange or merely pretending.

"Your Highness, these are the Leiting Shi delivered by the Second Brigade. They mined two areas and eliminated three squads, obtaining approximately 2.1 million Leiting Shi in total." Amidst the joint army, the Ninth Prince 'Buluolin', surrounded by eight bodyguards, sat there. A man respectfully handed him a spatial wristband.

"2.1 million Leiting Shi?" Buluolin took the spatial wristband and said softly, "Give the order for the other brigades to quickly send over their Leiting Shi. To fully exchange for the three layers of passwords for that inheritance crystal ball, a total of 30 million Leiting Shi are needed. We're still far short."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The man nodded respectfully.

Buluolin turned his head slightly, glancing towards the fortress. At that moment, Luo Feng had just stepped inside.

"Hmph, a bunch of paupers!"

Buluolin sneered, "They all hide their heads and tuck their tails when going to exchange for treasures, and in the end, they only exchange for the inferior ones! Hmph, I don't even care about the bank account of the second-ranked Thunder Realm Lord. Only that incredibly precious complete set of spatial secret technique crystal balls is the most important. It's far more important than all other treasures combined!"

"Your Highness."

Another man rushed in, bowed respectfully, and presented a spatial ring. "These are the 1.68 million Leiting Shi obtained by the Fifth Brigade."

Buluolin's eyes lit up. He took the spatial ring and quickly stood up. "Come, follow me into the fortress. We now have enough to exchange for the first layer of passwords."

"Yes."

Buluolin, accompanied by four bodyguards, made no attempt to conceal his identity and walked directly towards the fortress, immediately drawing the gaze of countless members of the joint army.