Chapter 840: Destination
Wu Long stashed the whole body of the Demonic Beast to further study it and its abilities at a later day, only cutting out the core so that itâs potency would not dissipate.
âFollow me, there is something good down belowâ, Wu Long then spoke to the three ladies who nodded and flew down following him, as he dug his way to one of the tunnels that the beast made deep underground, underneath all of the crushed rock debris.
Though he did not really âdigâ, he was actually simply collecting the said rocks and boulders into his Earth Spatial Ring, massive amounts of it as the whole of the gravel bed around began to sink.
They reached the more solid bedrock underneath, as the whole area around them â with all the crushed rock now gone â started resembling a huge crater.
Thus, many permanent tunnels the creature made remained.
The beast was several times larger than a human so they simply floated down the tunnel that Wu Long picked, going deep underground.
They soon reached a whole network of tunnels that the beast made, likely hunting for ores and minerals to consume and strengthen itself.
And then, as they got even deeper into this tunnel system, Cai Yin, Gong Liwei, and Hong Yue felt a distant aura of a natural treasure.
âHeh, so thatâs why it was so desperate to get us even in the air⊠we were just closest to it when it discovered thisâŠâ, Wu Long chuckled, sensing the aura in more detail now that he was closer.
They soon reached a small natural cave that the tunnel cut into.
There was something embedded in a wall of the cave, giving off a faint metallic luster.
âItâs the Scarlet Vein Iron⊠a rare 3rd-tier Profound Grade iron ore that could be smelted and refined to produce Scarlet Veined Steelâ, Wu Long nodded, âthe difficulty in obtaining it with all of its characteristics intact, is that it has to soak in blood before being extracted from its birthing ore veinâ
âWasnât it able to find other Demonic Beasts to do that nearby?â, Hong Yue asked.
âThe blood of creatures inhabiting this Secret Realm is no goodâ, Wu Long shook his head, âYou saw it, itâs differentâ
The three ladies nodded, remembering the putrid-smelling slimy and acidic âbloodâ that melted the ground, as well as corroded and rusted Wu Longâs steel wires when he extracted the cores.
âHowever, we donât need to extract it bit by bit, we can just take the whole ore veinâ, Wu Long then chuckled, as his Earth Rune began pulsating, pumped with his Spiritual Qi.
âW-wait⊠youâre not going to-âŠâ, Gong Liwei widened her eyes, looking at him with disbelief. Cai Yin and Hong Yue, on the other hand, while being surprised, had faces of having given up on expressing shock.
âYepâ, Wu Long nodded with a wide grin.
Their surroundings shook as cracks began forming in the surrounding cave walls, ceiling and floor, chunks of rocks floating and swiftly collected by Wu Long into his Spatial Ring.
They then began seeing the ore vein being isolated, left in the middle of cleared rock and soil.
By the time he finished, the whole vein was the size of a small mountain, fully isolated from the surroundings, suspended in the air by the rock parts which floated at Wu Longâs will.
âBut⊠you canât fit this into a Spatial Ring, right?â, Gong Liwei suddenly realized that it was too large of an object.
Even if a Spatial Ring had sufficient space, there was actually a limit on how large of an single solid object could fit.
And this definitely exceeded the maximum, for at least Profound Grade rings.
âWhich is why I am glad to have made it in time to learn thisâ, Wu Long smiled, closing his eyes and concentrating.
A mystical mist began appearing around him, resembling Fen Baihuâs mist, but darker, with gray and dark gray, even a tinge of black undertones, with dark blue luminous hues mixed into it.
He still couldnât do it fast, and definitely not as effortlessly as Fen Baihu did, rather, it was extremely slow, and required incredible concentration.
However, the mist started slowly expanding, and more of it started appearing around the isolated floating ore vein. First thin strands that barely were visible, then more and more, gradually obscuring the ore vein from view, and then eventually completely enveloping it.
The mist stayed in place for nearly 20 minutes, swirling, as Wu Long furrowed his eyebrows.
The three ladies didnât disturb him, quietly waiting to his side.
âFuuâ, a long exhale, and the mist started gradually dissipating, the ore vein no longer there.
Though now that the pressure that the ore vein gave off to the surroundings disappeared, the surroundings instantly lost their stability.
âAnother reason to work more on the Mystic Realmâ, he thought with a satisfied smile as Gong Liwei looked at him with round eyes amid the shuddering underground which started to show signs of collapse.
âWell then, we better get out of here, it seems the placeâs getting quite unstable. Itâs unsafe being underground and crushing things, as well as taking away supporting structureâ, Wu Long said with an innocent and carefree smile to the three beauties whose eyes showed it wasnât something he should be saying of all people.
They did not need to rush too much to get away though, as Wu Long was clearing the way, and keeping the structure of the tunnels ahead of them somewhat intact, though it all collapsed right behind them.
Floating up from the tunnel into the air, Gong Liwei and Cai Yin sighed with relief, as even knowing they were safe with Wu Long around, it was still unnerving to be so deep underground while it collapsed.
Even Hong Yue, though she did not show it, was constantly on edge when they were still deep in the tunnels.
They watched as the whole area, even beyond the âcraterâ that Wu Long cleared of the crushed rock before started collapsing, creating an even larger and deeper depression in the terrain, and then saw ground water break in a few places, signifying that if this place existed beyond the seven minutes outside, it wouldâve had a lake form in here eventually.
âI was wondering, why didnât we go for the center plateau of the continent after the Southern Sea Island?â, Gong Liwei then asked as she was looking at this.
She was reminded of it from the thought about the lake.
The place of the most powerful Spiritual Land on the continent, the Emerald Falls City would be a natural place to aim for, after all. So it would make sense to go there at maximum speed right after visiting Wu Longâs goal in the south instead of slowly progressing toward it.
âThis Secret Realm overall changes quite drastically each time it opens, but thereâs one thing that remains constant, is that there is a powerful barrier that exists around the plateau of the Emerald Falls Cityâ, Wu Long explained.
He then added, âI can, of course, get us through it, but the treasures that are in there, are said to only mature on the final 7th day, when the barrier weakens and then finally disappears, so there is no need to go through the troubleâ
âSaid to? You donât know what it is?â, Hong Yue asked, used to having clear objectives with known parameters, even if the surrounding circumstances were fluid or unknown.
âIt too, changes every timeâ, Wu Long nodded, âI heard at times there were extremely valuable Alchemy Ingredients, at other times the lake waters turned into one or another kind of natural essence elixir, there were times when there were valuable fish which had beneficial Neidans, and so on. Weâll learn what our luck got us when we get thereâ
âI seeâ, Gong Liwei nodded, as did Cai Yin and Hong Yue.
âWhat our luck, or the upcoming Generational Wave bringsâ, Wu Long added inwardly, as the effects of a Generational Wave werenât exactly limited to the time it actually arrived, especially with a unique Secret Realm like this one.
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