“Ah, quite a lot. This fifteen-member team actually has nearly 8000 Fang of Cosmic Crystals,” Luo Feng laughed, tossing two spatial rings he had just obtained to Hong. “Big Brother, you keep these.”
Hong caught them mid-air, chuckling. “The more teams like this we encounter, the better.”
“Right!”
Luo Feng nodded with a smile. “With enough Cosmic Crystals, we could even buy ‘Cosmic-Level Servants’ someday. Then, Earth’s foundation in the universe will be more stable.” At present, Earth, as a native planet, was too fragile. Even a slight disturbance could lead to its destruction.
Therefore, the three of them had to fight hard!
“Adding these 8000 Fang now, we have…” Lei Shen counted with his fingers, murmuring, “In the first eight days, we dug up 96,000 Fang of Cosmic Crystals. During the nearly seven days of travel, we collected nearly 26,000 Fang. Before that, we ambushed and defeated six raiding teams, gaining nearly 52,000 Fang. Adding today’s 8000 Fang, altogether… Ha! It’s over 180,000 Fang!”
“You can calculate that number in an instant with your mind, yet you still pretend to count with your fingers!” Luo Feng teased. “Second Brother, look at yourself! Do you still look like the Grand Master of Thunder Martial Arts Institute? I think you’re more like a tofu vendor counting his daily earnings.”
“I’m just happy, what can I say?” Lei Shen blinked, stroking his bald head. “I’ve just never seen so much money before.”
Over 180,000 Fang of Cosmic Crystals!
This was an enormous fortune. Even to the Noranshan Family, this was an astronomical sum!
A common inhabited planet worth trillions of Heilong Coins was considered good. Trillions of Heilong Coins were equivalent to about 700 million Qianwu Coins. A thousand inhabited planets were worth 700 billion Qianwu Coins. The 180,000 Fang of Cosmic Crystals were worth about the same.
“The Inner World is truly a great treasure trove,” Hong couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Creating the Inner World is ten times harder than forming a normal world,” Luo Feng smiled. “It needs to be more stable, so naturally requires more Cosmic Crystals! Constructing an Inner World is a huge undertaking even for a World Lord at the peak of his power! For a World Lord, joining any empire would grant him a stellar territory. A single galaxy could contain hundreds of thousands, even millions of inhabited planets.”
“The wealth of an Inner World is no less than that of a galaxy.”
“What we’ve obtained so far is just a drop in the ocean, equivalent to only a few hundred planets,” Luo Feng said casually, though his heart was filled with joy.
The assets of the Noranshan Family were worth over a thousand inhabited planets.
Therefore…
In the pursuit of a new realm, even Cosmic-Level powerhouses would clash fiercely, leading to the demise of countless experts—all driven by the allure of fortune. Were it not for Qi Niya restraining numerous formidable figures, how could such treasures ever descend into the hands of these fledgling Star-Lord youths?
“Just 180,000 Fang of Cosmic Crystals! In the remote corner of the universe, the Milky Way, this makes us super-rich. But our wealth is probably only a third of the Noranshan Family’s,” Luo Feng laughed. “Compared to Domain Lords, we’re still far behind! Therefore, we all need to keep striving!”
“Haha, right, we’re not there yet,” Lei Shen laughed.
“The opportunity of the Inner World comes once in ten thousand years. If we don’t seize this chance to make a fortune, how can we face ourselves?”
“Move out!” Luo Feng waved his alloy war blade in his hand, pointing toward the core area.
Under the sunlight, the alloy war blade reflected dazzling light.
“Third Brother, this pose of yours is quite impressive.”
“Can’t I be proud for a moment?”
“Haha…”
The members of Luo Feng’s team were in high spirits, laughing and joking, then quietly continued advancing toward the core area.
…
By nightfall, Luo Feng and his team finally reached the core area. By then, their wealth had already surpassed 190,000 Fang of Cosmic Crystals. This achievement was largely due to Babata’s detection and alertness, as well as the powerful combination of Ao Gu and the remnants of the Chi Hun Tong Mu.
…
The core area of the Inner World was a beautiful plain, covered with strange low-growing flowers and grasses, about ten centimeters high, neatly trimmed as if by someone’s hand.
The terrain was gentle, with minimal undulations.
“Heavens…”
“How many people must have died here?” The five of them, standing on the dark plain, were stunned.
In the night sky, occasional faint white rays drifted down, allowing Luo Feng to barely see a few hundred meters around. At a glance, within just a few hundred meters, there were over thirty corpses, male and female, some resembling beastmen, others resembling Earth humans, all dead, their bodies broken.
“Crack!” Luo Feng’s alloy war boots, made entirely of hard alloy, stepped on a piece of white bone, making a sound.
“Hmm…” Luo Feng frowned slightly.
“Third Brother, you were right. The core area is indeed a bloodbath,” Lei Shen’s voice was low. “We’ve just entered the core area, and already seen over a hundred corpses. How many people must have died in this entire core area?”
“The core area holds ninety-nine percent of the Inner World’s Cosmic Crystals. Of course, it’s the most fiercely contested,” Luo Feng sighed.
“We’ll probably kill here too,” Hong mused.
Ninety-nine percent of the Cosmic Crystals were in the core area.
Because the core area was the ‘cornerstone’ of the entire Inner World. Naturally, the most important Cosmic Crystals were protected here, impossible to mine. Mining them would cause the entire Inner World to collapse. When a world is formed, the core Cosmic Crystals form a supply cycle, naturally absorbing cosmic origin energy from the outside, which is why there were large quantities of Cosmic Crystals distributed around the core Cosmic Crystals.
As for the distant peripheral areas where Luo Feng and his team had previously mined,
those were scattered Cosmic Crystals, with much smaller quantities.
“Birds die for food, men die for wealth. It’s human nature!” Luo Feng exclaimed. “Let’s go.”
Luo Feng’s five-man team advanced cautiously toward the central region of the core area. Along the way, they occasionally saw deep pits on the plain, clearly mining pits for Cosmic Crystals. Around these pits were often the corpses of Star-Lord-level adventurers, their blood long dried.
An hour later.
“Down!”
“Advance.”
The five of them crawled to the top of a slightly raised hill, looking into the distance. Far away, there were faint lights and many figures.
“That’s…” Luo Feng pulled out a telescope. Before entering the Inner World, they hadn’t purchased such equipment, but later, after defeating some teams, they found some special devices in their spatial rings and naturally took them.
“There are so many people,” Luo Feng clearly saw individual figures hundreds of kilometers away through the cosmic adventure telescope.
“Wow.” Lei Shen also had a telescope, muttering, “There must be over a thousand people.”
“There are quite a few,” Hong nodded.
“There’s sound,” Tie Nanhe suddenly said. “Yes, there’s sound,” Ao Gu added.
Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen looked at Tie Nanhe and Ao Gu. These two bodyguards were ninth-stage Star-Lords, with much better hearing and vision than Luo Feng and his companions.
“What are they saying?” Luo Feng asked urgently.
“Master, if you advance another one or two hundred kilometers, you’ll be able to hear clearly,” Ao Gu explained.
“Alright.” Luo Feng nodded.
After all, they were still nearly 600 kilometers away from the large group. Advancing another one or two hundred kilometers was still within the safe range. “Advance!” The five of them cautiously and quickly moved forward. As they drew closer, they indeed heard the voices growing louder.
“Brave adventurers! A single world can already make Cosmic-Level powerhouses and Domain Lords envious. This Inner World is ten times rarer and ten times more precious than an ordinary world! Thus, at the exit of the Thunder World on Canglan Star, numerous Cosmic-Level powerhouses, Domain Lords, and even mighty World Lords have already gathered!”
“Our Black Dragon Mountain Star Domain’s two holy places, four major organizations, and sixteen great families have all sent experts!”
“The treasures of the Inner World are destined to be obtained by the Black Dragon Mountain Star Domain.”
“Therefore, all major organizations and forces have already agreed: if an adventurer is not from the two holy places, four organizations, or sixteen families, they will be immediately arrested upon exiting the Thunder World.”
…
The voices from afar were loud, spreading hundreds of kilometers, clearly heard by Luo Feng and his team. Obviously, they were shouting deliberately.
Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen exchanged glances. They already knew this from Domain Lord Mingyu.
Then, they continued listening.
…
“No matter how many Cosmic Crystals you have obtained, or even some special treasures, it’s useless! If you are not from the two holy places, four organizations, or sixteen families, you will be arrested! You’re just working for nothing!”
“But now, you have an opportunity.”
“If you join our Beilong City and temporarily become an external member, we, Beilong City, guarantee under our honor that when you leave the Thunder World and return to Canglan Star, you will be protected by Beilong City and not arrested! As for the Cosmic Crystals you obtained earlier, no one will take them. All you need to do is join us! Help us Beilong City obtain the treasures!”
…
“Just join our Baihu Building, even temporarily, and you will have no safety concerns!”
“The Cosmic Crystals you obtained will be untouched. All you need to do is obey the orders of the Baihu Building, join us, and help us Baihu Building seize the treasures.”
…
One powerful and resonant voice of the Cosmic Common Language spread across the vast plain.
Luo Feng’s five companions looked at each other in astonishment.
Yes!
Baihu Building, Beilong City, Heiyun Association, the holy places of Heilong Mountain and Binghai Divine Nation—all were frantically recruiting ‘independent adventurers,’ guaranteeing under their organization’s honor not to seize the adventurers’ Cosmic Crystals.
“Right, Cosmic Crystals? Even if they obtained all the Cosmic Crystals in the Inner World, it wouldn’t impress the four organizations or two holy places much,” Luo Feng nodded slightly. “What they care about are the important treasures left by World Lord Kabu. Those are the true wonders!”
“They’re recruiting independent adventurers now,” Hong smiled. “Makes sense. The ‘apprentice mercenary trials’ sent by the four organizations and two holy places are all elites. Since they’re elites, they won’t be numerous. Probably only hundreds or a thousand per organization. The real numerical advantage lies in the tens of thousands of independent adventurers!”
From different vassal states, different star systems, different races.
Numerous adventurers without powerful backgrounds or support!
They were weak.
But they were numerous! Combined, they far outnumbered the four organizations and two holy places.
“What do we do?” Hong frowned.
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