What the Hell Is Going On?

Standing before the hundred-meter-high, Deathly Silent Crystal mountain, Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes.

The Divine Fire danced joyfully within his Dantian universe, growing many times stronger than it had a month ago. The pure Origin of Death almost solidified, swirling around his Divine Soul.

But he still hadn't grasped the basics of alchemy.

It's as if you're looking through the thinnest window paper; you can see the scenery on the other side, but you can't seem to break through it.

"It's still lacking something."

Chen Fan stood up, dusted off imaginary dust, and sighed listlessly as he looked at the Deathly Stillness Creatures still diligently and enthusiastically mining in the distance.

There's enough Kindling, but this job gets pretty boring after a while.

Just then, he Divine Thought sensed a familiar energy fluctuation in the planet's orbit, and a Starship tore through space and hovered steadily.

He knew that the academy's logistics team responsible for recycling the crystals had arrived.

Inside the cold Starship, two figures were enveloped by a teleportation beam and precisely teleported to the dilapidated outpost.

One of them was Liu Zhen, an older student wearing a gray uniform with a slightly numb expression.

The other was Zhang Tao, a junior student who was on his first field mission, his face filled with nervousness and curiosity.

"Senior Liu, is this Annihilation Seven Star? The aura of death is so strong!"

As soon as Zhang Tao landed, he couldn't help but shiver.

"Nonsense." Liu Zhen expertly checked the almost extinguished energy readings at the outpost, conducting pre-shift training without even looking up. "Remember, this is not a safe place. Ordinary Golden Body Realm cultivators will have their minds worn away if they stay here too long. When you see that junior brother guarding the outpost later, no matter what state he's in—whether he's gone mad or stupid—don't be surprised."

He paused, then emphasized, "Our mission is to collect ten thousand crystals, then leave immediately, understand?"

"I... I understand." Zhang Tao swallowed hard, already labeling the junior student guarding the town, whom he had never met before, as a "pitiful person" in his mind.

The two walked into the deep mine, one after the other.

The expected onslaught of deadly Deathly Stillness Creatures did not appear, nor was there even a trace of fighting.

As they went deeper, they heard not the roar of energy and the shrill howl, but a continuous cracking sound.

The sounds were dense and orderly, like a huge underground factory operating methodically.

The numbness on Liu Zhen's face gradually faded, turning into deep confusion.

What's that noise?

As they rounded a huge bend, the sight before them instantly Petrification the two geniuses from the Star River Martial Academy.

At the edge of the field of vision stretched an endless crimson ocean.

Tens of thousands of terrifying and ferocious, Deathly Stillness Creatures, like the most obedient worker ants, frantically dug into the surrounding rock walls with their claws, sharp enough to tear apart Golden Body.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized: they dug out the crystals, turned around, transported them to the center, piled them up, turned around again, and went back to continue digging.

The entire process was seamless, without any chaos, and incredibly efficient.

At the foot of a majestic mountain, entirely constructed of top-grade Deathly Silent Crystals, in front of the massive army of miners, stood a child who looked no more than seven or eight years old, with his hands behind his back.

He gazed calmly at the bustling, fully automated production line before him, like a monarch inspecting his territory, occasionally furrowing his brow slightly if a certain Deathly Stillness Creatures moved even a fraction too slowly.

Liu Zhen's brain went blank for a good ten seconds before he forcibly regained his voice from this mind-blowing scene.

He stared at the child's retreating figure, then at the horde of monsters that even he found terrifying, and his Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.

"This... this junior..."

When he opened his mouth, he realized his voice was terribly dry.

"We... we're from the logistics department, here to... to collect this month's ten thousand Deathly Silent Crystals."

Seemingly only just noticing their arrival, Chen Fan at the foot of the mountain didn't even bother to turn his head, simply raising his hand and waving casually at the busy army of miners.

A command that is simple to the extreme.

The next moment.

"Roar!"

The leader of a Deathly Stillness Creatures, whose size was exceptionally large and whose aura was almost touching the threshold of the Undying Realm, immediately stopped what he was doing.

Under the horrified gaze of the group of Prodigies, it walked heavily to the crystal mountain and precisely pried at the mountain with its huge claws.

Splash...

A pile of crystals rolled down the mountain.

Not too many, not too few, exactly ten thousand.

Then, the terrifying monster respectfully pushed the pile of crystals to Liu Zhen and Zhang Tao's feet, turned around, disappeared into its coworkers, and continued to work diligently, as if it had just completed a trivial KPI.

The entire process was characterized by an unusual harmony and efficiency.

Looking at the pile of crystals at his feet, exuding a pure aura of death and of frighteningly high quality, and then at the terrifying monster that had immediately returned to work after completing its mission.

Newcomer Zhang Tao's lips trembled for a long time, his worldview teetering on the edge of collapse and reconstruction.

Finally, in a voice barely audible, he turned to Liu Zhen, who was completely stunned and seemed to have left his body, and asked the question that had been weighing on his mind:

"Senior Liu... has the assessment criteria for our college's garrison missions become... so automated now?"

Liu Zhen remained silent, and finally led Zhang Tao away from this desolate planet.

Inside the deep, dark underground mine.

Chen Fan didn't even spare a moment's attention for the two logistics department seniors who left in a panic.

It was just a trivial interlude in my peaceful life of spiritual practice.

He sat down cross-legged again, his gaze calmly sweeping over the undulating crystal mountain range before him, and the still-diligent, tireless army of Deathly Stillness Creatures in the distance.

In his view, the logic is very simple.

Quantitative change can always lead to qualitative change.

The so-called bottleneck can simply be filled with resources.

With this pure and direct thought in mind, Chen Fan closed his eyes again.

Boom!

With a thought, the incredibly powerful Undying Divine Fire within his Dantian universe began to devour the extremely pure Origin of Death around him at a speed ten times more ferocious than before.

A vast aura of death surged within him, threatening to completely assimilate his Dantian universe into a desolate, lifeless realm.

Time flew by amidst the tireless sounds of digging and the silent devouring.

A month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The consumed crystal mountains rose and fell, only to flatten again. The Divine Fire within Chen Fan's body grew to an unbelievable level, almost transforming into a gray-gold ocean of Divine Fire. The mere aura it emitted was enough to freeze the Divine Souls of any being below the Undying Realm.

But he still felt that there was an insurmountable membrane separating him from that realm of alchemy.

You can see it, but you can't touch it.

A long-lost sense of irritability began to silently grow in Chen Fan's heart.