The Yan Feng Ancient Nation's Illegal Miner

Yan Feng Ancient Nation, Qing Chong Chaos Continent, the Tianqu Mining Area outside Tianqu City.

"Whoosh."

A thread crossed the distant void and appeared in a wilderness outside the Tianqu Mining Area, then transformed into a figure. It was Luo Feng, who had rushed here from the Chu Capital.

Luo Feng mainly focused on five Transformation Methods. The Silver River Transformation Method excelled at long-range attacks, while the other four fused into the body and were more suited for close combat. This thread that traveled through the void was the Fleeing Transformation Method, which excelled at traversing the void and was extraordinarily swift. Whether used for escape or close-quarters combat, the tremendous increase in movement speed was immensely helpful.

Since Luo Feng had chosen it as one of his five Transformation Methods, its evasion ability was naturally exceptional. In particular, after the fusion of "one hundred and eight trillion drops," its ability to traverse and flee through the void had undergone a qualitative transformation.

"In just over an hour, I was able to travel from the Chu Capital to Qing Chong Chaos Continent. After my Life Spirituality improved, the power of this Fleeing Transformation Method has indeed increased considerably." Luo Feng was quite satisfied. He then gazed into the distance at the Tianqu Mining Area.

"This Tianqu Mining Area covers an enormous area, much larger than even Huyang City." Luo Feng observed it. "It is also covered by an array. Illegally mining it would be extremely difficult."

"The illegal miner either comes from within the management or possesses exceptionally brilliant methods."

Luo Feng had learned the detailed intelligence regarding this mission from Di Chu Yu and understood where its difficulties lay. "The highest manager of the Tianqu Mining Area is also the Tianqu City Guardian, a top-tier Chaos Realm existence. Even the Tianqu City Guardian was unable to discover the illegal miner's identity."

Since the management could not uncover the truth, the Di Chu Lineage had ultimately issued this mission.

Ancient God Kings and Chaos Realm Transcendence existences would not be shameless enough to illegally mine such a small amount of Tianqu Stone Essence. Thus, in Di Chu Yu's view, Luo He would face no danger in going to investigate.

"Let's begin!"

Luo Feng had long since devised his own solution.

Standing in the wilderness beyond the Tianqu Mining Area's boundaries, countless streams of silver water immediately flowed from his body into the earth. These silver streams swiftly became incredibly fine, so fine that ordinary True Gods could not see them with the naked eye.

Countless threads rapidly spread out, penetrating deep into the earth and encircling the entire Tianqu Mining Area.

"The Tianqu Mining Area has a diameter of roughly eighty billion kilometers. My Silver River Transformation Method can still easily surround it." Luo Feng was quite satisfied. He divided off one billion units of Silver River. The countless Silver Rivers interwove freely like a net cast over heaven and earth, completely surrounding and sealing off the entire mining area.

As the encirclement was completed, Luo Feng could also perceive the purpose of the Tianqu Mining Area's array.

"The array seals off and tracks enemies, but its more crucial purpose is to guide the power of heaven and earth together, allowing the entire mining area to produce Tianqu Stone Essence more quickly." Luo Feng could sense vast amounts of the power of heaven and earth constantly being guided here.

The Yan Feng Ancient Nation was originally a core region of the Origin Continent, so it naturally gave birth to many treasures. With the array's guidance, the rate at which Tianqu Stone Essence formed could also be accelerated.

"Buzz."

Luo Feng quietly approached the Tianqu Mining Area, then used a Transformation Method to turn into a wisp of wind and naturally attach himself to a miner. Many miners frequently traveled between Tianqu City and the mining area.

The depths of the mining area were dark and unfathomable.

"I heard that the entire team of miners who entered the underground Wind Nether Seven mining area last time all died." Every cultivator in a moving group of miners was somewhat nervous.

"The mining area used to be very safe, but over the past few epochs, groups of miners have frequently died. Even quite a few Eternal True Gods have perished. True Gods like us do not even have the right to resist."

"Let's hope we get lucky this time."

The miner cultivators comforted one another as they continued deeper inside.

Under the mining area's grand array, they could not slack off even if they wanted to.

"We're here, Wind Nether Seven Zone! Start working." The captain gave the order.

Wind Nether Seven Zone was an extremely deep region near the bottom, over thirty billion kilometers from the surface. The miners cast secret arts, and beams of light immediately illuminated the ancient mine tunnels throughout Wind Nether Seven Zone.

They began using secret treasure tools to shatter the surrounding sand and stone. Only after crushing great quantities of it could they carefully sift through it for tiny Tianqu Stone Essence particles.

Even True Gods had to inspect Tianqu Stone Essence carefully before they could spot those incomparably tiny particles.

After a team worked painstakingly for one epoch, the countless accumulated particles generally had to be refined together before they could produce one or two standard pieces of Tianqu Stone Essence.

"The mining area is producing less and less Tianqu Stone Essence these days. Yet those above still blame us for not working hard enough."

"I think the Tianqu Stone Essence may have been illegally mined in advance."

The miners chatted among themselves while repeatedly crushing ore and carefully searching for the tiny particles.

At this moment, very close to them—

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle~~~" A massive phantom seeped into countless rocks, slowly permeating through them and filtering out tiny particles one by one.

Every batch of particles the miners collected had to be handed in, and each batch was too small to be worth stealing. Thus, it could only painstakingly mine them itself. With its strength, it naturally mined far faster than these miners.

"Boom!" The miner captain activated a secret treasure and blasted apart a great amount of rock, allowing the miners to slowly grind and sort it.

Blasting apart the rocks had to be carefully planned, or else the underground mine tunnels would collapse. This blasting task was also handled by the captain.

"Boom." As a large amount of rock collapsed, a massive phantom suddenly became faintly visible.

"This is bad."

The miner captain was shocked, and the faces of the surrounding miners changed drastically.

"Request reinforcements."

"Help!" Each of them used their Communication Tokens to call for aid.

"Countless mine tunnels are densely spread everywhere, and that old fellow keeps pushing me to mine faster. One careless mistake, and I get discovered." The massive phantom sounded quite impatient. A surge of power erupted directly toward the miners.

The miners revealed terrified expressions as they watched the phantom instantly spread toward them.

"Whoosh."

A black-robed man appeared out of thin air before the miners. Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle~~~ The robe on his body transformed into countless streams of black liquid. These black liquids naturally burrowed into the rocks as well, instantly wrapping around and engulfing the massive phantom.

"You really are bold, illegally mining this entire time." Luo Feng looked at the massive phantom that had been enveloped.

The thing Luo Feng had feared most when carrying out this mission was that the illegal miner only mined occasionally. If it had not been in the mining area recently, it would have been difficult for him to complete the mission.

However, based on his deductions, mining Tianqu Stone Essence was troublesome and required a long period of mining before enough could be accumulated. The chances of encountering it while it was mining were still quite high.

"A newly arrived Chaos Realm expert?" The massive phantom was startled.

Whoosh.

Soundlessly, the phantom directly dissipated and vanished.

"Hmm?" Countless black liquids merged back into his robe. Luo Feng frowned slightly, and with a thought, the Silver River Transformation Method that had long formed a net over heaven and earth instantly erupted with power, completely isolating the inside from the outside.

Buzz!!!

A massive Silver Cage fully manifested, its power terrifying as it sealed the entire Tianqu Mining Area.

At this moment, waves of fluctuations scattered in all directions as they fled, attempting to traverse the void. However, this region had already been sealed off. At the very least, its escape ability could not break through this net over heaven and earth.

"Trying to escape?" Luo Feng stood where he was as countless Silver River threads naturally seeped into the earth, enveloping those fluctuations.

Previously, one billion units of Silver River had formed the net over heaven and earth to seal the area.

Now, without any concealment, another two billion units of Silver River threads densely filled the entire interior of that net over heaven and earth, leaving the illegal miner nowhere to flee.

"Break!" Some of the fluctuations slammed into countless silver lights in the sky, while others struck countless silver lights underground.

While comprehending the first tribulation of the Eight Tribulations Lifeform, Luo Feng's five Transformation Methods and Life Spirituality had all improved, and their power had risen across the board. The current net over heaven and earth was something the phantom could not escape from, tear apart, or smash through.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle~~~

Countless silver threads crisscrossed heaven and earth, wrapping around wave after wave of fluctuations. Each time a fluctuation was wrapped up, it directly dissipated.

In the end, only one fluctuation remained.

With one step, Luo Feng appeared in the sky and looked at the fluctuation wrapped in silver light.

"Spare me, spare me." The fluctuation transformed into a gray, furry exotic beast. The beast bowed with utmost respect. "Greetings, Chaos Great Saint."

Luo Feng looked at the exotic beast.

This exotic beast was a Chaos Realm beast, but beasts that did not understand the essence of laws were generally far weaker than Chaos Realm cultivators. By his estimate... this Chaos Realm beast was only at the level of an ordinary Chaos Realm expert. A casual Silver River stream from him could seal it away.

"You dared to illegally mine Tianqu Stone Essence." Luo Feng looked at it.

"Luo He Guest Elder." The furry exotic beast suddenly let out an eerie voice. "This creature I raised was greedy and ate some Tianqu Stone Essence. Please do not take offense."

Luo Feng's expression changed slightly.

"I will have it leave immediately. Just pretend you did not catch the illegal miner, all right?" the eerie voice said.

"I was ordered to investigate the illegal miner. Now that its identity has been confirmed, I must naturally report it." Luo Feng spoke.

"Must you become my enemy?" the eerie voice said.

Luo Feng also felt somewhat troubled.

This Chaos Realm exotic beast clearly had an owner, and its owner had sent it here to illegally mine! It was also through its owner's methods that it had managed to evade the array's detection.

"With nothing but empty words, you want me to abandon my mission?" Luo Feng looked at the exotic beast. "I can give you face and let you take it away. But I will certainly report its identity."

"I truly admire Luo He Guest Elder's courage."

Accompanied by a cold snort.

"No—" The gray, furry exotic beast let out a miserable cry before silently dissipating.

Luo Feng frowned at the scene.

This Chaos Realm exotic beast had clearly been enslaved and controlled. With a single thought, it had been killed.

"What does it matter if this exotic beast was killed? Once the identity of the Chaos Realm exotic beast is known, the Di Chu Lineage will naturally have clues to follow." Luo Feng waved his hand and collected the items left behind after the Chaos Realm exotic beast's death.

"What is going on?" The Tianqu City Guardian had left the city and arrived near the Tianqu Mining Area. Seeing from afar the massive Silver Cage completely seal off the entire mining area, his expression changed.

The entire Silver Cage was still being struck from within, twisting and flowing slightly.

Soon, the entire Silver Cage dissipated.

At a glance, the Tianqu City Guardian saw the black-robed figure in midair.

"Luo He Guest Elder?" The Tianqu City Guardian recognized him.

"I was ordered to investigate the illegal miner." Luo Feng did not conceal it. After all, he had acted openly earlier, and the mining area's array had naturally recorded every detail.

After saying that, Luo Feng took one step, traversed the void, and directly departed.

The Tianqu City Guardian's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.

"It seems Luo He Guest Elder fought with it." The Tianqu City Guardian thought to himself. He had long known that a Chaos Realm exotic beast was illegally mining here, but because it could evade the mining area array's detection, he had realized that the existence behind it was terrifying.

Thus, he had simply acted as though he could not discover the illegal miner's identity.