Harvest

On the other side, Gao Tao, Ka En, and the beast leader's battle had also reached a fever pitch. The beast leader was incredibly powerful, and even with Gao Tao and Ka En attacking together, they found it difficult to kill it in a short time.

This giant bear leader stood over a thousand meters tall, its body covered in dark golden fur. Every swipe of its claws carried a terrifying gale, as if it could tear everything apart.

The Star Pattern Spear in Gao Tao's hand stabbed out continuously. Golden spear radiance collided with the giant bear leader's paws, producing deafening booms. Ka En, meanwhile, held a yellow-brown shield and stood firmly in front of Gao Tao, bearing most of the giant bear leader's attacks.

"Zhou Yuan, use the Zhenkong Slash to restrict its movements!" Gao Tao called out. When he saw Zhou Yuan flying over, he hurriedly shouted the order, his voice carrying a trace of fatigue.

"Understood!" Zhou Yuan answered. He swung the Zhenkong Blade again, and the yellow-brown blade emitted dense fluctuations of the Earth Origin Law and Space Origin Law. A massive blade ray slashed toward the giant bear leader.

"Zhenkong Slash!" The blade ray tore through the air. Wherever it passed, space seemed to freeze. Sensing the threat, the giant bear leader turned and struck at the blade ray with one paw, but its movements became much slower under the suppression of the Earth Origin Law.

"Now!" Gao Tao seized the opportunity. The Star Pattern Spear in his hand radiated blinding golden light, and the Gold Origin Law stabbed toward the beast leader as if it had become tangible.

The Star Pattern Spear instantly pierced the beast leader's body. The beast leader let out a pained roar and began struggling violently.

Seeing this, Ka En thrust the single-edged blade in his right hand directly through the wound, cleaving into the beast's Life Core.

The beast leader died instantly and fell from the sky.

Just as Zhou Yuan and the others finished off the giant bear leader, Suo Lin finally found an opening on the other side.

She took advantage of the moment when the World Lord sixth level giant bear was restrained by Mu Feng's Wind Spirit Blade.

The short spike in her hand shot out like lightning. A condensed white Light Blade pierced precisely into the giant bear's left eye, shattering the Life Core hidden inside its head.

"Roar!" The World Lord sixth level giant bear let out a shrill roar. Its enormous body crashed heavily to the ground, completely losing its breath.

With five World Lord level giant bears falling one after another, the remaining hundreds of Domain Lord level giant bears instantly fell into chaos.

Having lost their leaders, they fled through the forest like headless flies. Some were killed by the aftershocks of the battle, while others escaped toward the valley's exit.

"Don't bother chasing them. These Domain Lord level beasts aren't worth much, so there's no need to waste time." Gao Tao waved his hand, stopping the others who wanted to pursue them.

His face was somewhat pale, but his eyes glittered with excitement. "We gained quite a lot this time—seven Water Essence Grass plants, as well as the corpses of five World Lord level beasts. They're worth a fortune."

"We finally finished them!" Ka En collapsed onto the ground and gasped for breath. He had faced the World Lord peak giant bear beast alone just now and had still suffered a minor injury.

"Is everyone all right?" Gao Tao asked as he looked at the others.

"I'm fine. I only suffered a minor injury." Yun Yan shook his head as he replied.

"I'm fine too." Zhou Yuan, Mu Feng, and Suo Lin spoke up one after another.

"Captain, here are the seven Water Essence Grass plants." Suo Lin took the Water Essence Grass from her World Ring and handed it to Gao Tao. Moist water droplets still clung to the pale blue leaves, which emitted dense fluctuations of the Water Origin Law.

Gao Tao accepted the Water Essence Grass and examined it carefully. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. "Not bad. They're all in perfect condition, and each one is worth at least ten Hunyuan units. Once we return to the Universe Mercenary Alliance, we'll sell these treasures and divide the proceeds."

"Understood, Captain." Everyone nodded. Although the battle had been brief, they had all fought with everything they had, and their auras were somewhat listless. Their eyes, however, still glittered with excitement.

Although this battle had been dangerous, the harvest had indeed been abundant.

"Let's rest for a while and recover our injuries and origin force," Gao Tao said. "After that, we'll search the valley carefully and see if there are any other treasures."

Everyone nodded and found a safe place to sit cross-legged. They began absorbing origin power to recover their injuries and origin force.

The valley gradually returned to peace. Only the rustling of leaves in the breeze and the occasional roars of beasts from the distance remained.

A month passed in the blink of an eye. When the morning mist once again spread across the pool, Ka En's massive body finally rose slowly from the rocky cave.

"Ka En, you've finally come out!" Gao Tao waved from beside the bonfire near the pool. He was turning a skewer of sizzling, dripping bear meat in his hand. "Come eat something. We specially saved you the fattest, most tender shoulder meat."

Zhou Yuan, Mu Feng, Yun Yan, and Suo Lin sat around the bonfire. The grill before them was covered with giant bear meat cut into small pieces.

Golden oil dripped into the fire, crackling loudly. The rich aroma of meat mixed with the scent of spices and spread throughout the valley.

Ka En walked over to the others and, without any hesitation, picked up a skewer of meat about the size of an ordinary person's palm and began eating.

Ka En strode over to the group. Seeing that the skewers on the grill were only the size of an ordinary person's palm, he could not help frowning. "You grilled these way too small. They aren't even enough to pick my teeth."

As he spoke, he snatched the half-man-high grill from Gao Tao's hands. "I'd better do it myself."

Gao Tao smiled and shook his head, then took out an entire Domain Lord level giant bear from his World Ring. The giant bear was several hundred meters long, its body covered in black fur. Even though it had been dead for several days, a faint aura of savagery still lingered around it.

Ka En's eyes lit up at the sight. With a casual wave of his hand, several enormous blades condensed from the yellow-brown Origin Law. In an instant, they carved dozens of half-man-high chunks of meat from the giant bear and placed them precisely on the grill.

Everyone chatted while grilling the meat. Their topics ranged from exchanging insights into battle techniques to discussing the customs and scenery of various places across the universe. The atmosphere was relaxed and harmonious.

It was not until the sun gradually slanted westward and everyone's stomachs were completely full that Gao Tao clapped his hands and drew their attention back.

"All right. Now that we've eaten our fill, it's time to discuss serious business." Gao Tao's expression turned solemn. "While everyone was recovering this month, Zhou Yuan, Suo Lin, and Mu Feng carefully searched the valley. Tell us about your findings."

Mu Feng spoke first. "I was responsible for searching the right side of the valley. That area is mainly a mineral vein containing ordinary D-grade ores. The reserves are quite substantial, but their value is too low. Mining them would take too much time, so it isn't worth it."

Zhou Yuan continued, "I searched the left side of the valley. There were no mineral veins there, but I found an orchard containing fourteen D-grade Spirit Accumulation Fruit Trees. They bore roughly three hundred Spirit Resonance Fruits in total. These fruits can help Domain Lord level cultivators rapidly accumulate origin force. Their market price is one billion Universe Coins each, while each fruit tree is worth about one chaotic unit."

After Zhou Yuan finished, Suo Lin was the last to speak. Her tone was calm as she added, "I searched the inner part of the valley and found several tens of thousands of tons of F2-grade Clear Resonance Stone Mother at the bottom of the pool. I checked its price through the Virtual Universe. This metal is a low- to mid-grade F-level material, with a total value of roughly ten Hunyuan units."