Meanwhile, Gao Tao and Ka En's battle with the ferocious beast leader had also reached a fever pitch. The beast leader was incredibly powerful, and even with Gao Tao and Ka En attacking together, they could not kill it quickly.
This giant bear leader stood over a thousand meters tall, its entire body covered in dark golden fur. Every swipe of its claws carried a terrifying gale, as though it could tear apart everything in its path.
The Star Pattern Spear in Gao Tao's hand thrust out continuously. Golden spear light collided with the giant bear leader's paws, producing deafening explosions. 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 Zhenkong Slash to restrict its movements!" Gao Tao's voice carried a trace of exhaustion. Seeing Zhou Yuan flying over, he hurriedly called out.
"Understood!" Zhou Yuan swung the Zhenkong Blade again. The yellow-brown blade radiated dense fluctuations of the Earth Origin Law and Space Origin Law as an enormous blade light slashed toward the giant bear leader.
"Zhenkong Slash!" The blade light tore through the air, and the space in its path seemed to freeze. Sensing the threat, the giant bear leader turned and slapped at the blade light, but its movements had become far slower under the suppression of the Earth Origin Law.
"Now!" Gao Tao seized the opportunity. The Star Pattern Spear in his hand shone with blinding golden light as the Metal Origin Law pierced toward the ferocious beast leader as though it were tangible.
The Star Pattern Spear instantly stabbed into the ferocious beast leader's body. It let out a pained roar and struggled violently.
Seeing this, Ka En drove the single-edged blade in his right hand directly into the wound and struck the ferocious beast's Life Core.
The ferocious beast leader died instantly and fell from the sky.
Just as Zhou Yuan and the others dealt with the giant bear leader, Suo Lin finally found an opening on the other side.
She seized the instant when the World Lord sixth level giant bear was restrained by Mu Feng's Wind Spirit Blades.
The short spike in her hand shot out like lightning, and a condensed white Light Blade precisely pierced the giant bear's left eye, shattering the Life Core hidden in its head.
"Roar!" The World Lord sixth level giant bear let out a miserable howl. Its enormous body crashed heavily to the ground, completely losing all signs of life.
As the five World Lord level giant bears fell one after another, the remaining several hundred Domain Lord level giant bears instantly descended into chaos.
Having lost their leaders, they fled through the forest like headless flies. Some were killed by the aftermath of the battle, while the rest fled toward the valley entrance.
"Don't chase them. Those Domain Lord level ferocious beasts aren't worth much; they're not worth wasting time on." Gao Tao waved his hand, stopping the others who wanted to pursue them.
His face was somewhat pale, but his eyes gleamed with excitement. "We gained quite a bit this time—seven Water Essence Grass plants, along with the corpses of five World Lord level ferocious beasts. They're worth a fortune."
"Finally, it's over!" Ka En collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. Having faced a World Lord peak giant bear ferocious beast alone just now, he had still suffered some injuries.
"Is everyone all right?" Gao Tao asked as he looked at the group.
"I'm fine, just lightly injured." Yun Yan shook his head.
"I'm fine too." Zhou Yuan, Mu Feng, and Suo Lin spoke in turn as well.
"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. Dewdrops still clung to the pale blue blades of grass, which emitted dense fluctuations of the Water Origin Law.
Gao Tao accepted the Water Essence Grass and inspected it carefully, a satisfied smile appearing on his face. "Not bad. They're 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."
"Got it, Captain." Everyone nodded. Although the battle had been brief, after giving it their all, their auras had weakened somewhat. Yet their eyes still shone with excitement.
Although this battle had been dangerous, the rewards had indeed been plentiful.
"Everyone, rest for now and recover your injuries and origin force," Gao Tao said. "Later, we'll thoroughly search the valley and see if there are any other treasures."
Everyone nodded and found a safe place to sit cross-legged, beginning to absorb origin power to recover their injuries and origin force.
The valley gradually returned to tranquility. Only the rustling of leaves in the breeze and the occasional roar of ferocious beasts from afar remained.
A month passed in the blink of an eye. When morning mist once again spread over the pool in the valley, Ka En's massive body finally slowly rose from the rocky cave.
"Ka En, you've finally come out of seclusion!" Beside the bonfire by the pool, Gao Tao waved while turning a skewer of bear meat that sizzled with oil in his hand. "Come have some. We specially saved the tenderest shoulder meat for you."
Zhou Yuan, Mu Feng, Yun Yan, and Suo Lin sat around the bonfire, while the grill before them was piled with chunks of giant bear meat.
Golden oil dripped into the flames with crackling sounds. The rich fragrance of meat mingled with spices and spread through the valley.
Ka En walked up to the group without ceremony, grabbed a skewer of meat the size of an ordinary person's palm, and began eating.
Ka En strode over to the group again. Seeing that the meat skewers on the grill were only the size of an ordinary person's palm, he could not help frowning. "These are way too small. They're not even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth."
As he spoke, he snatched the half-man-tall grill from Gao Tao's hands. "I'll do it myself."
Gao Tao smiled and shook his head, then took out an intact Domain Lord level giant bear from his World Ring. The giant bear was several hundred meters long and covered in black fur. Even though it had been dead for days, a faint savage aura still lingered around it.
Ka En's eyes lit up. With a casual wave of his hand, yellow-brown origin laws condensed into several enormous blades, instantly cutting the giant bear into dozens of half-man-tall slabs of meat and neatly arranging them on the grill.
As they roasted meat, everyone chatted casually. The conversation shifted from exchanging combat techniques to the customs and scenery found across the universe, and the atmosphere was relaxed and harmonious.
Only after the sun gradually sank westward and everyone's stomachs were completely full did Gao Tao clap his hands and draw everyone's attention back.
"All right, now that we've eaten and drunk our fill, it's time to discuss business." Gao Tao's expression turned serious. "While everyone was recovering over the past month, Zhou Yuan, Suo Lin, and Mu Feng thoroughly searched the valley. Tell us what you found."
Mu Feng spoke first. "I searched the right side of the valley. There was mainly a mineral vein there, all ordinary D-grade ores. The reserves were considerable, but their value is too low and 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. There are roughly over three hundred Spirit Resonance Fruits on them. These fruits can help Domain Lords quickly accumulate origin force. Each Spirit Resonance Fruit sells for one billion Universe Coins, while each fruit tree is worth about one Hunyuan unit."
After Zhou Yuan finished, Suo Lin spoke last, calmly adding, "I searched the inner part of the valley and found several tens of thousands of tons of F2-grade metal, Clear Resonance Stone Mother, at the bottom of the pool. I checked its price through the Virtual Universe. This metal is a mid-to-low-grade F-grade material, with a total value of around ten Hunyuan units."