Upon hearing this, everyone frowned, but said nothing more.
After all, just as Shen Heng just said, the main problem now is that they don't have the ability to take the crystal away after the Profound Crystal Griffin has already marked it!
Shen Heng looked around at everyone and reassured them:
"Moreover, even if we can't take it with us, our mission is already complete for us."
"Besides, the place where the Calamity Beast collected this crystal is right there. If we really need it, we can easily go back there later."
The group nodded slightly, indicating their approval of the battle plan.
Seeing this, Shen Heng turned his gaze to Qin Yu.
"Do you have a way to temporarily maintain the assimilation of the crystal with its surrounding environment after we leave?"
"If it's half an hour..."
"That's enough!"
Next, all that's left to do is wait, just like before.
This time, the destruction by the Profound Crystal Griffin took significantly longer than the last time.
The destructive noises continued for over an hour before gradually subsiding.
Shen Heng sat on the ground, listening silently.
The sound of the wind rustling past my ears drifted slowly into the distance.
Just like last time, the Profound Crystal Griffin couldn't find any trace of them and was about to leave, but...
Suddenly, Shen Heng raised his eyes slightly, a look of surprise flashing across his gaze.
The sound of the wind, after traveling more than ten or twenty kilometers, returned to this direction again, and at an even faster speed.
Is this...?
A thoughtful look flashed in Shen Heng's eyes.
A moment later, he looked up at Han Ling, who was staring at him with a questioning gaze, then glanced at the others and said:
"Will the wait be longer this time?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was slightly taken aback.
"What happened?" Wang Hu asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, why?" Zhou Xuan followed up with his question.
He could understand the longer time it took to cause destruction, since the Calamity Beast were first discovered here, but shouldn't they have taken about the same amount of time to leave?
While listening to the sounds coming from above, Shen Heng replied:
" The Profound Crystal Griffin probably suspects we've used some method to hide nearby, which is why it hasn't been able to find us. So now it's using a surprise attack—pretending to leave a distance first, and then immediately returning."
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions darkened slightly.
Zhou Xuan gasped, "This is only the second time?"
"Yes, this is only the second time." Shen Heng nodded slightly.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan awkwardly averted his gaze.
Thankfully, I didn't use my own methods, otherwise it's very likely that they'll be dug up next time.
The group waited silently inside the cave.
Shen Heng lowered his eyes slightly and listened silently.
The Profound Crystal Griffin circled above for a while before flying away again.
This time, it went thirty or forty kilometers away, and then returned.
Still finding nothing, it left again.
This time, however, it didn't fly as far as before. Instead, it flew more than ten kilometers away and then stopped.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye, and the Profound Crystal Griffin, which had been stationary more than ten kilometers away, stood up again and flew towards this side.
Soon, its figure appeared directly above the cave.
Finding nothing twice in a row seemed to enrage it completely, and a destructive roar came from above once again.
This destruction was far faster than the previous two.
Within two minutes, the sounds of destruction stopped, followed by a piercing roar, and then silence seemed to return above.
Everyone couldn't help but look at Shen Heng.
However, under their gaze, Shen Heng remained sitting quietly.
They already understood what was going on and waited silently.
More than an hour later, two more heavy "booms" suddenly came from above.
Then, after a few minutes, Shen Heng suddenly stood up.
"When it comes to ability, scheming is completely useless!" Zhou Xuan thought to himself.
Shen Heng walked up to the crystal and scanned it with his eyes.
The reason for this was due to concerns that cutting too much would cause energy chaos within the crystal, and also because it was unclear what exactly the positioning method for the Profound Crystal Griffin was.
Therefore, Shen Heng did not intend to cut off too much from above.
With this thought in mind, Shen Heng's gaze quickly fell on a raised corner of the crystal.
The long sword was drawn.
"Clang!"
With a crisp clinking sound, a palm-sized crystal fell to the ground.
Shen Heng reached out and caught the crystal, then glanced at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu stepped forward and placed her hands on the ice-blue crystal.
As the Origin Power surged, the presence of the crystal quickly diminished in everyone's sight.
Taking advantage of this time, Shen Heng put the crystal he had just cut off into his bag.
With everything ready, Shen Heng glanced at Zhou Xuan.
"Go up!"
Zhou Xuan nodded, squatted down, and placed his hands on the ground.
The group's position rose rapidly.
Without stopping, the group quickly ran to one side.
Throughout the journey, Shen Heng kept a close eye on the sounds around him, and would promptly issue orders to adjust the battle strategy if anything went wrong.
After all, whether the Profound Crystal Griffin actually located its position using crystals is just speculation on their part...
More than forty minutes later, on a mountaintop.
Several figures were standing on an unidentified tree.
They peered into the distance through the dense foliage.
In my line of sight, a small dot is rushing rapidly toward a certain place.
The black dot kept getting bigger, but because it was so far away, even at its clearest, it still looked very small to everyone.
But the group wasn't too concerned, since it also meant safety to them.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the Profound Crystal Griffin flew to the spot where everyone had just been hiding.
It hovered in mid-air, gazing at the scene below, momentarily stunned.
The trees lay scattered about, covered in frost, the scene a picture of desolation.
This place... isn't it the same place where we sensed the location of the crystal last time?
"Why is it just sitting there motionless?" Zhou Xuan asked, looking at the figure in the far distance with some confusion.
"He's probably thinking," Qin Yu said softly.
"Thinking? Thinking about what?" Zhou Xuan looked at Qin Yu with some confusion.
"Think about why the new place you sensed is the same place as the last time," Qin Yu said.
"Hehe..." Zhou Xuan grinned upon hearing this, "What's the use of thinking now? We're already gone!"
The Profound Crystal Griffin's body trembled slightly. After pausing in mid-air for a moment, it let out an angry roar.
Immediately, his body plummeted downwards.