In the mountains and forests.
Wang Hu's team was moving forward quickly.
Perhaps because they had only been away from the base for two days, and because of the map showing the distribution of the Calamity Beast provided by the base, they proceeded smoothly along the way.
Night fell once again in this tranquil atmosphere.
The group dug a hole on a hillside to use as their temporary campsite for the night.
Wang Hu placed the meat of the Calamity Beast prepared at the base on the campfire, then looked around at everyone.
"Tonight's watch will be the same as yesterday: Huang Jun will be in charge before bedtime, and after bedtime, each of us will take turns keeping watch."
Everyone nodded slightly, offering no objections.
Shi Ruiyuan then raised his hand and nudged Huang Jun beside him, " Huang Jun, you'd better stand guard until the very end!"
"Don't worry, don't you trust me?" Huang Jun asked with a smile.
His ability is Flowing Wind, which, when activated, allows him to detect locations further away than others.
In theory, it would be better for him to be in charge of night watch, since ability detection is always better than visual surveillance.
However, in reality, when his ability is activated, he needs to expend a considerable amount of energy to conduct reconnaissance.
Furthermore, during the day when he was on the move, in order to avoid encounters, he only activated his abilities intermittently.
This situation left him with no extra energy to keep watch at night.
If he does that, he'll probably collapse within two days!
"It's fine at other times, but I'm worried that when we eat later, you'll be so hungry that you'll forget about it!" Shi Ruiyuan said deliberately.
"Get out!"
Everyone smiled, then picked up the heated food and began to eat and chat.
At some point, Huang Jun's smile suddenly faltered slightly, then vanished.
He frowned, his eyes unfocused as if sensing something.
Wang Hu was the first to notice and looked over.
The others quickly noticed Wang Hu's unusual behavior and looked over at him.
Under everyone's gaze, Huang Jun gradually came to his senses, and he looked at everyone with a slightly narrowed expression.
" The Calamity Beast has appeared?" Wang Hu asked in a deep voice.
The people around him were also frowning as they looked at Huang Jun.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Huang Jun nodded solemnly.
"How much, level, direction, distance, is there a way to determine that?" Wang Hu then asked in a deep voice.
"There are about a dozen, hmm... the leader, judging from its size, is probably Fourth Tier, and the rest are mostly level 1 or 2."
Huang Jun paused, seemingly sensing the surroundings carefully, before saying:
"The direction is roughly northwest, and the distance is about 4 kilometers."
"There's only one Fourth Tier leader!" Shi Ruiyuan emphasized, then grinned as he looked at Wang Hu, "Captain, should we go take a look?"
"How about... we go over and see if we can hunt them down?" the other person suggested more directly.
"Uh... it seems we don't need to go. Their direction is probably this way!" Huang Jun added.
Upon hearing this, a hint of excitement appeared on everyone's faces.
During this period, due to the sharp decrease in the number of beast hordes attacking the base, they have found it increasingly difficult to obtain Origin Crystal!
Everyone looked at Wang Hu, awaiting his orders.
However, Wang Hu did not speak immediately; he slowly scanned the crowd.
The fact that they don't need to go looking for it also implies something else.
In other words, if they cannot defeat the Calamity Beast, they can only shut down their fire, seal the cave, and move to a temporary camp.
Wang Hu's gaze lingered on Huang Jun.
Are they different in terms of aptitude?
He didn't say anything, but simply swallowed the last bite of meat in his mouth and said:
"Prepare for battle!"
Several days later.
"Laugh--"
The long sword slowly sliced across the Calamity Beast.
After cutting off a piece of meat, Shen Heng used his Origin Power to force out the blood from the meat, then threw it aside.
Zhou Xuan skillfully took the Calamity Beast and began processing it, asking as he did so:
"I said, in three days it will be the time the base stipulates for us to return. Should we continue searching like this?"
Upon hearing this, everyone else turned their gaze to Shen Heng.
This time, the base also only gave them ten days.
Firstly, because the exploration has just begun and is still unstable, the base wants to use this method to avoid unexpected situations.
Secondly, upon returning, they can formulate new and more suitable exploration plans based on the intelligence gathered by different teams.
It has now been seven days since they left the base.
During these seven days, in addition to the place they had explored before, they also investigated three other places along the route where the Calamity Beast gathered, places they had not explored before!
Unfortunately, no trace of the crystal was found!
That's why Zhou Xuan couldn't help but ask that question.
After all, if they can't find it soon, the time allotted by the base will be up!
"Let's look for it today. If we can't find it, we'll look for it again tomorrow. If that still doesn't work, we'll head back the day after tomorrow," Shen Heng replied calmly.
After he finished answering, he looked at Zhou Xuan.
After receiving the Calamity Beast, he summoned the River God to expend his Origin Power to condense some water to wash the Calamity Beast. He then used his Origin Power to force out the water droplets from the Calamity Beast before finally stuffing the processed Calamity Beast into his bag.
By their second exploration expedition, the two had become quite adept at handling the process.
Turning his gaze back, Shen Heng looked into the distance.
The next place is probably about 20 kilometers away...
After preparing the necessary food, the group ran towards their destination.
More than ten minutes later, atop the mountain, several people gazed into the distance.
Beneath the towering trees, one could vaguely make out the shadows of beasts.
After only a few glances, everyone turned to look at Shen Heng.
Shen Heng was seen lowering his eyes slightly, sensing the situation in the distance.
The black and white world stretched forward in Shen Heng's mind.
Soon, the situation at the target location appeared in Shen Heng's mind.
The valley's terrain, over two hundred Calamity Beast, one Early Fifth Tier beast, over twenty Fourth Tier beasts, and...
Shen Heng slightly raised his eyes, his mind lingering on the large crystal stones scattered throughout the valley.
One corner of one of the pieces is clearly too smooth!
"Finally found them?"... Shen Heng breathed a sigh of relief, focusing all his attention on the crystals.
The crystals were scattered throughout the valley, their arrangement seemingly without any pattern, or rather, without any direct pattern; at least, Shen Heng couldn't discern any.
However, they do have one thing in common!
Faint ripples could be seen emanating from the crystal from time to time.
The ripples were faint and shallow, disappearing completely after only a few dozen meters...