Chapter 1292-1293
Chapter 1292 – Killing for Treasures
Ever since he discovered that the Six Realms Battlefield was made by someone, Zhao Hai decided to speed up his own plans. But Zhao Hai couldn't increase his strength in a short time. At this moment, his strength wasn't invincible in the World of Cultivation. So he could only expand his influence. He needs to create more contacts, much much more contacts.
Fortunately, the Six Realms Battlefield was a very good place to establish new connections. One could see this from Yuan’s relationship with Ma Rulong. Yuan stayed in the Six Realms Battlefield in order to take revenge. But if he went out, then Ma Rulong would certainly help him. After all, the two formed a friendship from near death.
If Zhao Hai wanted the Space to level up, then he would need the resources of the World of Cultivation. However, if one doesn't have a strong backer, then they wouldn't be able to easily get their hands on precious resources. Because of this, Zhao Hai decided to increase his own circle of influence.
After everyone took their own yin lightning mines, Yuan said, "Alright, it's time to depart. Everyone, remember to keep close to each other. Being alone in the soft gold mine is equivalent to courting death."
Everyone nodded, then Yuan began to lead the team out of the tunnel. But as he was about to leave, Yuan was blocked by Zhao Hai. Then Zhao Hai said, "Captain, we're in the Demon Realm's territory. Since we need to carefully advance, let me scout first." Then he waved his hand and released some Undead.
What's different about the Undead this time was that these Undead were small. There were some small mice, snakes, and other critters. Zhao Hai also had them transform into their normal appearances so that they wouldn't attract any attention. These critters were best for reconnaissance.
Naturally, Zhao Hai wasn't depending on these small Undead to scout. His main scouting method were still the silver needles. Actually, the silver needles were about to arrive at the soft gold mine. This move not only hid the existence of the silver needles, it would also increase everyone's impression of him.
Yuan smiled and said, "Kid, having you really removes a lot of my worries. How about you follow me everywhere from now on?"
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, "Forget it, Captain. Do you also want me to follow you to the toilets? Even if you order me, I still won't go." When Zhao Hai said this, everyone couldn't help but laugh. Even Yuan who was teased joined in on the laughter. These people shared life and death together, so a harmless joke like this wouldn't affect their minds.
After this conversation, Zhao Hai gave a nod which made everyone go out of the tunnel. Once they were out, Yuan reorganized the surrounding area to remove their traces. Then everyone flew towards the soft gold mine.
Although the Undead were paving the way ahead, Yuan still proceeded forward carefully. The group flew slowly and even flew in a circle to circumvent the Ironwood Demon Forest.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hai had no worries since the silver needles had already reached the soft gold mine. It was also at this time that Zhao Hai understood Yuan's caution towards the region. The place was truly chaotic. In fact, upon looking at the mine, the first word that Zhao Hai thought about was the bug caves.
The soft gold mines had tunnels in all directions. And with the mountain where the mine was at being 6000 meters tall, the entire complex looked like a giant hive. And because it was a mine, its tunnels were more concentrated compared to the Bug Caves in Fabio Planet.
The tunnels built by the bugs also extended in all directions, however the tunnels were dug systematically. Moreover, each tunnel was covered with bug secretions making it as stable as concrete structures.
On the other hand, the soft gold mine's tunnels were completely unmanaged. People dug wherever they could dig. With the wanton digging happening all the time, there were a lot of collapsed tunnels in the mine.
Also, since battles happen from time to time, more tunnels collapsed. Because of the mine's unstable state, sounds of tunnels collapsing were commonly heard every day.
What attracted Zhao Hai's attention the most were the people mining soft gold ores. There were people from all races here. And each team was only made out of a single race. Whenever two different groups of people meet, a battle would certainly happen. Fighting was a constant in the mines, it would make any newcomer here speechless.
After travelling in a circle, Zhao Hai and the others finally reached the mountain. Looking at the large mountain, everyone couldn't help but stare. And just as they were staring, a loud explosion was heard before a tunnel close by collapsed. The group quickly evaded the debris that came out of the explosion.
When the group arrived at a safe location, Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "Good, this soft gold mine is still the same as before. Hahaha. Good, this is fantastic."
As soon as they heard this, the group looked at each other. Actually, most of them were newcomers to the mines. They only heard that this place was terrifyingly chaotic. The reason why they never came here was because they weren't qualified to go near this place.
Generally, most people from the Machine Field wouldn't go too far from their territory. This allows them support whenever events happen. It can be said that there were only a few people like Yuan from the Machine Field who would actively seek the other realms for trouble. This also allowed Yuan to visit the other realms' territory.
Upon hearing Yuan, a Warrior at the side said, "Captain, is the mine always like this? Then why didn't it completely collapse?"
Yuan smiled and replied, "It's not easy for the mine to collapse completely. Have you seen those collapsed places? Soon people will clean it up and take soft gold ores. Hahaha. Tunnels will continually collapse and re-dug. This is the reason why the mountain looked like this."
XIong Li turned towards the mountain and said, "Captain, does this mountain still have soft gold ore left? From what I can understand, this place has been turned over several times already?"
Yuan smiled and said, "Not just several times, I reckon it's been turned for several tens of times. At this point, there's little soft gold ore left in this place. But do you really think that those who came here were only after the soft gold ores?" Upon hearing Yuan, people began to understand. Besides mining for soft gold ores, other people would also come here in order to seize treasures. This was the greatest shortcut to becoming rich.
Yuan looked at everyone and said, "Alright, don't think about it too much. In any case, we're already here. So why don't we try our luck, aren't we here to kill?" Everyone smiled and followed Yuan towards one of the surface tunnels. This tunnel wasn't very big, but it was so deep that they couldn't see the end.
Everyone entered the tunnel with heightened caution. All of them had their weapons out. However, upon seeing the Undead critters from time to time, they began to relax.
With these Undead, at least they wouldn't have to be afraid of being ambushed. But they weren't only alert because of ambushes, they were also paying attention in case the tunnel collapsed. The collapse of the tunnel earlier had left a deep impression on them.
After walking for some time, Zhao Hai stopped and waved towards the others. Everyone looked at Zhao Hai as they gripped their weapons tighter.
At this time, a small Undead appeared in the distance and then crawled over to Zhao Hai. After a short moment, it turned around and left. Zhao Hai turned to Yuan and said, "Captain, there are several people from the Cultivation Realm mining. What do we do?" Yuan asked, "Cultivators? Where are they?"
Zhao Hai replied, "There are ten of them. After turning left and then right, we would reach them after flying for 15 minutes."
Yuan nodded, "Let's go eliminate them." Then he followed Zhao Hai's directions and led the way. Zhao Hai and the others also hastily flew behind. In the Six Realms Battlefield, people from the Machine Field weren't very afraid of Cultivators. They fought these people at least once every month, all fear they had already disappeared a long time ago.
As they flew, the group could feel bursts of energy coming from the front. It seems like the Cultivators were using spells. Upon detecting this, the group accelerated. However, the Cultivators were able to sense them, they immediately turned around and ran without pause.
One shouldn't think that every Cultivator was arrogant. It was impossible for them to carry their pride and fight to the death wherever they go. Among all six realms, the people from the Cultivation Realm fear death the most. They treasure their lives more heavily compared to the other realms.
This was because people from the Cultivation Realm knew that they have longer lifespans compared to the people from the other realms. As long as they suffer no accidents, then they will live for a very long time. Therefore, it's common for Cultivators to fear death.
Upon seeing that the people from the Cultivation Realm were escaping, Zhao Hai's figure moved and then vanished in place. Then in the next moment, Zhao Hai was already fighting with the Cultivators. The others from the Machine Field quickly caught up and before long a group battle commenced. Zhao Hai sent 1000-layer formations continuously, completely entangling the Cultivators.
Nobody held back as attacks came crashing down on both sides. These Cultivators all had Core Formation strength. If this was the Cultivation Realm, then these people would be a region's strongest experts. But in the Six Realms Battlefield, they only became prey for the Machine Field. And even if these people died, then nobody would know where to take their revenge.
The fight started in a flash and also ended quickly. In less than half an hour, all Cultivators were killed. Seeing the bodies in front of him, Yuan said, "Collect the loot first, then we'll divide them when we go back." Nobody disagreed and immediately took the weapons of the dead and stored them away.
Chapter 1293 – Ten Thousand Transformations Staff
When he saw that everyone was taking away the spoils, Zhao Hai looked at Yuan and said, "Captain, I don't want the loot. But I want the corpses. What do you think?"
Yuan froze for a moment when he heard Zhao Hai, but he quickly understood what he meant. Yuan smiled and said, "You want to turn these fellows into Undead? Alright, no problem. In any case, nobody here has any use for them. As for the spoils, we'll discuss it after we head back."
Zhao Hai nodded, then he waved his hand and sent the dead Cultivators into the Space. Naturally nobody opposed this action. Zhao Hai led them here and even stopped the Cultivators from escaping. It can be said that without him, they wouldn't be able to get any of these loot.
Everything has been taken care of and everyone was ready to leave. However, Zhao Hai stayed put. Seeing Zhao Hai, Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Little Hai? What's the problem?"
Zhao Hai smiled as he touched the tunnel walls and felt it. Then he looked at Yuan and said, "Some people heard our battle and are heading here. They're Demons."
Upon hearing Zhao Hai, everyone's eyes shone as one of them said, "Demons? Fantastic! Captain, let's clean them up."
Yuan smiled as well as he said, "Of course, we'll deal with them. We came here to cause trouble to the Demons. Whether we'll be able to clean them up or not, we'll still fight them."
At this time, Zhao Hai said, "Captain, there's about 30 Demons coming over. One of them is at Nascent Soul. I'm afraid if we’re unable to deal with them in a short time, then we'll be attracting more Demons over to this place."
Yuan nodded. Although their group was quite large for the soft gold mine, this place was still the Demon Race's territory in the end. Majority of people occupying this mine were Demons. If Yuan and the others stayed in the same place for too long, then more and more Demons would come over. When the time comes, they would be in dire trouble.
However, this was an opportunity that Yuan couldn't just easily pass up. Then suddenly, Yuan had an idea. He looked at everyone and said, "This chance is too good to let go. Everyone, prepare the yin lightning mines that we got from Little Hai. Once the Demons arrive, immediately use them. Let's see how the Demons deal with this many mines."
Zhao Hai stared for a moment before he smiled. He didn't say anything. He had a lot more mines inside the Space, but he can't take a lot of them at the same time. Yuan knew how precious these rare lightning mines were. But now, Yuan decided to use them to deal with the Demons. It seems like he was really prepared to be ruthless to the Demons.
As soon as everyone heard Yuan, they also couldn't help but stare. But not one of them said anything as they all took out their yin lightning mines and prepared to use them.
Although the Machine Field also had their own territory in the Six Realms Battlefield, and the area they controlled wasn't any less compared to the other realms, the people from the Machine Field couldn't freely head out to hunt. This caused them to feel aggrieved. They weren't insane enough like Yuan who liked to stir trouble everywhere. They were the opposite of Yuan, they wouldn't dare stir up trouble. When they arrive at the core battlefield, they would just dig for herbs and hunt lone beasts. And when they were faced with the other realms, they were usually at a passive position and would seldom make any moves. This caused them to feel suffocated inside. Now that they had the opportunity to return the favor, everyone was feeling excited.
The Demons didn't make Zhao Hai and the others wait for a long time. Perhaps in their opinion, although Zhao Hai's group had a lot of people, the mines were still in the Demon Race's partially controlled territory. So even if there were only 30 Demons, they didn't hesitate to attack.
It didn't take long before the Demons appeared opposite Zhao Hai's group. These people were all in battle uniforms and in their humanoid forms. The weakest of them was at Foundation Establishment while those with Core Formation Cultivation were the majority. There's also one Nascent Soul Expert. The Nascent Soul Expert assumed command of the team. With such a leader, no wonder they brazenly approached a group that outnumbered them. Naturally they were here to get some loot.
When the Demon party saw that Yuan and the others were in a formation and were just waiting there, they couldn't help but be happy. They roared as they entered battle. Only the Nascent Soul Expert stayed behind.
Yuan and the others looked at the attacking Demons. The Foundation Establishment Demons had transformed into their true body. Although the Core Formation Demons hadn't fully transformed, a part of their body had changed and turned into a menacing weapon.
Demons were generally divided into three forms: the true form, weapon form, and humanoid form. True form is when they transform into their true bodies. Weapon form was transforming a part of their body into weapons for the battle. And lastly, the humanoid for where they emulate the form of a human.
When in their humanoid form, the Demons could also use weapons as well as spells. However, only a few Demons would use that form in battle. Most of them preferred to use their weapon form.
A Demon's true weapon and their bodies were closely linked. Moreover, since a Demon's body was innately formidable, their true weapons were the most powerful parts. A true weapon's attacking strength was extraordinary. Most importantly, the more a Demon fought using their true weapons, the true weapon would get stronger and stronger. It was the opposite of a Cultivator's life source weapon where it got stronger the more it was nourished in the dantian. In this case, Cultivators would only use them when very necessary. It was also because of this that most Demons don't use magic artifacts and would instead fight in their weapon forms.
As the Demons were charging, Yuan was calculating their distance. The power of the yin lightning mines was big. Moreover, its explosion might collapse the entire tunnel. Therefore, Yuan needed to properly gauge the distance. If they use the mines too early, then the Demons might be able to react. But if they use the mines too late, then they might risk damaging themselves as well.
The tunnel was very long and the Demons were charging over like a swarm of bees. The Demons didn't say anything at all and just attacked. This was also a special phenomenon in the soft gold mine. There were no exquisite plots to speak of when attacking an enemy. After all, they were here to snatch treasures and retreat. There was no need to waste any breath conversing with the enemy.
When the Demons were about 500 meters away from Yuan's group, Yuan suddenly shouted, "Begin!" As he said his command, 50 yin lightning mines were thrown towards the approaching Demons.
This caused the Demons to stare. However, they were already 500 meters away from Yuan's team. For Core Formation experts, throwing something 500 meters away could be done in a blink of an eye. Therefore, before the Demons could react, they heard a loud explosion before the whole tunnel collapsed.
Yuan and the others underestimated the strength of the yin lightning mines. One must know the explosion that happened when Zhao Hai used his yin lightning mines back in the Void Arena was different. After all, back then, it was an open area so the force of explosion was dispersed quickly. But now, they were in a tunnel – a closed space. It's natural for the explosive strength to increase by a few folds.
The tunnel collapsed immediately following the xplosion. The part of the tunnel that Yuan and the others were in had collapsed as well. It's fortunate that Zhao Hai was able to quickly react and erected a protective shield around them. Otherwise, there might be casualties on their side.
After the tunnel collapsed and calmed down, Zhao Hai proceeded to clean the place up with Magic. The original tunnel was no longer there, the only thing left was a pile of rubble.
However, Zhao Hai knew that not all of the Demons died. The Foundation Stage Demons were all dead, but some Core Formation Demons had survived albeit in very serious conditions. As for the Nascent Soul Demon, it was unscathed. However, it had already turned into its true form, its eyes were full of killing intent.
What made Zhao Hai surprised the most was that the Nascent Soul Demon was actually a pangolin. It was currently a hundred meters long. Its scales were glittering yellow while its front paws were visibly sharp. It cleared tens of meters of rubble with one swipe. It wouldn't take long for it to reach where Zhao Hai and the others were.
Zhao Hai didn't hesitate and immediately said, "Captain, lead everyone back quickly!" Then he waved his hand as a huge magic formation appeared. Then when the spell was released, a tunnel appeared on the rubble behind them.
When he heard Zhao Hai, Yuan immediately nodded before shouting, "Quickly fly through the tunnel!" The others obeyed hastily.
While the others were retreating, Zhao Hai waved his hand once more and released a 10,000-layer formation to attack in front of him.
This formation set has weapon shattering in it, causing a huge hole to appear. The Demon opposite Zhao Hai also felt this attack. It immediately curled up into a huge golden ball. When Zhao Hai hit the pangolin's scales, its body rolled back 100 meters away.
However, Zhao Hai wasn't relieved. Although the other party had been pushed back, this was also a good thing for the Demon. Zhao Hai's attack wasted his energy but it didn't do any substantial damage to the Demon.
Sure enough, after rolling for 100 meters, the pangolin stopped. Then it waved its claws, sending attacks towards Zhao Hai. The trajectory of the attacks didn't leave Zhao Hai with any route to retreat.
The two were currently in a collapsed tunnel. Since the place was so narrow, it was impossible to avoid each other's attack. The Pangolin could only take Zhao Hai's attack but the same was true for Zhao Hai. The two could only fight head on against each other.
Zhao Hai waved his hand and another 10,000-layer formation appeared in front of him to block the incoming attack. Seeing Zhao Hai block the attacks it sent, the Pangolin roared and then charged forward.
The Pangolin was very fast. Moreover, it was very intelligent. Seeing that Zhao Hai was a Mage, it immediately wanted to get in close-combat with him.
But how could Zhao Hai be afraid of close combat? Seeing his enemy approach, Zhao Hai turned his staff into a sledgehammer and smashed it towards the Pangolin. The Pangolin stared when he saw this. Zhao Hai didn't change his weapon. His original staff became the sledgehammer, which made the Pangolin curious.
Actually, the Pangolin heard about these transforming weapons before. This weapon was known as the Ten Thousand Transformations Staff in the World of Cultivation. It was said that this weapon was inside the Floating Palace of the Cultivation Realm's Buddhist Sect. Naturally, this weapon was legendary and only a few people had seen it. Nobody dared to offend the Floating Palace. The Floating Palace was a holy place for Buddhism. They had Inner Sect Monks numbering 100 thousand, their Outer Sect members couldn’t be counted. It was a formidable existence that nobody wanted to provoke. And since it was in the Floating Palace, the Ten Thousand Transformations Staff couldn't be easily taken out. Maybe it could only see the light of day when the sect was in a threat of extermination.
However, since the Floating Palace was a huge influence, a scenario where it would be destroyed was practically impossible. At the same time, they had numerous powerful artifacts. Only when everything was exhausted would the staff be taken out.
Beside the Ten Thousand Transformations Staff, the Pangolin hasn't heard of any other weapon that can transform. Therefore, when it saw Zhao Hai's staff transforming, it couldn't help but be stunned.
As the Pangolin was thinking about this, Zhao Hai's sledgehammer hit its body. The Pangolin had fought a lot of battles so it was only stunned for a very short time. It quickly recovered. It was now certain that Zhao Hai's artifact wasn't Floating Palace's Ten Thousand Transformations Staff. Otherwise, this strike would kill him instantly. He also heard how powerful the staff was, so how could it be in the hands of someone from the Machine Field.
With this thought in mind, the Pangolin calmed down. He curled his body once more and rolled away. But as he rolled away, the Pangolin's tail lashed out like an iron whip and attacked Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai's sledgehammer path didn't change. The hammer hit the tail and a 'Wen!' sound was heard. Pain immediately assaulted the Pangolin from the place the hammer hit. Zhao Hai's hammer shattered three scales, naturally the Pangolin was in pain.
But in the end, Zhao Hai only crushed three scales and didn't injure the Pangolin too much. Although its tail was injured, the Pangolin's attack didn't stop. Seeing that it was mistaken in its offensive approach, the Pangolin itself rolled towards Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai immediately turned his sledgehammer into a big shield. When the Pangolin hit Zhao Hai's shield, it unfurled and grabbed it with his claws.
However, much to the Pangolin's surprise, it couldn't grasp the shield. He was surprised that he couldn't grab such a large shield. He was beginning to doubt whether Zhao Hai's weapon was really not the Ten Thousand Transformations Staff.