Chapter 286 Not enough manpower? Go borrow some!
Desolate, empty, strange and dilapidated.
This was Shi Yan and his group’s first impression when they saw the scene before them.
This is a vast wilderness in the Mingjing Domain. It is desolate and barren, with no human habitation. Even the sight of spiritual beasts is rare. The air is dry, and the ground is full of pits and tortoise shells. There are even dozens of large pits, each of which is a hundred meters deep. The entire ground looks like a piece of paper that has been rubbed by a big hand, with gullies stacked one after another. Looking down from above, it looks like giant pythons climbing on the edge of huge pits.
As we walked forward, the scenery inside became more and more bizarre. There were more and more gullies on the ground, and they were getting bigger and bigger. The soil even piled up to form a small hillside. The diameter of the pits became larger and larger, and gradually some tools such as scaffolding appeared. However, these tools were rusty, and it was obvious that they had been here for many years and suffered from the erosion of wind and sand, and finally became what they are now.
However, what is strange is that there is a lake nearby. The lake is so large that it seems endless at first glance. The sun in the distance is slowly sinking, and the lake is causing waves. The green water is sparkling, forming a sharp contrast with the barren surroundings.
"It should be around here." Shi Yan ordered the troops to stop and set up camp by the lake.
This is their specialty. After a while, tents appeared in groups and a camp was formed.
Shi Yan gathered everyone and entered a slightly larger tent.
"I guess everyone has a lot of questions about why we came here." Shi Yan looked at everyone and said.
As for coming here, everyone only knew that they came to save Mo Chou, but this time they were walking in the desolate area of Mingjing Domain, which was indeed questionable.
Xu Zuoxian raised his eyebrows and asked, "That's right. Why did you bring us to this godforsaken place? Aren't we going to rescue Mo Chou? The Mo Clan is heading in the opposite direction from us. Are you scared? Are you running away from the battlefield?"
Shi Yan habitually ignored the existence of Xu Zuoxian, who would feel uncomfortable if he didn't say something bad about him every day.
Mingxiang glanced at Xu Zuoxian and said, "I'm also very curious about why we came here, but Senior Brother Shiyan must have his own purpose." Mingxiang was also a member of the core circle of the battle group. She was originally a disciple of the second uncle in the Huajian Sect and was in charge of the Neizi Hall. She had a high level of qualifications and was very good at logistics management. She had rich experience, so she was put in charge of the logistics of the battle group.
Everyone nodded, agreeing with Mingxiang.
"Indeed, I came here for a purpose." Shi Yan said, "Our purpose of coming to Mingjing Domain this time is not only to escape Bei'e Mountain's pursuit, but also to rescue Mo Chou. But do you know the gap between us and the Mo family?"
Everyone's faces suddenly became solemn. Although Mo Chou didn't talk much and didn't know how to communicate with his companions, he was a member of the team. Since the team was formed, it has advocated a holistic concept. Everyone is a whole and no one can be missing. Besides, if you abandon him today, you can abandon others tomorrow. If this goes on, who would dare to stay in the team? So everyone understood that Mo Chou must be saved. This is not only because of feelings, but also for the future of the team. A team that can protect everyone will make people feel a sense of belonging and make people serve it sincerely.
However, Shi Yan pointed out a big problem, which is the issue of strength.
At present, strength is the weak point of the team after all. The combat power of the high-level is not bad. There are 25 people from the first to the fourth level of Qi Condensation, all of whom are villagers from Mojia Village. There are two people with small golden elixir, Shi Yan and Xu Zuoxian. One golden elixir, Mo Zixuan. In addition to the rock brigade and the mountain cat brigade who cannot practice, the team is the foundation-building people. Ye Yier, Mingxiang and the sisters of Huajian Sect are all cultivators in the foundation-building period. Although everyone has practiced very hard in the past six months, cultivation is not something that can be achieved overnight. They are not outliers like Shi Yan, so they still stay in the foundation-building period. But there is good news. Mingxiang and Ye Yier are already masters of the ninth level of foundation-building, and they are only one step away from Qi Condensation. The rest of the sisters have also reached the fifth to the eighth level of foundation-building. If this cultivation speed is placed in normal times, it is unimaginable.
Dongqi is a super strong man, but he can't let Dongqi do all the things. And in a real war, the power that one person can exert is very small. Although he can defeat the local leaders, it will be useless if the rest of the people are not strong enough.
And what about the other party? The Mo family, the strongest family in the Mingjing Domain, has a history that can be traced back to the ancient times. Although the family has fallen into decline and has never risen, the Mo family has been entrenched in the Mingjing Domain for thousands of years, so naturally it must have some assets.
In this situation, colliding with it is like an egg hitting a stone. Or a mayfly trying to shake a tree.
"I think everyone understands this gap." Shi Yan's eyes suddenly flashed, and he said, "And I came here today to enhance our strength!"
Shi Yan summoned Qianzu and said, "Qianzu, my spirit beast, is also the child of the Master of Ten Thousand Feet. Everyone should know this."
Everyone nodded. This was what Shi Yan had told them, but Shi Yan had concealed some important information.
"The Qianzu race is a dragon beard worm, a species that parasitizes on dragons, and the Wanzu Lord is even a lineage of the divine dragon. They have a characteristic, that is, if they have enough energy, they can constantly split, transform and evolve!" Shi Yan looked at everyone, "This is the reason why I came here."
Everyone was confused and still didn't understand what they were doing here. It wasn't because they were stupid, but because this place was the Great Wilderness of the Mirror Domain, and it was originally a barren land. A major disaster occurred here a thousand years ago, which made it what it is today, and no sects moved in. There were originally rich mineral resources here, and many sects had risked letting miners mine here, but everyone died strangely, and there was no clue. After a long time, after several batches of miners and monks died, they finally gave up on this place completely.
They really didn't know what to do in such a desolate place.
Suddenly, Ye Yier's eyes lit up, "Mine?"
Shi Yan glanced at Ye Yier approvingly and said with a smile, "Yes, we are here for the minerals. I just said that the dragon beard worms have enough energy to continuously split, transform and evolve. If we want to defeat the strong with the weak, we need to rely on this! And this energy is the rich mineral deposits hidden underground, the cloud energy crystals!"
"Cloud Energy Crystal?" This scared everyone. "Fifth-grade energy ore, Cloud Energy Crystal? Impossible!"
Shi Yan looked at them with a smile, "Why is it impossible?"
The bead on Qianzu's forehead flickered, and suddenly a voice sounded in everyone's mind, "The Queen Mother came here with the Supreme Divine Dragon before, and planted the mass-energy crystals, the food for our dragon beard insect clan. Unfortunately, the growth of the mass-energy crystals requires the saliva of the Dragon God to water them, but after the Dragon God transformed into a world, he naturally lost the Dragon God's saliva, so the mass-energy crystals also decayed into cloud energy crystals. Although the energy of the cloud energy crystals is not pure enough, it can still help me split and transform them."
Everyone was deeply shocked, they didn't expect there was such a thing. No wonder even after a huge disaster, there were still sects mining here. It turned out that it was because there were cloud energy crystals stored here!
"But," Mingxiang said worriedly, "If we collect here, will we be blocked by unknown factors like the sects thousands of years ago?"
She said it very politely, but everyone's faces still changed. Wasn't it because of the unknown factors that caused people to die strangely that they retreated? If they came, wouldn't they follow in their footsteps?
"Perhaps I can answer this question." Qianzu said, "The unknown factor you mentioned may be the mirage that protected our food back then."
"Mirage?"
"That's right. The mirage is a virtual spirit beast. It is like a cloud or fog, without substance, and can become invisible. If it doesn't want to, others can't even detect its existence, even if it is only a few millimeters away from you."
“Isn’t this a bit like a mirage beast?”
"That's right, but the degenerated Mirage Spirits in Mirage Beast City can still be discovered by Mirage Beasts through spiritual fluctuations, but Mirage Spirits are different, they cannot be discovered." There is one thing Qianzu didn't say, that is, the difference in the grade of their bloodline is too large, and there is still a possibility of being discovered. It's just that the bloodline of Mirage Spirits is the top of Mirage, and there are very few that are more noble than it, so it doesn't matter whether you say it or not. Of course, Dragon Beard Worms are one of the species that can easily discover them, after all, Mirage Spirits are just a species under Dragon Beard Worms.
"So that's how it is." Everyone suddenly realized.
"So, the purpose of our coming here is to collect cloud energy crystals. It would be best if we can collect enough crystals within a month. Is there any problem?" Shi Yan looked at everyone and asked.
"I have a question." Mo Feng raised his hand.
"Uncle Feng, you say."
"How many cloud energy crystals do you need? Also, although my gang of bastards are all top-notch miners, if the quantity needed is too large, I'm worried that we won't have enough manpower to complete it in a month."
"Yes!" Shi Yan slapped his head. He had been thinking about the problem of Qianzu and completely forgot about the problem of endurance. Currently, there are only more than 80 people under his command who have experience in mining, but cloud energy crystals are not ordinary minerals. The difficulty of mining is five to eight times that of ordinary minerals. These people under his command are totally not enough.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They had never expected that such a problem had been overlooked. To be honest, everyone present was still too inexperienced and no one had thought of this.
"Xu Zuoxian, you have experience in this area. Can you tell me how to better solve it?" Shi Yan looked at Xu Zuoxian and asked.
Xu Zuoxian puffed out his chest proudly, "Hehe, you kid also know that I, Xu Zuoxian, am more capable than you!"
Shi Yan was shocked. Xu Zuoxian's thinking was really weird. No wonder Tang Xi sent her to the mine in anger.
"It's actually very simple. Just recruit some people." After Xu Zuoxian finished speaking, he sighed, "Ah, it's such a simple question, but you still need to think about it for so long. It seems that your IQ is lower than mine."
"Idiot, our operation this time is top secret, how can we recruit people?" Shi Yan glared at her fiercely. Now they are the focus of the three regions of Bianyun. If they go out, they will probably be recognized by others, and then there will be endless hunting. How can they recruit people?
"Hey, isn't this a good idea?" Ye Yier actually called out. Shi Yan looked at Ye Yier strangely. Could this guy have been infected by Xu Zuoxian?
"We can change the word 'recruit' a little bit. Can't we just 'rob' people? No, it's 'liberation'. Can't we just liberate the miners?" Ye Yier was still thinking about the scene when Shi Yan waited for her to go to Konghai when she first came to this world. Those slaves who were treated as goods...
Suddenly, Shi Yan's eyes lit up, "Yeah, if we can't do it openly, why don't we do it secretly? Why don't we borrow some people?"
ps: Sorry, I'm late