Chapter Eighty-six: The Treasure

Within the Realm Within, amidst a patch of grass.

Thirty mutilated corpses lay scattered across the ground. The expressions frozen on their severed heads still bore the terror of their final moments, but their eyes had long since lost all light.

Luo Feng and his companions crouched, searching the bodies, while Luo Yuan stood calmly nearby, gazing off at a glowing orb suspended in the distant sky, momentarily lost in thought.

“Oh? Quite a haul. This squad of thirty actually had nearly eighteen thousand cubic universe crystals,” Luo Feng said with a grin, tossing two newly acquired space rings to Hong and Thunder God. “Big brother, second brother, you keep these for now.”

Hong caught them and laughed. “The more squads like this we run into, the better.”

“Haha, exactly!” Thunder God chuckled, fondling the space ring in his hands.

“The Realm Within is truly a treasure trove,” Luo Feng could not help but marvel.

“The creation of a Realm Within is ten times more difficult than forging an ordinary world,” Luo Yuan said, returning from his reverie with a smile. “It needs greater stability, and thus requires even more universe crystals. For a peak world lord, constructing such a realm is a massive undertaking. For most, joining an empire would grant a whole star system as their fiefdom. Some star systems have hundreds of thousands of life-bearing worlds, even millions. The wealth of a single Realm Within is not inferior to that of an entire star system.”

“Opportunities like this come once in ten thousand years. If we don't seize our chance, how could we ever forgive ourselves?” Hong quipped.

“Then let’s move on!” Luo Yuan waved his hand, pointing to the heart of the realm.

Sunlight gleamed on Luo Yuan’s dark golden battle armor, making it shine brilliantly.

“Third brother, you do look quite heroic standing like that.”

“Can’t I indulge myself a little?”

“Haha…”

The team bantered cheerfully for a while before moving quietly onward toward the core.

Days later, they finally arrived at the heart of the Realm Within. By then, simply from looting other marauders, their spoils had surpassed one hundred ninety thousand cubic universe crystals. Such success was due in part to Babata’s constant vigilance—the AI no longer warned them about weaker squads, allowing for easy ambushes—and in part to Luo Yuan’s formidable synergy with the Crimson Mixed Copper fragment.

…

The core of the Realm Within was a beautiful plain, carpeted with strange, low flowers and grasses, each about ten centimeters high, trimmed so evenly it seemed the work of an invisible gardener. The terrain was flat, with only the gentlest undulations.

“My God.”

“How many people have died here?” The fourteen members of Luo Yuan’s group were stunned as they stood on the nighttime plain.

In the darkness, the occasional pale beam of light from the sky allowed Luo Feng to see several hundred meters around him. Even in that small area, more than thirty corpses could be seen, men and women both, some resembling beastfolk, others with features akin to people of Earth. Yet all were dead, their bodies fractured and torn.

Crunch! The alloy boot on Luo Yuan’s foot ground down on a piece of bone with a sharp crack.

He frowned slightly.

“Third brother, you were right. The fighting here in the core is truly brutal,” Thunder God said in a grim voice. “We’ve barely entered the core, and already we’ve seen over a hundred corpses. The area is huge—how many must have died here?”

“Ninety-nine percent of the universe crystals in the Realm Within are in the core. Of course, this is where the bloodshed is fiercest,” Luo Feng said with a sigh.

“Birds die for food, men die for wealth. It’s simply nature,” Luo Yuan lamented. “Let’s move on.”

The fourteen pressed forward carefully, ever closer to the very center of the core. Along the way, they frequently encountered deep pits in the plain—obviously excavations for universe crystals—often surrounded by the dried corpses of star-level adventurers.

“Hmm? There are people ahead, and quite a few by the sound of it,” Luo Yuan said.

The fourteen raced forward, materializing on a high ridge and looking down upon the plain below, where over a thousand people had gathered. Many were speaking loudly, their voices carrying for hundreds of kilometers—clearly, they were shouting on purpose, and Luo Yuan’s group could hear every word.

“No matter how many universe crystals or rare treasures you find, it’s useless! Unless you belong to one of the two Sacred Lands, the four great organizations, or the sixteen clans, you’ll be captured. All your work will be for nothing!”

“But now, you have an opportunity.”

“Join North Dragon City, become a provisional outer member! North Dragon City pledges on its honor…”

“Or join Hundred Tiger Tower, even temporarily! You’ll be safe with us…”

…

Powerful, resonant voices in the universal tongue rolled across the vast plain.

Luo Yuan’s fourteen looked at each other, quickly understanding what was happening: the various factions were desperately recruiting “free adventurers,” promising on their honor not to rob them of their universe crystals. It was the classic carrot and stick—and evidently, it was working very well.

“What should we do?” Hong asked, frowning.

“Why isn’t Three Axe Mountain here?” Thunder God interjected.

Luo Feng also paused. There were five voices: Hundred Tiger Tower, North Dragon City, Black Cloud Society, the Sacred Land of Black Dragon Mountain, and the Sacred Land of the Ice Sea God Kingdom—but not Three Axe Mountain.

“That’s not surprising,” Luo Yuan explained. “Three Axe Mountain is different from the other organizations. It’s known as the strongest of the four, but they don’t groom young talent. To join them, you must at least be of the universe level. Because they don’t nurture newcomers, there are only a handful of Three Axe Mountain disciples in the Realm Within this time—too few to form a real faction. Let’s just pick a side and blend in; after all, these are all temporary alliances.”

Only then did Luo Feng, Hong, and Thunder God understand.

…

The next morning, Luo Yuan’s fourteen joined the North Dragon City faction. The very core of the plain was dominated by five great camps.

Luo Yuan’s group was now in the eighteenth formation of North Dragon City. After chatting through the night with their new companions, they had gleaned much useful information.

“So that’s where the treasure is!” They gazed into the center of the five encampments, where a castle of deep blue stone stood upon the plain.

“The guess of the five factions is logical,” Thunder God nodded. “Everywhere else in the Realm Within—swamps, deserts, lakes, plains, mountains, grasslands—all are natural environments. Only this building, perched at the very center, with the orb above it! A castle in a place like this is almost certainly where the treasure lies.”

“The treasure is inside, but none of the factions dare make a move yet,” Luo Feng observed, shaking his head.

Luo Yuan smiled. “That’s only natural. At first, there weren’t many people in the core. Each faction feared that if they started fighting, independent adventurers would swoop in to reap the rewards. So, they began frantically recruiting, all five at once, each waiting for the right moment to strike.”

“Who knows how long it’ll be before they act?” Thunder God muttered.

“They’re in no hurry. The vanguard of the two million-strong army outside is probably just now entering the Realm Within,” Luo Yuan said with a smile. “It takes about seven days to fly from the edge to the core, so the real battle will likely break out within a week.”

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