Chapter 1759: Trap and Spy

A terrestrial earth spirit capable of forming twenty to thirty clones is already remarkable. Elder Liu's judgment was precise: this particular earth spirit possessed exceptionally profound cultivation.

Its digging and transportation speed was at least ten times that of humans working at full capacity. Moreover, thanks to its unique abilities, the earth spirit was exceptionally sensitive to Mystic Crystals, easily locating treasures hidden deep within the rock walls.

However, creating so many clones placed a tremendous burden on the earth spirit's main body, which was why the dwarf would only feed it high-quality Mystic Crystals.

Thirty-five zhang underground, the tunnel was pitch black, devoid of any light. However, such an environment posed no challenge to the earth spirit.

This was a place human miners rarely visited, where the ore was large, beautiful, and of excellent quality.

The earth spirit was digging away happily when it suddenly detected a fresh, pleasant scent.

The scent within the underground cavern was usually unchanging, but this particular aroma was invigorating, making it feel as if one were standing in a garden filled with blooming flowers.

The earth spirit knew this was the scent of Emperor's Dew; to be more precise, it was the extremely potent fragrance of spiritual energy!

Dozens of earth locusts immediately gathered and rushed towards the source of the scent.

It was a long passage with an opening so small that only human children or canines could pass through; adults could not enter. The ground was also covered in scattered rock fragments. Clearly, this path had only recently been opened by miners and likely hadn't yet been fully explored.

This posed no difficulty for the earth spirit.

The stone walls on both sides of the passage contained no Mystic Crystals. After the earth locusts ran for another hundred zhang, they reached a dead end—a thick stone wall.

But embedded in this stone wall was the largest Mystic Crystal the earth spirit had ever seen!

The part exposed outside the rock wall alone was three zhang high and nearly two zhang wide!

Who knew if this was just the tip of the iceberg? Currently, Thousand Illusions' evasion technique prohibition was still in effect across the Tumbling Sea, so the earth spirit, being an outsider, had no way to directly probe its reserves.

Its color also transitioned from deep red to purple.

It displayed the highly prized 'red to purple' coloration. Indeed, among all grades, purple Mystic Crystals were of the highest quality.

Such a flawless and colossal Mystic Crystal left the earth spirit staring in awe, speechless and stunned for a long time.

Then, it reported its discovery to Immortal Jieshui and the dwarf.

Immortal Jieshui's thought was a single word: "Dig it out quickly."

The Heavenly Palace team currently most urgently needed such pure and immense energy!

The dwarf hesitated, asking, "Is it such a coincidence? A pillow delivered just as I'm sleepy?"

At a time when resources were desperately scarce, an incredibly large Mystic Crystal suddenly appeared in this mine. The earth locusts wouldn't need to search or dig anywhere else; they could simply focus on extracting this one.

Could such a good thing exist in the world?

But when the earth locusts brought up fragments of the cut Mystic Crystal for him to see, he dismissed his last trace of doubt: "It's genuine, no deception."

"Dig! Dig quickly!" Such a massive Mystic Crystal would surely take more than ten days for just a few, or even a dozen, earth locusts to excavate. So, with a single command from the earth spirit, the vast army of earth locusts, which had been exploring other parts of the mine, suddenly turned and rushed uniformly towards this location!

That vast, swarming mass, filled with the scraping sound of six legs dragging across the ground, was more terrifying than a locust plague.

If He Lingchuan and his companions had been there, they would have found the gigantic Mystic Crystal on the stone wall completely covered, its surface entirely teeming with large insects!

They swarmed the Mystic Crystal, diligently cutting with their sharp mouthparts and foreclaws. As soon as they pried off any scraps, they swiftly transported them out.

Other earth locusts worked to excavate the stone wall, to reveal the hidden portion of the Mystic Crystal.

More of their companions were continuously arriving from other parts of the mine.

"Almost," Elder Liu whispered to He Lingchuan. "Fewer locusts are passing by outside now."

The main wave had passed, meaning most of the locusts had entered the passage.

This "long time" was only a dozen breaths, but he was a bit anxious.

He Lingchuan nodded, indicating that Elder Liu should wait a little longer. In reality, he was secretly listening to a telepathic message from Matron Zhu:

"Hey, the Eyeball Spider has noticed that there are always a few bird demons flying around above Kidney Lake, constantly emitting light."

Emitting light? Although he could borrow the Eyeball Spider's vision, it wasn't as high-definition or as far-reaching as his own.

The Eyeball Spider was currently hidden in the crown of the tallest tree near the mine entrance. This tree protruded from the cliff, offering a distant view of Kidney Lake.

Like Matron Zhu, the Eyeball Spider had a dozen eyes encircling its head, providing it with a nearly 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots. It had long since noticed the bird demons flying back and forth in the sky.

"They flew over from the direction of Tumbling Lake, and when they reached Kidney Lake, they dropped glowing points downwards. They repeated this back and forth several times," Matron Zhu added. "I watched for a long time, and those glowing points—do you remember those luminous silver pearl fruits from the shores of Tumbling Lake?"

Standing on Stone Dragon Peak, they had watched the live broadcast from the Haoyuan Golden Mirror. Whenever the scene shifted to the shores of Tumbling Lake, they always saw countless twinkling lights along the shore. Xiao Wencheng had long explained that these were the fruits of the Silver Pearl Tree, which only absorbed moonlight and glowed all night on the fifteenth day of the month.

He Lingchuan nodded.

Which bird demons would specifically carry silver pearl fruits from Tumbling Lake just to throw them into Kidney Lake and hear a splash?

Dong Rui stood behind Elder Liu and made a few hand gestures to He Lingchuan: "Is the Heavenly Palace testing something?"

When he usually conducted experiments, didn't he have to try repeatedly like this?

With the battle raging fiercely, the Illusion Sect certainly wouldn't have leisure to do something like this. Therefore, these bird demons were most likely from the Heavenly Palace faction.

Connecting this to the unusual phenomena at Kidney Lake and the warming of the Divine Bone Necklace, He Lingchuan stroked his chin, wondering if Bai Ziqi had also discovered some clues.

This had most likely happened only after he and Elder Liu had led their team to Yu Village. The Haoyuan Golden Mirror could monitor the entire Tumbling Sea, so had Xiao Wencheng also seen these bird demons' unusual movements?

Earlier, when He Lingchuan asked him about enemy movements, he hadn't mentioned a word.

Had he not noticed, or did he not want to say?

At this moment, Elder Liu reminded him again: "It's been a long time since any locusts passed by."

This "long time" was only a dozen breaths, and he was indeed getting anxious.

Only then did He Lingchuan softly utter a name: "Matron Zhu!"

Above the passage entrance, a dark shadow suddenly stirred.

Wu Shidao rushed out of the edge of the lighthouse barrier, then summoned the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, and stepped back onto Stone Dragon Peak.

He could only return to the plaza.

On his way to Wenhua Pavilion, he brushed past several young Illusion Sect disciples and heard them call him "Uncle Wu."

They were too young and had learned too few divine abilities, so they couldn't go to the battlefield and remained in the sect for logistics.

One of them was a junior from Wu Shidao's own village, and even joked a bit with his companions.

He didn't know yet that his own village had been destroyed by Sect Master Xiao in a backhanded move.

Wu Shidao looked at them with mixed emotions. He had lived for decades, originally believing he understood everything, but in reality, he had always lived within the lies woven by the Illusion Sect, constantly deceived and exploited. How different was he from these innocent children?

He shook his head, casting aside distracting thoughts, and hurried into Wenhua Pavilion.

Here, only Xiao Wencheng stood before the mirror; the other elders were absent.

He stepped forward to pay his respects. Xiao Wencheng knew he had arrived but didn't turn his head, asking: "How is the battle within the lighthouse barrier?"

With the barrier blocking the view, Xiao Wencheng couldn't see the battle scene through the Haoyuan Golden Mirror. He could only obtain information by questioning those who had been there.

In the past, Wu Shidao had seen Sect Master Xiao as a figure of great stature, as distant and unattainable as the bright moon. Now, he only saw hypocrisy.

This very person had casually caused the death of his relatives, driven yakshas to torment and devour the residents of Silver Pearl Island, and even placed his own statue in the Wind God Temple, demanding everyone to wholeheartedly worship him!

The moment he saw Xiao Wencheng, boundless hatred involuntarily surged within Wu Shidao's heart!

He quickly bent down and lowered his head, lest Xiao Wencheng discover his true feelings.

Since Xiao Wencheng had asked about the battle situation, he concealed the fact that he had been captured but reported everything else truthfully.

The more truth and details he provided, the better he could conceal his deception.

He was an old member of the Illusion Sect, accustomed to frequenting various important areas of the sect on Stone Dragon Peak. Today, he had also returned twice to report and retrieve items. Xiao Wencheng personally saw him covered in blood and with a resolute expression. Furthermore, the battle by the lake was fierce, and after hearing his description, Xiao Wencheng's mind was entirely focused on how to respond.

Therefore, when he mentioned Elder Jin's request for eight hundred catties of high-grade Mystic Crystals, Xiao Wencheng didn't hesitate and quickly wrote him a handwritten order.

The three elders at the front line had already sent people back for aid multiple times. Xiao Wencheng also knew that once the battle began, years of accumulated resources would be consumed like flowing water.

But what could be done? This battle had to continue until the other side revealed its trump card.

Wu Shidao took the handwritten order, swiftly bowed to him, and turned to leave Wenhua Pavilion.

This step was smoother than expected. The main event was next—the Immortal Light Cave.

When he arrived, another group of disciples happened to be there to retrieve supplies.

These individuals greeted him: "Uncle Wu, please go first!"

"No need, you go ahead," Wu Shidao said. He followed behind them, unhurriedly walking into the Immortal Light Cave.

The beast-head sculpture on the door had once deterred the Brain-Devouring Bug Demon, preventing it from sneaking in. But Wu Shidao was an "insider," so it just glanced twice and let him pass.

There were guards all along the way. Wu Shidao showed the Sect Master's handwritten order and passed easily. He also met two stewards, both familiar faces, and greeted them with a smile: "Is Steward Lu here?"

"Brother Lu went to coordinate the collection of medicines; he'll be back soon," the two stewards sighed. "With the front line at war, the medical expenses are enormous."

The Immortal Light Cave had almost hollowed out the mountain's interior. Thirty-six caverns were dug within it, filled with dazzling treasures, clearly demonstrating the Illusion Sect's vast wealth and power.

Novices entering for the first three times would find it a maze. The inner paths branched in all directions; let alone finding what they needed, even finding the exit would be difficult.

Wu Shidao, of course, had no such trouble. He expertly navigated the twists and turns to the second-to-last level, passing through many hidden mechanisms along the way.

If an outsider were to recklessly break in, they would instantly meet a grisly end.

From this level downwards, lay the Illusion Sect's most prized and hidden treasures. Ahead was another stone chamber, which was empty, save for a sleeping giant beast.

This monstrous beast resembled a tiger, with a yellow body and black stripes, but its face was narrow and short, and it had a pair of boar-like tusks.