The Tianqu Mining Area, located outside Tianqu City in Qingchong Chaos Province, Yanfeng Ancient Kingdom.

A thread of light streaked across the distant void, appearing in a wilderness area outside the Tianqu Mining Area. It then transformed into a figure: Luo Feng, who had hurried there from Chudu.

Luo Feng primarily focused on five transformation techniques. The Galaxy Transformation was adept at long-range attacks, while the other four were integrated into his body, making them more suitable for close combat. This thread of light, capable of traversing the void, was the ‘Escape Transformation’ technique, excelling at spatial travel with incredible speed. Whether for escaping death or engaging in close-quarters combat, the significant increase in movement speed provided immense assistance. The escape ability was truly remarkable to be chosen by Luo Feng as one of his five transformation techniques. Especially after the fusion of ‘108,000 trillion drops,’ its spatial traversal capability underwent a qualitative leap.

“In just over an hour, I could travel from Chudu to Qingchong Chaos Province. The power of this ‘Escape Transformation’ technique has indeed improved significantly after the enhancement of my life spirituality,” Luo Feng noted with satisfaction, then looked towards the Tianqu Mining Area ahead.

“This Tianqu Mining Area covers an immense area, much larger than Huyang City,” Luo Feng observed. “It’s also enveloped by a formation, making illegal mining extremely difficult.” He deduced, “The illegal miners must either be from within the management or possess exceptionally sophisticated methods.”

Luo Feng had learned the detailed intelligence about this mission from Emperor Chuyu, understanding its problematic nature. “The highest administrator of the Tianqu Mining Area, who is also the guardian of Tianqu City, is a top-tier Chaos Realm existence. Even that guardian couldn’t uncover the identity of the illegal miners.” Because the management couldn’t find them, the Emperor Chu lineage ultimately issued this mission. Ancient God Kings and transcendent Chaos Realm existences would never stoop to secretly mining such a small amount of Tianqu Stone Essence, as it would be a loss of face. Therefore, in Emperor Chuyu’s view, there was no danger in Luo Feng going to investigate.

“Let’s begin!” Luo Feng already had his own set of solutions. Standing in the wilderness outside the Tianqu Mining Area, countless silver streams immediately flowed from his body into the earth. These silver streams quickly became incredibly fine, to the point where even ordinary True Gods couldn’t perceive them with their naked eyes. Countless threads rapidly spread, penetrating deep into the earth and encircling the entire Tianqu Mining Area.

“The Tianqu Mining Area is approximately eight hundred billion kilometers in diameter. My Galaxy Transformation can still easily encircle it,” Luo Feng noted with satisfaction. He divided out one billion units of the Galaxy, and these countless galaxies interwoven freely, forming a vast net that completely surrounded and sealed off the entire mining area.

As he completely encircled it, Luo Feng also perceived the purpose of the Tianqu Mining Area’s formation. “The formation serves not only to seal off and track enemies, but more importantly, to guide the convergence of heaven and earth energy, allowing the entire mining area to more quickly produce ‘Tianqu Stone Essence’,” Luo Feng sensed vast amounts of heaven and earth energy continuously being drawn together. The Yanfeng Ancient Kingdom, being at the core of the Origin Continent, naturally nurtured abundant treasures. Under the guidance of the formation, the rate at which Tianqu Stone Essence formed could also be accelerated.

Hum. Luo Feng quietly approached the Tianqu Mining Area, then activated his transformation technique, turning into a wisp of wind that naturally attached itself to a miner. Many miners frequently traveled between Tianqu City and the mining area.

The depths of the mining area were dark and unfathomable.

“The ‘Wind幽Seven’ mining area underground… I heard the last team of miners in there all died,” a group of ongoing miner-cultivators muttered, each showing some tension.

“The mining area used to be very safe, but in recent epochs, a lot of miners have been dying regularly. Even quite a few Eternal True Gods have died. We True Gods don’t even have the right to resist.”

“Hope we have better luck this time.”

The group of miner-cultivators comforted each other as they ventured deeper. Under the pervasive formation of the mining area, they couldn’t even slack off.

“We’re here, Wind幽Seven Sector! Start working,” the captain ordered. Wind幽Seven Sector was considered an extremely deep area, more than three hundred billion kilometers from the surface. The miners cast secret techniques, and immediately streaks of light illuminated the ancient mining tunnels of Wind幽Seven Sector. They began using their secret treasure tools to crush the surrounding gravel. After crushing large amounts of gravel, they carefully sifted out the ‘Tianqu Stone Essence particles’. Tianqu Stone Essence consisted of incredibly tiny particles that even True Gods needed to examine closely to see. A team working diligently for an entire epoch would accumulate countless particles, which, when refined, would typically yield only one or two standard ‘Tianqu Stone Essence’ pieces.

“The mining area is producing less and less Tianqu Stone Essence now. The superiors are even blaming us for not being diligent enough.”

“I think the Tianqu Stone Essence might have been illegally mined already.”

The miners chatted among themselves, repeatedly crushing ore and meticulously searching for the tiny particles.

At that moment, very close to them, “Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle”—a vast illusory figure was permeating countless ores, slowly seeping through them and sifting out tiny particles. The particles sifted by the miners were always handed over, and the quantity each time was small, not worth plundering. So ‘it’ could only diligently mine them itself. With its strength, its illegal mining was naturally much faster than that of the miners.

“Boom!” The miner captain activated a secret treasure, blasting open a large amount of rock to allow the miners to slowly grind and sift. Blasting the rocks needed careful planning, otherwise, the underground tunnels would collapse. This blasting task was also completed by the captain.

“Boom.” As a large amount of rock collapsed, a vast illusory figure suddenly became faintly visible.

“Oh no.” The miner captain was greatly alarmed, and the faces of the surrounding miners changed drastically.

“Call for help!”

“Help!” They each called for aid via their communication tokens.

“Countless mining tunnels are densely spread everywhere, and that old geezer keeps forcing me to mine faster. I was discovered by accident,” the vast illusory figure muttered impatiently. A burst of power erupted directly, sweeping towards the group of miners. The miners’ faces filled with terror as they watched the illusory figure spread towards them instantly.

“Whoosh.” A black-clad man appeared out of thin air in front of the miners. Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—the robes on his body transformed into countless black liquids that flowed and naturally seeped into the rocks, instantly engulfing and covering the vast illusory figure.

“How daring, to have been illegally mining all this time,” Luo Feng said, looking at the enveloped illusory figure. Luo Feng’s biggest concern when coming to execute this mission was that the illegal miner might only be an occasional operator, and if they weren’t in the mining area recently, he would find it very difficult to complete the task. However, according to his deduction, extracting Tianqu Stone Essence was troublesome, requiring long periods of mining to accumulate a sufficient quantity! The probability of encountering it in the act of mining was relatively high.

“A new Chaos Realm existence?” The vast illusory figure was greatly alarmed. Silently, this illusory figure directly annihilated and vanished.

“Hm?” As countless black liquids merged back into his robes, Luo Feng frowned slightly. In an instant, his Galaxy Transformation technique, which had already formed a vast net, unleashed its power, completely sealing off the inside from the outside.

Hum!!! A colossal silver cage fully manifested, its power terrifying, completely sealing off the entire Tianqu Mining Area. At this moment, waves of fluctuations were scattering and attempting to traverse the void, but this area had been sealed. At least, its escape ability was still insufficient to break through this vast net.

“Trying to escape?” Luo Feng stood still, and naturally, countless Galaxy threads penetrated the earth, enveloping that wave of fluctuations. Previously, it was one billion units of the Galaxy, forming the vast net. Now, without any concealment, another two billion units of Galaxy threads densely spread throughout the entire vast net, leaving the illegal miner nowhere to escape.

“Break!” Waves of fluctuations crashed, some against the countless silver lights in the high sky, others against the countless silver lights deep underground. Having comprehended the first tribulation of the ‘Eight Tribulations Life Form’, Luo Feng’s five transformation techniques and life spirituality had all improved, and their power had comprehensively increased. The illusory figure was now utterly unable to escape, tear through, or break through the vast net.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—countless silver threads crisscrossed between heaven and earth, enveloping waves of fluctuations. Each wave enveloped was directly annihilated. Finally, only one wave of fluctuation remained. Luo Feng took a step and appeared in the high sky, looking at the fluctuation enveloped by the silver light.

“Mercy, mercy!” This fluctuation transformed into a gray, furry beast. The beast bowed respectfully, “Greetings, great Chaos Saint.” Luo Feng looked at the beast. This beast was a Chaos Realm beast. However, beasts that didn’t comprehend the essence of laws were generally much weaker than other Chaos Realm cultivators! He estimated… this Chaos Realm beast was likely only at the ordinary Chaos Realm level; even a casual stream of his Galaxy light could seal it.

“You dare to illegally mine Tianqu Stone Essence?” Luo Feng looked at it.

“Guest Elder Luo He,” the furry beast suddenly uttered a strange voice. “This fellow I raised was greedy and ate some Tianqu Stone Essence. Please don’t take offense.” Luo Feng’s expression changed slightly.

“I will make it leave immediately. You can pretend you didn’t catch any illegal miner, how about that?” the strange voice said.

“I was ordered to investigate the illegal miner, and now that its identity has been confirmed, I naturally must report it,” Luo Feng replied.

“Must you be my enemy?” the strange voice said.

Luo Feng felt a headache coming on. This Chaos Realm beast clearly had an owner, who had dispatched it to illegally mine here! It was also its owner’s method that allowed it to evade the formation’s detection.

“Just empty words, and you expect me to abandon my mission?” Luo Feng looked at the beast. “I can give you face and let you take it away. But its identity, I will certainly report.”

“I admire Guest Elder Luo He’s courage,” accompanied by a cold snort.

“No—” The gray, furry beast let out a shriek, then silently annihilated itself. Luo Feng frowned, watching this scene. This Chaos Realm beast was clearly enslaved and controlled, instantly killed with a single thought.

“What if this beast was killed? With its identity as a Chaos Realm beast clarified, the Emperor Chu lineage naturally has clues to follow,” Luo Feng thought. He waved his hand, collecting the remnants left by the deceased Chaos Realm beast.

“What’s going on?” The Tianqu City Guardian had left the city and arrived near the Tianqu Mining Area. He gazed from afar at the colossal silver cage completely sealing off the entire mining area, his expression changing. The entire silver cage was still being impacted from within, slightly twisting and flowing. Soon, the entire silver cage dissipated.

The Tianqu City Guardian immediately spotted the black-clad man in mid-air. “Guest Elder Luo He?” The Tianqu City Guardian recognized him.

“I was ordered to investigate the illegal miners,” Luo Feng said, not concealing anything. After all, his previous public actions would naturally have been recorded in detail by the mining area’s formation. Luo Feng spoke, then stepped through the void and departed directly.

Seeing this, the Tianqu City Guardian’s expression changed slightly. “It seems Guest Elder Luo He engaged in combat with it,” the Tianqu City Guardian mused. He had long known that a Chaos Realm beast was illegally mining, but its ability to evade the mining area’s formation detection made him realize that the entity behind this beast was formidable. Therefore, he had simply pretended he couldn’t uncover the illegal miner’s identity.