According to the previous information, the source crystal mine is only in a straight line a few kilometres away from the resort. Its location is in a certain area of the mountain forest behind the castle.
This mountain forest is huge, and the demonized beasts roaming in this area are too numerous to count.
A few days ago, Tang Yu walked down the road winding around the mountain and saw a relatively gentle slope in the middle of the mountain. This allowed him easy entry into the mountain forest.
"However, I think this detour is too far away and wastes too much time. Moreover, No. 1 and No. 2, as guardian puppets have a limited range of activities. They cannot be separated too far away from the territory. So, they should come with me while I directly give them orders."
On the side of the road near the mountain forest, there is a towering cliff face which was thickly covered in dense intertwining overgrown vegetation. Even an awakened one cannot possibly climb up this sheer cliff face unless they have an abundance of climbing experience.
In his mind…
Tang Yu gave a series of direct orders to No. 1.
All of a sudden, web-like cracks appeared below No. 1's feet. Then its whole body shot up into the sky, only to crash down onto a road covered in thick bushes.
At that time, the broken branches and leaves rained down in succession on the mountain road, leaving the surrounding path in a messy state.
The corner of Tang Yu's mouth twitched slightly. Looking at the cliff face where the path had been cleared, and then at the dangling rope down from the cliff face… He could only sigh. Sure enough, violence is the best answer in solving any difficulty.
......
Outside the mountain forest, the sun was blazing hot with a frightening heat wave…
But inside the mountain forest was a very different story.
The trees are growing very fast as the roots intertwined with other trunks. The branches and lush green leaves made it appear as if they were approaching a primaeval forest. Even the sunlight was completely blocked out. Not only had the light suddenly dimmed, but he's afraid the temperature has also dropped by several degrees.
There is no doubt this change happened after the doomsday.
Every tree, seemed like it was being fed growth hormones, turning this place into an area only densely populated by trees. Tang Yu also saw branches closely hugging each other, as if cuddling. How scandalous!
Perhaps in the near future, Tang Yu wouldn't even be surprised if a flower or tree gains spirituality.
It was mostly quiet in this mountain forest except for the occasional rustling sound caused by the wind breezing through the treetops.
He hasn't heard the sound of singing insects or chirping birds. In fact, Tang Yu was curious as to why creatures such as insects haven't been seen at all… After the doomsday, he has at least seen birds become demonized birds when contaminated by the red fog. But he hasn't seen a single case of this happening to an insect.
This was originally the most common type of organism in the world. But he's never seen or heard of a mutated insect. Could the insects have been too weak to bear the mutation caused by the red fog? Could they have gone extinct?
Tang Yu felt this was impossible. Both the reproductive and adaptive ability of insects was at the top. Instead, he worries more about once when the insects are affected like the demonized beasts. Once some of them are mutated, this group of creatures will become far more difficult to handle than any ordinary demonized beast…
At this time, puppet guard No. 2 which was walking on his right side had suddenly come forward, reached out and grabbed a green vine before squeezing it tightly.
There was a loud snap.
The vine bursts and a yellowish-green liquid spills all over the ground with a hissing sound following soon after.
Tang Yu was stunned.
"This is… A snake?!"
He became extremely frightened. If he were alone, he would not dare enter this strange and dangerous mountain forest.
Outside, except for a few assassination-type demonized beasts. Most demonized beasts aren't difficult to encounter. But in a mountain forest like this one. After being demonized, the hunting habits the original animals are still maintained, which makes such a complex environment as the mountain forest even more dangerous.
And what's more, in front of him was just a weak demonized snake.
"Such a pity, most demonized beasts are inedible. If this was a mutated snake, then this would be a different story."
Everything went back to silence.
As he gradually went deeper into the mountain forest, increasingly more demonized beasts appeared in front of Tang Yu's group.
Some of the native demonized beasts have maintained their original appearance while others have mutated into bizarre shapes.
Some of the demonized rabbits grew to be larger than tigers or leopards while some demonized squirrels grew three tails. The most bizarre-looking were the exotic creatures crawling out from the abyss rift. The forms these creatures have taken were even more perverse with most shapes being unimaginable before…
He felt that if he had a chance in the future, he should catalogue and name these demonized beasts. Otherwise, if he continues encountering the same demonized beasts and cannot call out their names, wouldn't he seem a bit ignorant?
......
The environment in the mountain forest is complex, and the location of the source crystal mine is also uncertain… Tang Yu has been wandering around for a long time but he hasn't found any clues for the whereabouts of the source crystal mine.
"Was this information false? Was Wang Tai bold enough to trade with a Lindong boss using false information?"
Tang Yu doesn't think so.
Regardless of whether the information is true or false, considering the danger level in this mountain forest. He believes that if Han Jing's team came to this mountain forest searching for the source crystal mine. They wouldn't last a minute, let alone finding it.
Even Wang Tai's men are said to have only seen it from a distance when they fled the shelter.
Suddenly, he froze and thought.
What can I see?
This mountain forest is covered in thick lush trees. Most of my line of sight has already been covered, how can anyone see past any of the trees?
He's beginning to think he's been given false information!
But all of a sudden…
A large patch of light appeared up ahead. Tang Yu rubbed his eyes to make sure his vision wasn't playing tricks on him.
"How can there be so much sunlight in this mountain forest? Have I already gone out of the mountain forest area? This is impossible. I couldn't have walked out of the forest so quickly. According to my position, I am only at the edge of the mountain forest. I am far from reaching the other side of the mountain forest. Then…"
He stepped forward with a quick pace as he heard banging sounds coming from both sides. It was No. 1 and No. 2 taking care of some of the demonized beasts harassing their group.
Suddenly the forest in front of him opened up.
A huge pit appeared in his line of sight. As the sun was shining down, he noticed a few sparkling crystals.
This is a huge pit, the bottom of which is covered with glittering white stones. The mineral is crystal ore source stone which contains the source crystal.
As expected, this is an open-pit mine.
The source crystal mine seen from a distance looks very shocking, especially under the sunlight. The source stone ore sparkles as it reflects the white light. But Tang Yu's eyes are fixed directly on the centre of the huge pit.
There is a giant tree in the centre.
This thing fully deserves its title.
The trees in the mountain forest are already very tall. But this one towers far above the rest of the trees.
This giant tree is rooted in the centre of the source crystal mine, and its underground roots are entwined around the area like a dragon wrapped around a mountain.
This giant tree has many branches and leaves, but they aren't emerald green like ordinary leaves but look more transparent and white.
Tang Yu gazed and seemed to see the veins and tiny capillaries in each of these transparent leaves.
This giant tree seemed as if it came from some sort of dream.
In contrast, the source crystal mine below was overshadowed and lost most of its lustre.
Tang Yu shook his head and stopped thinking further about the origins of the giant tree.
The giant tree doesn't seem to be dangerous. As for how it mutated, this should be left for later exploration. Anyway, the giant tree cannot escape. So it's better to take away the crystal ore source stone first.
He didn't want to come too close to the giant tree. So he came to the edge of the huge pit and found an area rich in source stone.
No. 1 and No. 2 stood by and guarded Tang Yu as he grabbed a bunch of balls from his pocket and threw them out.
Basic battle type puppet, I choose you!
While still in mid-air what accompanied was some snapping sounds. The balls the size of Ping-Pong balls continually transformed and expanded, eventually turning into puppets with round torsos and thick arms.
As soon as the puppets land on the ground, Tang Yu immediately controls the basic battle type puppet to begin mining. The puppets don't have this set of actions in-built, but implementing these set of actions is a simple matter. Just like cutting stones in the resort, he just makes the puppets raise and chop with the sword. There is no need to worry about durability… The crystal ore source stone is continuously mined out with some ordinary stones as well.
The size of the crystal ore source stone wasn't small. But it only contains a small amount of source crystal… If one uses an ordinary backpack, not much can be taken away and it wouldn't hold nearly as much as Tang Yu's space backpacks.
The source stone crystal ore are being continuously loaded into the space backpacks.
The puppets' mining was a bit noisy, causing the demonized beasts to be aroused. It was as if a hornet's nest had been stirred up when the mining operation began.
Under the giant tree, located where the roots are intertwined, countless demonized beasts began gushing out.
The darkness caused by the demonized beasts came like a tide and fiercely washed over the area.
Tang Yu frowned and said: "This amount is a bit much. But fortunately, there is no need to repel these demonized beasts… I just have to hold on for a while."
Leaving No. 2 to guard the perimeter, No. 1 moved as fast as lightning and had already rushed into the group of demonized beasts.
The silver spear in hand danced like a dragon snake without No. 1 needing to stab at all. Instead, the demonized beasts were violently smashed as the spear swept across the group. Most of the demonized beasts ended up either seriously injured, pulverized or burst into a bloody mist.
It turns out there is no enemy which can match No. 1.
This is an upgraded puppet guard.
Each time the territory is upgraded, the two puppets which are guarding the territory will also receive a huge promotion.
In terms of strength. Roger, who has broken through the building body domain, isn't as strong as these two puppets. If it weren't for the restrictions on the range of activity for these two puppets. Tang Yu would even dare to bring them along and confront the boss in Lindong Shelter.
What a pity.
As the demonized beasts died, a steady stream of spirit power poured into Tang Yu.
If a single demonized beast's spirit power is like a babbling brook. Then when all this spirit power comes together, it now becomes a raging river.
For a while, though he wasn't cultivating, he kept feeling a sense of fullness.
There are simply too many demonized beasts!
If he were hunting by himself. Even if he already had the strength of a second order awakened one at this time. He would still need to be careful in the face of such a large amount of demonized beasts… Every time he finishes a fight with a demonized beast. He needs a lot of time to rest and recover. This is without factoring in the dangers involved before an encounter or during a fight.
At this moment, he gained some insight. No wonder some people who have awakened for a long time felt their strength stagnate. It's not as though they're not working hard, but… They can't beat the demonized beasts!
Tang Yu smiles.
Ascension without struggles.
Sure enough, this is the best way to use his guardian puppets.