Swallowed Star 2: Origin Continent

Chapter 114: The Thieves of the Ancient Flame Kingdom

The Ancient Flame Kingdom, Qingchong Chaos State, outside Tianqu City at the ‘Tianqu Mining Area.’

“Whoosh.”

A thin thread crossed the distant void, appearing in the wilderness outside the Tianqu Mining Area, and then transformed into a figure—it was Luo Feng, who had rushed over from the Chu Capital.

Luo Feng mainly focused on five transformation techniques. The Galactic Transformation Technique excelled at long-range attacks, while the other four techniques were integrated into his body, making them more suitable for close combat. The thread that had just traversed the void was from the ‘Escape Transformation Technique,’ which specialized in void traversal and was incredibly fast. Whether for escaping or close combat, the substantial increase in movement speed provided immense benefits.

To be chosen by Luo Feng as one of the five transformation techniques, the escape ability was indeed remarkable. Especially after the fusion of ‘ten trillion and eight hundred billion drops,’ the escape ability underwent a qualitative change.

“It took just over an hour to reach the Qingchong Chaos State from the Chu Capital. After my life spirit was enhanced, the power of this ‘Escape Transformation Technique’ has indeed improved significantly.” Luo Feng was quite satisfied and then gazed into the distance at the Tianqu Mining Area.

“This Tianqu Mining Area covers an extensive area, even larger than Huyang City.” Luo Feng observed, “It is also shrouded in formations, making theft extremely difficult.”

“Thieves either come from within the management or possess extremely advanced methods.”

Luo Feng had learned the detailed intelligence about this mission from Di Chu Yu, aware of the difficulties involved. “The highest authority of the Tianqu Mining Area, who is also the Guardian of Tianqu City, is a top-tier existence in the Chaos Realm. Even that Guardian of Tianqu City couldn’t identify the thief.”

Since the management couldn’t identify the thief, the Di Chu lineage ultimately issued this mission.

Ancient Divine Kings and transcendent beings of the Chaos Realm wouldn’t stoop to stealing this bit of Tianqu Stone Essence. So, in Di Chu Yu’s view, Luo He would face no danger in investigating.

“Let’s begin!”

Luo Feng had long devised his own solution.

He stood in the wilderness outside the Tianqu Mining Area, and countless silver streams immediately flowed from his body into the earth. These silver streams quickly became extremely thin, so fine that even the eyes of an ordinary True God wouldn’t be able to see them.

Countless threads rapidly spread, penetrating deep into the earth, surrounding the entire Tianqu Mining Area.

“The Tianqu Mining Area has a diameter of about eight trillion kilometers. My Galactic Transformation Technique can easily encompass it.” Luo Feng was quite satisfied. He split into ten billion units of the galaxy, and these countless galaxies intertwined like an impenetrable net, completely enveloping and sealing off the entire mining area.

Once the area was completely surrounded, Luo Feng could also sense the purpose of the mining area’s formations.

“The formation’s function is not just to block and track enemies; its core is to guide the forces of heaven and earth to gather, allowing the mining area to produce ‘Tianqu Stone Essence’ more quickly.” Luo Feng could feel the large amounts of heaven and earth energy being continuously drawn together.

The Ancient Flame Kingdom was inherently part of the core region of the Origin Continent, naturally capable of producing numerous treasures. With the guidance of the formation, the production speed of the Tianqu Stone Essence could also be accelerated.

“Buzz.”

Luo Feng quietly approached the Tianqu Mining Area and then used a transformation technique to turn into a wisp of wind, naturally attaching himself to a miner. Many miners regularly traveled between ‘Tianqu City’ and the mining area.

…

The depths of the mining area were dark and treacherous.

“The underground ‘Fengyou Seven’ mining area, I heard that last time a whole team of miners died in there.” As a group of miners and cultivators marched along, each of them was somewhat nervous.

“The mining area used to be very safe, but in the last few eras, groups of miners have often died. Even several Eternal True Gods have perished. We True Gods don’t even have the ability to resist.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be lucky this time.”

The group of miner cultivators comforted each other as they continued to move deeper inside.

Under the protection of the mining area’s grand formation, they couldn’t slack off even if they wanted to.

“We’ve arrived at Fengyou Seven! Start working.” The captain ordered.

Fengyou Seven was considered one of the deepest regions, more than three trillion kilometers below the surface. The miners employed secret techniques, causing beams of light to illuminate the ancient mine passages in Fengyou Seven.

They began using their secret treasure tools to crush the surrounding gravel, carefully sifting through it to find the tiny ‘Tianqu Stone Essence particles.’

Even True Gods needed to carefully inspect the Tianqu Stone Essence, as the particles were extremely tiny.

A team would toil for an era, accumulating countless particles, and generally only be able to refine one or two standard pieces of ‘Tianqu Stone Essence.’

“The mining area is producing less and less Tianqu Stone Essence these days. The higher-ups still blame us for not working hard enough.”

“I think the Tianqu Stone Essence might have been stolen early on.”

The miners chatted idly as they repeatedly crushed rocks and meticulously searched for the tiny particles.

At this time, not far from them—

“Sh-sh-sh~~~” A massive shadow infiltrated the countless rocks, slowly seeping through, and selectively extracting tiny particles.

The particles that miners sifted would be handed over, but the amount was so small that it wasn’t worth looting. So ‘it’ had to painstakingly steal the particles itself. Given its strength, theft was naturally much faster than these miners.

“Boom!” The miner captain used a secret treasure, shattering large sections of rock to allow the miners to grind and sift through them.

The shattering of rocks needed to be carefully planned; otherwise, the underground mining tunnels could collapse. This task was also the captain’s responsibility.

“Boom.” As the rocks shattered, they suddenly glimpsed a massive shadow.

“Not good.”

The miner captain was shocked, and the surrounding miners’ faces turned pale.

“Call for help.”

“Help!” Each of them used their transmission orders to call for aid.

“The countless mine passages are densely packed everywhere. That old guy is pushing me to speed up the theft, and I was careless enough to get discovered.” The massive shadow was quite impatient, and a burst of power exploded forth, sweeping toward the group of miners.

The miners showed expressions of horror, seeing the shadow instantly envelop them.

“Whoosh.”

A black-clad man suddenly appeared in front of the miners. Sh-sh-sh~~~ His robe turned into countless streams of black liquid, naturally flowing into the rocks and instantly enveloping the massive shadow.

“You really are bold, to have been stealing all along.” Luo Feng looked at the massive shadow that had been enveloped.

Luo Feng’s biggest concern when coming to perform this task was that the thief might only steal occasionally. If the thief wasn’t in the mining area recently, it would be difficult for him to complete the mission.

However, according to the analysis, extracting Tianqu Stone Essence was a troublesome process, requiring a long time to accumulate enough quantity. The likelihood of encountering it while it was stealing was relatively high.

“A newcomer to the Chaos Realm?” The massive shadow was alarmed.

With a silent hum, the shadow disappeared without a trace.

“Hmm?” The countless black liquid reformed into a robe around Luo Feng. He slightly frowned, and with a single thought, the Galactic Transformation Technique, which had long formed an impenetrable net, instantly unleashed its power, completely isolating the inside from the outside.

Buzz!!!

A huge silver cage fully materialized, with terrifying power, sealing off the entire Tianqu Mining Area.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

At that moment, waves of energy scattered in all directions, trying to escape through the void, but the area had already been sealed off. At least its escape abilities couldn’t break through this impenetrable net.

“Trying to escape?” Luo Feng stood still, and naturally, countless galaxy threads penetrated the earth, enveloping that wave of energy.

Earlier, there had been ten billion units of galaxies forming the impenetrable net.

Now, there was no more concealment—twenty billion units of galaxy threads densely filled the entire impenetrable net’s interior, leaving the thief with nowhere to escape.

“Break!” The waves of energy crashed into the countless silver lights in the sky, others smashing into the countless silver lights underground.

After comprehending the first tribulation of the *Eight Tribulations Life Form*, the life spirit of Luo Feng’s five transformation techniques had all improved, and their power had also risen by a significant margin. Now, the thief’s shadow could neither escape nor tear through nor break apart the impenetrable net.

Sh-sh-sh~~~

Countless silver threads crisscrossed the heavens and earth, wrapping around the waves of energy. Each wave of energy wrapped in the silver threads was instantly annihilated.

In the end, only one wave of energy remained.

Luo Feng stepped forward and appeared in the sky, gazing at the wave of energy wrapped in the silver light.

“Spare me, spare me.” This wave of energy transformed into a gray, furry exotic beast, which bowed respectfully. “I greet this great sage of the Chaos Realm.”

Luo Feng looked at this exotic beast.

This exotic beast was of the Chaos Realm, but it was one of the many beasts who didn’t understand the essence of the laws, so its strength was generally much weaker than that of a typical Chaos Realm being. Estimating its power… this Chaos Realm exotic beast was probably just at the level of an ordinary Chaos Realm being. Luo Feng could seal it with just a casual flow of galaxy light.

“You

dare to steal the Tianqu Stone Essence?” Luo Feng stared at it.

“Lord Luo He.” The furry exotic beast suddenly spoke in an eerie voice, “This creature I raised got greedy and consumed some Tianqu Stone Essence. I hope you won’t take offense.”

Luo Feng’s expression changed slightly.

“I will have it leave immediately. Just pretend you didn’t catch the thief, okay?” The eerie voice said.

“I’m under orders to investigate the thief, and now that I’ve identified it, I must report it.” Luo Feng responded.

“Must you insist on being my enemy?” The eerie voice asked.

Luo Feng felt a headache coming on.

This Chaos Realm exotic beast was clearly enslaved, and its master had sent it here to steal! The master’s methods had also enabled it to evade the formation’s detection.

“Empty words alone won’t make me abandon my mission.” Luo Feng stared at the beast. “I can show you some respect and allow you to take it away. But its identity must be reported.”

“I admire Lord Luo He’s courage.”

Accompanied by a cold snort—

“No—” The gray, furry exotic beast let out a miserable cry before being silently annihilated.

Luo Feng frowned as he watched this scene.

This Chaos Realm exotic beast was clearly enslaved and controlled, and with a single thought, it had been killed.

“So what if this beast is dead? With the identity of a Chaos Realm exotic beast confirmed, the Di Chu lineage will naturally have a lead to follow.” Luo Feng waved his hand and stored away the remains left behind by the deceased Chaos Realm exotic beast.

…

“What happened?” The Guardian of Tianqu City had left the city and approached the Tianqu Mining Area. He gazed from afar at the massive silver cage that had completely sealed off the entire mining area, and his expression changed.

The entire silver cage was still being struck from the inside, twisting and shifting slightly.

Soon, the entire silver cage dissipated.

The Guardian of Tianqu City immediately spotted the figure of the black-clad man in mid-air.

“Lord Luo He?” The Guardian of Tianqu City recognized him.

“I was ordered to investigate the thief.” Luo Feng didn’t conceal anything, as his actions had been public, and the formation in the mining area had naturally recorded all the details.

Luo Feng said this and then took a step, instantly traversing the void and leaving directly.

Seeing this, the Guardian of Tianqu City’s expression changed slightly.

“It seems that Lord Luo He fought with it.” The Guardian of Tianqu City thought to himself. He had long known that a Chaos Realm exotic beast was stealing, but the fact that it could evade the formation’s detection made him realize that the entity behind this beast was extremely dangerous.

So, he pretended not to know the thief’s identity.