Identifying The Thief
Yan Feng Kingdom, Qingchong Chaos State, outside Tianqu City at the 'Tianqu Mining Area.'
A thread of silver light shot across the distant void, appearing in a desolate area outside the Tianqu Mining Area, and then transformed into a figure—Luo Feng, who had rushed here from Chu's Capital.
Luo Feng focused mainly on five transformation techniques. The "Galaxy Transformation" excelled in long-range attacks, while the other four were integrated into his body, making them more suitable for close combat. This thread of silver light, used for traversing the void, was part of the 'Stealth Transformation,' known for its speed in traversing space. Whether for escaping or engaging in close combat, the increased speed provided by this technique was immensely beneficial.
The Stealth Transformation's abilities were indeed exceptional, especially after merging with '108 trillion drops,' which significantly enhanced its traversal and stealth capabilities.
"In just a little over an hour, I was able to travel from Chu's Capital to Qingchong Chaos State. The power of this 'Stealth Transformation' has indeed improved after enhancing my life spirituality," Luo Feng thought, satisfied as he gazed at the Tianqu Mining Area ahead.
"This mining area is vast, much larger than Huyang City," Luo Feng observed. "Moreover, it is covered by a formation, making it extremely difficult to steal from."
"Anyone stealing from this place is either from the management itself or possesses extremely high-level techniques."
Luo Feng had already obtained detailed intelligence about the mission from Chu Yu, understanding the complexities involved. "The highest authority in the Tianqu Mining Area, who is also the overseer of Tianqu City, is a top-tier Chaos Realm being. Even he couldn't identify the thief."
Because the management couldn't identify the thief, the Chu faction had issued this task.
It was highly unlikely that ancient God Kings or Transcendent Chaos Realm beings would resort to stealing a small amount of Tianqu Stone Essence. Therefore, in Chu Yu's view, there was little danger for Luo He to investigate.
"Let's begin!"
Luo Feng had already devised his own method to solve the problem.
Standing in the desolate area outside the Tianqu Mining Area, countless silver streams began to flow from his body, merging with the ground. These silver streams quickly became so thin that even an ordinary True God's eyes couldn't detect them.
Countless threads spread rapidly, penetrating deep into the earth and encircling the entire Tianqu Mining Area.
"The Tianqu Mining Area has a diameter of about 800 billion kilometers. My Galaxy Transformation can easily surround it," Luo Feng thought with satisfaction. He divided into a billion units of the Galaxy, weaving a network that completely enveloped and sealed off the entire mining area.
As the area was fully encircled, Luo Feng could sense the purpose of the formation in the mining area.
"The formation not only blocks and tracks intruders, but its core function is to guide the power of heaven and earth, accelerating the formation of 'Tianqu Stone Essence' within the area," Luo Feng noted as he felt the abundant power of heaven and earth being drawn into the mining area.
Yan Feng Kingdom, being in the core of the Origin Continent, naturally nurtures many treasures. Under the guidance of the formation, the formation speed of Tianqu Stone Essence was also accelerated.
Luo Feng quietly approached the Tianqu Mining Area, then used his transformation technique to blend into a breeze, naturally attaching himself to a miner. Many miners frequently traveled between Tianqu City and the mining area.
The depths of the mining area were dark and mysterious.
"The 'Feng You Seven' mining area underground... I heard that a team of miners working there recently all died," one of the miners nervously remarked as they moved deeper into the area.
"The mining area used to be safe, but in recent epochs, large numbers of miners have been dying. Even some Eternal True Gods have been killed. We True Gods don't even have the power to resist."
"Let's hope for better luck this time."
The group of miners encouraged each other as they continued deeper into the mining area. Under the protection of the formation, they couldn't even slack off.
"We're here, Feng You Seven Area! Let's get to work," the team leader ordered.
Feng You Seven Area was located deep underground, over 3,000 billion kilometers from the surface. The miners used secret techniques to illuminate the ancient mining tunnels.
They began using secret tools to break up the surrounding rocks. After shattering large quantities of rock, they carefully sifted through them to find 'Tianqu Stone Essence particles.'
The Tianqu Stone Essence particles were so tiny that even True Gods needed to examine them closely to spot them.
A team of miners might work for an entire epoch, accumulating countless particles, and only then would they have enough to refine into one or two standard pieces of 'Tianqu Stone Essence.'
"These days, the output of Tianqu Stone Essence in the mining area is decreasing. The higher-ups are blaming us for not working hard enough."
"I think the Tianqu Stone Essence has been stolen before we could even extract it."
The miners chatted as they continued to break up the rocks, carefully searching for the tiny particles.
Meanwhile, nearby...
A massive shadow silently infiltrated the rocks, slowly moving through them and selecting tiny particles.
The miners' collected particles were so few and insignificant that it wasn't worth robbing them. So, 'it' had to steal the essence by itself. With its strength, stealing was much faster than the miners' extraction.
"Boom!" The team leader used a secret treasure to smash through a large section of rock, allowing the miners to slowly crush and sift through it.
Breaking through the rock had to be done carefully; otherwise, the tunnels could collapse. The team leader was responsible for this task.
"Boom!" As the rock crumbled, they caught a glimpse of a massive shadow.
"Oh no!"
The team leader was alarmed, and the other miners turned pale.
"Requesting aid!"
"Help!" Each miner used their communication tokens to call for help.
"The dense network of tunnels everywhere... The old guy is pushing me to steal faster, and I got careless," the massive shadow grumbled, annoyed, and unleashed a burst of power, sweeping toward the miners.
The miners, filled with terror, saw the shadow rapidly approaching.
"Whoosh."
A man in black appeared out of thin air in front of the miners. His robe transformed into countless streams of black liquid, which flowed into the rocks and quickly enveloped the massive shadow.
"You're quite bold to continue stealing," Luo Feng remarked, looking at the now-contained massive shadow.
When Luo Feng arrived to carry out this mission, his biggest concern was that the thief might only steal occasionally. If the thief wasn't around, it would be difficult for him to complete the task.
However, he had predicted that extracting Tianqu Stone Essence was a tedious process, requiring a long time to accumulate enough. The chances of encountering the thief while they were stealing were high.
"A new Chaos Realm being?" The massive shadow was shocked.
Silently, the shadow was obliterated and vanished.
"Hmm?" Luo Feng's robe absorbed the black liquid, and he frowned slightly. With a thought, the Galaxy Transformation, which had already formed a vast net, unleashed its full power, completely isolating the area.
A gigantic silver cage appeared, emitting a terrifying aura as it sealed off the entire Tianqu Mining Area.
At this moment, waves of energy scattered in an attempt to escape, but the area was already sealed. The thief's escape ability was insufficient to break through the silver net.
"Trying to escape?" Luo Feng stood still, as countless silver threads penetrated the earth, enveloping the escaping energy.
Initially, there were ten billion units of the Galaxy Transformation, forming the net.
Now, there were twenty billion units, with countless silver threads densely covering the entire interior of the net, leaving no escape for the thief.
"Break for me!" The energy waves collided with the countless silver lights, both in the sky and underground.
After studying the first tribulation of the "Eight Tribulations Lifeform," the life spirituality of Luo Feng's five transformation techniques had increased, and their power had risen significantly. Now, the thief could neither escape, tear through, nor break the silver net.
Countless silver threads crisscrossed the heavens and earth, enveloping each wave of energy. As each wave was enveloped, it was instantly obliterated.
In the end, only one wave of energy remained.
Luo Feng took a step and appeared in the sky, looking at the wave of energy wrapped in silver light.
"Spare me, spare me!" The wave of energy transformed into a gray, furry beast, bowing respectfully, "Greetings, great saint of chaos."
Luo Feng gazed at the beast.
The beast was a Chaos Realm beast, but it lacked understanding of the essence of laws, making it far weaker than the average Chaos Realm being. It was estimated that this Chaos Realm beast was at most an ordinary Chaos Realm level, and Luo Feng could easily contain it with a single Galaxy stream.
"How dare you steal Tianqu Stone Essence," Luo Feng said, looking at it.
"Lord Luo He," the furry beast suddenly spoke in a strange voice, "I raised this creature, and it was greedy, consuming some Tianqu Stone Essence. Please don't be offended."
Luo Feng's expression changed slightly.
"I will have it leave immediately. You can pretend you never caught the thief, okay?" the strange voice suggested.
"I'm ordered to investigate the thief, and now that I've identified it, I must report it," Luo Feng replied.
"Do you insist on making an enemy of me?" the strange voice asked.
Luo Feng felt a headache coming on.
This Chaos Realm beast clearly had a master who had sent it to steal the essence. Its master's methods had allowed it to avoid detection by the formation.
"You're asking me to abandon my mission with just your words?" Luo Feng looked at the beast. "I can give you face and let you take it away, but I must report its identity."
"I admire your courage, Lord Luo He," the voice said coldly.
"No—" The gray, furry beast let out a scream as it was obliterated into nothingness.
Luo Feng frowned at the scene.
The beast had clearly been enslaved and controlled, destroyed with a single thought.
"So what if the beast was killed? Once the identity of the Chaos Realm beast is confirmed, the Chu faction will naturally investigate further," Luo Feng said, collecting the remains of the Chaos Realm beast.
"What happened?" The overseer of Tianqu City, who had left the city, arrived near the Tianqu Mining Area. He saw the massive silver cage sealing off the entire mining area and was shocked.
The entire silver cage was being struck from within, twisting and flowing slightly.
Soon, the silver cage dissipated.
The overseer of Tianqu City saw the figure of a man in black floating in the air.
"Lord Luo He?" The overseer recognized him.
"I'm here under orders to investigate the thief," Luo Feng didn't hide anything, given that his actions had been public, and the formation in the mining area would have recorded everything.
Luo Feng said this and then stepped into the void and left directly.
The overseer of Tianqu City watched, his expression changing.
"It seems that Lord Luo He clashed with it," the overseer thought to himself. He had long known that a Chaos Realm beast was stealing, but since it could avoid the detection of the mining area's formation, he realized that the existence behind the beast was terrifying.
So he pretended that he couldn't identify the thief.