Fiddling with the resplendent Fire Series Source Crystal in his hand, Luo Zhe's interrogation had finally produced results.
It was still the people from the Li Family of Jing City.
They hadn't been trying to pry into the mine's secrets, instead aiming to create trouble elsewhere, sparking conflict between the forces of Jing City and Green Shadow.
On one hand, they dangled benefits to make the various powers in Jing City envious, and on the other, they made Green Shadow harbor resentment towards the people of Jing City.
Once Li Guming escaped and the other captives were killed, unable to discern the adversaries' purposes... and with the Sanctuary harboring quite a few powerful and ill-intentioned spies, a conflict only needed a catalyst to erupt.
"The Li family members didn't choose to guard the most well-defended castle, perhaps precisely to facilitate their escape, which is why they chose the second-tier yet still significant mine area... as can be seen from the towering Arrow Towers outside the mine, and the members of the Guardian Team patrolling the perimeter."
"Regrettably, they underestimated the defense forces of the mine... Tylon alone could crush a phalanx of a thousand Awakeners on the battlefield."
Li Guming was strong and extremely loyal to the Li Family, too virtuous to be suitable for a miner's work.
How to deal with him was none of his concern; Luo Zhe and others would arrange it.
Only, the hatred arrived as suddenly as a tornado; Tang Yu was still baffled.
"Did I slaughter the young master of the Li Family? Since when? I am surely a civilized person."
Racking his brains, pondering deeply.
Until he remembered a Rune Battle Blade of decent quality that he had forcefully destroyed. The heartache from that loss was what reminded him...
It was that suddenly appearing and quickly defeated Mercenary Corps.
Seems like it was indeed him who had killed them.
Castle, Cultivation Room number two.
Tang Yu closed the door, leaned back on the soft sofa in a comfortable position, holding a pebble-sized, gorgeous fiery red Source Crystal in his hand.
Over the Source Qi pool, the thick Source Qi misted, visible to the naked eye.
Taking a deep breath, the mist-like Source Power was inhaled through his mouth and nose, permeating his heart and spleen.
Instantly, back pain and leg fatigue vanished, even staying up late for cultivation did not diminish his spirits.
It was like comparing the smog in Beiting to the fragrant scent of vanilla in the countryside—a disparity in Source Qi concentration that created an even greater difference in sensation than the air quality itself.
"Sometimes after staying in the Cultivation Room for too long, I dread having to leave."
He stopped pondering further.
Using his own Source Power as a catalyst, he leveraged the fiery red Source Crystal and began to extract the high-purity Source Power within.
The Source Power was extremely pure, easily refined and merged with his body. Within his Perception, the ocean of Source Qi within him grew more formidable, and his cultivation progress was clearly accelerating.
"Compared to normal cultivation, efficiency has improved by roughly 260%... no, it must be 280%!"
He was quite pleased.
Normal cultivation referred to the already remarkably swift rate of training in Cultivation Room number two. Even a 10% improvement was significant, let alone reaching two to three times that.
The rate at which soul power was absorbed and refined could not keep up with his current pace—partly because the quality of soul power was too poor, with few high-tier Demonized Beasts existing that could release soul power.
Tang Yu smiled wryly.
The previously radiant fiery red Source Crystal in his hand had already dimmed considerably. By his estimate, it would only last for half an hour's worth of cultivation.
A pebble-sized high-purity Fire Source Crystal contained an energy value roughly equivalent to fifty units of Source Crystal. However, this was high-purity Source Power that could be directly absorbed, hence, its value was inevitably far greater.
Perhaps 1 could be worth 500, or even more.
"That means, I'm using up at least a thousand Source Crystals for each hour of cultivation? Even if I cannot cultivate without limit every day, based on five hours, that's five thousand Source Crystals."
Initially, he needed Consuming Crystals for combat, but now his practice required them too. Even "Tang the 'Hundred Thousand a Day' Yu" was feeling the cost.
He also had to provide Cultivation Resources for his followers.
"It's impossible to cultivate using only high-purity Source Crystals, but when hitting a bottleneck, supplementing with Source Crystals should increase the chances of a breakthrough and reduce the necessary time."
"Let's hope that in the Source Crystal Mine, there are many high-purity Source Crystals to be mined."
Contrary to Tang Yu's expectations, he received several formal invitations early in the morning.
They came from five different powers of Jing City.
With the Li family incident as a precedent, he was too lazy to receive them personally, letting Chen Haiping meet with representatives from each power on his behalf.
Some representative forces, fishing from the side, tried to probe into the secrets of Green Shadow... and were shown out in less than two minutes.
"Three powers have proposed to engage in Rune Equipment trade with us, intending to sell these equipments in Jing City."
Chen Haiping paused, "These three powers showed genuine interest, but we couldn't agree on the specific distribution of benefits."
Tang Yu considered, "Wait until tomorrow, separate these three groups and negotiate with each individually. Also, discretely spread the word... for instance, that Green Shadow is about to reach a deal worth a million Source Crystals with a certain party."
Sanctuary, official hotel.
Half of the Awakeners from all directions were staying here. Some had already bumped into each other but pretended not to recognize one another.
Official visits to the higher-ups of Green Shadow by several powers were not coordinated, but their timing was surprisingly in sync.
Pretending to be adventurers on missions, preparing to challenge the Trial Tower, while also secretly meeting with the higher-ups of Green Shadow to discuss trading Rune Equipment, and in passing, outing other powers' spies infiltrated in the Sanctuary to show their sincerity, while also tripping up other powers.
They thought they had succeeded; Minister Chen had agreed to their trade requests, only the specific price and benefit distribution remained under negotiation.