Chapter 182: Dispersion and Exposure

Moreover, it was an agricultural activity combining plant cultivation and livestock raising, with artificial environmental modification for intensive farming; this was undoubtedly evidence that their level of civilization was not low.

One must know that even in Jie Ming's past life, on the eve of the Industrial Revolution, the only one that could be called intensive farming in terms of cultivation was a certain great Eastern nation.

"However... the problem is somewhat serious." Jie Ming looked at the scene before him, but his expression turned solemn.

In the soul of the lava giant he had previously soul-searched, there was no memory whatsoever regarding this gathering point having "plantations" or "livestock raising."

And judging from the traces on the land here, the growth state of the plants, and the brand-new degree of the artificial light sources, it indeed looked like it had been established not long ago!

This indicated that their source of intelligence was already lagging, and unknown changes had occurred within the lava giant population at this gathering point.

The other three wizards besides Jie Ming were also stunned.

They had originally thought this would be a barracks, a mineral vein, or some kind of weapon research facility; no one had expected it to be a "farm"!

These few were clearly all combat-type wizards.

Regarding the analysis reports related to lava giants, they most likely only looked at things related to combat; what was common knowledge to logistics-type wizards was considered a quite shocking fact to them.

"Are we... in the wrong place?" one Tier 1 wizard asked subconsciously.

The other Tier 1 wizard who excelled in reconnaissance shook his head in denial: "No, my navigation is not wrong; this is indeed that stronghold."

"Then what are these things? Could it be that lava giants still need to eat?"

"Yeah, don't these elemental creatures all survive by directly absorbing elemental power?"

Jie Ming couldn't help but educate them a bit. Upon learning that lava giants actually had such a special body structure, the remaining three wizards couldn't help but show expressions of amazement.

After a brief moment of astonishment, the wizards subconsciously scattered and began collecting plant and soil samples from the surroundings for research.

They carefully used tweezers or spiritual sense to pick up plant samples and put them into specially made sample bags, or used portable devices to analyze their elemental composition, energy fluctuations, and toxicity.

Jie Ming also walked to a plant with scorching red leaves; he didn't go through the trouble like the other wizards.

After carefully examining it with the "All-Purpose Eye," Jie Ming reached out his hand, cleanly grabbed a few plant roots, and put them into his mouth to chew!

The few wizards who saw this scene all gasped!

Even plants that could survive in high temperatures did not mean they were non-toxic, and rashly eating plants from another world was a major taboo for wizards!

If they weren't still inside the enemy camp, the wizards present would probably have let out sharp shrieks.

However, the reason Jie Ming dared to do this was not because he was blindly careless.

He had absolute confidence in himself.

The body-tempering method he had long persisted in not only made his physical fitness far exceed that of wizards of the same stage but also gave him quite strong resistance to various types of damage.

Ordinary toxins from otherworldly plants, even if lethal, could only make him feel a trace of discomfort without being able to harm his essence.

Moreover, he also had the ultimate analytical capability of the "All-Purpose Eye," which could instantly discern the basic composition of the plants; combined with the high resistance unique to body cultivators, he was almost fearless of any known plant toxins.

"Hmm... the taste is very peculiar; the moisture content is lower than expected, a bit like roasted sweet potato." Jie Ming evaluated while chewing, his voice slurred, and there was even a trace of enjoyment on his face.

While saying off-the-wall things, Jie Ming was quickly summarizing his conclusions about this plant in his heart:

"Initially, judging by the form, I thought the plant attributes were closer to succulents, but in terms of tissue structure, they are closer to fungi; no wonder they can grow such a large area so quickly."

"It looks like it's rich in sap, but it's unexpectedly dry... however, there are some irritating components inside; long-term consumption might perhaps increase a creature's fire element resistance. But the upper limit is not high..."

The other few wizards looked at each other, then all shamelessly ran to Jie Ming's side, wanting to exchange some intelligence.

Everyone exchanged their preliminary analysis of these plants.

Although Jie Ming didn't say all the conclusions he had reached, clearly, Jie Ming's direct testing was far more efficient than theirs.

Subsequently, the four gathered again and began to discuss the subsequent actions.

"The situation has changed." The Tier 2 wizard's expression was solemn. "The appearance of such a turn of events indicates that the intelligence we previously obtained about this place is no longer credible. The combat power and troop numbers of the lava giants lingering here are also very likely to have increased."

He looked at the other two Tier 1 wizards and Jie Ming: "Therefore, I suggest we had better conduct a risk assessment first. This is not a simple troop stronghold as we previously imagined. The existence of this kind of 'plantation' means that the lava giants here have plans to operate here for a long time."

In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, three people decided to stay and continue to investigate deeper, while one person chose to leave.

However, this person also guaranteed that after leaving, he would establish stable remote communication with the camp and transmit the latest intelligence from here back to the headquarters, while simultaneously requesting support.

The others also agreed with his approach; no one was willing to rashly go deep into an unknown dangerous situation that had already changed.

Jie Ming was on the side that decided to stay.

Jie Ming had sufficient reasons.

First, he was carrying that pile of Tier 4 defensive talismans and wizarding tools; after making preparations in advance, it was enough for him to withstand high-intensity attacks without easily falling into a desperate situation.

Second, he also had the deeply hidden "Five Elements Transformation Rainbow Mirror" as his trump card; as long as he unleashed its "Transformation into Light" ability, it would be a true escape by turning into light, and almost no living creature could intercept him, which gave him a perfect retreat path.

What's more, Jie Ming's original purpose was not for slaughter.

His core goal was to collect as much Red Dust Qi as possible, and these living lava giants who were "operating a society" were the Red Dust producers he craved the most.

So he didn't need to truly go deep into the dangerous area; as long as he stayed here for a certain amount of time and checked the collection effect of the Red Dust Qi, that would be his greatest success.

Of the other two wizards who chose to stay, one was that Tier 2 wizard.

He was bold and meticulous, wanting to rely on his own strength to see if he could take advantage of this unexpected opportunity to collect deeper and more important intelligence in advance, laying the groundwork for the subsequent invasion by the main army.

After all, the rarer and deeper the intelligence, the higher the merit that could be exchanged.

The other Tier 1 wizard was a relatively cautious young man; he agreed to stay mainly to follow the arrangements of the Tier 2 wizard.

At the same time, he also intended to act as an outpost; in case the communication wizard who left outside couldn't contact the camp, he could at least be on the outermost perimeter and continue to send support signals to the camp.

The three reached a consensus, exchanged a look with each other, and then restrained all excess aura.

The three dispersed tacitly, like three shadows, sneaking toward the depths of this hemispherical space.

Jie Ming did not, like the other two wizards, cautiously use concealment runes and illusion wizardry to conduct slow reconnaissance.

After all, his purpose for coming here was not for reconnaissance in the first place, but to conduct experiments.

So Jie Ming had never intended to go deep from the beginning.

With a flicker of his figure, he arrived at the roots of a huge red tree, stretched out his palm toward the ground, and his spiritual sense spread out like mercury pouring onto the ground.

The ground was silently shaped under the power of alchemy; within just a few breaths, a narrow burrow capable of accommodating his figure was dug out.

Like a leech sliding into a mud swamp, he cleanly and neatly drilled into the burrow he had dug, and then manipulated the loose soil to bury himself completely.

Looking from the outside, the ground remained flat, without any traces of having been dug, a perfect concealment.

Inside the burrow, the thick rock layers and the soil reinforced by alchemy isolated most of the sound and energy fluctuations.

He only retained the faint perception of the "Glimmer Eye," like a ghost lurking in the depths of the shadows.

He was not in a hurry to act, but concentrated all his attention inside his own dantian.

He stared carefully at the talisman seal deep in his dantian that collected Red Dust Qi.

The talisman seal was ancient in its entirety, emitting a faint blood-colored halo; every time it collected Red Dust Qi, it would emit a subtle tremor.

Jie Ming's mood at this moment was somewhat complicated, carrying both a trace of anticipation and a mixture of hidden unease.

Time passed second by second.

Five minutes... ten minutes... half an hour...

As time passed, the expression on Jie Ming's face became increasingly ugly.

There were clearly thousands of lava giants around, with noisy labor sounds, low roars, the clatter of rocks colliding, and even some sounds of lava giants communicating with each other.

All of this indicated that this gathering point was full of "active signs of life."

However, his talisman seal had never sensed even a trace of Red Dust Qi originating from the lava giants!

Sporadic fluctuations did occur occasionally, but those were weak remnants produced by wizards on the battlefield, not produced by these indigenous creatures.

"Something is definitely wrong!" Jie Ming couldn't help but clench his fists.

He was certain beyond doubt that his talisman seal was not damaged and remained sensitive to Red Dust Qi in other contexts.

The problem lay with the lava giants themselves.

According to the plantation encountered earlier, this stronghold was by no means a simple mineral vein or barracks, because it had already demonstrated clear sociality.

The lava giants here organized animal husbandry, had labor with clear division of work, and even had "artificial suns" to maintain ecological balance.

All of this indicated that they had reached a conceptual level sufficient to produce social interaction and subsequently give birth to Red Dust Qi.

No matter how one looked at it, there was no reason it shouldn't belong to the concept of "society"!

"Why on earth is this?" Jie Ming knitted his brows tightly, unable to find an answer.

He reviewed the theory of Red Dust Qi production over and over again in his mind, as well as the unique physiological structure and elemental composition of the lava giants.

Could it be because of their life form?

They were semi-elemental creatures, or rather, their way of expressing "emotions" was completely different from the life forms he knew?

He tried to analyze from various angles, but never found any solid evidence to explain this anomaly.

Theoretically, he could go deeper to find larger, more complex, and possibly more civilized lava giant mega-strongholds to conduct experiments again.

Perhaps the "cities" or "royal courts" at the core of those lava giant empires could produce the Red Dust Qi he needed.

However, Jie Ming's control over danger was extremely rational.

If he went deeper again, it would mean facing higher-tier lava giant lords, or perhaps even Tier 5 or Tier 6 existences.

The danger level of that kind of stronghold was far beyond what his current strength could withstand.

What's more, his primary goal now was just to collect Red Dust Qi, not to engage in a "head-on" confrontation with the entire lava giant plane empire.

Risking his life to go to an area with unknown results was clearly unwise.

After considering for a long time, Jie Ming could only helplessly give up the idea of continuing to study the Red Dust Qi of the lava giants.

A sense of regret and unwillingness welled up in his heart—his core goal had actually encountered such a bizarre failure in the place where it was most likely to be realized.

"It seems I can only turn to the Frost Dark Realm." Jie Ming calculated silently in his heart.

Since the lava giant path was a dead end, then he would try the Yetis.

Although he had not yet conducted detailed research on Yetis and was unsure if their life forms would also have this problem.

But for now, this was his only choice.

He quickly outlined the subsequent action plan in his mind: just like coming to the Blazing Sun Realm, find the Yeti gathering place in the Frost Dark Realm, collect samples, conduct in-depth research, simultaneously observe their "sociality," and try to collect Red Dust Qi.

"However, my research on Yetis is not that profound; it seems I have to go back to the camp to find relevant information..."

Just as Jie Ming was conceiving the specific action plan for heading to the Frost Dark Realm...

Boom—rumble!

A violent explosion shook the entire underground cavern, almost making the burrow where Jie Ming was hiding tremble!

Immediately afterward, the angry roars of the lava giants swept in like a tsunami; it was the violent roars of countless lava giants simultaneously, accompanied by dense energy light and the sound of magma erupting.

Jie Ming's expression tightened suddenly! He knew that the wizards outside had been discovered!

He didn't need the precise detection of the "Reconnaissance Eye"; just judging by the intensity of the energy fluctuations and the simultaneous roars of the lava giants was enough to judge—that was not a simple skirmish, but the infiltration tracks of the wizards had been completely exposed, triggering a strong counterattack from the entire stronghold!

He quickly activated the runes he had laid out in advance around the burrow, making the vision under the soil covering the entrance slightly clearer, enough for him to glimpse the movement outside, but not enough to expose himself.

His gaze passed through the narrow gap, locking onto the direction from which the sound came.

But before he could observe carefully, the same energy fluctuations erupted on the other side as well.

"Damn it!" Jie Ming cursed inwardly.

He didn't expect these two wizards to be discovered so quickly.

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 183 =====