Chapter 360: The Land of Fire and Ice Circulation

"Walking between these mountains is far too dangerous; I finally understand why those people became mole-rats."

Walking above the mountain range, though plagued by dark clouds, storms, hail, thunderstorms, and ice storms—well, a whole series of extreme weather attacks—the visibility is still relatively good.

At least, through long-range vision abilities like Dragon Eyes, one can find some clues regarding direction.

"The compass has turned into a propeller, the crystal ball used for divination spells just exploded twice, and now I dare not use it at all. Even if it actually worked, I probably wouldn't dare follow its guidance. How in the world does one find the way in this ghost place?"

Li En's group stepped into the entrance of a cracked canyon. When they stepped in again, they saw an entire new world.

The surroundings were crystals and ores with red and white as the dominant colors; various strange flowers and rare grasses were scattered throughout, where cold air and hot air coexisted in the same area.

"My feet are a bit scalding, my scalp is freezing—what kind of rotten place is this?" The lower body wanted to be bare, the upper body wanted a cotton jacket; a mercenary had already cursed aloud.

Whether it was the two-colored crystals on the rock walls, or the geothermal energy constantly surging from the earth and the stronger cold winds in the air, everything seemed to proclaim that the elements of "Fire" and "Ice" were in eternal conflict.

Li En carefully observed the path ahead; he could feel the near-volcanic heat energy beneath the ground.

His extremely high affinity for fire elements allowed him to sense the "volcano" beneath his feet, which could truly erupt at any moment and take everyone out in one go.

Li En did not use the "Eagle's" clairvoyance ability; before coming, Ying Hun had warned him: when you see others, others might naturally perceive you.

In a Demon Realm of this level, who knows what monsters looking around recklessly would attract; even adult True Dragons only dare to operate on the outskirts.

"According to their account, the reason this Great Demon Realm formed is the collision of two elemental entry-exit points, creating a natural high-concentration elemental tidal circulation. Under normal circumstances, a single elemental entry-exit point is often gradually erased by the plane."

Li En casually picked up a red crystal and could feel the boiling pure fire element within it. The white spots inside the red crystal indicated the presence of a certain amount of ice and snow impurities.

"What a pity. Without that ice and snow erosion, this should have served as high-quality catalyst material, a very high-quality elemental crystal."

It can still be used now, but the price might drop from several gold coins to a few silver coins, making them completely incomparable.

"Mining here should still earn a lot, right?"

"You have money to earn but no life to spend it. The existence of these crystals indicates this area is in a state of balance after 'elemental erasure.' If you take away these elemental crystals in large quantities, the balance will be broken, and the earth veins will trigger a massive elemental explosion."

Mage Marton, while cross-referencing elemental indices to search for possible paths, also stopped the mercenaries who were trying to dig up the crystals.

However, the unwritten rule of such expeditionary journeys is that whatever you scoop up counts as your own. If you don't let these scattered mercenaries and adventurers keep their spoils, you're just waiting for a mutiny.

"Moreover, these crystals won't sell for much money anyway; there are too many impurities. The cost of purification isn't worth it compared to just buying higher-purity ones. However, among the surrounding byproducts, there should be quite a few of high value."

Those colorful plants and grasses were partly ordinary plants mutated by elemental erosion, yet some were quite valuable alchemical ingredients.

Picking these byproducts wouldn't cause the balance of this area to collapse, taking everyone down with it.

In fact, such herb-gatherers have always existed.

A Demon Realm often represents an opportunity for overnight wealth, but these people basically don't live very long.

"Vitoria?" Li En asked the alchemist; she might have more authority on the value of the surrounding medicinal herbs.

"No need. Let those mercenaries take them."

On this trip, Li En also hired some mercenaries, including Emma, who could provide the support his faction needed most.

"Captain Marciel?"

"I haven't detected any danger. Let them scoop up a bit. Only after the mercenaries have a guaranteed income will they not cause trouble." The old mercenary with silver-gray hair was oiling his mechanical heavy crossbow with one hand while observing the surroundings through his other eye.

Above the group's heads, three mechanical birds were floating slowly, providing Marciel's mechanical eye with overhead views from various other directions.

"Undying Eagle" Marciel, a battle-oriented Grand Alchemist, or rather, a bizarre profession combining Artificer and Ranger, was a veteran mercenary deeply trusted by the noble circles of Radiant City. In fact, if it weren't for the letter of introduction given by Dai Niya, Li En would have been completely unable to recruit this veteran soldier.