Chapter 212: Treasure Mountain

Not only was there yellow gold stone, but as they delved deeper into the mountain, they discovered other ores, all essentially second-rank quality, though in extremely large quantities.

“This is literally a treasure mountain!”

The horse demon let out a roar, and once it confirmed the mountain posed no danger, it charged ahead, eager to claim its share.

Not just it—the demonic barbarians who had been observing on the spot all surged toward the treasure mountain.

“Aren’t you going?” Song Ce, standing still, glanced in surprise at Lu Fang, who also hadn’t moved.

Lu Fang stared expressionlessly at the demonic barbarians scrambling up the nearby mountain, their laughter over securing precious ores making him even more cautious—he never believed in lucky breaks falling from the sky.

Even if they did, those lucky breaks were heavy enough to crush a man.

He had heard of this before from Jiang Yuan: behind them, the other mountain also held vast quantities of various ores and crystals.

He believed the same must be true here—that guardians lurked within the mountain to protect these ores. Since he didn’t care much for such minor ores, he preferred to watch quietly.

“Cunning human, why don’t you go? There are plenty of precious ores there—such a vast treasure mountain must contain countless mineral treasures.”

Lu Fang watched Song Ce’s demeanor—clearly not planning to move—and felt curious. He himself avoided the mountain because he knew dangerous beasts would appear, but why didn’t Song Ce go?

Had he also sensed danger?

Or had he noticed some other problem?

Song Ce grinned, tilting his chin slightly, and murmured, “Aren’t you thinking the same as me—waiting to reap the benefits of others’ labor? Let these little pests dig up the ores for us; no need for us to risk ourselves.”

He paused, then shouted toward the distance: “Whoever takes any ore or material from the treasure mountain must surrender it—all violations will be punished by death!”

After speaking, he assigned the Cloaked Barbarian Warrior to supervise.

Lu Fang blinked. Song Ce was truly shameless—not only did he want to hoard the mountain’s ores, but he made it sound so righteous.

Just as Lu Fang was lost in thought, the fourth-rank horse demon rolled its eyes and shouted, “Did you all hear that? Everything taken from the treasure mountain must be surrendered—I’ll oversee you all on behalf of Commander Xie!”

That was a masterstroke of flattery.

Lu Fang opened his mouth, but couldn’t utter a word. He saw no reason to object, so he let it unfold.

“Don’t just focus on mining ores—send a team to the summit to check if there’s still a mist barrier on the other side.”

He gave the order.

“Yes.” The horse demon replied, immediately selecting several demonic barbarians to scout the summit, while it remained behind to supervise the others.

The demonic barbarians heading for the summit encountered no resistance on their climb—but just before reaching the peak, they hit a barrier, and no matter how hard they attacked, it remained unbroken.

Could not reach the summit? What was going on?

Lu Fang was deeply puzzled. This wasn’t what he expected. Whether this was a trap path or the true route into the mist barrier, it shouldn’t have been completely blocked.

Mo Xin: “Perhaps you must extract all the ores from this treasure mountain first—the barrier at the summit is likely powered by the energy of these ores.”

“Oh?” Lu Fang fell silent.

Mo Xin, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke—this odd feeling made him uneasy.

Had Mo Xin figured something out?

Would removing all the ores from the treasure mountain break the barrier?

Lu Fang pondered for a long while, unable to reach any conclusion—when suddenly, the demonic barbarians mining the treasure mountain were ambushed by a beast.

The Tunneling Ant-Eater, a fifth-rank beast, possessed skin so tough it was the natural enemy of the Flesh-Eating Flying Ants.

It had sharp claws and armored plating, capable of shattering stone effortlessly—nothing was too hard for it, and burrowing into the mountain was child’s play.

Moreover, when it curled its body, its leaping power and speed were astonishing.

Six Tunneling Ant-Eaters appeared, instantly killing six demonic barbarians, then vanished into the mountain before the others could react.

This sudden incident did cause some chaos among the demonic barbarians.

But only chaos—earlier, the Tunneling Ant-Eaters had succeeded only because everyone was unprepared. Now that they were alert, with several fourth-rank warriors present, capturing or killing them was no longer difficult.

“Perhaps you were right.”

Song Ce paid no attention to the commotion on the treasure mountain; he walked toward Lu Fang, smiling without warmth.

“Right about what?”

Lu Fang looked at Song Ce with distaste—it wasn’t feigned; he genuinely disliked this man. If conditions allowed, he would have delivered a fatal strike immediately.

Song Ce raised an eyebrow toward the treasure mountain and said, “Perhaps this place is truly the entrance to the Lesser Upper Realm.”

“Oh?” Lu Fang dropped his distaste, frowning. “What did you notice? How can you be so certain? To me, we’ve taken a wrong path—why don’t you go see that barrier at the summit yourself?”

Song Ce replied calmly, “I don’t need to see the barrier. Once all the ores in the treasure mountain are extracted, the barrier will vanish on its own.”

Lu Fang fell silent. Song Ce’s words matched Mo Xin’s exactly—had he overthought it? Had Mo Xin’s sudden warning been nothing more than a casual remark, with no deeper intent?

It wasn’t surprising he’d overreacted.

After so long interacting with Mo Xin, he’d come to understand it roughly—based on all signs, he and Mo Xin were truly on the same rope, sharing fortune and misfortune together.

But that didn’t mean he agreed with everything Mo Xin did.

He sensed Mo Xin was restless, eager for greater chaos—even though it denied it, he could feel it.

Wanting even greater chaos?

Lu Fang really wanted to ask Song Ce: what exactly was in the Lesser Upper Realm that the demonic barbarians had gone to such lengths to enter?

Logically, Bai Yuying and Song Ce, as commanders, should know something of the truth.

In the end, he held his tongue—if he asked, he risked exposing his current identity, making it far harder to sabotage the demonic barbarians’ plans later.

As they delved deeper into the treasure mountain, they discovered even more high-rank ores and small piles of crystals.

Of course, they also encountered many dangerous beasts, slowing their progress considerably.

The Cloaked Barbarian Warrior and the horse demon returned, offering three storage pouches with flattering smiles—less than a day had passed, yet they had gathered so many precious ores and crystals, a truly bountiful haul.