The first reaction of the contestants present, after their expressions changed, was to escape.

Those with flying summoned creatures planned to have their creatures fly them away.

For instance, a hefty man had his little fairy lift him by the collar, but it seemed even ten more fairies wouldn't be able to lift him.

Only Li Pu knew what was happening and stood there unconcerned.

In fact, even if a volcano really erupted, he wouldn't be in trouble because he wasn't afraid of lava at all.

Splash!

The anticipated volcanic eruption didn't happen, instead, a column of magma shot up from a part of the volcanic pool.

It couldn't be called a volcanic eruption; it was at most a fountain.

[Boop boop boop?!]

[Boop fire boop?!]

[Boop?!]

In the fountain, quite a few fish-like slime fire elements were blasted into the air.

[Munch munch munch munch~]

Unbeknownst to anyone, Li Pu had already released Bu Bu, which had thrown a miniature army of light-shadow kangaroos.

Each kangaroo kicked and pecked, smashing those slime fish fire elements in just a few hits.

Fragments, a multitude of fire element crystal fragments were blown out, making everyone envious.

However, the chance to pick up those fragments didn't come; instead, a scarecrow emerged from the water and lifted its hand.

[Grass!]

Swish swish swish swish swish!

A large number of tiny vines sprouted from its hand, quickly binding the fire element crystals before they could be swallowed again by the lava.

Having learned skills under guidance, its skill precision was better than Bu Bu's.

The farthest fire element crystal was about 20 to 30 meters from the scarecrow.

Yet it could capture such small fragments without error, and multiple fragments simultaneously.

This scene left the crowd utterly gobsmacked.

"Is this some kind of octopus scarecrow?"

"Grass-tentacle tribe? Is there such a species?"

"It always feels like..."

Adding the fact that it could swim freely in the lava, now no one dared to ignore its power.

Many turned their gaze towards Li Pu, wondering what kind of person this lame guy was to cultivate such a scarecrow?!

The once-mocked useless summoned beast suddenly seemed desirable!

Feeling the attention on himself, Li Pu knew the moment had come.

"Selling fire element crystals, 5000 for a piece."

[Caocao! Caocaocao!]

"Limited quantity, first come first served."

[Hurry to buy grass!]

That's what he said.

"..."xN

Originally everyone thought he was about to say something pretentious.

But thinking it over, acting nonchalantly seemed the ultimate form of pretending.

Perhaps some had doubted Li Pu's source of fire element crystals before, but now no one doubted after witnessing it firsthand.

"Give me, I want a piece!"

"Our team wants too!"

"Awesome, buddy. I'll fund you, could you help our team gather all the fire element crystals?"

"Our team wants too!"

"May I ask, how did you cultivate your scarecrow..."

"Our team wants too!"

Realizing this, everyone wanted to swarm Li Pu.

Li Pu, however, was sober. As they moved in, he moved back, maintaining an appropriate distance all the while.

"Everyone, no need to rush; we'll distribute them evenly, and aim for every team to purchase one!"

The initial representative understood the motivation behind this behavior and intervened before things got chaotic.

All 2.2 fire element crystals the scarecrow had just collected were sold, bringing him an additional 11000 crystal coins in revenue.

His assets reached 48000, almost matching his previous wealth record.

Li Pu believed as long as development went smoothly, he could soon break his former wealth record.

Just as someone suggested earlier, wanting him to collect 4 fire element crystals wasn't impossible.

However, he intended to wait until his team completed collecting the five types of crystals and confirmed the timeline and rank before considering it.

Before then, he maintained a policy of selling only one piece per team.

In the following few hours, Li Pu showed impressive efficiency.

Directly removing his coat, he led Scarecrow and Bu Bu in a volcanic pool fishing operation.

Scarecrow corralled the fish, Bu Bu blew them up, and Li Pu collected the fragments and sold them.

The efficiency of one man, one scarecrow, and one Bu was faster than the five summoned creatures on the opposite side combined.

In the end, the 20 teams present, he sold one fire element crystal to each.

Including the previous sales, he had earned a total of 100,000 crystal coins.

His personal wealth reached a new high, 117,000.

At this point, things were just beginning.

Before long, new teams arrived at the volcano's edge.

It was evident this spot was likely the most efficient place for gathering fire element crystals in the Fire Domain.

To ensure the fishing ground's safety, everyone refrained from taking action.

The newly arrived teams were somewhat different from those originally there.

They shared a similarity with Li Pu.

Their initial delivery positions were not in the Fire Domain; they came from the other four elemental domains.

As a result, those people might have extra Five Element Crystals.

Upon tentative contact, both sides readily reached a happy exchange.

He wasn't greedy, trading at a 1:1 ratio to exchange his fire element crystals for their gold element crystals.

As more teams climbed the mountain, Li Pu continued exchanging.

Until a certain point, he realized an outrageous situation.

Except for the unobtainable wood element crystals, he actually completed collecting gold and earth element crystals.

After contacting Wu Guinan's group, their wood element crystal collection progress was decent too.

Checking the leaderboard, their team had already topped the ranks.

1st: 4 Gold + 1.8 Wood + 4 Water + 4 Fire + 4 Earth

And this was just after the second day, entering the third of the second round of competition.

With a bit more effort from Wu Guinan's team, they could complete the collection task and secure a ranking soon.

Given this situation, Li Pu continued capturing fire elements but temporarily halted selling fire element crystals.

By bottlenecking this link, it could slow other teams' collection progress significantly.

However, as more teams climbed the mountain, more summon creatures and summoners capable of entering the volcanic pool also appeared.

This led to increased competition for the fishing activities.

Additionally, with teams crowding the shore, some friction was inevitable.

Li Pu sensed the place wasn't too safe anymore and planned to sell in bulk before retreating.

The time for the second round of the competition quickly concluded on the third day.

A noticeable change occurred on the leaderboard that day.

Several teams had completed all collection tasks and determined their rankings.

Among teams yet to finish tasks, Li Pu's was no longer first, being pushed to the 17th spot.

17th: 4 Gold + 3.3 Wood + 4 Water + 4 Fire + 4 Earth

Only 0.7 wood element crystal short of advancing.

Li Pu knew it was time to act.

...

...

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