Chapter 666: Chapter 264: Xiao, I’m Here to Make a Deal with You

The world is full of coincidences.

For example, some people find money walking down the street.

And some people, like Xiao Chen, find a Storage Ring.

Just as he reached the large hole he’d torn open earlier, ready to return to the surface, he discovered that in the past few days, while he had been focused on absorbing the Evil Qi, a few new blood-red vines had been sent into the basin.

One of them had landed right on the edge of the hole.

The white, downy filaments had already turned most of the vine into nutrients, and not even the Magic Robe had been spared.

Only a few broken Spirit Shield fragments and a Storage Ring remained, having resisted decomposition until now due to their special materials.

But they looked to be in a precarious state; their eventual disintegration was likely just a matter of time.

Since it had been delivered right to his doorstep, Xiao Chen wasn’t about to let it go to waste.

He casually picked up the Storage Ring.

This served as a reminder, and he suddenly had a realization.

’Since this is the core of the Secret Realm, there must be Spiritual Objects transported to more than just these two spots.’

’Of course, items like Storage Rings or Spiritual Artifacts have likely already decomposed over the long years.’

’But there’s one thing that isn’t so easily broken down.’

’That’s right, Dao Crystals!’

’In other words, this should be the most likely place to find Dao Crystals in the entire Secret Realm.’

"Hiss... I almost missed such a huge opportunity!"

At this thought, Xiao Chen’s interest was immediately piqued.

He reached out, parting the thick white filaments on the ground to search for any Dao Crystals that might be hidden within.

By his estimation, it was the end of the ninth day in the Cangran Secret Realm, and the tenth was about to begin.

This meant that, accounting for any miscalculation and the four hours it might take him to get back to the surface, he should have about four to six hours left to search for Dao Crystals.

It wasn’t a lot of time, but the basin wasn’t particularly large either.

If Xiao Chen was quick, he’d have enough time to search the entire area.

Before long, as he grabbed a clump of filaments, he felt something hard inside.

He hurriedly pulled them apart and saw a perfectly intact Dao Crystal.

"There really are more!"

Seeing his theory proven correct, Xiao Chen felt a renewed sense of motivation.

He soon found a second, and then a third.

He even found a fourth Dao Crystal in a corner on the other side of the basin.

Who knew how long ago it had been sent here.

Many of the filaments had fused completely to the crystal’s surface and couldn’t be pulled off.

Xiao Chen had to burn them off directly with Spiritual Fire, finally clearing away the filaments to reveal the Dao Crystal within.

Next, he breathed lightly on it, then gripped his sleeve and wiped the crystal’s surface.

He then held it up to his eye for a closer look.

Fortunately, the Dao Crystal’s surface was still smooth, without any cracks or pits.

Therefore, the profound runes sealed inside were also unharmed.

"Whew, good thing I got here in time. If I’d waited until the next time the Secret Realm opened, this crystal would probably have been gone."

Confirming the crystal was undamaged, Xiao Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

Including this Dao Crystal, he had harvested a total of seven Dao Crystals this trip!

In other words, his haul alone had already surpassed the highest annual yield ever mentioned in the pamphlet he had read.

The main reason was that he had found a total of five Dao Crystals in this basin alone.

"What a great place!"

Satisfied, Xiao Chen put away the crystals and started back towards the surface, following the path he came from.

This time, he didn’t encounter any new situations.

Besides, time was running short now. Even if something else came up, he couldn’t afford to deal with it.

If he missed the window to leave the Secret Realm, even if he could survive until it opened again, it would be a huge waste of time.

’Crap, which way did I come from?’

Halfway there, staring at the complex, maze-like tunnels before him, Xiao Chen felt a little lost.

’Whatever, I’ll just go this way!’

Since he couldn’t tell the difference, he simply chose a tunnel that sloped upward.

Sure enough, after a Quarter Hour, he found it was a dead end.

But it didn’t matter. Xiao Chen used his previous method again, directly tearing apart the old, greyish-brown vines and manually digging an exit for himself.

「Two hours later.」

BOOM—!

A muffled boom suddenly echoed from beneath the ground somewhere in the Secret Realm.

THUD!

Immediately after, a fist punched right through the earth.

It was followed by a flurry of iron fists, which pummeled open a hole about a foot wide.

"Hmph, a mere underground maze is nothing special."

With a head full of dirt, Xiao Chen climbed out of the hole and cast a Water Therapy Skill on himself.

Now when he used these Small Magics, not only was their power stronger, but his control over them was also effortless.

He used his Divine Sense to control the stream of water, washing over himself from head to toe and cleaning off every speck of dust.

No one would ever guess that he had just been digging through the dirt.

"Huh? Why is the sky glowing green?"

Xiao Chen looked up to check the time and saw a faint green light shining high above the Secret Realm.

Looking closely, he saw that it was a Talisman Array.

But the Spiritual Light on the runes had already faded terribly; it looked like it would collapse on its own in two to four hours at most.

"Hiss... why is the Secret Realm ending so quickly this time?"

Xiao Chen felt he hadn’t miscalculated the time, which meant this time, the Secret Realm was only lasting for its shortest possible duration.

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