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"Another Earth Essence collected."
On the way, Wei Yang casually scanned around now and then with his soul force, and soon enough, he had picked up another stalk of Earth Essence.
Standing at the edge of a dirt pit, looking at the deep yellow rhizome in his hand, he smiled faintly. This one was pure profit, no need to hand it over to the Pill Tower.
Though to him, these Hundred Year Earth Essences weren't much to get excited about. Better than nothing, that was all. He stored it away casually, just about to continue on his way.
Hmm?
All of a sudden, from far ahead at the edge of the horizon, waves of intense energy fluctuations surged over. Judging by the scene, there seemed to be no fewer than a dozen people clashing.
"So many people fighting… did they discover some treasure?"
Wei Yang raised an eyebrow. Curiosity piqued, he gave up on continuing to search for Earth Essence. His toes tapped the ground, and his figure turned into a streak of light, shooting swiftly toward the commotion.
Normally, he wouldn't bother meddling in such chaos. But since it happened to be right along his route forward, he decided to take a look in passing.
Soon, Wei Yang arrived near the battlefield, standing atop a dirt slope. Ahead, over a dozen people were surrounding and attacking a burly man clad in an alchemist's robe.
The man's face was fierce and brutish, and in his hands he gripped a black iron staff more than a zhang long, the heavy weapon already stained with blood.
Alone, he fought against more than ten people, yet he wasn't at any disadvantage at all. His moves were wide, forceful, and utterly domineering.
Whoosh~
The black iron staff whipped through the air with a roar, each strike so powerful it blasted the air into explosive shockwaves, savagely overwhelming.
"Die!"
The burly man bellowed, his staff smashing into one alchemist, sending him flying.
Bang!
The iron staff slammed hard into the man's chest. The terrifying impact blasted the poor alchemist away like a cannonball. He skidded along the ground for nearly a hundred meters, carving a deep trench before finally stopping.
Pff~
Blood spurted from his mouth. A burst of white light flared from his palm, and space around him twisted before swallowing him whole. In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
Clearly, he had crushed a spatial stone, escaping from the Pill Realm. This sight made the other alchemists besieging the burly man falter slightly, their faces changing.
Leaving the Pill Realm in such a manner meant one thing: he had lost his qualification to compete. And this was already the third alchemist who had been forced to flee like this by that brutal man.
At the thought, everyone quickly withdrew, pulling back to put distance between themselves and the ferocious opponent.
Some even glanced warily toward Wei Yang, who was standing on the sidelines. Clearly, no one wanted to fight tooth and nail, only to let this newcomer reap the spoils at the end. Here, everyone understood well: every other participant was a competitor.
Wei Yang glanced lazily at the crowd, then his gaze shifted past the burly man. Behind him lay a deep pit, and inside that pit was a chunk of deep yellow rhizome the size of a child's head.
The sight made Wei Yang's eyes flash with surprise. Normally, Hundred Year Earth Essence was only fist-sized at most, already rare. But here, there was actually one this large.
Such a chunk was clearly at least a thousand years old.
In the outside world, this would definitely draw countless covetous eyes.
Thousand Year Earth Essence.
The thought flashed in his mind, recalling that in the original story, this very scene had once appeared. His eyes lit up faintly.
The brutish man stood with his black iron staff slung over his shoulder.
Glancing up at the newly arrived Wei Yang, he spotted that handsome young face and snorted disdainfully, spitting out a wad of phlegm. "Peh, pretty boy!"
Then he looked back at the spot where the alchemist had just vanished, grinning. His flabby jowls quivered as he sneered, "Heh, lucky that piece of trash ran fast."
His fierce gaze swept back toward the rest of the group. His face sank as he growled coldly, "If you don't want to die, then get the hell out of my sight!"
"A bunch of useless trash. More than ten of you ganging up on me, and I still beat three of you until you had to run. With that pathetic strength, you think you're fit to snatch treasures?"
At his words, the dozen or so alchemists turned livid, but facing the savage look on his face, none dared to retort. After a brief moment of hesitation, one person finally chose to leave.
Once someone took the lead, the other alchemists also followed suit, scattering one after another.
Watching those figures retreating into the distance, the burly man's face twisted with disdain. "A bunch of cowards!"
His strength was at the peak of Dou Huang, enough to take on over a dozen opponents at once.
Among those dozen people, at least two were only slightly weaker than him. Yet even with their combined strength, they had still been beaten back, three of them already seriously injured. And now, with just a single cold shout from him, they all fled without a fight.
Such trash—he held them in utter contempt.
Immediately, his eyes gleamed with ferocity as he turned toward Wei Yang, who was standing casually on the dirt slope, watching like a spectator. A bloodthirsty glint flashed across his face as he bellowed: "Pretty boy, still not scramming? Do you want to die here?!"
Wei Yang only gave him a faint glance, his voice calm: "I'm in a good mood today. I'll spare your life—leave."
As he spoke, his figure flickered and appeared at the edge of the pit. With a casual wave of his hand, a suction force surged out, pulling the Thousand Year Earth Essence straight into his palm.
"Thousand Year Earth Essence… truly rare. Not bad." Wei Yang nodded in satisfaction.
"Damn it, you dare steal my prize?!"
Rage twisted the man's face. With a furious stomp, he lunged forward, his heavy black-iron staff raised high as he swung it down with all his might.
"Courting death." Wei Yang didn't even bother to look. With a flick of his sleeve—
Boom!
The space itself shattered.
The burly man's body shot backwards like a fired cannonball, smashing into the ground far away.
Crack—crack—crack!
The violent energy that invaded his body shattered his bones one after another. He crashed into the earth, carving out a deep pit, before collapsing motionless—life or death uncertain.
Wei Yang cast him a cold, indifferent glance out of the corner of his eye, then shook his head slightly. To not even see the situation clearly…how had a fool like this survived until now?
The man was hardly worth saving.
Still, since he was also a contestant in the competition, Wei Yang hadn't struck to kill—just a casual blow. Whether he lived or died would depend on his own fate.
Putting away the Earth Essence, Wei Yang's gaze shifted toward the depths of the pit, faint anticipation flickering in his eyes.
The Thousand Year Earth Essence was indeed rare and precious, but to someone of his level, it wasn't all that extraordinary. What truly interested him… was what lay even deeper.
According to the original storyline, something far greater was hidden below. The Earth Essence was born from condensed, pure earth energy, steady and heavy. Yet it had its limits.
Any Earth Essence that grew beyond a hundred years would stop expanding in size, its energy completely saturated. That was precisely why earth essence older than a hundred years was so rare.
But if an Earth Essence managed to survive far beyond that age, its growth would no longer rely on simple earth energy.
It would be nourished by some other heaven-and-earth treasure instead. And if Wei Yang's memory was correct, the treasure hidden beneath… was Core Soul Marrow!
This was exactly what Xian'er urgently needed.
"Not bad at all. Treasures that can enhance the soul are incredibly rare!"
A faint smile tugged at Wei Yang's lips. His fingers curled slightly before his hand suddenly clenched tightly toward the depths of the pit.
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