Chapter 320 – Daily Life Before the Storm

Several days after the construction of Wolfhead Mountain Fortress, Tianyuan Territory’s exploration efforts were no longer conducted covertly. Multiple exploration teams fanned out from this fortress as their base, continuously surveying the surrounding terrain while eliminating monsters roaming the wilderness.

Previously, Mu Yuan hadn’t dared to conduct large-scale exploration. Although they had even discovered a large Tribe 400 kilometers to the north, the areas within a hundred-kilometer radius still fell far short of 100% exploration coverage.

This round of exploration revealed that the Deep Wilderness was indeed filled with Treasures everywhere.

Intelligent monsters also knew how to mine minerals, occupy Treasures, and even seize Miracle Buildings. However, some Miracle Buildings or Treasure Lands were protected by rules, making them inaccessible to these creatures.

Wilderness Structures like the Hero Arena were completely useless to intelligent monsters, as they couldn’t utilize them!

On the other hand, structures like the Soul Shrine and Altar of Destruction could be used by both living beings and monsters… There seemed to be some pattern to this, which he was currently studying.

On the fourth day after Wolfhead Mountain Fortress was established, an exploration team led by Xiliu discovered a High-Tier Remnant Soul condensation zone in an underground space.

This High-Tier Remnant Soul was formed by the power of heaven and earth, with flowing light and shadows illuminating the entire cavern.

Guarding beside the High-Tier Remnant Soul were numerous powerful monsters. Among them was an elite-grade monster called the ‘Flame-Twin-Headed Dragon’. It was Xiliu’s instinct for hunting dragon-type ingredients that led her to this well-hidden area.

On the same day, Bone Two discovered a new Wilderness Structure.

「Lancer Outpost (Time-limited)」

「Description: Can recruit ordinary 2-star unit Lancers, with a chance to critically recruit advanced versions of Lancers. This Unit Building cannot be occupied and will randomly appear throughout the Eternal World. Time until the Lancer Outpost’s next relocation: 5d12h.」

The Lancer Outpost was just one of the lower-tier Wilderness Unit Buildings, nothing particularly rare.

However,

Perhaps because this outpost hadn’t been encountered by a Miracle Lord for too long, the number of ‘Units Available for Recruitment’ inside the outpost surprisingly reached 996!

Mu Yuan recruited them all in one go, thoroughly enjoying the experience.

The Human Race’s Evolution Point production capacity increased once again. According to the Contribution Points rules, Isloria and Lu Liu would soon undergo another evolution.

Apart from these special locations, the exploration teams’ greatest gains came from Roots of Filth.

In just two days, the exploration teams discovered six Lands of Filth and purified them.

Three of these yielded elite-grade Materials.

“There are so many Lands of Filth in this area, and they’re not difficult to clear. It’s like a natural treasure trove, but…”

Mu Yuan didn’t dare to imagine what kind of monster waves Tianyuan Territory would face if the Crimson Moon descended at this moment, ushering in the disaster month period.

There were too many monsters here, with high-tier monsters being commonplace.

Once the disaster month arrived, the Filth breeding between heaven and earth would far exceed that of normal regions.

With Tianyuan Territory’s current strength, they would be 200% unable to withstand the monster waves.

“Fortunately, the Crimson Mist disaster month is a worldwide catastrophe. Since the disaster month just ended, it won’t arrive again for some time. I still have time to develop.”

Not every time the exploration teams discovered special areas did they reap rewards.They discovered several ancient civilization ruins, with the largest being the buried ruins of a city nestled among the mountains. However, the exploration teams failed to unearth anything valuable from these sites. Even when General Dolai ventured out from Wolfhead Mountain Fortress to survey the city ruins, its “treasure-hunting radar” remained completely silent.

These ancient civilization ruins all showed signs of having been rummaged through.

Clearly, someone had gotten there first.

Most likely, they had been excavated by intelligent monsters.

“I’ll remember this grudge!” Dolai said fiercely.

For most of the time, Dolai couldn’t venture out. It had to remain stationed at Wolfhead Mountain Fortress to guard against enemy attacks.

Simultaneously, it needed to seize every moment for cultivation. Having just advanced to the Legendary Realm, even the slightest change could bring significant improvements.

On Wolfhead Mountain, Dolai sat alone on a peak far from the fortress, its black-and-white Domain spreading out from it as the core.

It didn’t fully reveal its Domain, only extending it two to three hundred meters, yet a mysterious and majestic black serpent could still be seen swimming through this expanse.

“Cultivation in the Legendary Realm involves absorbing the power of heaven and earth to strengthen one’s own Domain. During this process, it’s also necessary to absorb some auxiliary Materials to enhance the speed of cultivation…”

The above were the Lord’s exact words.

Dolai actually couldn’t quite understand those Legendary Realm cultivation Secret Manuals.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t read them—it understood all the characters and symbols—but it wasn’t very clear on what they meant when strung together.

About 89.9% of it remained unclear.

It had painstakingly endured the headache, reading those books from cover to cover, word by word.

Fortunately, it no longer needed to study those cultivation Secret Manuals, as it had its own exclusive method.

Regarding this exclusive Secret Method, a certain General who wished to remain anonymous admitted that it didn’t fully understand it either, but its intuition told it to do this, then that, and then this again.

Thus, it maintained its Domain in a certain rhythm, expanding and contracting, rising and falling like human breathing.

The black Devouring serpent within the Domain also began to swim slowly in a mysterious, rhythmic pattern.

Elemental particles from heaven and earth swarmed in.

Soul Crystals, pieces of Black Iron Stone, and copper blocks within the Domain merged into the tide of worldly energy, all digested by Dolai.

In this single Devouring session, it consumed resources equivalent to several dozen Soul Crystals.

Reaching the Legendary Realm didn’t mean one could grow stronger just by absorbing Soul Sand, but for rapid cultivation, it was clear that the universal Soul Sand and Soul Crystals were still indispensable.

The upper limit for consuming crystals in the Legendary Realm far exceeded that of the Fourth Order.

After all, this was the Legendary Realm!

As the vast energy, elemental particles, and special Materials were digested, Dolai’s Infinite Serpent Domain began to expand at a visible rate.

This was cultivation in the Legendary Realm.

It might seem like mere absorption, but in reality, it contained profound mysteries.

Any misstep would not only affect the speed of cultivation but could also destabilize the Domain of the Legendary Realm. Over the long years, Legendary Realm experts had summarized sets of cultivation experiences and ideas, creating numerous cultivation Secret Methods.

Dolai had obtained a Legacy method.

The best cultivation method was one created by top-tier Legendary Realm experts themselves—perfectly suited to them, highly stable, and considered top-tier.Dolai’s Legacy Method was also a top-tier technique. Its efficiency in cultivating this method could be considered second-tier, far surpassing the Secret Methods created by other Legends.

It offered excellent stability;

A higher utilization rate of worldly energy and Materials, reaching 70% to 80%;

At the same time, the upper limit of energy and Materials it could Devour and absorb was also much higher!

Combining these two aspects with its extraordinary talent, its cultivation speed could be described as little Dolai riding a rocket, soaring straight to the heavens.

Its Domain slowly expanded.

In a miniature form.

Within just a few days, Dolai’s Domain limit grew from 1,333 meters to 1,666 meters. This was also related to its recent promotion to the Legendary Realm, as it was currently in a period of rapid improvement.

As the Domain expanded, Dolai’s physique, spirit, and energy also improved accordingly.

Not just these three basic attributes.

Willpower, Soul Power, and life force—previously intangible and almost impossible to utilize or enhance—also slightly increased as the Domain grew.

How much they improved depended on individual talent and the quality of the cultivation method.

…

In Tianyuan Territory, some were exploring, some were preparing for battle, and others were cultivating.

At the same time, the Elven Courtyard’s biweekly trading gathering was held as scheduled.

This time, the host of the gathering was not Linglong Lord; she had likely gone to attempt a breakthrough to the Legendary Realm. The trading gathering was managed by another powerful Lord.

Mu Yuan naturally attended, sitting to the side enjoying tea and chatting with Jiang Someone and a few others.

Lately, whenever he had free time, he would come to the Secret Realm to sit down, order some drinks, or generously treat everyone to the entire venue—of course, he wasn’t just treating for nothing. He relied on the Lords present to gather information about the outside world.

This was now his only channel for obtaining news about the Taixuan Alliance.

And the Lords had many sources of information and were pleasant to talk to; he really liked it here.

“Linglong Lord is said to have a high chance of breaking through this time. It seems it won’t be long before Taixuan gains another Legendary Lord.”

“Wang Longteng, the eldest son of Duke Beiting, previously recruited an Epic Divine General. After absorbing many Upgrade Shards, that Epic Divine General has already advanced to the Fourth Order and seems to have encountered an Opportunity, creating a Domain… It can be said that this Divine General is already on the path to becoming a Legend.”

“This time, Wang Longteng is riding the wave of the two worlds’ Fusion, soaring to great heights.”

“A couple of days ago, a Lord in Longchuan City also broke through to the Legendary Realm, known as the Yulong Hero.”

Within the Taixuan Alliance, many Lords or Generals were stuck at the peak of the Fourth Order, so it was natural that someone would break through to the Legendary Realm every now and then.

Most of these breakthrough individuals were either local Lords or the first or second Generals under a Lord’s command, with a few being rogue players. They rented breakthrough sites in official cities to attempt their ascension.

Of course, top-tier Lords like Mount Luofu Master and Duke Beiting had complete training and promotion facilities in their own territories, as well as detailed and rich experience in breaking through to the Legendary Realm. The powerful individuals from these Lords’ families could often attempt breakthroughs discreetly, whether they failed or succeeded, without the outside world knowing.

No one knew exactly how much strength a top-tier Lord had accumulated.

Of course, while new Legends were born, some Legends also fell.Tales of Legendary Realm powerhouses from the Taixuan Alliance falling in the deep wilderness occasionally reached people’s ears. There were even more unreported cases of Legendary deaths.

“The Legendary Realm…”

The Lords felt boundless yearning, yet couldn’t help but fall silent.

They were all outstanding among Lords, confident in their ability to impact the Fourth Order and climb to the peak of the Commander rank. Yet, none dared claim certainty about their own advancement to Legendary.

Reason told them their chances of breaking through to Legendary were quite slim, unless they could obtain great Opportunities.

Rumors spoke of an elderly Senior who enjoyed fishing. He was among the first wave of powerful figures to rise in Taixuan, having advanced to Great Lord long ago. Yet sixty years had passed, and this fishing-loving Senior remained stuck at the Fourth Order limit. Neither he nor his household generals could cross that insurmountable chasm.

If even such a Senior struggled so, how could they afford blind confidence?

“The Legendary Realm is too distant for us. We should keep our feet on the ground and improve ourselves step by step,” Jiang Luoxing said.

Several Lords agreed.

Mu Yuan sighed faintly, “Indeed, too distant.”

Deadbone needed another one or two months—or perhaps two or three—to temper his body to its limit.

Lord Mu hadn’t yet reached the peak of Fourth Order himself, so his own distance from the Legendary Realm was even farther. Truly distant.

Seeing even Tianyuan Bro sigh, everyone felt even more somber.

If someone as powerful as Tianyuan found Legendary distant, what right did they have to aim unrealistically high?

“Recently, there have been many Legendary battles erupting across various regions. Just yesterday, a Legendary battle broke out in Stone Ridge City,” said a senior Lord from further away.

“This Lord recently followed the Pioneer Group to support Stone Ridge City. Over the past few days, under the leadership of the Pioneer Group’s big shots, we’ve been clearing out monster tribes one after another. The process was quite smooth initially, but who would have thought the monster tribes had external reinforcements? A Legendary-rank monster traveled a thousand miles to launch a surprise attack on our headquarters at Stone Ridge City.

“Fortunately, the Pioneer Group’s big shot was a step ahead in strategy, having already arranged for another Legendary General to lie in wait within Stone Ridge City. They made that Six-Eyed Monster Legend meet its end on the spot.

“That battle truly shook heaven and earth, as if the entire world was being torn apart. The combat didn’t last long—our Pioneer Group’s big shot quickly annihilated the Six-Eyed Legend—but even so, the aftershocks still destroyed a small section of Stone Ridge City’s urban area. The losses were significant.”

This was precisely why Mu Yuan didn’t want to set the battlefield within Tianyuan Territory.

Even with large-scale defensive spells as protection, facing Legendaries remained highly risky. Positioning the battlefield at Wolfhead Mountain was much safer. Even if the entire Wolfhead Mountain Fortress were shattered, the losses would remain within his acceptable range.

Soon, the trading gathering began, with Lords taking turns to present their offerings. The scale was noticeably larger than half a month ago.

Mu Yuan also exchanged some materials.

He also discreetly approached Liu Miumiu and some senior Lords to purchase some special Materials, along with various basic Remnant Souls.

Dolai’s cultivation required special Materials.

The construction of Thundercoil Towers also needed rare-grade primary materials. It was wise to stockpile more of these primary materials.

During this time, a Lord asked if he was still purchasing Epic Remains.

Mu Yuan declined.

“Unless the value is very low, or they’re particularly unique types of Epics, I won’t be purchasing them.”

Dolai could still gain some improvement from Devouring Epic Remains.However, the acquisition cost of a single Epic Remains was several hundred Soul Crystals, or even required bartering with High-Tier Remnant Souls—it was simply too expensive. Previously, he had purchased them at any cost to help Dolai advance to the Legendary tier as soon as possible. But now, continuing to acquire Epic Remains would strain even the vast resources of his Tianyuan Territory.

Besides, his territory’s resources weren’t vast at all.

There were also quite a few Lords inquiring whether he had any High-Tier Remnant Souls for sale.

Mu Yuan still had two High-Tier Remnant Souls on hand, but he had no urgent needs at the moment, so he decided to keep them for the time being. If he obtained a high-tier blueprint and urgently required a specific high-tier material, having Excellent Remnant Souls on hand would make exchanges much easier.

The Lords were disappointed.

But this was expected.

Tianyuan couldn’t possibly produce High-Tier Remnant Souls every time. After all, Tianyuan was a semi-new Lord who had only been in the game for just over half a year. What kind of unrealistic expectations had they been holding onto?

(End of Chapter)