Chapter 197: Chapter 181: Scattering and Exposure_2

First of all, he carried that pile of Fourth Level Defensive Talisman Witchcraft Artifacts on him. After making preparations in advance, it was enough for him to withstand high-intensity attacks, ensuring he wouldn’t easily fall into a desperate situation.

Secondly, he also had the deeply hidden “Five Elements Rainbow Transformation Mirror” as his trump card. As long as he activated its “Light Transformation” ability, he could truly transform into light and escape, making it nearly impossible for any creature to intercept him. This provided him with a perfect escape route.

Moreover, Jeming’s original purpose was not for slaughter.

His core goal was to collect as much Red Dust Qi as possible, and these living, “society-building” Magma Giants were exactly the Red Dust producers he most desired.

Therefore, he didn’t really need to venture deeply into danger. As long as he stayed here for enough time to check the collection results of the Red Dust Qi, it would be his greatest success.

The other two wizards who chose to stay, one was that Second Level Wizard.

Bold and meticulous, he wanted to rely on his own strength to see if he could use this unexpected opportunity to collect deeper and more important intelligence in advance, laying the groundwork for the subsequent invasion of the main army.

After all, the rarer and deeper the intelligence, the higher the merit it could exchange for.

The other First Level Wizard was a relatively cautious young man. He agreed to stay mainly to follow the arrangements of the Second Level Wizard.

He also planned to act as an outpost, just in case the communication wizard who left outside couldn’t contact the camp. At the very least, he could continue to send support signals to the camp from the outermost perimeter.

The three of them reached a consensus, exchanged glances, and then withdrew all unnecessary traces of their presence.

The three tacitly dispersed, like three shadows, stealthily moving towards the depths of this hemispherical space.

Jeming did not act as cautiously as the other two wizards, who used Stealth Rune and Phantom Sorcery to conduct a slow investigation.

After all, his purpose in coming here wasn’t for reconnaissance but to conduct experiments.

So from the beginning, Jeming never planned to go deep.

His figure flickered, and he arrived at the root of a giant red tree, extending his palm toward the ground. His Spiritual Power spread out like mercury pouring on the ground.

Under the power of Alchemy, the ground silently reshaped, and within just a few moments, a narrow hole big enough to accommodate his body was dug out.

Like a leech slipping into a swamp, he swiftly and deftly burrowed into the hole he had dug, then manipulated the loose soil to completely bury himself.

From the outside, the ground remained smooth and showed no signs of being dug, perfectly disguised.

In the underground cavity, the surrounding solid rock and Alchemy-reinforced earth isolated most sounds and energy fluctuations.

He only retained the weak perception of the “Eye of the Micro-Light,” like a ghost lurking in the deep shadows.

He didn’t rush into action and focused all his attention inside his own Dantian.

He carefully watched the Talisman hidden deep within his Dantian collecting Red Dust Qi.

The Talisman looked ancient, emitting a faint crimson glow. Every time it collected Red Dust Qi, it trembled slightly.

Jeming’s mood was somewhat complex at the moment, containing a trace of anticipation mixed with a subtle unease.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Five minutes… Ten minutes… Half an hour…

As time went on, Jeming’s expression became more and more grim.

Obviously, there were thousands of Magma Giants around, with bustling labor noises, low roars, the clashing noise of rocks, and even some exchanges among the Magma Giants themselves.

All of this indicated that this gathering point was full of “signs of active life.”

However, his Talisman never sensed even the slightest trace of Red Dust Qi coming from the Magma Giants!

There were occasional slight fluctuations, but those came from the weak remnants produced by wizards on the battlefield, not from those indigenous creatures.

“There’s definitely something wrong!” Jeming couldn’t help but clench his fist.

He was sure that his Talisman was not damaged and was still sensitive to the Red Dust Qi in other situations.

The problem lay with the Magma Giants themselves.

From the plantation encountered before, this stronghold was by no means a simple mine or barracks, as it already demonstrated apparent sociality.

The Magma Giants here were organized in conducting animal husbandry, had clearly defined labor divisions, and even had an “Artificial Sun” to maintain ecological balance.

All of this indicated that they had reached a conceptual level sufficiently high to produce social interaction and, hence, generate Red Dust Qi.

No matter how I try, it makes no sense not to belong to the concept of “society”!

“Why exactly?” Jeming furrowed his brows, pondering endlessly.

He reviewed the theory of Red Dust Qi generation in his mind repeatedly, along with the unique physiology and elemental composition of the Magma Giants.

Could it be due to their life form?

They are semi-elemental creatures, or perhaps, their means of expressing “emotions” is entirely different from the life forms he knew?

He attempted to analyze from various angles but never found conclusive evidence to explain this anomaly.

Theoretically, he could still go deeper to find larger, more complex, potentially more civilized giant strongholds of the Magma Giants to experiment further.

Perhaps those “cities” or “royal courts” at the core of the Magma Giant Empire could produce the Red Dust Qi he needed.

However, Jeming was extremely rational in assessing danger.

Going deeper would mean facing higher-tier Magma Giant lords, potentially Fifth Level, Sixth Level beings.

The danger level of such strongholds was far beyond what his current power could withstand.

Moreover, his primary objective now was simply to collect Red Dust Qi, not to engage in a head-on confrontation with the entire Magma Giant Plane Empire.

Venturing into an unknown-result area at the risk of life was clearly unwise.

After contemplating for a long time, Jeming had no choice but to reluctantly abandon the idea of further studying the Red Dust Qi from the Magma Giants.

He felt a wave of regret and unwillingness—his core goal, which was most likely to be realized, encountered such a bizarre failure in such a promising place.

“Looks like I’ll have to turn to the Frost Dark Realm instead.” Jeming silently calculated in his mind.

Since the path of the Magma Giants was blocked, he would give the Yetis a try.

Although he had not conducted detailed research on the Yetis and was uncertain whether their life forms would exhibit similar issues.

But for now, that was his only choice.

He quickly sketched out his next action plan in his mind: Like he did when coming to the Flame Sun Realm, he would find the Yeti settlements in the Frost Dark Realm, collect samples, conduct in-depth research, simultaneously observe their “sociality,” and attempt to collect Red Dust Qi.

“However, my research on Yetis is not that deep, so I’ll have to return to the camp first to find relevant information…”

Just as Jeming was contemplating his specific actions for going to the Frost Dark Realm…

Boom——!

A violent explosion shook the entire underground cavity, causing the cell where Jeming was hiding to tremble!

Immediately, the furious roars of the Magma Giants swept in like a tsunami, a collective furious roar from countless Magma Giants, accompanied by the dense energy light and gushing sounds of magma.

Jeming’s face tensed sharply! He knew, the wizards outside were discovered!

He didn’t need precise detection from the “Eye of Scouting,” the sheer intensity of this energy fluctuation and the collective roar of the Magma Giants were enough to judge—it wasn’t a simple encounter, but the wizards’ infiltration routes were completely exposed, triggering a robust counterattack from the entire stronghold!

He quickly activated the runes pre-arranged around the cell, making the vision beneath the covering soil slightly clearer, just enough for him to glimpse the outside commotion without exposing himself.

His gaze locked through the narrow slit, targeting the direction the sound came from.

But before he had a chance to observe carefully, the same energy fluctuations erupted from the other side as well.

“Damn it!” Jeming cursed silently in his heart.

He hadn’t anticipated these two wizards would be discovered so quickly.

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