"Brother Guan is appreciated."

"Appreciated indeed."

The team leaders also echoed their thanks.

Many felt disgusted inside, thinking, We helped the Su Yuan Sect to achieve first place, and now we have to thank you—how does that make sense?

Despite their dissatisfaction, with the strength and background of the others laid out before them, everyone still had to play the part of a compliant follower.

Guan Wen was in a bad mood and did not bother to chat further with them.

Once the group figured out the direction, a distance of about ten miles was trifling to them, just a matter of a few ups and downs.

The group soon reached the approximate landing site of the Insect Extreme Crystal meteor shower, assigned their search areas, and consecutively took out their Sandal Gold Illumination.

Since he was already here, Guan Wen felt obliged to join the search as soon as he took out the Sandalwood Gold. However, Shi Chun approached him again.

Guan Wen got annoyed at the sight of him, finding this man to be overly talkative and annoying.

Shi Chun, aware that he was causing dissatisfaction, nevertheless spoke frankly, "Brother Guan, leave this minor search task to us. You should focus on the bigger picture. It would be best if you took a high ground to oversee, for instance…" he looked back and pointed at a hilltop, "with your Magical Treasure, guarding there. In case anything happens, we won't have to run around looking for you. If there's an emergency, we can head straight here, making it easier for you to lead us in a swift escape."

That made sense.

"Yes, Brother Guan, it's best if you oversee from here."

"Right, if anything happens, we won't scatter cluelessly."

The team leaders again chimed in agreement, supportive of what seemed beneficial.

Seeing everyone speaking in this manner, Guan Wen reluctantly agreed with a semblance of deference, "Alright, if that's the case, then I will wait for you on that hilltop, and please be extra careful yourselves."

This suited him well; he was not fond of dealing with mundane tasks, particularly not with members of the lower sects.

Garbed in white as pure as snow, maintaining the appearance of a serene and beautiful man necessitated shedding certain responsibilities; those willing to engage in tedious work could not exhibit such poise.

Regardless, his view of Shi Chun softened quite a bit, realizing that he wasn't so intolerable after all, speaking bluntly but reasonably and sticking to the facts.

With that decided, Guan Wen swiftly ascended the hilltop to wait for everyone.

Meanwhile, each sect's members grouped together and went in different directions to search, carefully vigilant of any unexpected risks along the way.

The mist in the mountains was faint enough not to obscure visibility if one looked not too far ahead.

Tall, majestic ancient trees stood alongside bizarrely twisted dead trees resembling tentacles, with old vines hanging wildly, giving off a ferocious air. The ground was rarely flat, with plenty of oddly shaped rocks. The ground was damp, moss was seen everywhere, and dried sticks and leaves littered the path, causing a crunch underfoot with nearly every step. It seemed devoid of animals, and under the purple flame energy, the surroundings became even more mysterious.

Shi Chun, also wary along the way, once again stimulated the superpower in his right eye.

He had no choice; survival was critical in this eerie place. Without using the ability of his right eye to carefully observe his surroundings, he couldn't rest easy.

However, as soon as his superpower activated, he couldn't help but stagger.

Wu Jinliang, who was guarding nearby, reacted quickly and supported Shi Chun by the arm, asking with surprise, "What's wrong?"

Shi Chun replied softly, "Nothing serious. I just activated the superpower in my right eye a little while ago. I've used it too frequently; my vitality isn't recovering fast enough, and I feel a bit weak."

He knew he had to thank his recent advancement to the High Martial Realm, or the reaction might have been more severe.

He thought his physical body was strong enough, and his vitality was more vigorous than most people's, yet continuous use of his right eye's superpower was still taking its toll.

It seemed that to master control of his right eye's superpower, his physical body needed to become even stronger.

Wu Jinliang suggested, "Should we meditate to recover a bit?"

Shi Chun shook his head; there was no time to rest now. His right eye's superpower was already engaged; allowing it to lapse would just waste vitality which he'd need to reactivate later, and they didn't have time to waste.

He gently pushed Wu Jinliang's supporting hand away, signaling to continue the search.

Therefore, Wu Jinliang led the way with the Sandalwood Gold, vigilant, while Shi Chun followed, repeatedly scanning for any abnormal risks using his right eye's superpower. Soon, his eye caught fleeting glimpses of blue glimmers, likely the hiding spot of Extreme Crystals, but he showed no intention of digging them up.

Neither focused much on searching for the Extreme Crystals; how many could they dig up by themselves? Besides, his superpower was about to fade.

The pair cautiously advanced to another hilltop, and a momentarily risk-free Shi Chun pressed a hand on Wu Jinliang's shoulder, stopping both of them. With a knowing glance exchanged, they both clutched their Sandalwood Gold, extinguishing the flame light.

Looking around at the sporadic bursts of light deep within the surrounding forest, Shi Chun murmured, "It's about time, we've distanced enough, no one should be near him now. Waiting too long might actually lead to problems."

Wu Jinliang, fully understanding his intention, asked, "What should we do?"

Shi Chun, "Give him a bunch of Extreme Crystals, he'll be thrilled."

"Hehe, alright, let's do that," said Wu Jinliang with a cunning smirk as he tore off the black bag belted at his waist.

He stretched his foot to feel around on the ground, squatted down when he touched a rock, pulled open the bag, grabbed the protruding part of the rock, applied a spell and crushed it with a snap, then threw the rock fragments, about the size of the Extreme Crystals, directly into the bag.

Meanwhile, Shi Chun kept watch, even though his superpower in the right eye had vanished.

After stuffing nearly a hundred rocks into the bulging black bag, he drew the bag's mouth shut, and the two of them descended the mountain.

They didn't stray, cautiously sneaking back along the previously explored path.

They were going back to find Guan Wen.

There was no need to worry about finding him in the dark and blind; Shi Chun had already tied him down with words earlier, and unless something unexpected happened, it was unlikely that he had left.

Finally, they reached the foot of the mountain where their target was, and Shi Chun took out a Sandal Gold Illumination, removed his own black cloth bag from his waist, patted Wu Jinliang's arm, folded it neatly in front of him, and tucked it into his bosom; Wu Jinliang nodded in understanding.

The two men continued up the mountain, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Guan Wen was under a few large trees on the mountain top, not having moved, holding his Magical Treasure "Wind Scale" and being on alert; ready to assist everyone at any moment in such a dangerous environment.

Of course, assistance depended on the situation; he also had made preparations to flee if things truly went south.

During this period, he took out a child-mother talisman, trying repeatedly to communicate with others outside, but got no response and thus knew the gossip was true.

Suddenly, he noticed a moving light below and instantly became wary.

In the middle of the night, a light approaching was swiftly noticed.

Certainly, with the fog, visibility was somewhat affected from a distance; he couldn't clearly see the people and focused his gaze.

As the two men got closer uphill, he recognized them, frowned, and upon seeing the bulging black bag in Wu Jinliang's hand and the joy on their faces, he realized something, his eyes lighting up with anticipation.

Once they arrived, he immediately asked, "How come you're back?"

Wu Jinliang swung the heavy bag in his hand, his face showing immense joy, and said, "Brother Guan, Moon Sea truly lives up to its name; this place was well worth the visit. There are so many Extreme Crystals here, we just searched and dug a bit and already got nearly a hundred pieces.

My senior brother's black cloth bag was borrowed by them, and we ran out of bags. Brother Guan, the black cloth bag you have is not in use, it's just lying idle, so you might as well lend it to us for now."

"Are there really that many Extreme Crystals here?" Guan Wen was greatly exhilarated, his eyes shining even brighter, forgetting about borrowing the black cloth bag for the moment, and urgently reached out to inspect the full bag, "Come, let me see."

Wu Jinliang gave a hum and offered up the full bag with both hands.

Shi Chun quickly stood next to Guan Wen, aiding with lighting from the Sandal Gold Flame Energy in his hand.

With anticipation, Guan Wen was about to directly open the bag.

Wu Jinliang urgently reminded him, "Brother Guan, be careful, these Extreme Crystals can run; don't let them escape."

Indeed, Guan Wen realized he was too excited, shoved back the Magical Treasure "Wind Scale" he was holding into his waist pouch, then carefully pulled open the bag with both hands.

Just as his eyes peered into the bag, Shi Chun revealed a short blade in his hand and plunged it directly into Guan Wen's back, delivering a clean, fatal blow.

At the same time, the illuminating Sandalwood Gold was grasped tightly, and the light instantly vanished.

The moment the light disappeared, Wu Jinliang's palm slashed fast, cutting at Guan Wen's throat, accompanied by a crackling sound of breaking, the large cleaver also pressing down on Guan Wen's chest to prevent Shi Chun's stroke from failing and to prevent the target from having any retaliatory strength.

With a thud, the bulging black cloth bag in Guan Wen's hands then hit the ground.

"Take it," Shi Chun reminded in the darkness.

Wu Jinliang instantly retrieved his knife and swiftly pulled the pouch from Guan Wen's waist, taking all of Guan Wen's belongings and tucking it into his own belt.

Then, he grabbed a handful of soil from the ground and stuffed it into Guan Wen's mouth and nose to prevent blood from dripping out too quickly.

Shi Chun did the same, stuffing soil into the knife wound.

While abducting Guan Wen, they didn't forget to pick up the bulging black cloth bag from the ground.

The two did not descend the mountain but leaped onto a tree and quickly moved towards their initial landing spot, remembering there was a deep ravine nearby.

Before burying the body, they chopped off one of Guan Wen's wrists, pulled off his bracelet because the assembly could locate someone based on the bracelet.

For them, Guan Wen could disappear but couldn't be easily found by anyone.

After leaving the ravine, Wu Jinliang flung items like bracelets and child-mother talismans into the depths of Moon Sea Forest one by one, letting whoever wanted to find them take their time.

That metal pine-cone-like Magical Treasure was naturally not something to be discarded; Wu Jinliang waved it in his hand to show Shi Chun, and suppressing his voice, he roared with wild laughter, "Chun Tian, we're rich, we've really struck it big!"

Shi Chun scanned around and said in a deep voice,"Let's head back first!"

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