Why is my territory in a 2D anime art style?

Chapter 139 Re-entering the Secret Realm

On December 20th, the Energy-Eating Giant Tree finally sprouted!

In the morning, Sui An came over to check on the growth as usual and found that all three seeds had sprouted green seedlings that were more than three inches long, just barely pushing out of the soil.

"This seedling looks so small, yet it grew into such a strong tree!"

"After all, the seeds are only the size of a walnut, so it's normal for the seedlings to be small."

Wang Hu and Sui An squatted down and touched the seedlings, which were almost no different from ordinary tree seedlings.

Sui An reached out and grabbed a handful of soil near the seedlings. He suddenly noticed that the soil seemed to have faded in color. This soil was the yellow soil that Sui An's outer wall had been soaked with the blood of the source beast. It was originally brown, but now it was slowly turning grayish-yellow.

"The accumulated source beast blood has actually been absorbed?"

"It seems so. Even seedlings seem to have a very strong absorption capacity!"

Erhu also checked the other two seedlings. Sure enough, the soil within a dozen centimeters of the seedlings was slowly returning to its normal yellow color, while the soil in the distance was fading more slowly.

Sui An had planted five Tempering Source Fruit Trees on that open space. This was a popular fruit that could provide better body tempering effects for low-level combat professionals and was also a raw material for tempering potions.

Since Sui An was not a planter and did not know how to control the planting density of these saplings, he ultimately chose to plant three energy-devouring giant trees on the left half of the planting base.

On the right side, 800 Originium were spent to buy five Tempering Origin Fruit Tree seedlings.

Over a length of nearly ten meters, this interval is large enough that even if the energy-devouring giant trees are fully grown, they should theoretically not disturb each other.

The Quenching Source Fruit Tree is also a low-level source energy plant, but its quality is green.

These five fruit tree saplings are already half a foot tall. They grow even faster and can be fully grown in just five months.

But growth and shaping are just the beginning; after all, it is the fruit that professionals need.

Under normal circumstances, its fruit grows once a year, producing about five to ten fruits at a time, and each fruit can be sold for fifteen to twenty source stones.

Although this amount of profit is not much for Sui An at present, most of the soil in the building is just sitting empty anyway, so it might as well plant something on it.

Sui An's face lit up with joy: "Then doesn't that mean we don't need planters anymore, and we can grow things ourselves?"

"Not entirely." Fang Si stood up from the ground and pointed to the Source-Quenching Fruit Tree: "Planters' source energy can catalyze plant growth and maturity, accelerating plant growth. In the territory, it's not exactly a necessary profession, and its priority isn't as high as that of alchemists or pharmacists."

"However, energy plants can also get sick and be affected by pests. At best, it will affect the harvest, and at worst, it will kill the plant. These problems must be dealt with by the grower."

"However, for a grower, his input should be the lowest of all professions, because he basically doesn't need any formulas or anything like that, since seeds are mostly renewable."

"The only thing they need is all sorts of planting knowledge, like the planting instructions that come with your Energy-Devouring Giant Tree seed. That's their alternative formula."

Sui An realized too late that he had been too happy. It had only been a little over ten days since the planted it, and he had no idea what would happen in the next six months.

"Xiao An, something just popped into my head!"

The erhu player, leaning against the doorframe, stroked his chin and suddenly asked a question.

"By the way, that dimensional portal is quite small. Once this treant successfully transforms, it'll be at least four meters tall. How are you going to get it inside to mine?"

"I have a way of doing it. The incubation period is still a while away, it will be several months from now, then you'll know."

Sui An chose to start planting the seeds at this time because he had the purple building [Expedition Fortress]. Before the Energy-Devouring Giant Tree matured, he would most likely have already successfully upgraded it. At that time, he could simply put the planting base into the Expedition Fortress and then transfer it to the secret realm.

The energy concentration in the secret realm is much higher than outside, making it more suitable for crop growth.

I've already acquired one of the materials for the Expedition Fortress. Although I don't have the upgrade materials yet, as long as I can make it, that's fine. Once I have a base in the Secret Realm, I can start clearing out the Source Beasts inside.

However, he has not yet revealed a single word about the existence of this building.

Honestly, aside from my own gold buildings, the Expedition Fortress is probably the most valuable of all the purple buildings, and its functionality is even rarer than the three purple buildings I got from my cheat system.

"Alright, we'll see how you play then." Erhu knew that Sui An was hiding a lot of things, so he didn't ask any more questions. He heard the sound of a car, turned his head to look at the gate of the wall, and found that Wang Zhen had already driven over.

"Wang Zhen is here, we should go mining!"

"Is Aunt Zhao here?" Sui An also came out of the base. Last time they went back, they met the people from the Gale Hunting Group. They said that in order not to arouse their suspicion, Aunt Zhao was not going to come the next few times.

"It seems he really didn't come." Erhu walked outside and, sure enough, only saw Wang Zhen.

Wang Zhen looked at Erhu, who was looking around, and seemed to know who Erhu was looking at. He jumped off the car and walked into the yard, saying, "Aunt Zhao said she's taking a break to prevent Qian Hui from getting suspicious."

Erhu shook his head: "Actually, it doesn't really matter. As long as Aunt Zhao asks for leave again, they will still be suspicious."

"That being said, the later the better."

"If all else fails, we'll just dump the raw ore here with Sui An and let them process it, instead of going through the city."

Erhu's rebuttal was very direct: Sui An's territory was so close to the dimensional gate that unless someone was guarding the vicinity of his territory, it would be difficult for others to know that they had come to mine.

If a fight really breaks out, Sui An's three sets of great fire swords should have a decent range of attack, enough to cover most of them, unless it's a level 6...

Even if a professional player of the highest level comes to fight, I'm not afraid of a few level 5 Sui Ans.

Even if a Level 6 professional does come, Sui An has a backup plan.

However, as far as he knew, the Gale Hunting Group only had three Level 5 professionals: the leader and two vice-leaders. There were no Level 6 experts.

"Let's go, I'm ready."

Sui An put on the armor that He Chong was wearing and came out of the house.

He had two talismans on the back of his hand, one of which was about to expire. Adhering to the principle of "if you don't use it, you might as well use it," he would go in with them every time they went to the secret realm to mine. This was the third time.

He didn't go the only time after killing the He family couple, because he didn't have any talismans nearing their expiration date.

During this time, he would summon a talisman approximately every ten days to ensure he always had one on him, for a period of 360 days.

The cost of the source stones is still acceptable for Sui An at present.

Moreover, these talismans don't just expire and go to waste; they are usually used up somewhere, so they are put to good use.

After the barrier was raised, Fang Nian and the others guarded the territory. Wang Hu escorted Sui An and his group into the secret realm. Before Sui An came out, Wang Hu would guard the entrance of the secret realm to prevent any sudden problems in the territory so that he could notify Sui An and the others.

The dimensional portal can block communication between the inside and outside of the communicator, but the communicator can still function within the secret realm.

Therefore, all Wang Hu needs to do is receive the communicator message from the territory outside the door, then cross the door and send a message to Sui An and the others using another communicator.

"Last time we headed towards the grasslands, but we didn't dare go too far and didn't encounter any source beasts. It was a waste to give me the talismans."

""

Sui An pointed to the mountain peak: "Let's go to the top first this time and see if we can explore the entire secret realm."

"We can manage, but can you climb up there wearing that armor?"

Erhu patted the armor, making a loud banging sound. Even if he wore it, his movements would be much slower, let alone a weakling like the architect.

Sui An then took out two crystal bottles from his pocket and shook them in front of everyone.

"I brought a low-level strength boosting potion and a low-level constitution boosting potion with me this time, so there shouldn't be any major problems."

"Alright, let's give it a try. We also want to see the whole secret realm!"

The group began to climb the small mountain, which, judging from its base, was estimated to be eight or nine hundred meters high and stretched for about seven or eight kilometers.

It really takes time to reach the top.

Although there were three level 4 professionals protecting them, their deterrent effect did not seem to be strong against the Shadow Lizards. Even though the level 5 mutated Shadow Lizard King had been dealt with and several level 4 mutated Shadow Lizards had been killed, some low-level Shadow Lizards still dared to sneak up and attack the group.

Sui An did not summon the spirit directly, but let them deal with it first. Although the mountain looked small, there was no path at all. They had to rely on their skills, which far exceeded those of ordinary people, to climb up.

Even though they were all professionals, it still took them quite a while to climb, especially since they had to drag Sui An along with them.

After climbing for about two hours, the group finally reached a point close to the mountain peak.

"Why are there only Shadow Lizards? I haven't seen any other Source Beasts at all—"

"Fortunately, they are all ordinary shadow lizards, and there are no mutated ones."

"Finally, we've stopped. It seems like no more shadow lizards have climbed up this mountain peak."

Erhu casually flicked the long sword in his hand, wiping away the remaining blood of the source beast on the blade, and looked up at the mountaintop not far away.

"That mountaintop looks like a flat rock, but it looks like it was chopped out with a single stroke."

Sui An clung to a large rock, looked up, and took a deep breath: "We'll know once we climb up and take a look."

O

After resting for a while, the four of them continued climbing towards the top of the mountain. When they reached the edge of the flat summit, a very loud cry suddenly came from above.

"A Source Beast!"

Wang Zhen and Fang Si simultaneously darted upwards, while Erhu pulled Sui An backwards.

Sure enough, a huge figure soared into the sky above the flat roof. It was a giant blue bird with wingspans of five or six meters, blocking everyone's view.

"What a huge bird!"

"What kind of source beast is this?"

Before the crowd even got close, they all exclaimed in surprise. The giant bird flying in the sky had already turned around, and its huge body was hovering in mid-air above the mountaintop. Wisps of wind were rapidly condensing on its slowly flapping wings, turning into countless energy feathers that flew towards Wang Zhen and the other person.

Before the flying feathers even got close, Fang Si's eyes widened suddenly, and he shouted in shock and anger, "It looks like a level six source beast! Retreat!"

Although Wang Zhen didn't shout, he had clearly realized the power of this source beast, and the two of them immediately separated and dodged to the sides.

Each of those cyan energy feathers was no bigger than a palm, yet they rained down on the mountain rocks like arrows, sending countless fragments flying. The once smooth rocks were instantly cratered and riddled with holes, and the force of the bombardment actually shaved away most of the rock mass, demonstrating terrifying power.

Not far away, Sui An had already taken advantage of the gap to summon the spirit.

Before Sui An could give any orders, Lu Ling had already locked her gaze on the giant bird.

It seemed that the spirit's gaze was so intense that it immediately drew its attention.

"Hey!"

This cry was exceptionally sharp, as if it had been provoked.

The giant bird flapped its wings violently, unleashing dozens of azure wind blades that tore through the air and rained down on Sui An like a storm.

Erhu and Sui An were stunned, not expecting to be the first to be affected, and hurriedly tried to escape the impact.

But the spirit in front of her had already leaped up. Her body suddenly shone with icy blue spiritual light, and she waved her spear repeatedly, turning spear beams into ice blades that shattered the wind blades in mid-air.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The crisp sound of ice cracking blended together, and countless breaths of wind and ice flowers bloomed in the air.

Lu Ling suddenly swung the spear in her hand, and a huge beam of ice light tore through the feather curtain and shot towards the giant bird above.

The giant bird's eyes flashed with ferocity, its huge wings suddenly vibrated, and its massive body, like a blue meteorite, swooped down fiercely.

Those giant claws, gleaming with a cold metallic light, actually caught the icy beam and even crushed it.

Its wings folded in the air as it charged forward, its giant claws tearing through the air as it lunged at the spirit's head, attempting to seize it.

Lu Ling had already fallen from the sky. Just as the giant claw, carrying a whirlwind, was about to touch her hair, she stepped forward with her right foot, and countless chilling ice pillars rose from the ground in front of her, transforming into towering spikes that pierced towards the giant bird.

The giant bird's sharp claws slammed into the ice pillar, instantly causing terrifying spiderweb-like cracks to erupt on the surface of the solid ice, scattering countless ice shards in all directions.

But the giant bird's diving momentum had dissipated, and it suddenly spread its huge wings, attempting to take off.

But Lu Ling had already thrust the spear upwards. The thick blue feathers were nothing in front of the spear, which pierced through them with a single thrust, even penetrating their bodies.

"Hey!"

This sharp explosion was mixed with painful howls. It frantically flapped its huge wings, forcing even the spirit to draw its spear and dodge to avoid being affected. For a moment, sand and stones flew everywhere, and the power was astonishing.