Chapter 131: Embarking on the Journey Home

Captain Dong, who was in charge of the negotiations, felt his face twitch uncontrollably. He had once again underestimated the intelligence of this giant crocodile. The creature was unbelievable—it actually knew how to demand an exorbitant price.

One hundred Grade 3 spirit stones? Did it think it was buying Chinese cabbage, available in every supermarket? Currently, Grade 3 spirit stones were considered strategic resources, and the nation’s total reserves didn't even reach fifty.

"Your Highness Dragon King, three thousand Grade 1 spirit stones at most. After all, we don't have much available from our mining operations," Dong Mingjun countered, attempting to bargain.

"Final offer: five thousand."

"Fine," Dong Mingjun had to agree, his heart twitching again. The creature even knew the term "final offer"—it was virtually indistinguishable from a real human.

Based on current black market prices, five thousand spirit stones were worth nearly six billion. To an ordinary person, spending such a fortune on a cultivation technique of uncertain effectiveness might seem foolish. However, the Crisis Management Team considered it a bargain; if it were truly effective, it would be a priceless treasure.

For Lu Chen, the excitement was equally intense. Five thousand Grade 1 spirit stones could provide roughly two million energy points. Once he consumed them all, his evolution progress would jump to over ninety percent.

Dong Mingjun was incredibly eager. Barely half a day after reaching the agreement, he arrived at the hot spring valley with over fifty heavily armed team members to complete the handover. Because Lu Chen had given prior instructions, Jin Dian had already led the monkey troop away before the humans appeared.

Except for Captain Dong, the rest of the team was seeing this prehistoric giant crocodile for the first time. Although they had watched videos of it on television and the internet many times, seeing it up close was still a profound shock. An overwhelming aura of power radiated from its massive body, making them tremble with involuntary fear.

After verifying the spirit stones, Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction. He opened his blood-red maw and spoke in a human voice, "There is a spatial rift in this valley... but it won't open until nightfall. The cultivation techniques and the alien spacecraft are inside."

"Your team is too small; you won't be able to move the alien ship."

Dong Mingjun quickly replied, "That is fine. As long as we know the location, we can organize more personnel to enter the other dimension later."

Seeing that the human had already planned ahead, Lu Chen said no more. Under the watchful eyes of the group, he opened his jaws and swallowed the specialized trunks filled with the spirit stones. There was no other choice; he couldn't bring himself to leave the stones behind in the hot spring valley. These stones were vital to him, and they were safest by his side. While his digestive system was powerful, he doubted it would process the reinforced materials of the trunks.

As night fell and the rift opened, Lu Chen led the way into the misty realm.

Aside from a dozen members left behind in the valley to provide support, the rest of the team followed Dong Mingjun inside. Lu Chen had previously warned them about the various dangers of the misty realm, so they did not dare to be careless. This time, Lu Chen did not use his "Marsh of the Earth" ability to fly; instead, he led the humans slowly through the fog. He naturally wanted to keep some of his cards hidden.

From the moment he considered dealing with the humans, Lu Chen had been leaving scent markers along the way. With him as their guide, they did not lose their way. Naturally, any fierce exotic beasts they encountered along the way were easily dealt with.

Much like Lu Chen, Dong Mingjun and his team were stunned after reading the words left behind by Zhang Sanfeng. They could not imagine that the straight path, hundreds of meters wide and of unknown length, had been carved out by the sword strike of an otherworldly cultivator. It was even more unimaginable that a cultivator could traverse dozens of star systems with their physical body alone. That was god-like! At the very least, current human technology could never achieve such a feat.

A sense of indescribable urgency rose within Dong Mingjun. He had a vague feeling that the future of Blue Star was becoming increasingly dangerous. It was not impossible that one day, it could be destroyed by creatures from another dimension.

They split into two teams: one began photographing and copying the sword cultivation techniques from the stone walls, while the other entered the bronze spacecraft to begin their research. As for Lu Chen, he vanished back into the endless mist with the remaining spirit stones.

According to their agreement, he had fulfilled his mission by leading the humans to the cultivation techniques. He no longer needed to concern himself with their safety, nor was he interested in whether they intended to explore the other dimension more deeply. The area around the rift had already been cleared of dangerous creatures, so there was little immediate threat. However, in his view, if these humans let their guard down and tried to explore deeper into the mist, their current strength would lead to certain death.

Lu Chen had sensed the presence of several massive entities in the area days ago—beings even he could not afford to provoke. Furthermore, the space was shrouded in thick fog that rendered many of the humans' modern detection instruments useless. But that was no longer his concern.

After traveling more than ten miles, Lu Chen silently activated his "Marsh of the Earth" mutation, leapt onto a platform of mud, and flew off into the distance.

Finding a safe area, he opened his mouth, regurgitated the trunks, and began to devour the spirit stones ravenously.

"Grade 1 spirit stone: provides 486 energy points."
"Grade 1 spirit stone: provides..."
"Grade 2 spirit stone: provides 4,679 energy points."

For ease of transport, not all the stones Dong Mingjun brought were Grade 1; some were Grade 2. After swallowing over fifty of them, Lu Chen decisively stopped. He could clearly feel that he had reached his limit. Spirit stones were beneficial, but one could not consume too many at once. If he continued to force them down, while he wouldn't explode, the efficiency would drop significantly, and it might even damage his body.

This was, after all, the first time he had obtained so many spirit stones.

For the next ten days, Lu Chen stayed within the misty space, consuming stones and hunting prey, occasionally visiting the sword valley to check on the humans' progress. The sword cultivation techniques had already been taken back to Blue Star by Dong Mingjun, and they were now mobilizing over a hundred members to dismantle the bronze spacecraft for transport and study.

With the spirit stones mostly consumed, it was time for Lu Chen to return to the Madula Jungle. According to his original plan, he intended to delve deeper into the human world to gather information. Now that he had a communicator, he could check information at any time and even surf the internet to read the news, which was quite convenient.

He was very satisfied with this excursion. After bidding farewell to the humans, he began his journey home with the communicator in his possession. The trip was uneventful, and two days later, Lu Chen reappeared in the waterfall dimension.

Thankfully, Boss Crocodile and the others were living well and had encountered no accidents. Not having seen them for nearly a month, he noticed their sizes had surged significantly. Hei Dian now weighed over a hundred kilograms with a wingspan of more than eight meters—as large as a modern Cessna 152 light aircraft. Even on Blue Star, it would undoubtedly be considered the supreme ruler of the skies.