The cooperation between the Great Oases and the Great Oasis was not something that could be concluded in a short period, but the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce was not in a hurry for full cooperation. They could proceed step by step, and their requirements were not as high as those of Falling Star City. With such favorable conditions, many leaders of the Great Oases were already tempted.
Some oases began to cooperate with Blazing Flame, offering several resource mining sites with development value, and quickly started construction. It is said that the mist-dispelling bonfires provided by the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce were also quickly deployed, as if the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce had prepared a large inventory.
Of course, some oasis leaders were more cautious, or still wavering, and they were still observing. Apart from the defense construction of the resource areas, the transportation process was also quite tricky. Furthermore, under the protection of the mist-dispelling bonfires, would the resource areas truly not be attacked by strange evil tides? They had only investigated for a day, and it was too early to draw a conclusion.
There was another concern: the bonfires might be able to drive away strange evils, but they could not dispel the wicked hearts of men. A convoy transporting tens of thousands or millions of strange crystals, would those oases that were accustomed to plundering not be tempted?
The leaders of the Great Oases would not do such disgraceful things. Once discovered, it would cause too much damage to their reputation, but he was worried that others would do such things to him.
Therefore, this oasis leader quietly observed the situation at Resource Point Jianhua 03.
This resource point was more dangerous than others because, during the visit a few days ago, the coordinates and defense situation of this resource point were all revealed.
As expected, Resource Point 03 was not attacked by malicious plunderers, but the long-distance transport convoy was ambushed by plunderers. Then, he heard that the plunderers were all wiped out.
"Upon reflection, it's understandable. This is the first cargo transport, after all, and both the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce and Jianhua City attach great importance to it. If it were so easily ambushed by a raiding group, that would be a joke."
"This incident is not enough to prove whether this cooperation model is safe."
The leader of Langtao City-State was still thinking.
A subordinate beside him hesitated to speak:
"My lord, Zhuoyan Great Oasis has already started cooperating with the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce."
"Let's wait and see."
…
"My lord, Storm City has also started cooperating with Blazing Flame and has opened up 5 resource mining areas in one go."
"Let's wait a bit longer."
…
"My lord, since opening up 6 resource points, the regular income of the Black Stone Alliance has doubled, and they are preparing to open up a second batch of resource points."
"Let's... let's wait a bit longer."
…
"My lord, two of the 8 resource points established by Steel City overlap with the resource points we marked... we've been beaten to it!"
"Let's... let's..."
"My lord, we can't wait any longer, we can't wait any longer!"
…
…
"Father, we can't delay any longer. The situation is increasingly unfavorable for us."
As the overlord of the Falling Star Great Domain, it was rare for major events happening within the entire Great Domain to be hidden from them. Related intelligence had been presented to Bolai Zemeng's eyes days ago.
He didn't need his son to mention it repeatedly. He knew that the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce had made a move, and their moves were quite fierce, directly attacking and beating their centuries-old Falling Star City.
Bolai Zemeng had not predicted the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce's move. Falling Star City had few choices, and so did the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce. He could easily predict their moves, but he never expected that the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce possessed such advanced mist-dispelling technology – completely mist-dispelling!
Apart from the smaller range and inability to create life, the environment under the bonfire was almost no different from an oasis.
Even he, a myth, had never heard of such technology, and he was quite surprised.
"The key lies in this bonfire that can disperse the gray mist!"
He looked at his gray-haired son. The old man understood his meaning and shook his head with difficulty, "Father, although it is not difficult for us to guess the key technology, the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce can also guess that it is not difficult for us to guess, so they are very strict in guarding the mist-dispelling bonfires."
"The entire process of transporting and assembling the bonfires is handled by the direct descendants of the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce, as are the guards and operational maintenance. It is difficult for outsiders to get close, and... even if we could get our hands on the bonfires, I'm afraid it would be difficult to decipher the technological power within."
How could Bolai Zemeng not understand?
The Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce dared to display such bonfires so openly, so naturally, they had means to prevent imitation. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't bypass the mist-dispelling bonfire technology.
This was a technological gap!
Without this technology, even if Falling Star City wanted to adopt a similar model, they couldn't. They couldn't even follow suit.
This was a deadlock.
And in the Falling Star Great Domain, more and more oases were abandoning Falling Star City and turning to the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce.
Bolai Zemeng pondered and gradually fell silent.
"Father, actually... actually the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce also invited us to cooperate and promised that the distribution ratio could be higher than other oases."
"With the strength of our Falling Star City, and the number of resource point coordinates we hold, if we cooperate with the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce, the benefits we can obtain will far exceed those of Steel City, Jianhua City, Black Stone Alliance, and other oases. In the court council, many nobles also lean towards..."
"Silence!"
Bolai Zemeng interrupted his foolish son. He gazed at the vast map of the Falling Star Great Domain and after a moment of silence, said:
"Our Falling Star City's ability to conquer such a large territory and achieve its current status is inseparable from the blood and sweat of our ancestors! We cannot let down our ancestors. To ask us to shamelessly follow behind the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce and cooperate...
"Absolutely impossible!"
…
…
But the development of the Great Domain would not deviate due to personal will, nor would the will of myths. Setting aside Falling Star City, the entire Falling Star Great Domain was now thriving.
Prosperity brought not only profits but also busyness.
From the newly graduated students of the Hearth organization to the myth-level powerhouses like Black Saber and An Jianyou, everyone was swamped.
The four-person team that previously went to the Shattered Sea, Xing Jinglei, Yiluo Xi, and Qian Qiu, had returned to the Falling Star Great Domain some time ago.
Qian Qiu was stationed at Oasis No. 3 and the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce. He often ran between the two. You ask how he ran between them? Through the organization's teleportation channels. One minute he had finished affairs at Oasis No. 3, and one minute later, he could be sitting in the office of the Blazing Flame Chamber of Commerce's garrison, drinking tea.
However, recently, to open up safe transportation routes, Qian Qiu and Xing Jinglei had dispersed into the Falling Star Great Domain to scout the map with their physical bodies, leaving only Yiluo Xi alone to shoulder the defense responsibilities of multiple oases.
… This must be because the mentor felt she was more capable and reliable, so she was entrusted with defending three major oases. Even if Yiluo Xi supported the entire oasis, she would be invincible in the world.
Fang You was unaware of Yiluo Xi's thoughts. He simply assigned tasks based on 'suitability'. Among the three, Xing Jinglei had top-notch survivability and self-preservation abilities; Qian Qiu possessed spatial and precognitive talents, capable of predicting danger; only Yiluo Xi, a young girl, was small, not very sharp-minded, and acted rashly... Fang You could make a choice without thinking about who to leave behind among the three.
He was initially a little worried that Yiluo Xi would throw a tantrum. But when he glanced at her occasionally, he found that Yiluo Xi seemed not only not angry but also proud and full of drive.
Perhaps this young girl, Yiluo Xi, had finally matured.
Xitina remained in the Shattered Sea. Apart from occasionally coming ashore to find a reliable city to rest, she spent most of her time in the sea, using her strange evil tracking skills, which had been cultivated to the peak, to search for the trace of the source of calamity.
The disaster eradication operations in the Shattered Sea were on hold, but the Hearth was not, and neither was Xitina. She was very persistent. Even if she traveled through the dark and foul sea for several days without any success, she would not be defeated.
As a result, she actually found the source of calamity!
The efficiency of strange evil tracking skills was lower for long-range searching, but up close, the source of calamity presented in the field of vision was extremely obvious, without any deviation.
Xitina immediately rushed forward and slashed at the black-red sphere in her field of vision. However, she couldn't hit anything. Even when she entered the white flame eruption state, evaporating the surrounding seawater and creating space cracks hundreds of meters long, it was as if she was slashing at nothingness. The source of calamity did not even ripple.
She was dejected and angry. She vented her anger on a seven-star strange evil that poked its head out, and soon she cut this strange evil into dozens of pieces, then burned the remains into ashes.
Fang You was not too surprised by this... regarding the inability to destroy the source of calamity. If it were so easy to destroy, the ancient Moon Dynasty would not have prepared so elaborately back then.
A targeted 'weapon' was necessary.
On this point, he had considered cooperating with the four overlords of the Shattered Sea. For example, they could undertake the task of eradicating the source of calamity as 'mercenaries,' thereby obtaining the 'anti-calamity weapons' of the four overlords for free.
However, whether it was because Qian Qiu, who represented them, was not eloquent enough, or because the 'anti-calamity weapons' were too precious, the cooperation did not go through and was still in the process of negotiation.
An Jianyou was also a member of the 'physical scouting team,' traversing a gray-mist-covered area in the Falling Star Great Domain, investigating the map conditions and marking deadly forbidden areas. Because An Jianyou's strange evil babies lacked autonomy and could not act freely away from her, Sister An's efficiency on such missions was not much higher than that of Xing Jinglei and others, only two to three times.
After Black Saber was promoted to myth level, his talent effects had greatly improved. As long as he left 'instructor domains' in several key areas, he could continuously exert his talent effects, freeing him up from constantly staying in the training camp to teach newcomers.
On one hand, Black Saber had trained many instructors, enough to take over the training of students. On the other hand, he kept 2-3 avatars on Blue Star at all times. These avatars traveled between the elite training camp and the sixteen base cities, from time to time adjusting the training strategies of various training camps according to the actual situation, guiding students, giving public lectures, promoting diligent employees, and mentoring talented students, etc.
The tasks executed by Black Saber's main body during this period were numerous and varied, far beyond what a few words could describe. However, starting two days ago, Black Saber had declined other less important tasks and focused on one thing.
- The deployment of the defense line of Xinghuo Oasis!
Hearth Oasis had been built, with epic city walls inscribed with the Myriad Wood Sprouts Ritual, and also equipped with countless Wood Sprout Towers, as well as numerous strange crystal cannons and strange crystal mega-cannons. The defensive strength of the entire oasis had far surpassed that of veteran oases like Jianhua City.
However, for the upcoming 'Promotion Tribulation,' these conventional arrangements were far from enough.
Yes, Xinghuo Oasis was about to be promoted from level 6 to level 7. This promotion was controllable and could be initiated by the Oasis Lord, who was in charge of the 'Oasis Core,' according to their own will.
Once initiated, the oasis would slowly expand outwards, and like when the Beacon of Dawn was first lit, it would stimulate the surrounding gray mist areas, thereby triggering a tide of strange evil attacks.
However, the scale of the attacking tide would be far stronger than back then, far stronger than the recent tide disaster. They would face an unprecedented level of attacking tide.
… This information was naturally obtained from the gifts of Yinsha Pavilion, the Court of Quiet Night, and other sources.
It was not very detailed, and there was no specific information about the tide, but it clearly stated that the tribulation of an oasis being promoted from level 6 to level 7 must not be taken lightly!
Therefore, Brother Black Saber had been fully engaged in this matter for the past few days. He was inspecting the deployment of defensive equipment on each section of the city wall, making minor adjustments to the guards on each section, and then filling in the defense lines with a large number of 'new recruits' transferred from the Blue Star base.
At the same time, Black Saber also summoned Xu Tian, Roland, Fan Anyuan, Pei Hongjing, and others to jointly discuss the defense plan.
He also discussed logistical matters with the deputies of Yin Ling, Wang Chui, and Liu Shang. Black Saber actually had deputies too. Rather, he had the most direct subordinates, and many people aspired to work under Black Saber. However, Black Saber still preferred to handle things personally. In his words, this way he was more at ease, especially for important matters like inspecting the defense line. He could let others do it, but after they did, he absolutely had to inspect it again himself... it wouldn't take much effort.
In addition, Black Saber even spared some energy to bring along a certain black cat that wanted to stay at home.
This black cat attempted to "blend in with its cuteness," but it was of no use to Black Saber.
Work, everyone must work diligently!
We are all torches, shining brightly for the organization!
Seeing his employees working diligently, Master Fang was very... very understanding and did not go forward to disturb him. He ascended a watchtower and saw a tall woman wearing a white top and black tight pants, with her black hair hanging over one shoulder.
She was the disgrace of the organization's core personnel: Yin Ling.
Yin Ling was the only destiny apostle to date who had not yet been promoted to Seven Perceptions. Her mystical accumulation progress was even slower than that of the secondary apostle Liu Ji. Liu Ji had once accumulated tens of millions of mystical points and attempted a myth awakening, but unfortunately failed. However, even with failure, Liu Ji was still better than a woman who stayed in the laboratory and refused to come out.
"Tsk~"
Yin Ling crossed her arms. "Aren't I diligently completing the tasks assigned by Master? That's why my mystical point accumulation is a little slow."
She said it righteously.
Although she was a bit of a homebody, disliked going out, and was a quiet medical professional who disliked and was not good at combat, and occasionally slacked off, and often delegated the tasks required by the Master to her apprentices... she still had many accomplishments she could show off.
She had contributed to the organization, and she had made medicine for the organization.
Many high-level potions that Master drank were prepared by her hands.
"Then why don't you do those paid monster-grinding tasks that I assigned you?"
"Well, that..."
She tilted her head slightly, flicking the hair hanging over her shoulder to the back. "That's because I have several important research projects that I can't get away from for a while!"
Her words were not entirely an excuse. She was indeed working on several research projects, but compared to the 'boring tasks' assigned by the Master, she preferred to tinker with personal interests. For example, dismembering strange evils and deconstructing mysteries from strange evils.
It was obvious to anyone that these research projects were extremely important, right?
Thinking of this, Yin Ling felt her logic was sound again. She turned her head back, her eyes with a faint silver glow meeting the Master's deep eyes.
I, Yin Ling, am very serious!
Her eyes were filled with the word 'serious.' Fang You could see it, but although Yin Ling liked to tinker with unconventional experiments and often did not start from practical value, she still completed the tasks assigned by the organization efficiently, albeit with a few complaints.
Looking at today, although she had a reluctant expression on her face and said she didn't want to fight and was tied up with research, the fact that she was here indicated that she did not actually refuse to go to the battlefield.
Didn't you see Yin Ling had already changed into combat attire?
Yes, although she looked like she was wearing casual clothes at first glance, these white top and black tight pants were actually her combat gear. These two items were actually epic strange artifacts with strong defense... Fang You knew this clearly. Otherwise, Yin Ling would likely be wearing a loose white lab coat, looking like a lazy, unkempt home researcher, possibly forgetting to button a few buttons.
"In short, pay more attention to this battle. The city defense battle is a rare opportunity to grind monsters... You don't want to be forced to work overtime grinding monsters because you haven't been promoted to myth, do you?" Da Feng Novel Network
"Got it, got it."
Yin Ling waved her hand perfunctorily, but inadvertently, she fiddled with the storage ring on her index finger, which contained many poisons she had made some time ago.
Combining her talents and a certain disgraceful myth, she had developed dozens of poisons. She believed that once the great battle arrived, the poisons would spread, and the mystical points would soar.
Of course, the reason for refining so many deadly substances was simply because it was one of her hobbies. She, Yin Ling, was still a physician who was not good at combat and healed people with a smile.
…
…
The promotion and defense of Xinghuo Oasis were proceeding in full swing. Except for those who had just graduated from the training camp and were entering the strange world for the first time, the veteran warriors showed no panic.
There was only a sigh of emotion.
"You guys, you haven't experienced the great battles of the early mysterious era."
"The forest reclamation battle in Donghuang Country, the battle for the Gate of the Strange World, the First Red Moon Disaster that affected many parts of the world, the battle for the Water Marsh base city, the Second Red Moon Disaster... and so on!"
"The invincible postures of the great figures in those battles are imprinted in my eyes and are still unforgettable."
"However, you are also fortunate to be selected to participate in the defense of Xinghuo Oasis. You also have the opportunity to witness the majestic appearance of various great figures going all out."