Journey to the West Creation Technique

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and filled with disbelief.

The two tribes have been fighting each other for generations, their hatred running deep, while the gods they worship may be drinking and making peace with each other.

This is truly unbelievable...

Everyone thought that as long as they could manipulate the conflict between the two tribes, they could safely seize the earth vein essence, but they never thought there was another layer to it.

To the Demon King, the humans who depend on them are nothing more than domesticated chickens, or even less than dogs.

Who cares who their poultry fights with?

In the ancient times of the Middle-earth continent, before the rise of immortals, demons and gods ruled.

The worship of demon gods did not end until after the Investiture of the Gods, and similar records are frequently found.

Under the rule of the Demon King, the conflicts among human tribes were merely driven by the Demon King's own interests.

The crowd remained silent for a long time, unable to process what had just happened.

Lu Chengjun spoke again: "The real difficulty right now is not in mining the earth's vein essence, but in how to take it away."

"The White Serpent Temple is built on top of a spirit stone mine, and the White Serpent Demon King is most likely located within the temple..."

"Once such a treasure as the Earth Vein Essence appears, the Demon King will surely enjoy it for himself."

"How can we seize the treasure and escape right under the nose of a demon king at the Golden Core or even Nascent Soul level?"

"If we can't come up with a perfect solution, then rather than doing all the work for the Demon King, we might as well give up now."

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the stone chamber became heavy...

After a brief silence, Zhao Xiong spoke in a deep voice: "We must not give up! The Earth Vein Essence is our only chance to break through to the Golden Core stage. If we miss this opportunity, we will never have another chance."

Despite this, everyone looked troubled, and no one could come up with a feasible solution.

Both Zhou He and Meng Yuan were participating in such a confidential meeting for the first time, so they were inevitably nervous and reserved.

Seeing that everyone was at a loss, Zhou He, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly raised his hand to signal.

In an instant, all eyes were on him.

Zhou He shrank back in fright, but finally mustered up the courage to ask, "May I ask Commander Zhao, is it truly true that the White Serpent Demon King would stop at nothing to seize this Earth Vein Essence?"

Zhao Xiong's expression was solemn: "The Earth Vein Source Marrow, such a fundamental treasure, is enough to greatly enhance the power of a great demon. Any demon king would fight to the death for it."

"Since that's the case..." Zhou He's eyes lit up: "If the White Snake Demon King covets this item, how could the Black Pig Demon King next door... how could he possibly sit still? Even if the two demons are on good terms in private and call each other brothers, in the face of a real treasure, their so-called friendship might... be utterly worthless."

His words were like a wake-up call, and everyone's eyes lit up.

Lin Che immediately chimed in, "That's right! In that case, we must find a way to make contact with the Black Boar tribe!"

Su Wan frowned slightly and calmly analyzed: "There are only two paths to take. Either we can set up a scheme to deceive both demon kings and secretly take the treasure, or we can go with the flow, use the treasure to incite conflict, and make the two demons fight each other head-on, so that we can reap the benefits."

"But we are now in the heart of the White Serpent Demon King's territory, right next to the temple. Once the earth's ley line essence bursts forth and spiritual energy soars into the sky, the White Serpent Demon King will instantly detect it and devour the treasure on the spot. How could the Black Boar Demon King possibly have a chance to snatch it?"

"That's right, the Black Pig Demon King is too far away to help in this situation, and there's simply no time for him to intervene."

"The story of the snipe and the clam fighting sounds good, but in practice it is fraught with difficulties."

"I think the best course of action is to use an array to conceal the treasure's spiritual energy..."

Everyone participated in the discussion and expressed their opinions, but in the end, no brilliant idea was proposed.

When the discussion ended, Zhou He and Meng Yuan were preparing to cook dinner for everyone...

Lin Che, Su Wan, Li Ang, Qian Jin and other guests went to the kitchen on their own initiative. Even Lu Chengjun gave the two of them a meaningful look before going to the kitchen as well.

Zhou He instinctively felt that something was being kept from him and Meng Yuan.

Normally, neither of them would be qualified to participate in such meetings, but this time they not only attended but also spoke.

Although I was a little excited, something felt off...

"Senior brothers, leave the menial tasks of starting a fire and cooking to us." Meng Yuan was completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation, naively thinking that Lin Che and the others were just being polite to him, and he didn't understand the complex look in their eyes at all.

A figure blocked their path; it was Zhao Xiong.

Zhao Xiong had a fierce appearance and rarely smiled.

He looked at the two of them calmly, and they became timid.

Lin Che, Su Wan, and the others who had just left did not look back, clearly already knowing what was about to happen.

Zhou He's heart sank, and Meng Yuan also sensed that something was wrong.

Zhao Xiong's gaze was sharp as a knife: "The meeting is not over yet. You two have other important tasks to undertake."

A heavy responsibility!?

Zhou He: Ah! What have I done to deserve this?

Meng Yuan's mind was buzzing...

"The White Serpent Demon King lies dormant in the temple, his strength unfathomable. To ensure our safety, we have devised a plan called 'Testing the Waters'."

Zhou He and Meng Yuan exchanged a glance, both looking bewildered.

"I will arrange for the two of you to follow the people of the White Snake Tribe to the spirit stone mine. Once inside the cave, there is no need to take any risks. Just pick up a hoe, dig a couple of times, and then stay near the mine and live with the natives of the White Snake Tribe for a while."

Meng Yuan's face paled, and he subconsciously said, "Commander Zhao, that spirit stone vein is right next to the White Serpent Temple, right under the White Serpent Demon King's nose. Our cultivation levels are low, if..."

"If they die... then you will have accomplished a great feat, proving that the White Serpent Demon King is extremely dangerous, and that General Milun is even more unpredictable!" Zhao Xiong's lips curled into a faint smile.

"What if...what if he didn't die?"

"That would be an even greater achievement! Once it's done, we'll certainly reward those who have made contributions."

Zhou He finally understood why the plan was called "testing the waters"—it turned out that he and Meng Yuan were the stones.

"Now is the time when the garrison needs your help." Zhao Xiong's words were cold and left no room for argument.

"Others go on missions at great risk, but you two have stayed safely at Blackrock Outpost for two years. It's time for you to make a difference..."

"You must consider the bigger picture!"

"Do you even know what the big picture is?!"

"Don't let the garrison down!" Zhao Xiong patted the two men on the shoulders.

Both men were sweating and pale-faced, not daring to utter a single word of dissent.

They used both soft and hard tactics, coercion and manipulation.

Once on the path to immortality, one is no longer in control of one's own destiny.

Zhou He finally understood that these days, there's no such thing as a free lunch where you can just hide in the back, farm, and coast along.

It will be needed eventually...

Since they couldn't become core cultivators of the garrison, they could only use these scraps as bait.

It was called a job, but in reality, it was a pawn to be discarded.

As he spoke, Zhao Xiong took out two talismans from his pocket.

He spread out the two talismans.

"This is a soul-guiding talisman. Each of you must contribute a drop of your essence blood and drip it onto the talisman to bind your soul aura," Zhao Xiong said in a tone that brooked no refusal.

The two dared not disobey, gritted their teeth and pierced their fingertips. Crimson blood beads fell and slowly seeped into the runes. The two runes instantly emitted a faint red light, firmly connecting with their souls.

"If you encounter any misfortune and die, the talisman will automatically burn to ashes, and we will be informed of the change immediately."

Zhao Xiong put away the two soul-summoning talismans and said in a deep voice, "This mission is simple, so don't worry. As long as you're safe at the spirit stone mine, we'll soon send people in one after another..."

"Those who return alive will be richly rewarded."