Cave Refuge

So in the end, the goal of the Officials was quite simple, they just wanted to rely on civilian power to collect soil underwater. As for who collected that soil, that matter was of no importance to them.

Actually, everyone understood at the bottom of their hearts that unless there were strong connections with the Officials, the land in the Plantation Area would undoubtedly still belong to the Officials.

That's why those forces only then decided to cooperate with the Lone Wolves by sharing profits, because only by doing so could they avoid making substantial investments.

After all, the only significant cost in contracting to farm in the Plantation Area was collecting soil. As for labor and seeds, pesticides, these expenses were negligible compared to collecting soil.

Of course, this refers to buying soil. If they let the Lone Wolves dive underwater to excavate it themselves, though the collection might be slower, the cost would be entirely borne by the Lone Wolves, causing no expense for these forces.

However, once they intended to buy soil from the Lone Wolves, due to newly opened contracts in the Plantation Area, the prices the Lone Wolves set for the soil wouldn't be low. A slight markup was acceptable, but fleecing them was entirely out of the question.

Both parties were at a standoff, neither willing to concede first, but the appearance of Ye Liuyun and Dong Tianyu instantly turned them both into the game changers.

This explained why so many approached Ye Liuyun, and why, despite not wanting to offend either party, Ye Liuyun did not reveal Dong Tianyu's identity directly. However, his every move was closely monitored by both parties and, since Ye Liuyun took the initiative to visit, Dong Tianyu's identity was inadvertently revealed.

But neither Ye Liuyun nor anyone else could have anticipated that before they could approach him, Don Tianyu had already swiftly left the base.

The departing Dong Tianyu did not realize that so many were concerned about his whereabouts.

However, Dong Tianyu's urgency in departing was not only due to his desire to avoid the trouble brought by the contracted area but also due to his eagerness to increase his Cave level.

After all, having devoured so many Giant God Soldiers, his Cave's evolution percentage had reached over ninety percent, leaving less than ten percent to his next evolution, which made him quite anxious.

Besides, Dong Tianyu also wanted to find an Awakener Potion from Eagle Sauce that could grant Innate Abilities, as even though he had stepped onto the path of Cultivation, he couldn't resist the allure of Innate Abilities.

Activating Innate Abilities wasn't like undergoing bodily transformations that would cost one the ability to continue cultivating.

In the Cultivation World, activating Innate Abilities, also known as Lifebond Magic.

If Dong Tianyu returned swiftly to Eagle Sauce, the Life Foundation might realize there was an issue with the Giant God Soldier factory but might not be able to react immediately.

After all, Dong Tianyu had used Sword Flight, taking only a few days each trip. Given that he spent only two days and one night at the Magic City's Base Three, altogether it added up to just over half a month.

In the era before the natural disasters, when communication and transportation were convenient, half a month was quite long. But in these times, although technology was slowly being recovered by Rabbit, many tasks that used to take days before the disaster now took months.

When Dong Tianyu took out his tablet for navigation, he saw messages from Ye Liuyun and many others.

After briefly checking the messages from Ye Liuyun and realizing there was nothing urgent, he casually replied "Out on urgent matters, will catch up when I return," and ignored messages from the others.

However, as Dong Tianyu was swiftly flying his sword through the sky, the previously clear sky suddenly turned windy.

Seeing the sudden change in weather, Dong Tianyu didn't take refuge inside his Cave right away but decided to control his Flying Sword to ascend rapidly instead.

Normally, no matter how harsh the weather, it was generated in the cloud layer, and by rising above the clouds, one wouldn't be affected by the storm clouds.

But Dong Tianyu's approach, which would have worked perfectly before the natural disasters, failed now as he was still affected by the storm clouds despite him increasing his altitude.

As Dong Tianyu continued to increase his flying altitude, a massive bolt of lightning suddenly flashed from within the clouds, striking straight at his location.

Despite the attack's speed far exceeding the speed of sound, his Divine Sense allowed him to sense it in advance, so as the lightning bolt approached, Dong Tianyu had already maneuvered his sword to evade it.

However, although Dong Tianyu successfully dodged the attack, the sky seemed to grow enraged. Continuous thunder roared within the clouds, and subsequent bolts of lightning blocked the space around Dong Tianyu, leaving him no room to dodge.