339: Chapter 340 A breath of air worth 100,000? Lin Qi can actually make the base disappear on the spot!

The next morning.

The D-3 Region welcomed its first day after the reorganization.

Sunlight spilled onto the dark-gold ground, reflecting a very soft light. This light wasn't glaring; looking at it for a long time actually made one feel at ease.

Zhang Wei discovered something early in the morning.

He had slept in the temporary dormitory next to the warehouse last night. This sleep was exceptionally good. No dreams, no twitching, and no waking up in the middle of the night shouting "I'm a deadweight."

This was the first time since he started the Federation's devil training that he had slept soundly through the night.

He sat up from the bed and stretched his neck.

With a few cracks and pops, his joints felt more flexible than before.

"What's going on?"

He threw off the covers, got out of bed, and pushed open the window.

The air outside was excessively clean. It wasn't that artificial, filtered sterile feeling, but a natural freshness only found deep in the mountains.

Zhang Wei took a deep breath.

As a fat guy who grew up in the city and dealt with medicinal herbs every day, he actually tasted a faint hint of Spiritual Qi in the air.

No—it wasn't "Spiritual Qi."

It was essence.

Since the ley lines beneath this patch of ground were reorganized, trace amounts of essence were continuously seeping upward. The concentration of this essence was very low, not enough to be detected by the System panel, but it had a slow nourishing effect on the human body.

It was equivalent to soaking in a top-tier medicinal bath diluted ten thousand times, twenty-four hours a day.

Zhang Wei was an Alchemist by trade, so his perception of such things was stronger than an average person's.

He was stunned for half a minute, and then he started calculating in his head.

If he bottled the air from the D-3 Region for sale—according to the current market price of essence—a 500ml bottle of "D-3 Air" could probably sell for...

Fifty thousand?

No, a hundred thousand.

A single sip of Top-tier spiritual spring water is worth millions. Although this air containing essence has a low concentration, it makes up for it in volume!

The entire D-3 Region spanned several kilometers; every breath of air contained essence. If he opened a sanatorium and invited those wealthy Federation big shots in—

"Holy crap." Zhang Wei's eyes gleamed. "The land Brother Qi planted is a gold mine!"

He hurriedly got dressed and rushed toward the headquarters.

Lin Qi hadn't slept all night.

It wasn't that he couldn't sleep. He was researching the manufacturing process for Law Creatures.

This was the benefit of the Tongshen Realm—he no longer needed much sleep. Having the Dao Source circulate through his body was equivalent to resting.

A blueprint was spread out on the table. When Zhang Wei came in, Lin Qi was gesturing over the blueprint with his entrenching tool.

"Brother Qi! Brother Qi! I've discovered something huge!"

"Speak."

"The air in our land contains essence!"

Lin Qi didn't even look up.

"I know."

"You know?" Zhang Wei grew anxious. "Then do you know how much this stuff is worth?"

"I know."

"Then why don't you—"

"Why don't I sell it?" Lin Qi looked up at him. "Because I'm not running a sanatorium."

"But Brother Qi—"

"Zhang Wei." Lin Qi's tone was flat. "Can your eyes hold anything other than money?"

Zhang Wei was choked up for a moment.

"The essence seepage in this land isn't for outsiders. It's for us. You, Instructor Su Qing, and everyone who moves in later will have their physical fitness slowly improved by training and living in this area."

"This is ten thousand times more important than selling air."

Zhang Wei opened his mouth but swallowed the business proposal that was on the tip of his tongue.

Though he was money-grubbing, he wasn't stupid.

Brother Qi was right. Sharpening the knife before cutting wood earns more than selling the whetstone.

"Alright..." Zhang Wei scratched his head. "Then I'll go keep an eye on the warehouse. Several of the prisoners we caught last night started making a fuss this morning."

"Let Instructor Su Qing handle it."

"Sister Su went out at dawn. Said she was going to meet up with Chen Shu."

Lin Qi nodded.

"Then you keep an eye on them for now. Don't let them die, but don't let them be too comfortable either."

"Got it." Zhang Wei turned to leave.

As he reached the door, he stopped again.

"Brother Qi."

"Hmm?"

"That... is there any more Top-tier spiritual spring water?"

Lin Qi pointed to the cup on the table.

"Pour it yourself."

Zhang Wei happily went over and poured himself a cup from the stone bottle nearby. He took a sip, and his eyes lit up.

The taste of this spiritual spring was on a completely different level than what was sold outside. The moment it entered his mouth, it felt like a warm current pouring straight down his throat into his Dantian—no, he didn't have a Dantian. It poured into his stomach. His stomach felt warm and extremely comfortable.

"Brother Qi, if this stuff was sold outside—"

"Scram."

Zhang Wei ran off with his cup.

The headquarters fell silent.

Lin Qi continued to study the blueprint.

The creation of Law Creatures was a high-level gameplay feature in the game world of the martial arts era. Only NPCs at the 'Tongshen Realm' level were qualified to unlock this function.

The core principle wasn't complex—endow inanimate matter with a set of self-operating Law circuits through the Dao Source, giving it simple perception, movement, and attack capabilities.

It could be understood as using Law to write a piece of code and burning it into Materials, turning the Materials into a robot with AI.

The difference was that this 'AI' wasn't an electronic program, but a Law program. It didn't need electricity; it only needed to draw essence from the ley lines to run.

It was equivalent to an infinite-endurance security guard that could live just by eating dirt.

Lin Qi had done this in the game in his previous life. But the game had System assistance, and many steps were completed automatically. In reality, he had to do it manually.

Therefore, he needed to accurately calculate the position of every Law circuit node, the energy flow, and the interface protocol with the D-3 ley line network.

This work was very tedious.

But Lin Qi didn't mind the tedium.

He had practiced martial arts for decades in the game in his previous life. Martial arts itself was about repeating the same movement a hundred thousand times until it became instinct.

Compared to holding a horse stance, drawing blueprints was easy.

By noon, Instructor Su Qing returned.

She brought back the complete intelligence package compiled by Chen Shu.

"Both High Priest strongholds have been confirmed. One is in an abandoned mining area on the Eastern Continent, three thousand kilometers away from Tianhai City in a straight line. The other is in the Northern permafrost zone, even further away, close to five thousand kilometers."

"Which one has weaker defenses?"

"The one on the Eastern Continent. According to Ashes' memories, the Eastern Continent stronghold is only guarded by one High Priest and four deacons. The one in the northern permafrost is one of the church's headquarters, with a much more complete defense System."

"Then the Eastern Continent it is."

Lin Qi put away the blueprint.

"The manufacturing of Law Creatures will take three days. In three days, once the first batch of patrol units is online, I will set out."

Instructor Su Qing hesitated for a moment.

"Boss, can I ask a question?"

"Ask."

"Are you going alone?"

"One person is enough."

"I'm not questioning your strength." Instructor Su Qing's wording was very cautious. "I'm just thinking—after you leave, if the church gets word of it, they might take the opportunity to attack D-3."

"They won't get in."

"But what if they don't use physical means? For example, the direct detonation of a law seed—"

"I've considered the scenario you're talking about."

Lin Qi took something from the table and handed it to her.

It was a golden disc about the size of a coin.

The disc was engraved with dense micro-runes, almost invisible to the naked eye.

"This is the emergency authorization token for the formation. When I'm not here, you can use it to activate the barrier's maximum defense mode."

"What is the maximum defense mode?"

"It folds the entire D-3 Region into a semi-independent sub-space. From the outside, D-3 simply disappears."

Instructor Su Qing looked at the golden disc in her hand.

"Disappear for how long?"

"It depends on the energy stored in the ley lines. Based on the current reserves, it can last for about seven days."

"Is seven days enough?"

"If I can't take down a stronghold in three days, then I don't need to bother coming back."

Instructor Su Qing didn't say anything more.

She tucked the disc away.

"I'll guard the home for you."