154: Jinshan

Tanaka Mori suppressed the excitement in his heart and said, "Forget about the monster beast crystal cores. The mission is of the utmost importance; don't cause unnecessary complications!"

Although he knew that for a Moonlight Level Black Dragon, only a divine beast crystal core would likely be worth its collection...

He knew even better that one must be cautious; as humans, it was best to leave the monster beast world as quickly as possible.

At this moment, Xiao Xu walked over, leaned toward Tanaka Mori's ear, and said, "Squad Leader Tanaka, I think we can go take a look."

He continued in an enticing manner, "Based on what I know, the core of a divine artifact should be a divine beast crystal core."

"A divine beast crystal core that hasn't undergone any refinement, while not yet a divine artifact, should be comparable to one of your country's three divine artifacts."

"After all... the three divine artifacts are only considered a true divine artifact when they are combined into one."

Tanaka Mori nodded, his heart inevitably wavering.

The strength gap between him and Zaraki Kenpachi was only reflected in the divine artifact. If he obtained a divine beast crystal core comparable to a divine artifact now... Tanaka Mori felt his heart skip a few beats, but he still said with some concern, "But our mission this time is already complete. It's best to leave here quickly. If this dragon wakes up, it'll be trouble."

Xiao Xu continued to persuade him with a smile, "Tanaka-kun, our mission this time has been so smooth; we have plenty of time."

"Besides, how much time can it take just to grab something and leave? This dragon hasn't woken up even after we bled it like this; it won't happen to wake up just at this moment."

Tanaka Mori glanced at the massive Black Dragon, which showed no movement at all, and the hideous wounds they had carved into its body; he seemed to accept Xiao Xu's reasoning.

Finally, he said, "Then... shall we go take a look? If it's not within the shadow's coverage, we'll leave immediately."

Because the shadow cast by this dragon served as the anchor point between the two worlds, acting as the junction, the group could only move within the shadow's range.

If the treasure they had seen earlier exceeded the shadow's coverage, then it would simply mean they weren't fated to have it.

Xiao Xu agreed, "I was thinking the same thing!"

"The person who discovered the treasure just now, lead the way!"

That person immediately walked to the front, leading the group toward the place he had just discovered.

Su Ze was left at the very back. After all, in their eyes, Su Ze was one of Zaraki Kenpachi's people, so it was inevitable he would be somewhat excluded.

Su Ze didn't care about this. The reason he followed was simply to broaden his horizons and learn about these enemies he would clash with in the future.

"Hmm?" Su Ze looked up as if sensing something; directly above him was the head of the Black Dragon.

Just now, he felt like the shadow beneath his feet shifted slightly, which meant the dragon's head had moved!

But after looking up, he saw nothing. The Black Dragon's eyes were still tightly closed, appearing to be in a deep sleep.

"Was it my imagination?" Su Ze shook his head and followed the others.

However, he did not relax his vigilance toward the Black Dragon. Even facing the unfriendly gazes of the others, Su Ze squeezed into the middle of the group. If they encountered danger, there would always be someone to take the hit for him first.

What he didn't notice was that although the dragon's body above didn't move, the shadow beneath their feet was becoming increasingly black and deep... "We're here, this is the place I found earlier." The guide pointed ahead.

Not far from where he pointed, there was a patch of wetness on the wall that hadn't dried yet. Clearly, that was where he had relieved himself, which was how he discovered this place.

Looking at the scene before them, the crowd couldn't help but exclaim, "Heavens... is this the legendary Gold Mountain?"

What met their eyes was a massive pile of gold blocks the size of a small mountain. This flat-topped Gold Mountain was about several hundred meters high, but its length and width reached a thousand meters, looking more like a giant golden tree stump.

The surface of the Gold Mountain was very irregular, appearing as though it hadn't undergone manual smelting or cutting.

However, it was extremely pure, emitting a crimson glow under the light.

Thinking about it, Dragon Flame was likely more effective than any human method used to refine gold.

Xiao Xu looked at the Gold Mountain and marveled, "This dragon must have directly melted an entire gold mine to cast this Gold Mountain. The top is flat rather than pointed, so I think this must be the bed it built for itself!"

"If it weren't suspended outside by iron chains, it would probably be sleeping on this Gold Mountain right now."

Regrettably, the Gold Mountain was entirely outside the shadow's coverage, so they couldn't touch it up close, let alone take it away.

Besides, they wouldn't be able to take away a mountain-sized pile of gold anyway.

Around this Gold Mountain, several monster beast crystal cores were scattered, each reaching dozens of meters in diameter!

This was a scale that ordinary monster beasts in the Human World could never reach; they were clearly all divine beast crystal cores!

But now, they were scattered around like marbles played with by children.

What made everyone's spirits lift was that there was one, and only one, divine beast crystal core that happened to be stuck right at the edge of the shadow's range.

Tanaka Mori looked at Xiao Xu beside him with a face full of joy, "Lord Xiao, this is truly heaven helping me!"

Xiao Xu also replied with a smile, "Tanaka-kun, why don't you hurry and collect it? Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to restrain myself."

Although Tanaka Mori only smiled, his body very honestly walked over and summoned his beast.

His beast was like a mass of giant, moving black clay. It used its body to wrap around the entire divine beast crystal core, then returned to the beast taming space, taking the divine beast crystal core along with it.

"Alright, Lord Xiao, the harvest this time has far exceeded our expectations. Let's all leave here quickly!"

The group then left quickly, heading back the way they came.

Just then, someone suddenly let out a loud cry.

"What's wrong?!" Everyone hurriedly turned back to look at him, only to see him covering his mouth and pointing desperately upward, his eyes filled with terror.

The others hadn't looked up yet, but they all realized what was happening.

Because above their heads came a heavy, thunderous sound of breathing, along with the metallic clashing of giant iron chains being pulled.

Su Ze looked up tremblingly and saw a pair of massive golden eyes that had completely opened.

The giant Black Dragon had awakened. It opened its abyss-like maw and let out an angry dragon roar that shook the soul.

Although it didn't speak, this dragon roar struck directly at everyone's souls, making everyone present understand the meaning within the roar.

"Tiny, lowly, ugly bugs, I haven't even trampled your world yet! You actually dare to come and take my flesh and treasures? You all deserve to be crushed to death!"