It was Austin's second time to see the Crystal Mine Mountain. As it reminded him of the past days, in a reminiscent mood, Austin heaved a sign to express his nostalgias.
After a while, he arrived at the Crystal Mine Mountain, and he was astonished at the sight of the place.
It seemed much different from what he remembered last time.
For once, it was a scenic and unpolluted mountain enveloped by spiritual energy and covered with exuberant vegetation
However, as he got close to the mountain, it totally changed––its height had shortened to almost three-fifth.
The vegetation was wiped out, and fissures spread over its surface as if it had been through an earthquake.
Unbelievable! The mountain was no longer as beautiful as it once was.
The others, much like Austin, were all unwilling to accept the horrible sight before them.
Austin pondered for a while. Soon, he figured out the reason why the Crystal Mine Mountain was inflicted with such severe damage. Those fissures must be caused by cultivators who had to dig holes in search for crystal mines.
Spreading spiritual sense to the desolate mountain top of the Crystal Mine Mountain, Austin detected that there was a handful of people on it.
He further found out that five men were excavating at the center of a vast pit.
It was evident that those men was taking a chance on whether this area had any vital energy crystals left.
Judging from the fluctuation in their vital energy force, Austin speculated that three of them were at the medium stage of Imperial Realm, while the other two were at the premium stage of Imperial Realm.
"These greedy cultivators could not resist the temptation of vital energy crystals. You see, just to get those crystals, they even went as far as flattening a mountain peak."
Austin shook his head with a bitter smile.
He then decided to bypass the Crystal Mine Mountain and headed towards the direction of outside the Sunset Mountain.
"Wait!
There must be something valuable that we haven't discovered on the Crystal Mine Mountain."
The gnome suddenly paused and sent a message to Austin through spiritual sense.
To prove his intuition, the gnome released beast soul energy to further perceive the existence of rare treasures in the mountain.
Seeing the gnome's strange action, Austin––in full of expectation––instantly knew that he must have discovered something.
'In addition to vital energy crystal, is there something valuable that we didn't know?"
In Austin's mind, the gnome was a born scout equipped with high probing sensation and quick perception.
Furthermore, not long ago, the gnome's ability of perception had reached a higher level So, Austin was not skeptical of the gnome's ability anymore.
The others, seeing Austin and the gnome not moving, stopped as well.
Moments later, the gnome's face beamed with joy. He had surely discovered something.
"Boy, on the foot of this mountain are some unusual thing buried deeply.
Do you want to take a look?"
The gnome telepathically connected with his fellows.
"Really? Something unusual?"
Gnome's words aroused Austin's curiosity. As the gnome didn't have any interest in common treasures, Austin knew whatever he found was something very valuable.
Since gnome paid special attention to it, it must be a rare treasure indeed.
At the thought of this, the beating of Austin's heart grew quicker.
"Okay, I am gonna take a look.
After all, I'm really not in a hurry to get out of here," Austin replied.
Knowing that Austin was a person who was always eagerly to get results, the gnome rushed to the Crystal Mine Mountain as swift as lightning before Austin finished his words.
Austin followed suit, obviously earnest to find out what the treasure was.
"It's down here."
The gnome pointed to a chasm when they arrived at an open field.
"In there?" Austin asked puzzled.
The place was the deep pit where he had gotten the statue of the Sword Emperor before.
The pit, however, was dug bigger and deeper by cultivators who struggled to look for vital energy crystals.
Glancing over the place, one would be astonished by that pit––it was hundreds of meters wide and deep.
'What is down there?' Austin wondered.
He looked somewhat confused as to what could still be possibly hidden in a pit that was already dug.
The debris showed the traces of many excavations. It was obvious this place had been rummaged many times
So, anything valuable in there should have already been taken away.
However, as the gnome insisted on his intuition, they decided to stay.
The moment Austin was about to jump into the deep pit, a squad of strangers burst in.
"Who are you? Why do you come here?
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