Swallowing the Stars: Starting with Optimizing the Five Hearts Towards the Sky

Chapter 101 Fierce Battle at Canglang Gorge

Chapter 101 Fierce Battle at Canglang Gorge

With a large number of explorers about to arrive in the secret realm, Chen Yuan had to change his original plan of proceeding steadily.

His gaze immediately locked onto a particular area on the map, which was deliberately highlighted.

This symbol represents an extremely high concentration of cosmic energy, which will most likely give rise to a large settlement.

Or rather, a large settlement had already emerged here during the last cleanup.

The valley that Chen Yuan cleared before could only be considered a small to medium-sized settlement, while the standard for a large settlement is that there are more than 100,000 crystal beasts, more than 100 of them are at the Hengxing level, and they have a high-level Hengxing leader.

Clearly, this is a tough nut to crack.

Chen Yuan originally intended to start with medium-sized settlements, gradually clearing them out, and only consider large settlements once he achieved a breakthrough in any of his laws or domains.

But it's clear that quite a few people have already entered the secret realm, and those small settlements that are easy to clear have probably already been targeted.

As for large settlements, they are not a high priority due to their difficulty in dealing with them.

Therefore, Chen Yuan had to plan ahead and prioritize clearing out large settlements.

Thinking of this, Chen Yuan immediately set off, his figure suddenly rising from the ground and transforming into a streak of azure light that shot through the air.

This time, he didn't stop midway and flew at full speed. An hour later, he finally arrived at a canyon with pea-shaped rocks.

Canglang Gorge.

This is the name the company gave to this large settlement.

The crystal beasts here prefer to mimic wolf-like creatures, hence the name.

Chen Yuan arrived above the canyon, spreading his mental power to observe the situation inside.

A moment later, a hint of joy appeared in Chen Yuan's eyes.

Because this area remains in its original state, the dense herd of crystal beasts has not been disturbed!

"Preliminary estimates suggest that there are over 130,000 crystal beasts in the entire Canglang Gorge, including over 100 at the Hengxing level."

Sensing this number, Chen Yuan's heart skipped a beat. With so many crystal beasts, he might be able to accumulate enough points in one go.

He observed carefully for a while and confirmed the number of the Eternal Star Crystal Beasts: a total of 138!

Among them, there are 103 beginner-level and 34 intermediate-level Hengxing.

And, a single, eternal star-level eighth-tier crystal wolf!

"It's really tough to crack—"

Chen Yuan slowly exhaled: "But no matter how difficult it is, we have to eat it, especially before anyone else comes."

He knew that as more and more people poured into the secret realm, even a large settlement like Canglang Gorge would eventually attract attention.

For Chen Yuan, the situation will only become more complicated then.

With that thought, Chen Yuan no longer hesitated. He let out a long roar and his figure swooped down like an arrow, instantly disappearing into the depths of the canyon.

The Azure Sky Sword emitted a clear and melodious sound in his hand, as if responding to its master's boiling fighting spirit.

Chen Yuan moved with lightning speed, locking onto a first-tier Crystal Wolf of the Constant Star level.

The power of the domain suddenly unfolded, instantly suppressing it. Before the opponent could react, the Azure Sky Sword pierced its core like a venomous snake.

「嗷一」

Amidst the mournful howls of the wolf, the crystal wolf vanished, turning into specks of starlight.

Ignoring the energy crystal that had fallen to the ground, Chen Yuan turned his head, his actions already giving himself away.

At the leader's summons, tens of thousands of crystal wolves are surging in from all directions.

"This mimicry talent is really strange. It even mimics the characteristics of living beings. It really is like a wolf."

Chen Yuan shook his head. When he was cleaning the valley before, the mimicry herbivorous crystal beasts inside would only run away.

However, even though they were both planetary-level crystal beasts, the crystal wolves in Canglang Gorge dared to attack him under the leader's orders.

However, he no longer takes planetary-level enemies seriously.

Chen Yuan merely unleashed his domain, and the low-level planetary crystal wolf was rendered unable to stand upright.

While mid- to high-level crystal wolves can still run, their speed is greatly reduced.

Then, Chen Yuan's sword light surged, and a blue arc of light swept across, instantly turning thousands of crystal wolves into ashes and crystals scattered all over the ground.

However, the remaining crystal wolves were not afraid and continued to charge forward one after another.

"Trying to wear me down? Let's see who can outlast whom."

Chen Yuan smiled coldly and didn't tolerate the other party. He swept through several times in succession, killing thousands of crystal wolves each time.

Now, the remaining crystal wolves finally felt fear. Accompanied by a loud howl in the distance, these planetary crystal wolves slowly retreated, but did not go too far, still maintaining their encirclement.

Subsequently, the remaining 137 Eternal Star Crystal Wolves arrived, led by an eighth-tier Eternal Star leader, and formed a formation to completely surround Chen Yuan.

"It seems that the crystal beasts at the Hengxing level have become much smarter and even know how to deploy troops."

Chen Yuan was slightly surprised. Although he didn't know the purpose of the other party's formation, he wouldn't be foolish enough to wait for the other party to finish preparing.

After all, in terms of pure strength, Chen Yuan is still at a disadvantage.

So he took the initiative and rushed forward in a flash, activating his domain at full power to envelop all the star-level crystal wolves.

Within his Wind Domain, all the Crystal Wolves, including the leader of the Star-level Eighth Order Crystal Wolves, were suppressed to varying degrees.

With the support of the Wind Domain, Chen Yuan's speed reached its limit, and his figure moved like a streak of blue lightning.

He specifically targeted the weaker crystal wolves, and in less than a second, his body leaped through the air seven or eight times, and his sword slashed across the bodies of seven or eight crystal wolves.

Under the power of the Azure Sky Sword, the defenses of these star-level crystal beasts were simply no match, and their bodies were easily pierced. Combined with Chen Yuan's mental perception, each of his attacks could accurately hit the core of these crystal wolves.

A second later, the remaining crystal wolves finally noticed Chen Yuan's sneak attack. The leader crystal wolf roared and charged straight at him.

Chen Yuan dared not confront a level 8 Heng Xing head-on. Fortunately, the opponent's movements were slowed down by the weakening effect of the domain, while Chen Yuan's speed was increased.

With the addition and subtraction of speed, Chen Yuan's speed actually surpassed that of the Crystal Wolf leader. In the instant the wolf pounced, he dodged...

They narrowly avoided the attack.

Chen Yuan was not in a hurry to duel with the leader of the Crystal Wolves. Instead, he planned to clip its wings first. Otherwise, he would not be able to concentrate on fighting the leader when surrounded.

Thus, within the pale blue domain, an interesting scene unfolded—the gigantic crystal wolf leader relentlessly pursued Chen Yuan.

Meanwhile, Chen Yuan was hunting down the other Star-level Crystal Wolves.

Using his speed advantage, Chen Yuan gradually eliminated the enemy, and after twenty minutes, he finally wiped out all of the Crystal Wolf leader's men.

"Roar!" The Crystal Wolf leader, having lost its subordinates, became utterly enraged, and its attacks grew increasingly ferocious.

Chen Yuan, however, looked much more relaxed. After taking down the enemy's henchmen, no one could disturb his battle with the Crystal Wolf leader.

Especially since the Crystal Wolf leader was blinded by rage and his attacks became increasingly erratic, Chen Yuan was able to dodge with even more ease.

A few minutes later, the Crystal Wolf leader regained its senses. Its gaze calmed down, and facing the ever-slippery Chen Yuan, it finally chose to retreat.

However, this was the opportunity that Chen Yuan had been waiting for.

Taking advantage of the Crystal Wolf leader's retreat, he flashed forward and stabbed the opponent in the body with his sword.

The power of the Azure Sky Sword was pushed to its limit, and the sword light surged, piercing through the entire body of the Crystal Wolf leader.

A sword piercing the heart!

Of course, it's the core of the heart.

The crystal core shattered, and the crystal wolf leader let out a unwilling roar. Its massive body collapsed into countless points of light, leaving only a few huge energy crystals in place.

"Finally, we took them down."

Ultimately, the gap in basic strength was too great. Chen Yuan appeared relaxed, but in reality, he had already used all his strength.

Ignoring the crystal core dropped by the Crystal Wolf leader, Chen Yuan turned his gaze to the remaining tens of thousands of planetary-level crystal wolves in the canyon, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Now it's time to reap the rewards."

Thirty minutes later, Canglang Gorge returned to silence, with no more crystal beasts surviving.

Chen Yuan collected all the energy cores of the crystal beasts and piled them into a small mountain.

It wasn't that he didn't want to store it in the spatial ring, but rather that he initiated a new round of optimizations to the ring before leaving.

After all, after storing the previous batch of cosmic crystals, the original 150 million cubic meter space was almost gone.

[Space Ring, remaining optimization time: 1 hour 57 minutes]

This was a normal optimization; he spent tens of millions of kill points to compress the optimization time to just over three hours.

Chen Yuan believed that the space in the optimized ring would definitely meet his needs.

So now it's time to wait patiently.

If all goes well, he will receive a spatial ring with dimensions exceeding one kilometer in length, width, and height in two hours.

However, reality is always unpredictable.

"Boss! All the crystal beasts in Canglang Gorge have disappeared!"

"Damn it, someone beat us to it!"

"Look over there! There are piles of energy crystals!"

Chen Yuan frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on the figure that had suddenly appeared in the canyon.