Before he knew it,

nearly one hundred magic crystals were already lying quietly inside Moria's Storage Ring.

However, the small mountain piled high with crystals before him still looked completely unchanged.

Zhou Huai made a rough estimation.

The number of magic crystals here was at least in the tens of thousands.

It was probably close to matching Jiangning City official's current storage of magic crystals.

And this was merely the tip of the iceberg.

One could easily imagine just how abundant the resources of this Secret Realm were.

After accepting these one hundred magic crystals, Zhou Huai stopped his actions.

Everything called for sustainable development.

Taking one hundred might go unnoticed by the people of the Radiant Alliance.

But if he took too many all at once,

they would surely become alert.

Once they discovered outsiders appearing in this underground cave, it would be no small matter.

Having finished all this, Zhou Huai manipulated Moria to shuttle through the shadows, preparing to find the tunnel excavated by Shi Lei and the others and return the way they came.

Right at this moment, Zhou Huai's movements paused.

He spotted an acquaintance in the distant crowd.

A look of surprise appeared on his face.

Even though the other party had deliberately disguised themselves, Zhou Huai recognized him at a glance.

That person was none other than the military chief examiner who had interacted with Gandalf during the Jiangning City provincial examination.

Li Gang.

At this moment, Li Gang was wearing plain clothes, his face covered in dust, and he had a messy, bushy beard.

He was holding a pile of excavated magic crystals, following the team as they walked out with difficulty from the depths of the cave.

There was not a shred of the dignified demeanor of a military general left.

"Why is Li Gang here too?"

Zhou Huai's consciousness let out a soft exclamation in the shadows, then immediately reacted.

Jiangning City's military had obviously also sensed the abnormalities of the Zhou Family.

They had already begun secretly investigating the Zhou Family.

However, Li Gang was a big shot in the Dongning Province military after all; personally taking such risks, wasn't he pushing it a bit too hard?

Naturally, Zhou Huai did not know.

It wasn't that Li Gang wanted to come, but rather that all the people he previously sent to infiltrate the Radiant Alliance had lost contact.

No matter what method was used, they couldn't be reached.

Driven to absolute desperation, this big shot was forced to take the field personally.

Zhou Huai's thoughts spun rapidly.

Since Li Gang had come, it meant the military would definitely make a move on this Secret Realm.

It was only a matter of time.

Now, there was truly a good show to watch.

The Zhou Family, the Liu Family, plus the military.

Three factions were tangled together.

However, having said that,

although Li Gang had discovered the secrets of the Zhou Family and the Liu Family at this moment,

transmitting the intelligence here out was no easy task.

This was, after all, a thousand meters underground.

Moreover, it was tightly controlled and heavily guarded layer by layer by the people of the Radiant Alliance.

Even for Li Gang, escaping from here would probably be very difficult.

Looking at it this way,

perhaps the only one who could help Li Gang out of this predicament right now was himself.

Thinking of this, Zhou Huai smiled.

Passing the news here to the military wasn't out of the question, but not right now.

The value of this Secret Realm was extraordinary.

Once the military people intervened, the Zhou Family and Liu Family would certainly pay a heavy price,

but then he wouldn't be able to continue exploring this Secret Realm either.

This was an excellent opportunity to rapidly strengthen the Evernight Guild and his Avatar.

He couldn't let it slip away easily.

Therefore, for now, Lord Li Gang would just have to suffer a bit.

Presumably, with this military big shot's strength, as long as he hid well, he shouldn't die easily.

Having figured this out, Zhou Huai didn't linger any longer.

Manipulating Moria's figure, like a drop of ink melting into water, he silently returned along the original path.

In the blink of an eye, he had returned to the headquarters of the Evernight Guild.

He placed the one hundred magic crystals flickering with various colors and the handful of moist soil from the Secret Realm in front of Zhuge Kongming.

Next, the work of crafting the spatial teleportation Formation officially began.

Zhou Huai's consciousness returned, sinking into Zhuge Kongming's body.

Designing a spatial teleportation Formation sounded very complicated.

In reality, it was not simple at all.

Zhuge Kongming sat cross-legged in the center of the secret room, various rare materials placed before him.

He didn't act immediately.

Instead, he closed his eyes, and countless runes and structures related to spatial Formations began to rapidly deduce, combine, and collide in his mind.

A teleportation Formation belonged to a type of spiritual Formation.

Its level of complexity was more than a tier higher than the Level 4 defense Formation he had practiced before.

After a while, he opened his eyes, his pupils completely clear.

He reached out, picked up a fist-sized magic crystal, and placed it into a stone mortar crafted from obsidian.

"Bang!"

He raised the pestle and smashed it down fiercely.

The magic crystal cracked in response, emitting a crisp sound.

He smashed it dozens of times in succession until the hard magic crystal was completely ground into delicate, starlight-shimmering powder.

Next was the second, the third...

He crushed and ground the materials containing different spatial elements into powder one by one.

The purple "Void Vine", the silver "Stellar Sand", the black "World-Breaking Stone"...

Every kind of Material was immensely valuable.

Soon, over a dozen jade bowls filled with various colored powders were placed in front of him.

The next step was blending.

He fetched a crystal bowl and used an exquisite silver spoon to carefully scoop a quantitative amount of powder from different jade bowls.

One spoonful of purple powder shimmering with starlight.

Two spoonfuls of a deep blackness resembling the night sky.

Half a spoonful of sand emitting a soft silver glow.

He poured these powders into the crystal bowl and gently shook it.

The powders containing violent spatial energy tumbled in the bowl, repelling each other and emitting a "sizzling" soft sound, as if they could explode at any moment.

Zhuge Kongming's expression remained unchanged as he began chanting obscure incantations.

He slowly injected a wisp of magical power into the crystal bowl.

Under his guidance, those violent powders finally gradually calmed down, reluctantly fusing together to turn into a viscous paste resembling a liquid galaxy.

Having finished all this, fine beads of sweat had already seeped out from Zhuge Kongming's temples.

Zhou Huai manipulated him to pick up the carving knife, gently dipping up a little bit of the galaxy-like paste.

Taking a deep breath,

he bent down and began to carve the first Formation line on the cold, hard ground.

The knife tip swept across the ground, leaving behind a shimmering silver line.

Zhou Huai's movements were smooth and flowing, without the slightest hesitation.

However, just at the moment when he was about to complete the first set of core runes,

"Puff!"

a soft sound rang out.

The already formed silver line, as if unable to bear the internal energy, suddenly snapped.

The paste beneath the knife tip emitted a wisp of blue smoke and instantly evaporated.

It failed.

Zhou Huai's brows furrowed slightly.

He glanced at the broken Formation line on the ground, then looked at the hundreds of thousands-worth of materials in the crystal bowl.

He shook his head.

He wasn't discouraged, simply walking aside silently, sitting cross-legged, and starting to recover his consumed magical power while reviewing every single detail from just now in his mind.

An hour later, he stood up once again.

This time, he was even more focused.

However, the result remained the same.

When carving to the seventh rune node, the Formation lines collapsed once more.

The third time.

The fourth time.

...

Two days later.

In the corner of the secret room, burnt remnants of materials were already piled high.

The ground was also covered in various charred marks left behind after failures.

Those one hundred magic crystals had nearly thirteen consumed by him.

Converted into Daxia Coin, that was a massive sum capable of driving any small guild into bankruptcy.

At this moment, Zhou Huai's eyes grew increasingly bright.

Once more, he dipped up the newly blended materials.

He bent down.

The knife fell.

This time, his movements were much slower than before, yet even steadier.

Every single stroke and line contained a unique rhythm.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Inside the secret room, only the "swish" sound of the carving knife sweeping across the ground remained.

Unknowing how much time had passed,

when the final stroke fell,

a circular Formation exceeding five meters in diameter, composed of thousands of complex runes, finally presented itself completely upon the ground.

Zhuge Kongming slowly straightened his body, exhaling a long breath of foul air.

He raised his hand, injecting the very last bit of magical power remaining within his body into the core of the Formation.

Hum——!

Upon the ground, that intricate Formation suddenly lit up!

Streaks of silver light, like awakened spirit snakes, rapidly slithered through the Formation lines.

In the end, all the light converged at a single point.

A gentle portal composed of countless starlight slowly expanded in the center of the secret room.

It succeeded.