Carrying various questions, Feng Yuan stepped into the mine shaft. As expected, this dilapidated place was always narrow, lacking the situation where the view suddenly broadens after walking for a while.
"Flame Chasing Furry Dog, are you alright? If not, change your form. Xiao Ji, pay attention here. The Flame Chasing Furry Dog can’t dodge, so your responsibility is significant."
Upon hearing Feng Yuan’s words, Xiao Ji immediately perked up. It didn’t think Feng Yuan was bluffing; he was stating facts. If Xiao Ji, leading the team, couldn’t spot enemies promptly, even if it and Feng Yuan could dodge, the Flame Chasing Furry Dog behind could not.
After all, the mine shaft was too small, and the Flame Chasing Furry Dog hadn’t changed its form. While changing form would provide enough space for maneuver, it came at a price, making it difficult or nearly impossible for the Spirit Beast to unleash its ultimate moves.
Rather than that, it might be better to maintain its form as long as it’s not killed in one strike, there’s still a chance for a counterattack.
Of course, Feng Yuan didn’t have to worry about this, since Xiao Ji and the Flame Chasing Furry Dog weren’t the main combat power, but it’s always better to stay unharmed.
"Hmm, strange, I don’t see any odd crystal creations here."
Feng Yuan puzzledly surveyed the surroundings. If he didn’t trust that Agunas verified the authenticity of the data, he might have suspected false intelligence was received, given it appeared as a stingy, abandoned mine shaft.
The anomalies weren’t apparent at the surface. At least internally, the mine shaft held no special unique aberrations.
Agunas and others didn’t closely follow Feng Yuan, blocked by the Flame Chasing Furry Dog, so they didn’t hear Feng Yuan grumble. Agunas flipped through the manual in hand and said.
"No records preserve similar forms, not meeting paper standards...who made those crystal creations?"
"Hmm, who knows, it surely has no relation to the Mythical Era. Yet, crystal creations are indeed peculiar. Which civilization created them?"
Veronia was rather curious about which civilization backed this, since she liked the idea of crystal creations, they might have a common language.
Agunas flicked its tail without speaking. The place didn’t give it a good vibe, hoping no trouble arises.
Regarding the unique energy reaction deep inside? It forgot to mention it, assuming Feng Yuan would detect it, but he only looked without sensing seriously.
After walking for a while, Feng Yuan didn’t see anything strange, so he called Xiao Ji, patting the Flame Chasing Furry Dog to lean sideways before shouting loud to Agunas behind the Flame Chasing Furry Dog.
"Agunas! We don’t see anything strange here!"
Agunas was awakened from thought by Feng Yuan’s shout. Noticing the Flame Chasing Furry Dog pressed against the wall, it paused for a moment and squeezed past the looser side. The Flame Chasing Furry Dog’s fluffy fur was blocked by a barrier, crawling out from the fur. Agunas glanced ahead and said.
"You haven’t discovered anything odd at all?"
"Yeah, theoretically, if there were abnormalities, we should’ve spotted them after over thirty minutes, especially those crystal creations; surely they wouldn’t avoid us?"
Feng Yuan shrugged, miffed. If walking shortly could explain a few numbers, after over thirty minutes, he was sure he hadn’t looped back, still failing to encounter crystal creations, which seemed unreasonable.
"According to data, they ran into crystal creations before deeply entering the mine shaft, but now..."
Agunas surveyed the surroundings, puzzled, as Veronia snorted softly.
"Might the records be outdated, unable to keep up? These things aren’t necessarily static."
Summoning a manual with a wave of its claw, Agunas checked for a while, saying.
"The latest sightings were a year ago, at a location near the entrance; it’s unlikely unless..."
"Has anything new arisen undiscovered here?"
"No, to be precise, it must’ve undergone special changes here. But why?"
Sudden changes are never favorable, especially now, inevitably linked to various bizarre disasters. Feng Yuan hoped no peculiar, dangerous things comparable to the Qi Realm were dug up again.
"Unlikely related to the Time Branch, but it’s uncertain what triggered this anomaly."
Agunas’s expression turned serious, worried too many aspects were off. Concerned about sudden dangerous things emerging since it couldn’t afford to ignore them like Feng Yuan, as a Divine Beast, those oddities disrupt global order especially when unregulated, creating disasters.
"Sigh, really..."
Feng Yuan sighed, about to speak when Agunas’s expression dramatically changed, shouting.
"Watch out!"
Though Feng Yuan didn’t reply, before Agunas called, he was already sidestepping, meanwhile gathering nine small shields.
A black giant shield stood on the ground, clanking loudly along with a crisp shatter like glass breaking, blocking a sudden crystal arrowhead with the black giant shield. Furious upon realizing, Xiao Ji was enraged. Their opponent insulted them!
Being stationed upfront, Feng Yuan instructed vigilance against frontal threats but still allowed a surprise attack! Though distracted by listening intently to Feng Yuan and Agunas, Xiao Ji felt both ashamed and angry.
"Wait, Xiao Ji, hold back."
Feng Yuan urgently stopped Xiao Ji, noting the attacker’s form, worried less about Xiao Ji’s capability but the fact the attacker was actually a crystal creation.
The strange crab-like creation of mystical crystal composition ignored Xiao Ji’s assault, once more gathering crystal arrowhead with its large pincers.
But before it acted, Agunas halted it, with Time Lockdown not being something crystal creations could resist, knowing a Time Divine Beast intervened.
Yet it wasn’t over; sudden crystal creations Feng Yuan never encountered now emerged altogether, Xiao Ji spread wings blocking Feng Yuan. Feng Yuan decided against stance change.
Though Xiao Ji’s Qi Realm Stance Defense favored shields, those required transforming into a Black Sun rising in the sky, not inherently flawed, but the shaft’s size didn’t meet elevation need.
Luckily, Xiao Ji didn’t need to block, as Agunas’s swift actions preceded crystal creator attacks, already freezing them with Time Lockdown.
"Their strength isn’t great, but...why target you?"
After some time with no new crystal creations appearing, Agunas turned to Feng Yuan. Though further attempts failed due to Time Lockdown prediction, based on arrowhead direction, target prediction was possible.
Clearly the aim wasn’t Xiao Ji but Feng Yuan behind it, since Feng Yuan wasn’t right behind Xiao Ji but rather beside, not completely obstructing view, enabling timely response.
Due to such minute positioning offsets, Agunas deduced the sealed crystal target rightly but couldn’t understand why the peculiar objects singled out Feng Yuan.
If strength were judged, Feng Yuan showed neither overwhelming nor subtle strength, disregarding the strongest or weakest priority. He shouldn’t be the target.
The positioning certainly implied Xiao Ji was nearer the crystal creations; surely those things couldn’t target humans?
"Unknown, peculiar, what’s up with this? Any human attack precedents?"
Feng Yuan shook his head bewildered, regarding Agunas, as it flicked its tail saying.
"None, even if they researched physically, without obstructing they don’t react. Now...was there a change anytime?"
"That’s not ideal at all."
Sighing, Feng Yuan spoke with some frustration, unclear about total crystal creation numbers, but if they sought to initiate attacks, it was worrying.
While Feng Yuan considered whether to notify Xiqing City to send help clearing the crystals, Tamur drifted over saying.
"Maybe it wasn’t aimed at you but what’s on your shoulder."
"Little Ice Cream? Wait...surely possible, but why attack Little Ice Cream?"
Glancing at shivering Little Ice Cream perched on his shoulder, Feng Yuan agreed it might align, there indeed existed natural threats against Little Ice Cream, yet surely special creations wouldn’t hunt Meteorite Spirit Beasts?

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