"The primary core? An Immortal Crystal? How could that be possible?" Roxanne Lin's three consecutive shocked questions made Evan Chu want to laugh.
"Don't be so dramatic, okay? I'm just speculating here. You have to understand, when I found this place a few days ago, the Immortal Essence was just as dense as it is now. I used the Timewheel Bracelet to absorb about half of it, but in just a few days, the Immortal Essence returned to how it was when I first arrived. That means something here is constantly releasing Immortal Essence."
But these Immortal Stones can't be the source. The only possibility is that there's an Immortal Crystal here—specifically, a Mother Crystal. Once the Immortal Essence in this space reaches a certain saturation, it stops accumulating and then slowly disperses outward through the Immortal Stone vein. Over millions of years, that naturally forms Immortal Stones.
So we have to find the exact spot where the Immortal Crystal is hiding—that's the biggest prize we could possibly walk away with! If we can move the Mother Crystal into the Timewheel Bracelet, I don't even need to tell you what would happen, do I?" Evan Chu explained slowly and deliberately, while Roxanne Lin looked at him like he was some kind of lunatic.
After a long pause, she finally burst out, "Evan, are you out of your mind? Even you can come up with wild, sky-high nonsense like this? I really don't know what to say to you! If you claim there's a Mother Crystal here that can release Immortal Essence, then it must be alive—or at least have some kind of spiritual intelligence. With so many people crawling around, do you really think it would keep releasing Essence? What a joke! Absolutely ridiculous!"
Roxanne Lin just said it offhand, thinking Evan Chu's idea was pure nonsense. But Evan actually took her words seriously. He felt she made a lot of sense—it was entirely possible that the Mother Crystal, because it was so massive or had existed for countless ages, had developed spiritual intelligence or even formed an artifact spirit, just like Jade Frost and Tom Chu.
A flash of insight struck him, and Evan suddenly laughed: "Roxy, we need to leave right away! You're absolutely right—if we're here, the Mother Crystal definitely won't release a drop of Immortal Essence. We have to hide, and that's the only way! Not bad, you're actually pretty sharp. Even I didn't think of that—ha!"
Roxanne Lin was absolutely speechless. She'd just blurted it out, but this guy actually took it seriously! Seeing how stubborn he was, she could only say, "Well, let's hope your crazy idea actually works out." At this point, she didn't want to rain on Evan's parade anymore. With so many Immortal Crystals lying around, he wasn't digging them up—no, he insisted on chasing after some so-called Mother Crystal that she'd never even heard of. Insane!
Evan Chu put Tom Chu's true body—the Mirage Pearl—into his storage ring, then woke up Goldwing and Shadow. The two were pretty frustrated at having their Immortal Essence digestion interrupted, but since Evan was waking them for something important, they kept their complaints to themselves.
When they saw all those Immortal Stones shining yellow and purple, their eyes went wide. "Big Brother, you woke us up just to dig Immortal Stones? That's awesome! But I need to break through my realm first. I can't believe you found a place with so many Immortal Stones, Shadow—I really have to hand it to you," Shadow couldn't help saying.
"Get back inside my body for now. We'll leave for a while, and once you've finished digesting the Immortal Essence, I'll bring you out again. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of mining for you later. And if you slack off, watch out—I'll beat you until you're howling!" Evan Chu laughed.
Goldwing and Shadow exchanged a glance, then both flashed with light and returned to Evan Chu's body. Evan immediately activated Earthshift, dragging Roxanne Lin down into the soil. But he found the earth here much harder than usual, which burned through his earth element power at an alarming rate.
Evan Chu slowly extended his Divine Sense through the layers of earth, scanning for any changes in the space. But after a long wait, he still didn't see any increase in Immortal Essence. He wasn't discouraged, though—maybe the Mother Crystal was suspicious after everyone suddenly left, and didn't dare release Essence just yet.
After about an hour, just as Evan Chu was nearly at his limit, he finally saw something that made him excited: in one corner of the space, Immortal Essence was slowly starting to appear. The rate was extremely slow, though.
If he hadn't been using Divine Sense, he wouldn't have noticed at all. Evan knew it wasn't time to go out yet—he'd wait until the Mother Crystal released a large amount of Immortal Essence, then emerge and pinpoint its exact location.
He waited another half hour or so, until he really couldn't hold out any longer. But at that moment, the Immortal Essence in that corner started pouring out faster and faster, surprising him with joy. In a flash, he pulled Roxanne Lin up to the surface.
But as soon as they appeared, the Immortal Essence stopped flowing from that corner. Seeing this, Evan Chu was now completely convinced the Immortal Crystal had developed spiritual intelligence. "Roxy, your guess was right. Let's go see what this miraculous Mother Crystal really looks like."
Roxanne Lin looked at Evan Chu, still unconvinced. "Sure, the Immortal Essence here really did increase, but I still can't buy what you're saying. If every Immortal Stone could sprout spiritual intelligence, wouldn't they be invincible? Whenever they're out of Essence, they'd just absorb more! Everything in this world is shackled by the laws of heaven and earth. Something this heaven-defying shouldn't exist, Evan! This place is weird, sure, but it's nowhere near as outrageous as you're hyping it up to be."
Evan Chu didn't say anything. He just pulled her over to the corner. The spot looked totally ordinary—there were some high-grade Immortal Stones exposed, but not even a shadow of a supreme-grade one. Still, Evan was sure the most ordinary places were often the most extraordinary.
He took out the Frostbane Sword from his storage ring and slashed at the spot where the Immortal Essence had been coming out. It wasn't a heavy strike—just a test. But the moment his sword hit, it bounced back so hard he nearly lost his grip on the Frostbane Sword.
This bizarre reaction made him even more certain something was off here. Roxanne Lin also felt it was strange. Evan's attack hadn't been strong, but there was no way it should've triggered such a powerful rebound force. With his strength, that just shouldn't be possible.
"Evan, why is this place so hard? Is there any other way to break through the earth here?" Roxanne Lin asked.
Honestly, Evan Chu really wanted to use Earthshift to get inside and take a look. But with the earth this tough, even second-layer Earthshift might not be enough. "I can't think of a better way right now. Maybe we should just dig slowly. If we hollow out the soil around it, maybe the Immortal Crystal will finally show itself."