When he saw Liu Huaixin knocking a piece of black gemstone off the wall, Wang Teng stopped in his tracks. He was just about to leave.

Ore mine?!

Wang Teng was astounded. Then, he understood everything.

He finally found the reason for the series of Liu Huaixin's weird actions.

Their mission wasn't simply to kill the dark apparitions. Taking over this ore mine was their primary objective.

Obviously, Liu Huaixin had kept this news from them.

He didn't want to attract other people's attention to this place. Thus, he sent the Tiger Warrior Team and the Wolf Fang Team away and set up the rune array.

There was another thing that Wang Teng found strange all this while.

This was a dangerous mission. Why did the military send so few people? Why did they have to enlist their martial warrior team?

Now, the answer was clear!

They were in the Xingwu Continent. If too many martial warriors were sent, it would attract the attention of the various factions in the Xingwu Continent. At that time, it would be hard to gain ownership of this ore mine.

All in all, this situation was caused because of the many worries the military had. At the same time, they coincidentally pulled the Tiger Warrior Team in because they were nearby.

Even without Yao Jun's instigation, when the two parties met, Liu Huaixin would still enlist the Tiger Warrior Team because he didn't have enough people on his side.

But, Liu Huaixin would not send them to their deaths since they were both from Earth. He would focus on his task.

But, humans were always selfish.

Yao Jun gave him an offer he couldn't reject. To a young master from an elite family like Yao Jun, it might be nothing, but to Liu Huaixin, this was an important bargaining chip for him to climb higher. Hence, he could only let the Tiger Warrior Team suffer… by dying!

For a moment, a myriad of thoughts and ideas flashed through Wang Teng's mind. He touched his chin, and his eyes glimmered. Then, he went back and exited the passageway. He entered the path on the right.

Liu Huaixin and his team would rest for at least half an hour. He had ample time to go out and collect another batch of attributes.

Sigh, hardworking people won't rest for even a second!

The path on the right was littered with the corpses of giant black rats. These giant rats could be found in all three passageways. If someone oblivious entered, they might think that this was a rat's nest.

The Wolf Fang Team was an elite team among the low-rank martial warrior teams. Thus, all its members were 3-star soldier-level martial warriors. Dealing with these giant rats was a piece of cake for them.

Wang Teng walked and picked up the floating attribute bubbles along the way.

Dark Force*5

Spirit*6

Dark Force*3

Blank Attribute*9

…

These giant rats were all contaminated with dark Force. However, they were not dark apparitions. They could at most be called dark creatures. But, the Force they dropped was all dark Force. This allowed Wang Teng's dark Force to rise quickly.

Before he could reach the end of the passageway, he met the returning Wolf Fang Team.

Although they suffered some injuries, they seemed fine. However, Yao Jun was cursing all the way. He was obviously in a bad mood. When they were killing the rat king just now, his clothes… got dirty.

Other martial warriors would never be so 'delicate' like him!

A tinge of helplessness flashed past Chong Liang's eyes. This young master wasn't easy to serve.

The group walked over without noticing Wang Teng, who was hiding in the dark.

Wang Teng also ignored them. He quickly ran into the depth of the passageway.

After some time, he saw a giant rat that was twice as large as the other black giant rats. It was beheaded, and its body was lying horizontally in the middle of the path.

So this is the rat king they were talking about!

Wang Teng's eyes lit up. He looked at the rat king's body. A few bigger attribute bubbles were floating silently above it.

He picked them up.

Dark Force*46

Spirit*35

Blank Attribute*50

Good riddance!

Wang Teng was honestly a little surprised. The attributes dropped by this rat king alone were comparable to the ones dropped by seven to eight normal giant rats.

A few other giant rat corpses were lying around the rat king. Wang Teng didn't forget to pick up their attribute bubbles.

Then, he went back immediately.

The gains he made on this trip were huge. He had received 335 points of dark Force, 88 points of spirit, and 280 blank attributes.

As the dark Force seeped into his body, Wang Teng shuddered.

The abundance of dark Force surged from his second Force nucleus. It flowed up his spine and congregated inside his third Force nucleus.

Dark Force 3-star—achievement unlocked!

Dark Force: 17/1000 (3-star)

In less than a day, Wang Teng's dark Force had risen from 1-star to 3-star soldier level. This speed was extremely frightening!

Also, his spirit attribute advanced by a huge level too.

Spirit: Spiritual realm (44.1/100)

Wang Teng could feel the spiritual power in his mind getting stronger. It even got thicker and stickier.

He had a premonition. If he used his spiritual power to control his Shooting Star Spiral now, the power would be astonishing. If he caught his opponent unaware, he might even be able to kill a 5-star soldier-level martial warrior.

However, he would need to practice it during a real battle to see if it worked out or not.

Wang Teng came back to the forked road and saw Yao Jun, Chong Liang, and their team members.

But, Liu Huaixin wasn't out yet. Yao Jun was preparing to enter the path in the middle.

"Young Master Yao, I don't think that this is appropriate." Chong Liang hesitated. He could see that Liu Huaixin didn't want them to enter the middle path. If he entered without careful consideration and provoked Liu Huaixin, he might offend the military indirectly.

The authority of the military wasn't an ornament!

"What are you afraid of? Liu Huaixin didn't say that we can't enter. If he asks, you can just pretend that you didn't know anything.

"Also, don't you find them very secretive? I guess there must be some good stuff inside. Don't you want to take a look?"

Yao Jun appeared nonchalant. As he spoke, he walked into the middle passageway.

"This…" Honestly, Chong Liang was a little curious. However, he decided not to follow Yao Jun. Compared to Yao Jun, they didn't have any background or people supporting them. If something really happened, Yao Jun would be fine, but the military would vent their anger on them. Weren't they looking for death?

But, not long after Yao Jun entered the middle path, he came back. He seemed a little embarrassed.

Behind him were Liu Huaixin and the other military martial warriors. They were covered in blood and had a malicious look on their faces.

Chong Liang secretly felt happy in his heart when he saw Yao Jun suffering a setback. But, he didn't display it on his face. He hurriedly went forward to greet Liu Huaixin.

"Squad Leader Liu."

"Yes." Liu Huaixin nodded. He asked, "Is your side taken care of?"

"All the giant rats contaminated by the dark Force have been killed, including the rat king," Chong Liang replied.

"Not bad," Liu Huaixin praised him. Then, he frowned and continued, "There's no news from the Tiger Warrior Team until now. It looks like they have met some trouble. The high-level dark apparition didn't charge out, so this means they didn't fail completely. It's time for us to enter."

"Why don't we wait a while longer? Let's wait until the dark apparition kills them before we act." Yao Jun was smiling, but the words he said were ruthless and cruel.

Chong Liang and the others felt a chill running down their spines.

Liu Huaixin remained indifferent. He glanced at Yao Jun and said, "Let's go in first. We will decide if we should act based on the situation."

Yao Jun shrugged. He didn't say anything in reply.

The group entered the passage on the left under Liu Huaixin's lead. They thought that they had everything under control, but they could never imagine what was waiting for them.