My Apocalypse Territory

"I hope we can lock down the cult's lair and destroy it in one fell swoop!"

...

After the Yang City meeting concluded, Lorraine drove the Floating Chariot back to the Territory first, and Tang Yu soon received details about the meeting's contents.

The power of the large Sanctuaries was indeed not to be underestimated; perhaps they couldn't compare to the Territory in terms of high-end strength, but in other industries, they had no shortage of talent.

Although the core base of the Doomsday Cult had yet to be uncovered, the veil of the cult was gradually being lifted.

After listening to Lorraine's report, Tang Yu furrowed his brows, "Are you saying that incidents like the kidnapping from Pingliang Orphanage are not isolated cases?"

Some large Sanctuaries kept things under wraps, or the disruptions caused by the cult were not significant, and the local intelligence agents failed to catch wind of the news, until the conference, when the major Sanctuaries relayed the attacks or clues of the Doomsday Cult within their own domain one by one.

"Not only targeting official orphanages, but they also go after individual children, randomly. It is suspected that the kidnapped children all possess higher talents. There have also been a number of Awakeners disappearing in the wilderness, but whether this is the work of the 'Doomsday Cult' or not is uncertain."

"On this point, other Sanctuaries speculate that the 'Doomsday Cult' is the work of one, or several Fourth Epoch powerhouses, with the goal of enhancing their own strength through Blood Sacrifices. With the strength of Fourth Epoch powerhouses, they have the ability to gather Awakeners from the Eighth or Ninth Layer...

Another theory is that the leader of the 'Doomsday Cult' has obtained a powerful Secret Treasure that can capture others' talents and improve their own... A Secret Treasure that can enhance talent would certainly attract many skilled Awakeners... This speculation makes sense, but it's still just a guess."

Lorraine casually swept her hair aside, her brown hair tied in a ponytail that fell over her right shoulder, giving her a less brash and more enchantingly elegant appearance.

Her legs were crossed gracefully as she reported for work, her black leather jacket and leather pants outlining her exquisite figure. She leaned forward slightly, resembling a devoted personal secretary.

Tang Yu showed a bit of respect and felt the need for several bottles of nutritional drink to replenish his depleted body... It must have been due to last night's cultivation fatigue.

He cleared his throat.

Then he thought back to the bridge constructed through the Mother-child Crystal Balls, when he engaged in a mental power struggle with the person behind the scenes.

The person behind the scenes... might not necessarily be the cult leader, but he must be one of the upper echelons of the 'Doomsday Cult.' From the brief mental power struggle, Tang Yu could clearly feel the other's strength.

In terms of mental power, Tang Yu considered himself no worse than the average Awakener at the Awakening Tier of Perfection—this was due to a solid foundation and the advantages brought by Consuming Crystals.

However, on that day, even though he had chosen a strategic retreat, Tang Yu had to admit that the person on the other end had stronger mental power than him.

No, it was far stronger than his.

The two confronted each other by means of a medium, so the input of mental power was limited. If it had been face-to-face, where mental power fought directly through their bodies, he probably wouldn't last a few seconds before his mental state was damaged.

If it was a modern-day person who had obtained a Secret Treasure... Tang Yu had to admit that the person had a greater advantage than he did.

If it was a person from the Fourth Epoch... Perfection at the brink, Half-step Transcendent, or even...

Shaking his head, even after revealing a part of the 'Doomsday Cult,' it still felt mysterious.

Seeing him come back to his senses from his deep thoughts, Lorraine tentatively asked, "So, can my debt be waived?"

Tang Yu glanced at her, "The Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Department has a weekly salary of three thousand, and the debt you currently owe is thirty-five thousand Source Crystals. Do the math yourself."

Lorraine counted on her fingers, and with her barely passing grade in the crash course on math, it took her about ten seconds to figure out before her face fell:

"Lord—"

She pretended to be pitiful.

Tang Yu remained unmoved.

What's more important, money or beauty? Of course money!

He glanced at her swelling chest, thinking as much.

...

The matter of the 'Doomsday Cult' was left to the Intelligence Department and assisted by the Martial Arts Hall apprentices.

Tang Yu, on the other hand, continued to be a cultivation homebody.

He spent every day in the Cultivation Room and the research lab, drinking Support Potion (Fat House Happiness Water) and swallowing high-purity Source Crystals (Fat House Happiness Crystal), and he just lacked Crystal Jade Rice (Fat House Happy Rice) to make it a full set.

Life as a homebody always passed quickly.

On the fifth day after the Yang City meeting, the first batch of Crystal Jade Rice finally matured. Unable to contain himself, Tang Yu ate three large bowls, and he couldn't exhaust his energy for cultivation that night no matter how hard he tried.

He had already reached the twelfth layer of Awakening.

Under the observation of the Insight Eye, his cultivation speed had increased from the original 5% per day to 8%. Given ample resource supply, it would only take about twelve to thirteen days to step into the final level of the Awakening Tier, and then touch the great mountain that was Transcendence.

For Awakeners with better aptitude, even if nutrition supply was abundant, their daily cultivation progress wouldn't exceed 1%.

Tang Yu was very satisfied with this. He knew that when Eileen and her peers had first begun their cultivation, they didn't have such favorable conditions.

"Shay and the others in the Yangtze River Delta have also recently taken over a Source Crystal Mine, which happens to produce high-purity Ice series Source Crystals. It's perfect to send some to Eileen while we're at it."

Source Crystal Mines, where the essence of Heaven and Earth Source Qi converged, were even scarcer than he had imagined.

As the Territory continued to expand and explore outward, they currently only occupied three Source Crystal Mines, and there wasn't even news of other types of Crystal Mines; on one hand, they were indeed rare, and on the other, some Sanctuaries were very well hidden.

His Territory just happened to be built next to a Source Crystal Mine. Tang Yu could only sigh at his own burst of luck back then.

But that was just initially...

Of the three Source Crystal Mines, the one within the Territory produced high-purity Fire Series Source Crystals. Another one, located within Tiannan Province and at a considerable distance which made mining difficult, produced Earth Series Source Crystals—the Earth Series Source Crystals weren't very useful, as none of his followers were Earth Series cultivators. Even if he sold them at a high price to others for cultivation, he was reluctant to part with them.

"Perhaps they could be exchanged with forces that have Source Crystal Mines?"

Information about Source Crystal Mines and Secret Realms was usually well concealed unless shared among several forces... but if he had high-purity Earth Series Source Crystals as a 'knocking brick', it was not impossible to exchange for other types of high-purity Source Crystals.

The Source Crystal Mine that Shay and others had just taken over in the Yangtze River Delta was an Ice series Source Crystal Mine.

Tang Yu had already taken the "Sail" to the Yangtze River Delta, and established a Sub-territory next to the Source Crystal Mine. The Sub-territory at Resource Point One had been cancelled by him—the defensive structures would not disappear as a result, but repair after damage would be rather troublesome.

With the help of the Source Crystal Mine and Crystal Jade Rice, Eileen's time spent in closed-door cultivation to polish her bottleneck should be able to be significantly shortened.

Beiting, which had been pushed to the forefront, and that Martial Arts Grandmaster who had broken through to Transcendence, one could logically assume that there were plenty of consumable Source Crops and high-purity Source Crystals.

Perhaps there were other treasures as well.

"However, the Cultivation Rooms in Beiting probably can't compare to mine, and while their rune Equipment crafting skills are far superior to those of a typical Sanctuary, they still fall short of Green Shadow's products..."

These were all pieces of information Grey Blade had gathered in Beiting.

Production line scale was already expanding, and Tang Yu planned to wait until stockpiles reached a certain volume before powerfully entering Beiting's Equipment market.

Thus securing a foothold in a short period of time.

...

Time flowed like water, only moments could be grasped in the palm of one's hand.

Inside the Cultivation Room.

Tang Yu slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, ending today's cultivation.

Standing up, he activated "Insight Eye." Data streams flickered in the depths of his eyes. After looking down and concentrating for a while, his cultivation progress had already emerged in his vision.

Awakening twelfth layer 99%.

Today, he could break through to the thirteenth layer of Awakening in one fell swoop!

After continuously cultivating for five hours, Tang Yu stepped out of the Second-tier Cultivation Room, preparing to rest for a while. Then he would muster all his energy and charge into the final layer in one vigorous effort.

At that moment, he received a contracted message from Lorraine.

The headquarters of the Doomsday Cult had been located!

It was in the mountains more than two hundred kilometers away from Yang City... To avoid startling the snake by hitting the grass, all the major Sanctuaries decided not to probe deep into the mountains. Instead, they would assemble a team to surround the mountain and eradicate the cult.

The time was set for two days later.

"I've been cooped up for so long, it's time to get some exercise and get my hands on the Mother-child Crystal Ball..."

Tang Yu muttered to himself.

Suddenly, he turned his head, sensing a familiar aura.

Eileen, dressed in a pale blue gown, was standing at the door. The morning sun shone through the window, landing on her smiling face aglow with light. Her cheeks sported two dimples, her eyes as bright as sapphires blinked, and her lips parted slightly, as if eager to share her joy.