That rock was not a rock at all, but a being whose body bore rocky patterns. Because its body was identical to the surrounding rocks, neither Long Chen nor Xia Chen noticed it.
The moment it moved, Long Chen was instantly excited. It was a stone spirit several zhang long, which should be resting here and must have gotten up now.
"Hey, hey..."
Long Chen saw the stone creature and immediately waved at it, but the creature couldn't hear his voice and didn't look in his direction.
After moving a bit, it didn't immediately take the next step, but once again lay motionless on the rock.
In the moment it stood still, Long Chen and Xia Chen almost lost their target; its body seemed to have merged with the Stone Mountain.
At that moment, both Long Chen and Xia Chen were startled. They hadn't seen it before and thought they weren't careful enough.
Now, watching it "disappear" right before our eyes is quite astonishing—its camouflage ability is just too strong.
"It seems this mysterious world is full of dangers too!" Long Chen said.
Xia Chen nodded. That stone creature possessed such powerful camouflage abilities because it was forced to develop such abilities by a terrifying threat.
However, through the barrier, they couldn't sense the aura of the stone creature and didn't know what level it belonged to.
After a while, the stone creature moved again. After a brief movement, it stopped again, repeating this several times, as if testing something.
The stone creature was extremely cautious. After moving several times, it finally let down its guard and began to move slowly, climbing to the top of the stone mountain to observe the surroundings.
As it gradually shed its disguise, Long Chen realized that this stone creature resembled a lizard, with a long tail dragging its back and its body covered in scales patterned with stone.
Its scales, as it moved, continuously merged with the surrounding stone patterns, making it difficult to detect.
When it climbed to the top of the mountain and began to look around, Long Chen waved his hand again. Suddenly, he had a clever idea, drawing a colorful flag to attract the attention of the stone creature.
"It saw us." The moment the stone creature turned its head, Xia Chen shouted excitedly.
Long Chen's heart was pounding wildly as he continued waving the flag continuously while looking into the eyes of the stone creature.
The stone creature's eyes were dark red, like red gemstones. Most of the time, it kept its eyes closed, but when facing Long Chen, it revealed them.
"It's the Stone Spirit Clan, haha, there's hope." When he saw the stone creature's eyes clearly, Long Chen was overjoyed. This was a kind of spirit clan, and a kind spirit at that.
The stone creature saw Long Chen wave his flag, then fell to the ground without moving, closing its eyes and ignoring Long Chen and the other two.
Long Chen and Xia Chen were instantly disappointed. They ignored them completely. Long Chen was stunned at first, then closed his eyes and quietly felt everything around him, using his own perception to extend into the world outside.
Sure enough, Long Chen detected the soul fluctuation, but because of the barrier, his perception was extremely vague.
"Whoosh."
At that moment, the stone creature finally moved, rushing to the front of the barrier and looking at Long Chen and Xia Chen.
Long Chen and Xia Chen were overjoyed. Before Long Chen could figure out how to communicate with it, Xia Chen had already started gesturing, pointing at the immortal gold and divine iron on the distant mountain, then pointing at himself, and finally clasping his palms together in a bow.
The stone creature glanced at Long Chen, then at Xia Chen, seemingly unable to understand Xia Chen's gestures.
At this moment, Long Chen wanted to use his perception to communicate with the stone creature, but the barrier's power was too strong. He could only sense it and couldn't convey any emotional messages.
Long Chen kept trying to communicate, but all failed. Xia Chen kept making those few moves, persistently persisting.
The stone creature seemed to have never dealt with humans before and had never understood Xia Chen's meaning. But in the end, it moved, ran to the piece of immortal gold Xia Chen pointed to, and picked it off.
At that moment, Xia Chen shouted excitedly; the stone creature finally understood his meaning.
Waving his hand, he signaled it to slowly bring the piece of immortal gold closer to the barrier. After watching for a while, the stone creature seemed to understand Xia Chen's meaning. It came to the boundary and slowly moved the spherical immortal gold, about a foot in diameter, toward the barrier.
"Buzz!"
Suddenly, the barrier trembled. The spherical immortal gold slowly sank into the water-like barrier, slowly flying toward Long Chen and his companion.
Seeing this, Long Chen and Xia Chen shouted excitedly, wishing they could hug this stone creature and give it a couple of kisses. It was truly wonderful.
Long Chen excitedly gestured to the stone creature to express his gratitude. This time, the stone creature seemed to understand Long Chen's meaning, opened its mouth wide, and looked very happy.
Long Chen had a strong fondness for the Spirit Clan, and he carried countless blessings from the Spirit Clan. Therefore, whenever Long Chen saw a Spirit Clan's being, he would be very excited, knowing that being would definitely help it.
It was as if, no matter when, if the Spirit Clan asked for help, he would never refuse.
"Whoosh!"
The piece of immortal gold slowly floated in front of Long Chen and Xia Chen, and it passed through the barrier so easily. At that moment, Xia Chen shouted excitedly and reached out to catch it, but Long Chen shoved it away.
"Buzz!"
Long Chen caught the piece of immortal gold with both hands. Veins bulged on his arms. The immortal gold was astonishingly heavy; if Xia Chen went to retrieve it, his arms would be shattered in an instant.
Xia Chen felt a wave of lingering fear. He had been too excited earlier and forgot that this Saint-grade immortal gold was incredibly heavy. It looked light inside the barrier, but in reality, it was comparable to a star.
The two carefully examined the patterns on the immortal gold, their hearts pounding wildly. Xia Chen exclaimed, "
The purity is unimaginably high! This doesn't look like ore at all, but refined immortal gold."
Only when one touches this piece of immortal gold with their own hands and feels its terrifying aura do they realize just how astonishing it is.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Seeing
the two excitedly waving their arms and feet, the stone creature was very clever. Knowing they wanted this thing, it immediately grabbed another piece and threw it inside.
"Be gentle... Xia
Chen was startled and shouted loudly. The stone being didn't just gently place it, but directly threw a piece of immortal gold inside.
"Whoosh"
Pieces of immortal gold were thrown in one after another. This time, Xia Chen's face was no longer surprised, but rather pale with fright.
Yet the stone creature was still excited, throwing pieces of immortal gold into the water. Suddenly, it spotted a piece as large as its body, bent down, and forcibly lifted a piece several zhang tall.
"Whoosh"
As he threw the huge piece of immortal gold into the barrier, the barrier suddenly slammed opentrembling, forming a massive vortex.
With a loud explosion, the barrier suddenly turned black. The transparent barrier before them instantly turned into a massive black hole, and Long Chen and Xia Chen's figures vanished.
The stone creature stood quietly in front of the barrier, staring at the pitch-black barrier before him. He scratched his head, completely confused, not knowing what had happened.