Not long after, Zi Ming and Aiersi arrived in a forest. This place was thousands of miles away from the desert, yet some conditions here were no different from those in the desert. Other than the barrier being purple, there was nothing else that stood out.
This story dates back eight years ago when Zi Ming, despite Aiersi's objections, wandered out and, like some magical beasts, easily eliminated a hunting party. That hunting party happened to be one of the top three in the Verdis Country, which raised the country's alarm.
The surrounding country, Verdis Country, dispatched nine Top Tier individuals to Encirclement and suppression him, but they suffered a crushing defeat. They fought a total of three times, and each time they were defeated by Zi Ming, so now this country no longer dares to set foot here.
Zi Ming often traveled between forests in various places, and most of those in the Desert Barrier were also rescued by him because his occupational disease flared up (mostly because Aiersi wanted him to behave).
He directly set up his own barrier here to protect the area, but compared to the barrier in the desert, the desert's barrier was still safer, which is why most of the magical beasts in the desert came from there.
Many people heard about this place, and not a few magical beasts either, all flocking here. People came for profit, and magical beasts sought refuge, but most of the people were turned back.
Space was limited here, and the same was true in the desert. Aiersi was also helpless; she had to manage Zi Ming's occupational disease, after all, she had long been accustomed to such things.
In other words, this place is now the exit of the Desert Barrier, and Zi Ming's reputation has spread far and wide. Even those who haven't seen him know his name; they call Zi Ming the Purple Demon King.
They also know that Zi Ming is a being with a master. After acknowledging Aiersi, they call her the Holy Spirit Lord who controls everything, acknowledged by heaven and earth.
In fact, Aiersi already possessed this; after being acknowledged by heaven and earth, she could gain the extraordinary ability to control all things, provided she received everyone's genuine acknowledgment.
As for going out, Aiersi would not stop anyone. After all, with the contract, she could not only sense the exact location and situation of anyone in the contract but also Teleport back to the barrier instantly in times of crisis.
There are many benefits. The contract also stipulates that master and subordinate must not harm each other casually, but the master still holds most rights, it is not compulsory.
“Oh dear… this forest has now become our domain. No human can enter here.”
No sooner had Zi Ming finished speaking than a chill ran down his spine.
“So, you’re saying I’m not human?”
Aiersi looked at him with a kind smile, cracking her small fists.
“To be honest, you spend all your time with magical beasts, so you’re not wrong. A child controlling so many magical beasts and spirits is indeed not something a human can do… Pfft, wah…”
Aiersi didn’t humor him; her small fist landed directly on his face, and the powerful force drove his head into the ground.
She clapped her hands, “I am human! I stand by myself, and none of you can do anything about it!”
“Yes, yes, yes…”
Zi Ming stood up immediately, tidying his face, “Indeed, I can’t do anything to you, but you must be careful. Besides the magical beast guard team, there are many traps on the outskirts of the forest.”
“Uh… it’s not for me, is it…” Aiersi shivered, a bad premonition washing over her.
Usually, humans set traps, but now, after Zi Ming’s teaching, it’s the other way around…
Zi Ming chuckled strangely, his expression a little lewd, “What do you think it is?”
“It’s none of my business anyway.”
“By the way… you have what you fear most behind you.” Zi Ming’s smile didn’t fade as he pointed behind Aiersi.
She turned her head and her face instantly turned ashen, fear undeniable on her face. Behind her were about twenty Slimes, half her size, making chirping sounds and hopping around.
“Ah… why is this annoying thing here again?”
She almost immediately turned and ran, her speed so fast that she covered several hundred meters in an instant, but those Slimes also followed.
An accident occurred; as she ran, she was picked up by a several-meter-tall, seemingly dull-witted black gorilla carrying a basket on its back.
“Ah ah… put me down…” Aiersi was frantic at this moment, struggling wildly.
The dull-witted gorilla said, “Oh, I’m putting you down, oh.”
As he spoke, he was about to let go, but the Slimes had already reached Aiersi’s feet. She quickly clung to the gorilla’s hand, pleadingly, “No, no, no, don’t put me down.”
“Huh?”
The gorilla looked utterly confused, then looked at the twenty or so Slimes at Aiersi’s feet, trying to jump up and reach her, and asked,
“Why are you so afraid of them?”
“This…” Aiersi’s face instantly flushed. She hadn’t forgotten that when she was in the Desert Barrier, she was reading when she was suddenly ambushed by a Slime several times larger than these. It swallowed her whole. Although nothing happened, all her clothes were dissolved, clearly on purpose.
Then the gorilla had a flash of inspiration and seemed to think of a brilliant idea. He said to the Slimes at his feet, “Now, go finish your work, and then the master will give you a reward, of any kind…”
“Hey… I didn’t say that…”
Aiersi immediately wanted to retort. The gorilla’s intelligence suddenly came online, and with quick hands, he took a carrot from the basket on his back and, without thinking, shoved it into Aiersi’s mouth.
This sentence was very effective; those Slimes also hopped away to do what they should, seemingly in high spirits.
Aiersi pulled the carrot out of her mouth and complained.
“Ugh… you fellow, when you’re not smart, you suddenly become smart.”
The gorilla, for his part, directly spoke the truth, “No… I only become smart to trick you.”
“You… Hmph…” Aiersi turned her face away, no longer paying him any attention.
Just then, the ground began to shake violently, but everyone seemed extremely calm, going about their business unhurriedly.
“Rumble…”
It was a clear patch of ground that suddenly shattered open, and a giant brown centipede burst out from within. Its head alone was dozens of zhang in size; it was impossible to imagine how long the rest of it was.
Its carapace was thick and heavy, with some sharp spines on it, giving a sense of indestructibility. Its sharp fangs, massive body, and a pair of crimson eyes created an intense sense of oppression when standing before it, sending shivers down one’s spine. Standing on its head was a young man in a green robe. His short, green hair was simple and neat, exuding a sunny and confident aura.
“Ye Feng, Chang Ci, still well, what are we doing today?”
Zi Ming swiftly flew over and greeted the two. The gorilla also put Aiersi down.
“Nothing, did the sun rise from the west today? The master rarely comes to this place.” The young man in the green robe on top of the centipede’s head showed a very surprised expression and immediately jumped down from the centipede’s head.
“I’ve never been here…”
Aiersi admitted it on the spot. Indeed, she had never left the Desert Barrier for more than ten years. Although she knew Zi Ming had a barrier, she had never been here. However, that young man in the green robe was Ye Feng, whom she also knew.
He was the one who almost killed her half a day after she transmigrated because Aiersi was unaware of her own situation at the time, so she constantly ran into trouble. If it weren’t for Undead, he really could have killed her. But when Zi Ming and the others came out, he immediately cowered and thus acquired the first batch of magical beasts.
Chang Ci laughed, “Hehe… Master, you’re finally not staying at home anymore, so I can go out and do things too. All the good ores here have been dug up, so I need to go out and find others to let this place recuperate.”
“I don’t care where you go, as long as you don’t get hurt. Go ahead, I trust your strength.”
Aiersi was very relieved. With its strength, and its defense being the highest among Zi Ming and Xiao Huang, plus its super-speed regeneration, it was very difficult to deal with.
“Wooh…” Chang Ci let out an excited cry. Its massive body shot straight out of the ground, then turned around and plunged back into the earth, finally leaving a message: “There’s a warehouse in the forest that I left for you. You should know what’s in it. Let Ye Feng take you.”
After it left that message, its massive body continued to surge out and into the ground. Its speed was visibly fast, creating afterimages, yet it still lasted for half an hour, one can imagine how long it truly was.
“A warehouse… it’s nothing but ores… I don’t lack them either…”
Aiersi was very helpless. The key was that these things were useless to her, but at this moment, Zi Ming reminded her.
“Master, if you want to go out, you will indeed lack these things, because you have no source of funds, so… it will cause a lot of trouble.”
“Uh… you say I’m not poor, I have resources and the strength to raise so many magical beasts and spirits. You say I’m poor, but I can indeed only exchange these things for money…”
Zi Ming suppressed his urge to laugh, “So… do you feel like you’re being kept?”
“Yes… but not much. It’s not that I’m being kept. To be honest, aren’t I keeping you all?”
“Ah… this…” Zi Ming was speechless for a moment. This was indeed true, while Ye Feng, on the side, had somehow pulled out a watermelon and was gulping it down. But when both of their gazes turned to him, he quickly stood up, put away the watermelon, and his expression immediately became serious.
“Ahem… Master, would you like to come with me? I’ll take you to check out Chang Ci’s warehouse.”
“Lead the way. It’ll be a good chance to see what treasures that Chang Ci fellow has hidden.” Zi Ming rubbed his hands, his expression somewhat expectant.
Soon, Ye Feng led the two to a huge warehouse in the forest.
Besides this one warehouse, there were also many fields, surrounded by numerous granaries.
Among the many fields, there was one that exuded a strong spiritual energy, where many rare and exotic plants, all peerless treasures, were grown.
Looking up, it resembled a village, and many elves or magical beasts could be seen harvesting and cultivating various crops.
At this moment, Ye Feng stood in front of the huge warehouse, but his hand trembled uncontrollably on the doorknob, as if he was afraid of something.
Zi Ming, who was beside him, couldn't stand it anymore.
He pushed Ye Feng's hand away and was about to open the door.
"Don't..."
Ye Feng wanted to stop him, but the door was pulled open instantly.
With a bang, countless colorful ores gushed out, burying Ye Feng and Zi Ming in an instant.
Aiersi reacted quickly, teleporting away just in time to avoid being affected.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
Aiersi looked at the several-meter-high pile of ores in front of the warehouse, her face full of surprise.
For a normal person, these would be enough for several lifetimes.
Zi Ming crawled out of the ore pile: "Damn it, how did so much get crammed in there?"
"I told you to be careful.
Chang Ci used Space Compression Magic to stuff all those things inside earlier.
Once the door is opened, the spell is dispelled," Ye Feng grumbled as he crawled out from the side.
Aiersi casually picked up an ore to examine it: "So many rare ores, I can't even use them all.
Why don't you use them?"
Ye Feng covered his face, looking helpless: "It's not that we don't use them, it's that we don't lack this stuff now."
As he spoke, he pointed to the elves who were building a platform nearby.
The materials they used for the foundation were Thousand Gold Silver Stone, refined from the mutated diamond material Thousand Gold Silver Ore, with a hardness ten thousand times that of diamond.
In human society, this much couldn't be mined in ten years.
"Now we have too much of it lying idle, so much so that there's still plenty left over for other things.
Our weapons and equipment are already Top Tier."
"Can you tell me how much ore Chang Ci can bring back in a day?"
"Uh... it can bring back nearly ten thousand kilograms a day, mostly rare ores.
What's even stranger is that even after digging so much, the ore veins haven't been depleted."
"For it, it's a small case.
It's familiar with the ore production cycle and can mine in a large area without breaking the ore veins.
With its size, it can go thousands of kilometers underground, and it only collects super rare ores.
I guess when it says the mine is empty, it probably means the super rare ores have been depleted by it."
"Understood, so... Master, what are you going to do with these ores?"
Aiersi's face darkened, and she thought for a while, then looked up and said calmly: "Do you believe I could buy several cities with these?"
"Anyway, you can do whatever you want with them.
These things are from Chang Ci.
If it's not enough, there are more in several other warehouses," Ye Feng said, pointing to some of the larger warehouses.
"By the way, Ye Feng, how did you do with the task I gave you last time?" Zi Ming interjected, asking.
"It's done, but... the reward..."
Ye Feng said, rubbing his hands, his expression full of anticipation, while Zi Ming looked at Aiersi.
The sudden situation made her pause, and after a moment of thought, as if remembering something, she sighed.
A light blue ring appeared out of thin air on her finger, and a faint glow flashed, causing hundreds of drops of emerald green liquid to fly out and float around.
Ye Feng's face lit up with joy at the sight, his gaze on the liquid gradually becoming fervent, as if the liquid was very valuable.
This thing is called Life Spirit Liquid.
Besides the Desert Barrier where the energy is ten times stronger than the outside world, everyone's strength improvement cannot do without its help.
Aiersi distributed this to everyone in the Desert Barrier.
While their strength indeed increased quickly, strength doesn't come for free, and strength obtained through external means isn't good, so after using it, everyone faced hellish training, spending two and a half years training in the Time Difference Magic array.
Not everyone received this, mainly because the training ground Aiersi set up inside was very dangerous, and without some strength, one wouldn't dare to enter.
Of course, the results after training were very significant, and it was no problem for them to fight opponents across ranks.
"By the way, this is your reward for planting the medicinal fields, but I advise you not to use it a second time.
It won't be very useful if you do."
"Got it, got it.
By the way, how much of this stuff do you actually have?" Ye Feng asked while collecting it in bottles.
Aiersi smiled: "What? Do you think you can drain my supplies?"
"No, no, I'm just curious where you got so much.
Even a single drop is hard to find in human society."
"I can make it whenever I want.
But I'm curious, what do you need so much for?"
"Hehe... I definitely have my plans."
Ye Feng smiled mysteriously, and after the last drop of Life Spirit Liquid entered the bottle, he tightened the cap and carefully put it away, treating it like a treasure.
"Master, you can leave with peace of mind.
I will send you to the closest place to that academy, and the rest is up to you.
I will take care of the Desert Barrier."
"I'm very relieved with you here, but sometimes don't mess around, just like..." Aiersi said, a mischievous smile appearing on her face, and this time she pointed behind Zi Ming.
"Oh... ah ah ah, oh dear..."
As soon as Zi Ming turned around, his pointed ear was tugged red by a small hand.
When he saw who it was, it was Xiao Huang.
She said aggressively: "If you dare to steal my honey again when I'm not around, you'll get what's coming to you."
"What's coming to me, good, good!" Zi Ming said excitedly.
In his opinion, stealing honey and getting something in return, who wouldn't want that?
Xiao Huang's face turned purple with anger, and she opened her cherry-red mouth and bit directly on Zi Ming's ear.
"Ow... it hurts... let go!"
Zi Ming was in so much pain he doubted life itself.
He finally managed to shake her off and touched his ear with lingering fear.
Thankfully, it was still there, but what he didn't know was that besides the teeth marks, half of his face was swollen purple, clearly poisoned.
"Pfft..." Ye Feng and the others were stifling their laughter, but Zi Ming remained unfazed.
"I know I'm poisoned, but I know Xiao Huang would never kill me."
He was very confident because, countless times, he had become immune to these things and knew that Xiao Huang wouldn't kill him, at most it would hurt a billion times more than before.
"Don't worry, I really can't do anything to you, but you should be careful with that poison.
I'm not sure what will happen."
"You always use the same few poisons, what else is there?"
"I did a little something..." Xiao Huang snapped her fingers with a mischievous smile, and Zi Ming immediately fell to the ground, as if his whole body was powerless.
"How do you feel? The kind where you can be manipulated, you know..."
"I always feel like you have ulterior motives..." Zi Ming was also helpless at this moment, but suddenly he seemed to think of something, and his eyes lit up as he looked at Xiao Huang.
"Do you have a backup?"
"????"
"You pervert, I always feel like you don't use it for proper things."
"Have I ever done anything proper when I'm idle?"
Zi Ming said, looking at Aiersi with a lewd smile.
The other party, realizing something, politely kicked him back dozens of meters, his head hitting a rock, and only then did he quiet down.
"Get out! Don't even think about me.
If you dare to do that, you won't live to see tomorrow."
Aiersi looked a little angry.
Suddenly, Yin Lin darted out from the nearby grass, her small head shaking, and seeing Aiersi, she directly pounced into her arms.
"Meow? Yin Lin, weren't you sleeping?"
"I brought her.
This little one woke up restlessly and couldn't find you, so she was wandering around, and so I..." Xiao Huang explained.
"Oh, I see..."
Aiersi looked at Yin Lin, who was rubbing her small head against her.
She had no choice; this little fox still needed her personally, but she was also afraid that if she didn't have time to accompany her, she would cry and make a fuss, because time wouldn't be as abundant as it was now.
After much deliberation, she still decided to take her along.
"Yin Lin is very clingy to you.
She's not like this with anyone else.
Why is that?" Ye Feng asked curiously.
"Master is the best person to me.
She has always been with me and taught me everything, so she is the person I love most."
"Oh... oh oh oh!
Even more despicable than me, not even sparing someone so small.
Look how she's been deceived."
Zi Ming instantly teleported to Aiersi's ear and whispered, and as expected, something unexpected happened.
Aiersi immediately pressed his head into the ground.
"Hehe... I have no other intentions, unlike you.
You're improper; no normal person would say such a thing."
"For Master's safety, I'll go too.
It's good to not see that guy who steals my things, so I can have some peace and quiet."
Xiao Huang said, looking coldly at Zi Ming, who was being trampled underfoot.
Everyone knew she was also very annoyed, so she simply ignored him.
"I'm not as weak as you think."
"No, I must go."
With Xiao Huang's stubborn personality, Aiersi reluctantly had to take her along.
She secretly prayed in her heart that they wouldn't cause any major trouble, because her current strength wouldn't be able to stop it.
And at this moment, Ye Feng also came to join in the fun.
He was seen rolling his eyes, tentatively asking: "I wonder... does Master think one more person would make a difference?"
Aiersi gave him a strange look and thought for a moment.
"Fine, if you want to come, then come together, but don't cause trouble casually."
She knew that Ye Feng definitely wanted to learn something from her again, and this wasn't the first time.
After giving Zi Ming some instructions, she also took away the rare ores from this warehouse, as they were useless just sitting there.
With a Teleportation spell, Zi Ming sent the group away.