The Fog Sea spanned hundreds of thousands of miles in every direction. Consider this: Lin Lei's homeland, the Yulan Continent, was only twenty to thirty thousand miles across — its area was less than one percent of this Fog Sea!
Originally, vast numbers of people had been harvesting amethyst crystals at the edges of the Fog Sea. Combined, the total number of amethyst harvesters within the entire Fog Sea exceeded one hundred million. Of course, one hundred million Deity-level experts were nothing in the vast, boundless Infernal Realm.
Those hundred million people had been swallowed up. All that remained were the supervisory personnel from the Eighteen Families stationed at the outermost perimeter, along with the personnel inside the eighteen fortresses.
"Haha... billions of years of harvesting, and none of it compares to today's haul!" Above one of the ancient fortresses, a purple-robed figure's face was filled with anticipation. He barked orders at the people below. "Pass down the order — all supervisory teams are to collect amethyst crystals. Anyone caught hoarding them will be executed on the spot!"
"Yes, my lord!"
From this fortress alone, over a thousand people poured out like a flood. Meanwhile, scattered across the Amethyst Mountain Range in the sky, the large numbers of personnel who had been wearing standardized robes — serving as both supervisors and collectors — began frantically gathering amethyst crystals under orders. All of the Eighteen Families' personnel started collecting like mad.
Whoever collected more and faster would naturally earn more!
At the churning, trembling periphery of the Fog Sea, countless figures darted about, catching the amethyst crystals that flew outward at tremendous speed and storing them in spatial rings.
"So many amethyst crystals?" A bald man in a standardized robe muttered, waving his hand to directly capture a cluster of crystals flying toward him into his spatial ring. "Is this even harvesting? It's practically robbing a bank. I really wish I could pocket a few for myself."
The subordinates of the Eighteen Families were shocked, their eyes covetous. But none dared hoard anything.
Because after every collection session, their spatial rings were inspected. Not a single amethyst crystal was permitted to be kept.
"How many amethyst crystals will the family end up with this time? I alone have collected over a hundred thousand. Our family has a hundred thousand people like me — good heavens, that's over ten billion amethyst crystals! That's nearly a hundred trillion inkstones!" Those collectors did a rough calculation and were left trembling.
And this had only been going on for a short while.
The Fog Sea was still churning and surging, with enormous quantities of amethyst crystals still flying outward at tremendous speed.
It was a fact that the Eighteen Families' usual harvests over billions of years couldn't match the Fog Tide's yield in a single day.
"Hurry up, all of you!" the higher-ups shouted. "Collect faster — don't let the other families get ahead of us!" While shouting, they occasionally condescended to reach out and gather some amethyst crystals themselves. After all, sometimes a single cluster contained hundreds of thousands of crystals.
That was billions in wealth!
Robbing a bank! The speed was utterly outrageous.
No wonder even the Eighteen Families grew excited over the Fog Tide.
The Fog Tide brought enormous wealth to the Eighteen Families. But it also swept up all those pitiful mid-stage Deities and low-stage Deities. Because the Fog Sea had suddenly expanded by nearly ten miles in every direction, anyone who had been at the edges was now engulfed within that ten-mile range.
A hundred meters was already the danger zone. Ten miles?
Not a single person would make it back!
Lin Lei, Dilia, Bei Bei, and Olivier had been chatting and laughing, planning to head to a restaurant for a meal. But they never expected the Fog Sea to expand in an instant.
Normally, the Fog Sea was constantly churning. Moreover, since they were already near its edge, they couldn't perceive the expansion. On top of that, the Fog Sea expanded far too quickly — in the blink of an eye, all four of them were engulfed in the danger zone!
They hadn't entered voluntarily, but the Fog Sea had expanded on its own. Ten miles deep into the Fog Sea?
At a hundred meters, you already felt your head spinning.
Ten miles deep?
"Whoosh, whoosh~~~" The low, moaning wind howled ceaselessly, waves of it assaulting one's soul. A typical mid-stage Deity caught in this environment would instantly fall into confusion. But Lin Lei, who possessed a sovereign-grade soul defense artifact, was still able to maintain clarity.
After parting ways with the Volcanic Giant Poslor, Lin Lei and the others had trained for twenty years.
During those twenty years, Lin Lei had refined a vast number of amethyst crystals to strengthen his soul. He had also worked diligently to repair the damaged spot on his sovereign-grade soul defense artifact. By now, the "patch" over the damage possessed a respectable level of defensive power.
"What's going on?" Lin Lei struggled to stay clear-headed.
"Boss, my head hurts so much." Bei Bei shook his head violently. "But I can still stay conscious." He abruptly closed his eyes and reopened them, trying to clear his mind.
Lin Lei glanced back. Bei Bei seemed alright — he could still maintain clarity. But Dilia and Olivier...
Although both had reached the Highgod stage, Dilia had no soul defense artifact. On top of that, she had become a Deity by refining a divine spark. Although she had absorbed some Soul Pearls, under the assault of the eerie wind sounds, she had grown hazy and confused.
"Lin... Lin Lei... I... my head hurts so much..." Dilia struggled to squeeze out a few words.
Lin Lei immediately grabbed Dilia's hand. He could understand her condition — in this environment, merely staying conscious was difficult, let alone using divine sense to communicate telepathically. Dilia could barely manage two or three words at a time, and even her eyes alternated between moments of clarity and moments of confusion.
"Boss, Olivier's losing consciousness." Bei Bei also gripped Olivier's hand, worried that Olivier might drift away.
"Olivier has lost consciousness too?" Lin Lei was secretly alarmed. Olivier had undergone soul mutation, yet even he couldn't withstand this.
Lin Lei looked around. Visibility in the Fog Sea was extremely low — they could barely see a hundred meters ahead. He fought through waves of dizziness to study his surroundings. But no matter where he looked, it was all white, hazy fog.
"Boss, it's all white fog. We can't see the outside anymore!" Bei Bei cried out in alarm.
Lin Lei couldn't help recalling what people had told him when he first came here — "Once you enter the depths and can no longer see the outside, you'll never make it out!"
"Boss, are we... are we going to be trapped in here?" Bei Bei said through gritted teeth, fighting the dizziness. He also possessed a soul defense artifact. Although it wasn't as powerful as Lin Lei's, at least Bei Bei's artifact was intact.
"Trapped?"
Lin Lei's expression suddenly changed. "Bei Bei, do you notice anything strange?"
"Strange?" Bei Bei was somewhat puzzled.