Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 278
A minute later, Li Yao inputted Team Blue Bronze's discoveries into the telepathic thought ball and reset the barrier, before disguising it as a stone and tossing it into a corner again.
Team Blue Bronze marched toward the depths of the underground!
The crevice gradually turned into wide pathway. There was a circle of lackluster blueish crystals on the wall of the cave every thousand meters.
The crystals were also left by the previous adventurers. Judging from their brightness, they must've been established more than five thousand years ago.
The pathway had been built based on a natural cave with additional manual tunnels. Therefore, straight lines occurred every once in a while. It was quite convenient for their journey.
After walking more than seventy kilometers, they finally reached the end of the pathway. In front of them was an enormous cave!
No. It was inappropriate to call a space the size of several flying crystal arenas a 'cave'. The place itself was a world!
Thousands of meters above their heads, countless bright silver crystal stalagmites were growing and emitting endless light and heat. Looking from afar, they looked like blurry stars.
On the wall and the ground of the underground world, all kinds of creatures were thriving.
Li Yao noticed a lot of giant, bright grey fungi and ferns which looked like an odd primitive forest.
Many vines were wriggling slowly on the walls. Hearing the noise of the newcomers, they were moving faster than before. Almost a hundred lumps protruded from the messy vines and blossomed like a flower, revealing sharp teeth that looked like the fangs of a brutalist serpent.
The underground world had its own unique biological system.
The weirdest thing was the lake in the center of the underground world, which was bright silver and perfectly round.
Chapter 408: Frightening Silver Lake |
The silver lake was about a hundred meters in diameter. It was transparent, and its edge was absolutely smooth without any flaws, as if a splendid silver gem had been embedded in the dark world 7,000 meters underground, enshrouded in an enticing air.
Suddenly, a drop of silver liquid fell from the 'sky' into the lake, raising layered ripples which spread out into dazzling stripes and didn't die down until half a minute later.
Li Yao adjusted the resolution of a crystal camera for long-distance detection in the middle of his helmet at the cost of a huge amount of spiritual energy. He observed the dome and discovered that the silver stalagmites hanging from the dome all had drops of liquid on their tips.
Although the speed of the gathering was quite slow, there were tens of thousands of stalagmites in this place.
Therefore, a drop of liquid would fall down thousands of meters about every half a minute.
In the underground world's air, a weird wind out of nowhere was raging, forming an invisible swirl in the shape of funnel.
The silver liquid dripping from the stalagmites in the periphery was also sent precisely to the center of the lake in a helix. There was not a single drop on the shore.
"The lake was made up by the silver liquid after billions of years of accumulation? Natural paradises are indeed marvelous places!"
Li Yao was greatly amazed.
He had never seen such a marvel in the Heaven's Origin Sector. The mysterious world of Cultivation had just been revealed to him even more.
"By preliminary analysis, the silver lake contains abundant spiritual energy, with a concentration higher than that of the most advanced strengthening drug produced in the Heaven's Origin Sector. This is actually a lake of strengthening drug!
"I estimate that there are one or even more spiritual lodes with an amazing reserve of high-purity crystals that are rarely seen in the Heaven's Origin Sector on the top of the dome. The silver liquid is a result of the chemical reaction. Under high pressure, it is naturally trying to find a way out. Over time, it gradually leaked out and formed this silver lake!
"As for the specific components of the lake water, I need to analyze the sample of the water.
"Wait a moment, the plants surrounding the lake, they are…"
Yan Yangtian, the scout of the team, was wearing a crystal suit similar to the Mournful Mist Battlesuit, which had been specially installed with the most advanced probe and stealth magical equipment in all the six crystal suits here.
Almost ten sensors extended from the gaps of her crystal suit, allowing her to examine the status of the silver lake even if she was just under a thousand meters away.
At this moment, she was taking pictures of the plants near the silver lake and comparing them with the files stored in the database of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
"Hiss!"
Very soon, Yan Yangtian's voice in the communication channel was so thrilled that it almost sounded like someone else. "Two kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures have been detected. One of them has features 99.8% identical to those of the Flowing Brightness Grass, while the other is 99.9% similar to the Heart Locking Flower!
"It is safe to conclude that they are the rarely-seen special Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Heaven's Origin Sector, Flowing Brightness Grass and Heart Locking Flower!
"This trip is already very rewarding!"
Yan Yangtian was talking loudly and rapidly. Every word was like a sparkle igniting the passion in everyone's eyes.
Li Yao swallowed uncontrollably.
Flowing Brightness Grass and Heart Locking Flower were both super Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that ranked in the top 100 of the Heaven's Origin Sector's rarest.
Flowing Brightness Grass was not valuable by itself. But it was often rooted in a kind of super marrow crystal named 'Flowing Brightness Stone'.
Flowing Brightness Stone was known as a marrow crystal of marrow crystals. The spiritual energy stored inside them was ten times more powerful than that from common marrow crystals. The most distinguishing part was that the spiritual energy was extremely mild, making it one of the few marrow crystals that could be absorbed by the Cultivators directly!
Heart Locking Flower, as its name suggested, could free the mind of a Cultivator from foreign disturbances. It was very useful when the Cultivator was practicing a tricky martial art or trying to make a major breakthrough.
According to the calculation, after drinking the Heart Locking Liquid refined out of Heart Locking Flower, the odds of derangement of the Cultivator over the following 72 hours would be reduced by more than 80%.
For low-level Cultivators, it might not be of much value. But for Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who were approaching their limits and on the verge of derangement whenever they wanted to move further, Heart Locking Flower was even more valuable than Flowing Brightness Crystal.
Priceless was not a proper word to describe the two Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. There was nowhere to buy them even if someone had offered a price!
In the largest auctions of the Heaven's Origin Sector, a Flowing Brightness Crystal of mediocre quality or a broken Heart Locking Flower was already enough to serve as the ultimate treasure for bidding!
Li Yao once saw the records of Occult Orbs Fellowship. In one of the Occult Orbs, to fight for three Heart Locking Flowers, two Star Teams were engaged with the exploration squad of the demon race in a fierce battle. Eventually, two Orb Patrollers perished in order to bring the Heart Locking Flowers back to the Heaven's Origin Sector.
Right now, there were more than thirty Heart Locking Flowers in this place and as much Flowing Brightness Grass.
This whole area was really tremendously valuable!
"Calm down, we must calm down. There's no reason such precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures would just grow here and wait to be picked so vulnerably. That's illogical!"
Li Yao bit his lips hard and refreshed his mind with the sharp pain.
Captain Hong Tong said in the communication channel, "Don't be hasty, guys. I feel that something is wrong with the underground world.
"Look, there is a biological system on Ultimacy with multiple kinds of creatures.
"Even the ancient Cultivators knew that Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were often guarded by strong spiritual beasts. Those who are bewildered by the treasures will only end up as their food."
Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were guarded by strong spiritual beasts. It was not a superstition but a very simple fact.
Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were usually grown in the natural paradises where spiritual energy was abundant, which were often home to strong spiritual beasts, too.
Even if the spiritual beasts were not strong, their body and blood would be significantly improved after feeding on Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for generations or even hundreds of generations, even though their absorption efficiency may not be very impressive.
The concentration of spiritual energy in the silver lake was higher than anyone could imagine. Even a flock of pigs would become war boars after drinking the lake water for hundreds of years.
But right now, the underground world was entirely silent, except for the dripping sound of silver liquid. There was no trace of any strong spiritual beasts. It was so quiet that it was almost scary.
Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said, "Let me have a try. The silver lake shouldn't be too dangerous.
"We were led to this place by Team Tiger Deity. If this place is unsafe, there would definitely be traces of a fight. They would've left messages for us even if they were forced to run away.
"But right now, there is nothing informative here, which means Team Tiger Deity passed by the lake without causing trouble. We should keep a safe distance from the lake."
While he was talking, two bumps on the back of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit opened slowly, releasing ten beast puppets that were no larger than bees toward the silver lake.
Everyone adjusted the resolution of their crystal cameras to the highest and unlocked the safeties of their remote magical equipment. Then, the attack rune arrays were set to the super sensitive state and locked onto the silver lake, ready to be activated at any time.
The ten beast puppets flapped their transparent wings made up of crystals and reached the silver lake quickly.
At first, they flew around the silver lake for a circle, and finding nothing abnormal, they moved toward the Heart Locking Flowers.
The mini crystal cameras on the heads of the beast puppets captured ten different pictures from different angels. Everything was peaceful.
"There seemed to be nothing…" Ba Weiqi couldn't help but comment.
Half way through his sentence, abrupt changes took place!
Of the fifty or so Heart Locking Flowers, twenty were trembling violently, while more than twenty black shadows dashed out from the earth under the Heart Locking Flowers.
The black shadows were moving at a surprisingly high speed. They almost reached the speed of sound within a moment. Most crystal cameras were only displaying blurred shadows.
Only several of the best crystal cameras were able to capture the image of the black shadows!
They were spiritual reptiles that had bright grey skin much like the color of the earth. Covered by layered scales, they looked like six-legged lizards.
What Team Blue Bronze thought to be 'Heart Locking Flowers' were actually the tongues of the six-legged lizards.
The six-legged lizards were moving fast, but their tongues were rolling even faster. The 'Heart Locking Flowers' on the tip of their tongues fragmented into four pieces momentarily, each piece with a sharp thorn protruding out. In the middle was an azure spicule!
If the tongue were to lick the body of a living creature, a large part of the flesh would definitely be sliced away!
"Crack!"
Li Yao sent out telepathic thoughts immediately. But there was no time. The ten beast puppets were pierced through by the tongues of the lizards and swallowed by them!
It was indeed a trap!
The lizard spiritual beasts living together with the Heart Locking Flowers had tongues duplicating the appearance of the flowers after thousands of years of evolution. Even the high-resolution crystal cameras had been deceived!
Lying in wait among the real Heart Locking Flowers, they had been hiding themselves under the cover of the spiritual energy released by the flowers. Countless underground creatures must've been attracted by the false Heart Locking Flowers and killed by their sharp tongues miserably, even if they were just trying to drink some water from the lake.
But it was not the end yet.
Hardly had the six-legged lizards appeared when bubbles started popping up in the silver lake as if it were boiling.
More than ten limbs riddled with holes that looked both like tentacles and vines whipped at the lizards brutally, producing earsplitting noises.
The lizards shrieked and fled to the underground hurriedly.
Two of them were not fast enough and were snatched by the tentacles from the lake.
A huge amount of green liquid was immediately sprayed out from the holes on the tentacles, which corroded the shells of the six-legged lizards quickly. It seemed to be narcotic, too. The lizards that were struggling desperately a moment ago collapsed like two clusters of mud.
Before the tentacles were able to pull the two preys back to the bottom of the lake, a third accident took place!
An almost transparent silver brightness blinked in the midair. A tentacle was cut off and dragged to the sky by an invisible object.
In the air above the silver lake, unseen predators were still lurking in the darkness!
Chapter 409: All Looted! |
Cold sweat was trickling down Li Yao's back.
It was within his expectations that strong predators might be hiding on the shore and inside the lake. But he didn't anticipate that there were invisible creatures in the air, too.
A lot of green liquid spurted out from the fracture of the broken tentacle of the strange beast inside the lake. The broken tentacle quickly withered into something like a snake.
Li Yao hurriedly activated all his probe magical equipment and released his telepathic thoughts which rippled out and sensed what was there.
Just now, his attention had been focused on the silver lake and its surroundings. The area above the lake had been overlooked by him. Since the beasts were floating in the air without any action, he hadn't noticed their existence at all.
Now that the transparent beasts had launched their attacks, naturally, there were biological reactions in their bodies. The circulation of body liquid, the rhythm of muscle movement, and their breathing all left traces.
Therefore, almost ten shadows that looked like giant bats appeared on the light beams of the six crystal suits.
The long, soft tails behind them were sucking the tentacle of the beast in the lake like a straw, while they spat silver lasers from their mouths which seemed as sharp as the swords and sabers of the Cultivators.
The strange beast in the lake had lost one of its tentacles, but it had secured one of the six-legged lizard, too. It seemed to be in no mood to deal with the transparent bats, because its tentacles retreated to the bottom of the lake quickly. After a long series of bubbles, the lake went quiet again.
After hovering for a while, the transparent bats flew to the crags and vanished among the vines.
The six-legged lizards were even faster them. They had camouflaged themselves and lurked under the earth again.
At first glance, the underground world was as peaceful as half a minute ago. The vague stink of blood and acid in the air was the only proof that a soul-stirring hunt had taken place a moment ago.
To hunt and to be hunted. Life underground seemed rather cruel.
Captain Hong Tong frowned and said, "Let's just bypass the lake. The spiritual beasts here seemed to only be interested in the creatures coming close to the silver lake. There shouldn't be a problem if we keep a distance from them.
"Team Tiger Deity must've circumvented the place, too. More secret treasures are buried deep underground. We ought not waste our spiritual energy in this place.
"If we have no gains, we can always excavate the Flowing Brightness Crystals and the Heart Locking Flowers on our way back."
The proposal was very practical, but Li Yao disagreed.
"I think we should excavate the Flowing Brightness Crystals and the Heart Locking Flowers right now.
"First of all, the creatures in this underground world aren't morons. If faked Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were everything in this place, there wouldn't be too many prey falling into their traps. Their trick would be seen through very quickly.
"The fact that the six-legged lizards have tongues almost identical to the Heart Locking Flowers is evident enough that most of the Flying Brightness Grass and Heart Locking Flowers here are real. It is the only motivation for the prey to risk coming to the lake, even if they know there might be ambushes.
"Therefore, there's no need to fear that we will get nothing after a fierce battle.
"In the meantime, the attack pattern and the damage of the three spiritual beasts that we saw just now, although weird, are still comprehensible. They can be blocked and resolved, too.
"Their intelligence seems not very high, either, otherwise they wouldn't have gobbled up the beast puppets that I sent out without examining what they were.
"I feel that they are just spiritual beasts with strong instincts in hunting, but they haven't evolved to the level of demon beasts yet. Besides, in a monotonous biological system of an underground world, their methods of attack won't be very diversified. We should've seen most of their skills already.
"Considering the mess that they caused right now, stronger predators would've appeared if they existed, but they didn't. So, I assume that the spiritual beasts we saw were the strongest predators themselves.
"One bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. Our exploration has only just begun. Who knows what kind of weird situation we will be mired in later? Flowing Brightness Crystals can be absorbed directly to improve our strength; Heart Locking Flowers can be taken at critical moments to soothe the soul and prevent us from derangement. They might be very useful for our journey to come!
