Chapter 597 - 410: Black Earth and Cage (2)

"Foul beast, I’ll fight you to the death!"

Xu Qingxuan cried out and shot awake from his dream, drenched in a cold sweat.

’I’m not dead? Was that whole experience just a dream?’

Just a moment ago, Xu Qingxuan had vividly dreamed of his experience in the Barbaric Wilderness. A demonic beast army that blotted out the sun and sky had surged toward them like a tidal wave from the distance. Whether they were Golden Core cultivators or at the Foundation Establishment Stage, they were surrounded and slaughtered. Within moments, all of them were dead.

The cataclysm in Awakening Lion Valley had wide-reaching effects. Xu Qingxuan guessed that in the aftermath of this turmoil, at least a thousand of the cultivators adventuring within the valley must have died.

He had been one of those caught in the encirclement, but he had a rudimentary grasp of some Earth Element Escape Techniques and was faster than the others. That was how he avoided being killed at the very beginning. However...

He remembered that horrifying line of blood—an attack that brought certain death upon contact. It had come straight for him. Seeing that things were bad, he had desperately burrowed into the ground, pushing deeper and deeper against the Geomagnetic Power...

In the end, he had burrowed more than two thousand zhang deep, and his consciousness had started to fade. How had he ended up here?

’What is this place? Could it be some kind of underground cavity, or perhaps an undiscovered Blessed Land Grotto Heaven?’

Xu Qingxuan’s heart leaped with joy. No matter what, he had survived. But as he tried to get up, a sharp pain shot through both of his collarbones.

’This?’

Only then did Xu Qingxuan realize that his collarbones had been pierced and locked by some sharp instruments, suppressing his Spiritual Power so that it couldn’t circulate. He couldn’t even sense it.

’This is the work of a human! Strange... this is deep beneath Awakening Lion Valley. Could there really be other humans here?’

Xu Qingxuan wasn’t overly panicked. Simply not being dead was a blessing in itself. So what if he was captured? As long as they didn’t kill him, he could still negotiate and maneuver. It was far better than being melted into a puddle of blood by that crimson line.

Xu Qingxuan calmed his mind for the moment and observed his surroundings. As an Early-stage Golden Core cultivator, he still had his pride, even as a prisoner. But his Divine Sense and Magical Power were both sealed away, unusable. He could only rely on his naked eyes, but all he saw was pitch-black darkness. He couldn’t see a thing. No one was watching over him; there was only dead silence.

After a long while, sensing his condition was gradually worsening, Xu Qingxuan decided to shout, "Is anyone there? Why have you imprisoned me here!?"

"Stop shouting..."

The voice was ancient and ethereal, as faint as a gossamer thread. It seemed to come from somewhere not far in front of him, and it held no trace of hostility.

"Fellow Daoist!"

Xu Qingxuan’s spirits immediately lifted. "We have no grievances or grudges between us..."

"Heh heh..."

The other person let out a slow laugh, neither confirming nor denying anything.

First came the sound of something being rummaged through, followed by a sudden bright light as a piece of fluorite was tossed to the ceiling of the space.

"HISS!"

Xu Qingxuan sucked in a sharp breath. This place was practically a Cage of White Bones—everything was made of bone.

The outer walls, made from the skeletons of high-level beasts, barely held back the heavy earth on all sides. The floor was paved directly with skulls—no wonder his rear had felt so lumpy and uncomfortable. Even the restraints piercing his collarbones were a pair of bone chains.

The place was tiny, only about a zhang wide. Sitting face-to-face with him was a person completely enveloped in a black robe, holding Xu Qingxuan’s own storage bag and carefully rummaging through its contents with their head lowered.

Their movements were incredibly slow and feeble.

It seemed there were only the two of them here. After reaching Foundation Establishment, one could undergo Fasting. Seeing how weak the other person looked, he had no idea how many years they might have been trapped down here.

"Er..."

They were both fellow sufferers in a desolate place. Xu Qingxuan had wanted to say something to build rapport, but his gaze fell upon the other’s skeletal hands. That, combined with the Cage of White Bones, made everything click into place.

’It’s a Ghost Cultivator!’

He thought this, but swallowed the words that had been on the tip of his tongue. At the same time, his heart sank, becoming as immeasurably heavy as the packed earth surrounding them.

...

"Good job, Jinbao."

Outside the heavy earth, Jinbao’s golden eyes shone into the black soil ahead, revealing a crevice about two chi wide. It was constantly writhing, refusing to close no matter how much the surrounding black soil pressed in on it.

Just now, Jinbao had used its Spiritual Eye to find this crevice, and Fang Qingyuan had expended a great deal of effort to dig his way in from the outside.

This crevice was the largest one within a radius of dozens of li. Although it was only two chi wide, Fang Qingyuan believed he could squeeze through if he used a Body Cultivation Technique like the Bone Shrinking Technique.

The crevice was something akin to a spatial passage. Although the black soil around it was still churning, the two remained separate, like well water and river water. The black soil could not surge into the crevice.

These crevice passages usually didn’t last long. Most would disappear in two to three years. Some vanished in as little as a dozen shichen, and in extreme cases, they would appear and disappear intermittently, like shooting stars.

However, a crevice of this width was generally quite stable. Fang Qingyuan didn’t need to worry about it closing in on him halfway through. The only question was, did the other end of this crevice lead directly to the Ghost Cultivator’s location?

With these thoughts in mind, Fang Qingyuan took out the Unity Hammer and sent a thought into it. He then recalled Jinbao into the Immortal Mansion before walking up to the crevice and reaching a hand toward the surrounding black soil.

In the next instant, the black soil in front of Fang Qingyuan’s palm vanished. Meanwhile, in an empty space within the Immortal Mansion, a dark, sticky clump of clay fell from thin air, followed by a veritable rain of it.

That’s right. In the end, Fang Qingyuan chose not to gamble. He decided to absorb the black soil around the crevice into his Immortal Mansion and then proceed along the newly cleared path.

Inside the Immortal Mansion, the moment the clumps of black soil landed, the bottom layer touching the mansion’s ground dissolved and vanished, completely absorbed.

After the Immortal Mansion absorbed this black soil, the total amount of yuan qi inside it rose by a sliver. Although it wasn’t much, considering the seemingly endless supply of black soil, the conversion ratio was quite substantial.

The only thing limiting Fang Qingyuan now was the consumption of his Soul Power. However, the Soul Power required to collect the black soil was not much compared to his total reserves, and besides, he could always meditate to recover it.

Traversing the crevice was too risky. In the end, Fang Qingyuan opted for this slower, more painstaking method. As long as he could achieve his goal, being cautious was better.

As Fang Qingyuan waved his hands, the black soil before him continuously vanished. Although more soil still surged in from the sides, its pace slowed over time.

After all, the black soil was still soil, not fluid like water. It was exceedingly viscous, but it still retained a somewhat solid form. When it was removed too quickly, the surrounding soil couldn’t fill in the gap fast enough.

However, upon seeing the opening, Fang Qingyuan didn’t immediately move forward. Instead, he remained where he was and continued absorbing the black soil along the crevice. He was going to establish a foothold here. As for the mission?

’No need to rush!’