Safe Underground? First Ask My Hundred-Thousand-Li Whale Body!
Beneath Xuanhuang Ridge, the figure of Mountain-Devouring Zheng swiftly traversed the rock strata, thick Earth Sha flowing across its body. The originally hard rocks slowly separated upon encountering that force, only to reassemble after it passed, leaving behind only a small amount of chaotic earth energy.
Qi Yan had just closed several peripheral flow- Restraining Patterns when he noticed a shallow branch vein in the northwest direction trembling violently. His expression immediately darkened, and he raised his front hooves, preparing to temporarily seal the passage between that branch vein and the core.
"It's entered the outer drainage channel!" Qi Yan shouted a warning, his body glowing with a bright, earthy-yellow light. "Qi Yue, go and stabilize the southern branch; don't let this thing make its way into the core area!"
Without hesitation, Qi Yue arrived at the other side of the valley with Earth Vein Restraining Patterns slowly operated, and the Wu Earth Essence Qi was originally flowing towards the center gradually converged. Several passages that could be easily used by the Mountain-Devouring Zheng also narrowed.
The Mountain-Devouring Zheng quickly noticed the change. It had originally planned to rush directly towards the sedimentary sand accumulation area along a relatively soft rock layer, but as soon as it got close, it found that the earth energy in front of it had suddenly solidified, and the passage that could have been passed through smoothly had turned into a hard stone wall.
"The Qilin Clan really knows how to guard the mountain," it cursed inwardly. Then it changed direction, its Earth Sha Principle flowing through it again, preparing to go around through a narrower crevice in the rock beside it.
Ke Qi Yan had clearly discovered the weak point in advance. The Vein-Guarding Restraining Patterns lit up rapidly, and the rocks on both sides of the ground began to converge towards the middle. Although the Mountain-Devouring Zheng was able to forcefully break through, its speed was significantly slowed down as a result.
Above Xuanhuang Ridge, Lu Yuan kept observing the underground activity through his Divine Sense. He didn't rush down, but instead memorized the earth energy fluctuations caused by Mountain-Devouring Zheng's every movement. He soon discovered that every time the creature changed direction, an extremely small earth spirit ripple would appear in the nearby rock layers.
"So it was using the earth's energy to burrow through the inside." Lu Yuan gradually came to a conclusion. Although the Mountain-Devouring Zheng could pass through thick rock layers, it still needed to use the surrounding Earth Sha to adjust its body. When it encountered an important branch that the Qilin Clan had sealed off in advance, its movement speed would decrease rapidly.
He looked up at Qi Yue: "I'm not familiar with the underground area. You guys keep an eye on its location for me. I'll suppress a few places where it might pop out and prevent it from rushing out."
Qi Yue was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but then he realized that Lu Yuan was planning to use his size to restrict his opponent. He quickly pointed out that there were several relatively solid ancient rock platforms on the outer edge of Xuanhuang Ridge. These platforms were far from the core earth veins and could withstand a certain amount of external pressure.
"Fellow Daoist, please select those rocky platforms first. The soil layer in other places is relatively thin. If you apply too much force, the earth veins below may also crack," Qi Yue said seriously, and then used his Divine Sense to point out the locations of several important branch veins for Lu Yuan to inspect.
After carefully confirming the situation, Lu Yuan slowly moved his massive body, gradually bringing a portion of his abdomen closer to the outermost ancient rock platform. He controlled the force of his movement through the void, allowing only a small amount of weight to evenly press down on the ground along the rock platform, while his massive body always maintained the upward lifting force.
Rumble!
The once flat rock platform suddenly trembled, the surface rocks were compressed even more tightly, and several loose cracks nearby gradually closed. A dark gold scale armor stretching for thousands of miles slowly covered the area that could have broken through the ground.
The young Qilin in the distance paled at the sight. The Blue-Horned Qilin almost rushed over, but then realized that although the rock platform below was under pressure, the core earth vein remained stable, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"He really thought he was a mountain pressing down on us?" the Blue-Horned Qilin exclaimed, its eyes filled with shock. "Such a huge body, yet he could only suppress those few rock platforms?"
The Red-Maned Qilin was equally dumbfounded. It had been worried that the giant whale would crush Xuanhuang Ridge if it approached casually, but Lu Yuan actually controlled the weight, keeping the area that actually bore the pressure within the range of the rock platform designated by Qi Yue.
The Mountain-Devouring Zheng underground quickly sensed the abnormality. It was originally planning to rush up an ancient rock platform and continue searching for sediment in a different direction, but as soon as it approached the surface, it felt an indescribable heavy pressure from above.
"What's pressing down on it?" Mountain-Devouring Zheng was startled and quickly released his Divine Sense to investigate. He then saw an endless expanse of dark gold scales steadily covering the spot where he was about to float up.
It originally felt very safe underground, but now that it truly felt the weight, its eyes gradually changed. Even without launching a direct attack, the giant whale's mere presence made it difficult for the surrounding rock layers to move.
Undeterred, Mountain-Devouring Zheng immediately turned to another rock platform, preparing to rush out from there. However, just as it approached, Lu Yuan slowly turned his body according to the location provided by Qi Yue, and another huge fin-like edge moved over accordingly.
Boom!
The originally soft ground surface was compressed again, and the earth escape path that Xi Yue Xie had just opened was immediately blocked. Its body was even squeezed slightly by the surrounding rock formations, and the anger in its heart finally became stronger and stronger.
"Damn it, how can such a big body move around!" Mountain-Devouring Zheng couldn't help but roar. He then tried to go around to a distance, but found that Qi Yan had sealed off several important branches again. If he wanted to continue to approach the sedimentary sand gathering place, he had to repeatedly travel around the surface covered by Lu Yuan.
Qi Yue looked at the increasingly obvious Earth Sha fluctuations below the strata, and a look of joy immediately appeared in his eyes. He had not expected that this giant whale could restrain the Mountain-Devouring Zheng in such a simple way, without directly destroying the mountain range, and it had significantly affected the Earth Escape that it was originally so proud of.
He also discovered something to be pleased about: every time the Mountain-Devouring Zheng changed its underground direction, it would leave behind a large amount of Earth Sha fluctuations nearby. Lu Yuan has now gradually figured out its habits, and he can move his fins in advance to suppress the more solid entrances and exits without the Qilin Clan having to remind him repeatedly.
Qi Yan was initially worried that the Vein-Guarding Restraining Patterns were being consumed too quickly, but now that he realized the rock platforms that had been suppressed no longer needed additional reinforcement, he finally felt relieved. He was even able to allocate more of his power to protect the truly important core of the earth vein.
"Fellow Daoist Lu Yuan, now's the time! The passage in the northwest has been closed!" Qi Yue immediately transmitted his voice, and then controlled the surrounding earth energy to further reduce the outer rock fissures that the Mountain-Devouring Zheng could utilize.
Lu Yuan nodded slightly, continuing to control his body to maintain even pressure. Although the surface rock layer continued to vibrate, there was no large-scale collapse. The Qilin Clan who were originally tense gradually understood that this suppression method had indeed avoided the most important core of the earth vein.
A young Qilin finally couldn't help but exclaim, "Elder, that Mountain-Devouring Zheng has been blocked and circled around several times! Wasn't it the best at burrowing underground before? How come it can't even find an exit today?"
After listening, Qi Yan's face showed a rare smile, but he did not relax. After all, Mountain-Devouring Zheng had the cultivation of Great Luo Immortal. If he really unleashed the Earth Sha Principle, the outer Restraining Patterns could still be impacted.
Deep underground, the Mountain-Devouring Zheng had completely lost patience. It tried several exits, but all of them were restricted by Lu Yuan's massive body. Furthermore, the Qilin Clan kept blocking the earth veins from the side. Its once confident Earth Escape is a technique for escaping obstacles) had now become a hindrance to itself.
"You think you can trap me like this?" Mountain-Devouring Zheng finally roared in fury, his Great Luo Law Power surging rapidly within him. Large swathes of rocks and Earth Sha were drawn in and began to condense into a colossal mountain shadow underground.
As the Dharma Form gradually took shape, the rock strata on the northwest side of Xuanhuang Ridge trembled violently once again, and an earth-based pressure far heavier than before slowly rose, causing the originally stable earth energy to fluctuate significantly.
Lu Yuan sensed the change, his golden eyes narrowed slightly, and his enormous fins slowly rose. True power began to gather deep within his bones, while the earth-evil Earth Sha Dharma Form underground was also continuously expanding upwards along the rock strata.