Earth Vein Startles Dragon

The aura of destruction surged out from the cracks of the collapsing cave behind them like thick ink, carrying the stench of sulfur and blood! Cold whispers of chaos directly flooded into their minds, tearing at their sanity!

Ying Zheng moved at extreme speed! His black robes became a blur, a black line tearing through the dim passage! He tightly gripped Cheng Xi's arm with one hand, while the other clutched the ball of green roots entwined with the Xuanhuang Crystal, which emanated a gentle radiance and boundless vitality! Cheng Xi was dragged along, his feet barely touching the ground, the wind whistling past his ears and the terrifying roar of rocks being torn apart by immense force growing closer behind them!

"Roar--!!!"

That inhuman roar exploded behind them again! Filled with the rage of being awakened! The cave passage trembled violently, and debris rained down!

"Royal Brother! Let..." Cheng Xi's blood essence churned from the jolting, and he was about to speak when Ying Zheng cut him off sternly:

"Shut up! Hold on tight!"

Ying Zheng's voice was as hard as iron, carrying an undeniable resolve. He didn't look back, merely pushing his speed to the limit! The daylight filtering in from the cave entrance ahead was already faintly visible!

Just then! In Cheng Xi's sea of consciousness, the System, which had just become 15% full from absorbing the Earth Vein energy, suddenly emitted a rapid alarm:

[Warning! High-dimensional spatial disturbance! Direction: Directly ahead (towards the cave entrance)! Attributes: Order Lock / Tranquil Commandment fluctuation! Associated Mark: Human Cultivation inheritance!... Distance: 100 zhang! Estimated encounter time: 7 breaths!]

Human Cultivation! That darn Tranquil Commandment again! Outside the cave entrance, there was an ambush! Wolves in front, and the giant claws of hell crawling from behind!

Despair washed over him like ice water! Cheng Xi's gaze instantly swept over the Xirang Crystal in Ying Zheng's hand! The Xuanhuang core, entwined by Jianmu roots, was resonating intensely, pulsing with the earth beneath their feet! A crazy thought flashed through his mind like lightning splitting the darkness!

"Royal Brother! Trust me! Go down!" Cheng Xi roared with all his might, grabbing Ying Zheng's arm and shoving him hard towards the stone wall of the side passage! At the same time, he poured all his will, frantically activating the 15% System energy in his sea of consciousness, combined with the pure and dense Earth Element Spiritual Energy that had just merged into his meridians, into his palm—targeting the Xirang Crystal!

"Buzz!"

The Xirang Crystal erupted with unprecedented Xuanhuang light! The light didn't spread out but flowed like water, instantly infusing into the Jianmu roots that enveloped it! Nourished by the boundless Earth Element source, the slender green roots suddenly grew and extended! Like countless spirit snakes, they firmly burrowed into the rocky ground beneath their feet!

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The hard rock, in the face of roots imbued with the source of the earth, was easily pierced as if it were tofu!

[Energy channeling! Earth Element Law application: Basic Earth Vein Resonance! Target: Rock layer softening / directional traversal!]

The System's light screen frantically displayed streams of data! Cheng Xi felt his feet go empty, his body suddenly losing its weight! Before him was no longer a dim passage, but rapidly ascending, blurred, and distorted rock layers! The oppressive weight of the earth and stone pressed in from all sides, yet it was repelled by a gentle, heavy force!

Earth Evasion!

Using the source power of the Xirang Crystal and the guidance of the Jianmu roots, he forcefully activated the most basic Earth Evasion technique!

"You!" Ying Zheng only had time to let out a short, startled cry before Cheng Xi tightly pulled him, sinking together into the cold, hard rock layer!

The instant their figures merged into the rock!

BOOM!!!

A majestic yet cold and merciless pale golden pillar of light, like a spear of divine punishment, struck precisely where they had vanished! There was no earth-shattering explosion, only silent annihilation! The hard mountain rock, like snow in the sun, instantly disappeared, leaving a bottomless cylindrical void of rules! The edges of the annihilation retained a glass-like sheen!

Almost simultaneously!

"Aooo--!!!"

From the depths of the cave, that terrifying claw covered in dark gold scales finally tore through the last stone barrier! A monstrous head, the size of a small mountain, covered in jagged bone spurs and dark gold scales, with eyes burning with chaotic flames, thrust out from the collapsing cracks! It opened its fanged maw and spewed a dark red breath, viscous like lava and emitting an aura of destruction and sulfur, towards the cave entrance!

The dark red breath and the pale golden pillar collided in the empty passage!

There was no loud noise! Only a soul-freezing, law-level annihilation and dissolution! Space twisted and shattered like fragile glass! Revealing the bizarre, colorful hues of Chaos behind it! Violent energy turbulence instantly swept through the entire passage!

Cold! Hard! Suffocating!

This was the sensation of sinking into the earth. Cheng Xi felt like a pebble dropped into the deep sea, boundless darkness and heavy pressure squeezing in from all sides. The only light source was the Xirang Crystal wrapped in Jianmu roots in his hand, emitting a gentle Xuanhuang and green radiance, barely creating a small space for the two of them to press close together.

The Jianmu roots, like the most sensitive feelers, struggled to extend forward through the thick rock layers, softening the rock and opening a passage. Each extension consumed the boundless source power within the crystal. Cheng Xi's mind was highly concentrated, fully maintaining this fragile Earth Evasion, guiding the roots along the faint flow of Earth Vein spiritual energy, stealthily moving towards deeper, more stable rock layers.

Ying Zheng was beside him, his black robes pressed close, his aura cold and steady. In the darkness, Cheng Xi could clearly feel his eyes, like an abyss, fixed on his face. There were no questions, no reprimands, only a heavy, almost suffocating scrutiny and... a hint of indescribable heat.

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps a moment, perhaps a long while. The light of the Xirang Crystal began to show a subtle fluctuation, and the speed at which the Jianmu roots extended noticeably slowed. From the depths of the earth, a deeper, more vast pulsation, like the heartbeat of a sleeping giant, could be faintly felt through the thick rock layers.

[Warning! Earth Vein spiritual pressure rising sharply! Current depth has reached the safety limit! Continuing downwards will trigger uncontrollable Earth Vein impact!... Detecting a large natural cavity ahead...]

The System's prompt was like a lifeline! Cheng Xi's spirit lifted, and he immediately guided the roots to slant upwards!

Thwack!

The resistance ahead suddenly disappeared! The two of them burst out of the hard rock wall as if breaking through water, falling heavily onto the cold, rough ground!

Inertia sent them tumbling several zhang before they stopped. Cheng Xi gasped for air, greedily breathing in the air that carried a strong earthy scent but was no longer suffocating. The Xirang Crystal's light had dimmed considerably, and the Jianmu roots had withered and retracted, returning to that warm, fragmented piece.

Before them was a vast natural cave. The ceiling was high, with massive stalactites hanging down, emitting a faint, cold glow. The cave was not completely dark; some strange mosses and fungi, emitting a pale blue or milky white fluorescence, dotted the cave walls and ground like stars, providing a faint light source. An underground river flowed silently along one side of the cavern, the sound of water gurgling.

Temporarily safe.

Cheng Xi struggled to sit up, leaning against the cold rock wall, exhaustion washing over him like a tide. Although his sea of consciousness was stable due to energy replenishment, the strenuous activation of Earth Evasion had consumed a great deal.

Clink.

Something fell from Ying Zheng's tightly clenched hand onto the nearby rock, making a crisp sound.

Cheng Xi subconsciously looked over, his pupils contracting sharply!

It was a palm-sized, irregularly edged bronze fragment. The fragment was covered in ancient and profound patterns, and in the center, a broken ancient totem, like a burning sun, was clearly carved! A faint but incredibly pure… fluctuation of Fire Element Law still lingered on the surface of the fragment!

Where did this fragment come from?!

Ying Zheng slowly raised his hand, looking at his empty palm, then at the bronze fragment emitting mysterious fluctuations on the ground. For the first time, his stern face revealed an undisguised astonishment.

His gaze suddenly shot towards Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi's heart felt as if it were being squeezed by a cold hand. Following Ying Zheng's gaze, he looked at the Jianmu Fragment clutched tightly in his own hand—along the emerald, warm wooden edge, there was stuck a tiny, minuscule piece of a scale, shimmering with a dark golden hue!

The aura remaining on the scale was violent, chaotic, carrying the scent of sulfur and destruction, identical to the dark golden giant claw that had torn through the cave wall!

The two men's eyes met. In the dim underground cavern, there was a dead silence.

Ying Zheng slowly bent down and picked up the bronze fragment burning with the Sun Totem. His fingertips brushed over the incomplete patterns, feeling the pure Fire Element Law contained within. He raised his head, looking again at the Jianmu Fragment in Cheng Xi's hand, to which the dark golden scale was stuck. His voice was as deep as the hidden currents surging beneath the earth:

"It seems the 'treasures' my Royal Brother, who is so fond of 'picking things up,' has brought out are more troublesome than that stone..."