The aura of destruction surged wildly from the cracks left by the collapsing stone grotto behind them like thick ink, carrying the stench of sulfur and blood! Cold, chaotic whispers poured directly into their minds, tearing at their sanity!
Ying Zheng moved at the utmost speed! His black robes nearly became a dark streak ripping through the dim tunnel! One hand clutched Cheng Xi's arm tightly, while the other gripped the cluster of emerald-green roots wrapped around an enigmatic yellow crystal, still emitting a gentle radiance and boundless vitality! Dragged along by him, Cheng Xi's feet barely touched the ground. The howling wind filled his ears, along with the increasingly close, terrifying roar of rocks being torn apart and shattered by immense force behind them!
"Roar—!!!"
That inhuman howl exploded behind them again, carrying the fury of something startled awake! The stone grotto passage underwent a violent tremor, and fragments of rock rained down!
"Royal Brother! Let..." Cheng Xi's blood and qi churned from the jolting. He had barely begun to speak when Ying Zheng cut him off sharply:
"Shut up! Hold on tight!"
Ying Zheng's voice was cold and hard as iron, carrying unquestionable resolve. Without looking back, he simply pushed his speed to its limit! Daylight filtering in through the cave entrance ahead was already vaguely visible!
Just then, the system within Cheng Xi's sea of consciousness, which had just been filled to 15% after absorbing Xirang Crystal energy, suddenly sounded an urgent alarm:
[Warning! High-dimensional spatial disturbance! Direction: directly ahead (cave entrance)! Attribute: Order Locking/Tranquil Edict fluctuation! Associated imprint: Human Sect inheritance!... Distance: one hundred zhang! Estimated time until encounter: seven breaths!]
The Human Sect! That lingering ghost of a Tranquil Edict again! There was an ambush outside the cave entrance! Wolves ahead, claws from hell behind!
Despair crashed over him like ice water! Cheng Xi's gaze instantly swept across the Xirang Crystal clenched in Ying Zheng's hand! The enigmatic yellow core wrapped in Jianmu roots was producing a powerful, pulsating resonance with the earth beneath their feet! A mad thought flashed through the darkness like lightning!
"Royal Brother! Trust me! Downward!" Cheng Xi screamed with all his strength. He grabbed Ying Zheng's arm with his backhand and violently shoved him toward the stone wall of a side passage! At the same time, his entire will frantically drove the 15% system energy in his sea of consciousness, combining it with the pure, dense Earth Element Spiritual Energy that had just merged into his meridians, and poured it fiercely into his palm—directly at the Xirang Crystal!
"Buzz!"
The Xirang Crystal erupted with an unprecedented enigmatic yellow radiance! Rather than spread out, the light flowed like water into the Jianmu roots wrapped around it! Nourished by the vast earth-element origin, those slender emerald-green roots suddenly swelled and extended! Like countless spirit serpents, they stabbed fiercely into the rocky ground beneath the two of them!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
In the face of roots containing Earth Origin, even hard rock was pierced as easily as tofu!
[Energy guidance! Earth Element Law application: Basic Earth Vein Resonance! Objective: rock stratum softening/directional traversal!]
The system screen frantically flashed with data streams. Cheng Xi felt the ground vanish beneath his feet, and his body abruptly became weightless! What lay before him was no longer a dim tunnel, but blurry, distorted layers of rock rushing upward! The oppressive weight of earth and stone pressed in from all directions, only to be held back by a gentle yet heavy force!
Earth escape!
Using the origin power of the Xirang Crystal and the guidance of the Jianmu roots, he forcibly activated the most basic earth escape technique!
"You!" Ying Zheng only had time to let out a short, furious cry before Cheng Xi dragged him tightly along, and they both sank into the cold, hard rock strata!
Just as their figures disappeared into the stone!
Boom!!!
A majestic yet cold and merciless pale golden pillar of light, like a spear of heavenly punishment, struck the exact spot where they had vanished instantly! There was no earth-shattering explosion, only silent annihilation! The hard mountain rock vanished instantly like snow beneath the sun, leaving behind a bottomless cylindrical void of laws! A glass-like sheen lingered around the edges of the annihilated space!
Almost at the same time!
"Awooo—!!!"
Deep within the stone grotto, that terrifying gigantic claw covered with Dark Gold scales finally Tore Open the last stone wall blocking it! A ferocious head as large as a small mountain, covered in jagged bone spurs and Dark Gold scales, with eyes burning with chaotic flames, suddenly thrust out from the collapsing crack! It opened its enormous fanged maw toward the cave entrance and spit out a dark-red breath as viscous as magma, emitting the aura of destruction and sulfur!
The dark-red breath and the pale golden pillar of light collided violently in the center of the empty passage!
There was no thunderous sound! Only annihilation and dissolution at the law level, enough to cause Soul Freezing! Space twisted and shattered like fragile glass, revealing the bizarre and fantastic Chaos Color behind it! Violent energy turbulence instantly swept through the entire passage!
Cold! Hard! Suffocating!
That was what it felt like to sink underground. Cheng Xi felt like a stone cast into the deep sea, with boundless darkness and crushing pressure squeezing in from all directions. The only source of light was the Xirang Crystal in his hand, wrapped in Jianmu roots and emitting a gentle enigmatic yellow and emerald-green radiance, barely maintaining a tiny space large enough for the two of them to press closely together.
The Jianmu roots were like the most sensitive tentacles, painstakingly extending through the heavy rock strata, softening the stone and opening a passage. Every extension consumed the crystal's vast origin power. Cheng Xi focused completely, maintaining this fragile earth escape with all his strength as he guided the roots along the faint flow of Earth Vein Spiritual Qi, diving toward deeper, more stable rock layers.
Ying Zheng was at his side, his black robes pressed close, his aura cold and steady. In the darkness, Cheng Xi could clearly feel those abyss-like eyes fixed firmly upon his face. There was no questioning, no rebuke—only a heavy, nearly suffocating scrutiny and... a hint of indescribable heat.
Who knew how long passed? Perhaps only a moment, perhaps a long time. A barely perceptible fluctuation appeared in the Xirang Crystal's light, and the Jianmu roots' extension speed also slowed noticeably. Deep underground, an even deeper, more immense pulse faintly traveled through the thick rock strata, like the heartbeat of a sleeping beast.
[Warning! Earth Vein spiritual pressure rapidly rising! Current depth has reached the safety limit! Continuing downward will trigger uncontrollable Earth Vein impact!... A large natural cavity detected ahead...]
The system prompt was like a lifeline! Cheng Xi's spirits lifted, and he immediately guided the roots diagonally upward!
Pfft!
The resistance ahead suddenly vanished! Like breaking through water, the two of them burst from the hard rock wall and fell onto the cold, rough ground!
Momentum sent them rolling several zhang before they stopped. Cheng Xi gasped for breath, greedily inhaling air thick with the smell of earth but no longer suffocating. The Xirang Crystal's glow had dimmed considerably, and the Jianmu roots had withered and withdrawn, returning to their original form as a smooth fragment.
Before them lay a vast natural cavern. The ceiling towered overhead, hung with immense stalactites and stalagmites that gave off a faint, cold glow. The cave was not completely dark. Strange mosses and fungi emitting Pale Blue or milky-white fluorescence dotted the walls and floor like stars, providing a weak source of light. An underground river flowed silently along one side of the cavern, its water murmuring softly.
They were safe for the moment.
Cheng Xi struggled into a seated position and leaned against the cold rock wall as exhaustion surged over him like a tide. Though his sea of consciousness had stabilized from the replenished energy, forcibly using earth escape had greatly depleted him.
"Clatter."
Something fell from Ying Zheng's tightly clenched hand onto a nearby rock, making a crisp impact.
Cheng Xi looked over instinctively, and his pupils suddenly contracted!
It was a palm-sized bronze fragment with irregular edges. It was covered with ancient, profound patterns, and at its center was engraved a broken, ancient totem that looked like a burning sun! A faint yet incomparably pure... Fire Element Law fluctuation still remained on its surface!
Where had this fragment come from?!
Ying Zheng slowly raised his hand, staring at his empty palm before Looking at the bronze fragment on the ground that emitted mysterious fluctuations. For the first time, undisguised shock appeared on his stern face.
His gaze shot towards Cheng Xi.
Cheng Xi's heart felt as though it had been gripped by an icy hand. Following Ying Zheng's gaze, he looked at the Jianmu Fragment clenched in his own hand—on the edge of its smooth, emerald-green wood, a tiny fragment of scale gleaming with a Dark Gold luster was stuck fast!
The aura remaining on the scale was violent and chaotic, carrying sulfur and destruction. It was exactly the same as the Dark Gold giant claw that had Torn Open the stone wall in the grotto!
Their eyes met. Within the dim underground cavern, there was only deathly silence.
Ying Zheng slowly bent down and picked up the bronze fragment bearing the burning Sun Totem. His fingertips brushed across its incomplete patterns as he sensed the pure fire intent contained within it. He raised his head and once more looked at the Jianmu Fragment in Cheng Xi's hand, with the Dark Gold scale stuck to it. His voice was as low as the hidden currents surging beneath the earth:
"Looks like this royal brother of mine who 'picks up treasures' has brought out something even more troublesome than that stone..."
Before you continue