Earth Vein Spiritual Milk

Those few Earth Crystal Stones, gleaming with a warm yellow light, were like beacons in the darkness, firmly drawing all of Li Su's attention.

Unlike the scattered, tiny mineral fragments he had found at the edge of the fissure, the ones at the roots of the Purple-Black Strange Plant were larger, purer in luster, and undoubtedly contained far more Earth Essence Qi!

If he could obtain them, the accumulation of Evolution Points would surely accelerate greatly!

However, that Purple-Black Strange Plant was certainly no harmless creature. It had easily strangled that Small Lizard-like Fierce Beast, and its strength was likely not much weaker than the Evil Energy Centipede in the fissure.

Its roots had to be extremely well-developed as well. If he rashly sent his bamboo roots over to seize them, he would very likely be discovered, triggering a conflict.

Taking them by force was not a wise choice.

Li Su suppressed his restless spiritual awareness and began observing patiently.

He no longer hurried to absorb the scattered Earth Essence Stone fragments along the edge of the fissure. Instead, he devoted most of his spiritual awareness to monitoring the Purple-Black Strange Plant.

The sun rose and the moon set, though the sky here remained eternally dim, while evil winds howled.

Most of the time, the strange plant remained in a half-dormant state, its thick purple-black leaves slightly curled like dormant venomous snakes.

Yet the soil around its roots faintly emitted a suction force, slowly but continuously drawing nutrients from the surrounding earth, even including wisps of drifting evil energy and remnant souls.

It was cultivating too! Though its method was strange, it was indeed growing stronger.

Those Earth Essence Stones had clearly been deliberately gathered around its roots to aid its cultivation!

Upon noticing this, Li Su felt somewhat calmer instead.

Where there was a purpose, there were patterns to follow.

He continued to wait. Finally, when an especially violent evil wind swept up Blood Sand and shattered bones into the sky, the strange plant moved.

All its leaves suddenly unfurled, and the bud-like structure at its tip opened, revealing a ring of dense sharp teeth dripping with slime.

It aimed toward the oncoming wind and inhaled fiercely!

Whoosh—

A small Sha Qi Cyclone was forcibly drawn toward it. The remnant soul fragments and nutrient-rich dust mixed within were all devoured.

The process lasted roughly a quarter of an hour. When it ended, the plant seemed satisfied. Its leaves curled up again, sinking into a deeper dormancy, and even the suction force drawing nutrients through its roots weakened by more than half.

An opportunity!

Li Su keenly realized that this was its digestion period after "feeding," when its vigilance would inevitably be at its lowest!

He no longer hesitated. A primary bamboo root that had long been prepared immediately began advancing underground, circling toward the strange plant's roots as stealthily and slowly as possible.

He did not dare touch the Earth Crystal Stones directly. Instead, he chose to approach silently from farther away and below to the side.

His spiritual awareness was intensely focused, like the finest scalpel, controlling the bamboo root to avoid the strange plant's thicker primary roots and carefully pass through gaps in its network of roots.

Closer, even closer...

He could even clearly sense the dense, gentle energy fluctuations emanating from those Earth Crystal Stones.

The largest among them was nearly the size of a fist!

However, just as his bamboo root was about to touch the outermost, smaller Earth Essence Stone, an abrupt change occurred!

One of the strange plant's fibrous roots seemed to sway inadvertently, brushing right across the tip of Li Su's bamboo root!

Buzz!

An extremely faint yet alert and violent intent instantly traveled along that fibrous root!

The strange plant's curled leaves trembled sharply, showing signs of awakening!

Li Su made a snap decision. Without the slightest hesitation, he severed a small portion of his spiritual connection to the tip of that bamboo root and caused it to "wither" instantly. At the same time, his main bamboo root rapidly retracted!

Almost the very next second after he pulled back, seven or eight purple-black roots shot fiercely out of the soil like venomous snakes, stabbing precisely into the spot where his bamboo root had just been! Their sharp tips gleamed with a ghostly light, clearly carrying deadly poison!

After missing its strike, the strange plant's intent grew more restless and enraged. More roots writhed agitatedly beneath the soil, seeming to search for the intruder.

But all it could "see" was a severed root fragment that had completely lost all life, no different from an ordinary dead twig.

It puzzledly prodded the fragment with its roots, but found nothing unusual. In the end, it could only settle down, though its half-curled leaves did not close completely, clearly showing that it had become more vigilant.

All his efforts had come to nothing!

Li Su's spiritual awareness fluctuated as a wave of lingering fear washed over him.

That had been far too close! None of the things that could survive in the Primordial World were simple! It looked dormant, but danger lurked beneath the surface.

Force would not work, and trickery had failed as well.

Was he supposed to give up now?

He was unwilling.

Those Earth Crystal Stones were simply too important to him.

His spiritual awareness swept across the area again. This time, he observed even more carefully.

Suddenly, he noticed a detail: the strange plant's roots mainly occupied the upper and middle layers of soil, while they seemed to extend little into the deeper underground.

And some of those Earth Crystal Stones were half-buried in the deeper soil.

A bold plan took shape in his mind—make a feint in the east and strike in the west!

He split off another bamboo root. This time, rather than trying to approach the strange plant's roots, he carefully dug a tunnel through deeper soil beneath its root network, slowly advancing toward the underside of the Earth Essence Stones!

This process was even more difficult than before.

The deeper soil was harder, mixed with gravel and solidified clots of blood, greatly draining the bamboo root.

But he persevered, pushing his precise control of spiritual awareness to its limit.

At last, he successfully dug the tip of the bamboo root directly beneath the largest Earth Crystal Stone!

The next step was the most crucial. He controlled the bamboo root like the finest drill bit, drawing out the essence of that Earth Crystal Stone from below, bit by bit, at an extremely slow pace!

He did not dare absorb it too quickly, fearing that energy fluctuations would attract the strange plant's attention above.

He kept the speed even a fraction slower than the rate at which it naturally radiated energy.

[Absorbing Earth Essence Stone energy, Evolution Points +0.05]

[Absorbing Earth Essence Stone energy, Evolution Points +0.05]

His Evolution Points began increasing at a steady but faint pace.

At the same time, he was surprised to discover that as the energy of this core Earth Crystal Stone was slowly extracted, the strange plant's efficiency in drawing nutrients through its roots above seemed to be affected ever so slightly, becoming faintly sluggish.

The strange plant's leaves swayed gently without conscious intent, as if it felt somewhat unwell, yet it did not detect the source of the problem.

It merely instinctively increased the rate at which its roots drew in surrounding evil energy, compensating for that tiny loss.

Success!

Li Su forcibly suppressed his excitement and maintained this extremely slow "theft."

Meanwhile, his other bamboo roots did not remain idle. They continued absorbing scattered evil energy and remnant souls along the edge of the fissure and throughout the surrounding area.

Though each source brought only a negligible number of Evolution Points, small streams gathered into rivers.

The Evolution Points ticked upward slowly: 27... 28... 29...

The eradication progress of the Temporarily Stored Chaotic Will also struggled forward under the combined effects of evil energy and remnant souls.

Time passed amid this silent "theft" and accumulation.

Until one day, the main root he had extended deep along the fissure's edge to absorb Earth Vein Yin Evil sent back another unusual sensation.

This time, it was neither ore nor that terrifying Evil Energy Centipede.

It was a liquid... extraordinarily viscous, bone-chillingly cold, yet containing unimaginably pure energy!

The bamboo root merely brushed against it, and a wave of pure energy far surpassing Earth Vein Yin Evil surged toward him!

[Detected high-concentration Earth Vein Spiritual Milk (Yin Evil attribute)... Extremely dangerous! Energy purity far exceeds the host's current tolerance limit! Immediate cessation of contact is recommended!]

[Warning! Forced absorption may cause the main body to collapse!]

The system's warning sounded sharply!

Li Su was horrified and was about to forcibly sever the connection when he suddenly discovered that the Giant Beast Chaotic Will stored within him, which had been slowly eroding all this time, violently fluctuated and began dissolving the instant it sensed the aura of the Earth Vein Spiritual Milk, as though it had encountered its nemesis!

The efficiency was hundreds, even thousands of times greater than before!

An opportunity! A heaven-sent opportunity!

But that opportunity came with the enormous risk of immediately bursting apart and dying!