Sha Cave Anomaly

With his cultivation at the Early Earth Immortal stage, combined with the "Soul-Devouring Dark Light"—a bizarre divine ability that struck directly at the soul—Li Su's hunting in this region became invincible.

He was extremely cautious, specifically selecting Fierce Beasts that were solitary, low in intelligence, and below the Spirit Refining Returning to Emptiness stage.

These Fierce Beasts possessed nothing but brute force and evil energy, lacking any effective defensive means against soul-level attacks.

The bamboo leaves swayed slightly, and a dark light flashed.

Often, before the Fierce Beasts even realized what had happened, their soul cores had already been pierced and devoured by the Soul-Devouring Dark Light. Their massive bodies would collapse with a thud, becoming nourishment for Li Su's growth.

[Absorbed Spirit Refining Returning to Emptiness stage Beast Soul, Evolution Points +3]

[Absorbed peak Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation stage Beast Soul, Evolution Points +1.5]

[Absorbed...]

The system's notification sounds became increasingly frequent.

The speed at which he accumulated Evolution Points was far beyond what he could achieve when absorbing residual soul fragments in the past.

After every successful hunt, Li Su would quickly use his bamboo roots to absorb the remaining Blood Qi Essence from the beast carcasses (though the conversion efficiency was far lower than that of souls) and carefully drag the remains underground to bury them, erasing traces as much as possible to avoid attracting more powerful existences.

At the same time, his mastery of the "Soul-Devouring Dark Light" grew increasingly refined.

From the obvious energy fluctuations at the beginning to the obscure and hidden nature he later achieved;

From straightforward attacks to the ability to slightly distort trajectories, or even split the light into extremely fine threads to attack multiple weak targets simultaneously (though the power would decrease).

His precise control over his divine sense also improved rapidly through these repeated practices.

Evolution Points grew steadily: 35... 42... 50...

The Earth Vein Spiritual Milk in the earth fissure was rare and hard to find; after multiple subsequent investigations, he failed to find a second drop. Instead, the Evil Energy Centipede had awakened once, scaring him into immediately retreating and not daring to investigate deeper for a long time.

The Earth Essence Stone at the roots of the Purple-Black Strange Plant was also being continuously "stolen" by him. The largest piece had already lost its luster, and the smaller ones had even turned into powder.

The strange plant seemed unable to find the cause, only becoming increasingly irritable. The range of its root movements expanded significantly, making Li Su's theft operations much more difficult.

Risks were accumulating, and resources were dwindling.

Li Su realized that he probably could not stay in this area for much longer.

He had to complete his evolution as soon as possible and then consider migrating.

However, just as his accumulated Evolution Points reached 68, not far from the 100 points required for evolution, an accident occurred.

On this day, he had just successfully hunted a rhinoceros-like Fierce Beast with the Soul-Devouring Dark Light and was habitually scanning his surroundings with his divine sense, alert for potential danger.

Suddenly, he felt an extremely faint yet unusually dull vibration coming from deep within the earth!

This vibration did not come from the running of some Fierce Beast, but originated from... deeper within that earth fissure!

Immediately following this, the Yin Sha Qi that had been steadily gushing from the fissure suddenly became violent!

The concentration increased sharply, even forming a gray-black Sha Qi Cyclone that whistled out from the fissure, blowing sand and stones for hundreds of feet around!

Woo—woo—

A low, oppressive hissing sound, as if coming from beneath the Nine Underworlds, traveled faintly along the underground, making Li Su's divine sense feel a bone-chilling cold!

That Evil Energy Centipede! It seemed to have become extremely manic and uneasy! It was scurrying frantically deep underground, throwing the earth vein's evil energy into chaos!

What happened?

Li Su's heart tightened. He immediately converged all his aura to the limit, and the luster of his eight-foot bamboo body dimmed, as if he had truly become an ordinary piece of dead bamboo.

His divine sense, however, cautiously extended toward the earth fissure, attempting to ascertain the situation.

He saw that the evil energy spewing from the fissure was becoming thicker and thicker, its color even beginning to take on a hint of eerie dark red.

The hissing sound from deep underground also grew louder, filled with pain and... a trace of fear?

Could it be that there was something beneath this earth that could make even that terrifying Evil Energy Centipede feel fear?

BOOM!!!

A loud noise erupted from deep underground! The entire earth shook violently! Even Li Su, who was hundreds of feet away, felt his bamboo body shake wildly, and the soil beneath his roots seemed to be churning!

At the fissure, large swaths of the rock wall collapsed, exposing a deeper, incomparably dark cave entrance!

Even colder, purer, and more violent evil energy surged into the sky like a fountain!

Vaguely, Li Su's divine sense caught a glimpse of something deep within that dark cave entrance—a flash of... a heart-stopping, cold, and ruthless... Giant Pupil Shadow?

It was merely a fleeting glance, but the pressure and ancient aura contained within that pupil shadow struck Li Su's divine sense like a heavy blow, as if it were about to be frozen and torn apart!

He let out a muffled groan (though bamboo could not make a sound) and violently retracted his divine sense. His bamboo body shook violently, and a tiny ice-like crack appeared on the surface of his ink-jade-like body!

How terrifying! What kind of existence was that?! Its strength was absolutely far beyond an Earth Immortal; it might even have surpassed the realm of a Heaven Immortal!

The hissing of the Evil Energy Centipede turned into a shrill scream, then quickly faded into the distance, as if it had fled in a panic from that underground area!

The gushing evil energy gradually calmed down, but the newly appeared dark cave entrance stood like a giant mouth waiting to devour, emitting a bone-chilling aura.

Li Su felt a lingering fear.

At that moment, he had truly felt the aura of death!

If he hadn't been far enough away, and if that existence's primary target hadn't been someone else, a single glance would likely have been enough to destroy his body and soul!

He could not stay in this region any longer! He had to leave immediately!

The anomalies beneath the earth and the awakening of an unknown, terrifying existence had turned this place into a true death trap.

He glanced at his Evolution Points: 68/100. He was still 32 points short.

What should he do? Should he risk a final, frantic hunt to gather enough Evolution Points before leaving? Or should he abandon everything and migrate at once?

Just as he weighed the pros and cons, his mind taut with tension, the newly appeared Dark Cave Entrance suddenly spewed out a few objects along with a surge of Sha Qi.

They were several fist-sized, pitch-black Strange Crystals that shimmered with countless starlike specks of light!

They radiated energy fluctuations that were even purer than Earth Vein Spiritual Milk, yet far gentler, and they even contained a trace of... innate aura?

[Extremely high energy reaction detected! Contains trace amounts of Innate Star Evil Energy and Taiyin Essence! Extremely rare! Can significantly increase Evolution Points! Has a probability of improving foundation!]

The system's notification chimed with unprecedented urgency!

Opportunity! Another massive opportunity! But this time, behind the opportunity lay the cold gaze of that terrifying existence within the deep, dark cave!

Leave? Or take the gamble?