A Treasure Land Breeds a Ferocious Monster

After he stored the spring water in his Purple Abode, he saw that the scene before him seemed to have changed somewhat.

All of a sudden, mist filled the air, blanketing heaven and earth.

Li Zhengyuan grew suspicious, but his Primordial Spirit gave no warning. There should not have been any danger, yet this sudden dense fog forced him to stay on guard.

He drew the Nine Autumn Sword from its sheath and held it in his hand, while concealing the Earth Book above his head as a precaution.

He did not dare move forward. Such dense fog was too strange. If it was not a heavenly phenomenon, then someone must have laid a trap to harm him.

Could it be that he had carelessly exposed the Earth Book earlier, drawing the covetous attention of some thief?

That should not have been possible! This place was concealed and shielded by a powerful Innate Restriction. Unless one personally stepped into this place, how could one sense the aura fluctuations of an innate spiritual treasure?

As Li Zhengyuan remained full of doubts and deep in thought, he suddenly sensed an unusual movement coming from the ground beneath his feet!

"Who is hiding here? Sneaking about so furtively—do you not dare show yourself openly? Would you care to come out and offer me some guidance?"

Li Zhengyuan let out a sharp shout, his voice like a great bell that resounded throughout the surroundings.

Li Zhengyuan was no ordinary person. He was a sacred spirit born in accordance with the innate Earthly Dao, and from the moment of his birth, he had naturally wielded supreme authority over the Earthly Dao.

His perception and control of earth energy were far sharper and more precise than ordinary people could imagine.

Though he had spent these past years concentrating on comprehending the Five Qi within his chest and refining magical artifacts, he had never slackened in his cultivation of earth energy.

Across the entire Primordial World, there were scarcely any who could compare to him in their attainments in the Earthly Dao. How could such faint movements beneath the ground escape his notice?

What was underground?

It was a small beast, an innate-born creature with fairly decent origins—a Treasure-Seeking Rat.

It was skilled at finding treasures and particularly sensitive to treasure aura and treasure light. It was also adept at passing through restrictions; even Innate Restrictions could not stop it, though doing so took effort and time.

It was said that Duobao Daoist, Lord Tongtian's foremost disciple in later generations, had transformed from a Treasure-Seeking Rat.

This little beast had long discovered the flashing treasure light here while underground. Seeing the place concealed by an Innate Restriction, it assumed that innate spiritual objects must lie within and had coveted them for a long time.

When it saw that no owner had appeared here for so long, it began gnawing at the Innate Restriction day and night, intending to open a small gap through which it could pass and take the treasures.

One day, while gnawing at the restriction, it discovered Li Zhengyuan approaching. Afraid that its aura would leak and it would be captured as a treasure-hunting rat, enslaved by others and denied peace for the rest of its life,

it desperately gnawed through the restriction and opened a tiny hole, then hid within. Yet just as it entered, Li Zhengyuan arrived to rest here. In its panic, it leaked the aura of the Cave-Heaven, attracting Li Zhengyuan's attention.

The rat was skilled at hiding and cowardly as a rat, its courage exceedingly small. Even after entering the restriction, it was not satisfied and burrowed beneath the spring's source, deep into the earth veins, concealing its aura.

When Li Zhengyuan broke the restriction, it had remained underground watching. Only because a layer of restriction lay between them and their divine senses could not connect had Li Zhengyuan failed to discover it. After Li Zhengyuan broke through the restriction, entered, and obtained the innate spiritual treasure Lost Soul Bell, it grew even more anxious as it watched him put away the artifact.

When it saw Li Zhengyuan refusing to stop and heading toward the spirit spring, it became even more frightened, withdrawing its aura until it seemed like nothingness.

It cursed inwardly, You old locust, you thieving Daoist, now you want to take the spring source too! How utterly shameless! Then it felt another wave of sorrow in its heart.

Just as it was pondering this, it discovered that Li Zhengyuan had taken only a little over half of the spring sources, leaving the rest behind. It was about to rejoice secretly when it sensed murderous intent surging underground and mist spreading everywhere!

It began fleeing outward, carefully concealing itself within the earth veins as it rushed ahead.

But it did not know that Li Zhengyuan was fully aware of everything underground. Had it remained still, that would have been one thing, but the moment it ran, Li Zhengyuan discovered it.

He therefore shouted loudly, startling the Treasure-Seeking Rat until its entire body trembled. Just as it was about to emerge and pay respects to the great immortal, it heard an enraged roar from underground. With a crackling sound, iron chains rattled violently—there was a great fiend beneath the earth!

Li Zhengyuan raised his treasured sword and recited an incantation, summoning three mountains. He then slashed downward with his sword and sent the mountains crashing down to suppress it. Yet the demon was far too powerful, and the earth shook violently.