The chill beneath their feet stirred again.
Li Xiang's [Earth Vein Affinity] spread along the ground. In his vision, a thread of icy energy wound through cracks in the black mineral rock, moving slowly as it circled the six of them.
Once, then again.
The circle tightened little by little.
"It's moving underground."
"These cracks beneath our feet are all its roads. Underground is its home turf."
"Keep your senses on the ground. Watch for ambushes!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone moved.
Without a single wasted word, Guo Kai shifted his feet and sank into a horse stance. Earth-yellow Sky-Piercing Astral Qi poured through his soles into the ground, forming a thin barrier three feet around him.
The white frost on his left arm had yet to thaw completely. Half the arm felt numb and heavy, so he simply left all the exertion to the right side of his body.
Lin Xuanshu suspended a crackling arc of lightning in his left hand for illumination. Between two fingers of his right, he held a fresh talisman face down, his fingertips hovering three inches above the ground.
Chu Tian did not look at the ground.
Black and white energies sank from his double pupils into the Netherworld. His gaze pierced the rock beneath their feet, fixing on that roaming shadow.
Miao Xiyue retreated to the edge of the barrier. With a pinch of her fingers, she scattered a tuft of dark blue-green powder over the mouths of several cracks beside her feet.
"Bone-Eroding Powder. Touch it, and you rot."
Her voice was soft, as though she were speaking to the thing underground.
The Great Treasure Toad crouched on her shoulder, its bulging eyes fixed on the ground, the gurgling in its throat never once stopping.
Li Xiang stood at the