His consciousness bypassed the golden crystal and followed Guide's pull, sweeping through every corner of the Dark Cavern's fifth level.
Aside from Ice Blade's shell and the Black Armor Army who had died following him, Qi Sheng also discovered a deeply excavated grave in a corner of the great hall, with countless remains buried inside.
[These remains probably belonged to Ice Blade's people. After hiding underground, they eventually died and were buried here because of shortages of food and other resources.]
"What about the Cavernfolk? Where did they come from?"
[They were probably subterranean creatures controlled by Ice Blade's people through some means. They can survive by consuming ore, so food shortages aren't a concern. After Ice Blade's people died, they continued following the orders implanted in their minds while under control, directing the Iron-Shelled Insects to excavate underground Spirit Ore and feed it into the smelting furnace to keep charging the golden crystal.]
Qi Sheng found Guide's analysis very reasonable.
His consciousness swept toward the back of the great hall, where a pale blue crystal the size of a fist floated, its surface crawling with pitch-black fungal threads. Beside it was a ball of flesh that pulsed like a heart.
"Is this a Domain Node?"
[That's right. You can think of it as a core puzzle piece of Monster World. Countless such pieces form the world's main framework.]
As Guide explained, the analyzed information fed back into Qi Sheng's mind.
[Domain Node: Dark Cavern] Territory type: resource Territory trait: spiritual proliferation Trait description: continuously imbues Spirit Ore resources with spirituality. Domain status: corroded by Dark Tide energy (unoccupied)
After reading the Analysis Information, Qi Sheng turned his gaze toward the pulsing ball of pitch-black flesh beside the crystal.
This was the corruption core.
To seize this Domain Node, they would have to purify the node crystal and completely uproot the corruption's tendrils.
But doing so would not be easy.
Guide had just analyzed the black-armored soldiers standing inside and outside the palace and discovered that the dead warriors' remains had also been invaded by corruption, turning them into Evil Spirits similar to Cursed Soldiers.
Moreover, the Cursed Soldiers here generally had Hunting Levels of 25 or higher.
Fortunately, Ice Blade's remains were not controlled by the Dark Tide's corrupting power.
More precisely, Ice Blade had fought until he was utterly spent, leaving only an empty shell that even the Dark Tide's corrupting power could not animate.
Even throwing him into the Sacrificial Altar for refinement would yield no Sacrificial Power.
At his peak, Ice Blade might have had a Hunting Level above 500, with the power to move mountains and overturn seas. The players would have been utterly unable to stand against him.
After investigating the Dark Cavern's five underground levels, Qi Sheng's consciousness followed Guide back to Emperor Tomb Village.
As for the energy crystal Ice Blade had left for the new Emperor Zhao, he had no intention of setting out to retrieve it.
Not because he did not want to, but because he lacked the startup funds.
He and the players operated under two different exploration models when leaving Emperor Tomb Village. The players had free-to-play access with in-app purchases such as the shop, Star Meridian, and Body Tempering.
He, on the other hand, had to start burning through paid playtime once he went outside.
Back when the Four Devoted Servants poured their remaining Sacrificial Power into Emperor Tomb Village, he had over eighty million Sacrificial Power at his disposal. That was enough to conceal his aura while he explored outside in Emperor Zhao’s Body without worrying about being discovered by Evil Spirits.
That was also when he had contained Eagle-Headed Demon, Black-Armored Snake, and Gargoyle.
But now his Sacrificial Power reserves were only in the five digits. Concealing the aura of Emperor Zhao's self-fixated origin cost over a thousand Sacrificial Power every second, and his stockpile could not withstand that drain.
The task of capturing the Domain Node could only be left to the players.
Although this investigation had yielded no tangible gains, Qi Sheng now had something to look forward to.
The energy storage crystal Ice Blade had left behind could yield at least ten million Sacrificial Power, enough to recruit ten thousand players and greatly accelerate their early development.
Sitting cross-legged on the Sacrificial Altar, Qi Sheng closed his eyes. After switching to Emperor Zhao form, his view shifted to the players' perspective.
The Dark Cavern.
After another fierce battle, the players began clearing the battlefield.
They picked up the loot from the ground, then opened sacrifice mode in the function interface and tossed all the carapaces into the Sacrificial Altar to refine them into Sacrificial Power.
After days of fighting, the players had grown familiar with the Iron-Shelled Insects' combat rhythm.
The Iron-Shelled Insects had two methods of attack: spitting silk to entangle their targets, then dragging them close to tear them apart with their scythe-shaped mandibles.
The interval between silk attacks was the best time to launch an offensive.
After enough battles, players familiar with the rhythm could nimbly dodge the silk.
The only headache for the players was the cavern's cramped terrain. When facing a swarm of Iron-Shelled Insects, technique provided only a limited boost to combat effectiveness. The only way to win was to charge ferociously.
The end of every battle was the players' happiest time: collecting their rewards.
The physical improvements from leveling up, the Sacrificial Power earned from sacrificing loot, the joy of victory achieved through teamwork... all of it was part of the fun.
After clearing the battlefield, the remaining players continued exploring downward through the cavern tunnels, entering the second underground level.
The second level was relatively spacious, with numerous rock walls hollowed out by mining.
Strangely, a pale green crystalline sheen covered the rock walls. When they focused their gazes on it, Analysis Information appeared:
[Spirit gathering: gathering the energy of heaven and earth, continuously nurturing Spirit Ore...]
Realizing that the Spirit Ore in this cavern was a renewable resource, the players showed little emotional reaction and continued following the group deeper into the cavern.
After killing several more Iron-Shelled Insects along the way, they stopped in front of a cave that had clearly been excavated.
They could distinctly hear muffled roars coming from within.
Li Zheng of the Hardcore Grinders Group stepped forward first and tossed his torch into the cave.
The torch traced an arc through the air before landing inside the cave and rolling several times, illuminating the interior.
Eight chains were anchored to the rock wall at the far end of the cave, imprisoning a gigantic monster at their ends.
It resembled a beetle, its body covered in overlapping layers of white scales. The intricate patterns on them formed what looked, at first glance, like a ghost's face. A pair of enormous pincers waved ceaselessly, and its exposed crimson eyes looked like two burning lanterns in the dim surroundings.
There was no telling how many years this monster had been imprisoned, yet it was still alive.
[Taunt (second-generation primordial)] Hunting Level: 29 Guide's analysis: a special monster that commands the primordial power of "taunt." It possesses the ability to weave psychic illusions, driving targets within its range into a state of extreme madness and making them attack Taunt uncontrollably. Tip: targets struck by the taunt ability will experience numerous scenarios adapted from their own memories within a short time. The caster (Taunt) will become part of these altered memories, becoming the target of their hatred.
After reading the monster's Analysis Information, no one present was more excited than the players who had chosen Gargoyle.
Marble: Hahaha, the perfect choice for Gargoyle's second life soul! Taunt to draw aggro, then activate petrification to tank damage. It's even more perfect than the Eagle-Headed Demon + Bonefire build. I can already feel Gargoyle's rise coming.
Is This a Beaver: Spring has suddenly arrived for Gargoyle players. Taunt + petrification, the strongest defensive build of this patch is here.
Little Class Monitor: Petrification greatly boosts damage-taking capacity for a short time, but its drawback is also fatal: you can't move once it's activated. Add a taunt skill now and it's practically invincible. If we could also get an ability that reflects damage taken, just imagining that build feels amazing.
A lively discussion of the "taunt" ability's characteristics broke out in the Regional Voice Channel.
Both Eagle-Headed Demon and Black-Armored Snake already had suitable second life soul options at this stage. Only Gargoyle did not.
The second-generation primordial monster imprisoned in the cave gave these Gargoyle players hope of rising.
"Kill!"
Someone shouted, and the players immediately swarmed toward Taunt.
Before you continue