"Uh, Lady Han Ling?"
Stone Tou paused for a moment, but didn't refuse again, and began to carve.
Soon, new writing appeared on its forelimbs.
'1. This is a...'
2... in an attempt to...
3... Find Lord Shen Heng...
4. "... Han Ling! Found Han Ling! Found Han Ling!!"
Shen Heng stared silently at those few lines of text.
The first two points are meant to give Stone space to think for himself. If he can wake up on his own, seeing these two points should be enough for him to do so.
The last two points are just in case.
Carve the name of the person who left the deepest impression on the Stone, and see if it can directly evoke its memory.
If that doesn't work, then we might have to come and call it manually.
Shen Heng paused for a moment, and after confirming that there was indeed nothing else to carve, he nodded.
"Alright, you can stay here, I'll go first..."
After a slight pause, Shen Heng looked ahead at the darkness that stretched all the way to the bottom.
He paused, then turned his gaze to the Stone.
"Have you noticed anything unusual while you were mining these past two days?"
"Uh..." Stone followed Lord Shen Heng's gaze downwards. "Lord Shen Heng, are you referring to that Underground Demon?"
"Hmm." Shen Heng confirmed.
"I haven't noticed anything unusual, except for that Black Rat that's monitoring the area; it occasionally comes by to take a look," Stone replied.
"No?"... Shen Heng looked at the darkness, paused, and then walked over.
Upon seeing Stone paused for a moment, but quickly followed.
The two beasts quickly disappeared into the darkness.
"Tap, tap..."
Shen Heng's gaze swept across the surroundings.
This section of the path, unlit by Starlight Stone, was no different from the other passageways in the mine.
Or rather, there shouldn't be any difference in the first place.
This is the end of the mine; we've only reached this point because of the ongoing mining process.
If we push back another six months or a year, this place would most likely have become just an ordinary mine tunnel near the bottom of the mine.
So... Underground Demon?
Shifting his gaze forward, Shen Heng stopped at the end of the mine tunnel.
Before them stood an earthen wall, nearly twenty meters high, its surface uneven and covered with numerous claw marks.
"Lord Shen Heng, do you want to see if that Underground Demon is real?" Stone asked cautiously from the side.
"Okay, keep an eye on things later. If there really are any Underground Demon, make sure to protect me!" Shen Heng nodded.
Upon hearing this, Stone paused, staring blankly at Shen Heng.
It only now realized that after Lord Shen Heng transformed into Calamity Beast, he was smaller and weaker than itself, which meant...
A strange sense of responsibility welled up inside me.
No, I absolutely have to get Lord Shen Heng out of here and then find Lord Han Ling!... Stone tilted his head back and nodded vigorously.
"Don't worry, Lord Shen Heng, I will definitely protect you. If I have to die, I'll be there before you!"
"It's not that bad yet. If anything unusual happens, I'll run ahead of time, and you just need to follow." Shen Heng glanced at Stone. "Then, all you need to do is carry me when I'm not fast enough, understand?"
"Yes, I understand!" Upon hearing this, Stone hesitated even less.
Shen Heng withdrew his gaze and placed his palm on the earthen wall.
The sound waves gradually became clearer in his perception.
Soon, drawn by the Origin Power, some of these sound waves converged towards Shen Heng's palm.
From the occasional sounds that escaped, one could discern that they were the sounds made by the Calamity Beast above striking the rock walls as they mined.
Then, the beast's paw pressed slightly forward.
The sound waves traveled rapidly downwards along the earthen wall.
Shen Heng closed his eyes and sensed it.
Soil, rocks, and Dull Star Stone Mine are scattered below.
Then, one hundred meters, two hundred meters, three...
Hmm... I couldn't find it, so the legend of the Underground Demon was indeed false? Was it the Black Rat Clan secretly killing the Calamity Beast there?
Shen Heng closed his eyes and pondered.
But given the situation of the Black Rat Clan, there was really no need to do this.
If they want to kill any Calamity Beast, they can just kill them directly; there's no need to summon any Underground Demon.
so...
Somewhat puzzled, Shen Heng continued to sense downwards.
As the distance increases, perception becomes increasingly difficult.
Then, it was still the same soil, rocks, and Dull Star Stone Mine...
Is it really not there?
Shen Heng opened his eyes, his gaze still thoughtful.
So, is it really the Black Rat Clan that's killing the Calamity Beast? Or is it that this so-called Underground Demon is actually lurking deeper underground?
After pondering for a moment without finding a solution, Shen Heng turned his attention back to the present.
Just as he was about to give up sensing, his gaze was suddenly drawn to the side.
Darkness still enveloped the surroundings as before, but it inexplicably gave him a different feeling.
After a moment's hesitation, Shen Heng continued to manipulate the sound waves downwards.
This time, however, he didn't close his eyes; instead, he kept them open, looking to the side.
The darkness before him deepened at an extremely slow, yet undeniably real, pace.
Then, little by little, the line of sight that could originally be seen 20 to 30 meters away with the support of the Origin Power was gradually compressed.
Eighteen meters, fifteen meters, twelve meters...
Suddenly, Shen Heng froze on the ground, his body stiffening slightly.
The surrounding area was completely silent.
An inexplicable fear enveloped him.
Even his body, without him even realizing it, began to tremble slightly.
"Lord Shen... Shen Heng," Stone said, his voice trembling slightly.
There was no response. Shen Heng forcibly suppressed the uncontrollable fear rising in his heart and waited in place.
The surrounding darkness gradually faded as the sound waves stopped.
As a result, one's perspective gradually expands.
So, the Underground Demon aren't just a legend; they actually exist?
Judging from what just happened, it seems to be related to the degree to which the underground was disturbed?
If the disturbance goes too far, will the Underground Demon emerge?
As for what he looks like, I don't know.
The likely outcome is the slaughter of the Calamity Beast above!
Then, Black Rat Clan eliminated? Was it because they couldn't be eliminated, or because the power wasn't sufficient?
Considering that Third Tier beings have a high chance of escaping when the Underground Demon emerge, it's highly likely that the problem isn't a lack of strength, but rather some special circumstance preventing them from eliminating the demons.
One thought after another flashed through Shen Heng's mind.
After a long while, he slowly raised his eyes and looked at the darkness that was fixed about twenty-two meters away.
Did your recent actions speed up this process?