It wasn't Delisha who came to Jason's aid, but Anya and Kasabu.
Two Highgod who Refine Divine Spark are enough to protect themselves in this region.
"This cave is very well hidden, and the entrance is located halfway up the mountain, which matches what the previous prisoner said. This should be the place," Anya and Kasabu concluded.
"We've been staking out the cave entrance for thirteen days, and haven't seen anyone come or go, nor have any bandits passed by," Rita reported on the intelligence gathered over the past few days.
"Let's go in and take a look."
Two Highgod, seven Midgod, and twenty Lowgod flew slowly along the downward-sloping cavern.
After descending about 300 meters, the slope of the cave became gentler, and colorful lights illuminated the surrounding area.
"It's magic crystal ore, and the quality is quite good." Jason broke off a piece of magic crystal.
Magic crystal mines are common in the Netherworld. While they are highly contested by major powers in the Material Plane, they are considered small mines in the Netherworld. Moreover, they are not very useful to Deity-level, and even the weak Rhine Clan doesn't really need them.
Continuing onward, traces of human excavation became visible, and the passage widened considerably.
"It must have been dug by the previous group of bandits," Rita said, stroking the side wall. "Did you hear the sound of water?"
"There should be an underground river ahead."
After walking for nearly a kilometer, the group finally saw the underground river.
The top of the cave is more than 100 meters above the river surface. The exposed magic crystals on the stone walls emit colorful light, illuminating the river surface, which is more than 300 meters wide. The riverbed shimmers with blue-purple colors, which seem to be some kind of metal ore. There are no fish in the water, but there are some mindless phytoplankton.
The two Highgod spread their divine senses. "This width extends for eight hundred meters in front and behind; this space is large enough to accommodate our Rhine Clan."
In the Material Plane, this space is like an underground kingdom; to the Netherworld, it is just an ordinary underground cave.
"The rich mineral vein that the prisoner mentioned must be the metal at the bottom of this river," Jason, looking at the ore at the bottom of the river that emitted a bluish-purple luster.
After confirming once again that there was no danger in the water, several Midgod went into the water and retrieved several pieces of ore.
Jason weighed a piece of ore in his hand. It was a metallic element, slightly heavier than Black Yu, much tougher than Black Yu, and slightly less hard than Lowgod Artifact. It had appeared bluish-purple underwater, but after being taken out, it turned out to be a pale blue metal. The previous color was due to water surface refraction and the influence of the light from the surrounding magic crystals. Jason tested it; the conductivity of Lightning Element Divine Power was good, but the conductivity of Death Divine Power was not very good.
"This metal is good," Jason said.
The other Deity-level tested the conductivity of Divine Power and ultimately determined that this metal had excellent conductivity for Lightning Element, Water Element, Wind Element, and Light Element Divine Power.
"Let's collect more and head upstream," Rita said.
This underground river should flow into the Gray Serpent River Gray Serpent River, which is home to many tribes of aquatic magical beasts. The group dares not approach it rashly, so they should try to avoid the downstream area.
"There's a school of fish," Anya said, then darted forward.
A few seconds later, several white fish the size of dolphins were brought back.
"A magical beast with a talent level of only level eight." Anya searched the memories of the fish.
"Level 8 magical beast" refers to the level of this fish after it reaches adulthood. In the elemental concentration of the Netherworld, even a level 1 magical beast can easily reach level 9.
There are quite a few magical beasts in the Netherworld whose talent level is below the Saint-level. Some of them are derived from the deteriorated bloodline of the native magical beasts of the Netherworld; others are low-level magical beasts from the Material Plane that have broken through to the Saint-level and ascended to Netherworld Netherworld, where they have multiplied.
Not all of these creatures can break through to the Saint-level; a considerable number will be stuck at the ninth level until they die of old age.
Yes, there are also creatures in the Netherworld that cannot reach the Saint-level.
If Deity-level are the "residents" of the Netherworld, then the status of the Saint-level in the Netherworld is similar to that of "livestock." And the creatures below the Saint-level are equivalent to the mindless plants, insects, fish, miasma, and mayflies in the Material Plane, serving as food for the Saint-level beings.
To beings that haven't broken through to the Saint-level, in the eyes of Deity-level who live for tens of thousands of years, they are no different from mayflies that live only a day and die at dusk—there's simply no need to pay them any attention.
A fragrant aroma wafted over; it turned out that a lower-level Fire Element Lowgod had used his Divine Power to braise a fish.
"This fish tastes good." Everyone took a bite.
Anya had just searched the memories of these fish, said, "This fish is called ' White-Scaled Short-Tailed Fish.' It only has an eighth-level talent and lives in this underground river surrounded by magic crystals. Its characteristics are rapid reproduction and a short adulthood. Hmm, it seems to taste delicious."
"Aren't there any Deity-level in this group?" Jason asked.
"It seems there's a predator in this cave that feeds on ' White-Scaled Short-Tailed Fish.' Any individual that breaks through to the Saint-level either escapes to the Gray Serpent River downstream or gets eaten by it."
Intrigued, the group walked upstream along the underground river.
After walking more than two kilometers, we finally found the "predator".
It was a dark brown crocodile, Saint-level beast, about the size of a yellow ox—which is considered small in the Netherworld.
In Anya and Kasabu's consciousness, there were only about twenty of these crocodiles, and none of them were Deity-level beings.
Rita analyzed, "If it were a small family, it wouldn't only have Saint-level. Even if Highgod could deceive your divine sense, there should still be Midgod and Lowgod. Therefore, this group should only have Saint-level."
Just as Rita analyzed, even after Jason and his group surrounded the twenty-odd black crocodiles, they did not see the hidden Deity-level being appear.
Directly searching the Saint-level's memories would be troublesome for Anya and Kasabu, and could lead to the Saint-level's death; however, in the current situation, simply asking and using divine sense to determine whether the other party is lying is sufficient.
"What is the name of your race? Where are the Deity-level in this race?" Rita asked.
Under the oppressive power of the two Highgod, the more than twenty crocodiles trembled like leaves.
"We are the Iron-Armored Saw Crocodile race. Those in our tribe who have broken through to the Deity-level have already traveled downstream along this river. It is said that there is a powerful tribe established by Deity-level being there, and Deity-level will find better opportunities there."
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Have any of your Deity-level kin returned before, or have other Deity-level come here?"
"Our people have not returned, but a group of powerful Deity-level came before and killed many of our people. We used to live closer to the downstream area, and we were driven to the upper reaches of this river."
At this moment, a member of the Rhine Clan spoke through divine sense, "We have confirmed with the family that among the spoils seized from the previous group of bandits, there were some crocodile skins, which should be the skins of this Iron-Armored Saw Crocodile."
With a swift motion, Rita severed the tail of an Iron-Armored Saw Crocodile.
"It's very tough, even tougher than the hide of a typical dragon, and it has excellent conductivity for dark, earth, death, and destruction attributes."
Jason thought to himself, "These are decent materials for refining weapons, and they're not so exceptional that they'd attract the attention of other powerful Deity-level. They're perfect for the Rhine Clan."
Are there any other Deity-level in this area?
"No, there's another group of Dragon-Scaled Loach further upstream, all of them are at the Saint-level."
The group walked for nearly ten kilometers before the cave gradually narrowed, and the magic crystals on the side walls became scarcer.
The pale blue metallic ore from before didn't extend here; instead, we encountered a small Azure Nightmare Stone along the way (mentioned in the original work).
It's clear that this place is quite rich in natural resources.
They stopped when they encountered several forks in the road.
"We'll talk about the future after the family moves here," Jason said.
The others didn't want to take any more risks. Some of them had already contacted their families through their Divine Clone and received instructions to return to their families first.