txolops Chapter 190 Unknown Nest
Chapter 190 Unknown Nest
Luo Ming had already moved far away from the center of Red Sand Island and arrived at the edge of the island.
Among the twenty-four outer star islands, Red Sand Island ranks among the top three in size, covering an area of over a thousand miles. It has several high-quality fire veins, and the island is rich in fire-attribute spiritual energy.
The island is called Red Sand Island mainly because the open-pit black iron mine on the island dyes the entire island red.
"Senior, is this the place?"
Following the guidance of Tianjing Sanren, Luo Ming used his concealment technique to avoid the Liu family's multiple patrol teams and arrived at a cliff.
Hidden within the Mystic Water Pearl, the Heavenly Mirror Hermit slowly extended his divine sense, spreading like invisible ripples across the cliff face and underground. A moment later, his voice, tinged with uncertainty, echoed in Luo Ming's mind:
"...The landscape has changed drastically, and the terrain is indeed different from what I remember. However, the location should be correct; it's deep beneath this cliff. Kid, go down and take a look."
Luo Ming no longer hesitated and focused his mind on the Xuan Turtle's original blood in his dantian.
A thick, deep, earthy-yellow spiritual light emanated from his body, and his figure immediately became blurred, like a drop of water merging into the sand, silently disappearing into the solid rock beneath his feet.
With the Xuan Turtle's innate ability of Earth Escape, Luo Ming moved through the thick soil and rocks like a fish in water. However, as the depth increased, the pressure on the earth veins gradually increased, requiring more mana to maintain.
After escaping to a depth of about 500 feet underground, the texture of the surrounding rocks began to change, taking on a dark metallic luster and becoming harder and denser to the touch. The speed of the earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique for earth ...
"It's a vein of black iron ore, and of high quality. The metal-shaped power it contains interferes with the earth-escape technique," Tianjing Sanren immediately judged.
Luo Ming understood and stopped his escape. After a moment's thought, he flicked his sleeve, and a buzzing golden cloud appeared—the thousands of Gold-Eating Insects that had been cultivated multiple times and were now quite ferocious. These spirit insects seemed to sense the rich metallic aura around them and appeared quite excited.
"Go." Luo Ming gave the order with a slight movement of his divine sense.
The swarm of gold-devouring insects immediately pounced on the layer of black iron ore below, which was as hard as iron. A series of teeth-grinding chewing sounds rang out as the black iron ore, which was strong enough to leave ordinary magical artifacts unharmed, was quickly devoured by the mouthparts of the gold-devouring insects like crispy cakes.
As the swarm of insects passed, a vertical channel, about ten feet in diameter with jagged yet exceptionally smooth edges, rapidly extended downwards.
Luo Ming followed closely behind the swarm of insects, descending along the passage "gnawed" out by the Gold-Eating Insects. After passing through this thick layer of black iron ore, he could then use Earth Escape. He repeated this process, using the Gold-Eating Insects to clear a path when encountering insurmountable metal ore layers, and then using Earth Escape to continue his journey afterward. This alternation was surprisingly efficient.
Among them, Luo Ming encountered several other metal spirit objects of excellent quality, which he casually collected.
"With these metal-eating beetles, I could make a fortune mining every day in a mining area! But these metal-eating beetles really eat a lot!" Luo Ming looked at the metal-eating beetle, which had devoured a large amount of metal but had not changed much in size, and couldn't help but sigh at its good appetite.
After an unknown amount of time, when Luo Ming estimated that he had gone nearly a thousand feet underground, the swarm of gold-devouring insects ahead suddenly gave an unusual response—it hadn't found any harder ore, but rather... it was "empty".
Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat.
He immediately stopped the swarm of insects and halted his escape. He cautiously probed forward with his divine sense and discovered that the Gold-Eating Insects had already broken through the last layer of rock wall. Behind them was not solid earth and stone, but a hollow cavity.
He concealed his presence, floated out of the passage, and landed on the edge of a huge, sloping natural cave entrance.
The cave was not completely dark; the rock walls were scattered with a mineral that emitted a faint light, called fluorite, which provided some dim light.
Looking around, the underground space is extremely vast, dozens of feet high, with jagged rocks and countless passages of all sizes leading in all directions, like a huge underground maze.
A faint, fishy smell permeated the air, mixed with the smell of metal and dust. There were obvious, unnatural scratches and abrasion marks on the ground and rock walls, and in some corners, you could see scattered, huge, smooth scales or bone fragments.
"This is... a monster's lair?" Luo Ming's pupils contracted slightly. He immediately concealed his aura to the extreme, and his divine sense, like the gentlest whiskers, cautiously extended into the depths of the lair to investigate.
The feedback indicated that there was no sign of life in the nest at the moment, but the lingering, chilling pressure suggested that the monster occupying this place was no ordinary beast, at least level six or higher, and possibly even stronger.
"Strange..." Tianjing Sanren's voice was filled with obvious confusion. "When I first came here, the earth's veins were stable, there was no such huge void, and no demonic beasts dwelling here. It seems that over the past thousand years, the earth's crust has shifted, or the demonic beast has carved out this place on its own and claimed it for itself. Judging from the remaining aura, the demonic beasts here are of a high level, so you should be careful."
Luo Ming's heart sank, knowing that this trip was about to encounter unexpected complications. He quickly observed the environment. The nest's passages were intricate and complex, the rock walls were exceptionally hard, and the space was sometimes open and sometimes narrow. For a large spirit beast like the Xuan Turtle, the terrain was somewhat restrictive and made it an easy target.
His mind raced, and he patted his spirit beast pouch. A shadowy figure flashed out and landed silently beside him—it was his Wind Fox Beast.
As soon as the little guy appeared, he pricked up his ears warily, his nostrils twitched slightly, sensing the faint airflow and the distinctive metallic smell. Then, a look of excitement, as if he were in his element, appeared in his eyes.
"It's up to you. Be careful and stay hidden," Luo Ming instructed through telepathy.
The Wind Fox Beast let out a soft cry, its body swaying as it transformed into a wisp of green smoke that almost blended into the dim light, silently drifting into a relatively spacious passage ahead to pave the way for Luo Ming.
Luo Ming maintained a safe distance, suppressing his aura to the extreme, and slowly followed behind, carefully observing the situation on the surrounding stone walls, trying to figure out what exactly occupied this place.
However, after traveling less than a thousand feet, they suddenly sensed that the entire underground space was trembling slightly, and then the spiritual energy in the space suddenly became chaotic.
The wind leopard beast that had been scouting ahead also sent back a message of danger. Not long after, the wind leopard beast returned, its fur standing on end and its eyes fixed on the front, as if it had encountered something extremely dangerous.
Luo Ming sensed that his magical power was sluggish and that a portion of it was inexplicably dissipating. A strong sense of alarm rose in his mind, and he immediately stopped, put the Wind Fox back into his spirit beast pouch, and at the same time, he did his best to conceal his aura and quickly returned.
"Senior, this feeling... could it be the power of primordial magnetism?" he asked anxiously in his mind.
Just now, my magical power felt like it was stuck in an invisible quagmire, and the flow of my cultivation technique felt stagnant, a feeling I had never experienced before.