Chapter 434: Chapter 421: Fierce Beast Awakens
After Gu Ming successfully analyzed the geographical structure of sublevel three, the entire team’s approach immediately shifted to one of extreme caution.
An entire day passed, yet the group had only advanced less than a kilometer through this treacherous land.
In ordinary territory, one could cover far more ground in twenty-four hours, even by crawling.
This only served to highlight the indescribable danger of the underground cavern.
Despite their slow progress, Gu Ming wasted no time during their rests.
As the fifty-year-old "Old Deng" who, in the system’s eyes, had set foot in this place, he once again received a large reward of Achievement Points.
Relying on these points, he continuously simulated the complex environment of sublevel three in his dreams, sparing no effort to deduce the potential dangers lurking in every inch of land.
The environment here was several times harsher than on sublevel two. The fragments of Memory Essence mixed into the Spiritual Qi were far more violent and chaotic, like countless shrieking wraiths filling every inch of the air.
Their subsequent safe passage depended almost entirely on Cyan Treasure circulating its Perfection Level Breathing Technique.
Using its unique Talent, it guided and analyzed the turbulent underground Spiritual Qi, barely managing to carve out an extremely fragile path for the team.
This was the primary reason Gu Ming’s group was able to advance, and even maintain the upper hand, in such a hostile environment.
On this expedition, Elder Huo was thoroughly impressed by the abilities displayed by Gu Ming, Cyan Treasure, and Mianmian.
When the Star Array Plate in his hand—empowered by an Eight-star Pet Beast—was so hampered by interference that it was rendered nearly useless, Gu Ming had managed to lead the team deeper all on his own. His strategic value was now in no way inferior to that of Lu You’s Mianmian.
Elder Huo understood clearly.
The official archaeology team had previously invited Lu You to join.
She had politely refused them.
But if the officials learned of the progress Gu Ming’s team was making...
...they would undoubtedly spare no expense to recruit him, sparking a new bidding war.
’However,’ he thought, ’I get the vague feeling this young man’s ambitions lie elsewhere. He might not accept their offers.’
Just as he was lost in thought, Gu Ming, who was up ahead, came to a sudden halt.
On his shoulder, Cyan Treasure abruptly reared its head. Its scales instantly tightened like iron as it let out a series of faint, yet heart-stopping, tremulous hisses.
Its serpentine pupils constricted, as if it were staring directly at some unbearable, great terror.
Cyan Treasure’s "Time Reversal" Talent was forcibly triggered. Its breathing stopped completely, as if an invisible, giant hand was throttling it.
A second later, it violently broke free from its frozen state and let out an unprecedentedly sharp hiss, a sound filled with a near-hysterical warning—
Retreat!
Retreat! Now!
The team hesitated for only a moment before executing the retreat order without question.
However, the Spiritual Qi here was too viscous and chaotic. Even retreating the way they came required all the Pet Beasts to coordinate their Breathing Techniques, acting as "spirit pumps" to forcibly tame the surrounding maelstrom of Spiritual Qi and construct a temporary, manageable path for their withdrawal.
The team’s Pet Beasts worked in concert, increasing the efficiency of their breathing. With heavy, rhythmic effort, they powerfully twisted the Spiritual Qi of the entire sublevel, causing it to surge toward them.
The Spiritual Qi rapidly converged in the air, forming a stream visible to the naked eye.
The Memory Essence drifting in the air was swept along with the current, flying toward Gu Ming and the others and ratcheting up the danger even further.
It was tantamount to suicide, but in the middle of an emergency retreat, no one dared to slacken their efforts.
A predictable environment, no matter how dangerous, was better than an unpredictable one.
They struggled to maintain this single path to survival.
「Two seconds later.」
Behind the team, from deep within the impenetrable, aurora-like haze, a mass of black fog as thick as asphalt emerged, writhing ceaselessly.
Its blackness was so profound it completely blotted out the aurora-like lights in the cavern. The sight filled even a Dark Attribute Pet Beast like Ah Ji with dread, a tide of fear overwhelming its senses.
’Horrifying, just too horrifying!’
’What in the world is that thing?’
It had appeared without a sound, flowing low across the ground. Two hollow eyes seemed to hang within the rapidly churning fog.
This was no ordinary fog.
It was more like a living, malevolent darkness.
The edges of the fog constantly twisted and roiled.
Occasionally, it coalesced into hideous, unnamable, tentacle-like appendages, only to abruptly dissipate a moment later.
Gu Ming glanced back and felt his scalp crawl.
Perhaps sensing it was being watched, its attention was drawn to them.
From deep within the fog’s core came a low, grating rumble, like a drawn-out hiss.
It sounded like some creature with diamond-hard teeth grinding rock and bone.
"Wh-what is that thing?!"
A team member instinctively glanced back, and his eyes immediately became bloodshot and rolled back in his head.
He frantically snapped his head forward, not daring to look back. Blood began to drip from his nose, his head pounding as if it were about to burst.
Elder Huo sensed the terror as well, forcibly suppressing his instinct to look back.
But a shudder originating from the very depths of his soul shot through his entire body.
Some supremely terrifying entity, something that should not exist in the mortal plane, was awakening.
It was perhaps an ancient Fierce Beast that had slumbered deep within the Yichuan Ruins. Nourished by this place’s spiritual environment for millennia, its power had swelled to an unimaginable degree.
The pressure emanating from its mere unconscious Divine Sense was like an invisible mountain crashing down upon everyone’s Sea of Consciousness.
It was a heavy, cold presence, filled with an aura of blasphemy and destruction that was suffocating enough to drive a person mad.
The black fog drew ever closer. Wherever it passed, even the stone walls seemed to corrode and melt away.
Even with the formidable soul of an Eight-star Beastmaster, Elder Huo broke out in goosebumps, his thoughts growing sluggish.
As for Mianmian, known for its powerful Spiritual Power and keen Perception, it had fainted the moment the black fog appeared and let out its roar.
The experience was too much for it; the terror was simply off the charts.
In the nick of time, Gu Ming yelled, "Teacher Huo!"
The shout jolted Elder Huo from his stupor. His sluggish consciousness cleared, and he acted without a shred of hesitation.
"Array Disassembly! Escape!"
As the command rang out,
the Star Array Plate erupted in a blinding flash of light. Its impossibly complex network of Runes flared as brightly as the sun.
It instantly deployed a thin but resilient spatial barrier while simultaneously detonating a Light Burst Bomb that refracted the surrounding aurora-like lights, concealing their position.
The Array Plate forcibly sealed off the approaching terror, yanking the entire team into a temporary Different Space!
After completing this last-ditch maneuver, the core of the Array Plate let out a faint, sorrowful whine, and its radiance completely faded.
CLATTER. The Array Plate fell to the ground. It had become nothing more than an inert rock, devoid of any Spiritual Qi or Spiritual Fluctuation. It quickly blended in with the gray stone floor and fell into a deep slumber.
Meanwhile, the surging black fog washed over the spot where the team had vanished, pausing for a moment.
As the dense fog roiled, two enormous points of light, crimson as pools of blood, faintly ignited within. Like a pair of eyes, they coldly scanned the barren ground.
It could smell the lingering scent of the Beastmasters in the air, along with the terror their Pet Beasts had left behind.
「A moment later.」
Having apparently lost its target, it resumed its slow, inexorable advance, creeping along the path the team had taken to get here.
Wherever it passed, even the light was devoured.
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