158: Chapter 157 The Supreme Treasure-Grade Black Barbs

In the darkness, Ye Xiu's speed was not very fast.

As he went deeper, the power of death in this Return to Ruins became increasingly dense.

One week later, two massive, adjacent caves appeared in his line of sight.

The dark cave entrances, like the gaping maws of monsters, were chilling.

Wisps of the power of death drifted out from the cave entrances.

Low growls and footsteps all indicated the danger within.

Feeling the terrifying power of death within the caves, Ye Xiu frowned slightly; this place could already be considered a very deep region of the Return to Ruins.

The two caves before him were likely no safer than the abyss-like sinkhole from before.

Looking at the endless darkness ahead, Ye Xiu pondered for a moment before deciding to go in and take a look. Otherwise, if he just kept walking deeper, no one could say when it would end.

It was better to first explore these two caves. Perhaps there would be unexpected gains.

After all, in the past week, he had encountered no fewer than thirty batches of monsters, many of which were terrifying existences.

But no matter how terrifying the monsters were, as long as they didn't perceive the power of death, they wouldn't attack proactively; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to walk here safely.

Having been in the Return to Ruins for some time, Ye Xiu could confirm that within this place, apart from those Supreme Remnants that had undergone Awakening of consciousness, he was almost in no danger in the Return to Ruins.

As long as he didn't seek death, obtaining a higanbana should not be difficult.

No wonder that guy, Fa, chose to trade with him. Perhaps in this Return to Ruins, apart from himself, no one else could obtain the higanbana.

That old ghost Fa had likely been to the deepest part of the Return to Ruins. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known about the existence of the higanbana, but that old ghost must have suffered a great loss in the depths of the Return to Ruins.

As he stepped forward, it seemed as if terrifying monsters in the dark cave opened their eyes at this moment.

"Woo..." Low growls echoed from all directions.

"Rustle..." Messy footsteps emerged from the depths of the cave.

"There are quite a few ghostly things here. Could it be that, like the sinkhole, it leads to the deepest part of the underground?"

With a hint of doubt, Ye Xiu, who had been advancing quickly, slowed his pace significantly.

He ignored the low growls in the darkness and walked slowly toward the depths of the cave.

After walking for a long time, thick black barbs appeared on the ground and rock walls.

Feeling the power of death on them, a strange look flashed in Ye Xiu's eyes. The power of death on these barbs was too terrifying; if he could take them away, that would be incredible.

Thinking of this, his immortal power began to vibrate. He came to the side of a barb.

With a flash of light, a blade of light formed from immortal power instantly condensed in his hand.

"Ding..." Amidst the sound of metal clashing, this black barb filled with the power of death was struck, leaving a slight dent.

"It's possible!" Ye Xiu was overjoyed and brandished the blade of light in his hand rapidly.

With a series of sparks flying, a barb over ten meters long was completely severed.

"Boom..." The barb crashed onto the ground, making quite a loud noise.

In the darkness, it seemed as if a pair of malicious eyes were attracted; it growled low and slowly approached this side.

In just one minute, a massive Crawler appeared. Its huge body, over a dozen meters long, was several times larger than the average Crawler.

Besides that, this Crawler was shrouded in Death Qi, and the power of death hidden within its body was extremely shocking.

It stared at Ye Xiu, examining him. In its pair of huge pupils, there seemed to be a glimmer of intelligence.

"A monster with self-awareness?"

Ye Xiu was startled. This wasn't the first time he had seen such a large Crawler. He had encountered such monsters before.

But compared to the monster before him, that large Crawler from back then had no intelligence at all. Even when it brushed past Ye Xiu, it hadn't even glanced at him.

"Da da da..." The large Crawler paced in the darkness, its huge eyes staring fixedly at Ye Xiu. It seemed to be considering whether the person before it could be judged as a target for harvesting.

Under the gaze of the large Crawler, Ye Xiu suddenly felt a sense of trepidation.

"If this thing attacks, it will be dangerous."

Immortal power surged within his body. Amidst the streams of immortal light, the wangquan sword hidden within his Bloodline was completely concealed.

Since absorbing the power of death, his own Law-Breaking Path had taken on a trace of Death Qi; perhaps this large Crawler could sense that anomaly.

With the full concealment of his immortal power, the aura of the wangquan sword completely vanished.

"Woo..." The large Crawler was somewhat puzzled; after growling a few times, it slowly disappeared into the darkness.

Watching the monster gradually disappear, Ye Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and then began to inspect the black barbs on the ground.

The power of death still existed. Although it was a pity he couldn't pull it out by the root, this single barb was enough for him to absorb for several days.

The power of death was extremely important for both his Law-Breaking Path and the Heavenly Emperor Sutra.

The blade of light flickered. After Ye Xiu put away the barb, he swung his blade again, cutting toward another barb.

"Ding..." Sparks flew everywhere. One by one, the barbs were severed by the blade of light and collected into the wangquan sword.

Feeling the barbs silently floating within the sword body, Ye Xiu was in a great mood.

Such a supreme treasure—even without obtaining the higanbana, this trip was worth it.

As long as he got out of the Return to Ruins, he would go into seclusion and fully absorb the power of death within the barbs.

Once the Law-Breaking Path evolved into a world, it would be the time for the two paths to merge.

"Woo..." As time passed, many Crawlers gathered in the darkness. Their greenish eyes were very horrifying in the dark.

Ye Xiu ignored the monsters in the darkness. After completely concealing the aura of the wangquan sword, these monsters that only knew how to harvest the power of death were actually not scary at all, except for being ugly.

It was fine to just ignore them directly.

"Ding... Ding... Ding..." The chopping continued. Wherever the light passed, nothing remained.

For several days in a row, Ye Xiu was busy collecting black barbs, until he reached the end of the cave.

There were no more barbs here, only a pitch-black passage. Before the passage, dozens of large Crawlers were quietly lying on the ground.

Their eyes held confusion. They seemed to be wondering why the human before them had come to this place.

"They have intelligence?" Seeing the appearance of the large Crawlers, a flash of surprise crossed Ye Xiu's eyes. He hadn't expected that these monsters, which only knew how to harvest the power of death, would be able to think like living beings.

The one he had encountered before, although suspected of having intelligence, was not as huge as the Crawlers here.

With their massive bodies over thirty meters tall, the extra limbs they originally had were also reduced by several. They seemed to have an evolutionary path; as their size and the power of death increased...

These monsters were actually evolving in the direction of humans.

"There seem to be many secrets in the Return to Ruins." Looking at the huge Crawlers staring at him, Ye Xiu did not rashly rush into the passage. After wandering around the end of the cave for a while, he slowly retreated from this cave.

One hour later, he arrived at the other cave. With the same operation as before, he began a new round of 'mowing'.

Another three days passed. The cave on the left had also been completely harvested by Ye Xiu.

Introspecting at the black barbs stored within the wangquan sword, the power of death, dense to the extreme, was almost about to break through the sword body and mutate Ye Xiu's Bloodline.

"I've struck it rich." He had harvested over three thousand black barbs.

If he absorbed them with full effort, it would take decades. Not to mention letting the Law-Breaking Path evolve into a world, even accumulating enough to reach the Supreme Realm might be possible.

At the end of the cave, there were no large Crawlers lying there. In the empty stone cave, apart from a deeply profound passage, only the completely atomized power of death remained.

Looking at the profound passage before him, Ye Xiu suppressed his somewhat excited mind. He pondered for a long time before deciding to go in and take a look. After all, in this Return to Ruins, even the most dangerous monsters might not necessarily attack him.

Since that was the case, these most terrifying places might be the greatest places of opportunity for him.

If two caves were enough to satisfy him and make him return, would there be an even bigger surprise waiting for him in the passage at the end of the cave?

With a sense of anticipation, Ye Xiu slowly stepped into the passage.