268: Underground World, Kyanite

Lost in thought, everyone walked down an unknown distance along the giant cave.

During this time, they dodged countless sneak attacks and killed countless underground creatures.

Anyway, Yang Dian's Flying Sword of Stars, once released, was never recalled.

But even though Yang Dian directly nipped threats in the bud, the atmosphere in the team remained somewhat heavy.

The dark, vast, and seemingly endless cave, as if placing people in perpetual darkness, made them feel isolated.

The endless death wails of underground creatures further added a touch of horror to the loneliness.

The omnipresent special magnetic field interference underground constantly squeezed everyone's nerves, making them irritable and wanting to cut something to vent.

It wasn't until they rounded a corner and the distant sound of rushing water reached them that everyone's spirits lifted.

They quickened their pace towards the source of the water sound.

A moment later, having found the river, they followed it to a cliff.

Then, an incredibly magnificent underground world appeared before their eyes.

The cliff was a thousand meters high, and the rushing river transformed into a milky way, as described in Li Bai's poetry, carrying a faint blue light as it poured into the underground world.

The dome of the underground world was covered with plants resembling eggplants, emitting a fluorescent blue light.

The light they emitted seemed to synchronize with the sun above.

As the hands of mechanical watches turned, their emitted light grew brighter and brighter.

Beneath the dome were countless flickering fireflies.

Perhaps all the surface fireflies had migrated underground.

Fireflies, rarely seen in the wild anymore, were here in swarms, illuminating the underground world along with the blue-light plants on the dome.

However, the light flickering from their bodies was also the blue light unique to the underground world, not the dim yellow light found on the surface.

At the very bottom were the faint blue underground rivers and blue-glowing underground lakes.

The banks of the lakes were covered with strange-looking underground ferns, and within these ferns lived countless deep-earth creatures.

Worms and disc worms from the Ediacaran biota era... sea scorpions and microdictyon from the Cambrian explosion... sea scorpions and Asteraspis from the Ordovician period... placoderms and coelacanths from the Devonian period... giant dragonflies and Ichthyostega from the Carboniferous period... and various dinosaurs, terror birds, terror crocodiles, mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, giant horned rhinos that had long been extinct in history... The boundless underground world seemed like a giant Earth gene bank.

Anything Yang Dian had ever had an impression of in his mind could find its original form in this place.

"This is unscientific!"

Old Daoist's words were also what Leiming wanted to say.

So he nodded, echoing the Old Daoist's exclamation:

"Indeed, it's unscientific."

"If these creatures from different eras lived in different underground worlds, I would accept it."

"At most, the climate and environment of each underground world would be independent, similar to the era they lived in."

"But now, they are living in the same underground space."

"The living environments and eras of these ancient creatures are completely different; how can they possibly live in the same underground space?"

Yang Dian, who had been standing silently by, sensed something and reached out, beckoning towards the waterfall.

The next moment, a large Qi and blood hand plunged into the waterfall, digging out a blue crystal the size of a cobblestone.

"Perhaps it's because of this thing."

He extended a finger, scraped off some powder, and tasted it. A shiver then rose from his tailbone, sweeping through Yang Dian's entire body.

It was like an ordinary person being subjected to 0.5 milliamperes of electricity.

He couldn't feel the stinging of the current, but it activated his body cells, making him shiver and open his pores, which was incredibly comfortable.

Besides that, Yang Dian also felt an unknown energy flow throughout his body as the powder was digested.

That energy seemed to want to integrate into his cells.

But his cells had long become the territory of Qi and blood; how could it possibly enter?

It wanted to integrate but couldn't. It wanted to dissociate but lacked the ability to do so.

Eventually, this energy circulated through Yang Dian's body once before returning to his stomach, expanding slightly.

Yang Dian then let out a burp, expelling that energy.

Looking at the mist that surged from his mouth, with energy particles occasionally colliding and emitting streaks of blue lightning, he couldn't help but blink:

"What a magical substance and energy~"

The curious Old Daoist extended his index finger into the mist.

Then he shivered.

"This thing actually carries electricity?"

The Old Daoist grumbled a couple of times, then took the blue crystal from Yang Dian's hand.

After scraping off some powder and putting it in his mouth, he frowned and said:

"There's an energy contained within this thing, but it conflicts with Qi and blood; they can't coexist."

After speaking, he also burped, expelling the blue mist energy from his body.

Old Master Tang scraped off some powder and came to the same conclusion, and finally, all three turned their gaze to Leiming.

Leiming chuckled awkwardly:

"Don't look at me."

"Although I've Awakened a lightning-attribute ability, it's just a lightning-attribute ability."

"The lightning I release is white; this thing is blue, clearly not the same kind."

"I'm not like you guys, whose Physiques are so strong that even bullets can't penetrate them."

"What if I eat something casually and get sick?"

"I didn't see you eat any less dinosaur meat before," the Old Daoist grumbled, then tossed the blue crystal back to Yang Dian:

"What do we do next?"

Yang Dian once again surged with Qi and blood, dug out some blue crystals from the waterfall, and then continued:

"Let's dig up some blue crystals and take them back for the Academy of Sciences to research."

"The ancient underground creatures can unleash that blue light wave, probably because they evolved after eating this thing."

"Also, this thing should be usable as an energy source."

"Besides, the energy of this thing is not necessarily impossible for us to absorb."

"All things carry Yin and embrace Yang; Yin and Yang, and the Five Elements, are both mutually generating and mutually restraining."

"With a little research, perhaps we can absorb its energy and make it our own?"

Old Daoist Qingfeng nodded thoughtfully:

"If I could also unleash waves like those big monsters, then first release a wave to paralyze technological equipment, and then hack wildly with my sword, wouldn't that be an absolute massacre?"

"At that time, let alone destroying a city, give the Old Daoist some time, and I could hack back and forth on the Japanese island several times."

Yang Dian gave Old Daoist Qingfeng a thumbs up:

"Old Daoist, still going strong, awesome~"

The Old Daoist tilted his head back:

"Isn't that right? ..."

The few of them chatted for a while, then began to split up.

Old Daoist Qingfeng and Old Master Tang were responsible for guarding the other Awakened, collecting blue crystals and underground plants around the waterfall, as well as gathering blood samples from underground creatures, or simply knocking them out and taking them away.

Yang Dian, on the other hand, followed a mysterious guiding force, flying deeper into the underground world.

He had kept his resource-gathering cheat on the whole time.

Now that he was here, of course, he had to pick up all the good stuff...