334: Treasures in the Netherworld

The Little Black Cat shook its head listlessly:

"Human, there's nothing tasty here anymore."

Yang Dian rubbed the Little Black Cat, which seemed a bit dispirited from the lack of tasty food, a couple of times. With a thought, he entered the Unity of Man and Nature state.

Just like before, after shattering the star core with a punch, the mother earth's favor still descended.

And this time, the amount of favor was far greater than the first time he shattered the star core and snatched away the star core fragment.

If the favor obtained from the first star core shattering was quantified as one, then the newly acquired favor was ten.

However, even though he had the favor, Yang Dian couldn't find a way to use it for a while.

During his previous rest, he took the opportunity to collect all the scattered heaven and earth treasures across the earth, as well as nearly a thousand newly formed heaven and earth treasures after the third Spiritual Qi tide, into his possession.

But the amount of favor consumed didn't even reach one-tenth of the total.

The mother earth still loved him too much.

He didn't know how to digest this profound love for a while.

'Perhaps I could use the World's Favor to mark the drop points of dimensional rifts?'

As thoughts churned in his mind, Yang Dian and the other two stepped onto the top of the stairs, arriving before the pool beneath the waterfall.

The small pool beneath the waterfall seemed capable of holding all rivers and streams.

No matter how much water poured down from the waterfall, it could contain it all, and the water level would remain unchanged, neither increasing nor decreasing.

"Is there something good here?" Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau mumbled, opening his spatial ring and starting to pull out items.

A pipette, a thermometer, a microscope, pH test strips... Seeing Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau's posture, as if he was about to conduct a simple scientific experiment, Old Daoist Qingfeng, who didn't sense any threat, shook his head and stepped forward two paces, dipping his finger into the pool water.

"Hiss~~~"

With a long intake of breath, the Old Daoist's finger, which he had dipped into the pool, turned a deep blue.

Under some unknown influence, this blue color instantly spread from his finger to his entire body, turning him into a small blue man.

Even his eyebrows, eyelashes, and strands of hair did not escape this coloration.

Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau, who had just picked up the pipette to collect water from the pool, couldn't help but laugh at the sight:

"You stubborn Daoist, you don't believe in science, now you're suffering, aren't you?"

The Old Daoist, who had withdrawn his finger from the pool, said nothing, merely closing his eyes and standing still.

Sensing that the Old Daoist's Mental Energy was starting to fluctuate rapidly, a look of concern immediately appeared on Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau's face:

"Are you alright?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Old Daoist, whose pupils had also been dyed blue, opened his eyes and loudly uttered a single word.

"Refreshing!"

With that, he ignored Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau's 'you're messing with me' expression, turned to Yang Dian, and said:

"This pool water can temper Mental Energy."

"Even for us, it's not without benefit."

At this point, the Old Daoist pondered for a moment before concluding:

"It can roughly double the efficiency of my Sword Intent condensation."

Upon hearing this, Yang Dian squatted down and dipped his finger into the water.

A bone-chilling cold instantly spread throughout his body from his fingertip, making him shiver subconsciously.

As the bone-chilling cold arose, he also felt a pure Mental Energy emerging from the pool water, bypassing his Physical Body's protection, appearing out of nowhere outside the abode of his Soul, and transforming into a hammer to strike the starlight curtain formed under the stellar illumination, which protected his Soul from intrusion.

Yang Dian, after enduring two hammers, withdrew his hand:

"There is indeed a special energy in the pool water that can temper Mental Energy and help increase Mental Energy strength."

"The only thing to note is that it cannot be used to aid Cultivation for extended periods, as that would cause irreversible damage to the Mental Energy and even the Soul."

Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau scratched his head and also dipped his hand into the pool water. After shivering twice, he stood up:

"Those below the Qi Blood Smoke Realm cannot use it; the coldness carried by the pool water alone could injure them."

After a few quick analyses of the pool water's effects, Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau took out a ladle, scooped up some pool water, and placed it aside.

Facing Yang Dian's curious gaze, he smiled and said:

"I'm testing how long the pool water remains effective after leaving the pool."

After speaking, he took out several White Mice from his beast-taming spatial ring, which was specifically used to store living creatures.

One was thrown onto the dark blue steps.

The newly freed White Mouse immediately began to flee.

But it hadn't run many steps before it turned into an ice sculpture, frozen in a running posture on the steps.

Two more seconds, and the dark red mist in the sky began to sink, swirling around the White Mouse a few times.

Three seconds later, the mist floated back up, and the White Mouse, frozen on the steps, also disappeared.

"The steps also possess extraordinary abilities; they can freeze and kill some weaker creatures, but they won't have any effect on people whose strength exceeds a certain level."

"It feels like it can be treated as a Magic Treasure with an intelligent program."

"The instruction it received is probably that when a creature whose strength is above a certain level stands on it, it will not make any movements."

"When a creature whose strength is below a certain level stands on it, it will kill that creature."

"Of course, if one's strength reaches a certain level and there is someone guarding it, it might also become a treasure for Cultivation."

After testing the steps, the White Mouse in his palm, which had just been fed a drop of pool water, also lost its breath.

As the White Mouse lost its breath, the dark red mist in the sky began to sink again, preparing to devour the lifeless White Mouse.

However, this time it only descended one meter before a red Fist Intent, breaking the old society and creating a new era, surged from Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau, rushing straight into the clouds and mist.

The mist churned for a moment, and finally, as if in fear, it quietly floated high in the sky, making no further movements.

"The White Mouse died after drinking the pool water; it is currently uncertain whether the pool water is poisonous and cannot be consumed, or if its Physique was too weak and it was directly frozen to death by the cold pool water, or if the White Mouse could not withstand the Mental Energy hammering its Soul to death."

"This requires subsequent dissection."

"In addition, the mist devours corpses and possesses simple intelligence or sentience, but no matter which, it also bullies the weak and fears the strong."

After muttering a few words, Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau carried the White Mouse's corpse to the flowerbed beside the steps and placed the White Mouse inside the flowerbed.

Faint rustling sounds came from beneath the soil. Soon after, several roots pierced into the White Mouse's corpse, instantly sucking it into a rat skin.

Watching the roots curl up the rat skin and drill back into the soil, Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau reached for the red petals.

Before his hand could even touch the petals, the flower began to shake rapidly, its stems one by one pulling out of the soil, looking as if it wanted to escape from the ground.

Unfortunately, its movements were a bit slow.

Before it could pull all its roots out of the soil, the red flower on its stem was plucked by Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau.

Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau glanced at the stiff branches and roots that were left after losing their flower, then placed the red flower in front of a White Mouse he had just taken from his beast-taming ring.

The White Mouse sniffed the red flower, its eyes turned red, and it ate the flower in two or three bites, then began to squeak wildly.

Its body began to swell rapidly amidst its screams, expanding to the size of a domestic cat in an instant.

The Little Black Cat leaped from beside Yang Dian, pounced on the 'drug-enhanced' mouse, which had lost all its fur, had prominent muscle lines, but moved somewhat stiffly, and began to meow.

"Human, it doesn't taste good anymore."

Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau wanted to reach out and pet the cat, but before his palm could land on the Little Black Cat, it turned into an afterimage, darting to Yang Dian's side and sitting down, giving Mo Yuntao, Director of the Martial Security Bureau a sidelong glance.

Its expression seemed to say, 'What class are you, to even be worthy of touching me?'