64: Chapter 64 Deep Within the Spider's Nest, The Battle of the Queen Mother

The mine tunnel became unusually wide after extending a hundred zhang deep.

Lin Ye and his party passed through the narrow passage filled with spiderwebs and skeletons, and suddenly, the view opened up—this was no longer an artificially excavated mine tunnel, but a naturally formed, gigantic karst cave.

The cave was dome-shaped, and its highest point was over twenty zhang from the ground. The cave walls were inlaid with countless crystals emitting a faint blue light, illuminating the entire space like a netherworld ghost Domain. These crystals were not Spirit Stones, but a mineral called 'Fluorescent Rock,' which only existed in deep underground areas where Spiritual Qi was dense and sunlight never reached.

The floor of the cave was covered with a thick layer of white substance. It wasn't snow, but spider silk—tens of thousands of spider silk strands intertwined to form a massive web covering the entire cave floor. In the center of the web was a white nest, about three zhang high and shaped like a small hill. The surface of the nest was covered with holes, and something could be vaguely seen wriggling inside each hole.

Even more hair-raising was the fact that countless white cocoon-like objects were hanging upside down from the top of the cave. Some cocoons were shriveled and broken, while others were still trembling slightly, as if the things wrapped inside were still alive.

'This is the core of the Demon Spider nest.' Lin Ye lowered his voice, fully activating his Chaos Domain to sense the life aura throughout the cave.

In his perception, there was an extremely powerful life form inside that white nest—its Blood/Qi value exceeded 150,000, and its Divine Power fluctuations were equivalent to the Peak of the Dao Palace Fourth Layer, or even close to the Fifth Layer. This was the Spider Mother, the ruler of the burrowing Demon Spider colony.

Besides the Spider Mother, nearly a hundred life signals of ordinary Demon Spiders were scattered throughout the cave, with levels between 33-36. As for the cocoons at the top, most had lost signs of life, but faint heartbeats could still be heard from over a dozen of them—likely prey that had been captured but not yet dead.

'Screech—'

A sharp, piercing screech came from deep within the nest. Following this screech, the sound of dense crawling echoed throughout the cave. One after another, burrowing Demon Spiders appeared from the shadows; some crawled out from cracks in the rock walls, some climbed up from under the spiderwebs on the ground, and some even broke out of the cocoons at the top.

In the blink of an eye, the six of them were surrounded by over thirty Demon Spiders.

But this was not the most troublesome part.

Lin Ye's gaze was fixed on a certain hole in the nest. There, he saw a heart-stopping sight: deep inside the hole, pitch-black eggs, each the size of a fist, were expanding and wriggling at a speed visible to the naked eye, with red blood vessel-like patterns emerging on the surface of the eggshells.

'The Spider Mother is laying eggs!' Su Qingyue's face turned pale, 'It can continue hatching even during battle...'

'Not only that.' Shi Potian pointed to several pool-like depressions in the corner of the cave, 'There are 'Hatching Pools' there, piled full of eggs. If we let the Spider Mother keep hatching, we will be worn down to death.'

Lin Ye quickly observed the environment. The cave was about fifty zhang square, with the central nest occupying a ten-zhang area, surrounded by web-covered ground. The cocoons hanging from the top were ten to fifteen zhang above the ground, difficult for ordinary people to reach.

The deceleration effect of the web-covered ground had already taken effect—the System's environmental prompt flickered at the edge of his vision:

[Environmental Status: Web-Covered]

Effect: When moving in the ground web area, movement speed is reduced by 50%, and evasion rate is reduced by 20%

Removal Method: Clear the spiderwebs or use flame-type skills to burn them

And the Spider Mother's attributes were also fed back through the perception of the Chaos Domain:

[Burrowing Demon Spider · Mother Emperor (BOSS)]

Level: 40 (Peak of Dao Palace Fourth Layer)

Blood/Qi: 158000 / 158000

Divine Power: 72000 / 72000

Attack: 1800-2200

Defense: 1300

Skills:

① Queen's Screech (Area sonic attack, with fear effect)

② Venom Spit (Cone-shaped area venom attack, damage + continuous poisoning)

③ Hatching Command (Hatch 10 small spiders every 30 seconds, small spider level 30, existence time 3 minutes)

④ Web Storm (Summons dense webs to cover a large area, binding effect)

⑤ Berserk Bite (High damage melee single-target skill)

Traits:

① Nest Will: When within the nest range, all attributes increase by 20%, recovery speed increases by 50%

② Colony Command: Can command all burrowing Demon Spiders within a radius of one hundred zhang

③ Egg Core: Explodes upon death, releasing all small spiders from unhatched eggs (about 50-80)

'The attributes are even stronger than Lei Zhen, and it has terrain bonuses.' Lin Ye evaluated quickly in his heart.

If it were one-on-one, he would have a sixty percent chance of killing the Spider Mother. But now there were over thirty ordinary Demon Spiders interfering, plus a wave of small spiders hatching every thirty seconds... The difficulty had skyrocketed.

'We must divide the labor.' Lin Ye immediately made tactical arrangements, 'Shi Potian, your task is to destroy the Hatching Pools. Rush to the corners of the cave at the fastest speed and destroy those egg pools.'

'Chen Hao, Wang Iron Pillar, you are responsible for blocking the ordinary Demon Spiders, you must hold off at least twenty of them. Don't fight head-on; focus on defense and containment.'

'Su Qingyue, your task is to freeze the Spider Mother's hatching holes—do you see those expanding eggs on the nest? Use your cold energy to freeze them and delay or even interrupt the hatching process.'

'Zhao Linger, assist with healing at full strength, prioritizing the survival of Chen Hao and Wang Iron Pillar.'

'I will focus on attacking the Spider Mother. Remember, the Spider Mother will hatch once every thirty seconds; Su Qingyue must finish freezing before each hatching. Shi Potian must destroy all Hatching Pools within three minutes. Chen Hao and Wang Iron Pillar must persist for at least five minutes.'

'Do you all understand?'

'Understood!' the five replied in unison.

'Then—' Lin Ye's eyes locked onto the pair of scarlet compound eyes gradually opening deep in the nest, 'Start the battle!'

Before his voice faded, he took the lead.

With his left hand pressing empty air, the myriad things mother qi cauldron embryo in his Dantian vibrated, and wisps of myriad things mother qi fell, forming a pale yellow curtain of light around his body. At the same time, Chaos Fire rose from his right palm.

'Clear the webs first!'

Lin Ye pressed the Chaos Fire toward the ground. The moment the flame touched the spiderweb, it was like a spark falling into an oil depot, spreading violently! Under the scorching of the Chaos Fire, the grayish-white spiderwebs quickly curled up, charred, and turned into ashes.

With Lin Ye as the center, the spiderwebs within a radius of ten zhang were cleared, revealing the black rock ground underneath. The deceleration effect was temporarily lifted.

'Screech—!!!'

The Spider Mother in the nest was enraged and let out a piercing screech. The sound waves spread like a physical substance, causing the entire cave to tremble. The fluorescent rock crystals on the cave ceiling fell with a rustle, and the spiderwebs on the ground heaved like waves.

[System Prompt: Affected by 'Queen's Screech', entered 'Fear' state, all attributes reduced by 10%, lasting 15 seconds]

Except for Lin Ye, who was immune to some mental effects due to his Chaos Body, the other five turned pale, and their movements were visibly sluggish.

'Heart Purifying Mantra!' Zhao Linger gritted her teeth and cast a dispelling Spell, a pale green halo covering her teammates, barely offsetting part of the fear effect.

At this moment, the ordinary Demon Spiders had swarmed over.

Over thirty Demon Spiders, the size of millstones, pounced from all directions, their mouthparts snapping, and green venom dripped onto the ground, corroding pits.

'Shield Wall!' Chen Hao roared, standing side by side with Wang Iron Pillar.

Two heavy shields were inserted into the ground side by side, and earthy yellow Spiritual Qi surged from them, forming a thick Spiritual Qi barrier in front of the shields. The seven or eight Demon Spiders rushing at the front slammed into the barrier, causing it to fluctuate violently, but it barely held on.

'Ice Wall Technique · Triple!' Su Qingyue formed Seals with both hands, and three ice walls rose from the ground behind the shield wall, serving as the second line of defense.

Shi Potian sneaked into the shadows like a ghost, bypassing the frontal battlefield and rushing toward the Hatching Pools in the corners of the cave. His figure appeared and disappeared in the faint blue fluorescence; occasionally a Demon Spider would spot him, but before it could attack, he had already vanished into the darkness.

Lin Ye ignored the ordinary Demon Spiders; he had only one target—the Spider Mother.

Yaoguang Footwork fully activated, Lin Ye streaked across the cleared web area like starlight, rushing straight toward the central nest. Two Demon Spiders tried to intercept him along the way, but were flicked away by his spear.

'Human... intruder...'

A hoarse, distorted voice, like metal rubbing against metal, echoed in the cave.

It didn't travel through the air, but rang directly in everyone's mind!

The Spider Mother had mental communication capabilities!

Lin Ye's pupils constricted, but his movements did not stop. He leaped onto the periphery of the nest, his Bronze War Spear carrying Chaos Fire piercing toward an expanding egg hole on the surface of the nest.

'Presumptuous!'

The Spider Mother's mental shock hit like a heavy hammer. Lin Ye felt a pain in his head, and his movements slowed by half a beat. Just at this moment, several cracks suddenly opened on the surface of the nest, and over a dozen white spider silk threads as thick as arms shot out, intertwining into a net in the air and covering Lin Ye from above.

These spider threads were completely different from those of ordinary Demon Spiders; their surfaces had a metallic luster, clearly tougher, and their speed was extremely fast.

'Void Step!'

At the critical moment, Lin Ye activated the space secret technique. His figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared on the other side of the nest, three zhang away. The spider web missed, covering the position where he had originally stood, the spider silk deeply embedded in the chitinous layer on the surface of the nest.

'Space... interesting...' The Spider Mother's voice carried greed, 'Your body... is very suitable to be a new vessel...'

Lin Ye's heart tightened. The intelligence of this Spider Mother far exceeded that of ordinary Yao Beasts! It could not only communicate mentally but also had thoughts of Possession or occupying a Physical Body!

It could not be delayed any longer.

'Su Qingyue, freeze!' Lin Ye shouted.

Su Qingyue, who had been accumulating power, finally made her move. She held her hands high, her Vast Cold Spirit Body fully operating, and cold energy surged from her body like a tide. The temperature in the cave dropped sharply, and countless ice crystals condensed in the air.

'Vast Cold Art · Freezing A Thousand Li!'

The cold energy converged into an ice-blue torrent, blasting toward the hatching holes on the nest. Wherever it passed, the spider silk froze into ice ridges, a thick layer of ice covered the surface of the egg holes, and those wriggling eggs were instantly frozen, their life aura weakening sharply.

'Screech—!!!'

The Spider Mother let out a screech of extreme anger. It felt the death of its offspring and also felt the threat—the hatching was interrupted, and its troop replenishment would be greatly reduced.

The nest vibrated violently, and the chitinous layer on its surface peeled off in pieces, revealing the true body underneath.

It was a monster so huge it was suffocating.

The Spider Mother's main body was three times larger than an ordinary Demon Spider, its eight long legs like steel spears, each covered with hard, dark red armor, with barbs growing on the joints. Its abdomen was bloated like a small hill, its surface covered with dense egg sacs, some of which had already ruptured, leaking viscous liquid.

The most terrifying thing was its head—it was not a spider's head, but a distorted human face! The facial features could vaguely be identified as human, but the eyes were spider compound eyes, the mouthparts were spider chelicerae, and the whole face presented a non-human ferocity.

'Is this... a corpse fused with a human miner?' Chen Hao gasped.

'It is evolving... or rather, mutating.' Lin Ye said in a deep voice.

Experience from his past life told him that some Yao Beasts, after devouring humans with special Physiques or powerful cultivation, had a certain probability of fusing with human features and even gaining human intelligence. This Spider Mother before him had clearly embarked on this path of evolution.

'Human... become my nourishment...' The Spider Mother's distorted human face opened, and the voice rang directly in their minds.

Its eight legs exerted force simultaneously, and its massive body rushed out of the nest like a chariot, pouncing straight at Lin Ye! The speed was so fast that it was completely unlike what a level 40 BOSS should have!

Lin Ye dared not take it head-on, Yaoguang Footwork fully deployed, his figure moving like starlight on the surface of the nest. Every pounce of the Spider Mother missed, but its massive body crashed into the nest, shaking off a large amount of debris.

'Attack its abdominal egg sacs!' Lin Ye shouted, 'That is its weak point!'

Su Qingyue responded immediately. She gave up continuing to freeze other egg holes and instead condensed ice cones, shooting them toward the egg sacs on the Spider Mother's abdomen. The ice cones hit accurately, the egg sacs ruptured, and viscous green liquid splashed out.

'Ah—!!!' The Spider Mother let out a painful screech, not a mental transmission, but a real scream.

Its Blood/Qi value dropped by a chunk visibly, and blood began to seep from the ruptured egg sacs on its abdomen.

It worked!

But the Spider Mother's counterattack also came. It turned around violently, its abdomen aimed at Su Qingyue, and those unruptured egg sacs opened simultaneously, spraying out hundreds of small black balls.

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

It wasn't venom, but... eggs!

These eggs hatched rapidly in the air, their shells cracking open to reveal fist-sized little spiders. These small spiders had thin wings on their backs and could actually glide short distances!

[Crypt Demon Spider Larva]

Rank: Level 30

Health: 8000/8000

Attack: 300-400

Defense: 200

Skill: Self-Destruction (Self-destructs upon approaching the target, dealing area-of-effect venom damage)

Trait: Exists for 180 seconds; no loot upon death

Hundreds of small spiders lunged at Su Qingyue like a swarm of locusts!

“Qingyue, watch out!” Chen Hao wanted to turn back and help, but he was pinned down by five ordinary Demon Spiders.

Su Qingyue’s face turned pale, but she did not panic. Her hands formed Seals, and the cold air around her erupted again: “Ice Ring Spell!”

With her as the center, an ice-blue halo expanded outward. The small spiders touched by the halo froze instantly, falling from the air and shattering into ice shards upon hitting the ground. However, there were too many small spiders; the ice ring could only clear half of them, and over fifty still broke through the icy blockade.

Just then, a dark shadow flashed by.

Shi Potian had finally arrived! He leapt from the shadows, his dual blades dancing like a whirlwind, slicing the small spiders into pieces wherever he went. His movements were incredibly fast, every strike precisely hitting the small spiders' fragile heads.

“Two Hatching Pools have been destroyed, only one left!” Shi Potian shouted. “Give me twenty seconds!”

“I’ll give you thirty seconds!” Lin Ye responded, while simultaneously doing his best to pin down the Spider Mother.

Seeing the failure of its larvae's attack, the Spider Mother became even more frenzied. Its distorted human face suddenly opened its mouth—it wasn't a spider's mouthparts, but a real human mouth—inside, there was no tongue, only a mass of writhing black flesh.

“Hiss... ha...”

An eerie sound of inhaling echoed as the Spiritual Qi within the cavern surged frantically into the Spider Mother's mouth. All the egg sacs on its abdomen swelled simultaneously, with dense patterns of blood vessels surfacing on them.

“It’s charging up an ultimate move!” Alarm bells rang in Lin Ye’s heart.

Judging by the intensity of the Spiritual Qi fluctuations, the power of this strike could likely instantly kill any Cultivator below the Dao Palace Third Layer.

“Chen Hao, Wang Iron Pillar, abandon defense and charge the Spider Mother with everything you've got! Interrupt its charging!” Lin Ye ordered urgently.

Chen Hao and Wang Iron Pillar exchanged a glance and roared simultaneously. An earthy yellow light erupted from their bodies; they were actually burning a portion of their Origin blood and Qi to forcibly increase their strength.

“Earth Collision!”

“Mountain Crushing and Earth Splitting!”

The two of them were like two maddened bulls, knocking aside the Demon Spiders blocking their path and slamming hard into the Spider Mother's side. The Spider Mother's massive body stumbled, and the charging process was interrupted.

But the price was heavy. Chen Hao and Wang Iron Pillar's shields shattered in the impact, and the two were sent flying, coughing up blood in mid-air. Their health values instantly dropped below 30%, entering a critically wounded state.

“Healing!” Zhao Linger released her healing Spells with all her might, two green pillars of light enveloping the two of them, barely stabilizing their injuries.

At this moment, because its charging had been interrupted, the Spider Mother fell into a brief state of paralysis.

An opportunity!

A cold light flashed in Lin Ye’s eyes as he brought out all his trump cards.

The Chaos Domain was fully activated, suppressing the Spider Mother's attributes. The myriad things mother qi cauldron embryo vibrated, as strands of myriad mother qi wound around the Bronze War Spear. Three big dipper star seals rotated frantically within his body, fusing Star Power with Chaos Divine Power. Chaos Fire spread from his palm to the spear's shaft, and the entire war spear ignited with grayish-white flames.

“With this spear, I’ll send you on your way!”

Lin Ye leapt into the air, the war spear falling like a falling star, piercing directly toward the Spider Mother's distorted human face.

The Spider Mother sensed the threat of death, its eight legs flailing wildly in an attempt to dodge. But its body was too massive, and having just recovered from the paralysis, its movements were half a beat slow.

“Puchi—!!!”

The war spear, burning with Chaos Fire, accurately pierced the center of the Spider Mother's human forehead.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment.

The next instant, the Chaos Fire erupted from within! Grayish-white flames gushed out from the Spider Mother's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Its carapace cracked in the fire, its flesh melted in the fire, and its egg sacs exploded in the fire.

“Im... possi... ble...” The Spider Mother's mental fluctuations grew weaker. “I... fused with... three Cultivators... how could...”

“Because you shouldn't have touched humans,” Lin Ye said coldly, twisting his wrist to stir the war spear inside the Spider Mother's skull.

The Spider Mother's eight legs convulsed wildly before finally hanging limp. In that distorted human face, the light in its compound eyes faded completely.

[System Notification: Slain Crypt Demon Spider Broodmother (Level 40 BOSS), gained 128,000 experience points and 1,500 cultivation points]

[System Notification: Congratulations on leveling up to Level 39 (Dao Palace First Layer → Dao Palace Second Layer)]

[System Notification: Chaos Heavenly Emperor Body adaptation increased to 35%]

[System Notification: Obtained Title “Spider Nest Destroyer” (+15% damage to insectoid creatures)]

[System Notification: Obtained items “Mother Queens Heart” (Gold Material), “Spider Empress Carapace Fragment” ×18, “Mutated Egg Sac” ×3, “Spiritual Crystal (Fragmented)” ×1]

A series of System notifications flooded the screen.

Lin Ye didn't have time to look closely because, after the Spider Mother died, a sudden change occurred!

The Spider Mother's massive corpse began to rapidly shrink and shrivel, as if all its essence was being drained by something. Beneath the corpse, deep within the nest, a dark red light gradually lit up.

The light came from a depression at the bottom of the nest, where something seemed to be buried.

Meanwhile, the remaining ordinary Demon Spiders in the cavern, instead of fleeing after the Broodmother's death, all went mad! They stopped attacking Lin Ye and the others and instead began biting and devouring each other, as if performing some cruel ritual.

“Are they... sacrificing themselves?” Su Qingyue asked in shock.

One Demon Spider bit a companion to death, injected its venom into the companion's corpse, and then fell dead itself. The corpses of the two Demon Spiders rapidly melted, turning into two pools of green liquid that seeped into the ground's spiderwebs. After absorbing the liquid, the spiderwebs turned from grayish-white to dark red and began to converge toward the depression in the center of the nest.

One, two, three... in the blink of an eye, over thirty Demon Spiders were all dead, their corpses serving as nourishment, transported by the spiderwebs to the depths of the nest.

“Something's wrong, stop them!” Lin Ye rushed toward the depression.

But it was already too late.

The spiderwebs, having absorbed all the Demon Spiders' essence, formed a dark red vortex at the depression. In the center of the vortex, a fist-sized, blood-red crystal slowly rose.

The crystal was an irregular polyhedron with liquid-like blood-light flowing on its surface, and a writhing black shadow was sealed inside. The shape of that shadow... vaguely resembled a curled-up infant.

[Blood Sacrifice Crystal (Special)]

Quality: Legendary (Cursed)

Status: Sealed (Seal integrity 73%)

Effect: ???

Description: An evil object created through a blood sacrifice of a large amount of life essence. It contains a sealed fragment of consciousness or Soul from a certain existence. Prolonged contact will lead to Spiritual Sense pollution and mental derangement.

Warning: This item is directly related to the death of Wang Iron Pillar, a member of the Yaoguang Holy Land exploration team.

“This is...” Lin Ye’s pupils contracted.

He remembered the warning on the map: Exploration team member Wang Iron Pillar had suddenly lost control when approaching the energy source deep in the Ore Vein, and three days after returning to the Holy Land, his Spiritual Sense dissipated, and he died.

Could it be that Wang Iron Pillar had come into contact with this thing?

What made Lin Ye even more anxious was that the moment the Blood Sacrifice Crystal appeared, his Chaos Heavenly Emperor Body produced a strong rejection reaction—not toward the crystal itself, but toward the black shadow inside it.

That thing... made the Chaos Body feel threatened.

“Get back! Stay away from that thing!” Lin Ye shouted urgently.

The group retreated quickly, but Su Qingyue stood still.

She stared at the Blood Sacrifice Crystal, her eyes a bit dazed, as if she were being drawn in by something.

“Qingyue?” Lin Ye reached out to pull her.

Just as his fingers were about to touch Su Qingyue’s shoulder, the Blood Sacrifice Crystal suddenly erupted with a dark red light ring!

The light ring swept across the entire cavern. Wherever it passed, the ground's spiderwebs turned into blood-water, the fluorescent rocks on the walls grew dim, and even the air became thick and heavy.

[System Notification: Affected by “Blood Sacrifice Domain,” all attributes decreased by 15%, health lost at 100 points per second, lasting until leaving the Domain's range]

“A Domain-type skill?!” Lin Ye was horrified.

This crystal could actually automatically deploy a Domain! Although the range was only fifty zhang and the effect wasn't too strong, this was an autonomous action, meaning the thing sealed inside the crystal possessed some degree of consciousness!

Su Qingyue was struck by the light ring, her body trembling, as ice-blue and dark red lights flashed alternately in her eyes. Her Vast Cold Spirit Body was automatically resisting the pollution, but it was clearly struggling.

“Qingyue, wake up!” Lin Ye grabbed her hand, and Chaos Divine Power flowed into her body, helping to dispel the intruding dark red energy.

Su Qingyue suddenly snapped awake, her face deathly pale: “Just now... I seemed to hear someone calling me... a woman's voice...”

A woman's voice?

Lin Ye looked at the Blood Sacrifice Crystal. The black shadow inside indeed seemed to have a female silhouette.

“Let’s get out of here first!” Lin Ye made a split-second decision.

He didn't dare to touch the crystal recklessly; this thing was too eerie. Moreover, they were in bad shape—Chen Hao and Wang Iron Pillar were heavily injured, Zhao Linger’s Divine Power was exhausted, Su Qingyue was mentally polluted, and Shi Potian had also consumed a lot of energy.

Although Lin Ye himself had recovered his state by leveling up, it was better to be cautious when facing an unknown cursed item.

He took out a specially made jade box—a “Spirit-Sealing Jade Box” exchanged from the Yaoguang Holy Land, specifically used for storing dangerous items. The interior of the jade box was engraved with a sealing Formation that could isolate most energy leaks.

Using his war spear, he carefully picked up the Blood Sacrifice Crystal and placed it into the jade box. The moment the crystal entered the box, the dark red Domain disappeared, and the cavern returned to normal.

He closed the lid and applied three sealing Talismans. Only then did Lin Ye breathe a sigh of relief.

“Clean up the battlefield, collect all the loot we can carry, and then leave immediately,” Lin Ye ordered.

Everyone began to move. The Materials dropped by the Spider Mother and the Demon Spiders were quite numerous; the Mother Queens Heart, Spider Empress Carapace, and Mutated Egg Sac were all rare Materials that could be sold for many Spirit Stones. In a corner of the cavern, next to the Hatching Pool destroyed by Shi Potian, were dozens of unhatched eggs. These eggs would also be valuable if given to a beast tamer or an Alchemist.

What surprised Lin Ye the most was that beneath the Spider Mother's nest, they found a hidden Ore Vein entrance.

The entrance was only one person wide and extended downward, with dense Spiritual Qi surging out from within. Lin Ye used an Illumination Crystal to look inside and saw a sight that made his breathing quicken—

On the rock walls on both sides of the passage, Low-Grade Spirit Stones were densely embedded! Moreover, the purity was very high, most being over 80%, with some even reaching 90%.

More importantly, within the Spirit Stone layers, a milky-white luster could occasionally be seen—those were Mid-Grade Spirit Stones!

“We’re rich...” Chen Hao murmured.

Conservatively estimating, the reserves of this Ore Vein were at least a hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, if not more. If there were Mid-Grade Spirit Stone layers deeper down, the value would increase several times over.

But Lin Ye did not immediately organize mining.

The appearance of the Blood Sacrifice Crystal made him realize this mine was not simple. The Spider Mother, the blood sacrifice, the sealed consciousness fragment, the death of the exploration team member... behind all this, there was likely a greater secret hidden.

“Today, we’ll only collect the surface Ores and then evacuate,” Lin Ye decided. “We'll come back to explore thoroughly once we’re stronger and better prepared.”

Two hours later, the six of them left the cavern with a bountiful harvest.

On the way back, Lin Ye kept holding that Spirit-Sealing Jade Box.

The jade box was vibrating slightly, as if the thing inside was still struggling.

And in his mind, Su Qingyue's words kept echoing:

“A woman's voice...”

What exactly was sealed deep within the mine?

Who was that voice calling for?

Or... who was it waiting for?