Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3815: Deep Underground

Several minutes passed in complete silence.

Little Shrubby sat atop the barren ground while his ears twitched from time to time, keeping watch over the surroundings. The beast occasionally glanced toward the Emperor Rock before looking around the empty wasteland again.

The place truly felt unnatural. There was no wind carrying the scent of grass, no insects chirping beneath loose stones, and not even the faint cries of nocturnal beasts could be heard here. It was as if life itself instinctively avoided this place.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang had completely focused on their task.

Unlike Lin Mu, they did not rely upon immortal sense.

The twin serpents slowly slithered over the barren earth, occasionally pressing their heads against the ground before remaining completely motionless. At times they would even coil themselves into tight circles, allowing the Yin and Yang energies within their bodies to spread through the earth in invisible waves.

Lin Mu patiently waited.

If the twins required this much time, then whatever they were sensing had to be buried exceptionally deep.

Finally, Xiao Yin lifted her head. "I found something."

Almost at the exact same moment, Xiao Yang looked up as well. "I found it too."

Lin Mu immediately walked over. "What did you sense?"

The twins exchanged glances before trying to describe it.

Xiao Yin tilted her head. "It feels like... energy."

Xiao Yang nodded enthusiastically. "Very dense energy."

The two closed their eyes once more, attempting to understand it better.

After another few breaths, they opened them simultaneously.

"It’s delicious."

"It smells delicious."

The twins spoke together with identical expressions.

Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. "Delicious?"

The description caught him completely off guard. Most people would describe energy as warm, cold, violent, peaceful, sharp or heavy. Delicious was certainly not among the descriptions he had expected.

He thought for a moment before reaching the most likely conclusion.

"Curse energy seems the most probable," Lin Mu muttered.

The twins immediately nodded. "It feels similar."

"But stronger."

"And much purer."

Lin Mu looked toward the barren ground beneath his feet. "How deep?"

"Very deep." This time both serpents frowned. "So deep that we almost couldn’t sense it."

"It took us a long time."

"We couldn’t smell it from up here."

Lin Mu understood. The tremendous depth had likely prevented even the faintest traces from reaching the surface. That also explained why the cursed energy had remained completely hidden from his earlier investigation.

Without further hesitation, he activated Phase and his body immediately began sinking into the earth. Solid stone offered no resistance whatsoever. Little Shrubby remained above, lazily lying beside Emperor Rock while occasionally looking around for approaching beasts.

The twins stayed behind as Lin Mu went down..

One hundred meters, nothing. Two hundred. Still nothing. The surrounding stone remained perfectly ordinary as Lin Mu continued downward.

He descended five hundred meters, then one kilometer. The pressure surrounding him steadily increased, though it meant little to his current physique and with Phase active. The mountain stone gradually became denser.

Occasionally veins of scant spiritual minerals appeared within the surrounding rock before disappearing behind him. Still, nothing resembling cursed energy could be found. Several minutes passed.

By now Lin Mu estimated they had already descended nearly five kilometers beneath the surface. Even he began feeling surprised.

"That’s deeper than I expected."

The twins nodded upon hearing through their link.

"It keeps going."

"It’s below."

"Much lower."

Lin Mu continued. The surrounding temperature slowly increased due to the depth. Massive underground caverns occasionally appeared before being left behind. Ancient underground rivers flowed through narrow passages carved over countless millennia.

The world beneath the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect proved just as vast as the one above.

Another kilometer passed, then another. Finally, after descending roughly seven kilometers beneath Emperor Rock, the twins suddenly became excited.

"Here!"

"You’re close!"

Lin Mu immediately slowed. His immortal sense spread outward for only the briefest moment. The Abyssal Horizon Veil Seal immediately trembled. He ignored it as his senses swept through the nearby stone.

Then he found them.

Several enormous crystal masses rested inside a naturally formed underground chamber. They appeared embedded directly within the surrounding bedrock. They were dark and completely inert.

Yet they contained an astonishing concentration of energy. Lin Mu only glanced at them before withdrawing his immortal sense. The seal had already weakened slightly from the brief scan.

Remaining here longer would only increase the risk.

Without hesitation, he extended his hand with the spatial ring. The surrounding stone fractured soundlessly as one crystal after another began disappearing. Within moments every crystal chunk disappeared into the ring.

Once satisfied that nothing remained behind, Lin Mu immediately began ascending. The journey upward took several more minutes. Eventually moonlight greeted him once again. Little Shrubby immediately stood up.

The twins also became excited.

"What was it?"

"What did you find?"

Lin Mu smiled slightly before opening his storage ring. A dull flash appeared before a massive crystal landed gently upon the barren ground. It stood roughly one meter tall with an irregular shape that looked as though it had been violently broken from a much larger crystal deposit.

Under the moonlight its appearance became clear. The crystal possessed an unusual mixture of colors. Dark gray formed its foundation and black streaks spread throughout its interior like frozen smoke.

Occasionally faint silver veins shimmered deep within the crystal before disappearing again. The surface appeared smooth in some places while jagged in others. It resembled neither spirit stone nor immortal stone.

Lin Mu slowly circled it. Even standing beside it, he sensed almost nothing. No cursed aura, no sinister pressure and neither any oppressive feeling or foul energy. There was nothing. That alone completely contradicted everything he knew.

Every curse crystal he had ever encountered leaked energy continuously. Simply approaching one usually caused some discomfort. Larger deposits could poison an entire mountain range.

Some ancient curse crystals even created forbidden lands merely through passive leakage. Yet this crystal remained perfectly calm. Almost as if it was asleep or dormant. Lin Mu reached out and placed a hand upon it but he still felt nothing.