Chapter 3922: The Dangers Of The Subterranean World
Chapter 3922: The Dangers Of The Subterranean World
There were even stranger races that rarely appeared on the surface, choosing instead to spend their entire existence beneath the earth where generations passed without ever seeing the sun.
Naturally, where intelligent races flourished, countless beasts followed. Many underground creatures had never once seen daylight. Over countless generations they had evolved into entirely unique species that surface cultivators often knew very little about.
Xukong answered calmly. "This certainly possesses the characteristics of one. It may not encompass the entirety of the underground, but it is large enough to sustain an independent ecosystem."
Lin Mu slowly nodded.
One question, however, still lingered within his thoughts and he looked upward. The ceiling remained covered with glowing moss rather than any opening toward the sky.
"No sunlight." He quietly muttered.
His eyes drifted toward the towering forest below. The trees looked healthy and many possessed lush crowns. Some even bore strange flowers despite existing beneath kilometers of solid stone.
"How do these plants survive? They shouldn’t receive any sunlight."
Xukong chuckled softly. "Subterranean plants rarely rely upon sunlight. They develop entirely different methods."
Lin Mu listened attentively.
"The Qi naturally present within subterranean worlds often becomes their primary source of energy. The richer the underground Qi becomes, the greater the diversity of plant life."
He paused briefly before continuing. "As for nutrients... They obtain those much like many fungi upon the surface. They feed upon decaying flesh, blood, bones and of course the remains of beasts. Some even absorb the nutrients directly from corpses before they fully decompose."
Lin Mu found that explanation rather reasonable. After all, he had already encountered several spiritual herbs whose nourishment came entirely from Qi. Plants adapting to underground conditions hardly seemed impossible.
"That certainly explains the abundance of carnivorous plants the prisoners mentioned."
Xukong gave a faint hum of agreement. "In places where sunlight cannot sustain vegetation everything competes far more fiercely and many plants evolve into hunters."
Lin Mu quietly memorized that information before turning back toward the gathered prisoners.
"You’ve all gathered wood from below."
The prisoners nodded.
"You’ve also spoken with people who came from deeper settlements. I want to know everything you’ve heard about the forest."
The prisoners exchanged glances and eventually, the old man gestured toward another elderly prisoner.
"You tell him."
The elderly prisoner swallowed before stepping forward. "My lord... We’ve never gone deep ourselves. We only know what others have told us."
Lin Mu nodded. "That’s enough."
The man organized his thoughts before speaking.
"The forest is full of beasts of many kinds. We don’t know most of their names but we’ve heard descriptions." He slowly began listing them.
"There are wolves larger than houses, strange deer with six legs, monkeys that can tear apart stone, flying reptiles that nest among the upper cliffs, giant snakes living beneath rivers and massive insects hiding inside hollow trees."
Another prisoner hurriedly added, "There are also things that only move during darkness."
Lin Mu raised an eyebrow.
"It is always dark here." The prisoner scratched his head awkwardly. "I mean... When the moss becomes dim. Sometimes the ceiling grows brighter and sometimes darker. We don’t know why. The hunters say certain beasts only appear during the darker periods."
Lin Mu silently noted that information.
Perhaps the glowing moss followed some natural cycle. Or perhaps another unknown mechanism influenced the brightness.
Another woman stepped forward. "My lord. The plants are even worse."
She shuddered while recalling old stories. "Some vines wrap around people and they slowly crush them. Then there are flowers that spray poisonous mist. Bushes that throw sharp seeds, trees that bleed and even trees that scream loud enough to scramble your mind."
Lin Mu remained calm while another prisoner continued. "The fungi are dangerous too. They release clouds of tiny spores. Some make people hallucinate, some rot flesh, some blind while others simply kill."
One by one, the prisoners continued sharing everything they remembered.
Poisonous pollen drifting through the air. Invisible fungal spores spreading with the slightest breeze. Venomous insects hiding beneath leaves. Strange worms living inside fallen logs. Leeches lurking beneath muddy pools.
Small frogs whose skin secreted deadly toxins, and certain mushrooms releasing sweet fragrances that lured animals before dissolving them. Others produced gasses capable of making even powerful body cultivators collapse unconscious.
Several prisoners even mentioned mysterious diseases.
"My uncle survived a beast attack." One man quietly said. "He only had a small scratch. But three hours later he couldn’t stand and four more hours after that, he died."
Another nodded. "There are fevers."
"Rotting diseases."
"Parasites."
"We don’t know where they come from."
"But once they appear... Very few survive."
Lin Mu quietly listened,
But none of these warnings truly worried him. The Burdenless Dominator Physique alone granted extraordinary resistance against toxins. His Omnicore Ascendancy Technique further strengthened every aspect of his body.
The Wood Core continuously repaired damage and his enhanced liver filtered out toxins. Several other cores also enhanced his natural resilience. As such ordinary poisons would struggle to affect him.
Even powerful toxins required sufficient potency before becoming genuine threats.
Still being resistant did not mean becoming careless. He intended to remain vigilant. After the lengthy discussion ended, the prisoners quietly looked toward one another before the old man finally spoke.
"My lord. If you truly wish to descend, we should begin preparing."
Lin Mu looked toward him. "The human chain."
The old man nodded. "We’ll need to organize everyone."
Lin Mu stepped closer to the cliff’s edge before looking downward.
The first visible ledge indeed appeared far below. Farther than thirty people standing shoulder upon shoulder could possibly reach. His eyes continued searching and eventually, he spotted a narrow stone platform jutting from the cliff face.
It was barely two meters wide and another platform lay much farther below.
Understanding slowly dawned. "You don’t descend all the way at once."
The old man smiled weakly. "No. We only reach the first platform. Then everyone climbs down and we form another chain to reach the second. We continue repeating the process till we get to the bottom."