Chapter 184: Underground World
“Unfortunately, I had not yet mastered the profound mysteries contained within the two meditation methods, White Bone Contemplation and Moon Lake Meditation.”
Inside the underground dark river cavern where one could not see one’s fingers in front of one’s face, a sigh soon rang out.
After Zhou Ming finished handling the matters within the camp, he directly chose to leave and began exploring the caves upstream of the underground dark river.
At the previous camp progress report meeting, Lu Tao had introduced the camp’s exploration status of the underground dark river.
Aside from discovering several tributaries as well as caves of varying sizes, they had also found traces of low-tier Ferocious Beasts. The exploration range had reached roughly ten kilometers, and a complete cave map had been drawn.
Because of his current state of mind, Zhou Ming had not yet reached the level where he was unaffected by external influences, so he planned to personally explore the underground dark river to relax the psychological pressure affecting him.
As for the sigh he had just let out, it was also an evaluation of the cultivation difficulty of the White Bone Contemplation and Moon Lake Meditation methods.
Although he had already entered the beginner stage, fully comprehending their deeper mysteries was still a tremendous challenge for Zhou Ming.
Not thinking further, Zhou Ming summoned Silver Scale, whose body was massive in size.
Seeing his master beside him, Silver Scale affectionately rubbed its head against Zhou Ming.
Fortunately, Zhou Ming’s physical strength was now comparable to that of a low-tier Ferocious Beast; otherwise, he would not have been able to enjoy Silver Scale’s intimate gesture.
“Let’s go, this place is just right for you to travel.”
Zhou Ming patted Silver Scale’s head, exerted force beneath his feet, and leapt directly onto its body, sitting cross-legged at the position behind its head.
Upon hearing its master’s command, Silver Scale immediately began slithering through the rugged underground river passage.
The dark environment and hard, uneven ground posed no obstacle at all to Silver Scale’s movement.
Snakes were naturally suited to complex terrain.
Sitting cross-legged atop Silver Scale, Zhou Ming held the cave map provided by Lu Tao and began reviewing the previously discovered underground river tributaries and the various caves of different sizes.
At the same time, he checked whether there might be any special discoveries. Having previously stumbled upon Sapphire Fish in the underground lake, Zhou Ming was filled with a trace of anticipation for this cave exploration.
Compared to the ordinary people in the camp, Zhou Ming, who possessed Dark-gold Serpent Pupils and spiritual perception, could discover much more even in areas that had already been explored.
Creatures hidden within the darkness were all detected by him one by one.
However, these creatures were all very ordinary, lacking even the most basic medicinal value, and at best could only be used to fill one’s stomach.
After a brief inspection, Zhou Ming tossed the captured creatures into Silver Scale’s mouth, counting them as small snacks for it.
This time, however, Silver Scale did not find them tasty. It still remembered the feeling of Zhou Ming tossing Sapphire Fish scraps into its mouth.
Unfortunately, ever since the lakeside pavilion had been established and complete research facilities became available,
Zhou Ming had used the Sapphire Fish scraps he consumed as materials for refining special nutrient liquids, which were used to cultivate Golden Horn, Colorful Scales, and Iron Block after their second mutations.
“Boom……”
The sound of surging water echoed as a rumbling roar rang out.
After following the underground dark river for several hours, Zhou Ming arrived at the place that had blocked further exploration by the camp.
A massive fissure, several meters wide and over a hundred meters deep, appeared before Zhou Ming’s eyes.
Only a small portion of the water flowed into the underground dark river, while most of it poured down like an inverted galaxy into the enormous chasm ahead.
It was precisely this phenomenon that caused the underground dark river’s water level to drop, preventing the underground caves from being flooded.
And it was also because the environment here was too dangerous that, after understanding there was no risk of the underground caves being submerged, Lu Tao had ordered his subordinates to abandon further exploration.
“After years upon years of underground river flow without flooding this place, could it be that beneath this enormous fissure, there exists an underground river of an even greater scale?”
Within the huge fissure, white surging mist obscured everything. Even with his Dark-gold Serpent Pupils, Zhou Ming could not see the environment at the very bottom.
Facing this discovery, Zhou Ming carefully considered the situation and decided to enter the fissure below to investigate.
With his current strength, he was more than capable of dealing with most dangers.
Silver Scale wriggled its body as a layer of earth-yellow light emerged, its abdomen pressing tightly against the straight cliff wall.
High-tier Ferocious Beasts were already able to use elemental energy particles to enhance themselves, with abilities far surpassing those of low-tier Ferocious Beasts in every aspect.
As Silver Scale advanced deeper into the fissure, Zhou Ming used a special technique to cling tightly to its body. A serpent-shaped phantom enveloped him, preventing the surging torrent from soaking him.
As Zhou Ming and Silver Scale slowly descended along the rock wall, the width of the fissure gradually expanded.
Water flowed down along the opposite rock wall, eventually forming a torrential waterfall.
On the other side, the rock wall suddenly shifted at a ninety-degree angle, clearly indicating the presence of a cavern ceiling. Beneath them lay a lake spanning several hundred meters in diameter.
Seeing this, Zhou Ming directly guided Silver Scale to leap down, landing safely into the lake whose depth could not be discerned.
“An underground cavern? No, this is an underground world belonging to a semi-plane existence!”
With just a brief scan of his surroundings, Zhou Ming immediately perceived the difference between the two.
The Dark-gold Serpent Pupils flickered with a faint glow as the scene before him came into view.
Aside from the lake spanning several hundred meters, there was also a vast plain covering several kilometers. This was not space that an underground cavern should possess.
Looking up, the distance between the ground and the overhead rock layers was over a hundred meters, completely resembling a small underground world.
Facing this discovery, Zhou Ming felt some shock, but even more so, a strong sense of vigilance arose within him.
The transformation of underground caverns into an underground world was ultimately caused by the influence of Dimensional Rifts.
In other words, this small underground world definitely contained a Dimensional Rift.
At present, the most important task was to determine the size of the Dimensional Rift.
A small Dimensional Rift could at most allow high-tier Ferocious Beasts from other worlds to enter Blue Star, while a large Dimensional Rift was sufficient to support lord-class Ferocious Beasts.
As for the extremely rare gigantic Dimensional Rifts, the stability of their spatial passages could even allow Legendary Beast Kings to descend upon Blue Star.
If it was a small Dimensional Rift, then for Zhou Ming, the underground world before him would be a massive treasure trove.
“Hiss……”
Suddenly, Silver Scale beneath Zhou Ming let out a hiss, and the aura of a high-tier Ferocious Beast erupted.
The lake, which had already been roaring with water, instantly saw dozens of crocodiles six to seven meters long burst out from the depths, fleeing in panic in all directions.
“Low-tier Ferocious Beast, Blackwater Crocodile.”
Zhou Ming immediately recognized the nature of the Ferocious Beasts before him.
Their pitch-black scales were extremely hard, possessing terrifying biting power. Their teeth could easily tear through ordinary alloys, and they excelled at slaughter in aquatic environments.
Sensing the hunger transmitted by Silver Scale, Zhou Ming could only sigh at this big glutton. Everything about it was good, except that its appetite was a bit too large.
“Go.”
Since Silver Scale was hungry, Zhou Ming naturally had to feed it.
After that, Zhou Ming also summoned Iron Block and the others, taking the opportunity to feed his entire Ironthread Snake group in one go.
The Blackwater Crocodiles, which had been sleeping comfortably at the bottom of the lake, experienced for the first time what it meant to be sitting at home when disaster fell from the sky.