Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era-Chapter 240 - 154: The Bottomless Pit

"Corruption? Underground humans?"

These two entirely new terms made Chu Xiu’s expression shift slightly.

Nether Demon Eyes was originally merely a secret technique for observing enemy attributes, but under the datafication of the Abyss, it might directly obtain some essential information.

Based on Chu Xiu’s previous experiences, the names displayed on the panel were never simple codes, but reflected certain characteristics of the creatures in front of him.

"I just don’t know what these underground humans are."

And just as Chu Xiu was pondering, several of the corrupted new humans in front of him suddenly changed!

Under the pollution of the Blood Lake, it seemed their bodies underwent some sort of grotesque mutation; the overflowing hyphae on their bodies began to grow wildly, becoming finer and more numerous, like moldy fuzzballs extending in all directions!

A few minutes later, their tier suddenly jumped, all of them rising to the Warrior Tier!

And once they leveled up, the few new humans stood up and stealthily headed towards a tunnel, soon disappearing near the Blood Lake.

Chu Xiu didn’t startle the snake by beating the grass, but sent a few Fierce Ghosts to follow them. After the few new humans walked away, he appeared by the Blood Lake, then extended the Celestial Demon Hand to gently retrieve a segment of a toe, which fell into his hand.

The eyes of the Blood Demon beside him immediately lit up.

"Well, Venerable Lord, hehe..."

Before it could ask for it, the toe was put away by Chu Xiu.

"I have no interest in your flattery; if you want to grow, you’ll have to come up with stakes that move my heart," Chu Xiu said coldly.

Rasputin’s face immediately twisted with grievance, but having been by Chu Xiu’s side for so long, it knew these little acts of flattery were useless, so it said no more, though blood strands rippled across its face, leaving one to wonder what it was thinking.

Chu Xiu paid it no mind, instead walking in the direction the few new humans left, preparing to wipe them out once he found their lair.

However, he soon discovered that this place seemed quite far from their lair, with even the tunnel appearing newly dug, some spots covered in a pale green mucus resembling snot.

Chu Xiu calmed his impatience and continued along the tunnel, journeying at least a dozen miles. After nearly completely descending underground, he finally reached an exit.

Passing through a narrow, cramped entryway, his view suddenly opened up, but the scene before him caused Chu Xiu’s expression to change slightly, surprise flashing in his eyes.

In front of him was a gigantic cylindrical chasm!

Chu Xiu couldn’t describe with words how immense this pit was; its diameter was at least tens of kilometers, enough to encompass a small city!

Chu Xiu was on the edge of this pit, looking down into the inky thick darkness endlessly spreading, as though reaching the core of this world.

The tunnel he just passed was merely an insignificant little hole on the rim of the pit; there were millions of similar small holes stretching in all directions, forming an incredibly vast underground network, all without needing direct observation to discern.

Suddenly, Chu Xiu’s expression changed again!

In his sight, those few new humans that had left the tunnel were adeptly climbing on all fours along the pit’s edge, soon finding a suitable spot, curling up like beetles, clinging tightly to the steep wall.

Pale green mucus resembling snot secreted from their bodies, and upon touching the rocks by the pit, made a "sizzling" sound as if corroding, before being broken down into pieces and absorbed into the bodies of these underground humans.

As their bodies coiled completely, the stone armor covering them fit snugly, sealing their corrupted skin seamlessly, so that from a distance, they appeared to be nothing more than enormous rocks jutting from the cliffside.

Only then did Chu Xiu realize that the stones on these creatures’ bodies weren’t armor at all, but rather an alternative form of skin directly connected to their bodies!

They consume stones as food! Organic matter in the rocks is digested as energy, while the inorganic matter is condensed into armor for their skin surface.

Realizing this, Chu Xiu was horrified to discover that the entire edge of the pit was densely populated with these underground humans! They, like indefinitely reproducing barnacles clinging to rocks, filled every corner to the point they couldn’t be counted!

This massive chasm wasn’t formed naturally but was devoured and digested by these countless underground humans!

The sight, even for someone as composed as Chu Xiu, made his scalp crawl!

"The pollution of the Sea of Blood massively boosts the reproductive capacity of creatures, and for these underground beings, lacking natural enemies and having endless resources, their numbers will increase exponentially..."

Chu Xiu couldn’t fathom how much this species had grown over the years!

Although most of these bizarre creatures were only Mortal Tier Level 1 or 2, quite a few Warrior Tier ones were mixed in, and Chu Xiu even saw Fierce Tier!

Not to mention how many might be hidden in the depths of the Abyss!

"Is this the terror of corruption, turning normal humans into this ghostly state..."

Chu Xiu couldn’t help but think if Blue Star continued to dive into the Abyss, perhaps one day pollution might suddenly appear as well.