Chapter 180: Chapter 159: Dancing on the Knife’s Edge, Frantic Development (Part 2)

In the blink of an eye.

A black shadow flickered into view. A massive black rat with dark fur, even larger than a fierce tiger, was speeding toward the "Corpse Mountain."

’A Dark Demon Rat? It’s so fast, at least Extraordinary... Limit?! No, wait, it’s heading for us.’

Han Ning’s keen senses picked up on the dangerous aura that was fixed on them. He acted decisively, sending a telepathic message with his Spiritual Power.

’Retreat!’

Egg Pancake’s limbs pumped, streaks of blood-red light streaming from its body as it transformed into a flowing mirage, tearing frantically through the underground caverns.

But this Soul Beast was at least at the Extraordinary Limit, and it was a Dark Demon Rat, a creature renowned for its speed. The distance between them was closing fast.

"Ling!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of Ice Rhombuses exploded, blossoming like frost-white flowers. A chilling aura spread, obstructing the Dark Demon Rat’s advance.

Five Puppet Insects swarmed forward, throwing their bodies in its path.

"SKREEE!"

A vicious, scarlet glint flashed in the Dark Demon Rat’s eyes. It raised its claw and swiped, unleashing a black Shadow Energy Claw that reeked of decay.

Yin Yi swung her Sword Stab forward to block the attack.

SHATTER!

The Shadow Energy Claw was unstoppable, shattering the outer Frost Crystal Shield to pieces before striking Yin Yi’s Sword Stab with what remained of its power.

A tempestuous storm of Spiritual Energy erupted.

Overpowered, Yin Yi was thrown backward.

Han Ning clung tightly to Egg Pancake’s back, never once looking behind him.

Seizing the opportunity from the brief exchange, the Dark Demon Rat’s speed surged, rapidly closing the distance between them to under ten meters.

Just as Han Ning jumped from Egg Pancake’s back, and both Yin Yi and Egg Pancake prepared to make a desperate stand...

The Dark Demon Rat seemed to sense something. It stopped dead in its tracks, sniffed the air ahead, and then abruptly turned and fled in a panic.

Seeing the enemy retreat, Han Ning quickly had Egg Pancake stop.

He ran forward a few meters and ordered Egg Pancake to leave several scratches on the surrounding rock walls as a marker.

This was the plan he had devised.

He would use the intimidating presence of the underground War General Level Soul Beasts to his advantage, hunting other Soul Beasts near their territory to gather large amounts of Energy.

It wasn’t that an Extraordinary Limit Soul Beast was impossible to fight, but rather because...

From the information left by the Yinsaike Race and Nia, he knew that a species of War General Level Soul Beast called the Abyssal Rock Turtle lived down below.

If they encountered one, there was a chance they could escape with their lives.

If they encountered a Soul Beast stronger than expected, they would beat a hasty retreat into the intimidating territory of a War General Level Soul Beast.

Their temperaments were relatively docile compared to other dangerous Soul Beasts, which was one of the reasons Han Ning chose to hunt nearby.

He was worried that the intense Spiritual Energy fluctuations from a battle with the Dark Demon Rat would attract the attention of the Abyssal Rock Turtles below. It was better to avoid a fight if possible; hunting Entry Level, Awakened Level, and Extraordinary Early Stage Soul Beasts was enough.

While extremely dangerous, this strategy would undoubtedly maximize their gains.

Once Egg Pancake finished carving the marks, Han Ning found a relatively quiet cave, pulled out some crackers and instant food, and began to eat ravenously.

After a short rest, he led Yin Yi and Egg Pancake to explore in a different direction.

This time, he didn’t return to their morning stakeout spot, but he continued to hunt in the areas above the Abyssal Rock Turtles’ territory.

...

Time flies when you’re focused on a goal.

In the blink of an eye, a day had gone by.

As evening fell, Han Ning looked at the massive pile of Soul Beast corpses and the small line of text that had appeared on his panel—"Remaining Energy: 912"—and grinned from ear to ear.

His luck had been good that afternoon; they hadn’t encountered any War General Level Soul Beasts.

He did a rough tally. In a single day, they had slain over 100 Entry Level Soul Beasts, more than twenty Awakened Level Soul Beasts, and two Extraordinary Level Soul Beasts.

Most of these Awakened Soul Beasts were Stage I or II. Stage III appeared only occasionally, and just a few were at the peak of their level.

As for feeling any guilt over wantonly slaughtering these Soul Beasts...

For humanity to rise in this cruel world, it must climb a mountain of bones. When one’s own survival isn’t even guaranteed, what do the lives of a few wild Soul Beasts matter?

Besides, the Soul Beasts in these caverns were like weeds—impossible to ever fully eradicate.

Of course, whenever he encountered lizard-like Soul Beasts, Han Ning would spare them for Egg Pancake’s sake.

As for other kinds of Soul Beasts... well, they weren’t so fortunate.

...

Time flew, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.

After the first day of hunting, the number of viable Soul Beast targets in the area had started to dwindle.

Soul Beasts possessed a degree of intelligence, and Han Ning guessed they had ways of knowing that a band of "reapers" had suddenly appeared here. With the beasts deliberately hiding, they would be much harder to find.

During the day, he, Yin Yi, and Egg Pancake hunted Soul Beasts ranging from Entry Level to Awakened Level near the Abyssal Rock Turtle territory.

At night, with his own Soul Beasts standing guard, he cultivated the "Spirit Fusion Technique" to help them all absorb Spiritual Energy.

Yin Yi’s progress was the most rapid. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

With Han Ning converting all the Energy he gathered each day into Attribute Points and pouring them into her, Yin Yi’s strength had already broken through to Extraordinary IV (2548/4500).

’The Soul Beasts around the Abyssal Rock Turtle territory know we’re here now. It’ll be hard to hunt any more of them.’

’...Going deeper, we’ll hit a high-temperature zone. The Soul Beasts there will be noticeably stronger, and we’ll start running into War General Level packs... ’

On the morning of the fourth day, Han Ning sat up on Egg Pancake’s back and studied the simple map drawn by the Yinsaike Race. He confirmed their position was about five kilometers below the surface. The passages they’d been traveling hadn’t been entirely carved out by the Yinsaike people; some had been dug by enormous underground earthworms, and others were beast trails forged by other Soul Beasts. All of the tunnels, however, were extremely old.

They were so old, in fact, that they had already existed when the Yinsaike Clan Leaders of previous generations first explored the Earth Flame Forbidden Land.

To ensure their safety, Han Ning had the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm enter Egg Pancake’s body.

Empowered by the flesh of the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm, both Egg Pancake’s physical body and its Spiritual Energy were significantly strengthened.

Its Mimicry Soul Technique was boosted past the limits of the Awakened Level, reaching the Extraordinary Level.

The Mimicry’s range became wider and its effect more difficult to detect.

After cautiously avoiding a swarm of yellowish-brown crickets, each larger than a truck, they continued their descent.

They were currently only five kilometers down, and the Nether Fire Crocodile’s habitat was around the ten-kilometer mark. They still had a long way to go.

For the next leg of their hunt, he planned to slowly descend, killing any Soul Beasts that initiated an attack, to help Yin Yi break through to the War General Level.

With every hundred meters they descended, Han Ning could feel the ambient pressure slowly increase, and the Frost White Crystal Shield floating around his body emitted a series of sharp PINGs.

’I can’t leave the protection of the Frost Crystal Shield for even a moment, or the intense subterranean heat and pressure will crush me.’

Han Ning watched the wisps of frigid air dissipating from the surface of the Cold Frost Shield. The chill immediately turned to steam in the hot air, a constant drain on Yin Yi’s Spiritual Energy.

Yin Yi, a true Extraordinary Level Soul Beast, and Egg Pancake, who was temporarily at that level, could barely tolerate the subterranean heat on their own.

They continued downward...

Fine cracks began to appear on the Frost Crystal Shield as it fought against the external pressure, only to quickly seal themselves again.

Once they descended below the seven-kilometer mark, the Yinsaike route map became completely useless. Han Ning could only rely on his instincts, choosing from the paths that presented themselves as he forged deeper into the earth.

They encountered several purple bats with completely devolved eyes, which exuded a powerful pressure of Spiritual Energy as they flew silently across the cavern ceiling above.

They also witnessed a brownish-black serpent, over thirty meters long, bizarrely poke its head out from the cavern floor. It stared with a cold, merciless gaze toward Egg Pancake’s camouflaged form before quietly disappearing.

Finally, after cautiously descending for nearly eight kilometers and traversing a scorching, narrow, irregular tunnel...

A fantastical world of brilliant colors appeared before them.

Transparent and translucent gems, crystals of every conceivable color, and strange ores reflected a psychedelic light, all illuminated by shafts of pure white brilliance.

Looking up, all they could see was the multicolored light of the reflecting gemstones, stretching up as far as the eye could see, with no sign of a rock ceiling.