The residual heat from the dissipated Black Fire Mist had yet to fade, and wisps of smoke still rose from the scorched black crater.
With a wisp of Magical Power from his fingertip, Chu Bai drew the three still-warm Cyan Nether Pearls steadily into his palm. The golden Divine Dao Fragments swirling within them were truly dazzling.
Just as Chu Bai was preparing to flee and avoid the two Cyan-haired Giant Apes rushing toward him, the clay statue behind him trembled slightly. The muffled, somewhat weak voice of a little old man sounded out once again:
"Traveler... could you spare some food? I’m so hungry... This old man is running out of strength to keep guiding you."
Chu Bai froze and turned his head to look.
He saw that the eyes of the palm-sized clay Land God statue, once bright, had dimmed considerably. The cracks on its parched body even showed signs of widening.
He understood.
The Land God’s residual Spirituality was extremely faint. That precise Earth Vein Exploration technique just now had undoubtedly been a massive drain on him.
Without replenishment, this living map would likely soon revert to being an ordinary lump of mud.
’And this "food" he mentioned... it must be the Cyan Nether Pearls, which contain the Divine Dao Fragments.’
’These pearls are nourishment stripped from this Secret Realm’s divinity,’ Chu Bai thought. ’To me, they grant Merit. To him, they’re a life-saving medicine.’
Chu Bai glanced toward the rising dust cloud and approaching roars in the distance, not hesitating for a moment.
’Killing monsters for pearls is great, but without this Land God’s guidance in the Cyan Nether Chaotic Burial Palace—a place as vast as the sea, where Evil Qi suppresses spiritual senses—my search efficiency will plummet. This is a simple matter of sharpening the axe before chopping the wood.’
"Take them."
Chu Bai casually stuffed the three Cyan Nether Pearls, which he had only just obtained, into the cracked mouth of the clay statue.
The instant the clay statue touched the Cyan Nether Pearls, it was like ice on hot coals, and a faint sizzling sound could be heard. The three pearls dissolved into pure, cyan-gold streams of light that instantly seeped into the statue’s cracks.
"Ahh... so refreshing!"
The little old man’s voice suddenly grew stronger, filled with the satisfaction of someone who had just had a hearty meal.
The statue’s dusty-gray surface began to fade, revealing a faint, jade-like luster. More importantly, its murky stone eyes rekindled with Divine Fire, now shining even brighter than before.
"You’re a generous one, youngster!"
The little old man mumbled beside Chu Bai’s ear, his tone now much more familiar. "Since I’ve accepted your offering, this old man has to make it worth your while."
"Now, watch closely. Those two big oafs are on their way. Head for that corridor to the left. The thing buried under the ground there... is ten times more powerful than this Black Fire Mist creature!"
As the old man spoke, the "map" in Chu Bai’s mind shuddered.
The once-blurry distant scenery sharpened in an instant. The flow of the Earth Veins within a five-li radius became as clear as the lines on his own palm.
He could even clearly perceive a Spiritual Mechanism pulsating like a heartbeat, roughly ten zhang deep beneath the left corridor.
’That’s... a truly ancient Spiritual Medicine!’
’Go!’
Pushing off with his foot, Chu Bai used a blind spot pointed out by the clay Land God. He moved like a paper kite skimming the ground, silently gliding deep into the ruins.
The two Cyan-haired Giant Apes paced restlessly before the ruins of an ancient well, a place dense with Spiritual Mechanism.
The strange disappearance of the Black Fire Mist creature made these sentient, Late-stage Qi Cultivation fiends feel an unprecedented threat.
Chu Bai lay hidden behind a broken wall a hundred zhang away, the clay Land God on his back radiating a faint warmth.
’Repeating the same trick won’t be so easy this time.’
A cold glint appeared in Chu Bai’s eyes. He flicked his finger, sending a shimmering blue bird made of water-light skimming over the ruins.
He intended to lure one of them away, deep into the corridors.
However, the two Cyan-haired Giant Apes didn’t fall for it.
One of them opened its massive, bloody maw and let out a roar that could shatter stone pillars, a cunning cyan glint flashing in its single eye.
The instant it sensed the fluctuation of Spiritual Qi, the other giant ape, far from being lured away, roared and stood back-to-back with its partner. Its cyan fur stood on end, forming a circular, cyan wall of sound waves that sealed off the entire hundred-zhang area.
’So they’re on guard now...’
Seeing this, Chu Bai simply dropped his cover.
[Fire Step Ascension (Microscopic)]!
His body shot forward like an arrow loosed from the void, letting out a sharp whistle as he charged straight into the wall of sound waves.
"ROAR—!"
Seeing their enemy reveal himself, the two giant apes were overjoyed. Their pillar-like arms slammed violently into the ground.
[Demon Technique: Earth Crack Forbidden Area!]
In an instant, the already heavy threefold gravity spiked again. The ground shattered, and several Earth Spikes imbued with a chilling Evil Qi erupted from beneath Chu Bai’s feet, trying to impale him on the spot.
The two fiends were perfectly coordinated. One suppressed him with gravity while the other spat out a gob of viscous, cyan poison. In mid-air, the poison transformed into a rain of foul-smelling arrows, cutting off all of Chu Bai’s escape routes.
’An ordinary cultivator at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer would have already been turned into paste by this deathtrap.’
Chu Bai’s expression was grim. The Magical Power in his body circulated, feeling as heavy as molten lead.
[Formless Cloud Hand (Microscopic)]!
He swept his hands in a perfect arc before him. For a brief moment, the crushing pressure was forcibly deflected by his Borrowing Force to Strike technique. Then, facing the sky-blotting rain of poison, he made no move to dodge, instead shooting straight up!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The rain of poisonous arrows struck Chu Bai’s body, producing the crisp clang of metal on metal.

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