Elven cultivators

To this day, Andong has long been a symbol of the Silvermoon Clan.

A banner that guides the clan forward.

In the hearts of the young elves, he was the embodiment of hope.

It was because of him that the clan went from decline to prosperity.

In the hearts of the older elves, he held even greater significance.

They lived through the clan's darkest years and witnessed Anton single-handedly turn the clan's fate around, pulling it out of the mire and enabling it to grow and prosper.

In the hearts of the tribespeople, Anton's status was no lower than that of the elders.

"I've come to check on things; you all continue with your work."

The guards of the Andong Dynasty nodded slightly and left without stopping.

Only after Anton's figure disappeared around the corner of the passage did the group of elven guards finally relax, their faces revealing barely suppressed excitement.

"I didn't expect Lord Anton to be so approachable."

"You haven't been a member of the clan for long, so it's normal that you don't know. Lord Anton is known for his kindness, and I've never heard of him looking down on any ordinary clansman."

"I went back to the forest a few days ago, and the concentration of elemental energy there has increased dramatically. Cultivation is much faster than before. I heard it's because Lord Anton set up a magic array. It's really amazing."

"I wonder what brings Lord Anton to the Underdark?"

"Alright." The captain coughed lightly, interrupting his subordinates' conversation, and said sternly, "Stop asking about Lord Anton's affairs. Also, don't forget we're still on duty. If you want to chat, we can do it back home."

The guards then fell silent, regrouped, and continued along their designated patrol route.

Anton paid no attention to the discussions of the soldiers behind him and hurried toward the city-state.

Unlike other areas, no more glowing plants were planted near the city-state, clearly because the clan did not want to attract the attention of the Sighing Crystal Clusters inside.

If one day those Sighing Crystal Clusters were to suddenly become attracted by the light source and wander out of the city-state, it would be a considerable problem for both the mining area and the patrolling guards.

Before long, the city-state came into view.

It was still the familiar distorted building complex, only the outermost purple light shield had disappeared.

Anton was not surprised.

Without the protection of the Mind Flayer, the isolation array, relying solely on the original magic stones, cannot sustain itself for long and will eventually stop on its own.

Without the shielding of the isolation array, Anton's divine sense could finally spread into the city-state without any hindrance.

They all gathered in the central cave.

More than seventy sighing crystal clusters floated in mid-air, slowly opening and closing, emitting sighs that rose and fell like a deep and eerie symphony.

They greedily absorbed elemental energy from the air, their grayish-white crystals gleaming with a cold, eerie light under the fluorescent glow, completely immersed in absorbing the rich energy released from the ley lines, utterly indifferent to the outside world.

"How leisurely."

Anton used his Shadow Movement technique, his figure blending into the shadows, silently passing over the buildings on the city's outskirts, and stealthily heading towards the central cave.

When they were still some distance from the cave, Anton stopped, released three of the Five Battalion Divine Soldiers, and controlled them to step into the cave.

However, the Sighing Crystal Clusters merely glanced at the five battalions of divine soldiers before turning their attention back to absorbing energy, without even making a move.

"Is it because the Five Battalions of Divine Soldiers are puppets, devoid of life?"

Anton seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment's consideration, he decided to control the five battalions of divine soldiers to attack the nearest Sighing Crystal Cluster.

This was like stirring up a hornet's nest; the once quiet cave instantly erupted into chaos.

The sigh suddenly rose in pitch, transforming from a low, mournful sound into a sharp, piercing screech.

Dozens of Sighing Crystal Clusters simultaneously turned towards the entrance, and gray petrifying rays shot out from the crack, raining down on the five battalions of divine soldiers.

Crack!

The three soldiers of the Fifth Battalion instantly turned into stone statues, frozen in place.

After wiping out the five battalions of divine soldiers, the Sighing Crystal Clusters stirred for a while, then gradually calmed down.

Anton's eyes flashed, and this time he released a hundred soldiers from the Fifth Battalion into the cave. Without saying a word, they launched an attack on the Sighing Crystal Cluster, and then turned and ran.

The Sighing Crystal Clusters immediately emitted a sharp, angry sound, unleashing a barrage of rays that instantly wiped out more than twenty Fifth Battalion Divine Soldiers who had fallen behind, before chasing them out of the cave.

However, after exiting the cave, the five battalions of soldiers dispersed and fled quickly in three different directions.

Seeing this, some of the Sighing Crystal Clusters stopped, hesitated for a moment, and then turned back to the cave.

The remaining Sighing Crystal Clusters split into three waves and chased after the five battalions of divine soldiers.

Anton's gaze fell on the smallest group of Sighing Crystal Clusters. After a slight hesitation, he followed them.

Although the number was the smallest, this group of Sighing Crystal Clusters still had twelve members, exceeding his original expectation of ten.

But having gone through so much trouble to get it out, it would be such a waste to give up without even trying.

The difference in strength between the Five Battalions of Divine Soldiers and the Sighing Crystal Cluster was simply too great. Before long, the latter caught up with them and turned them all into stone statues.

Anton estimated that this location was far enough away from the central cave, so he decisively showed himself and made his move.

Without giving the Sighing Crystal Cluster time to react, he suddenly raised his hand and released all the Netherworld Heavy Water in one breath.

The next instant, a hundred streams of dark light shot out from his palm, like a torrential downpour, crashing down on the Sighing Crystal Cluster.

The twelve Sighing Crystal Clusters reacted almost simultaneously, their cracks opening and gray rays shooting out like raindrops.

However, their counterattacks were meaningless against the more powerful and numerous Netherworld Heavy Waters.

The inky water droplets, like collapsing mountains, crashed into the rays with unstoppable force, instantly crushing them.

The price paid was merely the disappearance of the first dozen or so drops of dark, heavy water.

The rest of them kept crashing into the Sighing Crystal Cluster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dull, resounding impacts rang out one after another.

To maximize the destructive effect, Anton focused his attack on seven of the Sighing Crystal Clusters.

The moment they were struck by the Netherworld Heavy Water, the crystal shells on the surface of the Seven Sighing Crystal Cluster shattered, fragments scattered, and grayish-white crystal powder spread out like smoke.

Before they could even react, the seven-headed Sighing Crystal Cluster died instantly, its massive spherical body crashing to the ground, its crystal shell covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

The remaining five Sighing Crystal Clusters were also thrown about by the shockwave, their clusters trembling and their sighs becoming sharp and frantic.

Anton did not stop.

He waved the command flag again, and five-colored light burst forth. More than 1,800 soldiers from the Five Battalions leaped out of the flag, forming three Five Elements Formations that trapped the Three-Headed Sighing Crystal Cluster within them.

At the same time, the sword pellet leaped out of his chest, splitting into eight pieces in mid-air, and hurtling towards the remaining two Sighing Crystal Clusters.

Anton went all out from the start.

The sword light collided with the crystal shell, producing a piercing friction sound.

Crystal fragments flew everywhere, and the crystal shells of the sighing crystal clusters peeled off layer by layer under the cutting light of the sword.

Petrifying rays shot out from the cracks in the two sighing crystal clusters, attempting to shatter the sword light.

But the sword light was as nimble as a swallow, and it could barely avoid the rays each time, launching attacks from tricky angles.

In a short while, the core of the Sighing Crystal Cluster was pierced by the sword light, and its body crashed to the ground.

Just as Anton was about to press his advantage and finish off the second Sighing Crystal Cluster, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

Dozens of extremely cold auras were rapidly approaching from afar.

Clearly, the other Sighing Crystal Clusters have already noticed the situation here.

Anton sighed softly, made a decisive move, and with a flash of sword light, he collected the seven corpses of the Sighing Crystal Clusters on the ground into his Qiankun Bag. Then, he retrieved the Five Camps of Divine Weapons, wrapped himself in sword light, and turned to leave without hesitation.

Dozens of hazy gray rays shot out from behind, sweeping towards Anton like a gray torrent.

The latter continued moving at high speed, raising his hand to throw out the Fire Shield, which emitted a crimson-gold light curtain that enveloped his body.

boom!

The crimson-gold light curtain trembled violently, and the flame patterns on its surface suddenly brightened, managing to withstand the barrage of fire.

But soon, the light screen dimmed rapidly.

The Fire Shield hanging overhead emitted a low hum, like the groan of a wounded beast, and its light suddenly receded, falling from mid-air.

Anton reached out and caught the Fire Cover, stuffing it into his storage bag without even glancing at it.

Taking advantage of the brief respite gained by the fire shield, he had already created enough distance between himself and the fire shield.

The sword light left a silvery-white trail in the darkness, like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, before disappearing into the depths of the dark region in an instant.

The dozens of Sighing Crystal Clusters couldn't catch up, and could only let out a few futile shrieks before giving up in frustration and turning back to the cave.

……

After leaving the city-state, Anton slowed down and let out a long breath after confirming that there were no more pursuers behind him.

He took out the fire cover and examined it closely. Several fine cracks had appeared on the bell-shaped outer wall, extending from the top of the bell to the rim, like shattered porcelain.

The widest crack almost runs through the entire bell wall, and the light of the internal restriction can be vaguely seen shining through the crack, flashing on and off, as if it might go out at any moment.

Even with the Fire Shield, which withstood the combined attack of dozens of peak Gold Saints, it was already on the verge of collapse.

If it weren't for Anton's continuous breakthroughs in cultivation over the years, making his defensive capabilities increasingly formidable when controlling the Fire Shield, he probably wouldn't have been able to withstand that attack just now.

"Thankfully, it held up."

Anton felt fortunate and stored the Fire Cover in his dantian to nourish it.

Damaged magical artifacts need to be nurtured for a period of time to recover to their original state.

Given the damage to the fire shield, it will probably be unusable for at least four or five years.

Fortunately, the purpose of this trip has been perfectly achieved.

With the eight Sighing Crystal Cluster corpses in the Qiankun Bag, Sword Pill has enough to break through.

Suppressing his excitement, Anton left the Darklands and returned to Silvermoon Forest.

Upon entering the treehouse, Anton immediately went to the quiet room, took out the corpses of the eight Sighing Crystal Clusters from his storage bag, and manipulated the sword pellet to begin devouring and absorbing them.

In no time, the sword pellet devoured the eight corpses completely, leaving only a pile of grayish-white powder.

It floated in mid-air, its surface covered with fine dragon patterns.

The dragon patterns were no longer silver-white, but a deep dark gold, as if living things were slowly flowing on the surface of the sword pellet.

An indescribable sharp aura emanated from the sword pellet, cutting through the air like an invisible blade. Even the light source stone in the quiet room trembled slightly, its light flickering.

"Just one last step."

Anton returned the sword pellet to his dantian.

The primordial true essence surged forth, enveloping the sword pellet layer by layer, and began to refine it.

The sword pellets refined using the Devouring Spirit Path need to be refined again with each breakthrough, allowing the sword pellets to fuse more deeply with the cultivator's soul and true essence.

This process can take anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the quality of the sword pellet and the cultivator's cultivation level.

The quiet room quickly returned to silence.

Only the soft light of the light source stone flowed, illuminating Anton's seated figure and casting a still silhouette on the wall.