Elven cultivators

The passageway is deep and secluded, with distinct layers of gray-brown and ochre-red rock strata on both sides.

This gave Ryan the feeling of walking through the esophagus of a giant beast.

The light from the light source stone seeped out from both ends of the procession, illuminating the passageway, but it could not penetrate the heavy sense of oppression surging in from all directions.

The air in dark places is always like this.

Damp, stagnant, with a fishy, ​​astringent smell of earth and minerals, every breath felt like sanding my lungs with sandpaper.

People who are used to the fresh, sweet air above ground will feel a tightness in their chest after staying here for a long time, as if they are being slowly squeezed by an invisible hand.

Fortunately, the team members have already gotten used to the environment here.

Everyone remained calm, walking quietly and making as little noise as possible, while vigilantly observing their surroundings to guard against any possible attack.

Just then, Ryan's expression suddenly changed, and he raised his hand and made a gesture.

The group immediately stopped, and everyone looked ahead.

A short while later, a strange rustling sound suddenly rang out.

Immediately afterwards, a small head suddenly popped out from the ground three or four meters away and let out a low chirp at Ryan.

Ryan waved, and the owner of the little head quickly popped out of the ground and ran towards him.

It was a beast that resembled a medium-sized canine.

Its entire body is covered with fine, short, grayish-brown hair, its limbs are stout, its forepaws are exceptionally well-developed, and its toes have hard, keratinized scales.

Its tail, fluffy like a broom, was now held high, its tip trembling slightly, as if it were trying to catch some unseen scent in the air.

Rock-piercing Weasel, a first-tier spirit beast.

This was something Ryan had exchanged for from the Beast Garden when he returned to Primordial City, spending a significant amount of contribution points.

This kind of spirit beast can traverse rock layers and soil, and is extremely sensitive to the spiritual energy of the earth's veins. It can detect the direction of mineral veins and the location of underground cavities, and can even predict potential dangers ahead by sensing abnormal fluctuations in the energy of the earth's veins.

When encountering enemies, it can also spew out foul and malevolent energy from its tail, tainting the protective aura of the enemy and causing them to become dizzy. Although it cannot directly kill the enemy, it is a first-class auxiliary means.

During his exploration of the Underdark, the Rock-Piercing Weasel helped him a lot.

"Chirp chirp..."

The rock-piercing weasel came to Ryan, who was crouching down, and rubbed its wet nose against his palm, making a series of gurgling sounds that kept changing in pitch.

Ryan listened intently.

After spending this time together, he has been able to discern specific information from the voice of the Rock-Piercing Weasel.

A prolonged gurgling sound indicates the presence of life ahead.

The urgency implies a large quantity.

The absence of a tremor means there is no presence that would pose a threat to the Rock-Piercing Weasel.

"There are subterranean creatures ahead." Ryan stood up and explained to the group in a low voice, "There are quite a few of them, but they are not very strong."

This exploration team consisted of more than thirty people. Apart from seven or eight cat people and ghost scale people, the rest were elves.

Only four disciples of the Primordial City were among them: Ryan, Flor, Mia, and Lucius.

The team naturally revolves around them.

After a brief exchange, Ryan and the others decided to continue their exploration.

The team set off again, silently making its way forward.

The passageway gradually widens, the rock walls recede to both sides, and the stalactites overhead become denser, like an inverted forest of swords.

After passing through the last narrow crevice in the rock, the space ahead suddenly opened up.

What appeared before us was a huge underground cave with a high dome, which looked to be at least fifty or sixty meters above the ground.

Before even stepping into the cave, a strong smell of blood filled the nostrils.

Ryan and Flora, who were walking at the front, exchanged a glance. The latter nodded slightly, took out a silence note, and infused it with spiritual energy to activate it.

A silent stillness instantly enveloped the entire team.

After completing all this, the team slowly approached the exit of the tunnel.

Soon, they could see the situation inside the cave.

A fierce battle had clearly just taken place here.

The ground was littered with corpses lying haphazardly.

The vast majority of them are creatures that only reach the waist of an adult human and resemble upright-walking mice.

Ryan immediately recognized the origin of these creatures.

Deep Rock Ratman.

A variant of the common rat-man.

Legend has it that in ancient times, a group of rat-people fled into the Underdark to escape the pursuit of surface races.

In that dark, damp land filled with radiation and toxins, they underwent brutal natural selection and experienced astonishing mutations.

They became larger, their claws sharper, and they reproduced more prolifically.

Through generations of reproduction, they have become the Deeprock Ratmen we know today.

The individual strength of the Deeprock Ratmen is not particularly strong; the elite individuals among them are only at the Black Iron level.

However, this race has an extremely high reproductive rate.

Often, a single ethnic group can have a population of thousands or even tens of thousands, making them a rare anomaly in the Underdark.

Because of the large population and frequent food shortages, they eat anything.

They are therefore known as the garbage collectors of the Underdark.

The other, smaller number of corpses were quickly identified by Ryan as belonging to an underground race called Earth Giants.

They are between 2.5 and 3.5 meters tall, with a body size like a goblin magnified several times. They have huge heads, mouths full of fangs, bloated bellies, and brownish-yellow skin covered with wart-like protrusions, making them extremely ugly.

The victor in this battle was clearly the earth giant.

Meanwhile, around these corpses, more than thirty earth giants were crouching on the ground, using their thick fingers to turn over the remains of the deep rock ratmen, dragging the relatively intact corpses aside and piling them up, as if they were counting their spoils.

Some earth giants even grabbed the corpses of Deeprock Ratmen and stuffed them into their mouths, chewing them with a clear sound of bones cracking.

"Shall we take action?"

Ryan heard Mia's voice behind him, her tone filled with a hint of eagerness.

During their exploration of this area these past few days, they have been frequently ambushed by other subterranean races.

This includes the Earth Giant.

These creatures are intellectually deficient yet exceptionally greedy, attacking any creature that enters their territory, much like hungry hyenas.

Mia held a grudge and had been harboring resentment for a long time. Now that she had the chance to get revenge, she was naturally eager to fight back.

Ryan didn't answer immediately, but instead looked at Flora beside him.

A faint silver light shimmered in the elven girl's eyes.

A moment later, Flora closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her eyes had returned to normal.

"Two silver-tier, twelve iron-tier, and the rest are white-tier," Flora said in a low voice.

Ryan nodded, showing no doubt about the elven girl's words.

Among their group of disciples, Flora is the only elf who has mastered the Eye of Truth.

This technique allows one to directly observe the enemy's physical strength, blood, and spirit, roughly determine the enemy's power level, and also see through most illusions and disguises.

It plays a significant role in obtaining enemy intelligence.

When encountering unfamiliar creatures, Flora can judge their strength level at a glance, thus deciding whether to fight or retreat and avoiding many unnecessary risks.

If it weren't for the extremely high talent requirements of the Eye of Truth, which makes it very rare for disciples to succeed in cultivating it, Ryan would also want to cultivate this eye technique.

"Make a move?"

Mia spoke again in a low voice, her hand already gripping the crimson whip at her waist.

The firefly on the shoulder seemed to sense its master's fighting spirit, flapped its wings twice, and sprayed a few sparks from its sharp beak.

Ryan no longer hesitated and gave the order in a low voice.

"A swift and decisive victory, leaving no survivors."

Earth giants are of low intelligence and basically unable to communicate. They are not even qualified to be slaves, so there is no point in keeping them.

The moment he finished speaking, Lucius had already transformed into a streak of light and shot off.

His speed was astonishing. Before the elven soldiers behind him could even react, the cyan figure had already covered a distance of over a hundred meters and appeared in front of a giant earth monster.

The sword light swept across like a bolt of lightning.

laugh!

The earth behemoth's rough, rock-like skin split open under the sword's edge, and grayish-brown blood gushed from the wound, sending its enormous head flying high into the air.

Just a moment later, Ryan, Flor, and Mia also rushed out of the tunnel one after another.

Mia moved with lightning speed, her crimson whip crackling through the air with a crisp sound as it lashed out at the head of a giant earth monster, the whip itself wreathed in intense flames.

Snapped!

The ugly head struck by the whip instantly burst into blazing flames.

The earth monster only had time to let out a short, miserable howl before its head was cooked by the extreme heat, and it died instantly.

Mia flicked her wrist, and the long whip, carrying a scorching heat wave, lashed at another earth giant.

Flora did not directly participate in close combat.

She stood at the back, her hands clasped together, and emerald green light gathered in her palms, transforming into vine arrows as thin as hair.

With each wave of his hand, several vine arrows shot out, accurately hitting the earth giant's eyes, throat, and other vulnerable spots.

The moment the arrow pierces the body, it quickly takes root and sprouts, burrowing deep into the flesh from the wound, absorbing the earth giant's life force to grow rapidly.

In no time, the earth giants struck by the vine arrows turned pale, moved slowly, and became weak, and were easily harvested by the rushing elven soldiers.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Lucius faced off against the only two Silver-rank individuals among the group of earth giants.

Lucius moved like lightning, and sparks exploded the moment his sword flashed.

A blazing halo of light erupted from the blade, slashing fiercely into the earth giant's chest.

The smell of burning filled the air instantly, and the earth behemoth let out a miserable howl as a charred sword wound appeared on its chest.

It roared and swung its claws in retaliation, but Lucius had already sheathed his sword and spun around, unleashing another blazing sword light from the other side.

Lucius's figure left afterimages in the cave, his sword light pouring down like a torrential rain, each strike precisely tearing through the earth giant's defenses.

The relentless and fierce attacks suppressed the earth giant so much that it couldn't raise its head at all, and could only roar in vain.

Its other companion wasn't much better off.

Ryan pointed his fingers like a sword and then made a light tap forward.

A ray of golden-red spiritual light shot out from the fingertip, silently, but exploded the moment it touched the earth behemoth's chest, blasting its massive body backward and leaving a charred patch on its chest.

Before it could catch its breath, Ryan flicked his fingertips, and three more beams of light, like shooting stars chasing the moon, struck the earth giant's shoulder, abdomen, and knee in succession.

Each hit exploded into a ball of golden-red flames, forcing it to retreat and stagger.

The offensive was fluid, decisive, and swift.

Ryan pressed forward relentlessly, his fingers moving with the grace of playing a zither, and spiritual light shot out from all directions, enveloping the earth giant in a dazzling net of light.

In no time, the earth giant was covered in wounds and its energy was waning.

A glint flashed in Ryan's eyes, and he suddenly raised his hand, palm facing forward, and swung it out.

A golden-red fire lotus slowly floated out from his palm, its petals layered upon each other, each petal formed from pure spiritual light, scorching yet not dazzling, magnificent yet austere.

The fire lotus landed silently on the earth giant's head.

The petals unfolded layer by layer, and spiritual light surged forth like a tide, completely enveloping the head of the earth behemoth.

Before it could even scream, the earth monster's head turned to ashes as the fire lotus bloomed. Its headless body swayed a few times before crashing to the ground.

Ryan withdrew his hand, the spiritual light dissipated, and his robes billowed gently in the remaining wind, untouched by a drop of blood.

Almost simultaneously, six radiant halos, resembling the sun, rose slowly from the other side of the cave, their golden and red flames intertwining to form a dazzling sky.

Six Yang energies emerge simultaneously!

The blazing halo, like a meteor falling to earth, crashed heavily into the earth behemoth's chest, instantly engulfing it in flames, and its screams abruptly ceased.

When the light faded, only a charred corpse remained in the spot.