Elven cultivators

In just over ten breaths, the two silver-tier earth giants died one after the other.

Flora, who was not far away, watched the whole thing unfold and sighed inwardly.

Needless to say, Lucius's swordsmanship was as sharp as ever.

He has cultivated the Divine Sun Sword Technique to the point where all six yang energies emerge simultaneously, and it seems he is nearing a breakthrough.

It's estimated that it won't be long before he reaches the level of "Seven Yangs Emerging Simultaneously".

Looking across the entire Taichu City, no disciple possessed a swordsmanship talent surpassing his.

Ryan's Great Sun True Interpretation is equally domineering.

Every gesture he makes exudes the power of the blazing sun, and his true energy is profound and enduring. When facing an enemy, he doesn't need to pursue strange and unpredictable changes; he can directly crush his opponent head-on with a majestic and imposing manner.

Among all the disciples of the Primordial City, Ryan and Lucius were almost worlds ahead in combat strength.

After the two silver-tier earth giants fell, the remaining black iron and white-tier minions were no match for them.

Most of them were killed by Flora and Mia, and the rest fell to the siege of elven soldiers, ghost scale tribes and cat people.

After the battle, the elven soldiers began to clean up the battlefield.

Although the fur and bones of these subterranean creatures are not of high value, they are plentiful, and bringing them back can earn some merit.

"It's a pity we encountered an earth giant, so we couldn't communicate with it. Otherwise, we might have been able to figure out why these subterranean races are gathered together."

Flora walked over to Ryan and said with a frown.

During this period, more and more underground races gathered in this area, and various forces were engaged in fierce battles, resulting in a very chaotic situation.

Their exploration efforts have been greatly affected as a result, and they are now eager to understand the reasons behind it all.

Just as Ryan was about to speak, he suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps coming from the entrance of the passageway.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a cat-woman rushing out of the tunnel, holding a struggling Deep Rock Ratman in her hand.

The deep rock rat was smaller than its kind, with grayish-white fur, and looked malnourished. It was squeaking in fear.

"Captain Ryan!" The cat-girl ran up, proudly holding up the Deeprock Ratman in her hand. "I found this guy sneaking around in the crevice and pulled it out!"

Ryan's eyes lit up.

Deeprock Ratmen may not be very intelligent, but they are much easier to communicate with than Earth Giants.

At least they retain the most basic language ability and understand fear and begging for mercy.

This Deeprock Ratman is probably the only survivor from the Deeprock Ratman side in this battle.

Judging from its thin and small appearance, it was obviously very weak. It was probably so frightened that it hid in the rock crevice before the battle started, but the cat-woman girl was quick to spot it.

"here you go."

Ryan gave a thumbs-up and carefully examined the cat-girl before him. "I remember your name is... Nightshade?"

"Yes." Ye Tong nodded vigorously, her face beaming with joy.

Cat-people like her usually interact with soldiers of the Silvermoon Legion. It's rare for someone as noble as Ryan, a disciple of the Primordial City, to even exchange a single word with him.

Surprisingly, Ryan actually remembered her name.

"You've done a great job this time. I'll speak to Lord Roman on your behalf when we get back."

Ryan smiled and took the Deeprock Ratman from Nighteye's hand, whose face was flushed with excitement.

The Deeprock Ratman, who had been struggling frantically, suddenly froze after falling into Ryan's hands, no longer daring to move erratically.

Ryan carried it aside and began the interrogation.

Without exception, all the disciples of Taichu City who participated in the exploration of the Dark Regions had cultivated the Listening Technique.

This spell was created by Anton by drawing inspiration from the language-understanding spells of the Dawn Continent.

By infusing spiritual energy into the ears, one can sense sound wave vibrations and soul fluctuations, deciphering the sound patterns and semantic logic of any language, and achieving the state of "understanding meaning through sound".

Once you've heard someone say a few words, you can automatically analyze their language patterns and quickly master the language.

Of course, a certain amount of "listening samples" are needed for it to be effective.

Moreover, its effectiveness is limited for a few ancient, complex, or non-biological languages.

Fortunately, the language systems of the Underdark are mostly simple and crude, with limited vocabulary and rough grammatical structures, far less refined and complex than the languages ​​of the surface races. So, there have been almost no situations where the Listening Technique is ineffective.

During his years in the Underdark, Ryan has mastered the Underdark common language and the languages ​​of most Underdark races through the ability to hear.

After a series of threats, both soft and hard, Ryan quickly obtained the information he wanted.

He casually handed the Deeprock Ratman to the elven soldier beside him, then turned and returned to Flora and the other two.

"How is it?" Mia asked impatiently.

"The teacher's guess is correct," Ryan said in a deep voice. "The reason these subterranean races have gathered in this area is because they have discovered a valuable resource point."

"What resources?" Flora asked.

"Blood Soul Crystal Cluster," Ryan said.

Blood Soul Crystal Cluster

The elves looked at each other in bewilderment.

They had never heard of such a thing.

"According to that Deep Rock Ratman's description, Blood Soul Crystal is a blood-red crystal that grows in caves. When ground into powder and consumed, it can enhance physical strength and increase magical power."

"Is that all?" Mia asked, frowning.

She had thought it was some amazing treasure, but it turned out to be just so-so.

There are plenty of things in the clan that can enhance strength, none of which are not stronger than this so-called Blood Soul Crystal.

Ryan saw through her thoughts and chuckled, "Although the Underdark is rich in resources, most of the subterranean races do not have the corresponding potion-making skills, making it difficult to convert resources into potions. Therefore, things like Blood Soul Crystals, which can be directly consumed to enhance strength after simple processing, are undoubtedly treasures for many subterranean races."

Mia thought about it again and realized it made sense.

Just then, an elven soldier strode over, carrying several fist-sized blood-red crystals in his hands.

"Lord Ryan, we found this on the earth giant."

Ryan took the blood-red crystals and examined them carefully.

The crystals are irregularly shaped, with their surfaces covered in fine facets, resembling randomly shattered gemstone fragments.

The color was an extremely deep blood red, like congealed blood, with a dull luster.

Holding it in your hand, you can feel a warmth seeping from the crystal, spreading upwards along the lines of your palm, as if you were holding a stone just taken from a fire.

"We're lucky; it seems this must be the Blood Soul Crystal." Ryan turned to look at everyone. "Let's go back and report to Lord Roman."

The elves nodded in agreement, their faces beaming with joy.

Not only did this trip yield crucial intelligence, but it also resulted in the acquisition of valuable spoils. Upon returning and handing them over, it will surely earn a considerable amount of merit.

Several Spectral Clan members and Cat People were overjoyed.

As team members, they can also get a share of the profits.

……

North of the Nine Netherworld City, at the Northern Jia Three Sentinels Fortress.

At the laboratory entrance, Roman leaned against a pillar, idly playing with the battle axe in his hand.

Hearing the door open, she immediately looked up.

Seeing Darian emerge from the laboratory, Roman flicked his wrist, stored the magical artifact in his spatial ring, and straightened up to greet him.

"Professor Darian, have you made any discoveries?"

Although he is already a Gold-ranked warrior and stronger than Darian, Roman has never changed how he addresses Darian over the years.

After all, Darian's other identity was Anton's magic mentor.

Darian nodded and said, "After analysis, this crystal called Blood Soul Crystal contains extremely rich life energy. Absorbing it can indeed strengthen the physical body to a certain extent and promote the growth of magic power."

"But the life energy it contains is different from the gentle life energy of the spring of life. It is more intense. Although it can still be absorbed by living organisms, it takes a lot of time to digest it."

Roman stroked his chin: "It sounds like it wouldn't be of much use to our clan?"

"No, that's not it." Darian smiled. "For warriors who cultivate strength, this type of energy is actually perfect."

Roman paused slightly, then asked, "What do you mean?"

Darian said, "From what I understand, the core of strength-based martial arts is to absorb external energy into the body, integrating it into the flesh and bones to temper the physique. This is inherently a process of constant breaking down and reshaping, requiring this kind of intense and impactful energy, isn't that right?"

"That's right."

Roman immediately understood Darian's meaning, and his eyes lit up.

"So, Blood Soul Crystals are very suitable as a cultivation resource specifically for us Strength-based cultivators?"

"You could say that," Darian smiled. "Cultivating with Blood Soul Crystals saves you the digestion and absorption process compared to eating Firemane Beast meat. The energy can be directly guided and utilized by the cultivation technique, making it more efficient."

Roman was overjoyed.

Since the clan took over the Firemane Beast herd from Krethor Dragon City, the problem of scarce training resources for the warriors has indeed been greatly alleviated.

However, as the clan population continued to grow and the number of warriors increased day by day, this problem gradually resurfaced.

Even though the Beast Garden has been working hard to expand the size of the Firemane herd, and the clan has been purchasing large quantities of magical creature meat from all over the world through trade networks, the problem of resource scarcity has not been completely resolved.

Eleanor was quite troubled by this matter.

If, as the Deeprock Ratman said, there really is a whole huge cave full of Blood Soul Crystals, and they can grow back after being harvested, then it would undoubtedly provide the clan with a brand new and stable source of resources.

If we can acquire the Blood Soul Crystal Cluster, the resource problem for clan warriors to cultivate strength techniques will be greatly alleviated, if not completely solved.

With that in mind, Roman no longer hesitated.

"I'll lead the team out immediately; we must capture the Blood Soul Crystal Cluster!"

Darian hesitated, then asked, "Shouldn't we request reinforcements from the surface first?"

"I will report this news to Primordial City and request reinforcements, but the exploration team must set off first," Roman said without hesitation. "More and more underground races are being attracted by the Blood Soul Crystal. I'm afraid that if we delay any longer, something might happen. It's better to act as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Darian stopped trying to persuade him and said solemnly, "I will go with you."

With an additional gold-tier combatant, the mission would be much more successful, so Roman naturally agreed without hesitation.

With the order issued, Jiuyou City and its various outposts quickly sprang into action.

Apart from leaving a minimum number of personnel, the remaining troops began to assemble at the northern Sanjia outpost.