Chapter 899: The Power of the Black Crystal

Mu Ying lay prostrate on the ground, his eyes filled with fear and regret. Not long ago, his group of twenty had stumbled upon an ancient underground palace. They initially believed they had found a hidden sanctuary, a great opportunity. However, they soon discovered that what awaited them was a brutal alien being, sealed away for an unknown number of years.

It had sucked the blood dry from ten of them, restoring its shriveled body. Only ten were left alive, becoming its blood slaves. The reason only seven of them remained was that blood slaves, besides being at its beck and call, also served as its mobile blood bags. Whenever it felt weak, it would feed on their blood. The three missing individuals had died after their vital essence was drained on the journey from Taicang Great State to this place.

"It's all your fault for being incompetent," Kui Xing said plainly, looking down at Mu Ying and the others kneeling on the ground. "If you had secured the Moon Realm, you could have spread out in the underground world and wouldn't have lost the initiative."

Upon hearing this, everyone trembled. They knew that whenever Kui Xing got angry, it would drain someone's blood as a warning. Kui Xing's gaze swept over them indifferently, like someone surveying their food, without any emotional fluctuation on its face.

Its eyes flashed, landing on Yu Tiandu. "Come here," it said flatly. Yu Tiandu's face instantly turned ashen, and his body trembled uncontrollably, his teeth chattering loudly.

"Ma-master," he stammered, "I was the first to submit to you!" When Kui Xing had first emerged, he had been the first to kneel and acknowledge it as his master, effectively becoming its primary servant.

With an indifferent flick of its finger, Yu Tiandu's body uncontrollably flew before Kui Xing. In its eyes, these beings were nothing more than blood bags, to be drained whenever it wished. Their loyalty was meaningless. Would humans treat pigs or sheep as equals simply because of their loyalty? No. And so, neither would it.

Yu Tiandu was terrified, his courage shattering. "Master, wait, I..." he exclaimed, his mind racing with countless thoughts, desperately trying to save his own life.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Pointing at the messy, explored cave dwelling, he said, "Master, I know who did this! There are lingering traces of lightning power here; it must be that person named Jiang Fan."

Unfortunately, Kui Xing showed no interest. It slowly opened its mouth, revealing two pairs of extremely sharp fangs on its upper and lower jaws. Inside, countless tiny, jagged teeth were densely packed, truly chilling to behold. One bite would likely sever Yu Tiandu's neck.

"He... he's skilled in advanced thunder-path divine abilities!" Yu Tiandu blurted out. "Master, haven't you always wanted to find someone proficient in thunder-path abilities? This is the person!"

A glint appeared in Kui Xing's eyes. "Proficient?" it mused, a thoughtful expression on its face. "How proficient?"

Yu Tiandu explained, "An ordinary Nascent Soul expert from the Myriad Tribulation Sacred Temple can manifest an Indestructible Blade a thousand zhang long. He is only at the ninth layer of Core Formation, yet he can manifest one eight hundred zhang long." Kui Xing showed interest.

"Eight hundred zhang... that should be sufficient," Kui Xing murmured. It then dropped Yu Tiandu and, with a sidelong glance, telekinetically pulled Meng Ping, the weakest cultivator in the seven-person team, towards itself. Before Meng Ping could plead for mercy, Kui Xing bit through his neck. Blood erupted like a fountain. Kui Xing latched on and began to swallow, sucking greedily.

In just ten breaths, Meng Ping was reduced to a shriveled husk! This scene made Yu Tiandu's face turn deathly pale, and he swallowed hard.

Kui Xing wiped the blood from its lips, a hint of disdain in its expression. "Though it tastes foul, it's better than nothing. Come, I'll take you for a good tour of the ninth level. Last time, time was limited, and I only took you to a few small cave dwellings. I recall there are three or four more decent hidden dwellings like this one."

"Yes, Master," Mu Ying replied with utmost reverence. She didn't understand why Kui Xing had commanded them to travel countless miles to this place, nor why it kept leading them to search the cave dwellings on the ninth level, as if looking for something. But she sensed that Kui Xing was very familiar with the underground world, almost as if it had once belonged there.

In the westernmost part, a smoking swamp lay. The Indestructible Blade had carved deep trenches through the swamp, revealing a stone cave dwelling hidden beneath it. Gu Xin'er, with a joyful expression, picked up a clump of somewhat singed hair. "This is called the Thousand-Strand Demonic Charm; its hair is a treasure!" Liu Qingxian discovered a spirit herb that could enhance cultivation. Xia Chaoge, meanwhile, found a comb radiating spiritual pressure. Liang Feiyan had the best luck, finding something that could calm the mind and spirit, improving meditation efficiency.

These items couldn't be exchanged for hundreds of merit points in the treasury. So, even though they had given their merit points to Jiang Fan, they hadn't lost out at all.

Jiang Fan was currently holding the map drawn by the little Qilin, confirming his location. Thanks to the little Qilin's prior exploration, finding hidden cave dwellings had become incredibly easy. The only concern was that this cave dwelling was filled with dangerous black crystals. When they had just cut through the swamp, they had almost shattered a black crystal, which would have led to disastrous consequences.

"We must be careful at the next location," Jiang Fan thought with silent vigilance. He had no desire to fall into the tenth level. Just thinking about it, knowing it was full of creatures like two-headed hellhounds, filled him with a sense of suffocation.

"Once we've finished packing up, we'll head to the easternmost side," Jiang Fan reminded them, seeing that they were almost done scavenging. "We'll search along the way for any small spaces we might have missed." He had secretly communicated with the little Qilin earlier. Besides the three large hidden spaces, there were many smaller, undeveloped ones. The largest of these might yield only a few hundred merit points, while the smaller ones might only be worth a few dozen. But even a mosquito's leg is meat, as the saying goes. The three large hidden spaces here would only yield a little over nine thousand merit points at most. Adding the previous ten thousand, that was still only nineteen thousand. The bottle of True Spirit Blood required a full hundred thousand merit points. He couldn't afford to waste even a single point.

*Boom!* Suddenly, a violent explosion echoed from not far away. Jiang Fan, lost in thought, shuddered violently. He looked up. On the horizon, a dark mushroom cloud had risen. The immense shockwave it generated caused an earthquake that spread all the way to Jiang Fan's feet. He swayed slightly, his gaze narrowing. "This doesn't look like a Nascent Soul attack. Could it be... a black crystal shattered?" He looked towards the Soul Crystal.

Hua Xin nodded with a slightly solemn expression and sighed, "It's unavoidable. With so many of you coming in, someone is bound to be careless or reckless enough to shatter a black crystal." The shattering of a black crystal was not unexpected. "Thankfully, it didn't break through to the tenth level; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable," Hua Xin continued. "I advise you to leave as soon as possible. More people will shatter black crystals, but it won't always be this fortunate, not breaking through to the tenth level. If a fierce creature rushes out, you might survive, but your companions might not."

Jiang Fan's heart sank slightly. These black crystals were truly troublesome! Just when he thought he had three days to thoroughly explore, something like this had to appear! A hundred thousand merit points... that was out of the question this time!

Just then, several figures came into view, one group chasing the other. Among them were Jian Linyuan and his companions, and in the distance, several figures in red robes. Who else could it be but Li Shangqiu's Wuji team?