Chapter 302: Deep Abyss of the Nether Valley

A ship? Could it be one from Carefree Village?

Qin Mu was somewhat excited. The other massive ship that the village chief and his group had found was already destroyed, making it impossible to travel to Carefree Village. If this ship was indeed from Carefree Village, couldn't he use it to return to his homeland?

Two white bats led the way. They were peculiar creatures, flying silently, so Qin Mu would often lose sight of them if he wasn't careful. Yet, the next moment, he'd hear a few rustles, and the two bats would suddenly be hanging upside down from a tree or cliff face before flapping their wings silently and flying off again. The creatures in this Nether Valley were incredibly strange, and their attack methods were equally bizarre. However, the two white bats were guardians of this place, intimately familiar with everything in it. With them leading the way, Qin Mu's journey was safe and uneventful. Sometimes, the two brothers would even hunt the strange creatures of the Nether Valley, catching them to eat.

"Heh, when luck comes, there's no stopping it! We actually found a drill beetle!"

Qin Mu watched as the two brothers flew over a lake, then plunged into the water. From the lake, they dragged out a colossal creature: a six-sided insect with strange, regular hexagonal patterns on its body and two formidable large pincers at its front. However, on the back of this peculiar insect were white pupal sacs, each taller than a human. Some of these sacs were already open, like elongated eggs with neatly lifted lids. The drill beetle possessed astonishing power. It resisted the two brothers, its large pincers snapping and clashing, making the air crackle with thunderous roars. Streaks of lightning materialized, swirling around the drill beetle with a terrifying crackling sound. The drill beetle also spewed streams of venom that melted everything they touched on the ground, whether soil or rock!

Qin Mu felt a chill in his heart. The drill beetle's strength was probably not much weaker than that of the Dragon Qilin, and its venom was especially terrifying, capable of dissolving anything! The Dragon Qilin's abilities were already formidable, somewhere between the Seven Star and Celestial Being realms. However, the drill beetle's venom might even be too potent for a Celestial Being expert to withstand—though whether the venom could actually land on such an expert was another question.

The two white bats were even stronger. Fu Yuqiu emitted a sonic blast from his mouth, instantly stunning the drill beetle. Then, the two brothers leaped onto the beetle's back, opening two of the pupal sacs as if unlatching eggshell hatches. The two white bats jumped inside, letting out comfortable groans, then waved to Qin Mu and the Dragon Qilin. "Come in, quickly!" they urged.

Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then, with the Dragon Qilin, jumped onto the drill beetle's back. Fu Yuchun poked his furry head out of a pupal shell, resembling a newly furred mouse. His ears twitched as he said, "Quickly, find a pupa and hide inside! This drill beetle is about to wake up. It's an excellent swimmer and a true aquatic overlord. It can take us from the lake to the river, and then down the river to that deep pit! That's where its nest is!"

Qin Mu hesitated. "Can't we just stand on its back?" he asked.

Fu Yuqiu replied, "This creature is very vigilant, but it loves its young especially. If we hide inside these pupae, it won't attack us. Anything else that attacks us will be dealt with by it."

Qin Mu looked at the Dragon Qilin. "Can you shrink your body?" he asked. The Dragon Qilin was enormous, still two *zhang* smaller than the drill beetle, but its current size definitely wouldn't allow it to hide inside a pupa. The Dragon Qilin snorted, then began to shake its body, gradually shrinking. "You underestimate me, Cult Master," it grumbled. "After all, I was taught by the Patriarch; I can change my size as I wish." It shrank to the size of a large dog, but could shrink no further. With a large belly, it continued to circulate its cultivation technique, holding its breath for a moment before sheepishly asking, "Cult Master, do you think this is acceptable?"

Qin Mu glanced at the spherical creature, then chose the largest pupa, lifted its lid, and tried to pick him up and stuff him inside.

"It's been a long time since anyone held me," the Dragon Qilin reminisced.

Qin Mu squeezed its belly hard and pushed down with all his might, but the Dragon Qilin got stuck, refusing to go in or come out, with half its body still exposed. Qin Mu was furious. He slammed the eggshell-like white lid onto the Dragon Qilin's head. "Stay in that position and don't move!"

The Dragon Qilin, holding up the pupal shell, dared not move. It pitifully whined, "Cult Master, you won't cut my food, will you? I'm still growing..."

Qin Mu also opened a pupa and jumped in. Inside, it felt like egg white, and being submerged in it was incredibly comfortable, as if he had taken a miraculous elixir. He felt delicate energy seeping into his pores, penetrating his muscles, blood vessels, meridians, and internal organs, nourishing his entire body. These energies even permeated his soul, nourishing it! Qin Mu was surprised. He tried to activate his Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique and immediately felt even more energy surging from the egg-white-like liquid, constantly strengthening his primordial spirit.

"This egg white is even better than any miraculous elixir," he thought. "If I could continue cultivating inside it, my primordial spirit would become exceptionally powerful!" He looked at the other pupal sacs. Most of the sacs on the drill beetle's back were already empty, indicating that the drill beetles inside had matured and departed. Only two or three immature sacs remained.

"Good stuff," he thought. "When we get to our destination, I'll steal these pupal sacs!"

Just as he thought this, the giant drill beetle awoke, shook its head, and plunged into the lake. This lake was a tributary of one of the rivers in the valley. The drill beetle submerged itself, swam from the tributary into the main river, and then drifted downstream towards the confluence of two rivers. The river water itself was also very strange, teeming with various creatures from the Nether World: long worms covered in eyes, large fish made entirely of muscle with no scales, peculiar insects with tentacles tipped with circular mouths full of barbed hooks, and glowing, soul-like entities drifting about.

Qin Mu also saw some lotus flowers floating on the river surface. Some withered lotuses had formed seed pods, and from the holes of these pods emerged plump, pale babies, naked, giggling, and dancing with innocent delight. Suddenly, one of these infants opened its mouth, and a tongue six or seven *zhang* long shot out, coiling around a strange fish in the water. The tongue was hollow, and in an instant, it sucked the fish dry, leaving only its bones to drift down to the riverbed. After eating its fill, the infant continued to giggle and dance. Then, a large bird flew down, pecked the infant up with a gentle tap, and swallowed it whole.

"What kind of monsters inhabit the Nether World?" Qin Mu's blood ran cold.

Finally, the drill beetle brought them to the deep pit the two white bats had mentioned. It was less a pit and more an abyss, where two rivers converged, and the massive volume of water plunged into the depths with a continuous, thunderous roar. Just as they were about to follow the drill beetle into the abyss, it suddenly surfaced, leaped into the air, and with a whoosh, unfurled two sets of wings: hard outer wings covering softer inner wings. The soft inner wings vibrated, sharp as blades, buzzing loudly, and to their surprise, the beetle began to fly, descending into the abyss.

Qin Mu and the others were nestled within the pupal sacs, which were adhered to the hard outer wings. As the drill beetle flew, its hard wings remained perfectly still, while only the soft inner wings flapped ceaselessly. From inside the pupal sac, Qin Mu looked around. He saw giant mushrooms clinging to the abyss walls, spewing out glowing spores that floated through the air like dandelions. From the rushing waterfall, strange fish and insects leaped out to feed on the glowing spores. As soon as they swallowed them, their bodies swelled in mid-air, then burst open with popping sounds, and large mushrooms sprouted from within them. These mushrooms were bizarre; they caused the lower halves of the strange fish and insects to explode, yet their upper halves remained intact, and the creatures were still alive. Their mushroom lower bodies simply made them appear grotesque. The mushrooms grew long, fibrous roots that danced in mid-air, flying about. Some landed on the cliff face and immediately took root. The fish and insects attached to the mushrooms then helped them hunt prey, forming a peculiar symbiosis.

The drill beetle continued its descent. With the illumination provided by these strange mushrooms along the way, the abyss was not entirely dark. They flew downwards for an unknown distance until they finally reached the bottom of the abyss. The ground there was hot and humid, illuminated by countless glowing crystal pillars. Each pillar was translucent and emitted a mesmerizing light, brightening the entire subterranean area.

The drill beetle flew to its nest, which was built atop a large cluster of crystal pillars. As soon as it landed, Fu Yuqiu stunned it unconscious with his demonic sound attack. Qin Mu, having coincidentally finished absorbing the energy from his pupa, jumped out, looking refreshed and invigorated. He immediately went over and pulled up the other three pupae, placing them into his Gluttony Bag.

"Cult Master, I can't get out!" the Dragon Qilin whined pitifully.

Qin Mu stepped forward, grabbed both its ears, and pulled with all his might. It took every ounce of his strength to pull the Dragon Qilin out. Annoyed, he said, "If you get this fat again, you'll be eating dirt from now on!"

The Dragon Qilin muttered softly, "I've just gotten a bit stronger, not fat."

The two white bats flew up silently. "That ship fell from outside this world," they said. "It crashed down, creating this deep pit, then slid a great distance underground, even breaching the Nether World's barrier seal."

"The ship is just ahead, not far from here," they continued. "However, many creatures from the Nether World have taken up residence on it. If we follow this underground river, we can reach it."

Qin Mu followed the two white bats. Not far ahead, he saw several corpses washed ashore by the river. They were the bodies of powerful experts from the Loulan Golden Palace, and it appeared they had died recently. With the two white bats leading him, he hadn't encountered any dangers. However, attempting to traverse the Nether Valley to reach this point would be extremely perilous. Those who managed to reach this place alive were mostly masters, at least of the Seven Star realm. Unfortunately, they had perished before even seeing the ship.

They hadn't walked much further when Qin Mu saw several skeletons. Judging by the relics on them, they appeared to be disciples of the Heavenly Devil Cult. Qin Mu sighed inwardly. Just as he was about to pick up some stones to bury the skeletons, these "stones" suddenly scampered off, one by one, splashing into the water and disappearing.

As they walked, they suddenly heard faint Buddhist chants echoing through the subterranean space ahead. Shortly after, they arrived at the source of the chants. There, two elderly monks in yellow robes sat cross-legged on a stone wall. Two niches had been carved into the wall, and the monks sat within them, their long eyebrows drooping outside. Buddhist chants continuously emanated from their bodies, and their Buddha light flickered as it repelled the surging demonic energy.

"Monks from Great Thunderclap Temple!" Qin Mu exclaimed in surprise. "Are they already dead?"

The two white bat brothers were also surprised. Fu Yuqiu said, "These two baldies came here; they were incredibly skilled. They claimed they were ordered by the Tathagata to help us suppress the disturbances in the Nether World and prevent its creatures from coming out to harm all living beings. We weren't entirely happy about it, but we couldn't defeat them, so we let them stay. They've been sitting here for over ten years, helping us a lot. A few times the seal almost broke, and they were the ones who helped hold it down. We never expected them to die of exhaustion..."

Fu Yuchun sighed. "We once thought they'd taste good, but now we don't want to eat them at all... The ship that fell from the outside world is just ahead."

Qin Mu looked up, his body trembling slightly.