Published: August 25, 2025
Chapter 268: The White Spider
This was a sprawling stalactite cave, with tunnels extending in all directions. Although no one knew exactly how large it was, it certainly didn’t look small.
After Han Li lifted a piece of moonlight stone and carefully surveyed his surroundings, he came to this conclusion.
The moment the tunnel collapsed and stones and earth fell, Han Li quickly expanded his protective shield. Despite being buried deep underground amid a series of violent tremors, he finally had a moment to catch his breath and relax his grip.
However, the terrain shifted drastically during the quaking. Han Li had no idea where he was or which direction he was facing. Helpless, he released several lizard-type Puppet Beasts to dig simultaneously in several directions, hoping to find a way out.
At this moment, he deeply regretted not having learned the earth escape technique earlier. If he had, a simple spell would have allowed him to move freely through the soil. Now, he had to crawl and follow behind the paths dug by the Puppet Beasts, inching forward slowly.
As for the idea of clearing a path with his magical artifacts, Han Li only entertained it very briefly and would never actually do it.
Without knowing his direction or location, recklessly wasting magical power was unwise. Moreover, using artifacts to break through earth and stone was extremely dangerous—one wrong move could cause another collapse.
Thus, Han Li always sent out a few Puppet Beasts first to explore as far as possible within a certain radius, then chose the direction most likely to offer a safe passage and moved forward. After this tedious crawling for several hours, he finally arrived in this unnamed stalactite cave, allowing his tightly wound heart to relax completely.
Surviving such a calamity really felt good!
Han Li glanced back at the tunnel he had crawled out from, knowing for certain that others must have survived the collapse as well. But whether they could find a way out of the mud and rubble was uncertain!
Because in such an airtight place, even cultivators at the foundation establishment stage probably couldn’t last long. Those at the qi refining stage were in even graver danger.
Still, despite his relief, Han Li was puzzled.
How was it that not long after they entered the tunnel, the collapse and earthquake occurred? Could it have been caused by someone from the demonic path? Han Li thought it was very likely.
...
On the surface, demonic path followers were rampaging at the entrance of the spirit ore mine, smashing everything inside the cave to pieces with magical artifacts.
High above the spirit ore, an elderly man in yellow robes spoke regretfully to a young girl dressed in red:
“Junior fellow disciple Lian, isn’t this a bit over the top? Using a single Tremor Talisman for some lost dogs—those are incredibly rare intermediate talismans!”
“Hmph! Trying to escape from me, Lian Feihua, isn’t going to be that easy! Though wiping out these spirit ore miners is just a side task, if they manage to escape unscathed, it leaves me feeling uneasy!” The red-clad girl sneered dismissively.
The elder in yellow laughed bitterly. Wasting such a rare talisman for this reason was really a joke! But who could blame her? She was the only daughter of the Demonic Flame Sect’s sect master. Sigh, as a protector of the Heavenly Fiend Sect, it was better to mind his own business.
With that thought, the elder fell silent.
Soon after, the group of demonic path followers who had thoroughly destroyed the spirit ore mine flew away, gradually disappearing from sight.
A day later, the Seven Sects’ large herb cultivation garden, hidden far from this area, was ambushed by the same group! All the medicinal herbs ready for pill refining were looted, and even the seedlings were burned to ashes by a single Qingyang Demonic Flame blaze!
This event immediately gripped the upper echelons of the Seven Sects with anger and anxiety. Compared to this, the spirit ore mine attack where Han Li was located seemed insignificant. After all, destroyed spirit ore could be replenished with time, but the stolen and burned spiritual herbs would take decades to regrow.