Finally, after drifting in the water for more than forty days, Nan Zhi discovered land while out hunting.
However, she highly suspected that she was no longer on Earth.
After all, Nan Zhi had never seen green soil on Earth that glowed with a grassy hue and was mixed with burning stones.
Large chunks of ore were scattered sporadically across the ground, some only half-exposed. Clumps of pale red flames roared and burned, illuminating the shallows where Nan Zhi had landed.
—Even the water was littered with numerous knuckle-sized stone fragments. Miraculously, the flames on these stones were not extinguished, continuing to burn all on their own.
【Metal Essence Mud: The product of metal-element spirit herbs after they wither, their spiritual energy dissipates, and their nutrients decay. It is one of the important auxiliary materials for refining Swift-Walking Pills, Heavenly Fragrance Pills, and Exotic Fragrance Ointment.】
【Sun-Burning Stone: A special ore formed in places where the Golden Crow has passed, imbued with sunlight. It burns constantly without end and can be used to sharpen swords.】
“This is definitely not Earth. We're so deep underground; where would a sun come from?”
Nan Zhi bent down and picked up a piece of Sun-Burning Stone to examine it closely.
The flame did not burn her hand, and its temperature looked to be forty degrees at most. When held in her palm, a faint warmth flowed through her entire body. Although it was only the size of a palm, its weight was quite substantial.
She was indeed no longer on Earth.
The average thickness of the Blue Star's crust was only about seventeen kilometers. Compared to the Blue Star's radius, this layer was as thin as an eggshell.
The strange fish swam at no slow speed. Drifting at full speed in one direction for so many days, logically speaking, they should have long since passed through the upper mantle and plunged into the lower mantle, which was filled with magma.
“A secret realm? A dungeon? Or an alternate dimension?”
Nan Zhi couldn't help but check the game system over and over, but there were no prompts.
She lifted a piece of Sun-Burning Stone and threw it forcefully over her head. With a boom, the two-meter-tall boulder soared straight up like a blazing fireball, its bright orange-red glow faintly illuminating the surroundings.
“Rumble...”
“Rumble...”
“Boom...”
The light extinguished, and the dull thud of the giant stone hitting the ground echoed repeatedly. Though it was only for an instant, it was enough for Nan Zhi to clearly see her surroundings.
This was an extremely vast underground karst cave, filled with a forest of bizarre rock formations. Caves of various sizes clustered tightly along the stone walls; the smallest could only fit a fist, while the largest were bottomless, their ends completely out of sight.
Nan Zhi tried to explore with her divine sense and found that the constraints she had felt previously had vanished.
In her perception, these caves connected and penetrated one another, forming tens of thousands of dense passages that closely resembled an underground ant nest.
Beside the cave was a vast, seemingly endless underground river beach. The water was filled with tiny fragments of Sun-Burning Stone. These burning stones formed a natural light strip, seemingly pointing the way.
And Nan Zhi had just crawled out of this very underground river.
She closed her eyes and explored carefully, only to find that she could no longer locate the path she had come from. Even the giant fish bus she had spent day and night with had vanished without a trace.
“Going back is definitely out of the question. I have to find another way out. Fortunately, I have all my belongings on me.”
The strange fragrance in the air grew increasingly rich and alluring. Nan Zhi patted the jade belt at her waist and took out a Spirit Beast Talisman. With a flash of green light, Hongluo appeared on the spot and stretched.
“We've landed? Miss, where are we?”
Seeing that Nan Zhi had indeed found land, Hongluo was naturally overjoyed. Spotting the fiery Sun-Burning Stones on the ground, she couldn't help but say, as if presenting a treasure:
“Miss, I recognize these! Back when Ma San was still alive, he knew a few sword cultivators. They loved using this kind of stone to polish their sword blades. A piece only the size of a pinky finger is worth a tael of gold!”
They were that valuable?
Nan Zhi looked back, and in her eyes, the scattered stones covering the ground all transformed into glittering gold ingots.
“I wonder if there are more of these stones further ahead. It won't hurt to dig up some more. I have a friend who also uses a sword. If I give her this when I return, she'll definitely be thrilled.”
She couldn't help but marvel that when luck came, nothing could stop it. She took out a herb shovel and tossed it to Hongluo.
“Any stones or spirit herbs you dig up yourself in this secret realm, I'll store separately for you. When we get out, you can keep them to give away or exchange them for money, as you wish.”
Raising a child was different from raising a spirit pet. For a young girl of this age, "having enough money" and "having money under her own control" were two completely different concepts.
“I don't need any! I'll dig up more to exchange for cultivation resources, so Miss can achieve the Golden Immortal realm as soon as possible!”
Hongluo was full of energy, her herb shovel moving so fast it practically left afterimages. Because she had little strength, she specifically targeted medium-sized stones, piling them up in groups of ten and waiting for Nan Zhi to come and collect them.
The two of them, one big and one small, cooperated in perfect harmony. Before long, three slots of Sun-Burning Stones, in stacks of ninety-nine, were added to Nan Zhi's inventory.
She didn't even spare the Metal Essence Mud on the ground, gathering a whopping forty cubic meters of it. This amount was more than enough, not just for refining pills, but even to eat as meals.
“...Ah!”
Nan Zhi was studying which path to take to find the source of the fragrance when she suddenly heard Hongluo let out a soft cry not far away.
In a flash, she moved so fast she practically teleported over. But looking closely, it wasn't that Hongluo had run into any danger.
The young girl stood in place with an uneasy expression. Near the water not far away lay a woman face-up, her clothes tattered and several wounds exposed to the air.
Her clothes looked somewhat familiar, and an oval pair of glasses with shattered lenses lay beside her hand.
“Miss, I was digging up stones here just now when I saw something lying face down. I was about to call you when I realized... it seemed to be a person, so I cried out in fright.”
Hongluo trotted over, hugging Nan Zhi's forearm and hiding behind her as she whispered:
“She looks like a woman who met with disaster. I don't know how she ended up stranded here. She's breathing more out than in; I'm afraid she's about to die.”
“She should be a government official. This secret realm is vast and full of dangers. To meet here is a twist of fate.”
Nan Zhi had seen Qin Yue wear a similar black uniform, so she immediately realized the identity of the woman before her:
She was likely a member of the real world's official Special Investigation Bureau.
But why would one of their people appear here?
Could she have chased her all the way from the bottom of the Yellow River and ended up in this unknown place as well?
“Ugh... cough, cough... Leave me... Go... Must... go home...”
The woman lying face-up let out a long groan, coughing up a large mouthful of blood. Her lifeless eyes fluttered open. She seemed to look at Nan Zhi, yet also seemed to be talking in her sleep:
“Take it back... Go... Go...”
The crimson blood trickled down the stony beach and into the river. Immediately, intense splashing sounds echoed from the distant caves.
The commotion was massive, reverberating through the cluster of caves like the low growl of a giant beast.
“Something is coming. Hongluo—”
Nan Zhi immediately squatted down, lifting the woman in her arms. In an instant, Hongluo transformed into a tiny hedgehog and leaped into her wide green sleeve. Nan Zhi quickly waved her hand to summon a ball of water to wash away the scent of blood, then activated her Hiding Art, dashing along the trail of burning Sun-Burning Stones...
Barely three breaths of time had passed when monstrous waves suddenly churned beneath the water. Countless thick pillars of water rose out of thin air, shaking the cave roof so violently that giant boulders came crashing down with a boom:
“Rumble!”
“Rumble!”
“Rumble!”
A moment later, two incredibly thick green tentacles, roughly five meters in diameter, emerged from the water. They lashed wildly in the air as if searching for something, refusing to give up for a long time.
Rate on N.U.
