This sinkhole hid in a dense forest, with lush mushroom trees above and dense shrubs at the bottom.
It was well hidden. Who would have found this sinkhole had it not been for the white glow?
But now, the three of them found it.
“Let’s check it out.”
The three of them moved in a whirlwind and came in front of the sinkhole.
At this time, the white glow had disappeared, leaving behind a pitch-dark, seemingly bottomless sinkhole that looked like the mouth of a massive monster, waiting to swallow everything.
“The white glow has disappeared?” Dylon looked at Ling Jiu and Shi Gang. “Do you two want to go down there?”
“What do you think? Of course!” Shi Gang said. “The white glow earlier looks exactly the same as the glow emitted from the energy crystals. There must be energy crystals at the bottom! No way I am not going down!”
“Let’s go then!”
Ling Jiu released his Arcana Field to shroud Shi Gang and Dylon in it. “Don’t resist it. I will take you two down. Remember, safety first in case there is a situation.”
“Understood.”
Shi Gang and Dylon kept nodding.
Ling Jiu wrapped around the two with his Arcana Field as he drifted down to the bottom of the sinkhole. It was extremely humid. The walls of the sinkhole were covered in organisms that resembled fungi and lichens.
It was dim all around after descending over ten meters. Shi Gang took out a flashlight and shone it toward the bottom of the sinkhole.
But he could see nothing. It was still a blanket of darkness.
“The flashlight can’t reach the bottom. How deep is this sinkhole?” Shi Gang’s voice trembled slightly.
“Must be super deep,” Dylon said.
So they kept descending.
The temperature dropped as they went, chilly air sweeping all over them, giving them a sepulchral moment.
“How deep is this freaking place, really?”
Shi Gang cursed in a low voice, his voice reverberating between the walls for a long time.
“Almost there!”
Ling Jiu suddenly spoke.
Shi Gang and Delong’s hearts skipped a beat, and Shi Gang quickly aimed the flashlight at the bottom of the sinkhole.
A terrifying tearing force suddenly came from the bottom, pulling their bodies towards it.
“Not good!”
Ling Jiu knew something was wrong and quickly adjusted the gravity force to resist the tearing force.
But it did not work. The tearing force was too strong. The three of them had only resisted for a moment before plunging in a free fall.
“Ling Jiu, what’s the situation?” Shi Gang screamed.
“We are falling!” Dylon was also screaming.
“Don’t panic!”
Ling Jiu remained calm despite what happened. He took out the silver metal and turned it into a spear of over ten meters long. Wielding the spear in his hand, he thrust it into the wall of the sinkhole with all his strength.
But it shocked him to find that the wall was impenetrable.
The spear had only created a series of sparks but could not make a dent in the wall.
“This sinkhole wall is unusual!”
Ling Jiu’s mind was racing. He immediately released his Arcana Field to cover a radius of 500 meters and tried to control the sinkhole wall.
He was damn sure that the wall was made of rocky soil. His Earth Arcana should have no problem manipulating the sinkhole wall.
But it still did not work. The sinkhole wall did not budge, not submitting to Ling Jiu’s command.
“What exactly is this sinkhole wall made of?”
Ling Jiu was mad. The wall was impenetrable and uncontrollable. Was it made of plastic?
A dazzling white light suddenly shone from the bottom of the sinkhole. The light was milky white and soft, not dazzling at all.
It then shocked Ling Jiu to see something at the bottom. A crack strangely appeared at the bottom of the sinkhole, through which the white glow shone.
“This is…”
The three of them exclaimed in unison. Under the illumination of the soft white glow, they could clearly see what kind of crack it was—a monstrous mouth.
More glow came through and the tearing force became stronger as the monstrous mouth slowly opened.
The three could no longer resist and plunged toward the monstrous mouth rapidly. They were swallowed in it.
Next, the monstrous mouth slowly closed back up while the tearing force and white glow disappeared. Darkness returned to the sinkhole bottom, as if nothing had happened before.
…
“A-A-Am I dead?”
Shi Gang’s voice trembled in the dim light.
“You are still alive.”
It was Ling Jiu’s voice. “Where the hell is this?”
The surroundings were dark, but they could still make out that they were in a corridor-like passage.
The walls—let’s call them walls for the time being—were black on both sides. They were squirming like a living thing and sticky like some black viscous liquid.
“This wall… how come it resembles my Venom Suit?”
Ling Jiu walked up to one of the walls and reached out his hand to touch it carefully. It felt soft and was still squirming, which was indeed very similar to the Venom Suit.
“Is this wall really made of the same material as the Venom Suit?”
As this thought came to mind, Ling Jiu looked at other places. The passage was winding and leading to some unknown places.
“What is this place, Ling Jiu?” Shi Gang’s voice trembled. “Has the monstrous mouth swallowed us? Why are we in such a strange place?”
Dylon could not hide his fear and panic in his eyes, although he appeared calm. People are always scared of the unknown.
“I don’t know.”
Ling Jiu shook his head, then pointed to the end of the passage. “The only way is to move forward if you want to know the answer.
“Or, we might as well hack the wall and get out of here. But I don’t bank my hope on this.”
He knew how tough the Venom Suit was. If the walls were really made of the same material as the Venom Suit, they could not hack it.
“I will try.”
Dylon roared and slammed his fist against the wall behind him. His burst of power was terrifyingly powerful, and his punch was enough to injure a Class-Six Direbeast.
But the wall took the punch and just shook.
“One more time!”
He tried another punch, and the result was the same.
“I don’t know what material the wall is made of. All I know is I can’t break it!” Dylon was disappointed.
“Let me try.”
…
The wall that was seemingly made up of the Venom Suit material was indestructible, just like Ling expected. The three of them had tried everything, yet still could not make a dent in the wall.
It was too strong.
“There is nothing else we can do. Let’s just move on.”
Ling Jiu sighed. He led the way while Shi Gang and Dylon hesitated. But since things had come to such a pass, they had no other choice.
The only way was to move forward.
The passage was dark. After moving about 800-1,000 meters, they finally saw light up ahead.
The three of them exchanged a glance with each other, then came to that light.
It was an enormous room. Calling it a hall would be more apt by the looks of it.
The hall was spacious, about two to three hundred square meters.
The most striking thing was the creamy white rocks inlaid on the ceiling. The white rocks exuded a soft creamy white glow just like night pearls.
“I-It’s the energy crystals!”
They were wide-eyed.
The rocks inlaid on the ceiling were nothing but the energy crystal they had been dreaming of.
“There are many energy crystals here. We would be rich if we can take them all down.”
Shi Gang gulped, his body slightly trembling, his eyes green.
“Welcome here, earthlings!” A hoarse voice suddenly came.
