Chapter 17: Crisis

Hearing the sound of flowing water below, Lin Feng leaped down without hesitation.

He had been inside the Nine Nethers Secret Realm for a month now, following the small stream he had first discovered along the surface, traveling a distance he could no longer even estimate.

The stream had since grown into a river, and he had come across many deep pools along the way — yet there had been no trace of a Bianhua Flower anywhere.

This made Lin Feng begin to doubt his own judgment.

Would following the water really lead him to the Bianhua Flower?

The Bianhua Flower thrived in cold environments, and the temperature of underground water was surely far lower than that of the surface.

Perhaps searching along the underground river would yield results?

It was precisely this reasoning that had driven Lin Feng to jump down without a second thought.

The deeper he went, the louder the sound of rushing water became.

After dropping roughly ten meters or so, he finally caught sight of what lay below his feet.

Sure enough, it was an underground river — and the current was strong.

The moment his feet touched the water, Lin Feng immediately felt a bone-piercing chill.

The temperature was far, far lower than on the surface.

This was the kind of place where the Bianhua Flower would truly thrive.

Dark. Damp. Cold.

Lin Feng felt as though his entire first month had been wasted.

Had he known, he would have searched for an underground river from the very beginning.

Still, discovering it now was not too late — there was still plenty of time before the Nine Nethers Secret Realm closed.

Without bothering to check which direction the exotic beast spider had fled, Lin Feng stepped onto the water's surface and pressed forward along the current.

After several hundred meters —

Whoosh!!!

A sharp sound of something slicing through the air rang out.

A crimson snake, no thicker than a thumb, shot out from a crack in the rock wall and lunged at Lin Feng with blinding speed — so fast it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, the very air trembling in its wake.

Lin Feng casually raised his hand.

The little snake was caught in his grip, letting out a furious hiss.

Hiss, hiss, hiss…

After struggling for a moment, the snake reared back and attempted to sink its fangs into the back of Lin Feng's hand.

A sword beam sliced its head clean off before it could.

Lin Feng tossed aside the twitching half-body and shook his head, continuing forward.

He advanced roughly several dozen kilometers, fending off numerous attacks from small underground creatures along the way.

The underground river was no safer than the surface — if anything, it was more dangerous.

Small as these creatures were, every single one of them carried lethal venom. A moment's carelessness and one would find themselves poisoned.

After pressing on a little further, Lin Feng spotted the massive exotic beast spider in the distance, hanging upside down above the underground river, watching him with a pair of red eyes full of wariness.

At the same time, it emitted a series of sharp warning cries from its mouth.

"Given that you led me to this underground river, I'll spare your life — now go!" Lin Feng called out to the exotic beast spider.

Yet the creature continued to stare at him, unmoving.

Clearly, while this exotic beast spider had developed some degree of intelligence, it was still unable to comprehend human speech.

Seeing that his words had no effect on the spider, Lin Feng was at a loss as to what it wanted.

After all, they were different species, and the spider's intelligence had not fully developed — communication between the two was simply impossible.

As Lin Feng drew a little closer, the spider's warning cries grew louder.

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

"I told you to leave and you won't! What are you screeching about? If you don't get out of here, don't blame me for not giving you a chance."

With that, Lin Feng stepped forward again.

At the same time, a sense of puzzlement stirred in his heart.

The spider had clearly fled earlier — so why had it stopped here?

Was it trying to ambush him?

With a body that size, it was already taking up nearly half the space in the underground river passage. How could it possibly set an ambush?

Puzzled as he was, he still had to move forward.

When the distance between them had closed to just a few dozen meters, the exotic beast spider suddenly launched its attack.

Puff, puff, puff…

Webs and venom spewed from its mouth in a relentless torrent, as if they cost nothing at all.

An ordinary creature caught in those webs would have virtually no chance of escape — let alone with so much venom added to the mix.

Unfortunately for the spider, its opponent was Lin Feng.

A single sword beam flashed.

The exotic beast spider dozens of meters away was cleaved in two, green blood spraying in all directions.

A dark-green orb flew out from the carcass and landed in Lin Feng's hand. He glanced at it briefly before tucking it into his Qiankun Pouch.

That was the spider's inner core — the most precious thing found within any exotic beast's body, worth a fortune.

In truth, the exotic beast spider had another valuable item: its venom sac. But Lin Feng had no interest in it.

Stepping past the massive carcass, Lin Feng finally saw what lay ahead — and everything clicked into place.

No wonder the exotic beast spider had been waiting here.

It wasn't trying to ambush him, nor was it seeking death. It was simply that there was nowhere left to go.

All the water in the underground river flowed out through a subterranean passage beneath the riverbed.

To continue following the underground river, one would have to dive under.

The exotic beast spider clearly lacked that ability.

After a moment's thought, Lin Feng summoned countless sword beams and formed a protective barrier around his body. Then he plunged headfirst into the underground river. With the sword beam barrier keeping the water at bay, not a drop could touch him.

The passage at the bottom of the underground river was far narrower, and the current grew fierce and turbulent. Lin Feng was swept along by the rushing water into the depths of the earth, carried forward by the flow.

* * *

On the surface of the Nine Nethers Secret Realm.

A team of over a hundred people was hunting down a massive exotic beast — the Earth-Horned Bull.

The Earth-Horned Bull was a creature of enormous size, boasting formidable defensive power but relatively little offensive capability.

Countless flying swords and sword beams rained down upon it. Though each strike could only graze its hide without dealing significant damage, the sheer volume of attacks was overwhelming.

Even ants in great enough numbers can bring down an elephant!

And these were Sword Cultivators with off-the-charts offensive power.

As time wore on, the Earth-Horned Bull's body was riddled with wounds. Both its eyes had been blinded, and a deep gash ran across its neck, its blood staining the ground crimson.

Finally, with a thunderous crash, its mountain-like body collapsed to the ground.

Now came the time to claim the spoils of victory.

This team was none other than the Shenxiao Sword Sect group led by Ye Qingxuan, whose numbers had swelled to nearly two hundred.

A force this large would cause even a squad of black-robed figures to give them a wide berth.

After all, the difference in numbers was simply too great.

Unless they could muster several dozen black-robed figures, attacking would be nothing short of suicide — and the black-robed figures were not fools. Knowing they were outmatched, they would never throw their lives away.

Their God-Slaying Decree cultivation was not yet complete, and they were still a far cry from the mindless killing machines the Seven Slaughter Sect had produced a thousand years ago.

During this time, Ye Qingxuan led her team through the dense forest, hunting exotic beasts.

Whenever one was spotted, the entire group would swarm it, cut it down, claim its inner core, and take whatever rare treasures the beast had been guarding.

There were advantages to having numbers.

Safety!!!

But there were drawbacks too — the treasures they found were far too few to go around.

Inner Disciples and Stewards could at least get a taste of the broth, but Outer Disciples couldn't even manage that.

There was nothing to be done about it.

That was simply the lot of Outer Disciples — the weakest in strength, the lowest in standing.

As time dragged on, some of the older Outer Disciples began to have second thoughts.

They had entered this place to take a gamble and seek a great Fortuitous Encounter. Traveling with the main group, forget a great Fortuitous Encounter — they couldn't even get a share of the most ordinary treasures.

And so, more than a dozen Outer Disciples quietly slipped away from the main group.

As fate would have it, they had barely separated when they ran straight into a six-person squad of black-robed figures.

The outcome went without saying.

Not only did they lose their lives, but they also exposed the location of the Shenxiao Sword Sect's main force.

Seeing how many people the Shenxiao Sword Sect had gathered, the black-robed figures dared not act rashly.

They sent two of their most skilled trackers to shadow the Shenxiao Sword Sect's group, leaving markers along the way, while the rest went to seek reinforcements.

Their primary target upon entering the Nine Nethers Secret Realm had been the Shenxiao Sword Sect all along. Now that an opportunity had arisen to wipe out the sect's entire main force in one fell swoop, they would not let it slip through their fingers.

Ye Qingxuan and the others had no idea their group was already being watched by the black-robed figures.

She still believed that with so many members of the Shenxiao Sword Sect gathered together, the black-robed figures would never dare provoke them.

Little did she know, a far greater crisis was drawing near.