Chapter 342: Underground Dark River

Swish swish swish!

The dark‑gold vines, infused with massive energy, began an astonishing mutation.

They grew thicker and tougher at a visible pace, their dark‑gold metallic sheen deepening, and their surfaces even began to show fine, arcane, ancient rune phantoms resembling the markings on the Dawn Sword.

The vines multiplied explosively, like a living dark‑gold giant python, crazily coiling, piercing, and rooting into the crystal vein deposits on the cavern walls and floor.

The entire cavern, in just a few breaths, was covered by a rapidly spreading, interwoven net of dark‑gold thorns.

Countless pierced crystal shards quickly dimmed, shattered, and turned to dust, their energy ruthlessly seized by the vines. The once radiant cavern instantly became awash with dark‑gold, filled with a strange, metallic jungle's eerie lethality.

A bizarre field, mixing pure life force with a destructive, devouring essence, enveloped the whole space.

Bang!!

At the instant the mutation occurred, the Moonshadow Barrier finally reached its end.

The terrifying giant claw, wielding the force to crush mountains, slammed down fiercely for the third time.

Like a mirror shattering completely!

The moon‑white light veil burst with a roar, turning into glittering specks across the sky.

The guarding fox spirit let out a mournful wail and vanished completely.

Ling Ling's forehead rune extinguished instantly; the tiny body was hurled by the massive backlash, slammed against the cavern wall, slid down softly, its fate unknown.

The huge opening was ripped apart completely.

Scorching heat, sulfur, and a suffocating, ancient‑wilderness Overwhelming Pressure, like a breached magma flood, instantly filled the entire cavern.

Lin Yifan barely lifted his head from the excruciating pain and dizzying energy shock; through the gaps of the wildly thrashing dark‑gold vines, he finally saw a glimpse of the terrifying entity's iceberg at the opening.

It was an indescribably massive claw, sheathed in a thick black keratin layer coursing with dark‑red lava; the tips curved like peaks, entwined with solidified shadows and a destructive aura.

A single claw thrust in, nearly filling the entire expanded opening.

Above the claw lay endless darkness and a pair of… slowly opening in the gloom, massive vertical pupils burning like two wheels of hellfire.

Those vertical pupils were cold, brutal, full of contempt for weak beings and a greedy lock on "prey."

Its gaze ignored the gravely wounded, dying Ling Ling, ignored the dark‑gold thorn forest whose aura surged yet remained tiny, even ignored Lin Yifan, and finally fixed greedily and mercilessly on Xiao You, whose aura was unique and contained pure primordial power.

"Roar!"

A roar brimming with destructive desire, announcing its prey, reverberated through the cavern.

The sound wave alone caused the cavern walls to collapse violently, and countless uncovered crystals burst apart.

Xiao You's entire body, etched with a galaxy pattern, flared to its peak, and those stellar eyes erupted with bone‑chilling cold and fury.

It sensed a mortal threat and also felt the beast's covetousness for its primordial power.

It arched its back sharply, emitting a low, warning roar from its throat; fine shard‑like fangs glinted coldly, and its tiny body radiated a murderous chill from the ancient starry heavens, utterly mismatched to its size.

It did not retreat; instead, it stepped forward deliberately.

A condensed, solid‑like silver beam bearing the void of dying stars, like a star‑spear tearing darkness, burst from its mouth and boldly shot toward the cavern's massive lava claw!

Sss!

The beam struck the lava‑covered keratin of the claw, emitting a sound like a hot iron dropped into water, leaving a distinct, faintly steaming char mark.

Though merely a surface wound, it undeniably enraged the terrifying entity outside.

"Roar—Aaa!!!"

An even more enraged roar came, bearing the fury of being provoked by ants.

The lava giant claw jerked upward, wielding crushing power, and slammed down fiercely onto Xiao You's position.

Shadows instantly enveloped Xiao You, and also covered Lin Yifan behind it.

Lin Yifan's pupils contracted sharply; Xiao You's attack proved its extraordinariness, but also detonated the powder keg completely!

With that single claw, not only Xiao You but the entire cavern would be reduced to dust.

"Is it over…" Despair seized his heart again.

However, at this hair‑trigger moment

Rumble—rumble—rumble!!!

The mutation reborn!

Under Lin Yifan's feet, the ground, crazily rooted and drained by countless dark‑gold vines, finally could not bear the combined internal and external terrifying force.

Centered on Lin Yifan, the ground within dozens of meters suddenly collapsed downward.

It wasn't the claw's strike, but because deep underground, the dark‑gold vines, in their frantic energy devouring, had unknowingly eroded and hollowed the earth.

A massive, bottomless, ink‑black pit instantly appeared at the cavern's floor.

Countless shattered crystals, stones, and the tangled dark‑gold vine network covering them cascaded down like a roaring waterfall.

"Ling Ling! Xiao You!" Lin Yifan could only let out a howl before his body, carried by the collapsing ground, fell uncontrollably into the bottomless dark abyss.

The last scene he saw was the lava giant claw, wielding world‑shattering force, slamming fiercely at the edge of the collapse, sending shards of stone and dust skyward.

Also, Ling Ling's tiny, unconscious body was caught by the vine's edge and fell together.

Meanwhile, the cavern's massive vertical pupils, burning with hellfire, flickered in the dust with astonishment and even more ferocious rage.

Immediately after, boundless darkness and weightlessness engulfed him completely.

Just before his consciousness sank, he seemed to feel a faint tug from the vine on his wrist, and…

A cold, light thread carrying the same weightlessness, a thought wave traveling along a soul link—coming from the also‑falling Xiao You.

Deep within the silent forest realm, only the terrifying beast's mountain‑shaking, resentful and enraged roar lingered, echoing over the collapsed cavern ruins.

Falling.

Endless falling.

Cold darkness, heavy with earthy musk and an ancient decay, like viscous mire, enveloped Lin Yifan's consciousness.

The sense of weightlessness tore at his organs, while the whistling wind and the thunderous crash of stones and crystal shards striking the rock walls rang in his ears.

The excruciating pain never left, the right arm like an out‑of‑control energy furnace, the white light of the Dawnbreak Sword's seal and the devouring will of the dark‑gold vines still wrestle fiercely, wildly converting the residual spirit crystal energy that was previously devoured.

Each surge of energy feels like countless red‑hot steel needles piercing the meridians.

"Lingling… Xiao You…" Lin Yifan shouts futilely in the darkness, his voice torn apart by the descending gale.

He tries to sense Xiao You through a soul link; the link remains cold and resilient, yet it transmits a similarly chaotic sense of weightlessness and…

A heightened, taut sense of vigilance.

Lingling's aura is so faint it is almost imperceptible, like a dying candle in the wind.