Chapter 346: Life‑Energy Extraction Field

This pulling sensation isn't aimed at the flesh, but… at the energy!

At the very source of life!

It's like countless invisible threads winding around the body, extremely slow yet unyieldingly drawing out the Qi, spirit, and even… life force!

Lingling has just received inheritance and is severely wounded; its power is already unstable, making it most sensitive to this pull and hardest to resist!

"It's those lights!" Lin Yifan instantly grasped the greatest oddity of this underground space.

Those minerals and moss that seem to provide illumination are in fact "energy traps" cloaked in a beautiful guise.

While they emit light, they silently siphon everything from intruders!

He himself also feels waves of weakness assaulting him, as if sinking into an invisible mire.

The dormancy of the dark‑gold vines on his right arm is not only due to consumption; it likely also stems from the environment's suppression.

The white light of the Dawn sword imprint grows extremely faint, barely shielding his heart meridian from being completely eroded by the pulling force.

This place is essentially a massive, slowly operating… life‑energy extraction field!

"We can't stay here!" Lin Yifan's inner alarm blared. Xiao You can devour a beast's essence to replenish itself, but they cannot! The longer they linger, the more they'll be drained!

He forces himself to hoist Lingling, his gaze anxiously scanning the vast, bizarre underground expanse. The water surface is deep and endless, the cliffs tower into darkness, studded with glowing "traps". The only "exit" is the distant, unreachable fissure above.

"Xiao You!" Lin Yifan shouted toward the Xiao You still devouring the giant salamander statue, trying to convey his intent to leave via a soul link.

Xiao You seemed to sense his urgency. It lifted its head, its Starry Eye sweeping over Lin Yifan and the Lingling in his arms, then scanning the cliffs radiating the pulling light. It emitted an indecipherable low hum from its throat and halted the devouring. About a third of the giant salamander's skull had already been "eaten" by it, turning to ash.

It lightly leapt from the statue's wreckage, "standing" on the water again. This time it didn't approach Lin Yifan, but raised a forepaw, pointing toward a direction—the edge of this vast water body, where a relatively gentle cliff is covered with extensive moss emitting a rich dark‑purple glow.

Following Xiao You's indication, Lin Yifan's pupils snapped shut!

Beneath that dense dark‑purple halo, within the cliff's shadows, there seemed to be an extremely concealed… a semi‑covered opening hidden by hanging vine‑like luminous plants…?

The opening was small, only allowing a person to bend through, pitch black and starkly out of place among the surrounding brilliance. More importantly, Lin Yifan keenly sensed that the space near the opening… the omnipresent energy pull felt slightly weaker than elsewhere?

Xiao You's perception is sharper than his! It discovered this potentially existing "lifeline"!

"Go that way!" Lin Yifan hesitated not a moment. He again summoned his nearly exhausted strength, cradling Lingling, using hands and feet, clinging to the slick, icy cliff, laboriously moving toward the hidden opening. The cold, pulling water constantly battered him, each step draining massive stamina.

Xiao You silently followed on the water ahead of him, like a dark guardian. Its Starry Eye vigilantly scanned the depths and the luminous bodies on the cliffs, seemingly guarding against unknown danger.

A mere few dozen meters felt like crossing a heavenly chasm for the gravely wounded Lin Yifan. He felt his power draining rapidly, consciousness blurring, sustained only by a will to survive.

Finally, he staggered to the dark‑purple moss‑covered cliff base. Up close, the opening became clearer. The rocks at its edge bore an unnatural, as‑if‑torn‑by‑a‑massive‑force jaggedness, and the luminous vines atop were sparser and dimmer than elsewhere. A faint yet distinct airflow, tinged with earth and an old mustiness, gently exhaled from the opening.

This is it!

Lin Yifan felt a surge of joy and was about to dive in with Lingling.

Suddenly!

Whoosh—!

The previously calm water beneath the opening erupted violently! A terrifying maw bristling with fine spiral teeth, like an abyssal gaping mouth, surged from the depths with a suffocating, fetid wind, snapping ferociously at Lin Yifan's legs!

It turned out to be a more insidious predator camouflaged as rock, lurking beneath the opening! It resembled a massive segmented worm, its body sheathed in a dark‑purple shell that blended with the surroundings, hidden until prey approached the opening and let its guard down!

A breath of death instantly clamped Lin Yifan's throat! Cradling Lingling, he couldn't evade!

The deathly breath, like a cold poisonous snake, instantly coiled around Lin Yifan's throat!

The abyssal maw bristling with spiral teeth shot up from the water like lightning, its foul stench overwhelming, targeting Lin Yifan's defenseless legs! He, clutching the grievously wounded Lingling, pressed against the slick cliff, with no way to dodge!

"Brother Yifan!" Lingling let out a desperate scream.

At the hair‑breadth of a thousand pounds!

"Swoosh—!"

A silver‑blue beam, whistling with a tearing scream, arrived before its source!

It's Xiao You!

It had remained highly vigilant! The moment the maw broke the water, its Starry Eye captured the lethal ambush!

Without hesitation, a refined silver‑blue beam infused with the void‑star's essence, like a precise sniper bullet, instantly shot at the root of the abyssal maw's emergence—the segment cloaked in dark‑purple shell that linked to the massive underwater body!

Pfft!

The beam struck the target with pinpoint accuracy! No earth‑shaking explosion, just a dull piercing sound! The tough, environment‑blended dark‑purple shell was pierced like paper before the void‑star's power!

"Screech—!!!"

A scream so sharp it could pierce eardrums, filled with pain and fury, erupted from the water! The abyssal maw that was about to bite Lin Yifan suddenly stiffened, then twisted and flailed wildly like a snake stripped of its bones. Dark‑purple viscous fluid, mixed with shredded tissue, spurted from the pierced wound!

Its massive body thrashed violently underwater, churning a turbid wave, but the gaping maw ultimately brushed Lin Yifan's trouser leg and fell weakly, slamming onto the surface and splashing a huge spray.

Lin Yifan could even feel the icy airflow as the spiral teeth sliced through the air! The massive impact of his narrow escape sent his heart racing, his back instantly drenched in cold sweat.

"Go!" he hoarsely shouted, using his last strength, cradling Lingling, and plunged headfirst into the pitch‑black opening half‑covered by luminous vines!

The cold, damp air, heavy with earth and decay, instantly enveloped him. The opening was narrow; he rolled and crawled in, his back slamming hard against the inner rock, finally coming to a halt.