Chapter 43: Meng Yuan Chu Discovered

Qi Sheng sat cross-legged atop the altar, with multiple split-screen light curtains floating before him, displaying live footage of players engaged in fierce combat within a dim cavern.

After two consecutive days of assault, the players successfully advanced to the third subterranean layer.

The number of Iron Shell Beetles here had increased significantly, and numerous controlled Underworld Tribe creatures roamed about, greatly intensifying the combat difficulty.

As the players' death frequency rose, so did the yield they produced.

To the players' delight, the quality of the Spirit Mines in the third subterranean layer far surpassed that of the first layer they had explored previously.

The primary Spirit Mine of the first layer was Spirit Mine Grade 1's Power-Infused Stone, while the rocks excavated from the cavern walls of the third layer were generally Spirit Mine Grade 2's Origin Stone; each one, after being sacrificed to Beneath Di Zhao, yielded over 10 points of Shou Shou Jili feedback.

The only drawback was the increased difficulty of mining.

The rock walls of the third subterranean layer were extremely hard; ordinary mining picks could hardly break them, requiring higher-grade mining tools purchased from Shangcheng.

Combat consumption, resurrection costs, equipment replacement, monster drops... since the mission to purify the Dim Cavern was issued, Qi Sheng's profits had risen significantly.

The Shou Shou Jili he drew as a commission daily could recruit 60 players.

The total daily Shou Shou Jili flowing into the Shou Shou Jili pool was around 200,000, but apart from his commission, he would not touch the portion of Shou Shou Jili belonging to the players unless an emergency arose.

Before launching the player recruitment plan, he had carefully considered whether to use the players' Shou Shou Jili.

Essentially, the Shou Shou Jili balance players saw was merely a string of numbers; the Shou Shou Jili was not stored on the players themselves. When they used Shou Shou Jili, it was drawn from the Shou Shou Jili pool beneath Beneath Di Zhao Village, converted into corresponding energy or items, and then transmitted to the players.

Thus, all the Shou Shou Jili earned by the players was in his hands.

However, players would draw upon this portion of Shou Shou Jili at any time, spending it on purchases in Shangcheng, Star Vein upgrades, Body Tempering level improvements, and other areas.

Excessive consumption might lead to a situation where, when a player wanted to use Shou Shou Jili, he had no inventory Shou Shou Jili available for payout because he had misappropriated a large amount.

The Shou Shou Jili pool he controlled was like a bank, and Shou Shou Jili could be understood as real-world currency.

Players also consumed Shou Shou Jili when depositing it; the difference was that he could not earn profits by lending it out, so he could not use leverage; whatever he spent had to be filled back in later.

To avoid the problem of excessive depletion of the Shou Shou Jili inventory, he chose not to touch the portion of Shou Shou Jili belonging to the players under any special circumstances, using only the portion that belonged to him after the commission was taken.

【Boss, they're fighting again!】

The Guide's voice interrupted Qi Sheng's thoughts.

Looking up at one of the light curtains before him, he saw hundreds of players encountering an Underworld Tribe creature leading a swarm of Iron Shell Beetles; combat erupted instantly.

The players switched to monster forms and engaged the Iron Shell Beetles in direct confrontation.

Through observation over these days, Qi Sheng had discovered that players used tactics reasonably in small-scale battles, but once the scale expanded, they became lawless, fighting head-on like brutes, with the scene becoming incredibly chaotic as everyone attacked their own targets.

During this time, the local voice channels were even more chaotic.

"Brother playing with fire, stop throwing fireballs randomly! If your eyes are bad, give them away; if you throw one at me again, don't blame me for fighting back!"

"That brother ahead is truly fierce; he charged into the Iron Shell Beetle swarm and started taunting, but couldn't hold out for 3 seconds before turning into black smoke. Isn't that pure suicide? Hahaha."

"Don't push me! I'm low on health and need to go back and heal; please don't push! If I move forward any further, I'll really die!"

"Hahaha, I picked up three Iron Shell Beetle Essences; dying this time was worth it."

In such a chaotic scene, friendly fire was inevitable.

In reality, players would respond modestly and politely to accidental bumps when passing each other, but in a game world without any constraints, their true nature was fully unleashed; if they had a grievance, they cursed loudly on the spot, and if they had a grudge, they fought directly.

Secondly, only Shou Shou Jili and Evolution Points were directly obtained after killing monsters, but the Carapace Essence dropped after refining the Iron Shell Beetles had to be picked up manually.

Facing benefits lying on the ground, players would not bother asking who owned them; they would decisively act to grab them.

Under the intensification of various conflicts, while fighting the Iron Shell Beetles, players also fought each other.

However, amidst these internal minor friction points, the players' main target remained the Iron Shell Beetles and the Underworld Tribe creatures.

The fierce battle continued; under the control of Underworld Tribe warriors, the Iron Shell Beetles were equally fearless of death, and casualties on both sides kept rising.

The players' advantage lay in the rapid follow-up of reinforcements; players in the rear would quickly fill the gaps left by fallen players in the front to continue fighting.

From a macro perspective, the players advancing into the depths formed a long queue; although the third subterranean layer had multiple forked roads splitting the players in different directions, those in the first two layers were simply queuing up to wait for their turn to charge.

These queuing players, besides browsing forums for idle chat or watching live streams of the fierce battles at the front, would also pick up mining picks to kill time by mining ore, waiting for their turn to charge.

The rapid follow-up of reinforcements made the pace of the players' advance into the depths appear very steady.

One batch dies, another batch fills in, slowly nibbling away at the Iron Shell Beetles and Underworld Tribe creatures.

The players' ability of infinite resurrection had limited effect against Evil Spirit Warriors who completely overwhelmed them in strength, but against the evenly matched Iron Shell Beetles, it was practically unsolvable.

Judging by the current advancement trend, taking the Dim Cavern was merely a matter of time.

The battle in the footage ended in less than 20 minutes, with the deaths of 692 players securing the path forward.

Ahead was another forked road; after splitting at this intersection, the players continued forward.

One additional follow-up split-screen view appeared on the light curtain before Qi Sheng.

【Boss, Meng Yuan Chu found!】

Hearing the Guide's alert, Qi Sheng turned to look at a light curtain on his right.

The monster in the footage, like the taunt, was bound and imprisoned in the cave by specially crafted iron chains; its shape resembled an oversized salamander, dragging a large tail, with a rounded head covered in a layer of crystal-clear slime, currently glaring fiercely at the players, revealing two rows of sharp teeth.

The analysis information quickly fed back into Qi Sheng's mind.

【Qi Eater (First Generation Meng Yuan Chu)】:

Hunting Level: 12

Trait Ability: Qi Eater

Trait Analysis: Can automatically filter energy particles from the air through breathing, replenishing mental energy and blood consumption.

Guide Annotation: The specific replenishment effect is influenced by the energy particle content in the area; for example, areas with higher moon phase intensity generally contain higher energy particle content in the air, resulting in faster recovery of mental energy and blood through breathing.

Containment Notice: Killing a Meng Yuan Chu monster automatically completes containment; participants in the kill share massive rewards.

Seeing it was a Meng Yuan Chu monster, Qi Sheng immediately perked up.

(End of Chapter)