"A ship? Could it be a vessel from Carefree Haven?"
Quinn Shepherd was a little excited. The other enormous ship found by Village Chief and the elders had already been destroyed, making it impossible to reach Carefree Haven. If this ship truly came from Carefree Haven, wouldn't he be able to use it to return to his homeland?
The two White Bat Demons led the way ahead. Their temperament was strange—they flew in utter silence, and if Quinn wasn't careful, he would lose sight of them entirely. Yet the next moment, he'd hear a rustling sound, and the two bats would suddenly drop down headfirst from a tree or cliff, hanging upside down, before silently flapping away again.
Life in this Nethergloom Ravine was bizarre beyond measure, and its methods of attack were equally uncanny. But the two White Bat Demons were its guardians, knowing every secret of the place. With them leading the way, Quinn's journey was free of danger.
Sometimes, the two brothers would even catch strange creatures from the ravine to eat.
"Heh, when luck comes, you can't stop it—look, we've run into a moth-turtle!"
Quinn watched the pair swoop over a lake, then dive straight in and drag out a hulking beast. It was a hexagonal insect, its body marked with strange, regular patterns, and two enormous pincers extending from the front—looking fierce and formidable.
Yet on this monster's back were several white cocoons, each taller than a person. Some of the cocoons had already opened, like slender eggs with their lids neatly lifted.
The moth-turtle was astonishingly strong and refused to be subdued by the brothers. Its giant pincers snapped back and forth, slicing the air with thunderous crashes. Bolts of lightning crackled around it, swirling with flashes and sparks—truly intimidating.
It even sprayed jets of venom, which melted everything—soil and stone alike—wherever they landed!
The little baby, now full, danced and giggled. Suddenly, a large bird swooped down from the sky, pecked up the child, and swallowed it whole.
"What kind of monsters live in Youdu!" Quinn Shepherd shuddered, his hair standing on end.
At last, the moth-turtle carried them to the pit the White Bat brothers had described. It was less a pit than an abyss, where two rivers converged and plunged into the depths below, the roar thundering without end.
Just as they were about to follow the moth-turtle into the abyss, the creature suddenly surfaced, leapt into the air, and with a swish, spread its two hard wings—beneath which were soft wings.
The soft wings vibrated, sharp as blades and buzzing fiercely, lifting the moth-turtle into flight toward the depths of the chasm.
Quinn and the others were packed inside the cocoon eggs, which clung to the hard wings. As the moth-turtle flew, its hard wings remained steady while the soft wings fluttered furiously.
Inside the cocoon, Quinn peered around and saw enormous mushrooms clinging to the walls of the abyss, spraying spores that glowed as they drifted through the air like dandelion seeds.
From the rushing waterfall, bizarre fish and insects leapt out to snatch up the glowing spores. No sooner had they swallowed them than their bodies swelled and exploded midair, sprouting giant mushrooms from within.
The mushrooms were strange indeed: they burst open the lower halves of the fish and insects, yet the upper halves remained alive and intact, making for a grotesque sight.
Long tendrils grew from the mushrooms, waving through the air and drifting from place to place. Some settled onto the cliff walls and immediately took root, while the fish and insects attached to the mushrooms hunted prey for them, forming bizarre symbiotic pairs.
The moth-turtle kept descending, illuminated by the strange mushrooms along the way, so the abyss was not truly dark.
They flew downward for an unknowable distance before finally reaching the bottom. The ground was humid and hot, lit by countless glowing crystal pillars that sparkled brilliantly, illuminating the subterranean world.
The moth-turtle landed atop its nest, built among a forest of crystal columns. The moment it touched down, Ethan Fu knocked it unconscious with a burst of demonic sound.
Quinn happened to finish absorbing the cocoon's energy at that moment. He leaped out, brimming with vigor, and immediately pried up the remaining three cocoons, stuffing them into his Glutton Dragon Pouch.
"Cult Master, I can't get out!" Dragon-Qilin called out pitifully.
Quinn stepped over, grabbed both his ears, and pulled with all his might, finally yanking him free. He scolded, "If you get any fatter, you'll have to eat dirt from now on!"
Dragon-Qilin muttered softly, "I'm just getting stronger, not fat."
The White Bat brothers silently took flight. "That ship crashed down from beyond the heavens, gouging out this abyss. It slid far beneath the earth, even smashing through Youdu's ancient seal."
"The ship is just ahead, not far now, but it's crawling with Youdu creatures. We'll follow the underground river to reach it."
Quinn followed the White Bats. Not far along, he saw several corpses washed up on the shore—Loulan Golden Palace experts, dead only recently.
With the White Bats leading, they encountered no danger. But to reach this point through the Nethergloom Ravine was a perilous ordeal.
Anyone who made it this far was a true expert—at least Seven Stars realm—but even so, they died before ever reaching the ship.
Soon after, Quinn spotted several skeletons. Judging by their belongings, they were disciples of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.
Quinn sighed quietly and bent to gather stones to bury the bones, but the 'stones' suddenly sprouted legs and dashed off, jumping into the river one by one.
As they walked on, a faint Buddhist chant drifted from ahead, lingering through the underground cavern.
Before long, they reached the source of the chanting: two elderly monks in yellow robes sat cross-legged in niches carved into the stone wall. Their long brows trailed out of the alcoves, Buddha-sound pulsing from their bodies, flickering Buddha-light resisting the surging demonic miasma.
"Monks from Great Thunderclap Temple!" Quinn exclaimed in surprise.
"Are they already dead?"
The White Bat brothers were just as astonished. Ethan Fu said, "Those two bald monks came here with incredible skill, claiming to be sent by the World-Honored One to help us suppress disturbances from Youdu and keep its creatures from harming the living. We didn’t like it, but couldn’t beat them, so we let them stay. They’ve sat here for over a decade, helping us many times—when the seal nearly broke, it was them who held it down. In the end, they died of exhaustion..."
Noah Fu sighed, "We used to think they’d taste good, but now we don’t want to eat them at all... The ship that fell from the heavens is just ahead."
Quinn looked up, his body trembling slightly.