Astral Cockroach

Again with the shaking antennae, again with the swaying antennae, what does this mean?

Bai Zhu asked, "Ban Bu, are we still digging?"

Ban Bu asked, "Is there an open space below?"

Bai Zhu replied, "Yes, the black mist doesn't block sound. We tested it with pebbles."

"You and King Rat rest first." Ban Bu pondered, then resolutely said, "Dig it open, I want to go down and see for myself!"

… …

That kind of "erosion" by the black mist is essentially "elemental permeation," damaging the muscles beneath the fur.

King Rat needed four or five days of rest to recover.

Bai Zhu needed a month or two of recuperation to fully heal.

Ban Bu also burrowed into the bottom of the well, personally digging with his claws, working with King Rat to cut large chunks of rock.

Bai Zhu helped from the side, using a dagger to cut the rocks into smaller pieces and stuffing them into the cracks.

A lazy method: throwing them into the depths through the cracks, saving the effort of vertical transport.

Another year or so of continuous digging, the width of the underground crevice expanded to about 50 centimeters. Cockroaches are naturally slender, and with this width, Ban Bu could barely squeeze through bit by bit.

The crevice widened further down. After struggling to move down a hundred meters or so, it was easy to climb down the stone wall.

After crawling about a kilometer, Bai Zhu shuddered, pointing to the black lines in the distance of the crevice, and said, "Ban Bu, it's just ahead, look, it's black."

The crevice wasn't perfectly vertical, but rather a slope of about 70 degrees.

At this time, the crevice was about 1.2 meters wide, and Ban Bu could run freely on all six legs.

Accelerating forward.

Bai Zhu observed the surrounding environment and reminded, "Probably because we discarded a large number of gravel downwards, the black mist has risen a bit along the crevice."

King Rat also carefully examined it, and said, "Looking at the claw marks we left last time, the black mist has risen about 5 centimeters… We also checked left and right, the crevice is over 20 kilometers wide, correspondingly, the space below must be over 20 kilometers as well."

The black mist had a thick, water-like consistency, possessing the fluidity of water, and also gathering like water.

Ban Bu approached and extended a forelimb to test it.

Bai Zhu's ears immediately perked up, and she asked, "Ban Bu, how is it?"

Ban Bu slowly retracted his claw, examining it in front of his eyes, and said, "It's nothing special, just like that. Originally, it was a very powerful divine ability, but without the manipulation of a soul's will, without the support of subsequent power, it's just a pool of stagnant water."

Ban Bu noticed that Bai Zhu had misunderstood his words and added, "I also can't resist the erosion of the black mist."

"… …" Bai Zhu stared.

Ban Bu waved his claw and said, "King Rat, Bai Zhu, you two step back."

King Rat and Bai Zhu understood what Ban Bu was going to do, and quickly retreated, keeping a safe distance.

Ban Bu calmed his mind and suddenly opened his mouth, spewing a pillar of fire, directly towards the black mist below.

The high temperature scorched the black mist, causing it to boil and churn, with white water vapor rising.

Ban Bu exerted his fire ability to its fullest, continuously releasing it, forming a pillar of fire with a diameter of more than 10 meters and a length of more than 80 meters, maintaining it for nearly three minutes, until the primal force stored in his carapace primal force patterns was exhausted, and then he stopped.

"King Rat, come and take another look."

King Rat quickly went down, observed, and said, "The black mist has lowered by 0.5 meters. It's similar to the nature of the iridescent maze. Fire can destroy it."

Bai Zhu followed and ran over, looking around, and excitedly said, "Ban Bu, then you can use fire to slowly burn it all away."

Ban Bu shook his antennae, climbed up a distance, and tapped the stone wall above with his antennae, saying, "Look closely."

The rising water vapor condensed on the cold stone wall, forming water droplets.

It was ordinary fresh water.

As more water droplets condensed, they slid down the slope, touching the black mist, and were immediately assimilated by the strange power, transforming back into black mist.

"This… what a powerful divine ability!"

"Wouldn't that mean it can never be completely burned away?"

King Rat and Bai Zhu observed carefully, and were both dumbfounded.

Ban Bu cut a piece of rock and threw it down.

The rock rolled down the slope, and after a while, a muffled sound of a vertical impact returned.

King Rat immediately said, "Ban Bu, I've tried it. We are currently about 1.9 kilometers deep from the surface. Judging by the sound, there is still about 500 meters of crevice depth below. Further down should be an open space, about 50 to 100 meters deep, and it seems to be a metallic surface. Based on the width of the crevice, it can be determined that the length of the space deep underground is at least 20 kilometers. It's difficult to estimate the exact length, but it's definitely not infinitely wide, there's a limit…"

"I understand." Ban Bu said, "Let's follow the crevice and take a look."

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Understanding one thing: the open space below caused the cracks to form in the cave ceiling during the earthquake. The length of the cracks is roughly corresponding to the length of the space below.

… …

After digging for several years, finally blocked by the black mist and returning to the surface, King Rat was a little unwilling and asked, "Ban Bu, are there any other ways? In the future, when your strength advances to Cockroach King, will you be able to resist the erosion of the black mist?"

"That's a divine ability left by the Dominion Realm, even Cockroach King won't be able to do it." Ban Bu said, "However, after all, it's just a remnant, without subsequent energy to maintain it, it can be slowly worn down… Burning is not a good way."

Ban Bu paused and said, "The simplest and most effortless way is to flood it with water."

"Water?" Bai Zhu questioned, "The water will be transformed into that kind of black mist. Wouldn't pouring water down make the black mist… thicker and thicker?"

King Rat pondered, uncertainly saying, "The mist will be thicker, but the erosion power will be weakened?"

Ban Bu lightly tapped his antennae and said, "This divine ability is not simple. According to the original intention of the caster, a primal force life form would be immediately eroded and dissolved upon slight contact. Fortunately, because water has been constantly seeping down through the cracks, the divine ability's black mist has slowly expanded, and its power has been greatly weakened over countless years."

"I understand!" King Rat suddenly understood, and then asked, "Ban Bu, I've heard of the Dominion Realm more than once. What exactly is the Dominion Realm?"

Ban Bu said, "As far as I know, it's the highest realm of gene evolution… perhaps there's even higher!"

Bai Zhu rushed to ask, "What's higher then?"

Ban Bu shook his antennae and said, "What's the use of you thinking about those boundless things now? Stop talking nonsense, let's walk along the canyon and check the nearby terrain."

… …

The canyon terrain makes drainage a bit difficult. Flooding, on the other hand, is extremely simple.

The slope runs north-south, with a cliff at the north end of the canyon, and the south end bordering the flat ground below. During heavy rains, the water flows out from the south end. In the early days, Bai Zhu and Little Bai Zhu combed through it once, digging two drainage ditches.

They moved the rubble that was originally piled up at the wellhead and directly blocked the south end of the canyon to cut off the flow.

Above the canyon, they dug ditches and gullies according to the surrounding terrain. During rainfall, the water flow from an area of several square kilometers was all guided into the canyon, and then introduced into the deep well, injecting it into the space deep underground.

King Rat and Bai Zhu stayed behind, specializing in diverting and flooding.

Ban Bu then set off again, crossing the sea back to Dragon Bamboo Continent.

The high-speed rail track was about to be opened, and he didn't want to wait for a ride, so he directly sped off, hurriedly returning to Li Bamboo Peak.

Li Bamboo Peak retained 4 electric boxes. Over the years, the two large and small reservoirs stored water, and the hydropower station generated electricity during summer floods. Baba used little of it, and the electric boxes always remained fully charged.

Ban Bu returned to the mountain, simply greeted everyone, took the electric boxes, and hurriedly left again.