The Elven Cultivator

’There really is something down below.’

A thoughtful look flashed in Anton’s eyes, and he quickly came to a decision.

He immediately used an earth-shifting art, his body sinking into the rock layer like a fish through water.

The rock parted before him like water stirred by an unseen force, surging to the sides to reveal a narrow passage just wide enough for a single person.

Before long, Anton reached the location of the invisible barrier.

Before him stood a metal wall.

The wall was a deep, dark gray, its surface holding the dull sheen of aged silver.

Intricate Runes were densely etched upon it, layered one over the other, covering the entire wall like a massive spiderweb.

However, perhaps due to the immense passage of time, most of these Runes had become blurred and indistinct. Their lines were broken and fragmented, with some reduced to mere shallow grooves.

Without careful inspection, their original shapes were nearly impossible to discern.

A flash of sword light.

TCHK!

With a soft sound, a fissure just large enough for one person to enter was cut into the metal wall.

Anton slipped sideways through the opening and dropped inside.

A wide, long corridor greeted his eyes.

The air was murky and stagnant, thick with the mixed stench of rust and decay.

It was the lingering smell of oxidized metal and decomposed organic matter, a sign that no living person had set foot in this space for a very long time.

Anton extended his Divine Sense forward but immediately frowned.

His Divine Sense was being suppressed.

His Divine Sense, which could normally cover a radius of several hundred kilometers, was now compressed to a range of less than fifty meters.

It wasn’t because of an Array.

A shielding Array might have been set up here once, but its runes were now dim and its energy long since dissipated. It was completely useless.

After a brief investigation, Anton quickly discovered that the unknown metal composing the walls and floor was responsible for restricting his Divine Sense.

This metal seemed to have a natural suppressive effect on Spiritual Power, acting as an invisible barrier that completely constricted his Divine Sense to a tiny area.

Anton was secretly amazed.

There were plenty of materials that could suppress or block Spiritual Power, but a material that could severely suppress even the Divine Sense of a Golden Core Stage cultivator was exceedingly rare.

’It seems this ancient civilization had a profound mastery of Alchemy and Enchantment.’

Anton thought to himself as he continued forward.

At the end of the corridor, a heavy alloy door blocked his path.

The door was about eight meters tall and five meters wide, its surface covered in dense, blood-red runes.

The runes’ lines twisted like earthworms, faintly forming a bizarre pattern that resembled long-dried bloodstains.

Judging by the arrangement of the runes and the traces of energy flow, it was most likely a defensive measure.

If anyone tried to break down the door, the runes would activate and unleash some form of attack.

However, judging by the runes’ dim glow and faint energy fluctuations, they had clearly been inactive for a very long time.

Too much time had passed. Even the most exquisite runes could not withstand the erosion of ages.

The sword light flashed again, slicing the metal door into several pieces.

Before the shattered pieces of the door could hit the ground, Anton collected them with a sweep of his sleeve.

Behind the door was a spacious, square hall of about seven or eight hundred square meters, so neat it looked as if it had been measured with a ruler.

Anton’s gaze was quickly drawn to what lay on the floor.

Six Golems lay strewn across the floor, motionless.

Their forms were very similar to the Legendary Golem from before, only they were much smaller—about two meters tall.

Some Golems had their chests pierced through, revealing severed energy conduits within.

Others had shattered heads, leaving only half a broken mask.

Still other Golems had twisted limbs, as if they had been forcibly snapped by some immense force.

Anton stepped forward and bent down to examine one of the more complete Golems.

The material, construction, energy circuits... every detail was completely different from the mainstream Alchemy Puppet systems he was familiar with.

But with his discerning eye, he could still roughly gauge the Golems’ power.

By a conservative estimate, each one possessed combat strength on par with the Golden Tier.

Without a second thought, Anton swept his sleeve and gathered all six Golem wrecks.

Even damaged, the wreckage of these Golems was extremely valuable and worth taking back for research.

At the very least, they could be broken down into reusable materials.

Afterward, Anton began to investigate his surroundings.

The hall’s layout was extremely simple.

Besides the main entrance, the other three walls were smooth metal surfaces, devoid of any doors, windows, or passages. The floor was equally mirror-smooth, without a single crack in sight.

His gaze fell to the floor in the far end of the hall.

A circular pattern was etched there.

It wasn’t mere decoration, but some kind of Array.

Anton crouched down to examine it closely.

The Array’s lines were fine and precise, arranged in a pattern he had never seen before, forming a complex and symmetrical geometric design.

’A Teleportation Array?’

A guess flashed through Anton’s mind.

Judging by the Array’s structure and the residual traces of energy, it was likely a directional Teleportation Array.

However, the Array had long since failed and was completely unusable.

After a moment of thought, Anton didn’t probe any further. Instead, he summoned his sword light, forming a sharp, brilliant beam that he brought down hard on the floor.

KRRSSSH!

The metal floor split open with a clean fissure, revealing a dark space beneath.

A gust of stale air rushed out from the fissure, carrying a smell of rust even more potent than that of the level above.

Anton leaped down.

Below was an even vaster space, at least five times larger than the previous level.

Hundreds of stone chambers were scattered throughout, their doors shut tight, silent as tombs.

Anton checked the rooms one by one, discovering that most were simply furnished and appeared to be living quarters, like dormitories.

’So this level is the residential area...’

Anton understood.

This level was clearly the residential area for the base’s personnel.

Judging by the number and layout of the rooms, the base had once housed a significant number of personnel.

At least four or five hundred people.

He continued forward and soon discovered an even larger room.

The ceiling here was nearly twice as high as in the other rooms. The space was open, flanked by empty metal bookshelves that stretched from floor to ceiling.

The aisles between the shelves were extremely wide, enough for several people to walk through at once.

’A library?’

Anton’s gaze swept across the empty shelves, and he shook his head slightly.

There were no books on the shelves, not even a single scrap of paper.

He did, however, find more than a dozen additional damaged Golems along the way.

Without ceremony, Anton swept his sleeve and collected them all.

After exploring the entire level, he repeated his trick, breaking through the metal floor to reach the one below.

This level was, again, even more expansive than the one above.

The chambers here were no longer simple living quarters but had been converted into various functional facilities.

Unfortunately, without exception, they were all empty.

Anton broke through the metal floor once more, but this time he was met with a thick layer of rock.

’This is the bottom.’

A glint flashed in Anton’s eyes.

Judging by the structure’s layout and functional divisions, this place must have been a large-scale experimental base.

The uppermost cavern was likely one of the base’s functional structures, used specifically to cultivate Blood Soul Crystal clusters.

Or more accurately, it was used to ’harvest’ Life Force and convert it into Blood Soul Crystals—a resource convenient for storage and use.

The Legendary Golem was the guardian of the cavern, meant to prevent outsiders from breaking in.

The three levels below were the entrance, residential, and experimental areas, which formed the main body of the base.

The Golem wreckage scattered across the levels, along with the fatal damage they had sustained, proved that a battle had once taken place here.

As for who fought, or why, Anton had no way of knowing.

The only thing he could be certain of was that the masters of this experimental base had either left or perished, abandoning everything in the depths of the Dark Nether Realm until he happened upon it today.

’A pity I didn’t find anything of real value.’

Anton looked around and shook his head slightly.

Although this expedition had yielded a good deal of Golem wreckage, he hadn’t found a single valuable document, piece of data, or complete research log.

Still, he wasn’t returning empty-handed.

The Blood Soul Crystal cluster was the greatest prize.

With this, the shortage of Cultivation Resources for the Clan’s physical strength Cultivators would be greatly alleviated.

The Legendary Golem also held great research value.

If he could analyze its construction principles, it might inspire new methods for forging Daoist Soldiers.

Furthermore, the unique metal used to construct the base was itself extremely valuable; it could be used to forge equipment or construct facilities.

However, Anton didn’t immediately dismantle the base to take the materials.

It wouldn’t be too late to come back and slowly excavate it when he had more time.

...

「Outside the cavern, in the basin」

The surviving subterranean creatures had been disarmed and herded into the open space at the basin’s center, where they were being watched by the Elves.

They were all dejected, huddled on the ground, looking exceptionally listless.

The blood-colored barrier’s ability to drain Life Force was too tyrannical. Even though it had only been active for less than half an hour, it had still left them severely weakened.

The Elf army, by contrast, was in much better shape.

They had been sustained by muscle regeneration and mind-calming potions. Once the blood-colored barrier dissipated, they drank a few more, and now they had recovered seventy to eighty percent of their combat strength.

They were more than capable of guarding these listless subterranean creatures.

To say nothing of the terrifying power Anton had just displayed when he suppressed the Legendary Golem and annihilated Gustus and the Rock Beast Ghost leader, which had already crushed the last vestiges of these creatures’ will to resist.

Now, they squatted on the ground, lacking even the courage to meet the gazes of the Elf soldiers, let alone violently rebel.

When Anton emerged from the cavern, Romance was directing soldiers to tally their losses. Spotting him, Romance immediately came over.

”Anton, what’s the situation inside?”

”I found something interesting. We can talk about it when we get back,” Anton said without elaborating. ”Leave a squad to guard the cavern. The rest of you, return to the city to recuperate. Take all these prisoners back to Nine Nether City as slaves.”

”Understood.”

Romance gave a crisp acknowledgment, then turned to the soldiers and began making the arrangements.

Anton didn’t linger. He transformed into a streak of light and shot into the sky, vanishing into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

He was in a hurry to get back and study the Legendary Golem.