Chapter 468 - 465: The War Beneath the Ground

Chapter 468: Chapter 465: The War Beneath the Ground

"How are we supposed to get across?"

Li Luo asked quizzically, looking at the twisted forest ahead.

"Follow me."

Zhou Chao walked ahead of Li Luo and stepped onto a large, fallen tree.

The moment he stepped on the tree, its roots began to twist violently, as if trying to attack Zhou Chao.

However, the roots’ movements were sluggish and they weren’t long enough. Aside from looking incredibly bizarre, they posed no threat.

"Don’t touch the ground. Just jump across using these trees," Zhou Chao said, turning his head to Li Luo.

Li Luo nodded and followed Zhou Chao’s lead, leaping onto a fallen tree.

"Remember to stay away from the roots," Zhou Chao reminded him.

"Got it..."

And so, the two of them used the fallen trees to press deeper into the forest.

Meanwhile, Mo Ling sat on his bed, warily guarding against his surroundings.

He didn’t have to worry about moving around; being in the sky meant the soil couldn’t attack him. Thus, all his attention was focused on those strange, animated things.

The soil here had almost completed its animation.

Deep underground, a terrifying war was raging.

This was the source of that strange RUMBLING sound.

The animated area seemed to have limits. A large patch of soil wouldn’t become a single animated individual; instead, it would split evenly into many smaller ones.

At first, they didn’t interfere with each other, separated by patches of unanimated soil. They merely writhed restlessly, trying to break through the surface.

But as the animating corruption deepened and the soil’s animation grew more severe, these animated patches of earth inevitably met.

And so, a war began.

’Animated things will attack anything that moves.’

The animated soil was no exception. After destroying the subterranean organisms, it began to attack other animated soil.

Two writhing clumps of soil collided, launching into an epic, protracted war.

Neither could do anything to the other. The resilience of soil made them difficult to destroy, so they just remained entangled.

But it didn’t end there; the animation continued to deepen.

Before long, new patches of soil joined the massive battle.

Thus, the great battle turned into a three-way melee.

Soon, it was a four-way, then a five-way free-for-all... The scale and scope of the war grew and grew until it covered the entire region.

Even some subterranean stones joined the fight, and the whole earth trembled.

Influenced by the animated soil, the plants on the surface also began to animate. The first parts to animate were those with the most contact with the soil—the roots.

These roots also began to fight back against the soil. The soft earth was helpless against the tough roots, so its only recourse was to make the ground churn, toppling the great trees and tearing them out by their roots. Then, the soil would swarm and hunt down the broken-off root fragments...

That was how this area came to look as if a typhoon had torn through it. The war between the animated things had reached a delicate equilibrium.

The corruption was slow to spread to the tree trunks. The animated roots seemed to be protecting the trees, fighting the soil on one hand while continuing to supply nutrients on the other. This was why the uprooted trees remained lush and green.

It was just as Zhou Chao had said.

"These animated things still retain certain unchangeable traits from when they were ’inanimate.’"

Mo Ling watched this bustling Underworld, amazed by the spectacle.

’How exactly does the animation spread?’

’Is it spreading subjectively?’

’Why don’t the roots pass the corruption to the trunks? Wouldn’t that help them fight the soil more effectively?’

Mo Ling pondered for a long time but couldn’t make any sense of this strange ecosystem.

’Things that are impossible to understand... no matter how much I think about them, they don’t get any clearer...’

It wasn’t just the animated soil and roots; Mo Ling also discovered another very special type of animated thing—animated air.

At first, Mo Ling hadn’t noticed this stealthy animated substance.

Since the Sky Island was always moving, a gentle breeze was constantly blowing through the forest anyway.

What caught Mo Ling’s attention were the small whirlwinds that would occasionally form on the "battlefield."

When some of the smaller roots fell to the ground, before the soil had a chance to bury them, a sudden gust of wind would whip up and sweep the writhing root into the sky.

Then, the wind would carry the root around, smashing it against rocks, getting it stuck in tree branches, or tossing it into a stream... until the root could no longer move.

’That’s animated air.’

After observing that strange "torturous behavior," Mo Ling quickly guessed the culprit.

’I didn’t expect animated air to be so weak.’

Compared to the commotion caused by the animated soil, the animated air seemed to have no presence at all, only able to sneak around the battlefield picking up scraps.

’Perhaps the density of animated air isn’t very high here yet.’

Although the animated air didn’t seem powerful, Mo Ling was still very worried.

’It’s too stealthy, which makes it the most dangerous to humans. It’s fine for now, but if we enter an area with a deeper level of animation, more powerful animated individuals might appear.’

Just as Mo Ling was thinking this, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

That RUMBLING sound echoed again, and he quickly sank his vision deep into the earth.

Finally, he discovered the source of the sound.

It was a huge clod of soil. Compared to the other soil, it looked incredibly dense, as if it had been compressed many times over. The compact earth had even solidified into hard chunks like sandstone.

This clod of soil was spindle-shaped and spun continuously underground, brutally drilling through the earth in front of it.

It seemed to have no interest in the weaker clumps of animated soil, heading straight for the massive root networks.

These root networks were formed by several large trees that had grown together. Thanks to this tough network, they supported each other and, in a rare sight for this forest, still stood tall.

The writhing roots acted like a defensive net, blocking all animated soil from approaching.

However, while the root network could defend against attacks from ordinary animated soil, it couldn’t stop this giant, blocky clod.

Its spindle-shaped body spun like a cannonball as it plunged into the root system. The fragile roots instantly snapped and were flung aside.

The violently writhing of these broken roots immediately caused a commotion among the surrounding animated soil. As if they had smelled blood, they swarmed in.

And so, another tidal wave of soil surged across the land.

’So that’s it. This is how the tidal waves are formed.’

The spindle-shaped clod of soil continued its rampage, utterly destroying the entire root network. Some of the softer roots were even smashed until their sap gushed out, and then they went still.

The clod of soil slammed viciously into the main roots of the large trees, and the trees themselves came crashing down.

CRASH!

The terrible sound echoed through the forest once more.