Beast Taming: Invincible Breeder-Chapter 55 - 30: Secrets Beneath the Water

Chapter 55: Chapter 30: Secrets Beneath the Water
The big Miner Slime had no choice but to pick another small iron ore and shape a small iron pickaxe in its belly.
From then on, the little Miner Slime had its own iron pickaxe.
Li Cunxu asked, "Yiyi, with the birth of the little Miner Slime, have your destiny points increased?"
"Sss~ (They have increased, but only a little bit.)"
Li Cunxu was very happy. The increase in destiny points indicated that his approach was correct.
The mutation of the little white spider Yiyi into a Miner Slime, and the Miner Slime giving birth to a little Miner Slime, set the wings of destiny in motion.
Without Yiyi, there would be no Miner Slime, and certainly no second or third generation of Miner Slimes.
Therefore, as the Miner Slime tribe grows, the destinies influenced by Yiyi increase as well. Consequently, as long as Miner Slimes exist in the world, Yiyi can continuously harvest destiny points from them.
This is only one type of Slime. When Yiyi mutates into other Slimes, there will be even more destiny points to earn.
Having entrusted the task of increasing the Miner Slimes to the little white spider, Li Cunxu went back to meditation. He was just one step away from achieving the intermediate level of Black Iron in his Spiritual Power.
Li Cunxu had a premonition that this meditation would definitely be successful.
However, reality proved Li Cunxu’s premonition wrong, as he didn’t break through after meditating.
This time, it was again the little white spider who woke him up.
However, it wasn’t because of a mutated Slime appearing, but because the little white spider’s Black Iron avatar had found an underground river.
"There’s no time to waste; let’s go at once."
The Blood Demon Treasure Pearl was buried deep within a mine’s secret realm. There were no coordinates or routes, and Li Cunxu only vaguely remembered some clues. The time he could stay in the secret realm was limited, so he had to hurry.
The numerous branch tunnels of the mine resembled a labyrinth. Li Cunxu disliked such environments and he had gotten lost many times in this secret realm, developing a slight phobia of the underground.
On the way, Li Cunxu realized that having the Earth Slimes search for the underground river wasn’t a great idea, as the mine tunnels were too complex, and numerous Earth Slimes got lost.
A circular passage gathered a group of Earth Slimes, circling around a stone pillar endlessly, caught in an infinite loop.
"The tunnels beneath the pasture, where the Earth Slimes never got lost, perhaps it’s because they aren’t familiar with this place?"
However, the little white spider seemed to navigate like it was returning home, precisely leading the way to the mine tunnel where its Black Iron avatar found the underground river.
"Even underground creatures like the Earth Slimes get lost due to unfamiliarity, why don’t you? Oh, I forgot, the Widow Red Spider Queen’s kind are part of the subterranean race."
This mine tunnel had extremely humid air. Water droplets could occasionally be seen slowly trickling down the walls, forming tiny streams. In the stillness of the underground, a gentle stream sound resonated. The mine lantern’s glow reflected off the damp stone walls, casting variegated patches, like twinkling stars dancing on the water’s surface, while dust motes danced in the light beam like lost spirits searching for a way out in the darkness.
In the furthest depths of the mine tunnel, a meandering underground river quietly flowed. The river water was so clear that one could see its bottom. The light illuminating the calm river surface emitted a faint blueish glow, and the bizarrely shaped stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling appeared as natural carvings.
"This tranquil underground river must be it."
From his backpack, he pulled out a waterproof suit, drank a bottle of warm and comforting warm goat milk, then drank a bottle of underwater breathing potion, and with a glowing kerosene lamp in hand, he stepped into the icy underground river.
The kerosene lamp was waterproof, so there was no fear of it going out.
"Should I go downstream or upstream?"
It had been too long; Li Cunxu couldn’t quite remember whether he needed to reach the end of the river or its source.
"Let’s go upstream first!"
If he first went downstream to the end and found it wasn’t the right place, he’d have to head back to the river’s origin, and going upstream consumed a lot of stamina, especially when navigating the entire underground river upstream.
If he went upstream first to the river’s origin and found it wasn’t the right place, going upstream would indeed be exhausting, but returning downstream would be much easier, traversing the entire underground river downstream.
Not knowing how long he swam, stopping to rest three times midway, he finally reached the river’s source.
The source of the underground river was a very deep pool, with a hole in the middle of the cave ceiling, and a never-ending stream flowed straight down like a water pillar.
"No impression, it shouldn’t be here."
Li Cunxu turned around and headed downstream.
He noted this location, curious about what lay above the cave ceiling at the source of the underground river.
Is it another underground river? Or something else?
Among players of Divine Power, there was a saying: never ignore anomalies, as anomalies could signify danger or opportunity.
The return journey was still long, but it came with great rewards.
Li Cunxu picked up two differently sized gold nuggets at the riverbed, suspecting that there might be a gold mine beneath the river.
The underground river was unexpectedly long. He had to rest five times along the way and drank another bottle of underwater breathing potion.
Li Cunxu had bought the two-hour-effect underwater breathing potion. Ten minutes before the effect ended, he would obviously feel the difficulty in breathing underwater.
Reaching the river’s end, a landslide had blocked the river’s flow.
"This should be it, it feels somewhat familiar."
"What to do next? I remember I need to dig straight in one direction; which direction is it?"
"Is it left, right, or straight ahead?"
Li Cunxu couldn’t remember, it was too long ago.
"Since I can’t recall, dig in all three directions. Anyway, we have the Earth Slimes."
Li Cunxu released the Earth Slimes and Miner Slimes from his pet beast bag.
These Slimes were more than capable of digging a hole, but with three holes, there weren’t quite enough Slimes.
"Xiaoyi, your Black Iron avatar is still over there, right? Have it send the Earth Slimes from that end."
Before heading to the underground river, Li Cunxu hadn’t brought all the Earth Slimes along because there wasn’t enough space in the pet beast bag.
"Sss~ (I can’t order the Earth Slimes around.)"
"Just have your avatar directly throw them into the river, and they’ll flow down to us with the current."
Earth Slimes dislike water but aren’t afraid of it. They won’t drown like Fire Slimes.
Li Cunxu’s iron pickaxe was gone, so he couldn’t join in the digging. He sat on a large green stone to meditate.
He had sensed several times that he would break through with another meditation, but each premonition was wrong.
Each time it was just a little bit off, each time it was a little bit off, making him restless and unable to concentrate on meditating.
"Take a break, perhaps I’m too tense."
He sat on the big green stone pondering over life, gazing at the clear water below, and suddenly a thought occurred to him.
This place was cut off by a landslide, so in theory, the water here should be quite deep, but the water here isn’t even as deep as the pool at the source of the underground river. So where did the water here go?
Li Cunxu jumped into the riverbed to find answers.
Instead, this search only deepened his confusion.
There was no outlet at the riverbed.
No outlet, so how did the water disappear into thin air?
There’s something suspicious.
There might be something beneath it.
Mining at the riverbed was extremely challenging.
The Earth Slimes were quite light and had trouble sinking, but the Miner Slimes with their iron pickaxes could easily sink.
However, there was resistance in the water, so the mining progress was very slow.
After three days of digging, they finally uncovered the secret beneath the water.