Long Yuxue decided not to respond.
She took a deep breath, pressed her Blood God Bracelet, and pulled up the real-time monitoring data for this passage.
The energy fluctuations were stable with no abnormal peaks or signs of a Lord-level appearing for now; it was fine.
"Continue forward, but don't stray too far from the node area," she said, trying to keep her voice professionally steady. "The Special Service's mission is reconnaissance and sampling, not extermination. Since you killed those three Leader-level creatures, the nearby smaller Abyssal Creatures will be deterred for a short time, making it convenient for collection."
She took several probe-style energy samplers from her tactical pouch and began placing them on the rock walls around the node according to standard procedure.
The probes attached themselves to the energy patterns glowing with a faint dark red light and began reading data.
Arthur squatted beside her, watching for a while before seemingly getting bored.
He reached into his robe and rummaged around.
Then, he pulled out a fluffy little thing emitting a faint golden light.
"Wu... Ying?"
The Emperor Auspicious Beast, Xia Xi—an auspicious beast that countless Soul Masters dreamed of and believed existed only in legends—was currently rubbing its eyes with its two front paws, looking dazed as if it had just woken up.
Long Yuxue almost dropped the probe in her hand.
She whipped her head around, staring intently at the palm-sized, fluffy little thing yawning in Arthur's hand.
"What is this?"
"A Spirit Soul," Arthur said, holding Xia Xi in his palm. "What, don't you have one?"
"I know it's a Spirit Soul," Long Yuxue's voice rose slightly. "I mean, there seems to be something off about this Spirit Soul of yours..."
She couldn't explain the feeling. The little thing was just lying lazily in Arthur's palm, yet it gave her an inexplicable urge to kneel and worship. This was definitely no ordinary Spirit Beast.
"Don't worry about it; a friend gave it to me."
Arthur replied perfunctorily, looking down at Xia Xi. His tone suddenly became like he was coaxing a puppy. "Wake up, it's time to work."
Xia Xi opened her bleary eyes, let out a dissatisfied grunt, and nuzzled her little head into his palm, trying to go back to sleep.
Arthur picked her up and set her on the ground.
"Give it a sniff. See if there's any unusual scent nearby."
He paused and added, "The scent of an Evil Soul Master."
Xia Xi's previously drooping ears suddenly perked up.
Her little nose twitched a few times, and a trace of disgust flashed through her golden pupils.
Then she looked up toward a certain direction deep within the passage and let out a low, warning growl.
Arthur understood immediately. He stood up and said to the still-shocked Long Yuxue, "Instructor Long, stop the sampling for a moment. I've found something and need to go check it out."
"What did you find? Just because this dog... Spirit Soul took a sniff?" Long Yuxue couldn't understand. "This is an Abyss passage; Abyssal energy is everywhere. What difference could it possibly smell?"
As soon as Long Yuxue finished speaking, before Arthur could say anything, the little golden fluffball on the ground became unhappy.
Xia Xi stood up straight with a start, her golden fur puffing out slightly. Her short legs stretched out straight as she let out a soft, milky howl at Long Yuxue, as if protesting the word "dog."
The sound was soft and sweet, yet carried the innate pride of an Emperor Auspicious Beast. It wasn't intimidating at all; instead, it was so cute it made one's heart tremble.
Her third eye glowed slightly, preparing to show Long Yuxue her power.
"So cute! What kind of Spirit Soul is this exactly? I want one too." Long Yuxue's heart nearly melted at the sight of Xia Xi's adorable appearance.
Arthur calmly covered Xia Xi's third eye. If she were allowed to fire her Divine Light, Long Yuxue really would have melted.
Unaware that she had almost died, Long Yuxue remained crouched, her gaze glued to Xia Xi.
Her attempt to release the Divine Light interrupted, Xia Xi pouted her little mouth high, turned her back to Long Yuxue, and wiggled her bottom as she walked deeper into the passage.
"Let's go, let's take a look." Arthur was already following Xia Xi deeper into the passage.
Xia Xi didn't walk fast, her four little paws leaving a trail of faint light prints on the cold rock floor.
She would occasionally stop, tilt her head to sniff the air, adjust her direction, and then continue forward.
Long Yuxue followed behind Arthur, glancing at the Blood God Bracelet on her wrist from time to time.
They went deeper and deeper.
The node was now far behind them, and the surrounding rock walls were becoming narrower. The uncomfortable Abyssal aura had actually faded, replaced by a more hidden, viscous coldness.
On Long Yuxue's Blood God Bracelet, the regular Abyssal energy readings were dropping, but another kind of noise that couldn't be categorized or even accurately identified by the instrument was slowly climbing.
"Something's wrong here," she whispered. "The monitoring System has barely marked this branch. The map shows it as a dead end."
"Roads can be built." Arthur's gaze fell on Xia Xi's back ahead; she had already stopped.
Arthur stepped forward and pressed his hand against that section of the rock wall.
He didn't use force, simply pressing against the cold stone surface and closing his eyes.
After a moment, he opened his eyes.
"It's hollow. There's a space behind it."
Before Long Yuxue could ask how he knew, she saw Arthur take a step back and casually punch the center of the rock wall.
Boom!
Cracks spread like a spiderweb, and rubble fell away, revealing a narrow spatial passage behind it. Dense Formation circuits within were dim and lifeless.
Xia Xi suddenly sneezed and burrowed into Arthur's collar, leaving only her two ears sticking out.
"What is this?" Long Yuxue gripped her spirit tool tightly, her heart racing.
"Obviously, a man-made spatial passage." Arthur bent down and picked up a broken metal fragment engraved with twisted blood patterns from the rubble at the entrance, examining it.
He casually crushed the fragment into powder.
"Someone is helping the other side open the door."
This discovery sent a chill down Long Yuxue's spine. She immediately pressed her Blood God Bracelet, attempting to upload this intelligence, but the screen showed only messy static; the signal was completely blocked.
"Don't be nervous." Arthur had already entered the corridor, his voice coming from the darkness. "This passage would be a struggle even for a Spirit Douluo to pass through, and it's already defunct."
Long Yuxue's heart, which had been in her throat, slowly settled back into her chest.
She took a deep breath, looking at the dim spatial passage, feeling a delayed sense of exhaustion.
"Defunct... are you sure?"
"The Formation patterns are shattered like this, and the core nodes are melted through." Arthur tilted his chin, gesturing for her to look at the charred crack that nearly ran through the entire structure at the top of the passage.
He paused, then suddenly had an idea. "Though, I should be able to barely squeeze in."
"Squeeze into what?"
Before she could finish her sentence, a blinding Divine Light suddenly flared before her eyes.
In Arthur's hand, a slender light spear had appeared at some point. Its shaft flowed with a holy radiance—it was the Holy Spear, Rhongomyniad.
He was going to anchor the Abyss Plane!
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