Divine Beast Creator
Chapter 543 - 544 Cave Ecology_1

Chapter 543: Chapter 544 Cave Ecology_1

"The entrance to the cave is actually in this kind of place..."

Feng Yuan said, somewhat surprised. At this point, they could say they had already crossed over half the lake to reach the opposite shore. Although still underwater, they were not at the very bottom of the lake. A winding passage inside the entrance stretched downward and then gradually ascended in the distance. Guo Huai, puzzled, asked

"What’s up?"

"Nothing, just feeling amazed."

"Have we walked about half the lake? Haven’t we reached the entrance yet?"

Hua Yiyou asked with some confusion. Although he couldn’t see the situation at the bottom of the lake, he could still estimate their current position by the distance they had traveled beneath their feet.

"We’ve arrived; I didn’t expect it to be near the opposite shore."

Feng Yuan said as he led everyone into the cave entrance. Although the entrance had formed a threshold-like terrain, Feng Yuan didn’t give a warning. After all, they were in liquid energy, and walking on the lake bed was just for convenience; their current state was more akin to low gravity.

"Be careful, there’s a ledge here."

Mo Li said to Mo Ling. At this moment, everyone couldn’t see their surroundings clearly, so that was all he could say. Through the long passage, they felt the buoyancy around them growing stronger and the energy seeping into their bodies increasing. Guo Huai, somewhat worried, said,

"Is this okay?"

"I’ve already seen the entrance; let’s swim directly upwards out of the cave."

After a while, the group emerged from the lake surface, and what met their eyes was a more brilliant starry sky than the previous cave. The water below shimmered with a bright yellow glow, and compared to the previous lake, the brightness here was obviously higher. Guo Huai only looked for a while before finding it so dazzling that he had to close his eyes. At this moment, Feng Yuan took the lead and swam towards the shore, prompting the others to quickly follow.

"Is it fun～"

Feng Yuan asked, rubbing the delighted Xiao Ji. Just now in the water, Xiao Ji had wriggled out of Feng Yuan’s embrace and tentatively swam around, seeming to notice that liquid energy wasn’t like ordinary water and didn’t dampen its fur. It soon happily frolicked in the water.

Still somewhat reluctant to leave the shore, Xiao Ji looked at the lake water eagerly. Hearing Feng Yuan’s words, Xiao Ji happily nodded its head. After wiping the glowing water off Xiao Ji, Feng Yuan tapped its head and said,

"Alright, just now you were acting like I was bullying you. We need to keep moving, we can’t just wait here for you."

Xiao Ji, only momentarily disappointed, happily jumped out of Feng Yuan’s embrace. Hua Yiyou and Wei Dongcheng walked around, then came back feeling impressed, saying,

"Who would have thought there’d be such a cave underground in Nanyu. If it weren’t for the fact that the environment here is completely different from the surface, Nanyu might..."

"It’s no use, sticking to the underground is no better than looking elsewhere. The ecosystem of this cave is entirely reliant on the Liquid Energy Lake. Neither the Yingying Insects nor the Sun-Scorch Insects could sustain this ecosystem on their own."

"Sun-Scorch Insect?"

Guo Huai asked with confusion. Just then, a big sun suddenly appeared at the cave ceiling, instantly brightening the surroundings. The glowing mushroom trees that were shining started to dim. Feng Yuan pointed at the small sun above their heads and said,

"Isn’t that it?"

"This..."

Guo Huai exclaimed in surprise, looking at the information prompt and saying,

"Rare Level?!"

"What else? Without near-legendary strength, how could it be likened to a small sun? You don’t think it’s enough just to be able to light up, do you?"

As the Sun-Scorch Insect released light and heat, the surroundings gradually warmed, and various uniquely shaped animals began to emerge from their resting places to start a new day of activity.

Feng Yuan saw a snail with a pale blue crystal-like shell slowly crawling and couldn’t help but knock on the other’s shell. When Feng Yuan thought it might retaliate, the snail quickly retracted into its shell, and the entire shell began to flicker with a brown glow.

"It’s that timid?"

"What are you doing knocking on it for no reason..."

Guo Huai watched the information about the Crystal Shell Snail without a word, and Feng Yuan scratched his head, saying,

"I was just saying hello as it passed by~"

"You really did nothing? Then why would it be scared like this?"

Guo Huai examined Feng Yuan skeptically. The flickering brown light on the snail’s shell was clearly the result of the Crystal Shell Snail using some kind of Earth System defense technique. Feng Yuan spread his hands innocently and said,

"How should I know? Maybe it’s just timid."

After a while, the Crystal Shell Snail cautiously poked out its head, and upon realizing nobody was paying attention to it, it immediately vanished into the depths of the mushroom forest. Feng Yuan glanced at Guo Huai and said,

"See, it’s just naturally timid, right?"

"There are actually so many kinds of Spirit Beasts here."

Mo Ling marveled as she watched the strange creatures, to which Feng Yuan replied with a slight smile,

"You’re overthinking it. Most of those are just ordinary creatures that have adapted to the environment here, only the Crystal Shell Snail and Yingying Insect are actually Spirit Beasts."

"Eh? Is that so?"

Mo Ling looked at the animals with some surprise, and some of them, under her gaze, spat out a tiny fireball as if to warn her not to come closer.

"That’s just a mutation due to an excess of energy, not a Spirit Beast’s special skill."

Feng Yuan glanced at the animals and lost interest immediately. Compared to Spirit Beasts, those ignorant creatures were not enough to pique his curiosity, especially since their appearances were not pleasing, each one bizarre and oddly shaped.

"How exactly was this ecosystem established... The visual functions of these animals don’t seem to have completely degenerated... except for the Spiritual Grass, these seem to be ordinary plants..."

Listening to Guo Huai mutter, Feng Yuan looked at him somewhat speechlessly. Guo Huai was picking up plants from the ground and observing them with a puzzled expression. Feng Yuan smiled slightly and said,

"Why think so much? This is not the Star Ocean, a world filled with miracles—using past knowledge to analyze could lead you astray~"

Guo Huai asked Feng Yuan,

"Then what do you think is going on here?"

"Sun-Scorch Insects provide the day-night cycle, Fire Power in liquid form lays the foundation for mutation, and ancient humans provided the basic structure for the biological community here."

"Ancient humans provided the foundation for the biological community?"

Guo Huai was somewhat puzzled, and Feng Yuan sighed, saying,

"Have you forgotten about the ranking of Sun-Scorch Insects? Do you think a Rare Level existence would naturally appear here from the beginning?"

"The ability to start from scratch and establish a complete ecosystem—though such Spirit Beasts exist, it is definitely not something a Rare Level Spirit Beast can accomplish; it merely provides one of the conditions."

"These Glowing Mushroom Trees must have been the result of ancient humans bringing back mushroom strains and then mutating due to the appearance of Sun-Scorch Insects. Although they contain a hint of Fire Power, they are not considered Spiritual Medicine and Materials."

Feng Yuan said this as he looked at the Glowing Mushroom Trees in front of him. Now, because the Sun-Scorch Insects had started to emit light, the Glowing Mushroom Trees no longer emitted a faint glow. These Glowing Mushroom Trees had no significant difference in height compared to the trees on the surface. However, they lacked branches and leaves, each merely a single straight stalk with a massive cap on top.

Everyone was now at the lake’s edge, and hardly any of the Glowing Mushroom Trees grew in this area. Nearby, the dense caps of the mushroom forest blocked out the light from the Sun-Scorch Insects, casting a shadow inside, but the discernible blue specks made Feng Yuan suspect that these Glowing Mushroom Trees might emit a faint light on their own, as long as they weren’t exposed to intense light.

"This is really an interesting place."

Mo Li exclaimed, looking around in amazement. He had never imagined such a unique ecosystem could exist. In his mind, underground spaces were always desolate and devoid of any vitality, yet what appeared before him was a completely different ecosystem from the surface, filled with strange animals that one would not see above ground or would think of as monsters if seen.

Seeing Mo Ling observing those odd creatures with curiosity, Feng Yuan spoke with some bewilderment,

"Don’t you find them ugly?"