End of the Magic Era

"Lord Myers, I think we've lost the way. We came to this cave more than three hours ago…" one of the bloodline transplanters, who had tiny scales on his cheeks and vague magic waves on his skin, said with an awful expression.

Myers was gloomily silent. He observed the cavern they were in carefully. It was indeed exactly the same as one of the caverns they visited earlier. The sizes and locations of the magic crystals in the cavern, and the colors and directions of the most eye-catching ones, were the same. Even the marks left by the giant insects were the same too…

More importantly, Myers had seen a magic crystal whose corner was broken. One of his companions had specifically broken it earlier. It couldn't be found in any other cavern…

A dozen seconds later, Myers put on a solemn expression.

"We've indeed got lost. We were here before. Have you found anything?"

The dozen bloodline transplanters around him each had their special abilities. However, none of them discovered that they had lost their way before…

"The gravity here is normal, so there's only one possibility: something is wrong with the direction of gravity, which probably changed at the turns or the entrances to caverns and channels, making it difficult to discover it. I think the caverns and channels here are probably all caused by the chaotic gravity…"

"There's wind here, meaning that this place is still connected to other places. We've been going in the opposite direction of the wind on our way here. It's possible that the wind here circulates differently from what we expected…"

"The marks and scents left by the giant insects have been helping us navigate too. They cannot possibly tell the direction here, either. Then how have they been traveling underground?"

All the bloodline transplanters expressed their opinions. Nobody discovered anything unusual. If they had, they wouldn't have gotten lost. Unfortunately, nobody had noticed anything…

Myers threw a mark at the entrance to each channel, and picked an entrance that they hadn't entered.

"Let's continue walking. It's impossible for us to leave if we stay here. We must confirm the direction leading to the ground first. If we cannot find the right direction, it will be impossible to create a channel to escape through the rocks…"

Myers looked quite calm. He was the leader, and certainly could not evince any panic or self-doubt, especially in such an emergency. For some reason, Myers thought of Lin Yun…

Mafa Merlin is definitely aware of this situation. He knows this plane better than all of us. His familiarity with this place means that he knows the deeper we go, the more chaotic the gravity will be, and the more likely we'll get lost.

We've traveled at least three days underground. No, maybe even longer. The time is flowing at a strange speed in this place. It's been such a long time, yet we haven't found any trace of Mafa Merlin. That's impossible.

So, they must be on a new level now, or rather a new depth, while we keep wandering on the same depth the whole time.

Damn it, if it weren't for Sunny or Sheldon, we would still have been with Mafa Merlin. Even if we hadn't obtained that groundbreaking new potion, we wouldn't have been lost here.

However, we've been completely stranded in this place. There's no telling if anything else will happen. There are no mother lodes here except the mana stones. Even the monsters are gone too. This place is quiet and creepy…

The Thorny Crown has changed. They're already lost in the pursuit of power. Have they forgotten the vow when the Thorny Crown was established?

Myers wore a bitter and helpless smile. He looked at George, with regret corrupting his heart like poison.

After such a long time, George's bloodline was still in perfect condition, which meant that the potion was even more effective than anticipated. Even though the original effect had expired, the potion also had a long-term effect that stabilized George's unstable bloodline, and even slightly increased the compatibility of his bloodlines.

A potion that could improve the stability of bloodlines for a short while like first aid would still be a groundbreaking item for the bloodline transplanters. It could save their life at critical moments.

However, if the effect was permanent, then the potion would be entirely different. The former potion was like a healing potion, and the latter potion was like a potion that could strengthen one's body. The latter could be a dozen times, if not hundreds of times, more expensive than the former in a store.

For the bloodline transplanters, the potion seemed to be from another age ahead of theirs…

Myers seemed calm, but he couldn't have been more regretful inwardly. Unfortunately, he couldn't say anything just yet, not until the exploration was over…

After the members of the Thorny Crown noticed they'd lost their way, and adopted pertinent methods to find a way out, it was a lot easier for them to find the right way. After all, they all had their own special abilities, which was why Myers had picked them for the exploration.

On the other hand, Sunny got lost too while chasing after Lin Yun. Unlike Myers and his partners, who were all preoccupied, Sunny discovered she got lost much sooner. She summoned a lot of Screaming Ghosts, and commanded them to enter different channels. It was much easier to choose after learning of the neighboring caverns in advance. At least, she wouldn't get completely lost.

But Sunny lost track of Lin Yun in the process. Everything was complicated in the underground world with the channels like those in an ant nest and the caverns.

Another several days passed. The underground world became even more spacious and weird. Apart from the caverns and channels, all the underground creatures vanished. There was no telling if it was because of the army insects, but the underground world became dead quiet.

It had been many days. As time went by, Lin Yun's heart became heavier and heavier. It had been at least 20 days, but he hadn't reached the destination deep underground yet. He found himself walking in the same channels that he had been through in the past days.

Every time he reached a cavern, he had to do a lot of calculations to choose the next channel. In this place, every cavern included more than six channels. If he picked a wrong one, he might end up in the same cavern later.

More importantly, his destination wasn't at the bottom, but somewhere special. It was pointless to go further downwards from here. Rather, he had to go to places where gravity was the weirdest.

"Merlin, we've wandered many circles in this place. Have you not found it yet? Aren't you looking for the monster that's deep underground? We cannot really develop this plane until that monster is dead. Isn't that monster level-49? Are you sure you can take it down?"

Lord Shawn was holding a magic crystal, and his belly was round and full. He had been the most comfortable one over these days. He was free to eat the countless magic crystals in this place. In particular, as he entered deep underground, the magic crystals were very pure, and all contained a great amount of mana.

Unfortunately, they had stayed for so long in this dead quiet place that even Lord Shawn was getting upset.

Lin Yun was calculating with the help of the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel. Hearing what Lord Shawn said, he put away the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel, and rubbed his swollen head.

"Who says I'm going to kill that monster? I'm just going to ensure that it will never wake up."

There was contempt on Lord Shawn's face.

"Merlin, I know you're very strong and you're good at alchemy. But none of your methods will work on a level-48 or even level-49 monster. As soon as it wakes up, we'll all be screwed.

"Never mind. Just look for it on your own, and send me back to your Demiplane. I think I'm too full, and I need a good nap for digestion…"

Lin Yun shook his head.

"No. We cannot open a Demiplane or a Planar Path in this plane. A Planar Path or a Demiplane will wake up that monster. We cannot let that monster wake up, or we will be in a lot of trouble…"

Lord Shawn was stunned for a moment. Then, he realized that Lin Yun had never opened his Demiplane ever since he entered this plane.

At this moment, a Screaming Ghost drifted into the cavern from a channel in the distance. Upon seeing Lin Yun, the Screaming Ghost let out a shriek, which surged towards Lin Yun as a blast.

Lord Shawn immediately rushed forward, and stabbed its claws into the Screaming Ghost, unleashing a stream of weird soul power. The Screaming Ghost was torn apart and dispersed, and a tiny bit of soul power lingered in Lord Shawn's hand.

"Hey, Merlin, you see what I've got? It's one of the Screaming Ghosts that the woman who has absorbed a hellish creature summoned."

Lin Yun frowned. If the underground space was divided into floors, his destination would be on the minus fifth floor, and he was on the minus fourth floor. The people of the Thorny Crown should've been lost on the minus third floor. They could hardly reach the minus fourth floor unless they knew how to calculate the direction.

However, upon seeing this one Screaming Ghost, Lin Yun understood everything.

It must've been one of the many Screaming Ghosts Sunny summoned. Like the army insects, which had too large a population to get lost in this place, they could spread out and occupy hundreds of caverns at the same time.

Sunny was adopting the very same method. The Screaming Ghosts were her tentacles that had extended to dozens of caverns, so it was a lot harder for her to get lost. Also, it seemed that only one of the Screaming Ghosts had entered this channel…

When the Screaming Ghost appeared, Sunny had to already be aware of the location of this place. She might have even seen everything the Screaming Ghost had through the soul power.

"Merlin, this is the b*tch's soul power—"

Before Lord Shawn could finish, the soul power had dispersed.

Lord Shawn immediately burst into fury.

"Damn it, that b*tch tried to curse me with that bit of soul power. She's just a bastard who has absorbed the bloodline of a low-level hellish creature, yet she dared to curse the great Lord Shawn. Even the Lord of Hell doesn't dare to curse me. What an idiot…"

Furrowing his brows, Lin Yun comforted Lord Shawn, who had burst into fury.

"Alright, Lord Shawn. What did you find? Don't tell me you didn't find anything. That idiot was truly bold to place part of her soul power inside the Screaming Ghost."

Lord Shawn was quite unhappy. As a Soul Walker who was best at manipulating souls, he had just suffered a soul curse.

"That idiot is in serious trouble. She dared to piss off the great Lord Shawn. She's screwed. She suffered from the exact curse she cast upon me, and my Eye of Misfortune shone on her soul. She'll be dead soon.

"Also, she seems to be alone, and not with the others of the Thorny Crown. Merlin, let's kill that annoying woman."

Immediately, Lin Yun looked rather awful.

"Let's go. This place is too close to our destination. It's possible that our destination is right nearby. We just haven't found the right way to it.

"If we fight here, we'll definitely wake up that monster, then we'll be in serious trouble. Just ignore that crazy woman. What if she's as crazy as the one earlier who was determined to die with us?"

Remembering the last crazy woman named Emmy, Lin Yun felt a strong headache. Lord Shawn pulled a long face, and seemed to be having a headache too.

Lin Yun was still rather scared when he remembered what happened. Who could've thought that the woman who had always been the mastermind behind the curtain would be crazy enough to sacrifice her soul to a devil? It was even more insane than suicide.

She could hardly die if she sacrificed her soul to a powerful devil lord, which would be already kindhearted if it only tortured her soul for several thousand years…

But that devil lord somehow terminated the ritual, and spat the soul that had been sent to its mouth. It was quite unbelievable.

Lin Yun hadn't quite figured out why the devil lord, which could be described as cunning, sordid, wicked, and all the other vicious words, would so such a stupid thing.

Those crazy women would do anything. They wouldn't hesitate to kill themselves if their enemy would die with them.

They were already deep underground, and it was very easy to wake up that monster. Lin Yun would rather not take the risk…

Lin Yun led Xiuban and the others onward through the zigzagging channels, crossing a dozen caverns. On the other hand, Sunny was screaming devastatingly while holding her head.

The rebound of the curse was even more terrifying than Lord Shawn expected. Black blood was gushing out of Sunny's eyes, ears, and nostrils. Soul power was dispersing from Sunny's body. Her soul was like a bucket that had a small hole, and her soul power was flowing away through the hole. There was no stopping it.

She cursed Lord Shawn, but the curse was bounced back at her. Also, Lord Shawn's Eye of Misfortune had shined on her soul with her soul power as the medium. Even greater trouble was underway…

Anything that was related to luck could be considered as the arrangement of fate. After Lord Shawn melted the Eye of Calamity with the Evil Eye, they were much more powerful than before. The two eyes were independent even on the evil dragon, which couldn't melt them when it was alive. After it was dead and its eyes were gouged out, they were always used as independent magic tools.

To combine the Eye of Calamity and the Evil Eye, a living creature was required. Also, it had to be capable of controlling the Eye of Misfortune. Only Lord Shawn could've done that.

Rumor had it that the fate of the creatures that the Eye of Misfortune saw would be changed, and misfortunes would befall them sooner or later. However, it was just a rumor. Nobody knew whether it was true, because it had never happened…

Even Lord Shawn didn't know what would happen if the Eye of Misfortune saw a creature's soul directly. He simply thought that Sunny would endure some pain, and Lin Yun thought that Sunny would only suffer from the recoil of the soul curse…

Nobody expected Sunny to be so miserable. In the spacious cave, Sunny held her head, and writhed like a banshee screaming without stopping. Her painful and nasty screams didn't stop until almost half an hour later. She held her head and rolled on the ground, trying to soothe the pain in her soul in any way.

After she screamed in agony for half an hour, the hole on the surface of Sunny's soul healed. After the wound healed, the agony from the depths of her soul dwindled and vanished. However, her body was still cramping beyond her control.