It wasn't the sound of digging. It was the sound of matter being deleted. Bai Ruo’s mouth, filled with spatial grinding teeth, chewed through the solid rock as if it were an apple. She didn't leave debris behind; she consumed it, converting the rock into energy to fuel her tunneling.

  "Follow me!" her muffled voice echoed from the hole.

  Li Yu jumped in. He floated down the tunnel Bai Ruo was creating. Si Luo transformed back into a small spider and hopped onto his shoulder.

  They descended into the dark. The air grew hotter and heavier with a metallic scent. After a few minutes Bai Ruo broke through the ceiling of a cavern. Li Yu dropped down through and landed on a ledge. He lit a flame in his palm and illuminated the space.

  It was a large geode. A spherical cavern lined with crystals the size of trees. They pulsed with a soft, amber light. But the real treasure was at the very bottom, in a small, natural depression in the crystal floor.

  It was a puddle and a small one at that. There was barely enough liquid to fill a soup bowl. It was thick, golden and viscous. It was glowing with an internal radiance that made the shadows dance.

  "What is that?" Li Yu whispered.

  'That,' Si Luo said while hopping off his shoulder and transforming into her human form, 'is Natural-Vein Marrow. I’ve had it before. A close friend of my father found some and my father gave me and my sister the opportunity. It’s quite rare.'

  She knelt by the edge, her eyes wide with awe. "It is like the lifeblood of the continent. This depression in the earth... it acts as a funnel. For thousands of years, it has been draining the moisture and essence from the land above, condensing it, purifying it and collecting it here."

  Bai Ruo transformed back to human form and was wiping rock dust from her mouth with her sleeve. "It's pure energy! It strengthens the body and expands the dantian. But it is incredibly potent."

  Li Yu walked to the edge. He could feel the power radiating off the small puddle. It resonated with his physique. No, it was more accurate to say his physique wanted it.

  "It calls to me," Li Yu murmured as he felt his body wanting the liquid.

  "Of course it does," Si Luo said. "Creatures of deep pressure and immense body strength crave this. It would be a boost to your body cultivation."

  "We should take it," Li Yu said. He reached for a bottle.

  "No," Si Luo stopped him. "Once it leaves the earth, the potency fades rapidly unless you have a special sealing vessel. We have to consume it now."

  Li Yu looked at the small pool. "There isn't much."

  "Enough for a mouthful or so each," Bai Ruo calculated. "We should leave some at the bottom. If we take it all, the vein will die. If we leave around twenty percent, it will regenerate over the next thousand years."

  "Agreed," Li Yu nodded. "Eighty percent. One mouthful each."

  Li Yu looked at his wrist. "You too, Tekton."

  'Thank you for the opportunity.' Tekton replied. He was indeed tempted by the liquid but didn’t want to ask for it since there was so little. To his surprise he was going to get a share.

  They gathered around the small depression.

  "You two can go first. Si Luo found it and Bai Ruo got us here." Li Yu offered.

  Si Luo didn't hesitate. She leaned down and she took a delicate sip of the golden liquid.

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  She froze. Her purple skin suddenly flushed with a deep radiant gold light. She gasped, staggering back. She sat down immediately to meditate, her body trembling as the energy flooded through her..

  Bai Ruo went next. She slurped a mouthful.

  "Oh!" She squeaked. Her form flickered rapidly between human and worm before stabilizing. Her skin looked instantly smoother and somehow more solid. She curled up into a ball on the floor while digesting the power.

  Li Yu scooped a bit up for Tekton, pouring it into the centipede’s mouth. Tekton absorbed it instantly.

  'Whoa,' Tekton buzzed. ‘This is good stuff, Boss.' He too went on the ground to consolidate his gains. Finally, Li Yu leaned down. There was just enough left for him, leaving a thin film at the bottom for the earth to reclaim.

  He drank. It didn't taste like liquid. It tasted like rock and metal. It was disgusting but most good things were. As it slid down his throat, it didn't hit his stomach; it exploded into his body.

  THRUM.

  Li Yu sat down. His Myriad Leviathan Body roared. The golden energy rushed into his bones, forcing out even more impurities he didn't even know he had. His bones felt like they were being crushed and rebuilt simultaneously again. His body was already incredibly strong so this was a big boon. His muscles grew a bit denser, the fibers knitting together tighter.

  He grit his teeth while enduring the pleasure and the pain. His skin took on a golden sheen before fading back to normal. The four of them stayed there for an hour, breathing the heavy air of the geode.

  Li Yu was the first to be done. Once he saw that everything was okay he stood up to look around a bit while he waited for the others. The cavern itself was beautiful and full of different types of gems.

  Since he was already here and waiting he went around and collected some of these gems. They didn’t seem to have much value cultivation wise but they were pretty. He could also trade them to other mortals that value them for goods that he needed. Or he could just sell them for gold or silver in the future.

  "Incredible," Li Yu whispered as he was clenching his fist. His body felt stronger than before. It wasn’t a massive improvement, it was only a slight one. However, any improvement was a matter to celebrate.

  After a while Si Luo opened her eyes. She looked radiant. "My core... it has stabilized more. It feels denser and more powerful."

  Bai Ruo uncurled. "Me too! I feel full! Stronger as well. I can eat through any space tunnel!"

  "A good harvest indeed. A lucky find." Li Yu smiled. "Let's go back up. The air down here is getting stale."

  They flew back up the tunnel and Bai Ruo sealed the hole behind them. It would be some other lucky person a few hundred years from now that will find this place. Possibly a few thousand years, who knows.

  When they emerged back onto the surface of the Wastes, the sun was setting. The white sand was painted in hues of purple and orange. The temperature was plummeting but none of them felt the cold. The golden liquid burned inside them like a furnace still.

  Li Yu dusted off his robes. "That was a good detour, Si Luo. You did a great job."

  "I told you," she smirked, transforming back into the spider ornament and hopping onto his chest. "I am attracted to expensive tastes. Or should I say that I am destined with them."

  Li Yu was about to suggest they set up camp for the night when he felt a vibration. It wasn't from the ground. It wasn't Tekton either. It was inside his robes.

  Li Yu reached in and pulled out a token. It was the Alliance Commander Token given to him by the Five Mountain Alliance. The rune on the surface was pulsing with an urgent crimson light.

  Si Luo narrowed her eyes from her perch on the necklace. 'That looks ominous.'

  "It's a distress signal," Li Yu said, his voice losing its relaxed tone. "High priority. It’s for when rifts appear"

  He injected a sliver of Qi into the token to read the message.

  A voice, frantic and broken by static, projected directly into his mind.

  "...Sector 4... North-West Quadrant... Rift designation 'Gaping Maw'... escalated... Class 3 to Class 5... We are overwhelmed... Need backup immediately... The beasts are... too powerful... coordinate… The team sent there is being overwhelmed. Head there immediately to help them."

  Li Yu stood frozen for a second. The wind of the Wastes howled around them, suddenly sounding much less empty.

  "Where is Sector 4?" Li Yu asked as he was looking at the map projection hovering over the token. A red dot pulsed to show where it was.

  "Relatively close." Li Yu said. He took out Star-Crusher.

  "The quiet trip is over," Li Yu stated.

  'We fight?' Si Luo asked. She didn't sound bored anymore. She sounded interested.

  "We save," Li Yu corrected. He looked north, where the sky was beginning to darken with something darker than night.

  ‘Tekton. We have work to do.’

  'Finally,' Tekton grumbled with his voice laced with a dark anticipation. 'I was getting tired of just hanging around. Point me at something I can bite.'

  Tekton enlarged himself and Li Yu jumped on. They rocketed off to save the team that went to the portal first and was defending.