Time lost its meaning in the Mycelium Depths. There was only the rhythm of the slaughter.

  ?Step. Phase. Rip. Crunch.

  ?Jiang Chen moved through the fungal forest like a bronze thresher.

  His combat style had devolved from martial arts into industrial efficiency. He didn't dodge the clumsy swings of the stone clubs; he tanked them.

  BONG.

  The sound of stone hitting his [Bronze Skin] rang out like a bell, drawing more Thralls into the kill zone.

  ?He didn't waste energy on fancy footwork. He simply walked into range, his [Void Claws] shimmering as they bypassed the rock armor, finding the pulsating fungal cores inside the golems' chests.

  ?Squelch.

  He ripped another core out. The Thrall—a hulking mass of granite and moss—collapsed into a heap of gravel.

  ?[Target Neutralized.]

  [EV +50]

  ?Jiang Chen tossed the blue, glowing heart into his mouth.

  It was bitter, like eating a battery wrapped in mold.

  [EV +10]

  ?He swallowed without chewing.

  "Next."

  ?He didn't stop. The Adrenal Gland pushed away fatigue. The Venom Heart scrubbed the spores from his blood. The Furnace Body turned the consumed cores into fuel.

  He was a perpetual motion machine of violence.

  ?After three hours, the forest fell silent.

  Mounds of gravel lay scattered around him like burial cairns. The blue light of the cavern seemed dimmer, the ambient hum of the spores quieter.

  ?Jiang Chen sat on the corpse of the final Thrall. He was covered in grey dust and blue ichor. His bronze skin was scuffed, but unbroken.

  He checked the tally.

  ?[Slaughter Complete.]

  [Thralls Neutralized: 42.]

  [Total EV Gained: 2,520.]

  ?[Current EV: 331 + 2,520 = 2,851 EV.]

  ?Jiang Chen let out a long, jagged exhale.

  "Two thousand," he whispered. The number felt heavy. In the outer sect, disciples killed each other for a single spirit stone worth 5 EV. Here, he had farmed a fortune in an afternoon.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  ?But the wealth came with a cost.

  His stomach cramped violently.

  The cores provided energy (Qi), but they didn't provide matter. His body, dense and heavy with bronze, burned calories at a terrifying rate. He was starving.

  ?"I need meat," he growled, standing up. "Real meat."

  ?He scanned the cavern. The Thralls were made of rock. The mushrooms were toxic cellulose.

  He needed to find the source. An ecosystem this large had to have an apex predator. Or a larder.

  ?He walked deeper into the cavern, following the density of the spores.

  The ground began to slope downward. The giant mushrooms grew closer together, their caps weaving into a solid roof that blocked out the darkness above.

  ?Then, the trees stopped.

  Jiang Chen stepped into a clearing.

  In the center sat a structure that didn't belong.

  ?It was a building.

  A squat, bunker-like structure made of black iron, seemingly dropped from the ceiling into the fungal muck. The metal was untouched by the rot, etched with glowing red runes that kept the mycelium at bay.

  ?[Discovery: The Foreman's Vault.]

  [Era: 200 Years Ago.]

  [Status: Sealed.]

  ?"A safe room," Jiang Chen noted.

  He walked to the heavy iron door. There was a wheel lock, rusted shut.

  He gripped it with both hands.

  [Bronze Skin: Torque Mode.]

  ?He heaved. His muscles bulged, grinding against each other like steel cables.

  SCREECH.

  The metal groaned, stripped of its rust, and the wheel turned.

  The door swung open with a hiss of pressurized air.

  ?Jiang Chen stepped inside.

  The air was stale, dry, and dead.

  The room was small. A desk. A chair. A skeleton sitting in the chair.

  ?The skeleton wore the robes of a Sect Elder, but the fabric was ancient, the style centuries out of date.

  On the desk lay a single, dried-up corpse of a beast—a "Shadow Leopard"—preserved by the dry air.

  And a ledger.

  ?Jiang Chen ignored the ledger. He looked at the dried leopard.

  "Jerky," he said.

  ?He ripped a leg off the preserved beast and bit into it. It was like chewing leather, but his jaw—strong enough to crush bone—tore it apart.

  [Consumed: Preserved Shadow Leopard Meat.]

  [Hunger Reduced.]

  [EV +20]

  ?He ate the whole thing in silence, staring at the dead Elder.

  When he was done, he wiped his mouth and picked up the ledger.

  ?He opened it to the last page.

  ?Day 40:

  The seal is failing. The thing beneath the mine... it's not a beast. It's a root. We dug too deep. We hit a vein of something that bleeds blue light.

  The miners are changing. Their skin is turning to stone. They don't speak anymore. They just dig.

  I sealed the main shaft. If anyone finds this... do not open the Gate of Silence.

  ?Jiang Chen closed the book.

  "Gate of Silence," he mused.

  ?He looked around the room. In the corner, behind the Elder's chair, was a heavy iron hatch in the floor.

  Welded shut.

  Marked with a single, large talisman: DANGER.

  ?Jiang Chen walked over to it.

  He tapped the talisman with a claw.

  "Danger usually means loot."

  ?He knelt. He didn't try to pick the lock. He jammed his Void Claws into the gap between the hatch and the frame.

  Phase.

  The claws sank into the metal.

  Solidify.

  He wrenched his hands apart.

  ?CRACK-PING.

  The welds snapped. The hatch flew open.

  ?A blast of cold, blue wind shot up from the hole.

  It smelled of ozone, ancient dust, and... something sweet. Like rotting flowers.

  ?[Zone Alert: The Root Chamber.]

  [Warning: High-Level Biological Signal Detected.]

  [Signal Strength: Foundation Establishment (Incomplete).]

  ?Foundation Establishment.

  The next major realm of cultivation. A being that had liquefied its Qi.

  A monster that could crush a Qi Condensation disciple with a thought.

  ?Jiang Chen stared down into the abyss.

  His survival instinct screamed at him to run. To take his 2,000 EV and leave.

  But the Serpent in his gut... the Serpent was drooling.

  ?Consume, it whispered. Ascend.

  ?Jiang Chen grinned.

  "If it bleeds," he said, dropping into the hole, "I can eat it."