Deities: Rulers of Nature

The territory of the Dark Cavern is actually quite vast; if you include its seven underground levels, it is roughly the size of four Mountain and Sea God Realms.

However, because a portion of the world's origin was used to nurture and corrupt the divine, it is quite barren overall.

However, this is only relatively speaking. There are still some good things in the Dark Caverns, such as Cherry Blossom Grass and Jade Bone Grass.

In addition to the above:

Hematite vein

[Rank: Iron]

[Spirituality: Sharpness]

[Appearance: The entire structure is a five-kilometer-long crimson vein, like the blood in a mountain range...]

[Information: A mineral vein imbued with sharp spiritual energy; weapons forged from hematite are naturally sharper and more resilient than those made from other metals, making them suitable as a base for runic weapons...]

Although this hematite vein is only of the black iron grade, its strategic value is very high.

With the integration of the Snowdrop Spider Clan, the Xishan Tribe can finally enter the Iron Age.

No matter how solid a stone may be, if it lacks spirituality, it is ultimately inferior to iron.

Not to mention there is another entity that can work in conjunction with hematite veins.

【Iron Beast】

[Rank: Iron]

[Spirituality: Refinement]

[Appearance: Its body is covered with dark red scales. When threatened, it can curl itself into a ball. Its four claws are incredibly sharp and can crush rocks...]

Quantity: 67

Reproduction method: viviparous, one litter every two years.

[Information: The Iron-Melting Beast, possessing refined spirituality, can concentrate a portion of its essence onto its scales by consuming minerals; some of its excrement is equivalent to refined ore...]

Strictly speaking, the Iron-Melting Beast is not a wild beast, but a spirit beast similar to the Sprout Deer.

Although Carlos and his group had been raising the Iron Beasts for a long time, their improper breeding methods led them to discover only some uses for their excrement, and they were unable to mass-produce weapons due to the small number and size of the beasts.

But just as the most important thing about the Sprout Deer is its plant-like antlers, the most important thing about the Iron Beast is actually its scales.

If properly cared for, the scales of the Ironforge will periodically shed, and that's the real treasure; its excrement is just that—excrement with a little use.

Considering that dragon saliva used to be called "dragon's saliva," people probably wouldn't mind knowing the truth.

As for why no Spider-Men used weapons made of hematite in this battle, the reason is simple: they had never discovered a hematite vein.

The location of the hematite vein is almost close to the origin of the world, far below the seventh level of the underground cave. Even the Iron Beast cannot sense it, let alone the Spider-Man.

However, there are many ordinary ores in the dark cavern. If the world's source is abundant, it is unlikely that only one spiritual vein would be nurtured.

Besides these, there are various wild beasts, the strongest of which is only at the Steel Rank. In a sense, it is quite impressive that Kester was able to push himself to the Silver Rank, although the greatest credit goes to the Bloodthirsty Spider bloodline.

At the edge of the virtual realm, two crystal walls are slowly approaching.

One of them was vibrant and dazzling as the sun and moon turned, while the other was very gloomy, like a withered old persimmon.

Ji Xuan's figure appeared in the void, looking down at the two worlds.

This time, He does not intend to integrate the entire Dark Cavern into the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm.

Because the Dark Cavern is too large and too barren, if it were forcibly merged, the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm would not only fail to benefit from it, but would even have to spend its own divine essence to fill the gap, which would be a losing proposition.

Ji Xuan only wanted to extract the essence and discard the dross.

As the seven layers of the underground cave cracked, a crimson vein of ore was extracted and then directly thrown into Xishan by Ji Xuan. In this way, the vein of ore could be nourished and it would be convenient for the Xishan tribe to use.

Then, the scattered Iron Beasts were collected one by one. Ji Xuan did not immediately throw them into the Divine Realm. He planned to build new nests for them separately later.

The most precious spiritual resources have been collected; now it's time to extract the last essence.

As Ji Xuan's immense divine power continued to pour in, the wild beasts, ordinary ores, and earth vein essence scattered throughout the Dark Cavern began to move towards the last three layers, gradually turning the middle and upper layers of the Dark Cavern into a completely empty shell.

"Click!"

A clear cracking sound rang out, and countless cracks began to spread across the abandoned rock layers before finally collapsing with a deafening roar.

Large fragments were thrown out of the crystal wall one after another; some drifted quietly, while others were swept away by the turbulent currents of the void.

The originally vast, dark cavern was eventually compressed to a size smaller than the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm, but with the remaining world origins, it was still quite a fruitful harvest.

Ji Xuan did not rush to integrate them, but instead carried out another transformation of the three-layered cave.

As the divine power continued to be consumed, the originally hard rock layer seemed to turn into putty, stretching, extending, tearing, and recombining with Ji Xuan's will.

The last three underground levels were expanded to nine, resulting in a more refined structure and a more rational distribution of resources.

If it weren't for the lack of divine power, Ji Xuan would have wanted to build an entire underground city.

With the modifications complete, the next step is naturally integration.

Ji Xuan turned his gaze to the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm. The most suitable location was below the Central Continent, which was one of the reasons why Ji Xuan was modifying the underground caves—to prevent the encircling sea from being compressed.

"melt!"

Ji Xuan's hands traced lines in the void, and like a conductor, the nine-layered underground cave slowly merged with the underground of the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm under Ji Xuan's command.

The first to notice the anomaly were the snake people, cherry blossom spirits, and spider people who had just settled down at the foot of Xishan Mountain in the center of the continent. They felt a series of subtle tremors coming from the ground.

But the next second it suddenly turned into a violent earthquake, thankfully it only lasted a short while and no cracks appeared in the ground.

Carlos, his eight spider legs firmly planted on the ground, barely managed to steady himself. He turned his head to look at Qingdao, who was leaning on the Staff of Nature, his expression calm:

"High Priest, what is this?"

"Don't panic, Carlos." Seido's voice was steady, as if it had the power to calm people down. "This is the power of our Lord. The great God of Nature is reshaping the divine realm. After each glorious battle, we will have a wider space."

Having gone through this so many times, the snake people are already used to it, but the cherry blossom spirit might still be a little surprised.

The strongest reaction came from the Snowy Spider-Man. Because the new Grand Matriarch Carlos was not present, many young Spider-Men randomly sprayed webs when the ground began to shake, trying to fix their bodies in place.

In just a few breaths, the new base was covered in spider silk.

The Underdark has been the site of natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, each of which claimed the lives of some Spider-Men. This is the tragedy of having no divine protection.

After Carlos returned and explained the situation, some of the Spider-Men remained uneasy, while others deepened their faith in Ji Xuan.