While I was in Mondstadt, I never imagined becoming a god.

The chisel marks, layer upon layer, range from fresh grayish-white to aged dark brown, like tree rings, recording how many years this mining area has been exploited.

Xu Chuan stopped beside a huge pit, which was a passage leading to the depths of the Layered Rock Abyss. At the entrance, there was an iron chain with a wooden sign hanging on it.

"Landslide is a danger; passage is prohibited."

To the right is a passage leading to the perimeter of the mining area. The road surface is relatively flat, and remnants of mine car tracks can still be seen on the rock walls on both sides.

Xu Chuan unleashed a golden light, a thin layer of which shone against his skin, illuminating a distance of three to five steps ahead.

He squatted down, his palms flat on the ground.

But the instant his palm touched hers, he felt an extremely faint pulse.

A barely perceptible pulsation.

It was as if something was breathing deep within this land.

That's right, it's the Sky Nail.

It shares the same source of power as the Frostbite Nail on Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain.

Buried deep within layers of rock, covered by strata and the passage of time, it has never truly fallen asleep.

Chapter Ninety-Six: Unexpected Attack

The pit is straight up and down, and no light can penetrate it completely; the deeper you go, the darker it becomes.

Xu Chuan stood at the edge of the cave entrance and looked down, where the power originating from the Heavenly Nail was rising from the bottom of the pit.

Without hesitation, he leaned forward, shifting his weight over his feet, and tumbled into the darkness.

The sound of the wind rushed into my ears, and my body fell straight down, my clothes being lifted by the airflow.

Golden light exploded from Xu Chuan's body.

It's not the thin layer of shimmer that used to cling to the skin; it's a true radiance.

Pale golden light emanated from every pore of his body, like a burning shell that enveloped him and the cannon behind him.

The darkness was torn open, and the rock wall revealed its true form in the golden light, with layers of chisel marks from mining, like a network of blood vessels that had been cut open.

Xu Chuan vaguely sensed something retreating from the crevice in the rock.

It had no shape, no sound, only a foul stench thicker than darkness.

It shrank back before the golden light reached it.

However, after Xu Chuan investigated, he found nothing.

The cannon landed half a step to his side, its feet touching the ground simultaneously, making a softer sound than his.

The golden light emanating from Xu Chuan dispelled those things that did not wish to be seen in the light.

There is a wooden building at the bottom of the pit.

Support pillars for the mine shaft, tracks for transporting ore, and racks for storing tools.

The fragments of lumenite embedded in the pillar were still glowing, but they were so faint that only a faint blue light remained, like a dying firefly.

Xu Chuan stood there for a moment, carefully sensing the direction from which the Heavenly Nail responded.

Something in the darkness moved.

It is a demon tainted by the abyss.

Hilichurls, Rock Slimes, and baby Rock Dragons.

They charged at them.

Xu Chuan did not stop, nor did he even turn his head to look.

The cannon flew past him.

The wind blade cleaved through the chest of the first monster and emerged from its back.

The powerful force provided by the Heart of the Wind God transformed the cannon into a killing machine. Facing these monsters, the cannon made no fancy moves and had no extra power to unleash.

Every action is about taking down a monster.

One after another, the dark purple silhouettes fell, disintegrating before hitting the ground. Particles of light rose up and evaporated completely when illuminated by the golden light.

The last baby rock dragon lizard was curled up in the wreckage of a minecart, its carapace covered with dark purple patterns.

The cannon walked up to it, its arm wrapped in cyan wind element, and punched through its body.

A moment later, silence returned to the bottom of the pit. The remains of the monster had vanished completely, leaving only dark purple droplets on the slag still emitting tiny white wisps of smoke.

Xu Chuan withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.

The resonance of the Sky Nail grew stronger and stronger.

That tremor seeped into the blood vessels from between the bones, pulsating along with the heartbeat.

Then, he stepped on something.

*Splat*

The texture was wrong; it wasn't rock, but rather felt like stepping into a lump of fermented mud.

Xu Chuan looked down and saw dark purple mud seeping from the cracks under his feet, slowly climbing up the soles of his shoes.

Xu Chuan squatted down, his right hand covered in golden light, and his five fingers inserted into the clump of black mud.

Under the golden light, the surface of the black mud began to boil.

Something was writhing deep within the black mud; it wasn't a living creature, but rather the pulse of the abyss's own energy.

"It's mixed with the aura of the abyss." Xu Chuan picked up the black mud and held it up to his eyes. "But it's not pure at all."

It's not even in the same league as the abyssal power of the dragon Durin.

He had personally touched Dulin's poisonous blood.

The lump of black mud in front of me looked like scraps.

The true body of the abyss is sealed beneath the Heavenly Nail; what is seeping out is merely pus secreted by the contaminated earth veins.

As he activated the Golden Light Mantra, he drew out a trace of the Heavenly Nail fragment's aura. The icy blue light mingled with the pale golden radiance, like a drop of ink falling into clear water.

The black mud residue fell through his fingers, only to be evaporated by the golden light before it even touched the ground.

Xu Chuan shook his hands, and the sticky feeling left on his fingers took a while to dissipate.

He stood up, realizing that neither the erosion of the Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain nor the black mud beneath the giant rock abyss was pure enough.

But it should not be underestimated.

As they continued, the cave gradually narrowed, and the Cold Heaven Nail Locks began to vibrate in response.

Xu Chuan stood at the edge of a huge underground space.

Ice-blue light illuminated the underground space, and a sky nail was suspended in mid-air.

Ice blue, light shines through every groove of the nail.

The nail was slightly tilted, with cracks on its surface. Ice-blue light leaked out from the cracks, refracting tiny rainbows in the surrounding mist.

Dark purple abyssal currents were slowly seeping out, like a wound that was pinned down and was still bleeding.

Compared to the Frostbite Nail in the Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain, this one is much more intact.

The nail-shaped structure of the Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain shattered into several pieces, and most of its core power was lost.

Although the one in front of me also has cracks, the overall structure is still intact, the direction of the patterns on the nail is clearly discernible, and only a very small portion of the power has been lost.

Xu Chuan walked to the nail and placed his hands on it.

The knight does not die unarmed; activate.

The entire Heavenly Nail trembled slightly, and ripples of energy spread outwards.

When his fingertips left the nail, he had something else in his hand.

The ice-blue crystals are sharply defined, and the blue light inside them seems to be breathing slowly.

Light flows from the crystal core to the surface, then converges back to the core from the surface, repeating the cycle in a steady rhythm like a heartbeat.

Compared to the crystal from Longji Snow Mountain, this one is a deeper shade of blue, as if it has dived from shallow waters into the deep sea. But the essence is the same.

The power of the Sky Nail, wherever it is, originates from the same source and possesses the same nature.

"call."

He held the crystal up to his eyes and spun it around.

The icy blue light reflected in his pupils, giving them a cool hue.

“These nails seem to be no different.”

The lock piece from the Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain, and this crystal from the Layered Rock Abyss.

They share the same origin and are homogeneous and isomorphic.

The only difference is in completeness.

The nail on Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain has shattered, most of its power has been lost, and only fragments at the edges have been peeled off.

The nail in front of me is still relatively intact, and the crystals that have been peeled off are even purer and contain more power.

I've received the Sky Nail Crystal.

Next is another matter: the three corpses of Zibai.

Xu Chuan spent several days at the bottom of the pit.

From the collapsed section to the depths of the karst cave, from the vast space where the crater nail was located to every abandoned branch of the mining area.

The Golden Light Mantra dispelled the darkness, and the Heavenly Nail Crystal dissolved the abyssal aura. He carried the cannon and searched inch by inch.

However, not even a trace of Zi Bai's three souls could be detected.

There's only one place left I haven't visited.

Deep within that seal, directly below the Heavenly Nail.

Xu Chuan stood beside the nail, his gaze fixed on the spot where the nail tip pierced the rock stratum.

His shadow was stretched long, from the ground all the way to the junction of the rock wall and the dome, the top part of which was swallowed up by the dark blue mist.

An attack pierced out from the shadows.

There was no breath, no warning, not even a sound.

It pierced through the back of Xu Chuan's shadow's neck, penetrating the shadow's throat and exiting from the Adam's apple.

Xu Chuan turned to the side.

The blade grazed his neck.

It didn't touch the skin, but the chilling aura of the abyss had already seeped into the outermost layer of the protective golden light.

The dark purple air currents rubbed violently against the pale golden light, producing a series of dense crackling sounds.

As he turned, he slammed his right elbow backward, the tip of which was covered in condensed golden light, and smashed into the darkness behind him.

boom!

This elbow strike was incredibly powerful, shooting through the air.

The abyssal currents dispersed beneath his elbow, then reformed into a human-shaped outline three steps away.

Xu Chuan turned around.

The cannon had been fired, but it hadn't caused any real damage.

The human-shaped silhouette stood still.

A dark purple aura slowly circulated across its surface, gradually solidifying.

Golden light surged from Xu Chuan's body, rising up around him like flames.

A pale golden light illuminated the entire underground space.

The dark purple abyssal air currents were evaporated into white smoke at the edge of the golden light, hissing loudly.