Chapter 92: Underground Cave, Uprooting

This underground space... it couldn't be called a cave or anything like that. Because the floor beneath his feet was clearly man-made.

Upon closer inspection, it was a completely enclosed space. The surroundings were dim, with only the natural light filtering down from the well above. In the corners, a type of glowing grass faintly emitted a bluish light.

Li Mo crouched down and touched the wooden floor. He could clearly feel the dampness, with traces of water stains.

The well led to a hidden world, but here's the question: before the mechanism was activated, where did the water in the well come from?

"I can't figure it out... forget it." Li Mo raised his head and observed his surroundings again. If he remembered correctly, he needed to enter through a narrow passage and navigate a waterway to reach deeper areas.

In the game, there were guides to show you where to go. But as Li Mo looked around, there didn't seem to be any guidance here.

—Wait.

"A purple light?"

A faint glow flickered on the wall, more precisely, in a spot where rubble had piled up. Right, how could he have missed something so obvious?

Li Mo stepped forward and drew the Amenoma Kageuchi Blade.

"Forgive me."

The blade flashed. One could imagine the blacksmith who forged the Amenoma Kageuchi Blade being distraught if they knew Li Mo was using it to cut through rubble today. But reality was just this surreal.

The sharp Amenoma Kageuchi Blade sliced through the pile of rubble blocking the way. Only then did Li Mo realize that he didn't need to use much force—just enough to disrupt the balance of the rubble pile, and it would collapse on its own.

What lay before him was precisely a waterway. Although his entire body was already soaked, Li Mo didn't want to wade through the water. Instead, he chose to walk along the narrow path on either side of the waterway.

After walking a few dozen steps, the space suddenly opened up.

Li Mo arrived at a platform and looked around. To his right was a wooden door, but it was firmly shut and impossible to enter. Then, heading to the left, he squeezed through a narrow gap between tree roots and the wall, and a branch offering an Electroculus appeared before him.

To him, this was familiar. In the game, he often used this thing, especially since he had set his daily commissions in Inazuma. There were often tasks that required using the Electroculus to quickly move to a certain location within a short time. But here's the question... in the game, you could use the Electroculus by pressing the F key. But how do you use it in real life?

"Maybe I should just take it and try?"

The Electroculus was at the center of the branch, surrounded by smaller branches like stars around the moon. Its sole purpose seemed to be to provide the Electroculus.

Li Mo reached out, passing through the purple glow, and successfully touched the Electroculus. In the instant his fingers made contact, the Electroculus traveled up his arm and began circling around his body.

"It feels a bit tingly... I'll make use of it while I can."

Li Mo glanced below. He could already see the purple light barrier, with a shape resembling the Electro Sigil. Memory was a strange thing. Before coming here, he couldn't recall much. But now that he was here, the memories surfaced.

He didn't jump down—he didn't have a Wind Glider. Of course, from this height, he could manage with "force dispersion." But since there were stairs, he decided to take the proper way down.

With the Electroculus on him, Li Mo easily passed through the light barrier and entered the hollow space beyond. Here, he could see the torii gate. Beneath the torii was a massive tree root. It looked as if the torii was suppressing the root, or perhaps the root was coiled around the torii—following the root with his eyes, he could see it disappearing into the rock.

In this vast hollow space, the most striking feature was the enormous trees. At first glance, the roots seemed to be as tall as half his height. If it were someone like Sayu, a petite girl, she might even be shorter than the diameter of the roots.

Li Mo walked forward and saw something resembling a streetlamp ahead—it looked like a streetlamp, but he didn't know its exact name.

In this small structure, there was a vacant slot, perfect for placing the ward. Conveniently, Li Mo had brought the ward with him. As he placed it inside, a change occurred.

In the center of the torii gate, a vortex of lightning swirled, and a purple light barrier appeared. On it was a pattern of a five-petaled flower, with a large glowing dot on each petal, connected by lines.

Li Mo stared at the light barrier, momentarily stunned. This wasn't what he expected—no Rifthounds or Treasure Hoarders spawned from the Ley Line filth. Was there another step missing?

Ah, right—there was a puzzle to solve.

So, how was he supposed to solve it?

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and goosebumps rose on his skin.

He didn't like puzzles, mainly because he was too lazy to think. When playing games, he always looked up guides—life was already exhausting and mentally taxing. Why should he have to think so hard in a game too?

"If the game requires puzzles, fine. But why does reality have to have them too..."

Unhappy.

Let it be known once again: Li Mo didn't like puzzles. They were annoying. He much preferred swinging his sword and cutting people down.

He could tell that the pattern on the torii's light barrier was the key to the puzzle. But here's the problem... Li Mo's first instinct when encountering a puzzle was to look up a guide. But in the real world, there were no guides!

Did he really have to solve it himself?

—Wait. Although there were no guides, there was someone familiar with this place, right?

"Miss Hana Saruri, are you here?"

Memories gradually surfaced in his mind. If he remembered correctly, after the purification, Miss Hana Saruri would appear. Did that mean she had been watching all along?

—Unfortunately, there was no response.

Li Mo had no choice but to start figuring out the mechanism himself. He noticed that there were five pillars where the ward could be placed, and the Electro Sigils on them could change. From one to five. One Sigil would light up and connect to the second, and so on. Then, he just needed to follow the pattern of the glowing dots on the barrier.

Copying the pattern seemed simple enough.

Li Mo wasn't stupid—his academic records could prove that. But the problem was, he didn't like using his brain. When dealing with people, fine, he could think. But in situations like this, he really didn't want to.

Before the torii gate, a tall, dark Rifthound appeared. Li Mo didn't say a word—he just gripped the Amenoma Kageuchi Blade.

"Do you know how annoyed I am right now?"

"I'm going to chop your head off, you bastard!"

The Rifthound was weak, at least in Li Mo's eyes. This one, which had suddenly appeared at the torii gate, was an enhanced version. Its strength and agility were slightly improved, but not by much. With the Amenoma Kageuchi Blade in hand, Li Mo could easily kill it.

The health bar emptied.

The Rifthound's body disappeared like a ghost.

Then, Li Mo felt it—Hana Saruri appeared behind him as if she had teleported.