Looking at the earth salamander that had become slow again, Tian Jihong carefully avoided its path to the elixir field at this time, and made a big circle across the stream to the opposite bank. According to his analysis, this piece should be the territory of the snake turtle, on the side of the embankment about three or four feet away from the stream, among the soft soil, all kinds of large and small holes facing the direction of the stream can be seen everywhere, the small ones can only be freely entered and exited by the water snakes the thickness of an arm, and the large ones can even be squeezed into by Tianjihong himself. Most of these caves are undoubtedly the habitat of the snake and turtle, and there are probably complex passages hidden in the invisible places underground. At this time, Tian Jihong, who was a little confused, couldn't help but start to envy the monk's soul sense, if he could use his soul sense to conduct a large-scale investigation, he would definitely be able to save a lot of work.

It's a pity that he is only a mortal, and he has no choice but to use the most stupid method to dig up the land one by one to search for suspicious locations, and at the same time pay attention to the movements of the earth salamanders on the other side who are burying their heads in devouring the spirit grass. At this time, it had been nearly an hour and a half since he left home, and in order to cope with the unexpected situations that he might encounter on the return trip, there was not much time left for his trip, and he didn't want to linger in this dangerous Dongyun Mountain when it was dark, so his hands and feet couldn't help but become more nimble.

A quarter of an hour had passed, and the territory occupied by the snake turtle was really a bit unexpected. After searching nearly a dozen caves, large and small, there was still no sign of its lair, and some were only dark tunnels with no end in sight and did not know where to go underground. At this time, he couldn't help but wonder if the snake turtle had placed its nest in the depths of the earth that he couldn't reach in order to ensure his safety. If that's the case, it's going to be difficult.

Just as he was about to give up, a narrow hole not far in front of him caught his attention. Due to the dark mud in the ground, he almost missed a dark green tortoiseshell piece lying flat at the entrance of the cave. Although the cave he had just explored was full of traces of creatures trampling back and forth, this was the first time that such an obvious detachment from the snake turtle's body had been found, and in this case, it seemed that this was probably the main entrance to its lair. The only thing that puzzled him was that the hole looked so small that even with a snake turtle only a foot or two wide, it was impossible to get through this bowl-sized hole. If there was no such tortoise shell here, Tian Jihong would probably have inadvertently skipped over this narrow hole and continued to search to the side.

However, just as Tian Jihong stretched out his hands and was about to gently open the hole, the soft soil in front of him actually collapsed into it as soon as he touched it, and this discovery immediately made him excited. At this time, he naturally understood that this cave entrance was far from being as inconspicuous as it seemed from the outside, and that it must be a very spacious entrance under its appearance hidden by dirt. I think this snake turtle is cautious by nature, and it is worried that its nest will be invaded by other creatures, so it will actively cover the surface of the hole with dirt every time it enters and exits, leaving only a narrow area less than a foot in diameter for easy identification. Obviously, this method is very effective, not to mention deceiving other creatures with such a meticulous method, even Tianjihong was almost concealed.

Finding the entrance was much easier, and within two minutes, Tianjihong had cleaned up the dirt that had filled the perimeter of the cave. At this time, what caught my eye was a pitch-black hole mouth that was straight down and couldn't see the depth at all, and the passage in front of it was about half a person's height from the outside, and Tian Jihong had to reluctantly crouch down to squeeze into the hole, thinking that it was a hidden place that the snake turtle was looking for according to his size. At this time, Tian Jihong was a little hesitant in his heart. The latter was very jealous of the cave, which was completely invisible; The underground is not his home field as a human being, and it is even a problem to move in such a small space, and once he encounters danger, it is difficult for him to use his own skills. And although it is impossible for the snake turtle to come back in time, as a spirit animal, it is difficult to guarantee that it will leave any other means in its lair, and even the same kind of guy who appears may not be necessarily.

Tian Jihong, who did not dare to act rashly under the unclear situation, felt a little helpless at this time. Fortunately, after changing his mind, he finally decided to use a stupid method: first detect the movement of the burrow, and then dig at the surface, widen the underground road, or find a closer position to enter the lair. This may sound like a lot of effort and time, but it's a safe and effective way to do it in the current situation. Fortunately, the cave is not very winding at first glance, although there are several bifurcated paths on both sides that lead to other different exits, but the slope of the main passage is 45 degrees and extends straight into the depths of the earth.

Outside the cave, Tian Jihong chose a position far away from the direction of the stream, about a distance of more than a zhang, and began to dig straight down. According to his estimation, the depth of his downward excavation should be about the same distance, and according to the direction of the passage, he must be able to meet it at this vertical angle, and this depth is roughly the maximum amount of work he can bear. There is not much time left, and if you arrive at the cave and find that the passage will extend even deeper, you will have to give up.

Although Tianjihong has an unusual physique, it is not easy to dig a hole several meters deep in this land. After half an hour of unremitting efforts, Tian Jihong still did not find the cave passage that he had just surveyed, but the salamander on the other side of the stream had slowly dived into the quagmire and disappeared after recovering at this time. This couldn't help but make Tian Jihong more and more worried, seeing that it was not too early, and the unknown danger brought by the salamander on the other side was constantly disturbing his thoughts, making it difficult for him to concentrate on the task at hand. Just as he was about to give up, the ground beneath his feet suddenly loosened, and the quick-eyed Tianjihong jumped to the top of the hole, unaffected by the soft soil that had collapsed.

Fortunately, as expected, the hole that I had spent so much effort digging did not miss the passage in the end, and now it is obviously much safer to enter the passage from here and explore it again. If you really encounter an accident, you only need to jump directly from the bottom of the tunnel to the ground, a height of about two or three meters may not be possible in the eyes of ordinary people, but this distance can be regarded as easy for Tianjihong. At this moment, he jumped into the intersection of the passages, a smell of earth mixed with rotten plants permeated, and there were one or two narrower tunnels around him that extended to the other entrances around him, and the damp soil above his head that was still collapsing slowly fell on his feet that were slowly sinking into the mud.

However, none of this affected Tian Jihong's excitement at this time, because with the light above his head, he could clearly see only a few feet below the tunnel, the main passage was no longer winding deeper, the terrain began to become flat, and the surrounding environment began to gradually turn into hard rock instead of dirt. In the darkness farther away, you can vaguely see that the end of the passage is blocked by a stone slab of unknown thickness, and the gap between the surface and the stone wall around it is also tightly filled with earth. Needless to say, this must have been the stone gate that the snake turtle had arranged for its lair, to insulate it from the sand or cold wind above, and also to protect it from other wild beasts.

Although the entrance in front of him was already close at hand, Tian Jihong could already touch the stone slab that was blocking the way even if he stretched out his legs, but in order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Tian Jihong still chose to use brute force to continue to widen the only remaining section of the tunnel to facilitate his follow-up actions. Of course, the underground work was obviously more troublesome than before, and since the earth had to be transported above the cavern from time to time to prevent landslides, it took no less time to widen the two-foot passage than before. In the end, under Tian Jihong's satisfied gaze, the passage that was widened to easily accommodate his bending height was enough for him to show his strength, at least in case of any unexpected situation, he could escape from it without hindrance. Only then did he grope towards the stone door in front of him again, ready to find out.

The solidity of the stone gate was indeed a bit unexpected to him, and after some inspection when Tianjihong had just excavated, it was found that such an inconspicuous stone slab had also been touched by the snake turtle. Starting from the stone door, it is already surrounded by bare rock, and it is impossible to get around it by digging a new passage from the side. And what really makes me feel a little tricky is that the thin stone slab that seems to be full of cracks is surprisingly strong, and it is difficult to shake it for a while with the strength of Tianjihong, the most important thing is that there is a very thin spiritual barrier between the stone slabs, and the connection between its periphery and the stone wall also seems to be sealed by the snake and turtle with spiritual power, thinking that the latter must have a way to easily move this stone door by urging spiritual power; But for Tian Jihong, it is really difficult for him to pry open the stone door from the gap with his physical body.

Fortunately, Tian Jihong had already calculated that this kind of thing had happened, and he knew that although it was impossible for the spirit beast to learn to use the spiritual power inscription formation to defend like a monk, it was impossible for the snake turtle to let his lair be broken into so easily, and the application of a spiritual power barrier at the entrance in front of him was already a relatively simple situation that he expected. Fortunately, today Tian Jihong found a way to break through these seals by luck, only to see that he did not hesitate to take out the unknown fragment from his arms just now, at this moment he still does not know anything about the purpose of this thing, but after observing the battle just now, Tian Jihong can first determine that the material of this fragment must be indestructible and unshakable, and it must also have an elusive restraint effect on spiritual power, otherwise the snake turtle that was embedded in his abdomen by the fragment would have already figured out a way to take this thing out of his body. Although the stone door in front of him was reinforced with a little spiritual power, Tian Jihong didn't believe that this strange fragment in his hand that even the snake turtle himself was helpless could not dissolve even a little trick on this stone door.