However, since Keqing had said so, he had to try his previous idea. Although it was a bit violent, it was the only solution he could think of at the moment.
"Keqing, don't be disappointed yet. Move aside for a bit, I'll see if this idea of mine works."
After comforting Keqing and asking her to move a distance away from the black mud.
Ling Feng stood up straight, and a ball of crimson flame appeared in his hand.
"Go!"
Ling Feng threw the ball of flame like a grenade.
"Hooosh!"
As the flame landed on the black mud, a fierce fire erupted.
Keqing knew that Ling Feng's flames were different from ordinary flames; Ling Feng's flames were somewhat special, though she didn't know exactly how special.
Keqing stared intently at the black mud being burned by the flames, her eyes full of anticipation.
However, the final result was simple. The flames disappeared without burning away the large piece of black mud.
The large piece of black mud still stood firm.
"It didn't work?"
Seeing the result, Keqing was a little disappointed but immediately recovered.
After all, it wasn't the first or second time they had failed; she was used to it.
Seeing Keqing's expression, Ling Feng smiled.
"Wait, don't be too disappointed yet. It's not too late to be disappointed later. Let me try again."
Saying that, without waiting for Keqing to speak, Ling Feng's gaze sharpened, and he summoned the fundamental fire from his dantian.
The flame he had used earlier was at most a wisp of the fundamental fire's power, not its full strength.
Since a wisp of power couldn't burn the black mud, he decided to try the fundamental fire.
"Go!"
Under Ling Feng's control, the orange fundamental fire, blooming like a flower, lunged towards the black mud.
This time it was different from the last. The black mud being burned by the fundamental fire began to emit wisps of black smoke within seconds, and its volume started to shrink slowly.
"It's effective?"
Keqing's eyes lit up. The visible change brought her joy.
However, the black mud only shrunk by three-quarters before it stopped shrinking.
"The power isn't enough?"
Ling Feng was surprised. Although the fundamental fire was only a four-star minor flame, it was still a heart of earth fire. Purifying evil things should be very simple.
This black mud could withstand the burning of the fundamental fire, which showed how extraordinary it was.
"What exactly is this stuff?"
Ling Feng was puzzled. Seeing that the fire wasn't enough, his true qi surged from his dantian, fueling the fundamental fire to increase its power.
With the enhancement of the true qi, the fundamental fire's intensity increased significantly, burning away the remaining black mud completely, leaving not a trace on the ground.
After burning away the black mud, Ling Feng recalled the fundamental fire. Looking at the fundamental fire in his hand, Ling Feng noticed that its color seemed to have changed slightly, becoming a little yellowish-white.
"Could it be that it absorbed the black mud, causing the fundamental fire to evolve slightly?"
His fundamental fire was in its initial form and needed materials to evolve and sublimate to its final form.
It seemed that this black mud could be used as an upgrade material to "feed" the fundamental fire.
Ling Feng nodded with satisfaction. This trip had brought an unexpected gain.
It seemed he would have to go to the Chasm in the future to let the fundamental fire have a good feast, which would at least improve its level by one or two.
He wasn't the only one with an unexpected gain; Keqing was too.
"It really works. Then there's a way to resolve the black mud in the Chasm."
"Not necessarily, Keqing. How big is the Chasm?"
Ling Feng asked, retracting the fundamental fire into his dantian.
"This... The Chasm is vast, perhaps several times larger than Liyue Harbor."
Ling Feng: !!!
Nani!
Larger than Liyue Harbor?
No wonder Brother Zhiren was so angry. Several times larger than Liyue Harbor.
Hiss~
Terrifying.
Terrifying.
"Speaking of which, you are alone. If you want to resolve all of it... Hiss, it would probably take a month or two."
Keqing pondered for a moment and then stated a shocking fact.
They couldn't possibly let Ling Feng spend one to two months entirely in the Chasm, slowly resolving the black mud.
"Never mind, let's talk about the Chasm after we get out."
Keqing decided not to continue discussing the Chasm. She needed to find other solutions. If there were none, then she would have to trouble Ling Feng.
At that time, the Seven Stars would collectively pay to hire him, and they might be able to persuade him. Of course, this was all contingent on Ling Feng's willingness, otherwise, it would be in vain.
"We should think about how to return to the surface now?"
Keqing lowered her head and pondered.
"Currently, there are three options. We can go back along the underground river the way we came. I have a way to do that."
"Or we can see if this underground cave has any passages."
"Or, we can go deeper along the underground river and see where its end is."
Ling Feng laid out the three possibilities for leaving.
If not for the lack of conditions, he could have learned a遁地术 (earth-遁術) or 遁地符 (earth-遁 Talisman) and quickly returned to the surface.
But unfortunately, he hadn't learned them. Lord of the Waters and Mountains had not taught him such simple and basic techniques. Who knew that he would need such simple techniques now.
"Let's explore this underground cave first and see if there's a path. If not, then we'll follow the river downstream."
"Okay."
With that, the two explored the underground cave.
They discovered that this underground cave was a small space. Apart from the underground river, there was no other way out.
"Let's go. We'll follow the direction of the underground river first. If that doesn't work, we'll try going upstream." Keqing suggested.
Since there was black mud in this underground cave, perhaps it was close to the mining area of the Chasm.
Keqing intended to take a look. Moreover, since they were missing, the
"Hmm, I have no objections."
Ling Feng nodded.
Having made up their minds, the two walked side by side, heading deeper along the river. With the light from the crystal ore, they didn't need torches or anything else for illumination.
Furthermore, the light from the crystals allowed them to observe the underground cave better, perhaps leading to some unexpected discoveries.
Outside, at the entrance of the cave.
More than a dozen tents were set up here, with Millelith soldiers constantly entering and exiting the cave, either pushing carts of stones or carrying tools like shovels.
Some time ago.
After receiving the transmission from Xiao Wu, a Millelith Captain with a Gnosis personally led a team to the location.
Not long after they followed the markers into the ruins, before they could find Ling Feng and Keqing, an earthquake occurred, causing the entire ruin to shake and collapse violently.
Due to the danger, everyone had to evacuate.
After the ruins stopped collapsing, they did not see Ling Feng and Keqing run out of the ruins, which indicated that the two were most likely still inside.
This matter was then very serious. Keqing was one of the Liyue Qixing. The whereabouts of a Liyue Qixing being unknown involved many serious matters. They basically had to find them alive or dead.
And the clues were within these ruins, so they had to dig them out no matter what.