After recovering from his injuries and spiritual qi, Lu Yu changed into an intact spiritual armor and, together with Yu Xiaoman, began searching for an exit out of the underground cave.
The method was simple: throwing small arrows.
Yu Xiaoman thought about leaving the cave, tossed the small arrow out, and it stuck straight into the earth. Not entirely sure of the situation, she tried again, and the arrow again lodged in the ground.
Seeing the arrow sink into the ground twice, Lu Yu speculated, "There might be a tunnel beneath that leads outside."
Yu Xiaoman picked up the arrow and nodded helplessly. She usually trusted her ability to find paths, as it had never failed her in real life, always guiding her correctly.
Lu Yu asked her to step aside as he prepared to dig a hole. Before starting, he remembered something and asked, "Where’s Yang Xiu?"
Yu Xiaoman murmured "arrowhead points to Yang Xiu" and tossed the arrow. After a long wait, the arrow didn’t fall. Lu Yu reacted first, glancing upward to find the arrow wedged in the soil above.
Lu Yu felt speechless, reasoning that Yang Xiu likely escaped just before the entire cave collapsed, as indicated by the direction of the arrow.
Pulling the arrow from above and handing it to Yu Xiaoman, Lu Yu got into position to dig. Just as he was about to start, a rumbling sound came from above, followed by a black pillar piercing through the soil and embedding itself in the ground in front of Lu Yu.
Lu Yu was unnerved, staring at the black pillar that suddenly appeared less than thirty centimeters before him, having not felt its approach at all.
As Lu Yu attempted to inspect this black pillar, it moved. It swayed slightly back and forth, causing the rocky layer underneath them to shatter, and the two of them plummeted to a lower level.
While falling, Lu Yu looked up to see the pillar being retracted. Through the deep hole left by the pillar penetrating the earth, he saw a mass of moving black armor plates.
Thud! Lu Yu smashed into the ground, flattening a patch of glowing mushrooms.
"Ah! Ugh~" Yu Xiaoman screamed, then remembered there were many monsters present and covered her mouth.
Pop, pop, pop~ Strange sounds echoed as Yu Xiaoman landed on a vast array of shoulder-height fluorescent mushrooms, which cushioned her fall, producing popping noises.
Lu Yu saw where Yu Xiaoman had fallen, numerous fluorescent spores rising into the air, lighting the dark underground space like stars. They found themselves in a place filled with fluorescent mushrooms.
Glancing at the large mushroom beneath Yu Xiaoman, then at the small mushroom beneath him, and around at the mushrooms, Lu Yu realized that in the entire underground chamber, only where he stood were small mushrooms; everywhere else had large mushrooms...
Lu Yu was speechless; it seemed this was a stroke of luck!
He suspected the retribution from the cave’s collapse wasn’t over yet, otherwise why would he ’luckily’ fall on a cluster of small mushrooms?
Lu Yu stood up, dusting off the spore powder from his body. Though his skin had come into contact with a lot of it, Lu Yu didn’t feel any adverse effects, suggesting the spores might be non-toxic, or their toxicity hadn’t yet activated.
Yu Xiaoman, glowing all over, crawled out from the mushroom patch, seeing herself surrounded by bioluminescent mushrooms.
The fluorescent mushrooms on the rocky walls twinkled like stars in the night sky, the floating spore powder like dancing little fairies, as though the whole underground space was a dreamlike existence.
Seeing this scene, Yu Xiaoman was utterly thrilled, for she hadn’t expected a fantasy-like underground world from the movies to truly exist.
Observing Yu Xiaoman spinning around, gazing at the mushrooms above and occasionally trying to catch the floating spores, Lu Yu frowned.
It’s foolish to touch spores not knowing if they’re toxic!
What’s so interesting about mushrooms? Even if they glow, they’re still just mushrooms.
In the system shop, Lu Yu bought two Dust Avoidance Pearls, hanging one on himself, activating it with his spiritual qi, clearing away any spore powder, dust, dirt, and mites from his body.
He grabbed the spinning Yu Xiaoman, gave her the Dust Avoidance Pearl and helped her activate it. Under its effects, the spore powder lost its grip and fell off completely.
"Keep it on, and don’t touch things in the underground world; they might be poisonous," Lu Yu advised, not wanting Yu Xiaoman to get poisoned and die here.
"Mm," Yu Xiaoman nodded seriously as Lu Yu spoke sharply, wearing the Dust Avoidance Pearl on her wrist and quietly asked, "Can I take a few mushrooms back to grow? These mushrooms are very pretty."
Watching her for a moment, Lu Yu found an empty bag, filled it with small mushrooms, and handed it to her while saying, "Put it in your backpack and don’t take it out. When we get back, have someone check if they’re toxic. If not, then you can plant them."
Yu Xiaoman nodded earnestly, "Got it." She took the bag from Lu Yu’s hand and immediately stowed it in her backpack.
"?" Lu Yu looked at her, puzzled, "Why are you thanking me out of nowhere?"
Just as Yu Xiaoman was about to speak, Lu Yu raised his hand to stop her and looked up towards the hole from which they had fallen, hearing rustling noises from above.
Seeing Lu Yu’s actions, Yu Xiaoman also looked up.
Suddenly, a mass of dark centipedes poured through the opening into their space. Lu Yu’s right hand produced the Overlord Saber, vigilantly eyeing the massive centipede monsters emerging above.
Observing the swarm of centipede monsters larger than humans pouring from the hole, Yu Xiaoman turned pale. She had been afraid even upon accidentally falling into a pit where centipedes the size of fingers crawled, let alone these yards-long centipede monsters now.