Chapter 17: The Underworld Ecosystem II

Only after he began to deal with the ecosystem of the Underworld did Liu Zhi truly understand the meaning of the saying: "Knowledge gained from books is shallow; one must practice to truly master it."

At first, he had only read books about Underworld ecosystems and thought the matter was overly simple. He had assumed that building such an ecosystem was merely a matter of planting some grass in the Underworld. However, after attempting to manage the aquatic plants in the Water-Depleted Lake, he realized the reality was far more complex.

The books described the process quite simply: plant vegetation in the Underworld, control its growth, and once the plants were sufficiently established, introduce the corresponding animals. But in practice, Liu Zhi discovered that he needed to infuse the Underworld’s Yin energy and its unique energies into the plants themselves. These plants had to be capable of absorbing Yin energy and undergoing a gradual transformation, eventually becoming organisms that naturally radiated Yin energy. Only then could the introduced creatures become part of the Underworld’s ecosystem, either by consuming the plants or absorbing the essence they emitted.

It was much like the spiders in a certain magical dungeon he had once encountered. They had discovered a dungeon polluted by magic and lived off plants that had absorbed the magical crystals, eventually evolving into half-magical spider monsters—even earning the name "Falador Spiders."

The key was that the magic had corrupted the plants. Liu Zhi remembered clearly that in that dungeon, all the vegetation had turned into pale blue, semi-crystalline structures; while they still grew like plants, they were essentially products of crystallized magic. The Underworld ecosystem he envisioned did not necessarily need to reach that extreme, but simply planting ordinary vegetation in his Underworld Palace was not enough. Liu Zhi needed to force these aquatic plants to mutate in a short period of time.

Standing by the shore of the Water-Depleted Lake, holding a handful of aquatic weeds, Liu Zhi seriously considered his next step. He carefully picked out seeds from the weeds that had already begun to harbor traces of Yin energy. These were the result of the plants being exposed to the abundant Yin energy and corpses in the lake over time. Because there had been no guidance, the changes were minimal; Liu Zhi estimated that if left alone, it would take five to ten generations of plants to achieve the necessary state for an Underworld ecosystem. He did not have the time to wait.

He picked out all the seeds, raised his Staff of Death, and forcefully exerted his authority over the Underworld Palace, channeling all the available Yin and Underworld energy into the Water-Depleted Lake. As the Yin energy surged in, the mummies buried in the depths of the lake grew restless. They had not submitted to Liu Zhi, and the only reason they remained in the lake was that it was their original burial ground, filled with their corpses and funerary objects. By acting this way, Liu Zhi was effectively robbing their tomb, and naturally, they were agitated.

However, just as the mummies, wrapped in burial shrouds, attempted to rise from the water, Liu Zhi took action. He knew there were countless corpses submerged there and had initially considered turning them into his minions. But he no longer held that intention. He could channel energy into the lake once or twice, but he could not stay here forever; he needed a self-sustaining source of energy. These corpses would serve that purpose. As long as they remained, the lake would be a constant source of Yin energy, and Liu Zhi would not allow them to act out.

As the corpses struggled to break free from their shrouds, Liu Zhi twisted his right hand holding the Staff of Death, and a beam of starlight descended from the sky, striking all of them. Standing by the lake, Liu Zhi declared loudly, "Stay down there. Just serve as the background for the rest of eternity. The world above is dangerous—what do you think you’re doing coming up here?"

Under the pressure of the starlight, the corpses were forced back down and pinned against their golden funerary vessels, while all the aquatic weeds in the lake were reduced to ash. At this point, Liu Zhi began to lay out various magic arrays around the lake, adhering to the principles of an Underworld ecosystem. This required his personal touch, but fortunately, his control over the Underworld Palace was precise enough that he could accomplish whatever he willed.

After laying the first layer of the magic array, Liu Zhi tossed the selected seeds into the water. He then invoked the four distinct powers of the Feathered Serpent aspect. Following a torrential downpour, the water level in the lake rose significantly. Under the illumination of sunlight, Death energy was forcefully funneled from the surroundings into the lake, while the laws and energy of harvest fell upon the seeds. In an instant, the entire lake was filled with twisting, mutated aquatic plants.

This time, the plants had turned black. Liu Zhi noticed that they had begun to entwine themselves around the mummies still wrapped in their shrouds. Even now, the corpses were not docile, struggling to break free from the grasp of the weeds. Liu Zhi ignored them. He selected a batch of even better seeds and struck the lake with his full power once more. Under this blow, the corpses were crushed beneath the silt, and the weeds were cleared away again.

Liu Zhi meditated to replenish his mana before repeating the process. As the magic arrays were reinforced and the weeds were grown and destroyed time and again, after about nine cycles, Liu Zhi finally saw the plants he was satisfied with.

The weeds had shifted from green to a dark, inky hue. At their roots, they emitted a strange, dark green glow. In the water, they looked like clusters of writhing black silk; it was clear that these plants had successfully integrated with the Yin energy and become partially crystalline. Beneath them, the corpses were tightly bound. They continued to twitch, struggling to escape, but they had missed their chance. Liu Zhi would not release them; he would keep them trapped in the Water-Depleted Lake forever, ensuring they remained the primary source of Yin energy for the ecosystem. As for their golden vessels, Liu Zhi was not a greedy man; he let them remain scattered across the lakebed, adorning the dark depths and making the lake appear as though it were reflecting the starry sky.

With the planting of the lake completed, Liu Zhi carefully placed twenty Murloc eggs into the water. The moment they touched the surface, he saw black, weed-like patterns emerge on the gray shells, and at the same time, a notification chime echoed in his ears.