Chapter 175: Lei Gang, Sulfur

"Gang Sha?"

Huang Yunying repeated.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

Huang Yunying pondered for a moment and said,

"There aren't as many Gang Sha on the sea as on land, but there are still some. On the East Sea side, there are only a few famous Gang Sha, but many of them exist in legends. The 'East Pole Armor Yang Gang' is in the legendary Tang Valley, the 'Angry Water Dragon King Sha' is in the legendary Dragon Palace, and the 'Deep Night Sinking Yin Sha' is at the bottom of the deep sea. Brother Bie Lu, don't think about these; perhaps these Gang Sha have already died of old age, who knows."

"If you want to count on one, I think there is only one."

"Which one?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked repeatedly.

"'Dragon Chant Water Lei Gang.' It is the raging waves of the angry sea sweeping into the sky, giant waves washing away dark clouds, thunder having nowhere to dwell, striking the crest of the waves, mixed and formed by thunder light and water mist. It is a Yang Gang that naturally carries a trace of dragon might. It is on the 'Thunderstorm Sea' in the southwest."

Cheng Xinzhan's eyes lit up, "To tell you the truth, elder brother, my younger brother has been blessed by heaven. I now have a Yin Sha in hand and am currently lacking a Yang Gang. I don't know how I can get it?"

Huang Yunying smiled and said, "Brother Bie Lu is also lucky to have come to our Huang Liu Island. Otherwise, if it were you alone, you would definitely not be able to get it."

"Why is that?"

"Hahahaha, that 'Dragon Chant Water Lei Gang' is shared by the Overturning Sea Great Saint and the Supporting Heaven Great Saint. Tell me, no matter how great your ability is, can you get your hands on it?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xinzhan thought to himself, Overturning Sea Great Saint, isn't that the dragon that stirred up waves and attacked the land before? Who is the Supporting Heaven Great Saint? Is it the Mother of Mirage that True Person Chengchu spoke of?

He looked puzzled on the surface and said: "Elder brother is teasing me. How can I get the private property of a Great Saint? But even if I have now defected to Old Immortal, can I get it?"

Huang Yunying smiled and said at this time,

"Then I have to tell you about the territorial boundaries on the sea. Since the Ao family went into seclusion, the East Sea is now divided into three, from north to south in order: Yellow Sea, Cang Sea, and Sand Sea. Each of the three sea areas is governed by a Great Saint, known as the Three Saints of the East Sea."

"However, the one in the Yellow Sea has a proper origin. After announcing to heaven and earth, he walked the rivers, moisturizing both banks along the way, and was protected by various immortals. With complete merit, he entered the sea and transformed into a true dragon. He holds himself high and doesn't like to deal with us."

"The two Great Saints of our Cang Sea and Sand Sea are both leaders of the overseas demonic sect, collectively known as the Two Saints of the Demonic Path."

"Starting from our area, counting north for ten or so sea areas until the border of the Yellow Sea, all belong to the Overturning Sea Great Saint, known as the Cang Sea. Our Tuo Wang's Dadu Sea and Hui Wang's Black Abyss Sea are the two sea areas closest to the west in the Cang Sea."

"Going west from here until the border of the South Sea, all belong to the Supporting Heaven Great Saint, which is the Sand Sea. Merman King's Merman Sea and Jade King's Reef Mountain Sea are our neighbors, which are the two sea areas closest to the east in the Sand Sea."

"The Thunderstorm Sea is between the Cang Sea and the Sand Sea, and it can be considered a boundary sea. It is not far from us."

"In the Thunderstorm Sea, giant waves never stop, and thunder never ceases. No living beings can survive, but it has given birth to divine objects like the 'Dragon Chant Water Lei Gang.' At first, the two Great Saints fought quite a bit to compete for the Thunderstorm Sea."

"However, both are Great Saints, and neither could do anything to the other. Finally, they agreed on a procedure: this Thunderstorm Sea and the 'Dragon Chant Water Lei Gang' inside are shared by both families. Every sixty years, both sides send people in to mine, each relying on their own ability to see who gets more."

Cheng Xinzhan finally understood and asked, "Does Immortal Master have a quota to enter?"

Huang Yunying smiled upon hearing this,

"Immortal Master doesn't have one, but Tuo Wang has one. And Tuo Wang's method of distributing quotas is very simple: whoever offers more blood-food, he gives it to whoever."

Cheng Xinzhan's eyes lit up, "Then Immortal Master this time?"

Huang Yunying smiled proudly,

"Last time, Immortal Master took second place. This time, he is even more prepared. Plus the sea snakes you hunted twice, Brother Bie Lu, I guarantee it will be in the top three. Tuo Wang has ten quotas in his hand, and four leaders under him. According to the ranking of blood-food offerings, they are divided from high to low as four, three, two, and one."

"Every time people enter the Thunderstorm Sea, they are below the third realm. As long as our Sulfur Island can enter the top three, there will definitely be a quota for virtuous brother."

Cheng Xinzhan was overjoyed, "Thank you very much, elder brother."

"We call each other brothers; why say these things."

"Then did elder brother go last time? Did you have any gains?"

Huang Yunying's laughter paused, and then he pointed at Cheng Xinzhan,

"Good virtuous brother, this is to make fun of elder brother. I entered the second realm not long ago sixty years ago, and I didn't have any means. I went in just to watch the fun, so naturally, I had no gains."

"By the way, virtuous brother, elder brother knows you have great means, but don't be careless after entering the Thunderstorm Sea. Those who compete with us are water spirits, they are the ones who stir the tide!"

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, but his face showed a look of indifference.

Huang Yunying saw this and didn't persuade him much. Young people are like this.

"Elder brother, when can we enter the Thunderstorm Sea?"

Young people are not only arrogant but also impatient.

Huang Yunying smiled in his heart and said,

"Virtuous brother, you came at just the right time. Tuo Wang is about to wake up. It should be within these fifteen days. And the reason Tuo Wang set it to wake up once every sixty years is also for this matter."

"At that time, the kings of each sea will take the leaders and minions under their command to the Thunderstorm Sea to pay homage to the Great Saint. There, the two Great Saints will also hold a Thunder Drinking Assembly. After we mine the thunder and offer it up, the Great Saint will distribute the Long Lei Gang Dew mined out for the kings and leaders to taste."

Cheng Xinzhan raised an eyebrow, "We worked hard to mine the thunder, and we still have to hand it over for them to taste?"

Huang Yunying was very surprised upon hearing this, "That is natural. This is the Lei Gang enclosed by the two Great Saints. We are just entering to mine it. The big share naturally has to be offered up."

He sighed in his heart that this young man was still a newcomer to the sea, not knowing that everything on this sea had an owner and was the private property of the two Great Saints. As long as the Great Saint wanted it, he could take it at any time.

And the reason why those below the third realm were allowed to mine thunder at the cost of their lives was because this itself was a play, a play for the Great Saints and kings to watch. After the people on the stage fought until they were covered in blood, they would obediently offer up the Gang Dew they had fought for. This was fun.

Cheng Xinzhan was a bit displeased, "Then how much do we have to offer up, and how much can we keep?"

Huang Yunying sighed and said, "When entering the Thunderstorm Sea, everyone will be issued a small lead bottle and a large lead jar. Every time the Gang Dew mined is put into the small lead bottle, when the small lead bottle is full, it is poured into the large lead jar. At this time, the residual Gang Dew hanging on the inner wall of the small lead bottle is ours, and the large lead jar is to be offered up."

Cheng Xinzhan suddenly raised his head upon hearing this and looked at Huang Yunying, full of disbelief.

Huang Yunying looked at Cheng Xinzhan's expression, and his smile also carried some bitterness,

"Virtuous brother, this is the overseas. I regard those clam girls and mermen as playthings, but how are those Great Saints and kings not regarding us as playthings? You, don't be surprised at everything. There will be many such things in the future!"

Cheng Xinzhan remained silent for a long time upon hearing this.

————

Returning to Honglu Island, Cheng Xinzhan's expression was very bad. Everything on the sea depended on strength, without a shred of morality or shame. The inferior were the playthings of the superior, and the superior could plunder at will.

This was really far worse than the demonic sects on land. At least the demonic sects on land still had the name of master and apprentice, and had to take into account the threat of the righteous path and the universal ethical righteousness of the human world. But on the sea where demons were rampant, all of this was gone.

If those two Ancestral Tian Shi were still alive, I'm afraid they would have already drawn their swords and gone to sea!

However, demon nature is lecherous and evil, and beast nature is violent and cruel. Coupled with the fact that the demonic path only seeks quick success and does not cultivate purity, it is always difficult to avoid disasters on the sea. The two Ancestral Tian Shi went to sea twice, killing until the blue waves were stained with blood, but didn't the demons still revive time and time again?

For these demons, education is useless. Only suppression with the most powerful force can work. But the experience of the two Ancestral Tian Shi made Cheng Xinzhan understand that a single cleansing of demonic atmosphere is also useless. The so-called wild fire cannot burn it out, and the spring breeze blows it again. Only by suppressing demons forever can the world be clear!

At this moment, he vaguely had an idea in his heart, an idea so far-reaching that it seemed unattainable. "Meow~"

Seeming to see that its master was unhappy, Sanmei let out a cry, jumped out of the cave filled with sulfur smoke, ran into Cheng Xinzhan's arms, and spat out a round elixir bead to offer to its master.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled when he saw this, let out a long breath, and relieved the depression in his heart. The future is long, and sooner or later he will return this blue wave to clarity!

"I won't eat it, Sanmei eat it."

Naturally, he wouldn't eat the snake bead. He reached out and touched Sanmei's head, thinking that Sanmei had had a good appetite during this time. The snake beads of the sea snakes he killed were all taken off and fed to Sanmei. Coupled with the fact that it had eaten elixir smoke in the sect for the past few years, and had recently liked eating sulfur gas on the island, its spiritual charm was becoming more and more prosperous, and it should be about to shed its mortal body.

Sanmei didn't agree, holding the elixir bead with its two front paws and sending it to Cheng Xinzhan's mouth.

"Eh?"

Cheng Xinzhan had something on his mind just now and didn't pay attention. Now, reminded by Sanmei, he saw clearly that this didn't seem to be a snake bead, but an elixir.

He took it from Sanmei's hand and looked at it. The elixir was the size of a pigeon egg, dark red all over, and felt a bit rough to the touch. He smelled it and was very surprised. It had been over ten thousand years, and the medicinal properties were still there. However, the elixir bottle was just an ordinary jade bottle and had long since lost its spiritual energy. He figured it could only be because of the sulfur smoke here.

This was an authentic Daoist external elixir.

In this demonic sea and demonic domain, who would refine Daoist elixirs?

!

"Where did you pick this up?"

Sanmei let out a cry and looked at the crevice emitting sulfur gas.

Did it fall down, or was there a cave within a cave?

Cheng Xinzhan thought for a while, returned to the stone house to sit cross-legged, and sacrificed the bamboo body again, dividing his soul into it, and said to Sanmei,

"Let's go, take me to find it."

Sanmei meowed and jumped into the cave, and Cheng Xinzhan also jumped in.

The cave was deeper than Cheng Xinzhan had thought. From the height outside, it was already under the sea, but it was still extremely dry here. The inner wall of the cave was all sulfur, and the smoke was also all sulfur powder, which was extremely choking.

And the further down, the smaller the cave, and the yellow smoke became thicker. Sanmei jumped in the smoke, very comfortable, while Cheng Xinzhan was smoked until he could hardly open his eyes.

After going down seventy or eighty zhang, the cave entrance was already too small for Cheng Xinzhan to continue walking. He recited a mantra, wanting to continue going down with earth escape,

"Walk the mountains and run the earth, exit the nether and enter the underworld, escape!"

"Eh?"

Cheng Xinzhan was a bit surprised. Why was there no movement? So he operated his magical power and did it again,

"Walk the mountains and run the earth, exit the nether and enter the underworld, escape!"

It was still useless. He was stuck in the cave, and his body didn't move at all.

Cheng Xinzhan was a bit surprised and reached out to touch the cave. All he touched was sulfur powder. It turned out that at this point, the underground was all sulfur, without a bit of soil. However, sulfur belongs to the nature of metal and earth, so earth escape should be able to pass through.

Unless...

Unless the sulfur here had all been refined by someone, and the five-element Dharma nature had produced some changes.

"Cough cough!"

He was blocked in the cave, and the sulfur smoke was still rising from below. And at this time, the smoke couldn't disperse, becoming thicker and thicker, roasting him like fire.

Sanmei looked up at him from the cave under Cheng Xinzhan.

At this moment, Cheng Xinzhan pinched another formula and recited,

"Change!"

Only to see a flash of spiritual light on his body, and he actually transformed into a six-winged snake-bodied mosquito on the spot!

Sanmei watched with eyes wide as copper bells.

Cheng Xinzhan's talent in spellcasting was something everyone marveled at, and his attainments in transformation techniques were also repeatedly astonishing. Therefore, he had long since refined the 【Change】 character mantra in the "Guangcheng Chixu Suixin Mantra." He used the bamboo body to transform into a human body to walk in the sect, and later, even those in the third realm couldn't see it.

However, the 【Change】 character mantra was not a concealment technique. It could truly change in size, so the caster must have a very good understanding of the thing they were transforming into.

It just so happened that Cheng Xinzhan had been raising Gu insects recently, watching the snake-mosquitoes go from a skin to being full of flesh and blood, observing them very thoroughly, so the transformation was also handy.

Sanmei watched its master turn into a mosquito and felt it was very interesting, jumping over and reaching out to grab it.

"Sanmei, don't mess around, go down."

The mosquito spoke in human language.

Sanmei then continued to go down.

The further down, the cave diameter was still shrinking, and finally, even Sanmei was barely able to pass through.

In total, they traveled two hundred zhang. Cheng Xinzhan was about to vomit from the smell of sulfur, and the cave finally opened up suddenly.

Cheng Xinzhan looked and saw that this was the bottom. The space under this cave was like an inverted bowl, and the two-hundred-zhang-long cave was like a chimney on the top of the bowl.

Cheng Xinzhan finally saw the source of the sulfur smoke. It was not naturally generated by underground fire burning sulfur, but originated from a furnace.

This was a rather large furnace, red-yellow, with six feet and four ears, and it was also carved with Suanni patterns. In the deep furnace, there was still a shallow layer of yellow paste. The underground fire passed under the furnace, and the sulfur smoke generated by the underground fire roasting this paste was then discharged to the outside through the cave.

Cheng Xinzhan recognized that this yellow transparent paste had water light surging in it, looking like honey. This was sulfur honey fat, the most rare kind of detoxification medicine among sulfur types, often having a thousand-year history, and was a treasure for alchemists.

He figured that at the beginning, this furnace must have been filled with sulfur honey fat to have leftovers after burning for so long.

On the ground next to the furnace, there was also a three-legged indentation, which looked like the trace left after placing the elixir furnace for a long time. It seemed that someone had refined elixirs in this extremely deep cave.

And Cheng Xinzhan had refined elixirs on Danxia Mountain for more than six years, so it was not difficult to infer that this person should have refined some poisonous waste elixirs, then poured the waste elixirs into the furnace, covered them with rare sulfur honey fat, and then used underground fire to burn them, letting the toxicity in the elixirs slowly volatilize, and at the same time be dissolved by sulfur, so as not to pollute the earth veins and the spiritual energy of a region. This was a method commonly used by alchemists.

And this place was chosen extremely well. This sea area had abundant geothermal heat and was rich in sulfur. Sulfur smoke was everywhere on many small islands, so this place was very inconspicuous. Just on Huang Liu Island, there were probably no less than a hundred such caves, so Huang Laoxian should have never discovered that there was a cave within a cave here.

It was just what kind of poisonous elixir needed to be buried in such a secret underground, and still be suppressed by precious sulfur honey fat.

Cheng Xinzhan looked around and found that there was also a medicine cabinet left behind. On it was an elixir bottle, and next to it was a note, which read,

'Yang Ming, an alchemist from Jiulong Island, practiced refining Plague Elixir here. After the elixir was formed, it was covered with sulfur and burned to destroy it. Those who mistakenly enter this place later, if the sulfur in the furnace is less than one inch, the Plague Elixir has been dissolved. If it is higher than one inch, the elixir poison has not been dissolved. Those who come can eat the Plague-Dissolving Elixir on the side of the note to detoxify, and leave quickly, do not move the furnace.'

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 176 =====