Chapter 14: Dark River Undercurrent, a Brief Respite; Exotic Energy Hidden in Danger

The icy river water instantly submerged Chen Wen's mouth and nose.

The piercing cold almost made him suffocate, yet it also cleared his chaotic, scorching mind.

He had fallen into an underground dark river!

The river water was turbulent, icy and piercing, carrying the unique mineral scent of the earth's depths.

To some extent it flushed and diluted the nauseating killing qi odor.

【Upon entering the icy water, the "Deep Killing Qi Erosion" effect is weakly suppressed, stamina recovery efficiency increased to -70%.】

【The "Minor Fall Injury" is aggravated by the cold water, pain intensifies, movement speed further decreases.】

【Unknown Exotic Energy continues to interfere, system functions partially disrupted, analysis progress 12%……】

The system's prompts come in fits and starts, like a radio suffering severe interference.

Chen Wen felt a jolt of alarm; that strange energy surging into his body was indeed a big trouble!

But now is absolutely not the time to study it carefully!

He struggled desperately to break the surface and greedily sucked in a breath.

He looked back.

He saw only that at the mine shaft exit where he had fallen, a faint blue light flickered and swayed.

It seemed the two pursuers had shaken off the interference of the intense killing qi and were now searching for his trail.

But they seemed wary of this underground river and did not jump down immediately.

He must get away now!

Chen Wen endured the pain of his whole body feeling like it was falling apart and the bizarre icy-hot agony within, and he strained to paddle with both arms.

Using the lingering effect of quadrupled stamina, he drifted downstream with the turbulent current.

The underground river channel varied in width, the light extremely dim.

Only the sporadically distributed azure crystals on the rock walls provided meager illumination, instead adding a touch of eeriness.

The river water was icy, constantly stealing his body heat.

【Body temperature dropping, stamina consumption accelerating. Current stamina: 47%... 45%...】

He couldn't stay in the water forever!

He had to get ashore as soon as possible!

Chen Wen struggled to stay conscious!

His quadrupled vision strained to spot a place to land in the gloom.

After drifting downstream about one or two hundred meters, he suddenly spotted a gently sloping rise on the left bank.

It seemed to be a small beach, and the rock wall above indented inward.

This formed a shallow cave that could barely conceal him.

That was the spot!

He gritted his teeth and strove hard to swim against the current toward it.

Each stroke tugged at his injured leg and the chaotic energy inside, bringing waves of tearing pain.

Finally

He stumbled and crawled up onto that icy gravel beach.

Soaked through, he was so cold his teeth chattered.

He flung himself into the narrow rock crevice, barely able to move.

【Successfully left the water, found a temporary hiding spot. Diligence Points (WP) +10.】

【Low temperature state persists; please take measures to restore body heat soon, otherwise the "Hypothermia" negative status will be triggered.】

【Interference from the Unknown Exotic Energy intensifies, physical recovery efficiency further reduced by 15%.】

Misfortunes never come singly!

Chen Wen leaned against the cold rock, gasping violently, the white mist from his breath instantly dissipating in the chilly air.

He forced himself to calm down; the most urgent problem to address first was hypothermia!

He struggled to sit up, trying to wring out his soaked clothes, but to little effect.

The cold was like countless fine needles continually piercing his marrow.

"System, what can be done?"

He tried to ask it in his mind, hoping this seemingly omnipotent golden finger would help.

【Plan One: High-intensity exercise to generate heat and dispel cold. Estimated requires continuous exercise for 15 minutes, which would significantly consume his already insufficient stamina and possibly aggravate his injuries and energy conflict.】

【Plan Two: Seek dry combustible material to make a fire. Current environment assessment: probability extremely low.】

【Plan Three: Attempt to guide the Unknown Exotic Energy within his body. This energy contains special coldness and activity; if guided to the body surface, it could possibly form an insulating layer to slow heat loss. Warning: This operation carries extremely high risk, possibly causing the energy to spiral out of control!】

The system gave three options, each worse than the last.

A hint of bitterness appeared at the corner of Chen Wen's mouth.

Exercising for heat is courting death; making a fire is a dream.

It seemed only the third path remained, dangerous though it was, but perhaps offered a sliver of hope.

Guiding the energy…… how to guide it?

He recalled the moment the killing qi had erupted earlier; it seemed to be strong emotion and willpower.

Combined with the motion of touching the crystal, he had unintentionally stirred that power.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind.

He strove to "sense" that rampaging, icy yet frenzied energy within him.

At first he had no clue, only able to feel pain and chaos.

But gradually, with the aid of 4x perception, he seemed to truly 'see'——

Strands of extremely faint, ice‑blue energy flow!

Like an uncontrolled wild horse, it surged wildly through his meridians and muscles!

Wherever it passed, it left a patch of icy cold and stinging pain.

Attempt to control them!

Chen Wen focused his mind on a small strand of energy, trying to guide it toward the body surface.

This process was extremely difficult, like using a fragile thread to tug at a raging bull.

That energy was extremely unruly, repeatedly almost breaking free of control, even backlashing his mind, causing waves of dizziness.

【Mind highly focused, entering the 'earnest self‑forgetting' state. 4x efficiency boost activated. Energy guidance efficiency temporarily increased.】

【Warning! Unknown interaction occurring during the energy guidance process with the 'Killing Qi erosion' state!】

The system's prompt made Chen Wen's heart tighten, but once the bow is drawn there's no turning back!

He gritted his teeth and persisted, relying on the 4x boosted willpower and control.

Bit by bit, he painstakingly shifted that strand of ice‑blue energy to the skin's surface.

Success!

When that strand of energy finally covered a small patch of skin on his arm, a peculiar sensation arose.

It didn't become warm; rather, the cold feeling in that part disappeared!

It was as if an invisible, icy insulating film had been covered, preventing further loss of internal heat!

Effective!

Chen Wen's spirit lifted; following the same method, he began carefully guiding more of the alien energy to cover the body surface.

This process was extremely mentally taxing, slow, but the effect was significant.

He no longer shivered from cold all over, and the rate of body heat loss greatly slowed.

【Successfully guided unknown energy, temporarily alleviating hypothermia risk. Understanding of energy slightly increased. Diligence Points (WP)+5.】

【The unknown alien energy is named 'Dark Energy'.】

【'Dark Energy Contamination' status update: continuously eroding the body and system, yet can be preliminarily guided for use (extremely high risk).】

Dark Energy?

Is this the energy of those blue crystals?

Chen Wen let out a slight sigh of relief; at least he wouldn't freeze to death for now.

He leaned against the rock wall, maintaining fine control of the Dark Energy on his body surface while vigilantly listening to distant movements.

The sound of the underground river's flow masked many subtle noises; for now there were no signs of pursuers.

They might think he drifted far downstream, or perhaps they were searching elsewhere.

He needed to quickly recover stamina, treat his injuries, and figure out exactly what this Dark Energy was.

He checked his leg injury; it was merely a muscle contusion, not involving the bone.

With the foundation of a 4x constitution and system assistance, his recovery speed would be much faster than an ordinary person's.

But right now it was still excruciatingly painful, affecting movement.

And the Dark Energy inside him that could not be guided, chaotic, remained the biggest hidden danger.

They constantly interfered with the system's normal operation, and occasionally caused Chen Wen to experience a hint of hallucination.

Faint whispers filled with bloodlust seemed to echo in his ears.

【During system self‑check…… core functions (multiplier boost, WP calculation) operating normally. Auxiliary functions (status monitoring, abnormal handling) suffering severe interference, efficiency low.】

【'Dark Energy Contamination' analysis progress 18%…… parsed some characteristics: extremely strong energy inertia (hard to dispel), mental pollution trait (requires willpower to resist), shares the same source as Killing Qi but is more refined…… suspected to be convertible to WP…… conversion module damaged…… cannot attempt……】

Convert to WP?

Chen Wen's heart stirred.

If this dangerous energy could be converted to WP, wouldn't that be turning misfortune into blessing?

What he lacks most right now is WP!

But the system indicated the conversion module is damaged; it seems temporarily impossible.

Time trickled by; under high tension and continuous energy guidance, Chen Wen's stamina and spirit were slowly being depleted.

He dared not relax, maintaining the Dark Energy insulating layer on his body surface while striving to run the system.

Attempting to speed up injury recovery and disperse the chaotic Dark Energy within.

【Continuously resisting Dark Energy Contamination, willpower is tempered. Diligence Points (WP)+1……+1……】

【Injury slowly healing. Current stamina: 43%】

The increase in WP was minuscule, but better than nothing.

Just then, the silver hairpin of his mother Liu Shi in his bosom again transmitted an abnormality!

This time, it was no longer merely icy cold.

but a slight, regular palpitation!

as if responding to something!

Chen Wen startled violently, immediately pulling out the silver hairpin.

All he saw was the surface of the silver hairpin enveloped in a layer of extremely faint, almost invisible light.

It flickered lightly at a certain peculiar frequency, and the hairpin also transmitted a subtle vibration.

Such vibration is hard for ordinary people to perceive; only Chen Wen with 4x ability can sense it.

And the direction it pointed to turned out to be the dark depths further downstream of the underground river!

What is this…?

Before, the silver hairpin only reacted to high-density yin-energy environments; why is it now actively producing a directional change?

Could something deep downstream be attracting it?

Or perhaps it is attracting something it once came into contact with?

……the mother's aura?

A thought flashed through Chen Wen's mind like lightning!

The sealed entrance tightly guarded by the Iron Crow Army!

Could mother and little sister have been imprisoned there?

And there, does some deeper secret related to yin energy exist?

Does this change in the silver hairpin mean……they might be somewhere downstream?

Or perhaps they once stayed there?

The spark of hope was ignited again!

Although the road ahead is unknown, dangers lurk everywhere, and yin energy still wreaks havoc inside his body.

But the silver hairpin's change gave him a clear direction!

He must go downstream to see!

He took a deep breath and struggled to his feet.

His leg still hurt, but he could barely walk.

The yin-energy insulating layer on his surface temporarily maintained his body temperature.

He glanced at the system panel.

【Current Status: Level2(4x effect)

|Stamina: 44%

|WP: Low

|Abnormal Status: Yin-energy Contamination (moderate), minor bruise, cold resistance (temporary)】

His status remained poor, but at least he now had the ability to act and a goal.

He gripped the silver hairpin, which continued to send faint throbs, and turned his gaze toward the dark downstream river.

The rest is over; it's time to set out.