Chapter 181: Black Whale

The deep pit, two zhang in diameter, glowed with fiery light.

Beneath the bone-chilling ice water lay scorching magma; water and fire converged at this deep pit, appearing magnificent yet dangerous.

"Subterranean fire and magma do not extinguish upon meeting water. No wonder no one has dug through the tunnel for over a thousand years; the cold pool water cannot put out the subterranean fire."

Li Yuan circled the deep pit twice, sensing slightly; the black light within his line of sight trembled rhythmically.

"This is definitely it!"

After circling once more to confirm the ancestor had left nothing behind, Li Yuan took out the severely damaged Autumn Water Sword, lowered it into the deep pit on a fish line.

After a long while, he pulled it up, testing the temperature; amidst the bone-chilling cold, a trace of poisonous fire remained.

"Both icy and fiery, but much better than the Chi Rong tunnel."

Li Yuan collected the scorching fire iron essence from the corner; this iron essence is worth its weight in gold, and this single pile must be worth several thousand taels of gold.

Instructing the little rat to stand guard outside, and swallowing several organ-protecting pills and blood-nourishing essence-replenishing pills, Li Yuan finally took a deep breath and jumped into the deep pit.

"Huff!"

Ice water and subterranean fire converged here, with surging undercurrents.

But with the blessing of the Red Dragon Fish skin armor, the surrounding cold pool water clung to him, causing no trouble; instead, he could use the surging undercurrents to dive deeper.

Illuminated by faint flickering firelight, Li Yuan opened his eyes and could see; schools of colorful fish swam past in the distance.

"Red-eyed sturgeon."

Li Yuan spotted a type of spirit fish common in the cold pool; the spirit fish swam in groups as he continued diving, observing the surroundings.

He was certain this place lay at an extreme depth beneath the cold pool; the water pressure was immense, and the spirit fish swimming all around were all large in size.

"Without that deep pit, diving normally to this depth would have suffocated me."

Li Yuan carefully surveyed the area; he remembered the Red Dragon Fish lived beneath the cold pool, where water and fire merged.

He suspected the Red Dragon Fish King might be nearby and naturally dared not be careless.

"Huff!"

Moments later, Li Yuan finished his first dive; even with the blessing of the Red Dragon Fish skin, he was human, not a fish, and could not breathe underwater.

"Again."

Li Yuan dove repeatedly, exploring the nearby waters; each dive went deeper than the last. After more than ten consecutive dives, he had thoroughly mapped the surrounding waters.

"Within several li beneath the deep pit, over ten species of spirit fish live, but none pose a great threat. Hmm, that makes sense; with the Red Dragon Fish King present, no flesh-eating spirit fish could survive."

Li Yuan performed several martial body stances; once his energy returned to its peak, he held several essence-replenishing pills in his mouth and dove again.

This time, he wasted no time, heading straight for the place where the firelight rose; from afar, he saw the magma surging and flowing at the bottom of the cold pool.

And a volcano rising from the pool bottom, extending straight upward.

"This mountain?"

Li Yuan looked up; by the faint firelight, he saw this small mountain extending straight upward, supporting the island within the Divine Weapon Valley.

This small mountain was roughly several li in circumference at its base, glowing red, with scorching magma flowing out from its cracks.

Water and fire merged here; and from afar, Li Yuan saw the Red Dragon Fish King coiled at the pool bottom.

"So many?!"

Li Yuan's eyelids twitched wildly.

Beneath that small mountain, amidst the firelight, there were at least thirteen Red Dragon Fish Kings, each twenty or thirty meters long.

These Red Dragon Fish Kings, already taking the form of sea dragons, would be no match even for a single Grand Completion of the Meridian-Opening realm underwater, let alone in a group.

"Could this small mountain be the Split-Sea Black Whale Hammer?"

Li Yuan felt some shock and doubt; the black light ultimately pointed here, but how could one approach?

After watching from afar for a while, Li Yuan felt chest tightness and was forced to return to the cave, resting for a while before diving again.

This time, he did not approach the place of firelight; instead, following the undercurrents, he approached the lower-middle section of this small mountain.

"No reaction..."

Li Yuan reached out to touch it; the Soldier Command Talisman gave no response. His guess was wrong; this

small mountain was not the Black Whale Hammer.

Or perhaps the hammer lies beneath the mountain...

Li Yuan took out a blade and sword to test it, discovering this small mountain was impossibly hard; even named-weapon-grade blades and swords could only leave shallow marks.

Huff!

Suddenly, Li Yuan sensed something; he quickly withdrew his blades and sword, looking toward the distance.

He saw a sphere of light drifting in the distant waters from somewhere, diving downward at extreme speed.

Li Yuan hid behind the small mountain, observing carefully; from afar, within that sphere of light, did he see a human silhouette?

"Organ Refinement!"

Li Yuan's heart trembled.

He had read in books that only Organ Refinement experts whose internal qi had transformed into reality could sustain a layer of true qi on their body surface capable of withstanding blades, weapons, water, and fire.

Who is this?

An expert from the Xieshen Sect?

Li Yuan crouched cautiously, but soon realized his worry was unnecessary.

When the sphere of light was still one or two hundred meters away, it nearly dispersed, then turned back toward the water surface.

"An Organ Refinement expert from the Xieshen Sect?"

Li Yuan could no longer hold his breath; he surfaced and returned to the cave, frowning slightly, guessing something major must have happened outside.

The only Organ Refinement expert of the Dormant Dragon Mansion, publicly known, was the valley master, Lord Master Gongyang Yu; could that person possibly be Lord Master Gongyang Yu?

"Need to hurry..."

Li Yuan's heart tightened slightly; he sensed that the dark light within his line of sight had stopped flickering.

"Extremely high talent, yet I still need to stack the Hammer Technique talent? But if I change hammers, I won't be able to dive..."

Li Yuan felt a headache; even the Sixth-Rank Army Command Talisman was completely insufficient. If he stacked the talent, he couldn't stack Water Affinity.

Without these five pieces of Red Dragon Fish Skin Armor, even a Zang-Cultivation expert couldn't dive this deep, let alone reach the bottom of the pool.

"Moreover, there are those Red Dragon Fish Kings..."

Li Yuan thought for a moment, feeling he still had to stack the Hammer Technique; if the pool bottom trembled once, wouldn't those Red Dragon Fish Kings flee?

"Let's try..."

Li Yuan commanded several hammers, but chose not to apply buffs, instead waiting for the interval between commands to pass.

"Pfft!"

True Qi broke through the mountain wall, and Master Baili Lei Jingchuan spat out a mouthful of icy water:

"Truly one of the Three Wonders of Huizhou. I can't even reach the pool bottom; no wonder the trash from Divine Weapon Valley can't even get close."

Zang-Cultivation martial artists can already sustain protective True Qi, even achieving brief underwater breathing, but the water pressure in this Cold Pool is too great, increasing the deeper one goes.

He hadn't even reached the pool bottom yet and already felt he couldn't endure it; if not for his powerful physique, he would have been injured.

If he couldn't do it, there was likely no expert in Huizhou who could.

"Hah!"

Taking a long breath, Master Baili Lei Jingchuan took a stele carved from beast bone from his chest, half white and half red.

"Most are dead, hmm, still need a few more..."

Weighing the stele in his hand, Master Baili Lei Jingchuan stepped into the tunnel; shortly after, he returned carrying two corpses.

"Now, that's about enough."

Master Baili Lei Jingchuan nodded; at this moment, these tunnels were not short of martial artists, enough for him to activate the 'Blood Vajra Stele' multiple times.

Wooo~

Pressing the bone stele against his forehead, Master Baili Lei Jingchuan chanted a few words, and immense power surged throughout his body.

"Blood Vajra!"

Looking at his skin, red as blood, Master Baili Lei Jingchuan turned and jumped back into the Cold Pool.

This time, he dove at extreme speed, quickly reaching the limit of his previous dive.

"Thousand Eyes Guidance..."

Master Baili Lei Jingchuan's mind shifted, gazing toward the dark, bottomless floor of the Cold Pool, where he faintly saw the red light guiding the Thousand Spirit Sacrifice.

Boom!

Suddenly, Master Baili Lei Jingchuan's heart skipped a beat; the small mountain piercing through the Cold Pool beside him actually began to tremble, and dark currents surged within several li.

Bang!

The small mountain shook, and subterranean fire surged.

Waves rolled in the Cold Pool, while within the tunnels, earth and stone flew everywhere, and many collapsed directly.

Some fled in horror, while others realized something and moved toward the source of the tremor.

"This tremor?"

In one tunnel, Master Gongyang Yu frowned slightly; this tremor was very familiar, but far more intense than before.

Bang!

Casually smashing a falling boulder, Master Gongyang Yu chased straight toward the source of the tremor.

"Is the Splitting Sea Black Whale Hammer reacting?"

Master Baili Lei Jingchuan's heart shook; he hadn't even used his techniques yet. Could this hammer have a connection with him?

However, he had no time to ponder this; as he approached, a Red Dragon Fish King shot straight toward him from the bottom of the Cold Pool.

Whoosh~

Dark currents surged, and the Red Dragon Fish King looked ferocious and vicious.

"The blood of this demon beast is enough for me to worship the Blood Vajra once!"

Master Baili Lei Jingchuan felt joy instead of anger; his figure moved, True Qi taking form like an arrow leaving the bowstring, rushing straight at the Red Dragon Fish King.

Bang!

From far away across the water, Li Yuan felt his teeth ache; the light sphere was still diving, yet that Red Dragon Fish King was actually knocked aside.

This Wu Gong...

"Gurgle gurgle!"

Li Yuan shivered, hiding behind the small mountain, only to see the fire veins beneath the Cold Pool erupt, startling all the Red Dragon Fish Kings.

Like a volley of crossbow bolts, they rushed toward the surface at incredible speed.

"So many?!"

True Qi shook; Master Baili Lei Jingchuan's face instantly changed. Without hesitation, he charged toward the surface; even he dared not fight these beasts underwater.

"Good!"

Seeing that unknown expert draw the fire for him, Li Yuan was overjoyed and dove toward the pool bottom.

He stacked the Hammer Technique talent for only an instant; after the small mountain trembled for a few moments, he decisively switched back to the Red Dragon Fish Skin Armor.

Dive!

Dive!

Li Yuan raced against time, rushing at the fastest speed toward that section of scorching mountain body, where the dark light lay.

As he drew closer, Li Yuan realized that this volcano was much larger than he had imagined; the cracked caldera was a full hundred-plus meters wide.

"Roar!"

Li Yuan dove down at top speed. As he neared the caldera, the water was silent, yet he seemed to hear a deafening, long-drawn cry.

This was no giant beast's howl, but rather…

"The call of the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing!"

Li Yuan looked toward the caldera and saw, amid the lava and toxic flames, a red dragon-whale a hundred meters in length!

The dragon-whale swam amid the icy water and toxic flames—or rather, all the icy water and toxic flames came from it.

"This is the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing!"

Li Yuan's heart pounded. On that red dragon-whale's body, he saw a dazzling black radiance, saw the true form of this eleventh-rank Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing.

A Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing taking shape?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Li Yuan lunged toward the caldera. Taking advantage of the Red Dragon Fish King not yet having returned behind him, he braved the bone-piercing cold and fire poison,

and swiftly groped his way toward that red dragon-whale!