Chapter Fifteen: The Venom Pit and the Underwater Boss

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Su Yu spent every day in the waters near the base, patiently accumulating experience in killing and combat, steadily improving his swordsmanship level. The Blackwater Mystic Pearl’s water-repelling property only repels water itself; this invisible force field separates him from the lake water but does not block oxygen from entering, allowing him to remain submerged for long periods.

After a week, he had raised the basic Qi Refinement Heart Method to level thirty-three, investing 2.7 million cultivation points and 30 points of Dao practice. This reached the upper limit of the basic Qi Refinement Heart Method. To improve further, he would need to listen to the Dao or consume cultivation manuals to increase the Daoist level cap.

But he was short on money, holding only 62 silver coins—not enough to buy even one cultivation manual. So he could only bury himself in practice, accumulating cultivation points and Dao practice first, waiting until he had money to upgrade directly.

Not long after, Zhuang Zhuo, who had already refined his Gu, rushed over. With a wave of the Hundred-Gu Banner, a total of 100 Red Flame Flying Centipedes, ranging from level 23 to 34, were unleashed. They swarmed forward, overwhelming even monsters of level fifty or sixty with their sheer numbers. Though some losses occurred, he had many reserves in his Gu pouch; when one died, he released another.

This was the path of the unorthodox—requiring little cultivation level but able to summon formidable power in a short time. The drawback was that all his strength relied purely on Gu insects; if the opponent broke through them, it was game over.

Of course, Zhuang Zhuo was clear-headed. He only tested his strength against the fifty-to-sixty-level monsters to confirm he could handle them, then stopped seeking such strong targets. Instead, he targeted thirty-to-forty-level spirits, where a hundred Red Flame Flying Centipedes could tear them apart in a few strikes. Even facing multiple heads, as long as they were fewer than twenty, he was unafraid, and his overall efficiency barely lagged behind Su Yu’s.

However, as Su Yu’s swordsmanship refined further, his initial entry-level progress unexpectedly reached full capacity. Upon breaking through to “small achievements,” he once again surpassed Zhuang Zhuo.

Small Achievements: Sword damage +20%, attack speed +20%.

This was a substantial attribute bonus. Beyond that, his swordsmanship had made real progress, visibly increasing his killing efficiency.

Su Yu felt his golden-finger ability was like having his talent data quantified—no threshold, just the desire to learn meant mastery; no bottleneck, just effort meant improvement; reaching progress standards meant promotion—a truly miraculous system.

His more exquisite swordsmanship further improved his killing efficiency. With a slight point of his sword, the Ice Soul dragged fine ice shards through the water, swirling nimbly around the spirit fish. A streak of blood circled from its head to tail, slicing through with a ring of cuts.

The fish spirit’s vitality rapidly decreased as the blood trail slid down to the tail, leaving it drained of life.

One sword strike dealt six or seven hits, each hit about 450 damage. Ordinary and inferior template spirits of level forty had roughly 2,500 health points, unable to withstand his silky smooth combo at all.

Su Yu and Zhuang Zhuo trained together for several days. Spirits of level twenty or thirty near the surface of the water couldn’t endure his attacks; the killing efficiency was too high, and there weren’t enough spirits to go around. They separated and dove back underwater, seeking spirits of level forty or fifty.

Though the swamp’s waters were vast, they could not compare to great rivers or proper large lakes. He only dived four or five hundred meters deep before reaching the bottom. Even going further, the depth was only seven or eight hundred meters at most.

The lakebed ecosystem was simple, mostly rugged mud with few stones and occasional aquatic plants. The mud harbored many shellfish, snails, shrimp, crabs, and some unidentifiable soft-bodied worms.

Su Yu didn’t dare to dive to the very bottom, fearing some large monster lurking in the mud might suddenly attack when he was unguarded.

The active aquatic spirits at this depth generally ranged from level fifty to sixty, with occasional monsters above seventy.

This level was somewhat challenging and risky for Su Yu but offered rich experience. With caution, introducing only one spirit at a time, he could manage.

He farmed continuously until nightfall, then surfaced to rest, continuing the next day.

After a while, having nearly cleared out the spirits in this lakebed area, he moved on to a new location.

Time passed slowly, and he unknowingly drifted far from the small island where the base was located, entering an extremely vast water region.

Within thousands of kilometers, no islands appeared. The lake was extremely deep—well beyond a thousand meters, with some depressions reaching depths of two to three thousand meters.

One early morning, Su Yu rose early and flew above this water region, scouting for an unexplored area before plunging in.

Within a minute, he descended to the bottom, suspending himself about a hundred meters above it. Holding the Ice Soul sword overhead, he scanned left and right, focusing on a wandering green-backed grass fish spirit about seven or eight meters long, level 66, of an inferior template.

He pointed a finger, and the Ice Soul sword’s light flashed, trailing a sword rainbow over ten meters, striking forward.

A smooth combo encircled the grass fish spirit, already reducing nearly half its health. Invoking sword control, the sword light reversed for a second silky combo, draining over half its health.

Only then did the grass fish spirit react, turning its thick tail and stirring a strong current as its massive body lunged forward like a torpedo.

Su Yu smiled faintly, ready to summon his flying sword when a sudden sense of danger flashed through him.

He reflexively surged upward, just in time to see a large cloud of murky water explode some fifty or sixty meters below. A massive shadow burst forth, biting the grass fish spirit and dragging it down.

“Boss?”

In a fleeting glimpse, Su Yu caught the silhouette.

Mutated Two-Headed Worm (Elite): Level 82, aquatic, insectoid.

Attributes: HP 82,000; demonic power 2,000; attack 2,800; speed 36 km/h; skill: rapid regeneration.

He continued to rise, the water below a chaotic blur. Judging by the blood seeping from the murk, the grass fish spirit was certainly swallowed alive.

“This thing... seems hard to solo.”

Su Yu knew his strength well. Challenging such a high-level boss alone was very risky. Moreover, underwater was the boss’s home turf; once the water turned murky, he was at a loss, unable to fight effectively.

But ignoring a boss was foolish. After a brief hesitation, he opened his communicator and sent a message to the team chat:

“Boss detected, come quickly!”

He shared the details he had just observed. Zhuang Zhuo responded immediately:

“Coordinates!”

Su Yu quickly surfaced and flew out of the water:

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“Base, 10:30 direction, approximately 320 kilometers.”

“Received.”

“On our way.”

Within five minutes, a green wooden boat arrived. Four people jumped out, shouting:

“Where?”

“Underwater.”

“Can we lure it out?”

“Not really. Its main body seems to be a soft-bodied worm hiding in the muddy bottom. We can only attack it down there.”

“Hmm...”

After some hesitation, Zhuang Zhuo waved the Hundred-Gu Banner with a smile:

“What’s there to hesitate about? Let’s go straight in. We have our own Gu pits; losses will recover quickly.”

“Alright.”

With the decision made, the five leapt into the water.

Diving swiftly, they soon reached the bottom. Su Yu pointed to the still-murky water:

“Right here.”

Zhuang Zhuo immediately summoned the Hundred-Gu Banner, unleashing Red Flame Flying Centipedes.

Beside him, Shi Ning summoned 100 Red Refined Snakes.

Meng Chen also released 100 Red Flame Flying Centipedes.

Gu Zhiqiu’s Gu were Blood-Mustache Mosquitoes. Though weaker than the Red Refined Snakes and Red Flame Flying Centipedes, their sheer numbers had grown to over 400.

Once summoned, Shi Ning directed the five-to-six-meter-long Red Refined Snakes to disperse and probe the depths.

“Bang!”

Another murky explosion erupted underwater. Shi Ning shouted:

“I’m missing two Red Refined Snakes.”

“Attack!”

The multitude of Gu swarmed into the murk. A massive shadow burst forth from the bottom’s eddying currents.

It was a two-segmented worm body nearly two meters in diameter, extending over thirty meters, moving back and forth underwater. At the top was a huge oral apparatus, wide open, revealing dense rows of teeth inside.

At the worm’s base, rings of swelling bubbles rapidly rose to the mouth, releasing an invisible wave of air like a cannon blast, exploding tens of meters away. Any Gu inside were instantly shattered.

“Now’s the chance.”

Su Yu pulled out the Mountain-River Seal, exhaling a concentration of magical energy. The seal grew rapidly to the size of a villa, like a meteor breaking the water’s surface as it crashed down.

“Boom!”

The chaotic explosion blinded vision entirely. Only a giant 1,500-point damage number appeared.

Relying on this, Su Yu activated the Mountain-River Seal’s auxiliary Dao technique, Mountain-River Suppressing Seal, hoping to pin down the two-headed worm.

But the worm was too high-level and powerful. It overturned the seal after only two seconds, then unleashed an air blast. Su Yu’s protective aura flickered violently, his defense instantly dropping by 4,700.

Fortunately, his level thirty-three Qi Refinement Heart Method’s protective aura had a defense of 9,900, stubbornly withstanding the blow.

He flew leftward, away from the original spot, recalling the Mountain-River Seal and raising his hand to unleash a palm strike charged with purple primal energy.

-2,450

A huge damage number exploded amid the murk. Without hesitation, Su Yu pointed his sword, and Ice Soul darted in.

The flying sword darted through the murk, slicing back and forth. Though he couldn’t see clearly inside, he trusted his instincts to find the two-headed worm’s body.

-124

-123

-131

A string of damage numbers appeared but were lower than expected.

The worm’s defense was too high. Even without thick shell scales, its tough skin could withstand massive damage.

Meanwhile, Zhuang Zhuo and others steered their Gu into the murk. Though they found the target, they struggled to break its defense; damage numbers hovered in the single digits.

The murk didn’t affect the mutant two-headed worm. It flailed its massive body inside, its two heads constantly spitting air blasts, each instantly killing one Gu.

The level gap was too great. Whether the two-to-three-meter Red Flame Flying Centipedes or the fist-sized Blood-Mustache Mosquitoes, all were instantly slain.

If this had been before, they definitely couldn’t have held out.

Now, with enough Gu, losses no longer pained them.

The dense swarm of Gu surrounded the two-headed worm to distract it, while the Ice Soul flying sword cut back and forth at the base.

Remarkably, though he couldn’t see inside, Su Yu could precisely sense the target’s position.

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Every fifteen seconds, Su Yu unhesitatingly slammed down a palm charged with purple primal energy.

-2,460

This creature’s main body stayed in one place, unable to move. As long as he targeted its root, every strike hit.

With each rise in his Qi Refinement skill, this move’s power grew more terrifying, becoming his strongest burst technique.

Every fifteen seconds, when the cooldown ended, he struck again without hesitation.

In just three minutes, he landed twelve strikes. Combined with repeatedly activating the Mountain-River Seal and tossing five Heavenly Thunder Pearls intermittently, they dealt about 51,000 damage.

With Ice Soul’s accumulation and the Gu’s bites, the total damage approached 60,000, leaving the boss with just over 20,000 HP.

“Bang!”

Nearby, the lake water around Shi Ning exploded violently. The blue orb above his head flickered, his protective aura nearly shattered.

He immediately channeled magic into his artifact to restore defense and turned to reposition, but the lake water exploded again.

The protective light shattered completely, and the blue orb cracked and fell.

“Damn, the boss is enraged.”

Shi Ning, barely alive with skin scraped, quickly fled, shouting a warning.

But no one needed to be told; everyone sensed that the mutated two-headed worm had entered a berserk state. Its air blast attack speed had drastically increased.

Su Yu warned:

“Keep moving, don’t stay still.”

He then struck another purple primal energy palm.

Coincidentally, the two-headed worm launched an air blast simultaneously, exploding the purple palm midair.

He barely dodged sideways. The lake water exploded at his original spot.

Swallowing a supreme spirit-restoring pill to replenish his magic, Su Yu summoned the Mountain-River Seal again and struck down, activating the Mountain-River Suppressing Seal.

This time, it lasted only one second before being overturned.

Without hesitation, he recalled the seal. The Ice Soul darted along the boss’s base, and six damage numbers popped up instantly.

“Bang! Bang!”

One Red Refined Snake and one Red Flame Flying Centipede exploded into chunks.

A second later, two more muffled sounds as over twenty Blood-Mustache Mosquitoes burst into gore.

“Damn, huge losses this round.”

The boss’s berserk attack speed was too fast, launching two air blasts every second. They mostly relied on Gu life to endure.

Fifteen seconds later, another purple primal energy palm strike followed by a Mountain-River Seal slam combo dealt four thousand damage.

He recalled his artifact and fled decisively, repositioning to continue wearing down the boss. When the cooldown ended, he struck another combo.

This back-and-forth continued until, on one strike, a warm surge flowed into his body.

32,000 killing experience, 11 Dao practice points.

“Finally dead.”

Shi Ning, Meng Chen, and the others recalled their Gu, cursing bitterly:

“Damn, huge losses this time.”

“Let’s go check the loot.”

They dove down and groped through the murk until they found the corpse.

“Damn, no loot?”

Even Su Yu was stunned.

“How is this possible? An 82-level boss leader with no loot?”

“Impossible.”

“No, really, no loot light sphere seen.”

“Maybe it’s deeper down?”

Meng Chen pointed to the other segment of the two-headed worm’s body buried deeper in the earth.

“Let’s store the corpse first and check.”

“I’ll do it.”

Shi Ning pressed his hand on the corpse, absorbing it into the Xumi Space. An empty hole appeared where the corpse had been, water rushing in. The next moment, a surge of dense spiritual energy burst forth, drawing deep breaths from the group.

“Such dense spiritual energy.”

“Seems there’s a whole world underneath.”

“Let’s dig down and see.”

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