Chapter 54: Black Water Mysterious Serpent, Riverbed Water Eye

The man and the flood dragon quickly departed. Su Yu glanced at the distant battlefield from afar. Thirty-six people were each holding a banner of the Profound Nether Dark Water, deploying the Profound Nether Dark Water Grand Formation to encircle a Black Water Flood Dragon, continuously condensing streams of dark water snakes to besiege the creature.

Around forty or fifty people were launching joint assaults under the cover of the grand formation, with dozens more guarding the periphery. The Black Water Flood Dragon looked as though it had no way to escape.

However, at that very moment, the river water in the distance suddenly exploded, and another Black Water Flood Dragon surged up from the riverbed, opening its mouth to exhale boundless Gui-water quintessential energy that condensed into lightning and detonated.

"Oh?"

"A pair—male and female?"

Lu Boxiao and the others guarding the perimeter reacted instantly. But the second Black Water Flood Dragon that burst forth happened to emerge from a different direction, making them a beat too slow.

The massive dark snake slammed straight into the Profound Nether Dark Water Formation. The light barrier of the formation trembled violently, and the Giant Boat Gang players inside were knocked off balance by the tremendous impact, struggling to steady themselves.

Sensing the changes in the array, the Black Water Flood Dragon trapped inside the grand formation also grew frantic and began to rampage.

With pressure from both inside and out, the encirclement began to look precarious.

Immediately, someone shouted to Squad Leader Lu Boxiao:

"Captain, we can't hold these two Bosses!"

Lu Boxiao was decisive. He immediately sent a voice transmission to Su Yu, who had not yet gone far:

"Brother Su Yu of the Thousand Feathers Guild, please help intercept the Black Water Flood Dragon on the outside. The reward will be five gold pieces afterwards."

"Forget the reward. If I manage to kill the Boss, all the loot belongs to me!"

"No problem."

Su Yu reached out to press Ao Run's head and said:

"Take down that Black Water Flood Dragon."

Ao Run nodded eagerly, flicking her thick dragon tail as she charged toward the Level 162 Black Water Flood Dragon. From afar, she exhaled a breath of the Sub-Meridian Cold Tide, causing the river water to visibly freeze and spread in successive layers.

The Black Water Flood Dragon, currently assaulting the Profound Nether Dark Water Formation, instantly sensed the massive threat posed by Ao Run. Disregarding the rescue of its companion, it whipped its head around, hissed at Ao Run with venom dripping from its sharp fangs, and lashed its thick body forward to charge at the flood dragon.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The frozen river water shattered layer upon layer under its brute force, producing a series of explosive reports. The Black Water Flood Dragon plowed across the ice layer and instantly clashed with Ao Run in a fierce melee.

Biting, tearing with claws, smashing with the tail—

The combat style of the demon race was so unadorned and direct, and even Ao Run, who possessed extremely high intelligence and practiced human Qi-refining mental cultivation methods, could not avoid it.

Clearly capable of using numerous spells and wielding dharma treasures, she still preferred to rely on her formidable physical body for close combat.

Su Yu did not make a move at first. He waited until both sides had traded blows for a while and the fight reached a heated pitch before deploying his twin swords to charge into the fray.

Dealing with a massive creature over one hundred and fifty meters long required no sophisticated sword techniques; there was simply no missing such a huge target. He drove both flying swords forward and hacked away savagely.

This creature possessed quite high defense, with a physique even higher than Ding Lingyu's divine general. However, it was no match for the twin swords' combined attributes: armor-piercing and sword-light-condensing-into-threads, which together provided a staggering 40% armor penetration. This not only broke its defense, but the damage output was also ferocious.

Today, Su Yu's swordsmanship had improved greatly under Xiao Qingli's guidance. Facing such a massive creature, his flying swords circling around its body could inflict over a dozen hits at once, with a single sword strike accumulating nearly twenty thousand damage.

When the two flying swords merged and swept fiercely along the Black Water Flood Dragon's body, which was several meters in diameter, the damage output could only be described as explosive.

When the damage he dealt became enough to make the Black Water Flood Dragon turn its attention to punish him, Ao Run stepped up her efforts, entangling and binding the dark snake relentlessly.

The man and the flood dragon cooperated seamlessly, firmly suppressing the Boss and preventing it from breaking free.

In less than five minutes, the Black Water Flood Dragon's health dropped by more than half, its entire body covered in bite wounds and dense circles of sword marks.

At this efficiency, it could be finished off in just a few more minutes.

However, at that moment, the other Black Water Flood Dragon inside the Profound Nether Dark Water Formation could no longer hold out. That one was only Level 145, and after being besieged for so long, its stamina was nearly exhausted. At a certain moment, it suddenly let out a long, mournful cry.

The other Black Water Flood Dragon, currently battling Ao Run, suddenly raised its head and roared. Opening its mouth, it spat out an inner core wreathed in dark water, which flew like a shooting star toward the Profound Nether Dark Water Formation.

Seeing this, Su Yu immediately sent a voice transmission to warn Lu Boxiao:

"Watch out!"

However, no warning was needed. Although Lu Boxiao was busy besieging his side's snake, his attention had never wavered from the other side. Having already seen the larger Black Water Flood Dragon spit out its inner core, he decisively retrieved a mass of red smoke and threw it out.

The smoke detonated in the water, rapidly expanding into a red mist covering nearly an acre.

The Black Water Flood Dragon's inner core crashed into it, causing the mist to sink heavily at the point of impact. A wave of air blasted outward, and while a large portion of the mist directly dissipated, the attack was narrowly blocked.

With its companion's support intercepted, the Black Water Flood Dragon trapped within the formation let out a mournful cry, opened its mouth to expel an inner core that trembled violently in the water, overflowing with primal core energy.

"Oh no, it's going to self-destruct its inner core!"

The thirty-six players holding the Profound Nether Dark Water banners all shook their flags simultaneously. The thirty-six dark water snakes weaving back and forth within the formation shuddered in unison, their profound nether Qi swelling as they charged straight at the Black Water Flood Dragon.

But it was already too late. The inner core detonated with a deafening roar, and the surging core energy erupted like a tsunami. The grand formation, formed by only thirty-six Profound Nether Dark Water banners, had limited strength and was blasted apart instantly, sending all the players flying.

Witnessing this, the Black Water Flood Dragon being besieged by Su Yu let out a sorrowful cry, opened its mouth to recall its inner core, and shuddered as its body swelled visibly by a circle. It instantly knocked Ao Run back and plunged headfirst toward the riverbed.

Ao Run opened her mouth and spat out her dragon pearl, which flew like a meteor and smashed into the depths of the water.

"Boom!"

Undercurrents exploded on the riverbed, but when Su Yu arrived, he only saw a pile of shattered scales and minced flesh.

"Pursue!"

Ao Run retrieved her dragon pearl, whipped her thick dragon tail, and gave chase.

Su Yu immediately followed closely behind, rapidly diving downwards.

After triggering its inner core's origin power, that Black Water Flood Dragon had gained a massive surge in speed—akin to a heavenly demon disintegration technique or an escape art—surpassing even Su Yu's current speed.

However, it was heavily wounded, leaving a strong, lingering scent in the water, so there was no fear of losing the trail.

Chasing in one breath for nearly ten minutes, they had long since left the previous area behind and entered the depths of the river. The monsters seen along the way grew increasingly high in level, and before long, creatures exceeding Level 100 could occasionally be seen in the surroundings.

Fortunately, Ao Run was powerful enough; no matter how high the level of the experience mobs, none dared to provoke a Boss.

Following behind her under the protection of her formidable aura, Su Yu encountered no monsters daring to approach.

"Why is this fellow running so fast?"

In this short span of time, the man and the flood dragon had traveled nearly hundreds of kilometers along the riverbed. The depth was unknown, and even the water-repelling space attached to the Black Water Pearl on his body had been compressed until it was nearly clinging to his skin.

Looking at the massive shapes occasionally sweeping past in the surroundings, Su Yu felt somewhat nervous.

The water-repelling effect of the Black Water Pearl could dive to a maximum depth of 10,000 meters. In shallow water, it could expand a water-free space one zhang in diameter, but the deeper the water and the higher the pressure, the smaller the water-free space would gradually become.

Now that the water pressure was almost touching his skin, it meant the water depth was approaching its ultimate limit.

This depth was nearly close to the heart of the Cangshui River, and Ao Run's strength was no longer considered overwhelmingly dominant here.

A low-health Boss was important, but no matter how important it was, it couldn't surpass his own life. Su Yu sent a voice transmission to Ao Run, who was relentlessly giving chase ahead:

"It's too dangerous here. Let's stop chasing."

Ao Run turned her head and spoke in human language:

"We're almost there."

"How do you know we're almost there?"

"I know where it's going."

"???"

Ao Run did not reply, merely charging forward with single-minded determination.

"Fine!"

This fellow was truly stubborn; Su Yu had completely figured out her personality.

This personality was sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing, and this time he had no way of knowing whether it would be good or bad.

Recalling her past behavior, Su Yu figured she was mostly reliable most of the time.

Making up his mind to continue following the flood dragon, just two minutes later, Ao Run suddenly slowed down. Su Yu immediately raised his head to look ahead, a trace of shock appearing in his eyes.

"Is this a water eye?"

Several kilometers ahead of them on the riverbed lay a subterranean cave several kilometers in diameter. Endless river water mixed with countless aquatic monsters sprayed out of the water eye like a churning tornado, scattering in all directions according to their levels.

Tens of thousands of monsters were spewed out every second—ranging from low-level fish and shrimp of levels 20 or 30, to giant-mouthed black carp and catfish spirits of levels 80 or 90, with giant fish over level 100 occasionally visible.

In the brief moment he observed, Su Yu even saw a Level 112 black flood dragon spewed out from the water eye, flicking its tail as it swam away into the distance.

A water eye was also known as a mob-spawning point in the realm of Beyond.

It was generally a place where earth veins converged, gathering boundless spiritual energy that, combined with the Heavenly Dao laws of Beyond, generated endless monsters—in other words, experience mobs.

Ninety-nine percent of the experience mobs in the world were spawned from these points.

Fortunately, when these monsters were newly generated, their consciousness was not yet fully formed; they merely followed the instincts granted by the Heavenly Dao to leave the water eye and disperse in all directions, without attacking one another.

Low-level mobs of level 20 and high-level monsters of over level 100 were spewed out of the water eye simultaneously, and even when brushing right past each other, they would not attack.

Therefore, despite the water eye refreshing tens of thousands of monsters per second and the surrounding area being densely packed with them, it was actually quite safe.

Su Yu quickly recovered from his shock upon seeing the water eye and asked Ao Run:

"This is a water eye, but where is the Black Water Flood Dragon?"

Ao Run extended a claw and pointed toward the water eye:

"In there."

Su Yu wore a puzzled expression:

"It hid inside the water eye?"

"No."

Su Yu scanned the surroundings of the water eye in confusion, seeing nothing at all.

Without explaining, Ao Run flew straight toward the water eye.

Filled with doubt, he followed closely behind. Soon, they arrived within a hundred meters of the water eye. Less than ten meters above their heads was the surging tornado of the water eye, its primordial, eternal roaring deafening to the ears, filled with densely packed monsters—the sensation was quite thrilling.

Upon arriving here, Ao Run suddenly shrank to the size of an arm and dove straight into the water eye.

"Follow me."

Su Yu looked up at the roaring water eye tornado and couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Our affinity is already over eighty; she shouldn't screw over her master now, right?"

Gritting his teeth, he activated the Nine-Aperture Precious Pearl and dove in.

Instantly, he felt a tremendously powerful impact erupting from within the water eye. Forcing himself to steady his body, he followed closely.

Seeing Ao Run agilely dodging the monsters spewing out of the water eye and diving downward, she plunged a thousand meters deep into the water eye, where he saw numerous cave openings of varying sizes dotting the stone walls along the rim.

The small ones were only the size of a fist, while the large ones were two to three meters in diameter. Ao Run found an opening, circled around it, beckoned to him with a claw, and plunged headfirst inside. He hurriedly followed.

The inner walls of the tunnel were warm and smooth like jade, with faint wisps of spiritual fog seeping out, looking quite picturesque.

Following Ao Run into the passage, Su Yu flew all the way down, the diameter of the tunnel expanding the further they went.

After twisting and turning left and right for about a dozen kilometers, his view suddenly broadened. At the end of the passage appeared a huge subterranean space several kilometers in diameter.

The space was crystal clear, and all around were glowing, warm jade walls that illuminated the entire cavern.

There were many passages of varying sizes along the perimeter of the space. At the very bottom stood pillars of jade, and concentrated spiritual energy had gathered and precipitated into spiritual liquid at the base. A Black Water Flood Dragon covered in wounds could be seen coiled around a jade pillar in the center of the liquid pool, healing its injuries.

"Found it!"

Blue light burst across Ao Run's body as she manifested her true form of over one hundred meters, opening her mouth to exhale a blast of the Sub-Meridian Cold Tide downward.

The Black Water Flood Dragon, which had been recuperating, snapped violently upward and roared as it met the attack.

The two colossal beasts collided fiercely, and the intense impact sent ripples radiating through the water layer by layer.

Having already been injured and having previously stimulated its inner core's origin power, the Black Water Flood Dragon was currently in a state of post-burst exhaustion. Soon, it lost out in the contest of strength against Ao Run and was suppressed.

Only then did Su Yu deploy his twin swords, launching a fierce barrage of cuts against the Black Water Flood Dragon.

The Black Water Flood Dragon once again unleashed its inner core, and Ao Run similarly expelled her dragon pearl to suppress it.

Completely suppressed on all fronts while also enduring his relentless siege, the weakened Black Water Flood Dragon quickly lost the ability to fight back.

Three minutes later, with Ao Run biting fiercely into the Black Water Flood Dragon's neck and shaking violently, she cleanly tore its head off.

The moment the Black Water Flood Dragon died, Su Yu instantly gained 1.95 million slaughter experience points and 136 points of Taoist attainment, while six loot light orbs floated up around him.

"Awesome!"

The green sparrow sword light flashed and swept all six items back to him, and he tallied them one by one.

251 Black Water Flood Dragon scales, usable for crafting Tier 6 garments or equipment, worth around a dozen gold pieces.

A damaged Black Water Flood Dragon inner core, worth roughly six or seven gold pieces based on its level.

A Black Water Flood Dragon spine. Since this flood dragon was over 150 meters long, the spine could fetch 10 gold pieces.

Black Serpent Sword (Tier 6 Flying Sword): Divine weapon, forged from the fangs of a Black Water Flood Dragon, imbued with potent poison.

Attributes: Attack power 260-300, attack speed 240-260, sword-piloting speed 250-270, sword technique bonus 50%. Characteristics: Serpent's Fang, Black Water Flood Dragon.

Serpent's Fang: Each attack inflicts 110 poison damage, health recovery speed -10%, lasting 15 seconds, stackable up to 5 times.

Black Water Flood Dragon: Channels the spirit of the Black Water Flood Dragon within the sword to summon a Level 162 elite-template Black Water Flood Dragon to assist in battle for 5 minutes. Mana cost: 1500. Cooldown: 24 hours.

Black Water Pearl (Tier 6): Accessory, crafted from the eyeball of a Black Water Flood Dragon, imbued with a trace of its power.

Attributes: Maximum mana +600, mana recovery +3.

Characteristic: Water Repulsion. Entering water creates a water-free space allowing free travel across rivers, lakes, and seas. Maximum diving depth: 15,000 meters.

Spell: Serpent Guardian. Automatically activates a phantom of the black snake to guard the user upon taking predetermined damage. The snake phantom has a defense of 10,000, lasting 15 minutes, activatable once per day, with customizable damage threshold triggers.

Right, its attributes were identical to the Black Water Pearl he was currently wearing.

However, the Black Water Pearl he was currently wearing had dropped from a Black Water Flood Dragon of only Level 112, making it only a Tier 5 item. This Black Water Flood Dragon was as high as Level 162, and the Black Water Pearl it dropped was Tier 6 with superior attributes.

Without hesitation, he swapped it out immediately.

The final piece of loot was a small pile of spiritual ore—Azure Nether Iron.

This was a high-tier spiritual ore, worth about 1 gold piece per chunk. This small pile contained 14 chunks, for a total value of 14 gold pieces.