Chapter 173: Underwater Exotic Beast
The Cold Pool was crystal clear.
The Public Water Spirit jumped in.
It moved all four limbs, as graceful as a fish in water.
Tang Wen’s vision was not obstructed.
The Public Water Spirit slowly descended.
The Exotic Beasts that had jumped in earlier appeared below it, a dark, dense mass.
His temples throbbed slightly.
His Spiritual Power was about to bottom out.
Tang Wen broke his visual link with the Public Water Spirit and closed his eyes, using a Meditation Technique to recover his mind.
As long as he didn’t completely drain his immense Spiritual Power, he could use the Meditation Technique to quickly restore it to a certain level.
The Brown-tailed Crow left the tree trunk.
It flew toward the valley where the Ice Spring was located.
The sky was wide open.
A distance of over ten kilometers was covered in the blink of an eye.
Tang Wen finished his Meditation and connected to its perspective.
Intense emotions of fear and unease were transmitted from the Brown-tailed Crow to Tang Wen.
It circled high in the sky, watching the white, swirling mist from a distance, but it absolutely refused to get any closer.
The Public Water Spirit and the other Exotic Beasts had also stopped here, unwilling to proceed.
Only after drinking large amounts of Stimulant Potion did they continue forward.
’It seems this is the danger instinct of an Exotic Beast.’
Fortunately, the Brown-tailed Crow had excellent vision.
It could see the areas near the Cold Pool, where the white mist didn’t reach, with perfect clarity.
What instantly caught Tang Wen’s eye was a black-robed figure.
Or more precisely, his robe.
On the long robe, whose thickness was impossible to discern, the black seemed to come alive, constantly flowing across its surface.
Like ocean currents on a weather map, it flowed back and forth within a small area.
’A Curiosity?’
A term he had only heard of, one that made him curious from the bottom of his heart.
A piece of clothing that seemed like a living creature.
Although he didn’t know what it did...
...just its appearance was enough for it to be called a "Curiosity."
SWISH!
The black-robed figure seemed to sense something and looked up.
Toward the sky.
Toward the Brown-tailed Crow.
Their eyes met.
FLAP FLAP FLAP.
The connection to Tang Wen’s vision was severed instantly.
The Brown-tailed Crow, like a dragonfly with broken wings, plummeted from the sky.
BUZZ.
His mind went dizzy.
Tang Wen grunted and clapped his hands over his ears.
At this moment, he felt like someone extremely prone to seasickness who had just endured a three-day, three-night storm at sea.
He was completely disoriented.
’This is the power of the Divine Martial Realm?’
Although he couldn’t see the face clearly...
...he could guess that the one who had looked was the Gang Leader.
The Gang Leader of the Black Water Gang, whose Spiritual Power had materialized!
Besides this Fifth Grade Divine Martial Realm expert...
...no one else, not even an expert like the Queen at the Peak of Martial Arts Realm, could intimidate Tang Wen’s spirit from afar with just a single glance.
His current Spiritual Power was in no way inferior to that of a typical Veteran Extraordinary.
Only a Divine Martial expert, a whole major Realm above him, could suppress him.
No one else had such strength.
The Brown-tailed Crow’s fate was unknown.
He tried several times but failed to re-establish a connection with it.
’What a pity!’
Brown-tailed Crows were rare.
Developed into a flock, they could monitor an entire area of airspace.
Their usefulness could not be understated.
But he had no intention of going over to check.
A Brown-tailed Crow was certainly rare.
But he only had one life.
After Meditating for a while, Tang Wen once again connected his Spiritual Power to the Public Water Spirit underwater.
Terror, loss of control, madness.
It was as if his vision was smeared with thick paste.
The emotions transmitted from the Public Water Spirit were negative and intense.
Countless bubbles appeared in its field of vision.
Not only was the Public Water Spirit struggling, but all the Exotic Beasts were flailing their limbs wildly.
Like drowning people desperately trying to swim up, their bodies were involuntarily sinking further down.
Tang Wen severed the connection with the Public Water Spirit.
Then, one by one, he tapped into the vision of the other Exotic Beasts.
The feedback—the emotions and the sights—was basically the same.
’Looks like I was too naive before.’
’How could a matter involving the Black Water Gang’s Gang Leader personally be so easy for me to figure out?’
’It seems now that these Exotic Beasts are of little use.’
’They might just be a "catalyst."’
’The one truly doing the work is probably the Gang Leader himself.’
’I wonder, what is the goal of the men in black lying in ambush?’
’What viable plan do they have?’
Disconnecting the link, Tang Wen focused on Meditation to recover his energy.
「A moment later.」
"CAW!"
A coarse cry rang out.
Tang Wen opened his eyes, a look of pleasant surprise in them.
The Brown-tailed Crow had flown back.
"Caw..."
A weak, listless cry.
Its wings were trembling.
Tang Wen quickly picked it up and placed it on his lap.
He crushed an Extraordinary Blood Marrow Pill into mung bean-sized pellets and fed it three in a row.
He didn’t dare feed it any more.
No matter how smart it was, the Brown-tailed Crow was still just a Middle-level Exotic Beast.
The Extraordinary Blood Marrow was too potent, too nourishing for it.
Before long, the effects of the Potion were immediately apparent.
The Brown-tailed Crow perked up.
It once again flew toward the Cold Pool.
Tang Wen was surprised. ’This little crow is a reckless fool.’
It was proactively flying over to act as his eyes.
There was no reason not to use it.
The Brown-tailed Crow approached its destination, landing a few kilometers away.
There were no trees around.
It landed directly on the ground.
The excitement in Tang Wen’s eyes vanished.
From this angle, he could only see a group of people in the distance.
What these people were doing specifically...
...what movements they were making...
...what changes there were in the Ice Spring...
...he couldn’t see any of it.
’Fly up!’
’Just a little higher.’
Tang Wen sent the command.
The Brown-tailed Crow acted as if it hadn’t heard.
He couldn’t force it. He watched for a while longer but saw nothing useful.
He could only switch his vision again.
The next second, a field of blood-red appeared before the Public Water Spirit’s eyes.
It couldn’t see anything clearly.
This was because the immense underwater pressure had burst the tiny blood vessels in its eyeballs.
But there was also good news: the Public Water Spirit had calmed down.
The emotions transmitted from its mind were all fear, a trembling from the depths of its soul.
The fear was so intense...
...that Tang Wen, hiding over ten kilometers away, felt that his own surroundings were unsafe.
He looked around suspiciously for a long time before he finally felt at ease.
Time passed, drop by drop.
The powerful Constitution of a High-level Exotic Beast allowed it to recover some of its vision.
It could now vaguely make out things underwater.
Below the Public Water Spirit, Exotic Beast after Exotic Beast was also in freefall through the water.
Suddenly, it saw something. It pushed with all four limbs and paddled downward.
It bypassed one Exotic Beast after another, reached out, and grabbed the arm of the Little Water Spirit.
The Little Water Spirit had already fallen completely unconscious.
Fortunately, breathing in water was its instinct.
Otherwise, it might have already drowned.
It wasn’t just the Little Water Spirit; all the other Middle-level Exotic Beasts were unconscious.
The pool seemed bottomless.
They didn’t know how deep they had descended, and they were still going down.
SCHHFF!
Under Tang Wen’s command, the Public Water Spirit dug its claws into the rock wall of the pool.
Worn smooth by the water over countless years, the rock wall offered no handholds.
The Public Water Spirit found it difficult to climb up.
It could only move slowly downward.
The rock wall recessed at one point, forming a small, shallow cave.
Tang Wen immediately controlled them, making them squeeze inside.
WHOOSH!
The water churned violently.
The Exotic Beasts that had been below were now being pushed up by a current from beneath.
The Public Water Spirit glanced out uneasily.
The first thing it saw was a massive scale.
Densely packed, silvery-white scales!
A body so thick it would take several people to encircle it.
Eerie blue pupils.
The moment their light fell upon it...
...its very thoughts froze.
Those bucket-sized pupils were filled with coldness and madness.
The Public Water Spirit fell stiffly inside the cave.
The spiritual link broke. Tang Wen felt a warmth in his nasal cavity, and blood began to drip down. DRIP. DRIP.
But he seemed oblivious, recalling the enormous creature he had just seen.
’Was that... an Ice Chilong?’