Chapter 243 Underground River

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Chen Mo pondered for a moment before speaking, "Okay, but you have to tell me the complete Xuan Yin Cover technique first."

The eerie light in the corpse demon's eyes suddenly sharpened: "You still want the complete Profound Yin Shield?"

"yes."

He spread his hands, his tone sincere: "Give me the complete incantation, help me strengthen myself, wouldn't that be the only way to help you obtain the crystal?"

The Corpse Demon stared at the direction of the passage for a good dozen breaths.

Then it closed its eyes, completely ignoring Chen Mo.

The chains stopped swaying, the runes gradually dimmed, and the entire cave fell into a deathly silence.

It figured it out.

This cunning kid, with eight hundred schemes in his body, is clearly after my martial arts technique.

All these talk of transactions and crystallization is just a smokescreen.

Chen Mo waited a few moments, but seeing that the other party did not react, he couldn't help but sigh.

"I've been so sincere, but you still don't understand me."

After waiting for another ten minutes or so, he shook his head with regret, realizing he had been too impatient and should have waited a little longer.

Such dim-witted corpse demons are quite rare.

.....

Chen Mo redeployed the defensive formation in the passage, then squatted down, his ten fingers slightly bent, and his palms pressed down on the ground.

The Yin energy within his body flowed down from his dantian along his meridians, slowly seeping into the rock strata beneath his feet, spreading like a spider web into the earth.

A moment later, a look of joy appeared on his face.

found it.

Just twenty feet to the left front, about five feet underground, the water vapor was so dense that it almost solidified.

Although that direction is not on the main vein of the underground river, the water veins are interconnected. As long as it is dug through, it can eventually flow into the main river channel by following the water flow.

He manipulated eight shadow puppets to converge at the designated location, and gave the order.

Eight shadow blades simultaneously plunged into the ground, as easily as cutting through tofu.

The rubble and soil were peeled away layer by layer, and the eight shadow puppets had clearly defined roles.

Four workers were responsible for digging, two for clearing, and two for moving stones back and forth in the mine tunnel, stacking the excavated stones about ten meters away from the cave entrance.

A stone wall was quickly built up in the mine tunnel.

While watching the shadow puppet work, Chen Mo adjusted the position of the stone wall to ensure that it could completely block the exit of the cave.

The corpse demon inside didn't pay much attention at first, since no matter how much this kid messed around, it wouldn't affect him.

But as the stone wall grew higher and higher, it finally couldn't sit still any longer.

"What are you doing?"

The chains rattled, and the voice of the Corpse Demon came from the depths of the stone chamber, tinged with suspicion.

Chen Mo ignored it and continued to direct the shadow puppet to add stones to the cave entrance.

"I'm asking you what you're doing!" The voice rose a few decibels.

The stone wall has already been built up to half a person's height.

"I'm building you a house," Chen Mo said without looking up, "because I'm worried you'll catch a cold."

"..."

The ghostly light in the corpse demon's eyes suddenly intensified as it stared intently at the direction of the mine tunnel.

"Are you going to block the entrance?"

"clever."

Chen Mo dusted off his hands. "Since you won't let me go down from your place, I'll dig my own entrance, but..."

He pointed to the hole that was being blocked by rocks, "To prevent you from doing anything funny after I go down, I think it's safer to seal this hole."

"You dare!" Corpse Demon seemed hesitant.

"What wouldn't I dare to do?" Chen Mo grinned. "Once I block up the entrance and collapse the mine tunnels outside, this place will be completely isolated from the outside world. Your ghosts won't be able to escape, and no one will bother you anymore."

"Senior, please remain locked up for another five hundred years and wait for the next destined person."

The chains shook violently, and the entire rock face trembled.

The runes flickered wildly, their light fading as if they were enduring some immense impact.

"You little beast!" The corpse demon's voice was filled with boundless rage. "You dare touch my cave entrance? I'll risk all my cultivation to..."

"What else do you want?" Chen Mo interrupted, "Do you want me to curse at you too?"

"Come out and hit me if you dare!"

The Corpse Demon's voice abruptly stopped.

The stone wall has grown several stories higher and is almost at the top.

"......stop."

Its voice suddenly lowered, carrying an indescribable sense of frustration.

"What exactly do you want?"

Chen Mo stopped what he was doing and turned around to look at the crack in the stone wall.

"Tell me a few more cultivation techniques, the complete kind. If you do well, I'll consider leaving you a little room to breathe."

The Corpse Demon remained silent for a long time.

Just when Chen Mo thought it was truly determined to fight to the death and was about to continue piling stones, a long sigh came from inside.

"...It's not that I don't want to give you the complete cultivation method."

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow.

"I'm also a rogue cultivator."

The Corpse Demon's voice lowered, "Three hundred years ago, I was a rogue cultivator, and none of the cultivation techniques I possess are complete."

"I took the Xuanbing Splitting Needle from a dead rogue cultivator. It only has five layers, missing the last two."

"I traded an artifact for the Earth Escape Technique, so it was incomplete from the start."

"Mysterious Yin Shield... I only have the first three layers; I don't even have the last three layers myself."

"Really?"

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment, unsure of how to begin.

That old man, he was just fooling himself all along.

"Then what are you pretending for?" His tone was full of disdain. "You don't even have a complete cultivation technique, what are you pretending to be, some senior expert?"

"I....."

"What do you mean, 'what'? What are you talking about if you don't have any cultivation techniques?"

Chen Mo turned around, ignoring the incessant chatter of the corpse demon inside the cave.

The eight shadow puppets continued digging downwards; the pit in the mine tunnel was already more than a meter deep.

He pulled the merit banner from his bosom and shook it gently.

The black mist surged, and the banner trembled slightly.

Chen Mo probed the banner with his divine sense, passing over the Yin spirits that had been collected, and explored all the way to the deepest corner.

There huddled a gray, hazy shadow.

"Ghost, come out."

The shadow twitched a few times, then slowly unfolded, revealing the silhouette of a hunched old woman.

.......

They dug for more than an hour.

The pit in the mine tunnel had been expanded to be wide enough for people to pass through, and eight shadow puppets took turns chiseling through the last layer of rock.

Dark river water gushed from the cracks, icy cold.

The current wasn't rapid, but the volume was considerable, and within just a dozen breaths, a small pool of water had formed at the bottom of the pit.

Chen Mo squatted by the pit and reached out to test the water temperature.

The moment my fingertips touched the water, a chill ran up my fingers.

He withdrew his hand, shook off the water droplets, and took out a paper figure from his pocket.

The paper figure is about the size of a palm and is roughly cut, but it has all four limbs.

The pale purple true energy at his fingertips flickered twice and slowly flowed into the paper figure.

It trembled slightly, as if it had come to life, jumped twice in my palm, and then plunged into the water with a splash.

Chen Mo closed his eyes, connecting his consciousness with the paper figure.

The paper figure floated in the water for a while, then drifted downstream with the current.

The sensations I received were somewhat vague and intermittent.

The water was cold and dark, and the only sound was the rushing water.

One breath, two breaths, ten breaths, thirty breaths...

As the paper figure drifted further and further away, the area that Chen Mo could sense gradually expanded.

Everything was just a blurry outline, but at least it showed that the road was passable.

Until the paper figure was about a kilometer away from him.

Perception abruptly ceased.

Chen Mo opened his eyes, his brows furrowing slightly.

Too far.

It's beyond our control, or something underwater might be interfering with the communication.

He took out his pocket watch and glanced at it.

The pointer points to three o'clock a quarter of an hour later.

From the moment we entered the mine until now, we've wasted more than five hours with that old man, and time is running out.

Chen Mo gritted his teeth, stuffed the pocket watch back into his pocket, and then took out a paper doll from his sleeve.

The paper figure was pure white, covered with runes drawn with cinnabar.

He wrote his name and birth date on the back of the paper figure and hid it close to his body, placing it on his chest.

This paper figure can come in handy if any danger arises.

However, it's best never to use it.

Chen Mo stood up and walked to the edge of the pit.

The dark river water had overflowed to the mouth of the pit, the surface of which was pitch black and reflected no image.

He took a deep breath, put the merit banner into his storage space, and then leaped into the air.

With a splash, the icy river water submerged his head.

A chilling coldness surged in from all directions.

It was darker underwater than I had imagined; you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

With a thought, all the water flow automatically bounced away, creating a vacuum area about two meters in diameter around Chen Mo.

Instead of rushing forward, he first steadied himself, suspending himself in the water, while simultaneously spreading his divine sense to perceive the surrounding environment.

To the left is a rock wall, rough and cold, covered with something slippery, like moss, but not quite.

To the right was an empty body of water, the boundaries of which could not be detected by divine sense.

There was no sound underwater, only the silent flow of water.

Chen Mo steadied himself, circulated his internal energy to stabilize the vacuum area, and then slowly moved forward against the direction of the water flow.

The underground river was wider than expected, with the narrowest part of the left and right walls being three or four zhang wide. The rock strata overhead were undulating, with the lowest point almost touching the water surface and the highest point hidden in darkness, making it impossible to detect the top with divine sense.

He maintained a height of about ten feet above the riverbed, so that he would neither touch the bottom nor hit the stalactites at the top.

The water flow is very rapid.

Going against the current is much more strenuous than going with the current, but fortunately he doesn’t need to paddle. He only needs to maintain a vacuum zone, and the water flowing around him will automatically propel him forward.

Fortunately, we encountered that water demon.

As Chen Mo went upstream, he silently sighed to himself.

If I hadn't obtained the water control ability from that water fiend back then, how could I be so at ease now?

Just swimming against the current would be enough to give him a hard time.

Not to mention that maintaining a vacuum and multitasking would consume many times more energy.

Now, with just a thought, the water around him seems to understand human nature and actively avoids his area.

.....

It was pitch black all around.

There was no light, no bioluminescent organisms, not even moss.

Chen Mo's divine sense was limited in the water, only able to extend about eight meters beyond which it disappeared into nothingness.

He didn't know how long he had been swimming.

It could take half an hour, or it could take an hour.

In this darkness where there are no reference points, time becomes blurred.

The only change that could be perceived was the water temperature.

It's getting colder and colder.

The chilling cold was like countless fine needles, piercing into the vacuum area from all directions and seeping into the skin.

Chen Mo had no choice but to circulate his true energy, allowing the power of Taiyin to flow through his meridians and devour the cold that had invaded his body.

The river channel began to narrow.

It narrowed from three or four zhang wide to two zhang wide, and then to one zhang wide.

The rock face drew closer, the water flowed faster, and the vacuum zone squeezed the rock face, producing a dull friction sound.

He slowed down and probed forward with his divine sense.

About two zhang ahead, the river suddenly narrowed, forming a narrow waterway only half a zhang wide.

The water flowed faster there, making a thunderous sound.

Chen Mo gritted his teeth, contracted the vacuum area to fit tightly against his body, curled up into a ball, and used the propulsion of the water flow to rush forward.

boom.....

The narrow waterway resembled the throat of a giant beast, with sharp stone edges on the rock walls on both sides, grazing the edges of the vacuum zone.

He could feel the marks left by the stone edges scraping against the protective aura, making a hissing sound.

......

The river suddenly opened up, so wide that even divine sense could not fathom its boundaries.

Chen Mo was panting heavily; the previous exchange had depleted a lot of his true energy.

Just as I was about to find a place to rest, my divine sense suddenly detected something moving ahead.

Very big.

And it's very fast.

They were rushing towards him.

Chen Mo's pupils contracted, and he immediately focused his divine sense in that direction.

Twenty zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Fifteen feet.

Ten zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Three zhang (approximately 10 meters).

The creature's outline gradually became clear: a huge lizard-like monster covered in gray-black scales, with thick limbs and webbed toes.

Its tail is almost as long as its body, flat like a paddle, and can leap several meters out of the water with a single swipe.

Its head is triangular, its two eyes glow with an eerie green light in the darkness, and its mouth is slightly open, revealing several rows of fine, sharp teeth.

Its height exceeds two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters).

Chen Mo gasped, "A corrupted platypus?"

This thing is clearly the overlord of this body of water.

The problem is, he doesn't want to provoke the other party, who has clearly already set their sights on him.

The lizard monster flipped over in the water, its thick tail whipping around, increasing its speed dramatically. It opened its massive jaws and lunged.

Chen Mo didn't have time to think much before his thoughts shifted.

The surrounding water flow suddenly stopped.

Then, centered on him, a huge waterspout suddenly formed.

The water in the underground river swirled wildly, forming a huge whirlpool with a diameter of over three zhang (approximately 10 meters), scraping against the surrounding rock walls with a cracking sound.

The lizard monster was swept up in the current, its body tumbling and its limbs flailing desperately, but it couldn't break free from the force.

Chen Mo loosely clenched his hands, his ten fingers slightly curled up.

The water hose suddenly tightened.

The pebbles mixed in the water were like countless sharp blades, cutting through the monster's scales.

The gray-black scales were peeled off piece by piece, revealing the pink flesh underneath. Fresh blood spread in the water and was quickly swept away by the whirlpool.

The monster let out a sharp hiss, the sound sounding somewhat muffled underwater.

"Huh? That's it?"

Chen Mo remained expressionless, his fingers tightening once more.

The pressure at the center of the waterspout increases sharply.

He then tried another water control method that he had previously demonstrated: heavy pressure.

Water can be compressed.

When pressure is applied simultaneously from all directions, the force exerted on the target is even more astonishing.

The monster's body suddenly stiffened.

The bones made a cracking sound, and the body felt as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand. The scales caved in, and blood squeezed out from the gaps.

The hiss turned into a wail.

Chen Mo did not stop, but increased the output of Taiyin power.

The pressure continues to increase.

The monster's body began to deform, and the sound of its skull shattering could be clearly heard even underwater.

The eerie green eyes lost their light and turned into two lifeless gloomy lumps.

He released the water valve, and the water vortex slowly dissipated.

The monster's corpse slowly sank in the water, continuing its descent until it disappeared into the darkness...