CHAPTER 140: CHAPTER 138: THE FEROCITY OF THE WATER DEMON

Haoyang Cave.

After receiving the task of guarding the spirit vein of Haoyang Cave from his father, Zhou Xuanhao, Zhouyang immediately entered the spirit vein to inspect the situation.

This entire spirit vein of Haoyang Cave was almost single-handedly established by him, and he was intimately familiar with the environment inside.

Since Zhou Xuanhao had timely activated the Earth and Metal Spear Array to protect the spirit vein, the environment within had not changed much. However, the water level of the underground dark river was now significantly higher than before.

Zhouyang scanned with his Divine Sense and even sensed a trace of pure Water Spiritual Qi, evidently left behind by the Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast.

"That’s strange. The spiritual attribute of Haoyang Cave should lean towards fire and earth. Logically, being a water demonic beast, it should instinctively despise and avoid such places. Why did that beast still break through the defensive array at the river bottom to come here?"

A flash of doubt appeared in Zhouyang’s eyes, and he was quite puzzled by this.

Demon beasts are extremely picky about their living environments, and even when hunting, they choose to find prey in environments favorable to them. A fire demonic beast, unless starving, would never hunt in rivers, lakes, or seas rich in Water Spiritual Qi.

Zhouyang knew this, which is why he found it odd, feeling it was against common sense.

However, lacking sufficient information, even though he had suspicions in his heart, he dared not randomly make any guesses. He could only suppress his doubts and began adjusting the familiar Earth and Metal Spear Array.

If the demon beast comes again, this array would be his biggest reliance for dealing with it. After all, it’s impossible for him to personally go underwater to battle, nor is it likely that the demon beast would leave the dark river to fight him on land.

The Earth and Metal Spear Array is both offensive and defensive; when guarding, it can gather Spiritual Qi to form an earth attribute protective shield to shelter a region. With Zhouyang, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, overseeing the array, even a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator would require half a day to break the shield.

And when attacking, the Earth and Metal Spear Array can gather Spiritual Qi to release the Earth-Splitting Golden Halberd and counterattack enemies within a thousand meters of the array.

The Earth-Splitting Golden Halberd’s attack power is also impressive, fully capable of injuring both Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators and Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beasts.

However, this attack cannot be unleashed continuously, and it weakens the array’s protective shield during the attack, preventing it from being used as a common tactic.

Zhou Xuanhao previously managed to scare off that Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast precisely because, upon sensing the presence of the Earth-Splitting Golden Halberd, the beast voluntarily retreated.

At this moment, to fully unleash the array’s power without damaging the spirit elixirs growing on the spirit vein, Zhouyang adjusted the array and then embedded hundreds of Low-grade Spirit Stones into the array, patiently waiting for the demon beast’s return.

Unexpectedly, he waited for nearly a month.

One month later, while cultivating, Zhouyang suddenly sensed a powerful aura rising from the dark river.

"It finally comes, huh?"

A flash of anticipation appeared in his eyes as he quickly stood up and extended his Divine Sense towards the dark river.

With his current Divine Sense, its maximum range reached seven to eight thousand meters, whereas typical newly ascended Purple Mansion cultivators only had a range slightly over ten thousand meters.

Such a powerful Divine Sense greatly enhanced his ability to detect enemy movements compared to ordinary Early-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

As soon as the Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast entered the depths of the dark river within Haoyang Cave, Zhouyang’s extended Divine Sense clearly identified its entire form.

This demon beast appeared very similar to the giant salamander (baby fish) Zhouyang had seen in his previous life. However, unlike the scales-less giant salamander, the demon beast’s body was covered in scales everywhere except its head, and its limbs had sharp, long claws, appearing very fierce.

Most peculiarly, the demon beast had two long tendrils at the front of its head, ending in a fist-sized glowing crystalline body, resembling two glowing bulbs.

Just as Zhouyang’s Divine Sense scanned this beast, the immense creature over seven meters long seemed to sense Zhouyang’s presence, and the blue spiritual light on its two big "bulbs" at the front of its head flashed, directly shielding Zhouyang’s Divine Sense scan!

At this point, as Zhouyang continued to scan with his Divine Sense, it was akin to a radar screen with stealth aircraft; he could no longer see the presence of the demon beast through his Divine Sense.

"What kind of divine technique is this?"

Within Haoyang Cave, Zhouyang looked towards the tunnel leading to the dark river in surprise, astonished at the ability displayed by the demon beast.

This divine technique capable of blocking a cultivator’s Divine Sense scan is extremely rare. Even if a demon beast discovers a cultivator’s Divine Sense spying on it, at most, it would employ magical power within to obscure its body, preventing the cultivator from discerning its appearance.

Only very few demon beasts proficient in stealth and invisibility divine techniques can rely on special concealing divine techniques to hide their true location from a cultivator’s Divine Sense.

At this moment, Zhouyang even felt fortunate that this was a water-dwelling demon beast rather than a land-dwelling one.

Had it been a Tier Three High-Grade land-dwelling demon beast possessing such a Divine Sense-blocking ability, Zhouyang could only run as far away as possible.

Without Divine Sense assistance, a cultivator’s magical artifact or magical attack would lose accuracy, akin to fighting blind; how could he continue battling in such circumstances?

Now, although Divine Sense could no longer locate the demon beast, while the beast moved through the water, and considering its massive size, Zhouyang could fully determine its approximate position through changes in the dark river’s water flow.

Thus, once he sensed the beast’s silhouette disappear, he immediately began mobilizing the array to prepare his attack strategy.

Screeching—

Zhouyang mobilized the spiritual energy fluctuations triggered by the array, which naturally couldn’t be concealed from the demon beast swimming in the dark river. Although it didn’t know why Zhouyang couldn’t see it, it still chose to attack. However, it also had no reason to sit there and watch Zhouyang cast magic.

Thus, while Zhouyang was mobilizing the array power, he suddenly heard a cry similar to an infant’s lamenting wail echoing from within the cave on the dark river’s side, followed by the rumbling sound of river water filling the entire underground cavern.

Rumble!

Driven by the magical techniques of the demon beast, the surging dark river water rushed like a tidal wave along the passage leading from Haoyang Cave to the dark river below.

Seeing this, Zhouyang hastily mobilized the array power to form a shield at the entrance of the passage.

However, as soon as he fended off the first wave, the surging river water tore the ground at the passage entrance, creating several new passages. The icy dark river water rushed into the cavern without obstruction, quickly submerging most of it.

"Damn beast!"

Zhouyang’s face turned ashen as he watched the scene, furious beyond measure.

The spiritual vein of Haoyang Cave was established by him, and now the medicinal garden submerged beneath the river water was painstakingly created, with soil transported from Jade Spring Peak and seeds planted one by one.

Now, this medicinal garden, which cost him a substantial amount of effort, was obliterated by the floodwaters, years of hard work swept away in an instant—no wonder he was enraged!

"Die!"

Anger surged from his heart, and he immediately withdrew all protective forces, channeling all the array power together, instantaneously condensing a "Earth-Splitting Golden Halberd" over ten feet long, sweeping it across a certain area in the river.

The golden halberd howled forth, easily splitting all the river water blocking its path, finally landing harshly on the demon beast.

Whimper!

The golden halberd struck, and the demon beast cried out in pain, a long wound instantly appearing on its body, from which water-blue blood flowed, resembling seawater.

But before Zhouyang could see the extent of the demon beast’s injuries, its painful retaliation reached him.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Amidst the sound of sharp arrows piercing the air, dozens of blue water spears shot from the river in Haoyang Cave towards Zhouyang.

These blue water spears seemed unremarkable, but their penetration power exceeded that of ordinary tier three flying swords.

Zhouyang was not within the direct attack range of the water spears, but they easily penetrated dozens of meters of mudstone, appearing in front of him in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, he was within the array, capable of mobilizing array power for protection with a thought, instantly forming a thick wall in front to block the piercing water spears.

However, just as he repelled this wave of water spear attacks, more and stronger water spears appeared in his divine sense.

"Damn it!"

Cursing silently in his heart, Zhouyang decisively chose to retreat.

He wasn’t unable to block this attack, but there was no need to continue fighting, as in terms of magical power, he definitely couldn’t compete with a tier three high-grade demon beast.

Let alone him—even a Ninth-Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator couldn’t overpower any same-level demon beast purely in terms of magical power.

However, Zhouyang’s retreat meant Haoyang Cave was completely overwhelmed by the boundless river waters.

Under the control of the tier three high-grade demon beast, the surging dark river water even submerged much of the oasis on Haoyang Cave’s ground, transforming the small desert lake into a large lake with a water surface area exceeding twenty square kilometers.

"Beast, didn’t expect its water control ability to be so strong; could it possibly possess a Flood Dragon bloodline?"

In the sky, Zhouyang watched the suddenly expanded desert lake with shock and anger, his expression very troubled.

The water control ability of a water element demon beast is related to its cultivation, but more importantly, its bloodline.

The water flow of the dark river beneath Haoyang Cave itself isn’t substantial. A normal tier three high-grade water beast wouldn’t have the capability to bring the river water onto the surface, forming such a large desert lake before Zhouyang.

But now, the desert lake before Zhouyang showed no signs of decreasing, clearly indicating the demon beast relied on its divine techniques to forcefully change the dark river’s water flow, channeling water from other river channels here.

This ability is absolutely unattainable by a normal-bloodline tier three high-grade water beast.

Hence, Zhouyang speculated whether the demon beast possessed a Flood Dragon bloodline.

If it truly had a Flood Dragon bloodline, its real strength would definitely be far beyond what it seems on the surface—merely a tier three high-grade.

"No matter, first send a message to great-grandfather to let him come back and take a look; if this demon beast’s power truly exceeds what’s apparent now, it may be necessary to invite a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator to eliminate it!"

With a grim expression upon making this decision, Zhouyang’s flying sword turned beneath him, heading straight back to Yuquan Lake Oasis.