Green Rock Profound Water

East of Green Rock Town stood a mountain of moderate size.

At the foot of the mountain was a forest filled with numerous ponds of varying sizes.

The sky had already darkened. Pure moonlight shone upon the tranquil forest, bringing with it an indescribable stillness.

Sasha Sasha Sasha!

A faint set of footsteps suddenly sounded, and a figure appeared.

"I've searched for half an hour. This is the largest pond, so it should be this one."

Xiao Ming stared at the enormous round pond before him, its still surface reflecting a silver moon, and muttered to himself.

After killing Green Ghost Poison Ghost, he had indeed failed to find the Green Rock Profound Water on them.

He had not immediately headed east of Green Rock Town afterward. Instead, he had returned to the inn and waited for half an hour, only coming here after the sun had set.

He had then spent another hour determining which pond was the largest, using that to locate the Rock Cavity where Green Ghost Poison Ghost had lured people in.

Naturally, the result of his search was the pond before him.

This pond lay deep within the dense forest and was more than twice as large as the other ponds along the way. There was no way it could be wrong.

After investigating the area around the pond, Xiao Ming found several human footprints, further confirming his suspicions.

"The moonlight is bright tonight, but relying on it to search this pond will probably be inadequate."

Standing beside the pond, Xiao Ming glanced at the unfathomably deep water and pondered.

No matter how bright sunlight was, its effect weakened once it entered the water, much less moonlight.

If he went down empty-handed, then no matter how wide he opened his eyes, he would never be able to use that faint light to find a hidden passage beneath the complicated lakebed.

Fortunately, anyone traveling outside naturally carried lighting equipment.

Standing at the pond's edge, Xiao Ming's hand flashed with white light. A gentle radiance illuminated several meters around him, allowing him to observe his surroundings far more clearly than when he had been relying solely on moonlight.

The Moonlight Stone worked remarkably well. Xiao Ming nodded in satisfaction, secretly praising how useful it was.

He circulated the Dou Qi within his body, forming a suit of armor around himself that would not hinder his movements. After placing a Detoxification Pill in his mouth, Xiao Ming made no further preparations.

He sat by the pond and tentatively dipped a hand into the water. It was icy enough to pierce the bone, vastly different from the hot springs he had soaked in before, causing Xiao Ming to frown.

This temperature was somewhat abnormal, but fortunately, it was still within the range he could endure.

With that thought, Xiao Ming no longer hesitated. He first lowered both legs into the water, then submerged his lower body, followed by his entire body, leaving only his head above the surface. Finally, even his head disappeared beneath the water as he silently dived into the pond.

The pond was indeed murky and dim, filled with stirred-up silt and dense aquatic plants. Even with the Moonlight Stone in his hand, Xiao Ming could barely see more than two meters around him.

After diving down two meters, Xiao Ming began searching along the shore of the deep pond for the so-called hidden passage.

If he found nothing, he would continue diving deeper and repeat the process.

After descending another five or six zhang, Xiao Ming finally found something.

A pitch-black opening wide enough for one person appeared before him.

"This should be it. I wonder how the Poison Green Twin Ghosts found such a bizarre place." Xiao Ming muttered inwardly, waving a hand as if trying to disperse the darkness before him.

With a sweep of his arm, he controlled his body and swam inside.

The passage was rough and winding, twisting and turning endlessly. After considerable effort, a glimmer of light finally appeared before Xiao Ming.

Seeing that light, Xiao Ming was overjoyed and sped up. "Finally, I'm here."

Splash!

A loud crash shattered the still surface of the water. Xiao Ming leaped out of the pond and landed steadily on the wet mudflat.

Since the Green Poison Twin Ghosts, those two Fishing Guys, had already been killed by Xiao Ming, no one here could ambush him. He could therefore take his time examining the surroundings.

After a brief inspection, Xiao Ming discovered that he was inside an enormous Rock Cavity. The ceiling was covered in countless stalactites, from which water dripped from time to time.

Moonlight Stones were embedded in the surrounding walls, illuminating the entire cave as brightly as day. They were presumably the work of Poison Ghost Green Ghost.

The bottom of the stone chamber consisted of two parts. One was the water surface he had just emerged from, while the other was damp ground formed from accumulated mud and sand. Mixed into the silt were shells from unknown mollusks, as well as traces of fighting.

Apart from that, there was also a passage directly in front of him that led to who knew where.

Seeing that there was nothing in this Rock Cavity, Xiao Ming did not hesitate. He raised his head and walked into the passage.

As he continued deeper inside, there were quite a few forks in the cave.

Fortunately, Moonlight Stones lined the way, so Xiao Ming hardly took any wrong turns.

After weaving through the caverns for some distance, Xiao Ming suddenly caught whiffs of rotting corpse stench.

This told Xiao Ming that he was close. He quickened his pace, passed around a corner, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

Before him was a massive Rock Cavity dozens of meters high. It was filled with green liquid more than ten centimeters deep, soaked with swollen, bloated corpses. Bright flowers grew from the corpses near the outer edge.

At the center of the green liquid was a small island roughly one square meter in size.

A one-meter-tall Exotic Cactus, like green crystal, grew upon it. The cactus flowed on its own, brimming with strange vitality.

"Hiss hiss..."

Suddenly, light flickered around the cactus. Amid the flashes, green liquid mist burst forth and struck a corpse in the inner area. A huge chunk of flesh was instantly blasted away, while drops of green liquid gathered at the wound and flowed into the Green Pool.

"So this is the Green Rock Profound Water! It truly is extraordinary!"

Holding his breath against the thick stench of corpses in the air, Xiao Ming stared at the strange Heaven and Earth Strange Object and marveled inwardly.

"However, this Mysterious Water clearly possesses extremely strong corrosive properties. Why did Poison Ghost Green Ghost throw the corpses they used to practice their poison arts into Mysterious Water diluted countless times over?"

Looking at the countless corpses there, Xiao Ming was first stunned by the ruthlessness of the Green Poison Twin Ghosts, then became deeply puzzled.

Even after being diluted, the green mist sprayed out by this Mysterious Water still had an effect. If the corpses dissolved, it would clearly be disadvantageous to them according to what Poison Ghost had said. Yet Poison Ghost Green Ghost had soaked the corpses in the water. Some corpses had even been reduced to nothing but skin and flesh floating on the surface, with only skeletal frames supporting them beneath the water.

"Besides, they didn't absorb this Mysterious Water either. If even one of them had absorbed it, I'm afraid I would have had a hard time dealing with them today."

Xiao Ming could not understand their logic. Could it be that there was only one portion of Mysterious Water, and they had delayed because they could not divide it fairly?

Forget it. There was no need to think about it further. It had nothing to do with him. He only needed to take the Green Rock Profound Water.

With that thought, Xiao Ming walked to the edge of the Green Pool.

"Eh, I was too focused on the Mysterious Water just now and nearly failed to notice it. This is... a Corpse Eggplant Flower."

Corpse Eggplant Flowers were medicinal herbs that only appeared in dark, damp places containing many cultivator corpses. They were bright red, and their fragrance contained deadly poison, but their flower juice was highly effective at repairing the body.

One flower was worth several thousand gold coins, and there were nearly twenty here.

Altogether, they were worth tens of thousands of gold coins.

What an unexpected windfall!

Xiao Ming bent down, intending to pick the nearest Corpse Eggplant Flower and see whether his judgment was correct.

But he discovered a Seven-Colored Shadow attacking his face.

Bang!

Pfft!

His body suddenly paused. With no unnecessary movement, Xiao Ming merely tilted his head and dodged the Seven-Colored Shadow's attack.

The Seven-Colored Shadow had missed Xiao Ming, yet instead of falling onto the open ground behind him as expected, it hovered in midair, its back emitting a buzzing sound.