Lying Low and Growing

Time seemed to stand still within the stone cavern.

Jingtian lay coiled in the center of the sandy ground, his eight tentacles rising and falling in a steady rhythm, like the primal breathing of a deep-sea creature. That peculiar source energy he had named "Spirit Energy" slowly yet continuously seeped into his body from all around—especially from that mysterious fissure.

The sensation was wonderful. The growth of Soul Power was clear and distinct, like a stream gathering strength in its riverbed. The nourishment of Spirit Energy was more subtle. It did not directly increase his strength, but it sharpened his senses, clarified his thoughts, and made his control over the Poison Source within his body increasingly effortless. The cluster of dark blue flames grew steadier under Spirit Energy's nurturing, its color becoming ever deeper.

He spent a long time—perhaps days, perhaps even longer—digesting the remaining energy reserves from devouring that Spiny-Armored Crayfish Beast. The process was not intense, more like spring rain soaking silently into the earth. His Soul Power cultivation steadily increased, rising from a few dozen years toward the Hundred-Year Soul Beast threshold. His body grew another size larger, his tentacles became stronger, and the suction of his suckers improved noticeably. He could even easily lift rocks several times heavier than himself.

When the last trace of foreign energy within him had been fully absorbed and converted, Jingtian slowly "opened" his eyes.

My Soul Power cultivation is probably close to eighty years now. He carefully assessed his condition. He was still some distance from becoming a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, but compared to when he had first been born, he had undergone a complete transformation. More importantly, the strength of his Poison Source had increased by at least twice, and he could control it as easily as moving an arm. If he faced a Hundred-Year Soul Beast again, as long as he successfully injected his venom, he could almost guarantee that it would lose its fighting ability—or even die—within a short time.

But he did not immediately leave his nest to test his strength.

Having just arrived, caution always came first. He needed to better understand this nest and establish a more complete warning and defense system.

Jingtian first turned his attention to the fissure that emitted strange fluctuations. Over the past few days, while digesting energy, he had also carefully probed it with his senses. The space inside the fissure was deeper than he had imagined, winding downward and seemingly connecting to deeper earth veins at its farthest point. That ancient, heavy aura faintly drifted from the direction of those earth veins. The "toxic" quality contained within shared the same origin as his innate poison, yet was purer and more overbearing, as though it had accumulated through endless ages.

He did not dare venture deeply inside. In his current state, it was still too early for him to come into contact with power of that level. However, he discovered that simply cultivating near the entrance of the fissure and absorbing the aura leaking from it nourished his Poison Source far more effectively than cultivating elsewhere in the stone cavern.

So he spent some time carefully using a substance secreted from his body, mixed with weak poison and mucus, to construct a more intricate "filter" at the fissure's entrance. This membrane allowed the beneficial ancient aura to seep out slowly while also providing a degree of isolation and warning—any creature attempting to force its way in would trigger the venom membrane's fierce counterattack.

Next came the cavern itself.

Jingtian began systematically exploring his future "home." He swam through every passage, touching every rock wall with his tentacles and sensing the texture of the stone, the size of the cracks, and the direction of hidden currents. Thanks to the Blue-Ringed Octopus's outstanding sense of touch and perception, he quickly formed a detailed three-dimensional map in his mind.

The stone cavern had three main entrances. One was the main fissure through which he had entered, concealed but not particularly safe. Another lay high along the cavern's side, connecting to a narrow upward passage whose exit was covered by dense patches of dark seaweed. It was an excellent emergency exit and ventilation opening. The last was at the bottom of the cavern: a tiny hole that only barely accommodated his current size, connecting to the complex cave system below. It could serve as a secret passage or an area for setting traps.

Besides the entrances, the cavern contained seven larger side chambers and countless narrow crevices. Some led to dead ends, some connected to other cracks, while others held strange minerals or frigid seawater, creating natural "storage rooms" or "cold zones."

Once he understood the structure, Jingtian began making alterations.

He did not possess the power to move mountains or fill seas, but as an intelligent—and venomous—octopus, he had his own methods.

He combined his Soul Power with the Poison Source and secreted a special semi-solid, viscous venom from his mouthparts. This venom possessed powerful neuroparalytic and corrosive effects, and after hardening, it could form a gelatinous layer with a certain degree of strength and flexibility. Like the most patient craftsman, he dipped his tentacles into the venom and smeared and traced it along the rock walls of the main passages.

At several crucial intersections, he set invisible venom traps—a thin layer of venom membrane covered inconspicuous protrusions or depressions. Once a creature touched them, the venom would immediately adhere to it and seep inside.

Inside the three main entrances, he arranged "warning venom webs"—fine, nearly transparent threads drawn from viscous venom and linked to his senses. Any creature passing through would cause the web to tremble and relay information back to him.

Along the paths leading to the mysterious fissure and the secret hole at the bottom, he established multiple layered defenses. The outer layer consisted of warning venom-scent markers, the middle layer was a sticky venom-gel zone that obstructed movement, and the inner layer was a deadly area filled with concentrated venom spikes.

This work consumed a great deal of time and energy reserves. During that period, he had to stop several times to replenish himself by absorbing the ancient aura leaking from the fissure and the thin Soul Power within the cavern. He also tried leaving the nest to hunt several weak crustacean or small fish Soul Beasts nearby, each with only a few years of cultivation, to restore his energy. The process went smoothly. His venom utterly overwhelmed such little creatures. Still, he remained restrained and did not expand his hunting range, avoiding the attention of any stronger predators that might be nearby.

Finally, when the last venom trap had been placed inside the secret hole at the bottom, Jingtian felt an unprecedented sense of security.

This stone-cavern nest had transformed from a simple hiding place into a small fortress filled with deadly traps, multiple exits, and warning systems. Its defenses were limited, and it could not possibly withstand truly powerful enemies, but they were enough to provide warning, delay intruders, and buy him precious time to escape or prepare for battle.

He returned to the center of the sandy ground, coiled up, and felt the security his "home" brought him.

But he knew that his days of lying low would not last forever. His cultivation needed to grow, resources needed to be acquired, and information needed to be gathered. More importantly, the goal buried in his heart needed to be planned out step by step.

Next, I should try hunting more efficiently. The target is... Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. Jingtian made his decision. The energy contained within Hundred-Year Soul Beasts far surpassed that of minor creatures with only a few years or a few decades of cultivation, and could greatly accelerate his growth. At the same time, fighting Hundred-Year Soul Beasts—even if he used venom and cunning to win—would better temper his combat skills and application of his own strength.

However, he needed intelligence. Charging out blindly was tantamount to courting death.

Jingtian turned his attention to the small Soul Beasts lurking around the edge of his nest. Their Soul Power was weak and their intelligence low, but having lived in this sea region for a long time, they might possess instinctive knowledge of nearby food distribution, dangerous areas, and the territories and habits of powerful Soul Beasts.

He selected a target—the Blind Eel Beast lurking beneath the sand near the entrance, with roughly fifty or sixty years of Soul Power cultivation. This kind of Soul Beast had degenerated vision, but an exceptionally sharp sense of smell and sensitivity to water currents. Swift-moving and skilled at burrowing into sand to hide, it was one of the "well-informed locals" of this lower region.

Jingtian did not choose a frontal assault. He carefully secreted an extremely tiny trace of venom carrying a special luring scent, mixed it with decomposed organic fragments, and allowed it to slowly diffuse through the seawater. The scent mimicked that of a wounded small Soul Beast and held considerable appeal for scavengers and opportunists like hagfish.

Sure enough, before long, the grayish-brown hagfish poked its head out of the sand. Its slender body twisted like a snake as it swam toward the scent's source—a narrow rock crevice Jingtian had carefully prepared.

Just as most of the hagfish's body had burrowed into the crevice and it greedily fed on the "bait," the viscous venom already smeared on both walls of the crack silently activated, winding around it like living creatures and instantly binding its body tight!

The hagfish struggled violently, but the neuroparalytic components contained in the venom quickly took effect, and its struggles became weaker and weaker. At the same time, the venom began corroding its outer defenses and seeping into its body.

Jingtian unhurriedly swam out from his hiding place and approached the restrained hagfish. He did not kill it immediately. Instead, he slowly injected a finer form of venom energy, carrying powerful mental interference and inducement effects, into the hagfish's relatively simple brain.

This was not control. It was more like... interrogation. By using the toxin to stimulate its nerve center, he guided it to instinctively "recall" and "respond" with certain fragments of information, then captured those responses through his senses.

The process was crude, and the information was fragmented and vague. Still, Jingtian managed to piece together a few useful things.

In the region near the edge of the Western Silent Sea Abyss, Hundred-Year Soul Beasts were already apex predators. There were not many of them, and each had its own territory. A roughly one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Iron-Armored Giant Crab occupied a Black Stone Forest to the northwest. Its defenses were extremely strong, but it moved relatively slowly. Near a Warm Current Vortex to the southeast lived a Poison Fire Jellyfish around one hundred and twenty years old. Its attacks were venomous and wide-ranging, but its body itself was fragile.

Farther away, there seemed to be even more powerful auras wandering about, but the hagfish's instinctive fear kept it from approaching, so the information ended there.

In addition, one image repeatedly appeared in the hagfish's memory fragments. At intervals—perhaps every few months, perhaps on a longer cycle—a powerful, cold consciousness carrying indescribable majesty would slowly sweep across this sea region like an invisible broom. Whenever that happened, every Soul Beast would instinctively lie low, cower, and dare not make the slightest movement. Was that... a divine sense scan? Was Tang San conducting a routine inspection of his "pasture"?

Jingtian's heart tightened. This information was crucial.

He stopped the venom stimulation, gave the hagfish a quick death, and then devoured it to replenish what he had spent setting the trap and conducting the "interrogation."

Returning to the heart of the nest, Jingtian digested the information he had obtained.

The Iron-Armored Giant Crab has strong defenses and is slow. It would be suitable to slowly corrode it with highly penetrating venom... The Poison Fire Jellyfish is fragile itself, but its venom attacks cover a wide area. I'll need to ambush it at close range and kill it in one strike... He silently planned the target and method for his first true hunt.

The discovery concerning divine sense scans made him even more wary. He had to carefully conceal what was special about himself, especially any signs of Spirit Energy and rapid growth. During divine sense scans, he would need to remain completely hidden.

Time passed amid the silence of the Deep Sea and the occasional hidden current.

Jingtian, this Blue-Ringed Octopus armed with human intelligence and deadly venom, had completed the initial fortification of his nest and gathered information. At last, he turned his gaze beyond the nest, toward the vast Deep Sea where the strong devoured the weak.

His venomous fangs were about to reveal themselves for the sake of growth.

But at the same time, he would come to understand even more deeply that what he had to fight was not merely the ferocious beasts of the sea, but also the gaze of a god high above the nine heavens, controlling the fate of all living beings.