The Surging Power, the Killing Intent Beneath the Water

The moment the sound of the Gene Lock being unlocked rang out beneath the lake's surface.

Qing Chen proved something.

That means the knight can complete challenges even in the Outer World, and his future will be bright.

In the future, new knights may emerge from among the humans of the Outer World, and the sea that Qing Chen will face will no longer be the Forbidden Sea.

The lake water was icy cold, but Qing Chen closed his eyes and let himself sink to the bottom of the lake.

He felt the surging power within his body, as if it were about to boil the Weiyang Lake. Beneath the surface of the lake, Qing Chen was like a volcano hidden deep in the sea, feeling as if he were about to erupt at any moment.

The Reverse Breathing Technique was lifted, and the Gene Lock that was originally closed was reopened due to the breakthrough.

Moreover, it has been replaced by a power far greater than ever before.

Using Reverse Breathing Technique will cause the Gene Lock to close, and even if the Reverse Breathing Technique is stopped, the normal state will be maintained for an hour.

If a forced reversal is attempted, the individual will face a situation where they will never be able to make further breakthroughs...

However, that only applies to normal situations.

The process of overcoming the Life and Death Trial is itself a process of unlocking the Gene Lock.

Qing Chen seemed to have returned to the Green Mountain Cliff, leaping from an ordinary person to an extraordinary being.

The Knight True Qi surged forth from the depths of his body, like the rising sun, endlessly bursting forth.

If in the past, the Knight True Qi could only be channeled into the arms, now the extra Knight True Qi can also be channeled into the legs.

He's at the peak of D-Class, just one step away from C-Class, infinitely approaching that boundary.

Qing Chen could sense someone firing at the lake. The bullets, carrying air, shot from the surface into the water, leaving trails underwater.

But he didn't move, letting the bullets crisscross overhead, not worried at all that they would hurt him.

For a moment, it seemed that his body did not need oxygen and could still survive underwater.

Because Qing Chen suddenly felt as if a fire was burning inside him, as if it was about to melt his heart.

The aftershocks of unlocking the Gene Lock cooled down in the icy lake water.

But the fire did not go out.

Qing Chen recalled that Liu Dezhu's awakening was preceded by similar signs.

Does that mean that all Awakened are like this at the moment of awakening?

Slowly, the fire died down.

Ke Qing Chen felt that it hadn't disappeared; it just hadn't accumulated enough to reach the critical point where it should break through, so it went into hibernation again.

Li Shutong once said that spiritual practice is a process of slowly tapping into one's potential. Once a person's potential is tapped, the opportunity to awaken will be lost.

Therefore, there are no Awakened among practitioners, and they do not coexist.

However, this matter took an unexpected turn for Qing Chen.

An ordinary knight would only be F-Class when he completed his first Life and Death Trial challenge, but he was E-Class.

In other words, following this process, Qing Chen can reach S-level and become one of the few half-step gods in the world by completing six Life and Death Trial.

Completing the seventh item makes one a true god.

What if all eight Life and Death Trial are overcome?

Li Shutong said that the power of a world has an upper limit; you can get infinitely close to a certain critical point, but you cannot break through it.

Just like the Outer World, its rule is that ordinary people cannot become extraordinary.

Only by relying on the rules of the Inner World can one return to continue breaking the rules of the Outer World.

So, if the upper limit of power in the Inner World is an SS-level god, then how should Qing Chen's potential be unleashed? What should be done with the enormous potential generated by that extra Life and Death Trial?

Thinking about it now is pointless. Life is amazing; it will find its own way.

Qing Chen felt his state after the breakthrough. Every pore seemed to be activated after the Gene Lock was opened, and he was breathing in the oxygen in the water.

Strangely, I didn't even awaken to this, yet I gained the ability to breathe underwater using my skin.

As the skin breathes, the Knight True Qi is also rapidly depleted.

It's the Knight True Qi that's supporting my underwater breathing!

Is this some kind of ability of the knight? Why didn't the master mention it?

Was it because the waters of the Inner World were too dangerous that the knight never tried to go into the water? Or... although he hadn't awakened, the two premonitions of awakening had still given him some strange abilities.

Qing Chen roughly calculated the rate at which his true energy was being consumed, but he was not in a hurry to leave.

He waited silently.

Because he believed that someone would come down to their death.

At this moment, Zhang San stood on the shore of the lake, which had gradually calmed down. "Boss, he hasn't surfaced since he jumped in, and his fate is unknown."

"Send someone down to take a look. We need to see them alive or dead," Huan Yu said calmly into the Bluetooth headset.

There was something off about the thin figure sitting in front of the French window. The boss of daylight, who had fought with him for several rounds, was just dead.

Qing Chen, who killed people swiftly and decisively on Laojun Mountain, also died in the bungee jumping tower?

Although many of them died to achieve this result, Huan Yu still felt that things had gone too smoothly.

It was as if he himself genuinely believed that the other person wouldn't die.

At some point, Huan Yu had developed a feeling that he could never kill the other party, so he needed to verify it. He needed the other party's corpse to prove whether this Boss Bai Zhou was really dead!

"Be careful, I suspect he's not dead yet, he might only have a few fractures," Huan Yu said.

Zhang San hesitated for a moment. "Even if he's not dead, ten minutes have passed now, he should be suffocating."

"I don't need to reiterate the wonders of the extraordinary," Huan Yu's voice deepened, "Do as instructed."

Zhang San looked to his side and saw that of the nearly one hundred assassins, only about twenty remained.

He selected ten men and said, "You few go down and take daggers. If he's not dead, kill him. If you can't kill him, drag him in the water and deplete his oxygen. If he's dead, retrieve his body."

The ten people glanced at the lake, then at the drifting snow.

At this time of day, everyone knows the lake water must be freezing cold. If you jump in now, you'll probably catch a serious illness from the cold.

However, they had no choice.

The ten men gritted their teeth, took off their clothes and threw them on the lakeside, then plunged in.

They swam toward the bottom of the lake, but suddenly discovered a dark shadow rapidly approaching from the bottom.

Before an assassin could react, his neck was grabbed and snapped.

Without pausing, the dark figure kicked the corpse in the water and, using the force of the kick, shot towards another assassin like an arrow.

Before the assassin could even draw his dagger, the shadowy figure was already beside him and snapped his neck again.

The black figure used the corpse as a springboard to move back and forth in the water. Each time he charged out, he was incredibly fast, a stark contrast to the assassins who were slowly swimming by paddling their arms.

It was late at night, and visibility at the bottom of the lake was extremely low. It wasn't until Qing Chen killed five assassins that the remaining assassins realized what had happened.

They looked around, trembling, at the dark lakebed, a dark lake filled with unknown dangers.

The lake water in winter is icy cold, like knives cutting into everyone's skin.

The dark shadow underwater was like a shadow representing fear, relentlessly reaping lives.

It even reminded the assassin of certain legends of water monsters.

The shadowy figure was too fast; it didn't seem like a human could swim at that speed.

The assassins realized that the shadowy figure was the sniper. Not only was he not dead, but he had also stayed at the bottom of the lake for more than ten minutes without suffocating or lacking oxygen.

Moreover, the sniper had no broken bones and swam faster than anyone else underwater!

As the shadowy figure approached, an assassin swung his dagger to block it, but the figure casually deflected it, and the assassin only felt something extremely sharp glide across his neck.

Immediately afterwards, the blood spurting from his neck made the already dark lake water even darker.

Those were Puppet Master infused with the Knight True Qi, capable of killing silently in the water.

Qing Chen not only killed the assassins one by one, but also sacrificed them to the Puppet Master. As a result, the little snake seemed to be in a state of excitement, completely unaware that it was being used as a weapon.

Gradually, the remaining three assassins realized they were outmatched and swam towards the lake.

But it was too late to leave. Qing Chen, who had just been promoted to D-Class, had boundless strength. He caught up with the assassins in the water and then used Puppet Master to wrap around their ankles, dragging the two assassins back to the bottom of the lake.

The last assassin struggled to swim towards the lake. He felt he could almost see the shimmering surface of the lake; under the lights of Weiyang Lake Park, the dim, yellowish ripples were right before his eyes.

The assassin stretched out his arm, trying to get his hand out of the water.

But in that instant, the assassin suddenly felt something wrap around his ankle, dragging him back.

He stretched out his hand, which was only a dozen centimeters away from the lake surface, and then the assassin watched in despair as he drifted further and further away from the lake.

It felt as if I would be forever sinking to the bottom of this dark Weiyang Lake.

Zhang San stood by the lake for a long time. He could feel movement underwater, but he couldn't see what was happening.

Numerous bubbles continued to rise to the surface of the lake, but no one managed to resurface.

Five minutes passed, which was beyond the normal limit of underwater breath-holding for a person. Even if the ten assassins had not found the body of "Boss Daylight", they should have surfaced to breathe.

Even if he was killed by Boss Bai Zhou, his body should be floating by now.

However, the lake remained calm, and nothing appeared.

The assassins beside Zhang San were terrified. They felt as if the dark, gloomy Weiyang Lake was devouring them all.

At this moment, Huan Yu finally understood that the boss of Bai Zhou was not only not dead, but also had the strength to endure the cold of the lake water and kill 10 assassins underwater.

This terrifying fighting power, and the relentless will to fight, actually instilled a vague sense of fear in people.

Huan Yu fell into deep thought.

"Something's not right. There's something strange about Weiyang Lake. Let's go!" one of the assassins said.

Zhang San sneered, "Strange? It's just that the sniper didn't die."

"But he's been down there for more than ten minutes, and we haven't seen him come out to get some air," one of the assassins said.

Zhang San pondered for a moment, "He was prepared to jump into the lake as an escape route. He might have even hidden oxygen tanks at the bottom of the lake beforehand, and then killed us when we went down to look for the body."

Huan Yu suddenly said in the communication channel, "No need to try anymore, retreat."

For Huan Yu, these novice assassins were merely tools. As long as Time Walker continued to be created, he could naturally continue to produce them, thanks to his identity in the Inner World.

Zhang San is different. He is a genuine C-Class Awakened. Before the time travel incident, he was a mercenary who had been working in the Middle East for many years. He became Time Walker when he returned home to visit his family.

Such talent is extremely rare, and their future prospects are limitless.

However, even though Huan Yu treated these assassins as tools, this battle still severely damaged his health.

Too many assassins have died, and too many of the drones and weapons that were brought back with great difficulty have been lost!

Most importantly, despite all the losses he suffered, the boss of Baiyangdian is still alive!

Huan Yu could no longer take risks. A huge sense of crisis forced him to be cautious and not treat tonight's events as a game.

He needs to preserve some of his strength.

Zhang San led the assassins in retreat, running towards the entrance of Weiyang Lake Park.

Before that, after killing ten people, Qing Chen did not stay at the bottom of the lake. He realized that his Knight True Qi was about to be exhausted and he would soon face the problem of lack of oxygen, so he swam to the other side of Weiyang Lake.

He still has many important things to do tonight.

Because his battle today was not as Huan Yu had imagined, with everything prepared in advance.

He was indeed responding to the challenge on short notice, but his preparations were so thorough that his opponent thought he was well-prepared.

However, being well-prepared does not mean being without flaws; he still has patches to patch up.

Qing Chen was cautious, and even the immense joy of his recent promotion could not shake his resolute mind.

When Zhang San and his group arrived, they drove twelve minivans, each seating seven people, and they were all fully occupied.

During the evacuation, they were short-handed, with each person driving a car. Even with Zhang San, there were only eleven people, four of whom couldn't drive.

Looking at the vans parked at the entrance of Weiyang Lake Park, everyone finally realized how fierce the battle tonight had been.

Fortunately, Weiyang Lake Park is located in the northern suburbs of Xiancheng, and it was late at night, so there were hardly any tourists nearby.

These vehicles won't cause any problems even if they're left here.

"Let's go. Drive away six cars first. The owners will arrange for someone to pick up the rest," Zhang San said coldly. He then pointed to someone. "You drive for me."

As he spoke, Zhang San cautiously observed his surroundings, then chose a minivan and approached it, hiding in the shadows between the vehicles.

Moreover, after he got on the bus, he didn't sit down, but crouched like a cheetah, so that he couldn't be seen from outside the window.

The assassins understood that Zhang San was worried that the sniper was chasing after them from behind!

The assassins who were driving were terrified. Even a master like Zhang San had to be so cautious. Wouldn't they, the drivers, become easy targets?

The killers who weren't responsible for driving followed suit, hiding in the car, and were even somewhat Qing Xing that they couldn't drive.

Before they could think it through, a roaring sound came from the night. A car was hit by a bullet that pierced its fuel tank, and the entire car turned into a huge fireball.

Flames shot into the air, engulfing all three assassins inside the car.

The assassins inside the car did not die immediately, and the explosion was not as powerful as expected. It was only the gasoline spraying from the fuel tank that kept burning, bringing them hellish torment, before they slowly died.

Ordinary bullets cannot blast a vehicle's fuel tank; these are special incendiary rounds used by sniper rifles!

Zhang San was shocked when he thought of this. Even on the battlefield in the Middle East, there were very few snipers who used this kind of special bullet!

What struck him as even stranger was that the bullets clearly came from the opposite side of the main gate of Weiyang Lake Park.

In the darkness, he had even caught a glimpse of the orange-red bullet out of the corner of his eye, as it streaked through the air like a laser.

But weren't the other side still at the bottom of the lake? How could they have gotten out of Weiyang Lake Park before them and even found a new sniping position?!

The other side wants to wipe them out completely!

But doesn't this boss get tired during the day? How can he maintain such high energy after such an intense battle tonight?

He was unaware that when the second layer of Gene Lock on Qing Chen's body was unlocked, the boy was practically back to full health.

"Drive! Drive fast, head towards 11 o'clock, the sniper is there! Charge in that direction, or you're dead! Charge at him, he can't hit the fuel tank!" Zhang San roared.

At this point, it was too late to evade the sniper. He had to rely on the mobility and number of vehicles, hoping to rush directly to the sniper's vicinity and then take him out in close combat!

Otherwise, they would only face certain death.

At this moment, some vehicles rushed alongside Zhang San, while others turned around and fled in other directions, but no matter where they went, it didn't change their fate.

The vans that were fleeing in other directions exploded one after another. Zhang San opened his right sliding door, ready to jump out at any moment.

With a bang, the driver of the vehicle Zhang San was in was pierced by a bullet, and blood splattered all over his face.

But he was not overcome by fear. Instead, he lay down between the driver and passenger seats, one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the dead driver's leg, and slammed on the gas pedal!

Zhang San had already discovered the sniper's hiding place: a large tree about 200 meters away from the main entrance of Weiyang Lake Park!

With a loud crash, the van slammed into a tree, causing the tree to shake violently.

Taking advantage of that instant, Zhang San jumped out of the car through the side door that was already open, looking up into the sky.

He knew very well that blindly running away at this point was pointless!

In the instant he jumped from the vehicle, this man, who had risked his life in the Middle East, drew his pistol and fired wildly into the treetops while flying through the air.

He emptied the magazine in one go before falling heavily to the ground.

He maneuvered the vehicle, jumped out of the side door, drew his gun, and fired upwards at the treetops—the whole sequence of actions was fluid and seamless.

However, there was no movement in the canopy, as if all his bullets had been fired into thin air.

Zhang San felt a chill in his heart.

There's a 5,000-word chapter, and another one will be released at 11 PM tonight. Please vote with your monthly tickets.