Stone Chamber

Pang Jian's expression was blank; he could not understand why this dying giant python would suddenly go mad.

The two had no grudges or grievances, yet the python acted as if it were determined to strike him down before it breathed its last.

He cursed his luck inwardly. Unable to spare any attention for the Humanoid Monster, he retreated continuously, preparing to reach a distance where the snake bones could not reach him.

Because the python's head was pinned by the Phoenix Bone, he would be safe as long as the snake's skeleton could not extend to his position.

Once he avoided this wave of attacks and the Phoenix Bone finished consuming the flesh and blood of the python's head, the beast would be thoroughly dead.

"Bang!"

A very soft, muffled sound echoed from the other end of the Phoenix Bone as Pang Jian retreated at full speed.

Pang Jian, who had been retreating head-down, looked back subconsciously and was astonished to find that the python's winding, skeletal body seemed to have encountered some obstruction at the bottom of the pool, significantly slowing its speed toward him.

Soon, he saw a person hanging from the python's thrashing, bone-white skeleton.

Pang Jian was stunned.

The mysterious Humanoid Monster had suffered a disaster of innocence; caught by the fleshless snake bones as the python writhed in its death throes, he was now being dragged through the water with a whistling sound.

The Humanoid Monster, whose attention had been fixed on the Phoenix Bone, clearly had not expected the dying python to make such a fuss before the end.

He struggled fiercely, wrapping his arms around the thick, fleshless snake bone, exerting all his strength to pry it apart.

Having long since lost his intelligence, with not a glimmer of humanity in his eyes, the alien creature assumed this was an attack launched against him by the Dark Giant Python before its death.

He gathered the power within his body to contend with the Dark Giant Python—a creature that did not belong to this world—and in doing so, he continuously slowed the thrashing of the snake bones.

Pang Jian took this opportunity to flee to an area where the snake bones could not reach.

He felt secretly relieved; it was fortunate that the monster had blocked the blow for him, otherwise, he might not have been able to escape in time and could have been whipped or pierced to death by the bones.

Even after he had fled to a great distance, he could still see the giant python, its eyes wide open and filled with endless hatred.

Pang Jian felt bewildered.

This was his first time entering the Blackwater Pool and his first time encountering such a massive python; why did the beast have to hold a grudge against him even as it died?

The night curtain faded.

The eternal, dim daylight of this world reappeared.

The members of the Dark Ghost, who had waited bitterly all night, observed the Blackwater Pool again after dawn and were surprised to find that the thick, ink-like blackness of the water seemed to have receded significantly.

The color of the pool water had changed from pure black to gray-black.

After watching carefully for a while, they saw ripples spreading across the previously calm surface, as if some massive movement was coming from beneath the water.

"There is something under the water!"

Even the dullest person could guess that there must be a living creature below based on the abnormal movement of the surface.

Hong Tai, who knew of the existence of the Dark Giant Python, had originally intended to wait until dawn to assess the situation before retreating.

He suddenly hesitated, so he sought the opinions of the others: "As long as the Dark Giant Python remains at the bottom of the pool, none of us will escape death if we go down. Furthermore, it is possible that it might rush out of the Blackwater Pool and come ashore to hunt us all."

"You should all consider whether we should abandon this prey or take another look."

Although he was asking for everyone's opinion, his gaze remained fixed on Jin Yang's face.

"I want to take another look."

Jin Yang, unwilling to give up and equally disturbed by the anomalies in the pool, released the several Cicada Wing Swords he had retracted. Observing the changes in the pool from different angles, he said, "I keep feeling that the blackness in this liquid is rapidly receding. Perhaps it won't be long before we can see the scene beneath the water clearly."

"Indeed, the color of the pool water is certainly lightening."

Hong Tai gave an affirmative answer.

Through the python that belonged to him, he knew that the corrosive poison in the pool water had weakened. Familiar with the characteristics of such pythons, he guessed that the Dark Giant Python must be retracting the acidic, alien power it had released.

"Waiting a while longer is fine, but everyone must be careful. Because once the pool water becomes clear and transparent, the Dark Giant Python might also swim out from the bottom," Hong Tai warned the group with a grave expression.

Jin Yang nodded.

Beside the members of the Dark Ghost, Ning Yao, bound in a silver, giant net, wore an expression of utter despair.

She sat up with difficulty inside the net, gazing blankly at the dim sky, seemingly having given up on struggling.

The members of the Dark Ghost, due to the many strange occurrences of the Blackwater Pool and the uncertainty of whether the Dark Giant Python might suddenly rush out, no longer paid much attention to her.

Most of those who had previously coveted her beauty, like Zhang Heng, had died in the battle.

"Pang Jian..."

Having not yet escaped the shadow of Ning Yuanshan's death, she listened to the conversation of the Dark Ghost members. Her slightly dull gaze drifted slowly toward the Blackwater Pool, and a figure quietly emerged in her mind.

"Could he... still be alive?"

Long since lost to despair, Ning Yao did not believe that Pang Jian could still be alive at the bottom of the pool after so many others had perished.

So much time had passed; how could Pang Jian, who had only just realized the existence of "Qi," not have suffocated?

There was also the acidic poison in the pool that could strike at any moment—even Jin Yang had suffered from it. Should Pang Jian not be nothing more than a corpse by now?

The young lady of the Ning Family was lost in helpless, wandering thoughts.

Thinking that she would eventually end up in a state even more miserable than He Ziren, she prepared to bite her tongue and end her life the moment that time arrived.

Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the ripples on the surface of the pool continued for a while before gradually subsiding.

Although the blackness of the pool water had faded significantly, it was not entirely clear, indicating that the acid poison in the water still persisted, leaving everyone to wait in continued trepidation.

At the bottom of the pool.

Pang Jian, who had retreated all the way to the rock wall at the edge of the pool, watched as the resentful light deep within the giant python's pupils flickered and died.

The more this giant python struggled in its death throes, the faster its flesh and blood essence was consumed, and the faster it was devoured by the Phoenix Bone.

Pang Jian watched as its massive head lost its gleaming olive-green scales, the skin and flesh slowly vanishing into the Phoenix Bone.

In the end, it was completely consumed.

The Humanoid Monster, having gone through a fierce battle, gasped violently at the other end of the Phoenix Bone, strings of bubbles rising from its mouth.

He was covered in wounds, yet not a single drop of blood flowed from his body.

He panted incessantly, creating more bubbles in his mouth, his deep red eyes still fixed intently on the Phoenix Bone, waiting for that long-awaited glimmer to take shape.

From beginning to end, it was as if a person like Pang Jian did not exist in his eyes.

"This is my luck as well."

Pang Jian felt no resentment at being overlooked.

Seeing that the giant python was finally dead and the strange transformation within the Phoenix Bone had yet to begin, he only thought about where he should go from here.

He scanned his surroundings in search of an exit, and then, to his surprise, he discovered an open stone door in the rock wall he was pressed against.

This rock wall was far from the Phoenix Bone, and the stone door was hidden deep in the underwater world, camouflaged among a pile of jagged rocks.

Because the open stone door was too smooth and flat, it stood in stark contrast to the protruding, jagged rocks around it, making it quite easy to notice.

"Man-made!"

After one glance, Pang Jian was certain the stone door was not naturally formed, and he couldn't help but approach it.

Carrying the Dragon-Patterned Spear, he entered the open stone door with some trepidation, only to see a narrow, deep stone passage inside that seemed to lead to the other side of the mountain.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he walked a dozen steps into the passage and discovered a small stone chamber existing at the base of the mountain.

The stone chamber contained a stone table, a stone chair, and a stone bed; there was nothing else.

Looking at the small stone chamber in the middle of the passage, along with the stone table, chair, and bed, Pang Jian's expression was as strange as it could possibly be.

Because the layout of the table, chair, and bed in the stone chamber was exactly the same as the stone chamber he lived in, he found it familiar no matter how he looked at it.

The stone chamber he lived in now had been his home ever since his father left.

Before his father disappeared, because he and Pang Lin were still young, the two of them had shared one room.

"This..."

A man-made stone chamber, located in the rock wall at the bottom of a water-filled pool, with such a familiar layout, left Pang Jian stunned for a moment.

Could it be that his father had been here before and carved out this stone chamber?

The stone chamber was clearly underwater, where ordinary people could not breathe or survive; how could his father have created a stone chamber at the bottom of the pool?

Pang Jian could find no answer.

However, this deep stone passage leading to an unknown destination, along with this mysterious stone chamber, gave him a glimmer of hope for survival.

After some deliberation, he did not rush to explore the end of the stone passage, but instead went back out to close the open stone door.

Only then did he notice that the back of the stone door was also covered in jagged rubble; once the door was truly closed, it looked no different from the protruding rocks nearby.

As it turned out, it was only when the stone door was open that one could tell it was a smooth, flat door.

This was a relatively simple method of concealment.

Pang Jian believed that if he entered the stone door and closed it from the inside, the Dark Ghost cultivators who might enter the pool later would likely never find the door, which blended perfectly with the rubble.

At this moment, he could actually escape, or close the stone door and attempt to explore the end of the deep passage.

But thinking of the acidic, poisonous energy above the Blackwater Pool, which seemed to aid his cultivation, he chose to take the risk and stay.

Standing before the open stone door, he looked at the slightly blurred Phoenix Bone and the giant python's massive, withered skeleton.

The amber glimmer within the Phoenix Bone had not yet emerged to drift within the bone; the giant python's flesh and blood must have been of great value, requiring more time to brew.

The Humanoid Monster's attention was entirely focused on the Phoenix Bone, and he would not care about him at all.

Therefore, he still had time to draw the pitch-black acidic, poisonous energy from the Blackwater Pool to continue his practice of the "Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art," and continue tempering his spiritual power with the vortex in his spiritual sea.

Thus, he once again entered a state of cultivation.

Time slipped away quietly, and in the blink of an eye, several days had passed.

During these days, only when he was so hungry he could no longer bear it would Pang Jian take out some water-soaked dried meat to satisfy his hunger; the rest of the time, he spent cultivating.

He firmly grasped this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for cultivation.

Outside.

The members of the Dark Ghost, who had been waiting all this time, watched as the dense, inky blackness of the Blackwater Pool grew lighter day by day.

They finally waited for the day the pool water turned clear.

"It said that there is no longer any corrosive acid or poison in the water."

Hong Tai pointed at the python that belonged to him and gazed at the now-clear water, saying, "It's still too deep; I can't see the bottom. Which one of you will go down and check the situation?"

His gaze wandered over the faces of the Dark Ghost members, but everyone remained silent; no one dared to answer.

"All of you are this cowardly?"

Having already made up his mind, Hong Tai's gaze fell upon Ning Yao, who was imprisoned within the silver net. "Keeping this Ning Family girl alive until now was precisely to use her to test that Dark Giant Python. The flesh and blood of a young maiden is the most delicious thing to a Dark Giant Python; it will not be able to resist such a delicacy."

As soon as these words were spoken, Ning Yao's hair stood on end.