The Thing Beneath the Water

On the border of Vietnam, death traps were everywhere—at least for animals. Heming, having hired a professional guide, had no need to worry about such things. Besides, given his current strength, a few ordinary traps posed no real danger; hiring a guide was merely to save time.

After two hours of walking, Heming reached the freshwater lake where the Water Dragon had been spotted. After bidding the guide farewell, he submerged into the water. Thanks to the Pitch Black Heart Method, the water did not cling to his body, and combined with the abilities of the Chain of Ming, Heming moved through the water as easily as if he were on land.

It was a lake worthy of a Water Dragon sighting. Heming tried to swim deeper and deeper, but was frightened back by massive fish, two or three meters in length.

Those two-to-three-meter-long fish lived at a depth of about 80 to 100 meters. Had it not been for the Pitch Black Heart Method, Heming would never have dared to dive that deep. Just as he reached that zone, a carp over two meters long suddenly swam right up to him, giving him a real scare.

On the first day, Heming explored the shallow areas of the entire lake. He placed Scout Bats in several locations where he thought the Water Dragon might appear, then returned to the shore to rest.

After only two hours of sleep, Heming felt refreshed. He sat on the bank, deep in thought.

With his current strength, he felt no pressure at 50 meters deep. Perhaps he could dive to around 150 meters, provided the lake was that deep.

In Heming's mind, the Water Dragon was certainly a massive creature with a gargantuan body. The area below 100 meters should be its hunting ground, where the two-to-three-meter fish provided ample food. Thus, today's mission was to search the entire area below 100 meters.

At a depth of 50 meters, there weren't many large fish, just the occasional sighting.

Heming searched for a full six hours without finding any clues worth noting. On the contrary, he was surprised when, just as he was preparing to surface for the day, he spotted an eel over a meter long. At first, from a distance, he had mistaken it for the Water Dragon.

A full day of searching left Heming physically and mentally exhausted. He leaned against a tree and began to rest.

This rest lasted longer than usual; he slept for over four hours.

Another day of searching began, with the target being a complete sweep of the 80-to-100-meter zone.

Half the day passed without finding any useful clues. Instead, he saw a turtle several meters wide swimming past. Heming was certain that this turtle was like a small, mobile UFO, covered in long strands of water grass, drifting slowly through the depths.

Heming was so curious that he followed the turtle for a long distance, only giving up when it was about to leave the freshwater lake.

He spent the remaining time searching other areas.

Another day passed, and it was clear that the Scout Bats hadn't discovered any strange creatures either.

He fell asleep again, but unfortunately, he didn't know how long he had been out when he realized one of his Scout Bats was missing. Heming activated the Pitch Black Heart Method and dove into the water, swimming rapidly toward the location. If something could take out a Scout Bat moving at high speed in the air, it certainly wasn't a fish or a turtle.

Another Scout Bat was destroyed.

Heming was deeply puzzled. What could move that fast? The Water Dragon? Or another ability user?

This time, Heming got smart. He let the Scout Bats slowly approach his position. If the culprit intended to take them out, it would naturally follow, and Heming, lurking in the water, could catch the intruder off guard.

While waiting, Heming heard the sound of a speedboat approaching at high speed.

So, the secret to such high-speed movement was a speedboat.

As the boat stopped near him, Heming burst out of the water.

He stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the two people on the boat.

Guangcheng Kuo Ming and Guangcheng Mingjian were holding a crossbow, shooting at the bats.

Seeing Heming emerge, Kuo Ming gestured for him to board, while Mingjian continued to pick off the bats.

It took several minutes for them to knock all the bats into the water. By then, Heming was speechless at the behavior of these two, who were younger than him.

"Heh heh, these bats fly pretty fast; they aren't easy to hit. We didn't come here on purpose; I'm here looking for a giant turtle. Apparently, we haven't found it yet," Mingjian said with a grin.

Heming replied speechlessly, "A turtle? Several meters wide? It just swam into the other channel. I followed it for a while."

Upon hearing this, Mingjian jumped up and cursed, "Damn it, I'm going! If I let it get away, I'll get chewed out again..." With that, he dove into the water and vanished.

Kuo Ming looked Heming over carefully and said, "Not bad. You're clearly more mature than before. Once you finish this mission, return to Japan first, then find me at the American branch. I'll have a good job for you then. Also, help me give this to Qiming." Kuo Ming tossed a glass orb to Heming.

Heming felt strange. What was inside?

Kuo Ming clearly read his thoughts and said, "Just a ten-thousand-year-old demon. You'd best not let it out; if you do and can't catch it again, it'll be a headache. Qiming is a Summoner, so this thing is very useful for him. Your current power isn't enough to control a creature, but once your abilities reach a certain level, you'll be able to have a Demon Sealing Orb of your own. I'm off. If I don't hurry, Mingjian might kill that ancient turtle, and that won't do." He then dove into the water.

Heming was still at a loss. What about the speedboat? Were they just going to leave it here? What a waste... but then again, this was good. At least he wouldn't have to sleep against a tree anymore.

After waking up, a theory suddenly occurred to Heming: why did Mingjian shoot down the Scout Bats? It couldn't just be for fun. Clearly, he and Kuo Ming could easily track the exact location of the Water Dragon. Did that mean the spots he had marked were all wrong? Or perhaps the Water Dragon wouldn't emerge if there were Scout Bats above the water? Heming preferred to believe the former.

Heming prepared to go back into the water, but something on the speedboat caught his eye: a yellow rope. Although he didn't know what it was, he was certain Mingjian and the others hadn't forgotten it—it had been left there for him on purpose.

At that same moment, Mingjian was asking Kuo Ming where the Immortal Binding Rope he had brought had gone.

Today's target was the 80-to-100-meter depth. This was relatively dangerous for Heming; two-to-three-meter fish were everywhere, and sometimes they would even attack him, though they posed no real threat to his strength.

Just as he was finishing his search, Heming noticed a school of giant fish nearby scattering in all directions, as if they had encountered some danger. Heming was almost certain that the only thing capable of frightening such large fish was the Water Dragon. He picked up his pace, and when he reached the site of the commotion, he saw a five-to-six-meter-long creature devouring a giant carp. It was a creature Heming had never seen before: a blue, insect-like thing without a tail, possessing pincers that were relatively small, and dozens of legs moving rapidly through the water. Well, he could barely call it a Water Centipede.

The Water Centipede had noticed Heming, but it was busy enjoying the fish it had caught. In its eyes, Heming posed no threat.

Heming kept observing the centipede. It had a tiny head, and two small appendages protruding from its mouth were constantly feeding fish meat into it.

Another Water Centipede was slowly closing in from behind Heming. It was only a short distance away when it lunged.

Heming, who had been observing closely, suddenly felt something wrong behind him. He spun around and threw a full-force punch. With the impact, the head of the lunging centipede was shattered by his blow. Yellow fluid dispersed rapidly, and the centipede that had been enjoying its meal dropped its food and fled. It was clear this creature possessed intelligence.

Heming was startled by that moment as well; he hadn't expected his own punch to be so powerful. One had to remember, this was at a depth of 100 meters!

Abandoning the search for the time being, Heming returned to the speedboat. Looking back, the incident was still chilling; if he hadn't turned around in time, he might have become the Water Centipede's meal.

Heming thought about a lot of things on the boat, including the fact that he had killed the centipede with one punch. Perhaps it wasn't that his punch was so strong, but that the centipede's shell wasn't as hard as he had imagined. Yes, perhaps that was it.

But looking at it from another angle, that didn't seem right either. It was possible the centipede's head had only been cracked by his strike, and the true destruction was caused by the immense water pressure.

The reason Heming could dive to 100 meters without feeling any strain was because of the Pitch Black Heart Method, but exactly why it shielded him from water pressure was not something he could figure out all at once.

Today's accident had dampened his curiosity. Tomorrow, he would enter even deeper waters. What else was waiting for him remained an unknown.