The Elixir of Immortality-Did You Hear Me?

BOOM—!!!

A heaven-shaking crash rang out, as though an earth dragon sleeping underground had rolled over.

Blackwater Pool exploded.

That was no exaggeration. It was an explosion in the literal sense.

The pool's ink-black, bottomless waters, once still as death, were overturned in an instant by a terrifying surge of energy.

A black column of water, carrying silt, rotting limbs, and shattered ancient stones, shot skyward like an enraged black dragon. It pierced the clouds, then broke into a rain of black water that covered all of Blackwater Ancient Town.

The shock wave swept outward in a ring. Nearby ground collapsed on one side, splitting into cracks like a spiderweb.

"Oh, heavens above!"

Old Zhang, who had guided the archaeological team, was squatting behind a boulder smoking his pipe. The blast knocked him head over heels and filled his mouth with ash.

He scrambled up, clapped a hand over his still-ringing ears, and looked at the deep pit belching black smoke in the distance. Rather than fear, he showed a grin full of yellow teeth.

"Those foreign devils. Ignore an old man's warning, and trouble's right before your eyes."

Old Zhang tapped his pipe against the sole of his shoe, his voice tinged with gloating amusement. "Got to say, that was a mighty fine bang. Louder than the cow dung we blow up at New Year."

"You can say that again."

The laborer lying beside him poked out his dust-covered head and spat grit from his mouth. His eyes gleamed with the excitement of someone enjoying a disaster from the sidelines.

"Uncle Zhang, do you think there's really a Dragon King down in that pool?"

"Dragon King, my ass. Those foreigners have done too many rotten things and brought Heavenly Retribution on themselves."

As they chatted, several bedraggled figures stumbled