Nashan stared fixedly at the water, then suddenly said, "Damn it, why does something feel off..." Rubbing his bald head, he asked Kankanqi, "Old Kan, what do you think?"
Kankanqi thought, When did I become Old Kan? He said, "It's not like you don't know what Boss can do. He's fine. Stop worrying over nothing!"
Nashan grumbled, "Now everyone dares talk to the former boss like this. Ah! No authority left."
Zhao Zhi burst out laughing. "Old Na! I really don't know how you became the boss. You don't have much ability..."
Splash...
"Everyone, watch out!"
The three paled in alarm as Li Qiang shot out of the deep pool, dripping wet. Countless red shadows, each only a few inches long, shot out of the water after him in swarms.
Li Qiang suddenly shifted sideways in midair. The swarm of red shadows skimmed past him, striking the cave ceiling with a series of sharp cracks before falling back into the water.
Zhao Zhi moved extremely fast and had already darted away from the pool at the warning. Kankanqi and Nashan were less fortunate. Each was struck by three or four red shadows, and they cried out in pain.
Li Qiang flashed over to their sides and said with a wry smile, "Don't move. Let me look. I don't know what these things are."
They were dark red, fishlike creatures, only a palm's length long and as thick as a finger. Their pointed mouths had already sunk deep into the men's flesh, while their tails still writhed and curled against their skin.
Nashan's terror outweighed his pain, and he howled frantically, "Boss... going to die! Help!"
Li Qiang couldn't help slapping his bald head again. "Your boss isn't dead yet! What are you scared of? Even Kankanqi isn't quaking like you." As he spoke, he grasped one red shadow by the tail and slowly pulled it out, marveling, "What a peculiar creature. Look at its mouth. It's as sharp as a knife."
Once Li Qiang had removed the red shadows from both men and applied medicine, Kankanqi suddenly said, "I know what these are now. So these things are aquatic creatures."
Li Qiang asked curiously, "What are they?"
Kankanqi said, "Look. What does it look like now?"
After some time out of the water, the red shadows slowly shriveled and straightened, their color turning vivid red. Zhao Zhi said, "They look a little like small throwing darts, but without stabilizing feathers."
Kankanqi said, "Some natives here make arrowheads out of them. These things are vicious. Once they enter someone's body, they revive on contact with blood and go straight for the heart. We call them 'Shadow Heart Arrows.' We never knew what they were made from. Only now, seeing their dried bodies, do I finally understand."
Nashan examined the slender red shadow in his hand, then put it into a nearby puddle in disbelief. It suddenly began wriggling. Frightened, he stamped down on it with all his might and patted his chest. "Damn it, that's scary!"
Li Qiang took out two sets of standard-issue armor. "Brother Zhao, Kankanqi, put these on. It'd be a waste not to use them! Keep the protection on. Nashan, turn yours on too. I'm going down to explore again."
All three cried out in fright. Nashan said with a mournful face, "Boss, there's no need to be in such a hurry to get yourself killed..." The instant the words escaped, he knew he was in trouble. He ducked his bald head and raised a hand to block, but was still too late. Smack! He yelped, "Boss hit my head again..."
Zhao Zhi asked with concern, "Boss, it's too dangerous. How will you block the Shadow Heart Arrows?"
Li Qiang sat cross-legged and smiled. "I can only try. I thought I saw light ahead underwater just now, so I have to try again. It would be too much of a shame to give up."
He sank his awareness into his Nascent Soul, striving to mobilize more True Essence Power, because he needed enough True Essence Power to put on the Billowing Essence Battle Armor.
Nashan rubbed his bald head, filled with genuine admiration for Li Qiang. After witnessing such formidable Shadow Heart Arrows, he still dared enter the water. Just thinking about it made Nashan's scalp prickle.
Li Qiang had thoroughly awed him into submission. Following a boss like this was truly worthwhile. Seeing how he took the lead in everything and feared nothing, perhaps he really could bring him home.
As his thoughts wandered, the surroundings lit up. Kankanqi tugged his arm. Li Qiang slowly floated into the air, and a suit of armor unlike anything they had ever seen gradually appeared on his body.
Kankanqi's mouth fell open in astonishment. He had never even imagined such exquisite, beautiful armor.
A faint golden glow haloed the blue deep within, like the first sunlight over the ocean, dazzling and brilliant. Kankanqi understood that the armor contained enormous amounts of crystal power. He couldn't understand how a single suit of armor could hold so much power. What armor was this?
Nashan muttered to himself, "I knew it, I knew it. Anyone who could be my boss definitely isn't human..." He raised his hand and slapped himself. "Pah! This foul mouth of mine."
Li Qiang felt anything but relaxed. He had barely managed to put on the Billowing Essence Battle Armor; after all, he could use far too little True Essence Power. Still, protecting himself should pose no problem. He glanced at Nashan and said, "I'll be back shortly. Go back to the entrance and wait."
Li Qiang felt quite at ease in the water. The Billowing Essence Battle Armor's golden light illuminated everything around him, while swarms of Shadow Heart Arrows swam swiftly in the distance. Last time, he had swum entirely by his keen senses. Now, with the armor's light, he could clearly see everything underwater.
He dared not use True Essence Power to propel himself and could only swim slowly. Strangely, the Shadow Heart Arrows seemed afraid of the light and avoided him from afar.
There were several passages at the bottom of the pool as well. Li Qiang swam into the largest. This passage was only about six or seven meters long, but the space beyond was extremely spacious. Numerous crystals lay on the bottom, gleaming in a rainbow of colors under the Billowing Essence Battle Armor's light.
Li Qiang felt a current rush toward him from the side. He turned and was badly startled.
"Shit... what the hell is this now?" He reminded himself, Stay calm. Stay absolutely calm.
It was something shaped like a gecko, a full seven or eight meters long. Its four long legs clung to the rock underwater. It had a broad mouth with no visible teeth, and two tiny green eyes gleamed eerily. Its long tail could actually open and close like a folding fan. When it opened, blue spikes showed along it. Two rows of black fleshy spines also ran down its back.
Li Qiang couldn't determine its weakness and had no idea how it attacked, leaving him in a standoff for the moment.
Another current swept past him. Li Qiang glanced out of the corner of his eye, and his scalp prickled with fright.
Another monster had appeared nearby, countless tentacles dancing in the water. The tentacles were bright yellow, covered in patches of vivid red. He couldn't make out its body; it seemed to be nothing but a heap of tentacles.
The geckolike monster suddenly reared up, its belly immediately swelling. Li Qiang slowly edged toward the rock wall, quietly taking two red explosive bombs into his hands.
The mass of tentacles actually arranged itself neatly into a five-pointed star. Li Qiang nearly cried out in astonishment. That shape was a simple attack formation. Balls of light rolled along the tentacles, poised to strike.
Li Qiang quietly retreated to the foot of the rock wall and watched in silence to see how the two monsters would fight.
The gecko monster attacked first. Its swollen belly abruptly shrank, its mouth suddenly gaped, and strange underwater sound waves shook Li Qiang until his blood churned. He thought, This must be a sonic attack. How powerful! Even wearing the Billowing Essence Battle Armor, I'm affected. This single sonic attack could kill an ordinary person.
He quietly released a thread of True Essence Power, trying to analyze the flow of power in the sonic attack. After probing for a while without making any headway, he had to give up.
The mass of tentacles was even more extraordinary. Its five-pointed attack formation remained unchanged, while several rows of tentacles separated from its outer ring and actually formed a defensive line. Flashing yellow light, they blocked the sonic attack, making Li Qiang marvel at how wondrous this world was.
Li Qiang dared not watch any longer and quietly rose to the surface.
He leaped out of the water and saw a natural platform standing amid the water, surrounded on all sides by emerald depths. The cave walls formed an enormous inverted bowl. He didn't know what ore the rock walls here contained, but they actually glowed, illuminating the entire cavern.
A thick layer of crystal fragments covered the platform, glittering and translucent. Li Qiang knew their worth. At a glance, he spotted many supreme-grade immortal stones. He casually picked one up; it was a high-grade jade tide stone.
After walking a few more steps toward the platform's center, he found a small pit filled with unfamiliar plantlike things. A shallow layer of milky-white water had collected inside it.
Li Qiang hesitated, thinking, I'd better just pick up some immortal stones and go back. I shouldn't keep them waiting anxiously. As he gathered them, he thought, What plants are these? How strange! They can grow in a cave. Right, don't I have the Spirit Coil Sect's Jade Pupil Slip? I'll take a look first.
He took out the Jade Pupil Slip he had snatched from Mei Qu and quickly searched through it.
An expression of wild delight slowly appeared on Li Qiang's face.
The black growth with a faint sheen, shaped much like deer antler velvet, was called "wall-cleft violet." The soft green strands beside it, like fine hair, were called "precept essence silk." There were also clusters of blue, mushroom-shaped cones. The milky-white liquid was used in pill refining and was exceedingly rare, called "crystal source water."
Wall-cleft violet and crystal source water could be made into a simple medicinal pill. It did little for cultivators, but if an ordinary person took it, its effects were like those of an immortal pill. For martial artists, the effects were even better.
Li Qiang was overjoyed to have stumbled upon these things. His greatest worry had been the convict laborers' health. Now he only needed to refine a simple batch of pills to make all of them strong and healthy.
Li Qiang carefully took out some glass bottles and collected these treasures. After gathering all the crystal source water, he discovered a fist-sized crystal at the bottom of the pit. It was a bluish-white crystal of a kind he had never seen before.
Curious, he picked it up. The crystal in his hand began changing color strangely, shifting from bluish white to black, then to orange-red. Finding it amusing, he put it into his bracelet too. He didn't know that this crystal was a supreme-grade immortal stone exceedingly rare even in the cultivation world, called "inlaid front stone," a gem one could encounter only by chance, never seek out.
Thud!
The ground trembled beneath Li Qiang's feet, and the emerald water beside the platform churned in waves. He knew the underwater monsters were fighting fiercely. Although anxious, he could only wait patiently. He picked up crystals from the ground while watching the water.
Gradually, the surface grew calm. Li Qiang dipped his head into the water to look. At some point, both monsters had vanished without a trace.
Back at the pool, Nashan and the other two had long since grown so anxious they were pacing in circles. Seeing Li Qiang leap out of the water, Nashan grabbed his shoulders and looked him up and down. Li Qiang smiled. "What? I'm perfectly fine. I haven't lost a scrap of flesh."
Nashan let out a heavy breath and shouted, "Boss, if you hadn't come back soon, we'd have gone down to look for you."
Kankanqi and Zhao Zhi both nodded. Kankanqi said, "Did those Shadow Heart Arrows attack you? Ah, we might as well have gone down with you and spared ourselves all this fear and worry."
Zhao Zhi said, "If Old Kan hadn't stopped him, Nashan really would have gone down."
Li Qiang was secretly moved, knowing he had won their genuine concern. He said, "There are too many underwater passages. Getting lost would be extremely dangerous, and I found some incredibly powerful monsters down there too. Old Kan was right. Luckily, you didn't go down. It was too dangerous."
Kankanqi thought, Why is Boss calling me Old Kan too? It's all Nashan's fault for calling me that.
Li Qiang put away the Billowing Essence Battle Armor and said, "Let's go back to where we first came down."
The four returned to the huge collapsed pit to search for a way out.
After immense effort, they finally returned to the fork where the bushy-bearded captive had fled. Nashan rubbed his bald head. "Boss, I've spent a long time in the Black Camp. I think I'm fairly good at finding routes. Let me lead!"
Finding his way through underground passages gave Li Qiang the worst headaches. Hearing this, he said, "Good. Nashan, find the way up front. We'll follow." As he spoke, he put on a set of standard-issue armor too, then added, "Everyone, turn on your protection and ready your weapons. Move!"
Kankanqi wanted to say something, but after opening his mouth, he held back and crawled forward behind Nashan.
Li Qiang truly hated Situ Yong for sealing his Nascent Soul. Otherwise, he could have used the Earth Traversal Technique to scout the way. They climbed up and down, twisting left and right. Of the four, Li Qiang had the easiest time and felt no fatigue. Zhao Zhi was still doing all right. Nashan fared worst, panting like a dog.
"B-Boss..."
Li Qiang exerted a little strength and darted up behind Nashan. "What?"
"I'm exhausted. Let's... rest a while. I... I... can't catch my breath..."
"All right, everyone, rest." Li Qiang sat against the cave wall and took out a glass bottle. Carefully, he removed a piece of wall-cleft violet, ground it with True Essence Power, and placed it in a cup. He poured in a little crystal source water, found a few small immortal stones, and arranged an extremely small pill formation on the ground. With effort, he summoned a little True Essence Power to activate it.
A faint red glow illuminated the passage. Li Qiang carefully poured the mixture from the cup slowly into the pill formation. Nashan and the other two watched, dumbfounded. Never mind never having seen such a clear, translucent glass cup; they had never even heard of a pill formation.
Nashan asked, "Boss, what are you doing? Why are those crystals floating in the air?" Seeing Li Qiang concentrating on driving the crystals in circles and ignoring him, he turned to Zhao Zhi. "Say, Old Zhao, what's Boss doing? Tell me."
Zhao Zhi waved a hand, having barely heard what he said. He was utterly astonished. He had a vague idea that this was pill refining, but it was his first time seeing it too, so he couldn't be certain.
Actually, Kankanqi was the most astonished. Using crystals was the most commonplace thing on Tanbang Star. Crystals were already a basic necessity here, yet he had never seen their power used this way. Li Qiang seemed even more mysterious to him.
Slowly, the red light began turning white, illuminating the cave walls. The floating crystals began spinning rapidly. Six thumb-sized pills had already taken shape, and wafts of delicate fragrance spread through the air.
Nashan couldn't help speaking again. "That smells wonderful! Ah! Just smelling it makes me hungry."
The red glow dimmed. Li Qiang caught the pills in midair with the glass cup, while the crystals, their power exhausted, shattered and fell. He laughed happily. "Haha, it worked." Inwardly, he praised the wonders of the Spirit Coil Sect's pill-refining method.
"What worked? Boss, why is everyone ignoring me?" Nashan said aggrievedly.
Li Qiang picked up a pill and stuffed it into Nashan's mouth, smiling. "Time to eat! One each. Brother Zhao, circulate your martial power immediately after taking it. The effects will be better."
Nashan felt an icy stream plunge straight into his innards. The fragrance grew even stronger. Slowly, a shudder ran through his whole body, and his stomach gurgled. He blurted out, "Boss, need to shit!"
Li Qiang said irritably, "Nashan... who needs to shit?"
Knowing he had misspoken again, Nashan stumbled, crawled, and rolled deeper into the passage, still explaining, "Boss, hehe... Boss, I didn't mean it..." Kankanqi couldn't hold on any longer either and crawled after him.
Zhao Zhi gained a great deal. After circulating his martial power through several cycles, he felt as though he had shed his old body and been reborn. Opening his eyes, he said excitedly, "It really is an immortal pill... Hmm, why does it stink so much? Oh no..." He too crawled toward Nashan and Kankanqi.
The four set off again, moving faster now. Nashan was utterly astonished. Crawling had been exhausting before, but now it felt extraordinarily easy. A light touch of either hand or foot against the cave wall sent him shooting a long way forward. He felt incomparably exhilarated.
Li Qiang suddenly sensed a slight vibration and stopped the others, saying softly, "Did you hear anything?"
Zhao Zhi pressed his ear against the cave wall. "There's a knocking sound." Nashan and Kankanqi heard it too.
"Let's look around." Li Qiang sent out a thread of True Essence Power to probe their surroundings and soon discovered a narrow passage. "Everyone, follow me. Be careful."
The four crawled forward with difficulty along the extremely narrow passage.
"Damn it, a dead end." Unwilling to give up, Li Qiang probed again with True Essence Power and said delightedly, "The cave wall is thin. Back up. I'll blast it open." Then he called, "Turn your protection up to maximum. It's going to blow..."
Boom...
Crash... The cave wall collapsed. Dust billowed and broken stones flew everywhere.
Startled cries rose outside. Zhao Zhi leaped out first, and Li Qiang and the other two charged out close behind him.
Nashan cheered, "Boss, hahaha, hahaha, we're back!"
Many convict laborers stared in terror at the four fully armed men, unable to believe that Black Camp guards would enter from here.
Li Qiang asked, "Who can tell me which district this is?"
Nashan perked up and barked, "My boss asked a question! Someone still breathing, step forward and answer! Hmm, no one's talking? Who's your district's boss? Hurry up and call him over to pay his respects to our boss."
Before long, a large crowd rushed over. Seeing how the four were dressed, they all jumped in fright. A short, skinny man stepped out of the group and examined them closely, then suddenly said, "One-Eyed Dragon, is that you? Damn you, you've gotten so high and mighty you don't even recognize your daddy anymore!"
That "your daddy" actually stirred a trace of warmth in Li Qiang. Brother Hou also peppered his speech with "your daddy." He smiled. "Your daddy is One-Eyed Dragon's boss. If you've got something to say, say it to your daddy!"