Chapter 188: The Blood from Ancient Past in the Depths Below (II)

Li Hao said solemnly, "We've entered the eastern edge of the Jiuhuan Mountains. The terrain here is rugged, and there are quite a few low-level mutated creatures. Be careful, everyone."

Chen Chu stepped forward. "I'll lead the way next. We must reach the mountain where the group is today to avoid any unexpected incidents during the night."

Although the Insightful Blade Art had already merged into the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd, the rune of the Insightful Eye Realm still remained. Every time Chen Chu cleared the way by swinging his heavy halberd, the wind blew, thunder roared, and all attacking mutated creatures were smashed into minced meat.

Now that the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd was a transcendent weapon, Chen Chu's strength had become even more terrifying. Every casual strike was unparalleled in its ferocity and destructiveness.

Crossing mountains and hills, the group embarked early in the morning and only arrived at the foot of the mountain where Li Hao had discovered the scaled mutated beasts by dusk, mainly due to how much slower Liu Feng and the others were compared to Chen Chu.

This was the other side of the Yunwu Mountain Range, shrouded in thick clouds and mist that even the wind couldn't disperse. Standing at the foot of the mountain, they could only see a few hundred meters ahead at most.

The area was filled with towering trees reaching dozens or even hundreds of meters high, and dense undergrowth taller than a person, making it almost impassable for ordinary people. The occasional roar of a mutated beast, the rustling sounds of grass and bushes in the distance, and the crawling noises of creatures created an eerie atmosphere that would unsettle an ordinary person.

Chen Chu and the others, however, weren’t bothered. Li Hao said in a deep voice, "It's about to get dark soon. Mutated creatures are more active at night, so we'd better find a secluded cave to spend the night."

Although Fourth Heavenly Realm cultivators had some degree of night vision, their combat effectiveness was still be greatly affected under these circumstances. Usually, cultivators venturing out would find a safe place to spend the night and resume their activities during the day.

Chen Chu nodded. "Sounds easy enough. Let's spread out within a ten kilometer radius. If we can't find one, we'll dig one out ourselves."

"Heh! Chen Chu is right. I'll check over here."

"I'll go that way..."

Soon, Li Meng found a cave a few kilometers away under a cliff, blocked off by a large boulder. It was being inhabited by a level 2 mutated beast, but Li Meng smashed it to pieces with a single blow. The flesh that was left behind was perfect for tonight’s meal.

After eating the barbequed mutated beast meat and arranging the rotation for the night watch, the group dispersed to find places to sit cross-legged and begin cultivation. As he was doing that, Chen Chu diverted most of his attention toward the Thunder Fiery Colossal Beast.

Something had gone wrong over there.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Uncle, come out quick.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Uncle, help.

In the scorching sea water surrounding the volcano's crater, a fifteen meter black and white orca, adorned with fiery patterns across its body, swam continuously while emitting plaintive calls.

Boom!

Suddenly, the magma within the volcano's crater exploded, and a black and red colossal beast, black and red in color, burst out. Its entire body was engulfed in blazing red and gold flames, emanating terrifying heat.

After several days of slumbering within the volcano and absorbing vast amounts of heat energy, the Thunder Beast's black scales now bore patterns of ancient red flames. As it gazed at the oldest child of the Single-horned Orca’s family, the Thunder Beast let out a deep growl.

Roar! What’s going on? Did Big Horn get beaten up again?

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Dad went out to get some food, but was beaten up and sent back.

Compared to the second and third child, the obviously stronger oldest child could communicate clearly with the Thunder Beast. Patterns of a mutated colossal beast had already started forming on its body.

This guy is really going all out for his family.

The Thunder Beast was speechless. Just a few days ago, their dad had been seriously injured because of the Magma Fruit within the volcano, and now, barely two days later, it had been attacked again.

Roar! Come on, let’s go take a look.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Uncle, I’ll lead the way.

The eldest orca circled the Thunder Beast affectionately and rushed toward the open sea. The Thunder Beast extinguished the flames on its body and followed beneath the sea surface.

Soon, just about ten kilometers away, the Thunder Beast spotted the Single-horned Orca.

Under the cover of night, the Orca lay weakly on the shallow beach of a deserted island. Its belly had a massive bleeding cut over two meters wide, deep enough to reveal its internal organs wriggling inside. If the attack had been any more severe, it would be dead now.

Two smaller orcas swam anxiously nearby, while a female orca quietly kept it company, occasionally nuzzling the Single-horned Orca with gentle tenderness.

Boom!

A ferocious dragon head exploded out of the surface of the water. It looked extremely fierce, yet majestic, with three red feathered horns on each side.

Excitement immediately appeared in the eyes of the two little orcas as soon as they saw the Thunder Beast. They hurried over, while the Single-horned Orca let out a distressed cry.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Brother, you’re finally here!

The Thunder Beast roared impatiently.

Roar! You talk as if you were waiting for me to deliver your last rites. Spit it out, how did you end up like this again?

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! I found something good again, but that guy was cunning. He deceived me and launched a sneak attack. I almost didn’t make it back.

The Thunder Beast shook its head.

Roar! I told you long ago, there are almost always mutated creatures guarding these resources nearby. Be cautious if you find them, especially if you don’t see any mutated creatures guarding them. Don't rashly charge in. If you keep acting recklessly like this, you'll end up kicking the bucket.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! I was already very careful this time. But who knew that guy would turn into a rock and suddenly attack me. Oh right, what does kicking the bucket mean?

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The Thunder Beast roared impatiently:

Roar! What else could it mean? It means you’ll die, you’ll get eaten.

Roar! So now what, do we wait for you to heal or go take care of that bastard now?

Seeing the Orca’s sorry state, the Thunder Beast wanted to avenge him, as well as see what the orca had found.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Let’s go now, it’ll be eaten by others if we’re late.

Roar! Let’s go then.

However, just as they were about to set off, the female orca emitted a soft call, almost like that of a gentle wife, while gently nuzzling the Single-horned Orca.

The female orca spoke in their unique "orca language", and with no spiritual fluctuations, the Thunder Beast couldn’t understand what she said.

But the next second, the Single-horned Orca, who had been somewhat dejected, suddenly became bold and energetic.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Don’t worry, I’m really tough. And with my brother here we can definitely take out that bastard. I’ll bring back the good stuff for you to eat.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Brother, let’s go take it out!

Despite its injuries, the Orca swished its tail and charged into the waves with renewed vigor.

Seeing this, the Thunder Beast shook its head in amusement at this unusual family’s antics and followed suit.

Fortunately, Big Horn has already fathered three little orcas. Otherwise, the Thunder Beast would have mistaken him for a super simp—just a nudge from his wife, and he was off to fight immediately.

However, that was probably why the three little orcas had survived so far. With the Single-horned Orca out hustling, the female orca had been able to take care of the little orcas at home. Otherwise, in an ocean full of mutated creatures, they would have very quickly ended up in an accident.

Following behind the Orca, the Thunder Beast swam further out into the ocean. It was almost the dead of night and they had swam about a thousand kilometers.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Brother, we’re here. Hold on, be careful.

With a low growl, the Orca suddenly dove underwater. The Thunder Beast followed, and in just one breath, the two colossal beasts reached a depth of a thousand meters.

Then two thousand meters, three thousand...

When they reached a depth of five thousand meters, the water pressure surged. Even the Thunder Beast felt a slight strain when breathing.

At that moment, it saw that the seabed below had cracked open to form a trench that was over 4 kilometers wide and extended for an unknown distance, resembling a rift tearing through the earth that devoured everything in its path.

The two colossal beasts continued diving down.

Meanwhile, the Thunder Beast felt a tinge of envy. The Orca had such a strong ability for finding resources, being able to discover them at such deep depths in the sea.

Soon the two beasts reached a depth of six thousand kilometers, a thousand kilometers deep in the trench. Suddenly, the Orca slowed down. The Thunder Beast also sensed a terrifying aura emanating from below, making it feel uneasy.

A faint red light appeared in the pitch-black depths of the sea, revealing a colossal skeleton lying horizontally at the bottom of the trench. It stretched for a hundred meters with a diameter of over ten, and it emitted an ancient, desolate aura, steeped in profound and primordial essence.

In the midst of the bones, there were two droplets of blood the size of a human face. They emitted a faint red glow that enveloped the entire skeleton, even shielding the skeleton from the seawater around it.

As soon as it saw those two blood droplets, the Thunder Beast felt an overwhelmingly intense urge to devour, far surpassing any previous impulses.

It was evident that this was the skeleton of an ancient creature, originating from some unknown source. The two droplets were likely the last of its blood. Despite having perished and decayed for countless years, this ancient creature still exuded a terrifying aura that made the Thunder Beast palpitate with fear, but at the same time, allured it.

Thunder Beast's natural instincts told it that consuming those two blood droplets would yield tremendous benefits.