Chapter 43: The Water Spirit Mussel and the White Octopus

Following Little Assistant’s guidance, Qingxi made his way along the riverbank’s mudflats toward a bend in the river. Along the way, among eighteen thousand martial skills, he selected an auxiliary technique. This skill, called “Art of Waterwalking,” allowed a membrane of energy to form over his body, enabling him to breathe and speak underwater. Even in combat, the effect would last more than ten minutes.

During half an hour’s walk along the river, he had already cultivated this art to the minor accomplishment stage. Though not yet mastered, it was sufficient for the upcoming battle.

With a splash, he leapt into the West Sand River, sending up a spray that was swiftly devoured by the surging waves. Below the surface, the current was swift but clear. Having activated the Art of Waterwalking in advance, Qingxi was enveloped by a three-centimeter-thick membrane of air, which would not break even under a heavy blow.

After switching to his superior spirit sword, Qingxi began scanning the area and activated the “Spirit Eye Art.” His vision sharpened several times, adapting to the underwater environment as he observed his surroundings.

When he had descended to a depth of more than ten meters, the current was no longer so fierce. The deeper he went, the calmer the water became. At thirty meters, he was near the riverbed stones. Parting the water plants, his spirit sword in hand, he continued to swim forward.

Suddenly, a shadow darted toward him, trailing a conspicuous wake in its path, the sound roaring in his ears. With a glance, Qingxi recognized it as a low-grade, human-level swordfish. This species was less than a meter long, its head mutated to sport a bony protrusion like a sharp sword, known as the “bone blade.” A full-speed charge from it could pierce even refined iron.

But with three bursts of spatial interference, Qingxi altered the swordfish’s trajectory, so that the head which should have rammed his abdomen instead flashed past his side. Seizing the moment, he swung his sword, cleaving the fish in two. He then seized its body and began to convert its internal power: some became his five-element essence, some transformed into blood energy to strengthen himself.

“I’ve heard the bone blade on a swordfish’s head is valuable spirit material, exchangeable for points. I’ll keep it,” Qingxi murmured, slicing off the bone blade and storing it in his system space.

From his skirmish with the swordfish, he realized his mobility underwater was limited and slow; without spatial interference, survival would be difficult. After searching further, he slew several more low-grade swordfish, collecting as many as five hundred strands of elemental essence.

Absorbing the fish’s blood energy, he found his physical strength had increased by over a hundred pounds, his body’s durability significantly enhanced.

“It seems West Sand River truly is a treasure trove. If I could linger here a few more days, my spiritual root would surely advance to the spirit grade.”

Suddenly Qingxi changed his mind, resolving to stay here a while longer.

For him at this stage, this was simply a sacred ground for cultivation.

But soon, he was forced to reconsider. For ahead of him appeared a swarm of piranhas. Though only palm-sized, their teeth were sharp as fine steel; the leading fish king was even a mid-grade, human-level beast, capable of biting a chip from an ordinary spirit weapon.

“This is no place for people,” Qingxi muttered, lips twitching as he hurriedly retreated.

But the piranha king had already noticed him. Its intelligent gaze locked onto the intruder, eyes flashing with strange light, as if puzzled by the sudden appearance of such a bizarre creature in its territory.

Suddenly, it caught the scent of Qingxi’s vibrant energy and led its school in a direct assault. The fish king, though only half a meter long, when charging at full speed, gave an impression as if a mountain was collapsing.

“Damn, even a piranha king is this strong?”

Qingxi hastily activated spatial interference to deflect the king’s charge, but underwater, it was exceptionally agile, quickly correcting its course and leading the school to encircle him.

“They say, ‘Capture the ringleader to subdue the gang’—I refuse to believe a mid-grade, human-level beast is insurmountable.” Qingxi raised a low-grade spirit shield in his left hand and his superior spirit sword in his right, slashing out a blade of sword energy as thin as a cicada’s wing.

The fierce energy split the water, leaving a sword scar several meters long in its wake. Sensing danger, the piranha king tried to evade, but Qingxi grinned and unleashed spatial interference, steering the king straight into the disruption zone and, unable to control its own movement, into the path of the sword energy.

Predictably, the piranha king was cleaved in two.

But to Qingxi’s astonishment, the rest of the piranhas swarmed and devoured their king’s body in the blink of an eye, leaving only gleaming bones.

“Damn it, that was my trophy!” he protested, quickly unleashing a gale palm to send a wave rippling through the water, stunning the swarm and reclaiming the fish king’s skeleton.

Examining the two rows of three-centimeter-long, razor-sharp teeth above, he chuckled and stored them away. These alone were worth dozens of points.

After a while, Qingxi surfaced for air, then dived again, searching along the riverbed. After half an hour, he finally located an underwater sandbank. From dozens of meters away, he saw a cluster of river mussels, large and small.

The smaller ones were only the size of a hand, emitting weak spiritual energy. The largest could accommodate a person, their aura so intense even Qingxi felt pressure. He immediately scanned the largest mussel for information.

[Species: Demon Beast]
[Name: Water Spirit Mussel]
[Grade: High Human Level]
[Note: The Water Spirit Mussel has low combat power but a shell as hard as a spiritual weapon, extremely difficult to break. It nurtures Water Spirit Pearls inside, which can be used for alchemy and body refinement, with a variety of effects.]

“High human grade, comparable to thirty cycles of Qi Refinement, yet with low combat power. This task shouldn’t be too difficult, right…” Before Qingxi could finish his thought, his eyelids twitched as he saw the sand beneath the mussel colony begin to tremble.

A tentacle suddenly darted out. Then a second, a third… until all were revealed above the sand.

Staring at the conjuring spectacle of a five-meter-long white octopus, Qingxi was dumbfounded.

[Species: Demon Beast]
[Name: White Octopus]
[Grade: High Human Level]
[Note: The White Octopus possesses vigorous vitality, exceptional agility, and excels at maneuvering. Among beasts of its class, it is particularly troublesome. The host is advised to exercise caution.]

“How can there be an octopus in freshwater? Is it mutated? Still, it must be this white octopus that makes the hunt for Water Spirit Pearls half a level harder.”

Lying low on a rock, Qingxi watched the white octopus from dozens of meters away, brows furrowing.

With his current strength, facing the white octopus would be an even match at best. Even if he managed to win by luck, in such a perilous underwater environment, he could easily be ambushed by other aquatic beasts.

He concluded he would need a method to counterbalance the octopus and win with overwhelming advantage; otherwise, there was no way to approach the Water Spirit Mussels.

“Wait, with so many demon beasts in this water, why should I go after the mussels guarded by the white octopus? Hunting other beasts, collecting materials, and exchanging them for points is just as viable, isn’t it?” Qingxi suddenly found this idea appealing.

But then he remembered that each Water Spirit Pearl was worth 150 points, and there were more than a hundred mussels in the group; fifteen were fully mature, each bearing a pearl.

If he could obtain them all, he would amass over a thousand points.

This was a windfall indeed!

At that thought, Qingxi found himself at an impasse.