Chapter 192: Chapter 182: Deep Water
After his strike landed, Zhao Lin immediately released the iron ruler, blasted energy from his acupoints, and shot backward.
Fish have an incredibly tenacious life force. In his past life, he had seen a fish served at the dinner table that was still twitching on the platter. He dared not let his guard down.
The Thunder Catfish, its head pierced by the iron ruler, convulsed in agony and let out a deep, bellowing sound.
Its eyes rolled upward to spot Zhao Lin above. With a loud SLAP, its tail struck the water. The enormous creature leaped from the pool, its cavernous maw wide open, and lunged at him.
Despite its severe injuries, its movements were completely unhindered.
A blast of wind and water droplets hit his face. Zhao Lin quickly repositioned himself and swung a vicious punch, smashing it into the Thunder Catfish’s lower jaw.
BANG!
Zhao Lin used the force of the impact to flip twice in mid-air. He then steadied himself, drew an iron axe, and hurled it with all his might.
The Thunder Catfish’s body was too massive for it to dodge, and the axe struck it squarely in the head.
But its skull was incredibly hard; the axe only sank a third of the way in, the rest of the blade still exposed.
Zhao Lin hovered in the air, and the Thunder Catfish could do nothing to reach him. It could only thrash about restlessly in the pool, its eyes radiating a boundless hatred.
The sun began to set, its last rays glinting across the surface of the pool.
Blood streamed from the wounds on the Thunder Catfish’s head and gills, staining the water red.
Zhao Lin slowly descended to the ground to avoid being spotted in the air. He kept his distance but didn’t move too far away.
’A gutted fish can still flop about, but it’s bound to die eventually. My iron ruler pierced the Thunder Catfish’s brain; it can’t possibly live much longer.’
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the Thunder Catfish was finally weakening. It shot Zhao Lin one last resentful glance before diving beneath the water’s surface.
’It’s gone?’
Zhao Lin took a few steps closer. His throat began to vibrate at a high frequency, emitting ultrasonic waves to pinpoint the Thunder Catfish’s location.
’The ultrasound can penetrate the water’s surface. Part of the wave reflects back immediately, while the rest travels through the water until it hits an obstacle and reflects back then.’
Based on the returning waves, Zhao Lin determined that the Thunder Catfish wasn’t lying in ambush. Instead, it was swimming toward the depths of the pool.
’Should I follow it?’
Zhao Lin hesitated. ’If I go in the water, my movements will be slow and clumsy. My fighting strength will be severely diminished. Even if it’s half-dead, I still won’t stand a chance against it down there.’
However, after careful consideration, he decided to follow it anyway.
’First, while ultrasound travels at the speed of sound in air—about 340 meters per second—in water, that speed skyrockets to 1,500 meters per second.’
’The speed and range of my perception will be greatly enhanced, allowing me to foresee any danger.’
’Second, the Thunder Catfish is so grievously wounded that its death is certain. If I’m not there when it dies, its Essence Soul will quickly dissipate after leaving the body. All my effort will have been for nothing.’
He had become fascinated with this particular Essence Soul when he read about it in some notes at the Celestial Water Pavilion last year. Now that he had a chance to obtain it, he couldn’t just give up.
With that thought, Zhao Lin found a large rock on the shore, hugged it to his chest, and slowly slid into the pool.
Once in the water, his body plummeted straight down.
At first, he could still vaguely make out his surroundings by the light filtering down from above.
Zhao Lin was surprised to find the pool was shaped like a gourd, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. It hadn’t looked large from the outside, but there was a whole other world hidden within.
The water below was not still; he could feel strong undercurrents, though he couldn’t tell where they originated.
The water was frigid, forcing him to circulate his Qi and Blood at full power just to resist the biting cold.
As he sank deeper, the light grew progressively dimmer until he was enveloped in complete darkness.
Now, he had to rely entirely on his ultrasonic senses to probe the area, carefully keeping a safe distance from the Thunder Catfish.
He was ready to drop the rock and flee upward at a moment’s notice should the beast lunge at him.
Fortunately, the Thunder Catfish didn’t seem to notice Zhao Lin tailing it. It continued to swim onward, though its movements grew increasingly sluggish.
Zhao Lin felt the water pressure building, crushing down on his body.
His body had been reformed, and he had tempered his muscles, bones, and skin back in the Power Realm, so he could still endure it.
After what felt like an eternity, his feet finally touched the bottom of the pool.
The bottom was covered in a slick, slimy layer of algae and moss.
Just then, a flat, fan-sized creature resembling a ray flapped its "wings" and swam past him.
Zhao Lin startled for a moment, instantly gathering his energy in case it launched a surprise attack.
However, upon spotting Zhao Lin, the creature immediately changed course and swam away.
’I thought the Thunder Catfish’s presence would mean no other life could survive in this pool, but that’s clearly not the case.’
Aside from that ray-like fish, he occasionally startled other deep-water creatures that would then scatter in every direction.
Having lived their entire lives in the high-pressure darkness of the depths, these creatures were mostly flat and stout with bizarre appearances. Fortunately, none of them were aggressive.
Zhao Lin sighed internally. ’I guess only these fish can truly say they live in a high-pressure environment.’
The Thunder Catfish had all but stopped moving. Its body started to list, bobbing erratically as it lost all control.
Zhao Lin waited patiently, though he could feel his lungs burning. He was skilled at holding his breath, but even he couldn’t last forever.
Finally, the Thunder Catfish’s gills stopped moving, and its body rolled over.
Specks of golden light began to rise from it.
’It’s finally dead!’
Zhao Lin breathed a sigh of relief, but a question immediately popped into his mind.
’Why is the light golden?’
’The Essence Souls I’ve seen before were all silver!’
’Does gold mean it’s a higher-grade Essence Soul? Or is it because of its Thunder Attribute?’
Zhao Lin had no way of knowing. ’But whatever the reason,’ he thought, ’this Essence Soul is mine.’
Clutching the large rock, he walked step by step toward the Thunder Catfish.
The golden light coalesced in the water, gradually taking the shape of the Thunder Catfish.
Zhao Lin checked the Spirit Beast Scroll in his mind. Just as it had when he encountered the Cold Ice Silkworm, it began to tremble violently, as if a storm was raging within it.
Once the Essence Soul had fully formed, the golden light stopped emerging from the Thunder Catfish’s corpse.
Without further hesitation, Zhao Lin moved forward, ready to absorb it. But then he suddenly realized a problem: he was underwater. If he tried to inhale, he’d just suck water up his nose.
’But absorbing an Essence Soul doesn’t necessarily require breathing, does it?’
An idea struck Zhao Lin. He tried opening his acupoints, his pores flaring as energy circulated through them.
As if drawn by a magnet, the Thunder Catfish’s Essence Soul split into several streams of golden light and drilled into his body.
Once he was sure the entire Essence Soul was inside him, Zhao Lin dropped the rock, pulled the iron ruler from the Thunder Catfish’s gills, and retrieved his axe.
With a powerful kick of his legs, he began to swim toward the surface.
But before he even reached the surface, the Thunder Catfish’s Essence Soul began to rampage through his meridians like a bolt of lightning!
One moment it was at an acupoint in one meridian, the next it had shot to the Jiquan Acupoint of the Hand Shaoyin Meridian. It moved so fast, Zhao Lin’s mind couldn’t even keep up.
After causing chaos for a moment, the Essence Soul suddenly split in two, one stream entering his Chest Acupoint and the other his Lingtai Acupoint.
These two acupoints were the very ones Zhao Lin needed to open to break through to the Third Layer of the Qi Realm.
A thought struck him.
’Last time, the Cold Ice Silkworm’s Essence Soul not only granted me Cold Ice True Qi, but it also helped me open the rest of my Yin Meridian acupoints. Could this be the same kind of opportunity?’
