“What’re you trying to do?” the pale-faced youth shouted. The question was directed not to Zhuo Yifeng, but rather Zhao Ming.

The arrow in Zhuo Yifeng’s hand stilled.

“What does it matter to you?” Zhao Ming’s stature was far superior to the pale-faced youth’s, and he looked back at him with disdain.

By then, the two members of Rong Yueshan’s team equipped with a water-based technique were already entering the lake.

“Step aside!” Zhao Ming became anxious as he saw them dive in. The current situation underwater was unclear, and those who entered the lake first would naturally have an advantage.

The pale-faced youth smiled evilly as he continued standing in front of Zhao Ming. In fury, Zhao Ming raised a fist and hurled it at his body. Because the youth was fast and agile, however, he dodged the telegraphed attack with ease. Rather than continue fighting, Zhao Ming took the opportunity to rush to the lake.

Despite this quick resolution, he was still slower than the two members of Rong Yueshan’s group. Just as Zhao Ming was about to follow them into the lake, however, sparks flared past his front. Two pained cries rang out as Rong Yueshan’s two divers found themselves skewered by a sparking arrow and fell into the lake together. Blood dyed the surface of the lake red.

What had just occurred in front of him left Zhao Ming so shocked that he turned back and saw Zhuo Yifeng cocking his bow at him. He immediately used a technique to create two clones in mid-air. All three bodies looked identical, and no one could tell which was his true self.

Zhuo Yifeng narrowed his eyes. Although he wasn’t able to identify which body was real, he still managed to shoot an arrow at the middle body before it landed in the water. As it faded away, Zhao Ming’s true self splashed into the pool.

“Damn it!” Zhuo Yifeng and Rong Yueshan called out together.

Two members of Rong Yueshan’s team had died, and Zhao Ming had even taken the lead over her team. The prideful Rong Yueshan couldn’t bear such humiliation; she removed three silver darts from her waist and tossed them at Zhuo Yifeng.

Those silver darts were fourth-rank weapons, barely worse than Zhuo Yifeng’s arrows. Even though they weren’t confiscated, they still possessed significant power.

Zhuo Yifeng had shot out two arrows in succession. Just as he took out the third, Rong Yueshan’s silver darts reached them. He guarded Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen as they retreated, but that gave Rong Yueshan enough time to dive into the lake herself.

Damn, damn! Zhuo Yifeng and the Lin sisters’ faces fell. Yun Ruoyan might have been able to handle Zhao Ming alone, but if Rong Yueshan were also trying to steal the treasure, then she might really be in trouble. Furthermore, given the bad blood between Yun Ruoyan and the Rong family, it wasn’t unlikely that Rong Yueshan would try to do more than just steal the treasure.

Zhuo Yifeng resolutely handed his bow and arrows to Lin Qingxue once more as he said, “I’m going to head into the lake as well.”

When the other two teams by the shore saw their leaders head into the lake, they surged forward. The pale-faced youth stared murderously at Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue, as though he were thinking of killing them as revenge for his own teammates.

“Don’t move, or I’ll shoot you!” Lin Qingxue held Zhuo Yifeng’s bow in her hands as she faced that youth. The tiger-canine arrowheads gleamed in the sunlight, and the death of two of his teammates from a single arrow made the pale-faced youth so fearful that he didn’t dare step forward.

While the situation ashore reached an impasse, Yun Ruoyan was still underwater. After falling off the eight-legged evil spirit’s body in order to give Zhuo Yifeng a clear shot at the beast’s head, she had deftly dodged to the side and watched on as Zhuo Yifeng killed the beast. She was about to head ashore as soon as he had done so, but when she saw the beast’s massive body sinking into the lake, she pursued it without having the time to inform the rest of the party.

The serpent-core necklace in her mouth would allow her to breathe for up to four hours underwater, so she wasn’t scared of running out of air. She swam downwards rapidly and eventually reached the beast’s body. As it sank, she dug at the wound on its head with her gleaming dagger. The glowing red light from its head was slowly dimming, and Yun Ruoyan’s goal was to retrieve the inner core located there.

However, it was buried so deeply within the beast’s body that, even with Yun Ruoyan’s entire arm in the beast’s head, she couldn’t feel the presence of a core at all. Instead, her arm felt as though it were encased in a warm, sticky fluid, deeply unpleasant to her senses.

If they were ashore, it would have been simple to cut the beast’s body up in search of the core. However, she was underwater, and the eight-legged evil spirit’s body was still continuing to sink to the depths of the lake.

In the end, she decided to stay on its head and wait for the body to hit the lakebed before trying to retrieve the core. She watched as the sunlight striking the surface of the lake gradually grew dimmer and dimmer. After an interminable amount of time, when her surroundings had turned almost completely dark, Yun Ruoyan began to have an uneasy premonition.

How could they have sunk so deep? She was certain that she had first wounded the spirit at a far higher elevation!

Regular cultivators would have been unable to bear the tremendous water pressure, but the high-grade serpent core in Yun Ruoyan’s mouth alleviated this burden. Even in the deep ocean, she would be able to breathe with ease, so she didn’t feel discomfited at all.

However, her gradually dimming surroundings left the careful Yun Ruoyan quite concerned. Would there be other such creatures in the lake, and would they be attracted to the beast’s carcass?

Under these circumstances, the most logical choice of action was to give up on the beast core and swim back ashore. But do we really have to give up on the spoils for killing this beast? Even the decisive Yun Ruoyan was beginning to waver.

Before she could come to a conclusion, the beast’s body finally sank to the bottom of the lake with a thump. The massive carcass caused a plume of mud, silt, and sand to erupt. Yun Ruoyan buried her head against the beast’s thick skin, preventing herself from breathing in any impurities.

After the mud and sand finally settled, Yun Ruoyan raised her head once more. It was dark all around her; although it wasn’t to the point where she couldn’t see her fingers in front of her, she was barely able to look three paces into the distance.

Yun Ruoyan took out a beast core from her silver bracelet. The small core only provided the weakest of light, and wasn’t effective at illuminating whatever was in the distance.

“Qiuqiu,” Yun Ruoyan called out.

“Mistress, what’s the matter?”

“Qiuqiu, find me the brightest beast core I have in my pocket dimension!”

There were now so many things stored in her silver bracelet that Qiuqiu was much more familiar with the space than she was.

At the same time, Yun Ruoyan began taking out the weakest beast cores she had and tossing them into the distance. Despite their weak illumination, the sheer quantity of such cores meant that she was barely able to see her surroundings after some effort.

Yun Ruoyan glanced all around her. Along with the eight-legged evil spirit, she had sunk to a location bordered by stone walls. The walls were covered by a thick layer of seaweed and algae, and their original appearance couldn’t be made out.

“Mistress, I found the beast core of a medicinal rabbit,” Qiuqiu suddenly remarked.

“Alright, hand it over!” Yun Ruoyan had obtained that beast core within the imperial territory, and she had kept it in her bracelet ever since. It was a far superior light source compared to the other beast cores she had, and was able to illuminate a whole patch of area by itself.

Although Yun Ruoyan had a serpent-core necklace and didn’t need to worry about air, her long disappearance would surely cause Lin Qingchen and the others to be concerned. As a result, she didn’t want to waste any more time than was necessary. With the medicinal rabbit’s beast core guiding her, she immediately began hacking at the beast’s thick flesh with her dagger.

After some effort, Yun Ruoyan managed to part the thick flesh and to finally pull out the eight-legged evil spirit’s beast core. It was about the size of a baby’s fist, and it shone with a gleaming red light. The moment that it emerged from the beast’s body, the red light illuminated the space in which Yun Ruoyan was located.

“Mistress, there’s something wrong with this place!” Qiuqiu exclaimed, its tone severe.

“What’s the matter?” Yun Ruoyan kept the medicinal rabbit’s beast core and began using the eight-legged evil spirit’s core for illumination instead.

“Mistress, check out your surroundings!”

Yun Ruoyan had been excited about finally retrieving the beast core, but given Qiuqiu’s adverse reaction, she couldn’t help being more concerned about her current plight.

When Yun Ruoyan looked at her surroundings once again with the near-dazzling light of the core, she found that the stone walls formed a perfect square about seventy or eighty feet wide around her and the beast’s carcass.

Under Qiuqiu’s advice, she held out the core in her hand as she swam up to a stone wall. With one hand, she began clearing away the seaweed and algae on the wall, revealing its original appearance. As Yun Ruoyan looked at the unveiled sight in front of her, her eyes opened wider and wider...