Chapter 423 - 185: Beneath the Abyss
Chapter 423: Chapter 185: Beneath the Abyss
"And you can also absorb from other women, though the effect will be much weaker... But a weaker effect is still better than nothing, right?"
"Additionally, she herself has a Five Extremes Top-Grade Root Bone. After Absorption, using her to bear children makes it far more likely to produce offspring with a Top-Grade Root Bone compared to an ordinary woman."
The silver-masked stall owner paused, then slowly extended a single finger:
"Starting bid: one hundred thousand taels of silver."
As soon as he said this, the surrounding customers, who had long been eyeing her eagerly, immediately started a bidding war. The price skyrocketed, reaching two hundred thousand taels in a moment, and it was still climbing.
Chen Cheng watched silently, sighing to himself.
’The world is so vast. What I’ve seen and experienced is, in the end, far too little.’
’If I never step out of my comfort zone, there are many things I wouldn’t even be able to imagine, let alone see.’
’Like what’s happening right now...’
’A rich man with a Lower Lower Grade Root Bone could buy the ’Tripod Material’ in the cage and easily and quickly become a Nine Blood Transforming Force master.’
’A great master at the Divine Storage Realm who bought this ’Tripod Material’ would not only save several years of arduous cultivation, but also all the resources that would have been consumed during that time.’
’For this very reason, whether it was two hundred thousand taels or thirty thousand taels, there would never be a shortage of buyers.’
As this thought crossed his mind, Chen Cheng couldn’t help but wonder, ’If I could come up with that much money, would I take such a shortcut too?’
A moment later, the auction for another Martial Slave began on the other side.
Chen Cheng’s attention shifted over.
He listened for a moment.
That Martial Slave’s strength was very low, but he was born with Night Eye, allowing him to see in the dark as if it were day and even perceive malevolent and unnatural things.
A Poisonous Gu had been planted in his body; only by loyally following his master could he receive the antidote at regular intervals to stay alive.
At this point, Chen Cheng completely understood the purpose of paying attention to these Martial Slave traders.
They all had their own methods of controlling the life and death of their Martial Slaves.
This was remarkably similar to the methods the core higher-ups of the Immortal Bone Sect used to control their mid-level elites.
If he were lucky, Chen Cheng might even run into a core higher-up from the Immortal Bone Sect selling Martial Slaves here, giving him a chance to learn the ’Poisonous Gu Manipulation Killing Technique.’
However, Chen Cheng had to focus all his energy on breaking through to the Divine Storage Realm for now. Otherwise, if he came to the Valley of Oblivion to watch and wait every day, he might just learn even more secret techniques from sinister and unorthodox paths.
...
「The next day.」
The bright moon hung high, its cold, white halo spilling across the Sea Marsh, hazy and indistinct, as if broken silver had been scattered across black silk.
As usual, Chen Cheng entered the water at this time to catch Treasure Fish.
He swam out from the tunnel of his Grotto Heaven. His usual routine was to swim straight up, and after exiting the abyss, choose a direction to search for Treasure Fish.
But today, just as he exited the tunnel, a Mental Gravity quietly materialized.
’Three hundred meters away?’
’That’s right...’
’I was so absorbed in my cultivation, I almost forgot...’
’Tonight is the full moon!’
Chen Cheng composed himself and immediately followed the Mental Gravity, swimming at high speed.
His body shot forward like an arrow from a bow, covering several meters in an instant.
It was pitch-black all around, so dark he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face, but he didn’t need his eyes to see.
「A moment later.」
As the distance between them closed, the Mental Gravity grew stronger and stronger.
Chen Cheng’s heart leaped with joy:
’Looks like it’s a Tier Two Treasure Fish. My luck is really good today!’
The value of a single Tier Two Treasure Fish was often equivalent to seven to ten Tier One Treasure Fish.
In the past half-month, Chen Cheng had only caught two Tier Two Treasure Fish. Encountering one right after setting out tonight was truly satisfying.
But just then, the Treasure Fish seemed to sense the danger behind it and suddenly accelerated, plunging deep into the abyss.
’Still think you can run?’
Chen Cheng smiled and also accelerated sharply. Like a bolt of black lightning, he shot diagonally toward the Treasure Fish.
The Treasure Fish reacted with incredible speed, accelerating again and boring straight down into the even deeper parts of the abyss.
An unknown amount of time passed.
The man and the fish seemed to fall from the sky into the abyss, their depth now impossible to measure.
In the end, Chen Cheng proved superior, forcing the Treasure Fish into a corner and successfully capturing it with the Profound Silk Net.
He took out the Fluorescent Pearl.
A ghostly green light rippled through the water, illuminating the large fish in the net. Its scales shimmered with a four-colored radiance, its gills opened and closed with power, and its thrashing tail could easily shatter the rock walls...
It was indeed a Tier Two Treasure Fish.
Chen Cheng smiled in satisfaction. Just as he was about to turn and head back up, a thought suddenly struck him:
’Since I’m already here, I might as well go down to the bottom of the abyss and see what’s there...’
On that thought, he decisively continued his descent.
It wasn’t that he had never thought of exploring the bottom of the abyss before, but he’d felt his Underwater Martial Arts weren’t quite up to the task and it wasn’t safe enough.
But now, the situation was completely different.
The tempering of his lungs by Inner Strength Tai Chi had already shown considerable results.
Moreover, he had been entering the water every day for some time, and the level of his Wandering Dragon Technique had risen in tandem with his training.
More importantly, his own realm of strength was also continuously improving through the tempering of the Three Tai Chi.
And all of this was the source of his confidence to face the unknown abyss.
He composed himself and once again accelerated his descent.
The deeper he went, the colder the water became.
It wasn’t cold in the ordinary sense, but an abnormally sharp, sinister cold with extreme penetrating power that seemed to drill right into the marrow of his bones.
The ghostly light from the Fluorescent Pearl could only illuminate about ten meters ahead; beyond that was a blackness as thick as undiluted ink.
It was deathly silent all around. Even the sound of the currents vanished, leaving only the sound of his own heartbeat in Chen Cheng’s ears.
Originally, he could resist the effects of water pressure on his body just by circulating his Blood Qi and Inner Breath according to the Wandering Dragon Technique.
But now, as his dive deepened, the intensity of the water pressure had clearly exceeded the upper limit of what the Wandering Dragon Technique could resist.