ASER - Chapter 115
Chapter 115: Exit
A'Diao knew her tracks would inevitably be exposed, but she had no choice. Unless she adopted another identity, she wouldn't be able to obtain the benefits from the Li and Yue families, or the military. More importantly, if she changed her appearance and identity this time, and was discovered next time, her deception regarding the Sea Martial Falcons would also be unraveled, which would be a greater loss than gain.
So, even though Mysterious Person A would lock onto her, she didn't change her identity as Brother Zhao Ritian.
Anyway, once she reached the sea region, the other party wouldn't be able to pursue and kill her.
After all, the place she was going to had no signal; they couldn't even track her.
Two days later, when A'Diao flew to the edge of B-zone, the signal was already very weak. However, she still learned that the items had been retrieved and inspected, and all listed items had officially gone on sale.
Perhaps because the demonic spirits' offensive patterns were becoming increasingly fierce, and news from Lushan Academy had spread widely, the powerful and wealthy were starting to make plans. Consequently, their spending power on treasures increased exponentially. The newly opened sales list had already sold more than half its items, directly raising fifty billion for A'Diao.
A'Diao used the 5 billion to purchase the Appoint Soldiers Summon Generals Art, then plunged headfirst into the gray, hazy rain curtain of B-zone.
To be honest, the current mutation in B-zone was bizarre. Few cultivators dared to venture in. Those below A-rank would likely die if they entered. But A'Diao, after all, had firmly established her strength at the Forbidden Master level. It would be a bit much if she didn't come to B-zone.
The weakest demonic spirits in B-zone were already level five. As soon as A'Diao entered, she was drenched by the gray, hazy rain.
She frowned and sniffed the rainwater on her fingers.
"This rainwater is strange, somewhat acidic and corrosive."
"Indeed, the pH is so high, it's abnormal."
"If it settles in the water, and one stays submerged in such water for a long time, the armor will definitely be damaged. No wonder no one is willing to come to B-zone now."
A'Diao had to activate her armor's anti-corrosion mode, preferring to consume spiritual power rather than risk armor damage, because if it broke, she would be waiting for death underwater.
Buzz. Just as the protective film activated, A'Diao flew into the torrential rain.
For now, she didn't plan to make a move. She needed to first understand the general situation in B-zone. She had previously asked Qin Yin, Gu Yuntang, and others for some information, but she still needed to explore herself to confirm the specifics.
Half a day later, A'Diao had a general idea of B-zone and flew towards the northern sector. Before long, she saw a massive floating vortex ahead. The depths beneath the vortex were dark and dense, with occasional screams and sounds of fighting, but they quickly subsided into silence.
This was a level six demonic den.
Level five minions, level six BOSS.
As A'Diao maneuvered her aircraft above it, she glimpsed a group of level five Three-headed Sawtooth Sharks in the water of the tunnel below, feasting on fresh corpses.
The person who had just screamed was the last survivor. Ultimately, he hadn't escaped and was bitten in half at the waist by a shark, then dragged down.
They also saw A'Diao. One of the sharks moved its six eyes, and A'Diao suddenly felt her mental state being... bewitched?
She flew downwards, as if intending to deliver herself into the enemy's mouth.
But the next second, a dense red halo of light exploded at the mouth of the vortex tunnel, then quickly vanished.
This group of sharks... had turned into sardine meat paste.
The demonic dens in the sea were more terrifying than those on land because once a land den erupted, the advanced technology of the human world could easily detect it, and cultivators would go to eliminate them from the start.
The power of demonic dens came in two types. One was naturally powerful, like those appearing at level seven or eight from the outset, which humans couldn't handle. They would develop wildly by slaughtering and consuming humans. The other type wasn't initially that strong, but humans failed to nip them in the bud. They developed slowly, and the number of demonic spirits grew to a certain extent, making it impossible for humans to deal with them later.
Sea demonic dens had two advantages. First, the sea region had strong signal immunity, making them undetectable and allowing them time for early development. Now, the number of demonic spirits was basically in the tens of thousands. Second, the underwater world was their domain. Humans generally relied on armor's underwater breathing systems, but their movements and skills were still affected. After all, underwater pressure was no joke; strength was basically reduced by 20-30%.
These two advantages benefited them, but correspondingly, there were also certain disadvantages. It was difficult for them to come ashore and attack. Only a few amphibious ones had this ability, so the officials could still control the situation for now.
But for A'Diao, who came to fight in the dens, these facts were objective realities, and she was also affected.
However, she just treated it as training in another gravity chamber.
A level six den, with over ten thousand level five minions, and one level six BOSS.
This was terrifying.
A'Diao had carefully weighed it. She had been able to handle the Sea Martial Falcon den before because those Sea Martial Falcons were level three, a huge difference from this. However, she had the trump card combination of Skills 101+202+303+Dimensional Space. If she couldn't win, she could run. If she ran out of energy, she could hide and recover. As long as these sharks couldn't find her, she would be fine.
And what she wanted was precisely that this den was currently empty of other humans, allowing her to operate freely.
Seven days later.
In A-zone, an offensive zone with heavy military deployment, a team returned, covered in blood. The intelligence bureau of the island garrison department was reporting the current situation in several sea regions to the high command of the Five Provinces Military.
The overall situation was that A, C, and D zones still had many cultivators fighting monsters inside. There was basically no situation where things had completely lost control, leading to a flood of demonic spirits endangering the coastline, but three demonic dens were also very dangerous.
"The three dens are in B-zone. Because of the storm outbreak there, the rainwater's acidity and corrosiveness are increasing, causing armor to be easily damaged. We issued a red alert five days ago. Now, many teams have withdrawn from B-zone. Those who haven't withdrawn are either strong enough to withstand it or are trapped underwater and can't get out."
"After the reduction in personnel, the dens in B-zone are in an unsuppressed state. Our signal towers have also been affected by the storm, making it difficult to determine the situation inside. However, it can now be roughly confirmed that level six den No. 1, the Three-headed Shark nest, is basically empty of humans. Two level seven dens are also empty. The red dots indicating demonic spirits emerging from that area are increasing, covering the sea surface, and may even gather to attack several B-zone island rest stops that supply cultivators."
The Military Command quickly replied: Contact the rest stops, personnel are to temporarily rest and not go out, and be ready to evacuate at any time. During this process, wait for the military to strike at the source of the celestial phenomena occurring in B-zone.
While the military was mobilizing, below level six den No. 1, more than 300 of the thirteen thousand Three-headed Sawtooth Sharks were now dead.
All killed by that shameless human through sneak attacks.
Poisoning, assassination, endless methods made it impossible for them to defend effectively. Fortunately, it didn't significantly impact their overall numbers, but they had also strengthened their defenses and were searching everywhere.
However, a den capable of housing over ten thousand Three-headed Sharks was vast, with more than eight hundred underwater tunnels alone, and a surface area comparable to a small county. If the opponent had a knack for hiding, they really couldn't find her.
In the lair, the level 6 BOSS, the Three-headed Shark King, guarding a Great Spirit Gate, was swallowing some human corpses sent by the shark pack after their previous killings. Chewing, it said, "Seal the exits. Her armor, no matter how strong, has its limits. Even if she can hide and recover spiritual power, the armor's breathing system also needs other energy sources for conversion. Those energy sources will run out. She can't last many more days."
"Aside from the exits, you must not separate. Gather together."
"If she tries to outlast us in time, she's dead!"
After the BOSS's command was issued, the other sharks naturally obeyed, guarding the outer tunnels, but generally keeping some distance from the BOSS.
Why?
Because in the human world, when a leader cultivates, they would never let subordinates watch nearby, unless they trusted them implicitly. Why? Fear of being assassinated during a vulnerable moment!
If humans were like this, let alone demonic spirits, whose racial characteristics were even crueler. And the shark species itself was bloodthirsty; the mere smell of blood would trigger their bloodthirsty nature, causing them to devour raw flesh indiscriminately.
So A'Diao discovered that whether it was the Sea Martial Falcon BOSS or this Three-headed Shark BOSS, they basically kept a distance from their subordinates when cultivating. They would also set up things like an eerie blue cold qi at the tunnel exits as a warning. They weren't just wary of humans, but also of their own kind.
So... would it know she was right above its head?
A'Diao, who had already infiltrated the bottom of the lair for three days, cultivating and making talismans during this time, now heard the BOSS's words.
Basically, this big shark wasn't wrong. Her armor indeed couldn't last much longer.
Three days at most.
If this dragged on, she would die in these deep seas.
Killing 300 Three-headed Sharks was pretty much it. That was 300 level 5 spirit cores, which converted to about 600,000 energy units.
The process was actually very difficult because their numbers were too vast. A'Diao felt like a thief every time.
Tracking -> confirming a small group was killable -> poisoning -> jumping out to attack the critically wounded -> finally harvesting and immediately running...
A purely technical approach relying on cunning and exploitation.
Fortunately, she was cautious. If there was even a hint of risk, she would withdraw. So far, she hadn't encountered any particularly dangerous situations.
Actually, if she had gone all out, she might have killed 3,000, but the grass on her grave would probably be three feet high by now.
Survival was paramount.
Toilet: "What do you do now? Escape while they haven't completely blocked the exits? If you don't escape soon, if even two thousand of them block the exit, you won't be able to get out."
Level fives also had group killing power; even ants can kill an elephant.
"Or are you thinking of assassinating this level 6 BOSS? Although it has a Great Spirit Gate here, and I know your main purpose for tackling these dens is the Great Spirit Gate, if you attack it, those shark swarms will sense it and arrive quickly... At that time, not only will you fail to kill it, but you also won't be able to escape—level 6 BOSSes generally have the ability to attack space. Once it discovers you hiding here and attacks you directly, you're finished, unless you can kill it instantly."
Demonic dens in the sea basically all had Spirit Gates because the spiritual energy in the sea region was abundant, providing natural conditions for the opening of Spirit Gates. The proliferation rate of these demonic spirits and the Spirit Gates were also mutually reinforcing.
A'Diao's hands formed a seal, shaping a gold-quality talisman. Buzz... As the talisman indented, A'Diao quickly embedded a level 5 spirit core into it.
Buzz, a level 5 talisman? This level 5 talisman was much stronger than a level 6 talisman.
Because it was a level 5 energy explosion talisman embedded with a level 5 spirit core.
A pure attack explosion talisman.
Something only a master in talisman making could create. It shouldn't be difficult for Qu Jiangnan, but the former A'Diao wouldn't have even dared to think about it. Now, however, her mental threads numbered 200, and she had just barely mastered this technique.
Although the cost along the way was scrapping over 50 level 5 spirit cores, comparable to burning money, thankfully, she succeeded.
What did this mean?
Toilet immediately fell silent.
And A'Diao began to frantically create level 5 energy talismans until she ran out of level 5 talisman materials.
Another two days passed.
On the morning of the third day, A'Diao checked the armor's energy data. Underwater breathing could be maintained for one more day. It was about time.
A'Diao looked down at the plump Shark King diligently cultivating, her eyes narrowing. Demonic spirits' armor was too high, naturally one or two levels higher than humans of the same cultivation. A human of the same cultivation could be turned into a pig, but it couldn't. The Uncontrollable Emotions technique could be used, but it was a curse-type control art, unable to inflict fatal damage. It could only make the opponent lose control, but couldn't ensure that the opponent wouldn't directly attack her after recovering...
It was not advisable to take risks.
A'Diao didn't really have any other ideas. She just secretly accumulated her mid-tier Double-A spiritual power, made all preparations, and then... she waited, waited for the Shark King's cultivation to reach a minor juncture.
Her left hand held the talismans, the fingertips of her right hand pressed together.
"Go!"
Whoosh! Thirty level 5 energy talismans, stacked together, flew down from A'Diao's fingertips, landing directly on the Shark King's head.
Someone's here!
The Shark King sensed the fluctuation of spiritual power, its body instantly surging with armor, just as it was about to twist its body and attack upwards.
In that brief second.
"Explode!"
Fifty talismans released the energy of fifty level 5 spirit cores plus the talisman's own damage. The energy intensity was comparable to a high-grade particle cannon, capable of instantly killing a Transcendent Upper Rank cultivator.
BOOM!!! The Shark King's body thudded heavily, crashing to the ground. Its head was a mess of flesh and blood, revealing stark white fish bones.
Dead?
But as A'Diao jumped down from above, the Shark King suddenly thrashed like a dying fish, its saw-toothed mouth opening wide, spitting a powerful energy ball towards her...
Bang! The person who jumped down was instantly destroyed by the energy ball, but the Shark King immediately realized it was a fake substitute.
Not good!
Before it could dodge, the real A'Diao, who had jumped down behind it, unleashed her Double-A+ spiritual power, directly raising her energy intensity to that of a Forbidden Master. Then, with her Spirit Scepter and various other buffs.
She had encountered the Sea Martial Falcon BOSS before; how could she not understand that even a bird's armor was so strong? A shark's bone armor would only be more terrifying. It was playing dead!
Lightning Beam! BOOM!!!
The wound on the Shark King's head was finally struck by a lightning bolt as thick as a thigh, directly splitting the fish bone protecting its brain core... shattering its brain.
KO!
A'Diao, having exhausted almost all her spiritual power, turned slightly pale. But she didn't collect any spoils of war, not even touching the Shark King's corpse or its spirit core. Not only did she not touch them, she also threw the remaining 200 level 5 spirit cores in her possession onto the corpse with a great clatter.
Then, with a whoosh, she re-entered the wall, hiding and lying low, simultaneously opening Toilet and the Great Spirit Gate, and taking medicine to frantically absorb spiritual energy and recover.
Toilet suddenly realized her purpose and thought to itself: So insidious!
Before long, the more than one thousand Three-headed Sharks responsible for guarding the outer layer had sensed it and rushed in at top speed. Shark shoals from further away were also approaching, but this batch was the fastest, naturally coming to protect their king.
But every biological species has unwritten rules: if the king dies, the group is leaderless. Who becomes the next king?
Civilized ones might draw lots, uncivilized ones...
Especially when they saw the fresh Shark King corpse, the level 6 spirit core, and a pile of level 5 spirit cores.
Their brains stopped thinking, their eyes turned red, and the bloodlust deeply ingrained in their genes surged.
They pounced, fought, slaughtered, flesh and blood flying everywhere... The water in the depths of the lair was instantly dyed red, like a large Chinese red dyeing vat. You couldn't even see the fish bodies clearly because the blood was too thick, incredibly viscous.
Hiding in the dark, A'Diao coldly watched them slaughter each other while frantically recovering her spiritual power. But A'Diao didn't wait for them to completely finish their slaughter, because the second wave of shark shoals was fast approaching.
A'Diao gritted her teeth, leaped out, and wielded her Spirit Scepter, attacking with leaping lightning beams.
Their defenses were far inferior to the Shark King's, and moreover, they were all critically wounded now. A'Diao's lightning was like steel needles piercing chicken wings, directly skewering these hundred-plus remaining Three-headed Sharks.
After succeeding, A'Diao frantically collected all the corpses and spirit cores while absorbing the Great Spirit Gate.
She had risked this den for the future Spirit Gate array; otherwise, she would have withdrawn long ago.
It couldn't be helped; Great Spirit Gates were too rare, only found in dens level five or higher. And the demonic spirits in these sea dens were particularly numerous, unlike the land dens which weren't as large.
But conversely, there were also many people at the land dens, and one had to face human treachery. It was hard to say which was better.
Sparrow: "Little Master, they are approaching, approaching, and they are sealing all the passages! Only three left... no, only two exits now!"
It was referring to the exits from this lair.
Once trapped here, she would undoubtedly die.
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