Chapter 464

Dongting Lake was unquestionably a lake, but it covered a thousand li¹, and even at its shallowest, the water was easily more than ten zhang² deep.

The place I was swimming through now was one of the deepest parts of Dongting Lake. Naturally, the water was much deeper here, and the current raged like waves.

Finding a small underwater cave under these conditions was nothing short of heaven-sent luck.

That’s…

Amid the countless schools of fish, I spotted a gap barely wide enough for a grown man to squeeze through.

A thrill ran down my spine.

I found it.

Cliffs rooted deep in a riverbed naturally split apart over the years through sedimentation and erosion. I had seen it several times at the four places we had already visited.

But this time was different.

My reason and instinct, which usually went their separate ways, were whispering the same thing.

The Dongting Fisherman’s secret refuge.

Everything left traces.

The difference was subtle and well concealed, but my accumulated experience and keen eyesight told me that human hands had touched the entrance slowly drawing closer.

The edges are smooth. Someone definitely worked on them.

There was no need to ask who.

I heightened every one of my senses to the limit and cut through the current.

Slowly. Carefully.

It would be stupid to announce my presence to an enemy with whom I would soon be locked in a life-and-death duel.

If he prepared himself, the situation would become even more unfavorable.

Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time left on the Title’s effect. No need to rush.

I had seen more than a few people try to save ten minutes and end up leaving this world fifty years early.

Whether someone lived or died depended on their will and perseverance. I didn’t rush. I let the current carry me along.

Swish.

The brightly colored fish that noticed me seemed to hesitate, then cautiously brushed past.

I was barely moving, so they must not have taken me for a threat.

Good.

If I could fool fish this close to me, that was enough. I suppressed my presence even further and approached the cave.

At the entrance, which was barely wide enough for a grown man to squeeze through, I took a small breath and slipped inside.

Another submerged passage lay hidden beyond it.

No sign of anyone so far.

The passage was as narrow as the entrance and much deeper and longer than I had expected.

I sharpened my senses more than ever and searched for any trace of another presence. Only once I was certain there was none did I begin moving again.

I passed several strange-looking fish and clusters of aquatic plants. I had no idea how far I had gone when a faint light appeared in the distance.

Wait. Light?

This was underwater in Dongting Lake, but it was also a passage running through the inside of a cliff. How could there suddenly be light?

The passage did slope upward, but there was no way its structure could have let light leak in.

Then…

I swam smoothly toward the light, searched my surroundings once more, then shot upward through a small opening in the ceiling of the passage.

Splash!

I sucked in a breath.

Damp air filled my lungs.

At the same time, I felt the transparent gills that had formed around my throat disappear.

The next moment, I climbed out of the water and finally saw the source of the faint light. My eyes widened.

Night-shining pearls.

It was a cave.

A narrow, dark path stretched into the distance. Large and small night-shining pearls had been embedded at regular intervals in the ceiling, which was barely high enough for me to straighten my back.

A submerged passage and a cave carved inside a cliff. Night-shining pearls, too… You’d have to be an idiot not to figure it out by now.

The Lower District Sect’s information had been correct. This was unquestionably the Dongting Fisherman’s secret refuge.

My heart pounded with the thrill of finally finding him and the tension of the battle to come.

No. Those weren’t the only reasons.

What’s that?

I followed an unfamiliar smell that pricked my nose and turned my head.

A charred piece of wood lay on the waterlogged cave floor, and oil floated on the pooled water.

A torch? Well, it’s not like he has an unlimited supply of night-shining pearls.

The night-shining pearls embedded in the ceiling were obviously low quality, but that did not mean they were cheap.

I had never heard that the Dongting Fisherman was fabulously wealthy, so torches must have been essential for lighting such a long cave.

And that half-burned torch told me something important.

It hasn’t been out for long.

A faint warmth still lingered in the wood. It wasn’t difficult to deduce that the torch had fallen for some reason no more than one or two shichen³ ago.

And that pointed to one conclusion.

The Dongting Fisherman is definitely here!

Ultimately, I wasn’t looking for a place. I was looking for a man. Finding his secret refuge would mean nothing if the Dongting Fisherman wasn’t inside.

But through the torch, the Dongting Fisherman had revealed his presence.

Even if I were in his position, I would never have expected an intruder to enter a secret refuge hidden this well.

That’s your mistake.

I rose to my feet and began walking slowly along the path ahead.

I had plenty of excellent equipment—White Flame, my favored weapon, along with the Fire Dragon Armor and the Myriad-Poison Ring—but now wasn’t the time to bring any of it out.

It would be better to let my opponent see my empty hands and lower his guard, then exploit the advantage my Inventory gave me.

Drip. Drip-drop.

Listening to the irregular patter of water from the ceiling, I walked on with my presence suppressed as much as possible.

The path had been straight at first, but it soon began to twist and turn, sloping upward in some places and downward in others. I never let down my guard.

But… what are these marks?

It didn’t take long for me to realize something was strange.

My sharp eye was part of it, but the passage itself was in an alarming state.

Sections of the walls had been shattered here and there, leaving jagged rocks jutting out. Unlike the rest of the passage, which was covered in green moss, the freshly broken surfaces stood out unmistakably.

Crackle.

The moment I touched one, part of the wall crumbled away.

This couldn’t have happened unless someone deliberately used considerable force.

The entire cave was formed from solid rock that had accumulated over at least several hundred years.

Damaging it would require a blow carrying a significant amount of internal energy. But why would the Dongting Fisherman destroy his own precious refuge?

Was there a battle here…? No. This is clearly the work of one person.

I was still far from having the insight to discern the nature and roots of martial arts, but having reached the Supreme Peak realm, I had little trouble inferring what had happened from the traces left throughout the passage.

I furrowed my brow and thought for a moment, then shook my head.

Focus on the Dongting Fisherman first. I can’t afford to grow careless or let the tension overwhelm me.

I kept repeating that to myself as I walked.

Then it happened.

Splash! Whoosh!

“……!”

The sudden noise jolted me alert as if someone had dumped cold water over my head.

My fully extended senses analyzed the sound and sent the new information straight to my brain.

Fifty-odd zhang² ahead. Closer than I expected.

The sound also echoed with unusual depth and volume. That meant there was a larger space ahead, beyond this narrow cave passage.

Swish.

One step. Then another.

I focused every nerve in my toes as they touched the damp cave floor.

It was a blessing that I had used my Scorching Yang Qi beforehand to dry the water that had soaked me through. If water dripping from my body had struck the floor and made a sound, the Dongting Fisherman would have discovered me.

I have to finish this inside the cave. Fighting underwater would make things much harder.

My opponent was a Supreme Peak master of water arts, one of the finest in the world.

I was confident in my own martial prowess, but if I fought the Dongting Fisherman underwater, I would have to bear the full twenty-percent reduction in power the System had warned me about.

Here, however, I had solid ground beneath my feet. This was land, and naturally, the debuff was gone.

I can’t let this opportunity slip away.

The fifty-odd zhang² between us rapidly dwindled.

Splish. Splaash.

The strange sounds continued, serving as perfect markers of distance and direction. As I approached a bend in the cave passage, I relaxed every muscle in my body.

I was already prepared.

Dozens of possibilities flashed before my eyes—how I would move, how I would end it.

If the Dongting Fisherman proved too formidable, I would use everything I had to kill him. If not, I would capture him and use him to draw out the larger body behind him.

I’ll finish it in a single stroke, like a bolt of lightning.

With a short breath, I awakened the fire dragon sleeping deep within my dantian.

The three jiazi⁴ of Scorching Yang Qi I had continually replenished through circulation surged into every limb and bone.

Searing heat flooded hundreds of acupoints and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians⁵, driving every physical ability to its limit.

And then…

Pop!

One step was enough.

I planted a foot lightly against the slanted wall and shot forward.

The passage opened into a chamber some thirty zhang² in radius, presumably the heart of the cave.

At its center, a white-haired old man crouched with his back to me.

The Dongting Fisherman!

The silent cry rang through me.

It was hard to believe that this small, shabby old man had harmed so many people. The anger I had buried for a time surged up as a cold flame.

Inventory open. Summon!

As the world slowed, the unknown power of the System covered my entire body as I charged toward the Dongting Fisherman.

Swish. Clack.

Red armor wrapped around my bare upper body.

The Fire Dragon Armor.

Then a cluster of light visible only to me brushed my finger and transformed into the divine artifact known as the Myriad-Poison Ring. At the same time, a spear with a transparent blade appeared in my grasp.

The next moment, three jiazi⁴ of Scorching Yang Qi flooded into them all.

Whoooooosh!

The damp air vanished. The river water pooled across the floor vanished. Even the droplets falling from overhead vanished.

No—they evaporated.

Blue-white Force blazed like wildfire across White Flame’s transparent spear blade, burning through everything in its path.

And one man stood directly in the path of that searing, destructive concentration of power.

Die.

The arrow had already been loosed. The bird resting in its nest could not escape.

To me, the Dongting Fisherman was no different from that bird.

A bird that had believed its nest was safe.

Even if it realized the truth too late, it could not stop an arrow that had already been fired.

Even if it hurriedly spread its wings, it could not avoid death or injury.

Just like the Dongting Fisherman, who was turning his body very slowly right now.

It’s already too late.

But in the next instant, I realized my mistake.

I had been too quick to assume.

Boom!

A snow-white streak of light flew in from somewhere and slammed into White Flame’s spear blade.