Chương 164: Chapter 53: Luring it Out of the Depths

Reyn's pupils constricted into pinpricks.

"So, this isn't a natural void of life," he whispered, his voice cutting through the silence.

"It is a slaughterhouse. Every creature that dared to approach has been consumed by that thing, leaving only this stagnant lake." He stared at the placid surface, which seemed like a heavy coffin lid.

"The Azure Vine lurks within the lakebed, shielded by the water's depths. His Divine Sense and his sight are useless here. Diving into those waters blindly would be an invitation to my own funeral." His jaw tightened, a flash of resolve crossing his face.

"But retreat is not an option. The ancient Mu Jade Sword lies at the bottom of this abyss. That blade belongs to me." Reyn stood at the water's edge, his silhouette sharp. He took a deep breath, and his internal spiritual sea erupted. A heavy pressure radiated from him, flattening the heavy reeds.

"Earth-Shaking Finger—First Strike: Shatter the Earth!" He extended his right hand, pointing a single finger toward the lake. Spiritual essence roared through his meridians, following the ancient pathways of an ancient technique. It gathered at his fingertip, compressing until it screamed. A translucent, crystalline finger, forged from pure concentrated mana, manifested in the void. It was ten feet long, shimmering with lethal light.

The moment the finger appeared, the spiritual qi of the world went into a violent frenzy. A bizarre suction force emanated from the attack, devouring the ambient energy of the atmosphere. As the finger gorged itself on the world's essence, it became solid, turning from a ghostly image into a terrifyingly realistic limb, complete with human fingerprints. Boom! The finger hadn't even touched the water before the sheer atmospheric displacement began to wreak havoc.

The lake's surface was forced downward by an invisible weight, carving out a massive vortex nearly twenty yards across. As the crystalline finger descended, the whirlpool spiraled deeper, and the displaced water rose in towering walls. Waves several meters high crashed outward, their roar echoing like thunder across the landscape. Swoosh! Suddenly, a jagged shadow tore through the churning surface. It was the Azure Vine—a hideous, whip-like appendage identical to the one that had butchered the monstrous bird.

Its surface was encrusted with serrated, the obsidian-like barbs that stood erect in anticipation. With a high-pitched whistle, it lashed upward, colliding head-on with the descending Earth-Shaking Finger. Boom! The Earth-Shaking Finger was a formidable technique, a remnant of the ancient Great Yama Palm that Reyn had secured during a sect exchange. Its destructive potential was immense.

When unleashed by Reyn—whose current power rivaled a cultivator at the peak of the Late Foundation Establishment stage—the strike carried the weight of a mountain. However, the Azure Vine was unnervingly resilient. The collision resulted in a shockwave, but the vine only suffered a minor fracture. Almost instantly, a thick, emerald ichor began to geyser from the wound. In the blink of an eye, a sickly green radiance pulsed.

Within three breaths, the severed tip had completely regrown, the barbs sharpening once more.

"An Undying Body!" Reyn's heart skipped. A surge of alarm flickered in his eyes. To encounter a beast with such a rare constitution was a grim omen. Killing such a creature would be an agonizing battle of attrition. In the cultivation world, beasts possessing an Undying Body were among the most dreaded entities. They could regenerate from any wound almost instantaneously so long as their core remained intact.

While not truly immortal—since each reconstruction drained their life essence—they were still far more dangerous than ordinary beasts. To kill it, one had to exhaust his vitality until it could no longer knit itself back together. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Swoosh! A segment of the tentacle disintegrated under the concussive force of the Earth-Shaking Finger.

Though the appendage regenerated within a mere breath, Reyn's strike had clearly ignited the fury of the hidden monstrosity lurking beneath the lake's surface. Three massive ancient green vines, each thick enough to require two men to encircle, suddenly pierced the water's tension. They whistled through the air, whipping toward Reyn with murderous intent. These vines were a deep, primordial green, their surfaces etched with a network of jagged fissures.

From every crack sprouted a foot-long, hideous barb, glinting with a predatory sharpness. These three were significantly more robust than the previous pair, moving with such blistering speed that they left a trail of blurred afterimages in their wake as they sought to grind Reyn into pulp.

"Too fast!" Reyn's heart skipped a beat. The velocity of these vines surpassed his expectations, revealing that the beast had been merely toying with him until now. He didn't hesitate. The Demon Flash Escape activated instantly. Azure light flickered across his form as Reyn's silhouette blurred, shifting his position in a heartbeat. Half a breath later, the afterimage he left behind was violently shredded by the three terrifying vines, the air itself groaning under the impact.

Failing their initial thrust, the vines transitioned seamlessly from piercing strikes to a broad sweep. They transformed into massive, spiked iron pillars, crashing down with the weight of a falling mountain. The shriek of displaced air heralded the attack. A bone-chilling dread washed over Reyn. Without looking back, he pushed the Demon Flash Escape to its limit once more, evading the crushing sweep by a hair's breadth. Whoosh! Whoosh!

The lake beast seemed to realize that three appendages were insufficient to claim its prey. The surface erupted again as two more vines burst forth, joining the original three. They fanned out, forming a tightening web of death that converged on Reyn from all angles. The texture of these vines was incredibly resilient, their barbs shimmering with a cold, dark-green luster under the sun.

Reyn had no doubt that even with his physical body—already refined to a level comparable to a high-grade spirit tool—he would be crushed into a bloody slurry if those vines managed to constrict him.

"Star-Chasing Demon Domain Art!" With five vines coordinating their slaughter, Reyn's room for maneuver vanished. To escape this deathtrap, he required a level of speed that defied the laws of physics. Sensing the twin sonic booms of the new vines behind him, he immediately invoked the blood-sacrifice secret art he had plundered from Cheng Ergui of the Jinshan Sect. He bit the tip of his tongue, spraying a mouthful of essence blood into the air.

The blood didn't fall; instead, it hovered, instantly blooming into a dense crimson mist that enveloped his entire frame. In a flash of sanguine light, Reyn vanished, reappearing three hundred feet away. Executing the Star-Chasing Demon Domain Art was taxing, consuming the very essence of a cultivator's life force. Reyn's face paled slightly, but within a single breath, his complexion returned to its healthy glow. Over the past months, he had relentlessly refined White Jade Dragon-Whiskers Rice.

Since he couldn't break through his cultivation bottleneck, the vast reserves of life energy had integrated into his marrow. His longevity now rivaled that of a Golden Core expert, and his essence blood was so abundant it was almost frightening. This minor expenditure was nothing to him. The failure of five vines to even graze Reyn's robes pushed the hidden beast into a state of absolute frenzy.

"Moo!" A low, muffled roar vibrated from the depths of the lake. Following the sound, the entire surface began to boil violently. Silt and sand were churned up from the bottom, turning the crystalline waters into a muddy, opaque soup. Waves several stories high surged outward, crashing back down with the thunderous roar of a collapsing dam. Splash! Amidst the churning chaos, over a dozen more thick, hideous vines broke the surface. Then, a massive dark shadow breached the turbid water, looming before Reyn.

The mystery of the lake was finally unveiled. The beast's core body was a jagged, irregular mass of brown tumorous flesh, spanning nearly a hundred feet. In the center of this grotesque mound sat a single cyclopean eye, pulsing with a cold, bloodthirsty light. Beneath that eye was a cavernous maw filled with rows of serrated fangs, its throat stained a deep, visceral red. The vines were not separate entities but growths erupting directly from this tumorous mass.

"Moo!" Now fully clear of the water, the beast let out another low howl. Its solitary eye locked onto Reyn, radiating a freezing killing intent that seemed to solidify the air. Suddenly, an invisible shockwave of Divine Sense erupted from the tumorous mass, washing over Reyn like a tidal wave.

"Ugh!" Reyn groaned, his soul momentarily numbed. His body stiffened, paralyzed by the mental assault. In that precise moment of vulnerability, the beast struck. Over a dozen vines lashed out in a frenzied, coordinated execution, while the cyclopean eye narrowed, gleaming with a look of unmistakable, predatory triumph.