153: Chapter 153 Hunting in the Great Swamp

Eight hundred zhang beneath the deep water, undercurrents surged.

Gu Shen kicked hard against the basalt wall with both feet, his figure shooting upstream like an arrow released from a bowstring.

The closer he got to the surface, the murkier the water became. The gray-green miasma unique to the Yunmeng Great Swamp gathered above the water, causing the light penetrating underwater to appear mottled.

"Splash."

The surface of the water broke with a tiny ripple. Gu Shen exposed only his deep eyes and half of his nose bridge, coldly surveying the surrounding environment.

The periphery of the Yunmeng Great Swamp was a maze interwoven with tangled giant mangroves and thick mud swamps. Rotting aquatic plants emitted a pungent, sour smell, and the remains of unknown Yao Beasts floated on the water.

"My Lord, the environmental sonar echo model has been established. Within a ten-mile radius, the terrain is extremely fragmented."

The mechanical spider on his shoulder was in optical silence, transmitting cold data only through bone conduction: "At the two o'clock position, three miles away, there is a relatively flat mudflat. The microwave radar has captured twenty-four cold-blooded heat sources. Their body lengths are between two and four zhang, and they possess massive mass."

"Go."

Gu Shen's figure skimmed the surface of the water, and his shadow shoes erased the last bit of sound from breaking the water.

The three-mile water route passed in an instant.

Through the layers of hanging mangrove aerial roots, Gu Shen saw the scene on the mudflat.

A group of giant crocodiles with dark red bone plates on their backs and interlocking fangs filling their snouts were resting in the mud. Their scales were covered in silt, and with every heavy breath, they occasionally exhaled corrosive gray mist from their nostrils.

Second-tier Medium Grade Yao Beasts, Bloodthirsty Poison Crocodiles. They are gregarious, have hard physical bodies, and are skilled in water control and poison mist.

Even if a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator encountered a crocodile pack of this scale, the only correct choice would be to flee before being discovered by the pack.

Gu Shen stood up from the water and stepped onto the mud.

With no intention of hiding his tracks, he strode out of the shadow of the mangroves.

"Hiss—"

The life force of a strange living creature instantly alarmed the crocodile pack. More than twenty pairs of cold, muddy yellow vertical pupils stared in unison at Gu Shen.

Almost at the same time, the crocodile pack instinctively opened their bloody maws.

The surrounding water elements were pulled by violent Demonic Qi, transforming into dozens of gray, high-pressure water arrows as thick as buckets, carrying a strong fishy stench and corrosive power, shooting toward Gu Shen head-on.

Gu Shen did not draw his blade.

He didn't even stop walking; he just slightly raised his left hand and spread his five fingers.

"Boom!"

The mud in front of Gu Shen exploded with a roar.

Twelve Cyber Iron Guards, draped in Iron Corpse skins but with dark cyan Yao Beast bones and titanium-carbon alloys inside, fell to the ground out of thin air like twelve rooted iron walls, blocking the path in front of Gu Shen.

Those gray water arrows, capable of piercing through Medium Grade defensive Magical Artifacts, slammed heavily into the bodies of the Iron Guards.

There was no earth-shattering collision of spiritual light.

Only an extremely dull "pfft, pfft" sound. The moment the water arrows touched the bodies of the Iron Guards, it was as if they had struck an absolutely smooth pebble; the corrosive toxins and Demonic Qi in the water flow were directly deflected by the "insulating and spirit-repelling" natural properties of the Sea-Splitting Profound Whale skeleton.

They couldn't even corrode through the flesh on the surface of the Iron Guards.

A hint of anthropomorphic confusion flashed in the vertical pupils of the crocodile pack. In their long lives, the human Cultivators they encountered either relied on their own mana and Magical Artifacts to fight desperately, or they didn't dare to fight at all and turned to run; yet, these humans blocking the way had no fluctuations of Spiritual Qi on them at all.

"Slaughter them." Gu Shen's voice was flat.

The dim blue light in the eye sockets of the twelve Iron Guards suddenly brightened. Deep in their chests, the output power of the miniature Fusion batteries instantly ramped up.

Click, click, click.

The mica spirit sand in the joints provided perfect lubrication. The twelve Iron Guards didn't use any movement techniques; relying purely on mechanical kinetic energy and the toughness of the Yao Beast bones, they stamped their feet hard on the mud and transformed into twelve heavy artillery shells, crashing into the center of the crocodile pack.

The slaughter erupted instantly.

A poison crocodile with a body length of three zhang swung its giant tail, covered in bone spurs, sweeping toward the No. 1 Iron Guard, which was charging at the front, with a force of a thousand jun.

The No. 1 Iron Guard did not dodge or avoid, its right arm suddenly reaching out to accurately and tightly hug that giant tail.

"Bang!"

The huge impact force caused the Iron Guard's feet to plow two deep trenches in the mud, but its arms remained as motionless as iron pincers.

Immediately after, the violent kinetic energy from the Fusion battery inside the Iron Guard conducted along the red copper formation patterns, and it actually forcibly swung this poison crocodile, weighing several thousand catties, into the air, using it as a weapon to smash heavily into the crocodile pack beside it!

"Rumble!"

Two poison crocodiles collided, the sound of bone armor shattering making one's teeth ache.

The No. 2 and No. 3 Iron Guards seized the opportunity to leap into mid-air. They had no Magical Artifacts, but their fists, cast from hundred-refined fine iron, now glowed with a layer of transparent ripples that distorted the air, driven by the miniature battery's high-frequency particle oscillation module.

Falling, smashing down.

The fist tips accurately struck the hardest skulls of the two poison crocodiles.

"Crack."

There was no Spiritual Qi clash. This pure, high-frequency physical kinetic energy directly ignored the crocodile pack's proud Demonic Qi protection. The skulls, several inches thick, were instantly covered in cracks under the resonance of the shockwaves, and then collapsed inward like ripe watermelons.

White brains and foul black blood sprayed out simultaneously from the crocodiles' eyes, ears, mouths, and noses.

Instant kill.

This was no longer the type of magic battle seen in the Cultivation World where Spells were blasted at each other and trump cards were tested. This was a one-sided, physical, dimensionality-reducing strike by the crystallization of technology fused from two worlds against flesh and blood.

No pain, no fear, no regard for battle damage.

The poison crocodile's sharp teeth bit into the Iron Guard's forearm, shattering a mouthful of fangs, but could only leave a few shallow white marks on the dark cyan Sea-Splitting Profound Whale skeleton; the poison mist exhaled by the poison crocodiles enveloped the battlefield, but the Iron Guards, which didn't even have respiratory Systems, still accurately threw heavy punches capable of crushing internal organs within the poison mist.

In just half the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

The roaring on the mudflat gradually subsided.

Twenty-four Second-tier Medium Grade Bloodthirsty Poison Crocodiles had their skulls and spines smashed by the iron fists of the twelve Iron Guards, lying helter-skelter in the mud.

The twelve Iron Guards stood quietly in the pool of blood. Their skins were torn in many places, revealing the cold refined iron and dark cyan Yao Beast bones beneath, the dim blue light in their eye sockets remaining cold.

The bodies suffered no substantial damage. The power consumption of the miniature batteries was less than one percent.

From beginning to end, Gu Shen never drew the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade at his waist.

He stepped on his shadow shoes, walked through the corpses covering the ground, and arrived in front of the largest poison crocodile leader.

"Decent Materials."

Gu Shen placed one hand on the cracked crocodile skull.

Deep in his Sea of Consciousness, the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] emitted a dull roar. Pale white fire of laws poured out from his palm, completely enveloping the twenty-four massive corpses on the entire mudflat.

The Yao Beast's flesh, bone armor, and meridians rapidly dissolved in the furnace fire.

That violent Demonic Qi and the complex Karma remaining between heaven and earth were mercilessly stripped away and burned by the Great Furnace. Only the purest, most essential life matter remained.

A moment later, the furnace fire dispersed.

Twenty-four milky white halos floated in front of Gu Shen, emitting an alluring herbal fragrance and extremely pure Spiritual Qi.

[Refining complete. Obtained: essence white dew (Medium Grade) twenty-four drops.]

Gu Shen waved his large sleeve, collecting these essence white dew, which would make a Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator envious, into his Storage Ring. At the same time, he also collected a batch of high-hardness crocodile bones and fangs that had been refined; these were all excellent secondary Materials for refining Magical Artifacts or Puppets in the future.

After everything was done, Gu Shen was about to recall the Iron Guards.

Suddenly.

The AI Crystal deep in his brow emitted an extremely faint, abnormal pulse.

"My Lord." Crab's electronic voice sounded through bone conduction, revealing a hint of rigorous hesitation, "The sonar has not captured any abnormal echoes, and the microwave radar has not found any heat sources. However, the environmental photosensitive probe mounted on your back has captured a tiny distortion in the optical refractive index of the surrounding environment."

"At the eleven o'clock position. There is a pair of eyes watching us."

Gu Shen's movements paused for half a breath.

He did not turn his head abruptly, but slowly withdrew the hand that had been pressed on the crocodile corpse.

The Dark Gold Thunder Bone vibrated quietly under his skin, and his Qi Refining 9th Layer Divine Sense spread silently toward the eleven o'clock position like a spring breeze.

There was a seemingly dead and silent cluster of mangrove aerial roots.

Gu Shen's Divine Sense swept across, and there was nothing there—no Demonic Qi, no Spiritual Qi fluctuations, only ordinary aquatic plants and mud.

But, just at the moment Gu Shen was about to withdraw his Divine Sense.

He keenly sensed that the "vitality" around that patch of mangroves was too pure.

On the edge of the Yunmeng Great Swamp, which was full of poisonous miasma and rot, the aquatic plants in that area were too brightly green, and the water quality also exuded a cleanliness that was untainted by dust.

It was as if something was unconsciously purifying the surrounding filth.

"No Karma entanglement, no blood evil of Yao Beasts, only the purest Origin of vegetation."

Gu Shen already had an idea in his mind.

Able to evade his current Divine Sense scan and appear silently on the periphery of the Great Swamp, this was definitely not a human Cultivator.

"Come out."

Gu Shen stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze calmly watching the seemingly empty mangrove forest, his voice slowly spreading across the mudflat where the smell of blood had not yet dissipated.

"Your concealment method is quite good. But your desire for pure vitality has betrayed you."