70: Chapter 70 The Poisonous Swamp of Dark Water! The Giant Shadow Lurking Deep Within

Spiritless Ruins, the stairs leading to the fifth level underground.

Cold and damp air surged upward along the incredibly deep passage. The refined iron handrails on the walls had long since rusted and become mottled, covered in slimy, dark green moss.

Ahead in the passage, the fist-sized black mechanical spider moved like a ghost, its eight fine mechanical legs alternating rapidly on the wall as if walking on flat ground.

Gu Shen followed unhurriedly behind, his shadow shoes making not a single sound.

"My Lord, this feeling is truly wondrous!"

The black terminal strapped to Gu Shen's left leg vibrated slightly, transmitting Crab's dry, curious voice.

As an artificial intelligence, it was currently perfectly achieving "Divided Soul" on two fronts. The terminal slab acted as The Mainframe, frantically processing the massive data of the underground palace while communicating with Gu Shen; meanwhile, the mechanical spider ahead, embedded with a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, became its extended senses and tentacles.

"The energy provided by this Spirit Stone is extremely stable," Crab reported on the status of its shell. "However, this mech's movement module consumes a lot of energy. According to core calculations, this stone's energy can maintain the mech for about one month of high-intensity reconnaissance. After thirty days, I will need you to replace it with a new energy source, otherwise the mech will completely shut down."

"One Low-Grade Spirit Stone a month, is it."

Gu Shen calculated in his mind. If an ordinary Loose Cultivator wanted to raise a first-rank scouting Spirit Beast, the monthly expenses for meat and Medicinal Pill would definitely exceed three to five Spirit Stones. This Wasteland mechanical Puppet could scout tirelessly for a month on just one Spirit Stone; it was an incredibly cheap and superb helper.

"As long as you lead the way properly, there will be enough Spirit Stones," Gu Shen promised, his tone cold.

"Thank you, My Lord!"

The detection head on top of the mechanical spider flashed red, and its crawling speed increased.

An incense stick of time later, the passage reached its end. A massive, heavy floodgate that opened from the middle to the sides blocked the way. The lower half of the gate had been corroded, leaving several extremely irregular gaps, through which streams of foul-smelling black sewage were leaking out.

Gu Shen stopped and did not rush forward.

"Go in and scout."

"Understood."

The mechanical spider nimbly squeezed through the gap.

A moment later, the sound of Crab drawing a sharp breath came through the terminal: "My Lord... the fifth level is completely flooded. This place used to be a water circulation center, but now the entire hall has become a giant underground reservoir. The water level is about two meters deep. The water quality is extremely poor; it not only contains ultra-high concentrations of radiation, but the acid levels are off the charts! This is a toxic pool that could dissolve bones into slag!"

Gu Shen's expression remained unchanged as he reached out to push open the dilapidated gate. An incredibly pungent, acidic stench rushed toward him.

Before him lay a vast underground cavern hall, so large it was almost boundless. Thick, heavy load-bearing columns were submerged in the murky, pitch-black stagnant water. Countless unidentified white bubbles, rotting debris, and some enormous white bones floated on the surface.

In the darkness, there were occasional muffled sounds of water splashing.

"A pool of toxic heavy water," Gu Shen stared coldly at the water. If it were before, he would never have dared to step into such a toxic swamp that could corrode even his protective spiritual light. But now that his Bone Refining Art was at the first level of Great Perfection, his dark golden iron bones had a resistance to toxic light that was no longer what it used to be.

As long as he did not soak in the water for a long time, this heavy water could not dissolve his flesh.

"Where is the entrance to the Sixth Level?" Gu Shen asked.

The mechanical spider climbed on an iron pillar at the edge of the water, its red detection light scanning through the darkness.

"My Lord, the entrance to the Sixth Level is at the main sewage pumping station diagonally opposite. The straight-line distance is about three hundred zhang. But we can't get there; the original boardwalks underwater have all collapsed. To get across, we can only wade through the water or jump across by stepping on the floating debris of the equipment," Crab's voice was extremely grave.

Gu Shen swept his gaze across. On the vast black water surface, there were indeed some huge water tank covers and scrapped machine casings scattered like small islands.

Just as he prepared to gather his Qi and leap onto the nearest iron plate, "Wait! My Lord, don't move!"

Crab's voice suddenly became extremely sharp, "The sonar detector is reacting! There is a huge heat source moving at high speed underwater! It's coming for me!"

Almost at the same instant Crab gave the warning, Boom!

The black water less than a zhang below the mechanical spider suddenly exploded with an incredibly violent column of water!

A gaping maw filled with layers of razor-sharp fangs surged out from underwater, bringing with it a foul, fishy wind, and swallowed half of the iron pillar where the mechanical spider was located in one bite!

Snap! The iron pillar, made of refined steel, was instantly deformed and twisted by that terrifying biting force.

At the critical moment, the mechanical spider's eight legs kicked off, and it narrowly shot backward from the gaps between the fangs, tracing an arc in mid-air and falling straight toward Gu Shen.

Bang. Gu Shen extended his left hand, caught the iron spider steadily, and placed it back on his shoulder.

He lowered his eyes, staring intently at the churning black water ahead.

It was a terrifying aquatic Aberration, two or three zhang long, resembling a combination of an ancient crocodile and a giant catfish! Its entire body was covered in thick, pitch-black scales like dark iron; it had no eyes, and on its head were only two extremely thick, fleshy whiskers emitting a faint green light.

"Second-rank Middle Stage! A water-type exotic species!" Gu Shen instantly judged in his mind.

Missing its strike, the massive water beast crashed back into the water, splashing toxic water everywhere.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle. A few drops of black water splashed onto the refined iron ground near Gu Shen's feet, instantly corroding several pits.

The water beast did not immediately dive into deep water but swam under the surface ten zhang away from Gu Shen. The two green-glowing fleshy whiskers poked out of the water like two venomous snakes, locking onto Gu Shen on the shore.

"My Lord, this is an aquatic overlord mutated by deep radiation! Its scales are incredibly thick, and ordinary cold weapons cannot break its defense at all! Moreover, in this water, it is three times faster than on land!" Crab reported from his shoulder, still shaken.

Gu Shen did not draw the bone thorn of the second-rank Shadow Cat. Fighting such a behemoth in the water with a short weapon was tantamount to suicide.

His right hand very slowly gripped the hilt of the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade at his waist.

"Can't break its defense? It is in the water, and this entire pool of water is its best death warrant."

A cold arc curled at the corner of Gu Shen's mouth.

Water conducts electricity. This is common knowledge, even in the Great Yu Cultivation World, known even to a three-year-old child.

This toxic water swamp on the fifth level was a dead zone for ordinary Cultivators. But for him, a practitioner of both magic and body Dual Cultivation holding a top-tier lightning-type Magical Artifact, this was a natural, massive lightning-pool execution ground!

As long as this beast dared to come within three zhang of him. He would let it taste what it meant to have lightning course through its body, the ultimate paralysis!

Gu Shen stood by the water, as steady as a mountain, like a cold god of slaughter. One man, one blade, locked in an extremely silent standoff with the massive monster beneath the water.