Standing by the lake, Long Huang contemplated whether he should enter or not, so as not to pollute its waters. However, as the smell of his body hit his nose,
"Never mind, I'm going in."
Without a second more of hesitation, he stripped naked and carefully set aside the remaining Yang fruits in his storage pouch, and jumped into the lake to wash the layer of black impurities off his body.
Long Huang quickly cleaned himself up and was about to get out of the lake when he felt traces of a cold aura coming from the bottom of the lake. It was hard to notice if one wasn't paying attention, so he paid no heed to it.
He then got dressed and returned to see if the little deer had finished its cultivation.
When he returned, he saw that the deer was still cultivating. Thinking this might take a while, he rushed back to his campsite to grab his camping gear. As he dashed through the forest, the crisp air filled with the scent of pine invigorated him, but soon a rumble in his stomach reminded him of his growing hunger.
He then remembered the fish he spotted swimming in the lake while bathing, and an idea sparked in his mind.
"Why not try fishing today?" he thought excitedly.
With determination, he crafted a makeshift fishing rod, using a sturdy branch, some twine he had stashed away, and a piece of bone as a hook. Satisfied with his creation, he made his way to the lake.
As he stood at the edge of the lake, he placed a piece of wild beast meat on the hook and cast his fishing line into the lake. After a few boring hours, his fishing line began to tug so much that the branch reel began to bend.
A grin tore the corner of Long Huang's lips as he breathed out a relieved sigh; he was almost certain that whatever was on the hook was worth his hours of suffering.
"Took you long enough."
He muttered to himself before he grabbed the rod and began to wrestle with his catch.
"Hmph, the grill isn't even close by. Why struggle so much?"
Long Huang snorted as his catch began to move him around, almost causing him to lose his footing.
"You know you're fighting a losing battle here."
Long Huang tensed his biceps and calves, amping up his power output; however, just as he was about to reel in the fish, suddenly all the resistance on the line vanished.
"Unh?!"
Long Huang was momentarily caught off guard but kept reeling in his catch. It was only when the fish was halfway out of the water that he realized something was wrong.
He hadn't suddenly gained super strength; rather, his catch was in a rush, heading toward him at full throttle.
Just as it came into view, Long noticed the water behind his catch begin to part with alarming speed. A large dorsal fin surfaced, then quickly submerged. Long Huang's eyes widened as he quickly calculated what he was seeing.
He realized that whatever was attached to that fin was definitely five times larger than his catch.
Considering the new development, Long swiftly switched tactics and yanked his fishing rod with all the strength he could muster.
Shraa!!!
A massive, 3-meter-long salmon, with a girth of about a meter, suddenly erupted out of the water, sending water spraying into the air like a geyser.
"A Yin Spirit Salmon!" Long Huang declared, his voice filled with awe.
However, before Long Huang could marvel at and savor his catch, he suddenly felt his core strength sway off balance, nearly causing him to fall into the lake. Before he could comprehend the source of the commotion, a massive jaw so large it could bite a minivan in half burst out of the water, heading straight for his fish.
"Not today!"
"You'll have to work just as hard as I have to get your food!"
Fueled by hours of suffering and a deep sense of hunger, Long Huang's instinct urged him to protect his catch from being snatched away.
As soon as that thought surfaced, he waved his fishing rod to the right, causing the enormous fish to miss its target.
Despite all his efforts, the fish still managed to bite onto the tail of the Yin Spirit Salmon, using its weight and momentum to shake it off the hook and into the water.
In just a split second, Long Huang slipped off his clothes and dove straight after the fish, undeterred by the danger posed by the energetic Yin Spirit Tuna.
Boom! Boom! Splash!!!
Just ten meters away, the enormous fish leaped out of the water, parting the lake with incredible speed. Attached to its fin was a human figure who was not only clinging to life but also yelling,
"Give me back my lunch, now!"
Long Huang dug his fingers into the tuna's gills as he tried to yank the yin spirit salmon from its mouth.
"I said, give me my lunch!"
He shouted one last time as they fell back into the water, gathering all his strength to pull the salmon out of the tuna's grasp, but to no avail.
The Yin Spirit tuna began dragging Long Huang to the bottom of the lake, trying to drown him.
"This fucking bitch is trying to drown me."
Maddened by the actions of the Yin Spirit Tuna, he forcibly ripped at the tuna's gills. Unfortunately, in doing so, he lost his grip on the Yin Spirit Tuna.
"Oh crap!"
That was all he managed to say before the fish came rushing towards him at about 400 miles per hour. Fortunately, he dodged just in time and kicked the Yin Spirit Tuna, sending it flying out of the water and onto the shore of the lake.
Slap! Plop! Slap! Tap!
The Yin Spirit Tuna flipped and flopped like a tumbleweed across the rocky, hot terrain. As the fish struggled to get back into the water, Long Huang felt that cold sensation again and noticed a cave, figuring it was the tuna's home.
He swam to shore but realized he wasn't on the side of the lake he was on at first. Seeing the Yin Spirit Tuna flipping and flopping, Long Huang threw a punch.
Ocean Wave Fist art First Move: Crashing Tide
Long Huang punched out at full force, crushing the fish's spine. He followed up with another strike, crushing its head.
"That's what you get for trying to steal a hungry man's food, you fucking bitch."
He said to the corpse of the fish, forgetting that he had already killed it. Long Huang then ran to the other side of the shore with the Yin Spirit Tuna on his shoulders.
After collecting his belongings, he returned to his camp and saw that the little deer was still cultivating. He then ripped a chunk of the Yin Spirit Tuna and steamed it with some herbs. After a hearty meal, Long Huang reflected on the earlier events.
He found it strange that either of these fish had ended up in a lake in the middle of this deadly place.
How could a spirit tuna, which belonged in the ocean, end up in a lake in the Sky Cloud Forest, far from any known ocean?
"Someone placed it here," Long Huang thought.
Curiosity piqued, Long Huang returned to the lake and dove under the surface. After swimming a good distance, he spotted the cave entrance he had seen. As he approached, the water noticeably became colder, and a chilling aura seemed to emanate from the cave.
A short while later, he reached the cave entrance and entered without hesitation. Inside, he noticed the walls were dry and not as slippery and wet as one might expect. On one side of the cave wall, there was a rare treasure the size of a goose egg embedded in it.It was a Water Dispersing Pearl and its function was the same as its name.
As he continued walking through the tunnel for about ten meters, he arrived at an empty hall about a hundred square meters wide, yet it was obvious at a glance that there was nothing inside the hall.
However, he noticed three other rooms branching off from the hall. Long Huang approached the first room.
In the first room, he found nothing, just like the hall outside. Moving on to the second room, he discovered it was also vacant.
"Don't tell me the third room is empty too?!" Long Huang exclaimed to himself in frustration.
Standing in front of the third room, Long Huang slowly peeked inside. Finally, he saw a jade bed, and on top of the bed lay a black skeleton with a book made from an unknown material. On the walls hung a pair of half-meter-long shiny black blades.
Pausing for a moment, Long Huang's eyes fell on the book placed on the jade bed, and he walked over to pick it up. The seemingly thin book was so heavy that his arms sank slightly under its weight, startling him.
What kind of material was this book made of that it weighed close to 6,000 pounds despite its thinness?
Looking at the cover, he saw three words written in ancient inscriptions:
"Archdevil Scripture."
At that exact moment, as if an explosion had rung out, a terrifying aura of frenzied slaughter surged through Long Huang's mind. His eyes flickered, and he found himself in a place surrounded by infinite mountains of bones, with a boundless sea of blood at its edge.
Standing atop a mountain of bones, he felt as if he embodied an Asura from Hell.
Above the endless mountains of bones, ghastly apparitions of resentful spirits seemed to try to invade him.
Feeling the countless ghastly, resentful spirits' desire to swallow him, a light flickered in Long Huang's eyes, and his vision was abruptly wrapped back to the scenery of the third room of the cave.
Though it had only been a brief moment, cold sweat drenched his body.
A look of trepidation could be found in his eyes as he looked at the book in his hand, titled Archdevil Scripture.
The horrific vision of the mountains of bones and the boundless sea of blood didn't materialize again, allowing Long Huang to breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
After a while, he repressed the shock in his heart, and with slightly trembling hands, he opened the first page of the Archdevil Scripture.