Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 695 - 625 Blood Smell

The Dark River’s current was tumultuous and swift. The foam created by the massive flow of water stretched out like a dragon for kilometers.

Li Ang stood in the tunnel of the Dark River, spreading his arms. Countless threads emerged from his bones, penetrating the rock walls. The threads spread and dispersed within the depths of the rock layers, sensing the state of the water flow.

So that’s how it was.

The Nine Nether Dark River was buried deep underground and generally did not interfere with the surface water system. Zhao Ming had started upstream in the Nine Nether, manufacturing chambers by compressing the rock layers and continuously building up water pressure. When the pressure reached a critical point, he would blast the rock layers all at once, diverting the flow of the Dark River to the surface.

To mitigate the flood, simply blocking the tunnels was not enough. Water flow had to be redirected using the landscape, leading most of it back underground.

Large amounts of Mo Si sprawled beneath Li Ang’s feet, electric sparks flashing intensely. These Mo Si threads formed integrated circuits, taking over for Li Ang’s Heart Thought and calculating various data. This included the thickness and hardness of the rock layers, and the speed and weight of the water flow.

As each calculation was completed, Li Ang focused intently. He controlled Mo Si nodes located throughout the rock layer while simultaneously drawing Earth Melt Talismans.

Having advanced to the Cloud Patrol Middle Realm, Li Ang’s understanding of the talismanic Tao had deepened. He could now draw talismans through the air without the need for talisman paper, using Mo Si as an extension of his Body.

RUMBLE—

Once the Earth Melt Talisman was released, the surrounding soil melted away, turning into a slurry of sand and mud. The unsupported rock layers began to slowly collapse. When the rocks started to crumble and compress, all the Mo Si nodes transformed, releasing Blast Talismans.

BOOM!

The soil layers disintegrated and collapsed, carving out new tunnels like an ant colony. The majestic flow of water trapped between the riverbed and rock layers found an outlet and immediately gushed into the passage.

GLUG, GLUG—

The water’s surface bubbled up with countless air pockets, followed by numerous whirlpools forming. The majestic flow followed the tunnels, rejoining the Dark River, flowing back into the Nine Nether, and reducing the water pressure in this section of the riverbed.

It still wasn’t enough.

Li Ang was multi-tasking, manipulating the Mo Si to spread toward the next section of the riverbed while controlling the integrated circuits to continue computing, calculating more tunnels to blast.

"Found you."

A whisper echoed above the riverbed as the rock layer suddenly broke apart. A figure leaped down with a sword, standing sideways in the tunnel. The figure was gaunt and hunched, with the gloomy, old face of Yuan Sou barely visible in the intermittent light from the integrated circuits.

Li Ang controlled the Mo Si, sinking the temporary brain made from the integrated circuits into the ground. He said slowly, "Are you here to avenge a friend?"

"Umm..." Yuan Sou took two steps forward, avoiding the pouring water. With a tilted head, he said, "Not really.

"He and I had deep ties as drinking buddies, food companions, and partners. We discussed this topic while he was alive.

"For us, being hunted by enemies and schemed against by opponents was nothing out of the ordinary. Even if we managed to protect ourselves by joining Zhao Ming, not dying to the schemes of enemies, we would eventually meet our end for other reasons, such as being devoured by a demon."

Yuan Sou’s face showed a reminiscent expression. He spoke in a lukewarm tone, "When a person dies, all becomes naught. Neither he nor I were the type to ask friends to take revenge on our behalf. However, there’s something I wanted to do for him, even if it was just a joke over drinks."

Li Ang asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

"To eat him after he died," Yuan Sou said calmly. "Having eaten countless people in my lifetime, I couldn’t help but be curious about what my own flesh would taste like."

"You two really were a perfect match," Li Ang rubbed his temples. "When you met each day, would you say something like, ’Good brother, do you want to eat first or take a bath? Or... eat me first?’"

"Huh?" Yuan Sou couldn’t grasp the meaning behind the sarcastic comment, but that didn’t hinder his appreciation of its irony. Tilting his head, he said, "You claim Ghost Shovel was pushed by you into Li Yuan, dead without a body found. For now, let’s assume that’s true. If I can’t consume him, then I can only make do with your flesh and blood to compensate a little. The flesh of an Academic Palace Patrol should taste quite good, shouldn’t it?"

"You might be disappointed then." Li Ang grinned. Traces of Mo Si parasitism fill my body, with only my brain and other areas still ’pure.’ It would be extremely grating to chew, kind of like... fish flesh stuffed with steel needles, right?

DRIP. DRIP.

As the rock layers continued to shake and collapse, the fissure Yuan Sou had created when he leaped down had already been refilled with earth and stones. Water dripped from the cracks, making a rhythmic sound like a water clock.

DRIP.

The moment the water drop hit the ground, Yuan Sou vanished from his original spot. His figure became a crude straight line. His Longsword thrust out fiercely, splitting the air and shrieking with a banshee’s sharpness.

CLANG! 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Li Ang’s form retreated more than two hundred meters, crashing into the corner of a tunnel. His back embedded in the rock, he barely came to a stop. The Dragon Fall Spear in his hands vibrated fiercely from the force of that sword strike, and his tiger’s mouth split open, blood gushing forth.

Yuan Sou raised his eyebrows. He was surprised enough that Li Ang could block his full-force sword strike. What astonished him even more was Li Ang’s use of a weapon, rather than the Talisman Dao Mind Study he was known to be cultivating.

His surprise was fleeting, and Yuan Sou vanished once again from his spot. It’s quite normal for an Academic Palace Patrol to have some unusual traits, no doubt granted by the elders of the Academic Palace to save his life. As long as my sword swings faster than his reaction, it will be sufficient.

CLANG!

The sound of gold and iron clashing echoed through the tunnel. Li Ang, with both hands in the air, barely managed to hold the Dragon Fall Spear upright, assisted by Telekinesis, blocking the sword strike again. However, the residual force of the Qi Blade, following the sword momentum, tore open his chest, ripping out a hideous wound.

The Qi Sea circulated. The omnipresent Mind Power, precise like a surgical instrument, clamped down on the surface wounds, pressing and pulling the skin and muscle taut to prevent the blood from gushing out.

Without any respite, the third, vicious and venomous sword strike followed closely, sticking to his flesh like a persistent disease. Li Ang tilted the spear and poured Spiritual Power into Dragon Fall, causing the spear to instantly expand, taking up most of the tunnel’s space.

CLANG!

Barely catching this strike, Li Ang, clutching the Dragon Fall—now as thick as a beam—fell continuously along the downward-sloping tunnel until he smashed into the surface of a lake. The Dragon Fall Spear, with its momentum unabated, sank into the water and then buried itself deep in the rock layers.

A sweetness rose in Li Ang’s throat. He forcefully suppressed the blood spurting from ruptured internal organs, swallowing it along with the Dark River’s water.

SWOOSH—

Yuan Sou too plummeted down the tunnel. His tongue touched a small droplet of blood that had seeped from Li Ang’s chest wound, his expression unsettled and gloomy. The taste of this blood was beyond mediocre; it was downright stale to the extreme. It was like the murky, tainted blood drawn from the swollen veins of a rotting corpse, completely devoid of vitality. This made Yuan Sou, who prided himself as a gourmet, feel like vomiting.

"This taste is wrong," Yuan Sou spat the dirty blood onto the ground and said ominously, "What on earth are you?"

"No prizes for the right answer, too bad," Li Ang emerged from the lake’s surface. Threads burrowed out from his spine, wrapping from his back to his chest.