Chapter 360 - 332: Mountain’s Belly
"This is the place." The Fishman Leader held the stone slate, comparing it with their surroundings again and again until he finally confirmed the cavern’s location.
Qin Ziwen and the others were on a peak in the middle section of the underwater mountain range. At their feet was a large hole, a full five meters in diameter.
"We’re in the right place. The location written on it is here." The Fishman Leader walked in a circle, slate in hand, before finally settling on the large hole at his feet.
"Are we supposed to go down through here?" Qin Ziwen crouched and reached a hand into the hole. Like the other nearby caves, it was pitch-black. In the already dim light of the seabed, the inside was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
After checking one last time, the Fishman Leader leaped in without hesitation.
Qin Ziwen didn’t even have time to react before the Fishman Leader had vanished into the hole.
After a long while, the Fishman Leader’s voice echoed up from the depths of the cavern. "Ziwen, it’s safe down here."
Qin Ziwen rolled his eyes. ’Can you really just jump down into a place like this? Shouldn’t you check it a few more times first? What if it’s wider at the top than the bottom? You could get stuck.’
Mogu glanced at Qin Ziwen. "Master, I will go first."
Qin Ziwen nodded slowly. "Stay safe."
Mogu had a powerful build, but fortunately, the cavern was wide enough. He tucked in his arms and slowly descended.
With his two Fishman companions gone, Qin Ziwen was left alone on the gloomy seabed.
The only sound was the rush of the turbulent current washing over the mountain range.
From a cave behind him, a long, slender black shadow slowly emerged. It seemed to have noticed Qin Ziwen nearby. After a moment of observation, it began to sneak up behind him.
Suddenly, it lunged from behind.
Qin Ziwen, his back to the creature, swayed aside as if he had eyes in the back of his head. In the same instant he dodged, he shot out his hand to grab it.
His long fingers dug into its body, but its slick, elastic skin slipped right through his grasp.
The ferocious eel whipped its head around, its fang-filled mouth snapping at Qin Ziwen’s head.
BAM!!!
The water burst outward. The eel was stunned, dizzied by the head-on punch.
SQUELCH!
While it was stunned, Qin Ziwen hooked the nearby Long Spear with his foot and thrust it into the eel’s head, skewering the four-meter-long giant brindle eel on the Spearhead.
Qin Ziwen had sensed it emerge from the changes in the water current. ’The caves in this underwater mountain range are surprisingly rich in species,’ he thought. ’Besides all sorts of bizarre fish, there are plenty of sea snakes and sea eels. These caves are the perfect hiding spots for them.’
To avoid attracting more Sea Beasts, Qin Ziwen pulled out the Long Spear and tossed the carcass into the distance.
The eel’s body sank slowly to the seafloor, blood from its wound gradually spreading outward.
Meanwhile, in the distant water, a massive dark shadow was swimming slowly. Suddenly, it seemed to catch a scent and changed direction.
After that little incident, no other Sea Beasts came to bother him for the time being.
Qin Ziwen took another Deep Sea Oxygen from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.
Feeling the steady supply of oxygen filling his lungs, Qin Ziwen reflected on the advantages of Deep Sea Oxygen. ’Compared to the White Coral, it’s better because I don’t have to keep something in my mouth constantly. My jaw doesn’t get sore, and I can even open my mouth to talk. Although speaking underwater would muffle and distort his voice, Mogu was no ordinary being. His five senses were sharp, his hearing far superior to a normal person’s.’
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the cavern at his feet. A large, dark shape, propelled by a rush of water, rapidly ascended.
Mogu’s head popped out. "Master, you can come down. The path is safe and leads directly into the heart of the mountain."
With Mogu having scouted the path, Qin Ziwen finally felt at ease.
He followed Mogu into the cavern. After descending less than a meter, all light was completely swallowed, plunging him into a darkness so absolute he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
Fortunately, he could still perceive the currents. As he and Mogu continued to descend, the surrounding seawater surged past the walls, forming a blurry outline in his perception.
After several minutes, his feet touched bottom.
A faint light appeared before him. The Fishman Leader was holding a Luminous Pearl, illuminating the surrounding area.
When Qin Ziwen got a clear look at his surroundings, his pupils instinctively constricted.
The environment here was magnificent.
Deep within the mountain was a massive tunnel, stretching out of sight in both directions as if it had been carved straight through the rock.
The tunnel’s inner walls were covered with many uneven but remarkably regular patterns.
A foul, rotten stench permeated the water.
Qin Ziwen looked at the tunnel wall, running a finger over its fibrous texture. It was hard, yet it didn’t feel like pure stone.
These textures weren’t random; they were arranged in a pattern he couldn’t comprehend.
The surrounding rock walls were pocked with several holes at regular intervals, leading to unknown depths.
The Fishman Leader took another Luminous Pearl from a pouch, placed it on the ground, then floated up and used a small knife to carve a mark on the nearby wall.
"We’re going that way." The Fishman Leader pointed behind himself.
Qin Ziwen and Mogu followed him.
He had thought there would be no living creatures inside the mountain, but he soon found out he was wrong.
After they had traveled some distance, the tunnel walls ahead were densely covered with crawling white insects.
The insects were about the size of watermelons, completely snow-white, and clung to the tunnel walls.
Qin Ziwen used Insight.
[Ordinary·Carrion Insect: ☆☆☆☆☆]
’Good news: they’re just an ordinary species of undersea creature.’
’Bad news: there are far too many of them.’ As far as he could see, the tunnel walls ahead were completely covered. Illuminated by the Luminous Pearl, the insects began to writhe restlessly. In an instant, the walls seemed to come alive, making Qin Ziwen’s skin crawl.
’And they’re thriving here.’ When Qin Ziwen used Insight, he found that seven or eight out of every ten were Five Stars. ’This environment must be perfect for them.’
The Fishman Leader said, "The slate says that as long as we don’t touch them, they won’t attack living creatures."
So the three of them floated in the water, swimming slowly forward through the center of the tunnel.
As they passed by the walls, Qin Ziwen heard a dense, rustling sound.
’As the saying goes, an army of ants can kill an elephant,’ he thought. ’And these things are much bigger than ants.’
One Carrion Insect was suddenly jostled by its neighbor and nearly fell from the ceiling. Fortunately, its sharp mouthparts clamped down firmly, keeping it in place. Its abdomen was pointed right at Qin Ziwen, its numerous legs writhing nonstop.
Qin Ziwen ducked his head and veered away.
The creatures reminded him of horseshoe crabs.
These Carrion Insects looked like albino horseshoe crabs, but with their tails removed and their legs twice as long.
After swimming for the better part of an hour, the scenery gradually changed. The dense swarms of Carrion Insects were finally gone.
It was only then that they noticed the tunnel ahead was much wider than where they had started. The Carrion Insects had been part of the reason they hadn’t realized it sooner.
The tunnel was now nearly twice as wide as the shaft they had descended through.
But the environment here also seemed unnatural. The stone walls were embedded with a large number of sac-like rock clusters, and the number of holes had become much denser. The holes themselves were also much smaller, enough to nearly trigger Qin Ziwen’s trypophobia.
Just then, a familiar head slowly extended from one of the holes ahead. It was the same kind of Silver Bobbit Worm he had seen on the surface of the mountain range.
But this Silver Bobbit Worm was nearly as wide as a grown man...
...
...