Chapter 5

Gu Fei was entangled by the beast and dragged into the cave on the cliff face, where an overwhelming sense of danger immediately enveloped him.

Being caught by a beast meant only two possible outcomes: one, being eaten by the beast as food; the other, being killed by the beast. In short, it meant—death!

Gu Fei's heart was filled with anxiety. At the critical moment of life and death, he struggled desperately, his muscles contracting and expanding, and his bones making a crackling sound. A surge of strength erupted from him, trying to break free from the beast's body that was wrapped around him.

However, he was destined to be disappointed. This beast also seemed to have considerable strength, and its pitch-black scales, when moving, absorbed most of Gu Fei's strength. Moreover, it seemed to be tightening its grip, causing Gu Fei to panic even more.

The snake-like beast dragged Gu Fei through the cave at high speed. Despite the danger, Gu Fei remained calm. He felt his body being pulled downward, and the water pressure around him rapidly increased.

The icy-cold water of the pond, under the terrifying water pressure, kept seeping into his seven orifices. Even though Gu Fei was prepared, he still swallowed several mouthfuls of the cold pond water.

The coldness of the Green Water Cold Pond was no joke. The deeper the water, the more intense the cold. The beast darted through the underwater cave, diving at least a thousand feet deep.

After swallowing a few mouthfuls of water, the internal and external coldness attacked him simultaneously, causing his body to feel numb, his limbs to stiffen, and a block of ice to seem to form in his chest and abdomen, making him extremely uncomfortable.

What should he do! Gu Fei was extremely anxious. If this continued, he would have no chance of survival.

The beast's lair seemed to be at the very bottom of the Green Water Cold Pond. Gu Fei still felt himself being dragged downward by the beast.

The dark cave seemed to have no end, and the boundless darkness and terrifying water pressure enveloped Gu Fei. He had no idea how deep the beast had dragged him.

Just as Gu Fei felt that his entire body was about to be crushed by the immense force, the beast suddenly changed direction and started to move upward.

After a short while, with a "splash," Gu Fei felt a sudden lightness on his body, and his vision brightened. He then smelled the air, and his body involuntarily flew up, landing on something that made a cracking sound, as if it were dry branches breaking.

A strong, foul, and fishy smell suddenly rushed into his nose. Gu Fei reached down to touch what was beneath him, feeling something slippery, sticky, and in chunks, which made him feel extremely nauseous.

He quickly sat up and scanned his surroundings, just in time to see a huge, black, strange snake disappearing into a pond a few dozen feet away.

This... Gu Fei's heart was shaken. When did such a powerful snake-like beast appear in the Green Water Cold Pond? Could it be... that Wang Yuanzhi knew about this beast?

"What a vicious heart!" At this thought, a murderous aura surged on Gu Fei's face.

The mission to catch the Green Phosphorus Carp in the Green Water Cold Pond was originally assigned to Wang Yuanzhi, but Wang Yuanzhi had forcibly taken Gu Fei's jade token and thrown him a fish-catching token instead.

If things were really as he imagined, Wang Yuanzhi could not be forgiven. The best way to deal with someone who wanted you dead was to kill that person first.

Although Gu Fei was extremely unlucky, fortunately, the beast did not seem to have an immediate need to eat. After capturing Gu Fei, it disappeared somewhere.

Gu Fei checked his body and found that, apart from aches and pains, he did not seem to have any injuries. Looking around, he was shocked to find that he was sitting on a pile of bones as large as a small mountain. When the beast had thrown him onto this pile, it had broken many dry bones.

This seemed to be the place where the beast ate.

Gu Fei was surprised to see a fish spine, about ten feet long and still dripping with blood, in the pile of bones. Around the spine were deep green scales, each as large as a palm, each one as clear and translucent as jade.

These were the unique scales of the Green Phosphorus Carp.

"Such a huge Green Phosphorus Carp is truly rare!" Gu Fei was secretly shocked. The largest Green Phosphorus Carp he had seen was only a few feet long, but the one in front of him, which the beast had clearly eaten down to just a spine, was of an unprecedented size.

No wonder the Green Phosphorus Carp in the Green Water Cold Pond had disappeared. They had been almost completely hunted to extinction by this beast lurking at the bottom of the pond.

The beast seemed to have just eaten a Green Phosphorus King. Perhaps because it was not hungry, it did not immediately hunt Gu Fei.

If the beast had hunted Gu Fei at that moment, Gu Fei would have been in grave danger.

This was a cave, a huge cave, about two to three hundred feet wide and a hundred feet high, as Gu Fei estimated.

In the chaotic black rocks, small ponds were scattered everywhere, even on the cave ceiling. However, for some reason, the icy-cold water from the ponds did not flow into the cave, as if some force was blocking it.

Even the water on the cave ceiling did not fall, which was completely against common sense.

The ground, walls, and rocks around the cave were all black. Strangely, despite the size of the cave, there was a dim light, and it was not pitch black.

The light seemed to come from the center of the cave, where a black skeleton, as long as a hundred feet and resembling a small mountain, lay.

At first, Gu Fei did not realize it was a beast's skeleton. In the dim cave, everything visible was black, and the skeleton was also black, making it hard to notice.

It was the skeleton of a beast similar to a dragon, as only such a beast would have such a large, snake-like skeleton.

According to legend, thousands of years ago, a demonic dragon had inhabited the Green Water Cold Pond and was later killed by a powerful expert. Could this be the skeleton of that demonic dragon?

Gu Fei walked toward the skeleton, his heart filled with doubt. He remembered a legend about the Green Water Cold Pond from the Tai Xuan Sect.

As he approached, when he rounded a large rock, the scene that greeted him made his entire body hair stand on end, and he was unable to recover from the shock for a long time.

He saw a tall, imposing middle-aged man standing on a stone platform, his expression vivid and lifelike. If it weren't for the bloody hole in the man's chest, Gu Fei would have thought the man was still alive.

The man's long, black hair was scattered over his shoulders, his eyebrows extending into his hairline, and his black, bright eyes still exuded a captivating aura that made one's heart tremble.

What shook Gu Fei the most was the man's aura—domineering and invincible, a posture that looked down on all living things. Without a doubt, this man had been a world-shaking figure in his lifetime, like a demon god.

How could such a person end up in the cave at the bottom of the Green Water Cold Pond?

At the man's feet was a shattered, pitch-black skeleton. Despite the passage of countless years, this black skeleton still exuded a fierce and evil aura.

The scattered black bones on the ground, dark and glossy, gave Gu Fei a sense of fear. He seemed to see a monstrous figure with fangs and claws, and he quickly averted his gaze.

Clearly, this was a true demon bone.

The man stood facing a large rock, his presence still commanding and awe-inspiring even in death. Behind him was the shattered head of a beast, like a small mountain.

The light in the entire cave came from the man's hands, which were clasped in front of his dantian. A faint glow spread from his hands like ripples, illuminating the entire cave.

Between the man's hands floated a magical jade pendant, about two inches wide, from which the light emanated.