Cultivation: I can solidify equipment attributes

Chapter 483 Deep Sea Extermination

After collecting their spoils, Li Yuan withdrew from the depths of the reef and rejoined Fang Hai's team.

The clearing operation on the periphery is progressing smoothly. Fang Hai led more than twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators through most of the reef group, killing more than thirty second-tier sea monsters along the way. Only two of his own early Foundation Establishment cultivators suffered minor injuries.

"Fellow Daoist, how is the situation deep inside?" Fang Hai asked as he approached.

"The third-tier shelled crab demon has been dealt with."

Fang Hai's expression relaxed, and he immediately smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist is indeed amazing, taking down a third-tier sea monster all by yourself."

Half an hour later, the three teams met up outside the cave.

The entrance to the underwater cave is located at the bottom of a huge underwater cliff. The cave entrance is about ten zhang high and five or six zhang wide. The rock walls along the edge are covered with a large amount of dark red coral and seaweed. Murky water, mixed with a strong fishy smell, constantly gushes out from the depths of the cave entrance.

Five Golden Core cultivators stopped in front of the cave entrance and probed inside with their divine sense.

Li Yuan's divine sense, combined with the analytical ability of the Myriad Manifestations Retrospection, was the first to penetrate the turbid water at the cave entrance.

The interior of the cave is much larger than it appears from the outside. Beyond the entrance is a narrow passageway, only wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side. The rock walls on both sides of the passageway are densely covered with caves of varying sizes, like a honeycomb.

The passageway led to an extremely spacious underground space, with a radius of at least several hundred feet. Inside, reefs stood tall, the seawater was murky, and the aura of numerous sea monsters roamed within.

There are a great many second-tier sirens; a rough estimate suggests there are at least a hundred.

There are three streams of third-order aura, distributed in different locations in the underground space.

"Three heads, third tier," another elderly cultivator in the late Golden Core stage said in a deep voice. He was the leader of the first group, a senior member of the alliance, and had the highest cultivation level among the five Golden Core cultivators.

"That's not right," Li Yuan said. "There should be more than three. The nest is so big, three Tier 3 creatures can't support it. Some of them may have already gone out hunting, or sensed danger and fled in advance."

The old man, who was in the late stage of the Golden Core realm, glanced at Li Yuan and nodded: "That makes sense. Let's take advantage of the fact that there are currently the fewest high-level sea monsters in the cave and finish this quickly."

The attack plan was quickly determined.

The five Golden Core cultivators were divided into two groups. The first group of three was responsible for rushing into the passageway, clearing out the low-level sea monsters at the entrance, and attracting the attention of the third-level sea monsters. The second group of two provided support from behind, while also protecting the Foundation Establishment cultivators as they followed.

Li Yuan was assigned to the first batch.

"Fellow Daoist Li, the passageway at the entrance is very narrow, which is not conducive to casting spells," Fang Hai reminded him from the side. "Once the low-level sea monsters inside surge out from the various caves, their numbers will be terrifying."

Li Yuan nodded without saying anything more.

Narrow passageways are indeed a limitation for most spells, but the opposite is true for sonic spells.

At the command of the late-stage Golden Core elder, three Golden Core cultivators rushed into the cave simultaneously.

Li Yuan was at the very front of the line.

The inner walls of the tunnel were slippery, and the seawater created strong convection currents in the narrow space. As soon as we stepped into the tunnel, the first wave of sirens surged out from the honeycomb-shaped caves on both sides.

A dozen or so smaller sharks darted out from the caves on the left and right sides, baring their sharp teeth and lunging straight at Li Yuan's face.

Li Yuan raised his right hand, and spiritual energy vibrated through his meridian walls.

Chaoyin Jue.

A deep hum erupted from within.

The effect of sound waves propagating in the tunnel is completely different from that in the open sea. The narrow rock walls act as natural resonating cavities, repeatedly reflecting, superimposing, and amplifying the sound waves.

The effect of increasing the penetrating power and range of the sound by 60% is now combined with the amplification effect of the passageway.

The results far exceeded expectations.

The first wave of a dozen or so sharks that rushed out didn't even have a chance to struggle under the direct impact of the sonic wave. Their bodies were shaken and tumbled backward, crashing into the rock wall and collapsing to the ground.

The sound waves continued to spread deeper into the tunnel.

From deeper within the cave came a chaotic cacophony of hisses and crashing sounds. A large number of sirens, preparing to surge forth from the cave, were struck by the sonic waves, their formation instantly collapsing. Some were stunned, others disoriented, colliding head-on in the cave.

Li Yuan did not stop, his steps continued to move forward, and sound waves continued to be released.

From the entrance to the end of the passageway, more than forty low-level sea monsters were either repelled or injured by the sound waves.

The system panel pops up.

[Trendy Sound (Blue) Growth Progress: 15→55/100]

The progress jumped by forty points in one go. The structure of the tunnel amplified the sound wave effect several times over, and each release could affect a large number of targets, resulting in an extremely fast accumulation of progress.

At the end of the passageway, the entire underground space comes into view.

The extremely spacious underwater cavern, with a dome tens of meters high, was filled with glowing deep-sea minerals, illuminating the entire space in a dim and eerie light. A dense cluster of reefs was scattered throughout, with bubbles constantly rising from the crevices.

The remaining low-ranking sea monsters had been driven to the far end of the cave by the sound waves, gathering in a group and emitting terrified howls. Without the leadership of the third-ranking leader, these second-ranking sea monsters had completely lost their organization, leaving only instinctive fear.

Of the three third-tier auras, two had already disappeared during the clearing of the passageway, most likely escaping from other exits of the cave.

Only one strand remained.

Moreover, this aura was extremely powerful, far exceeding that of the shelled crab demons killed previously.

Tier 3, superior grade.

From a group of enormous reefs at the deepest part of the cave, a sea monster of astonishing size slowly emerged.

It was a giant sea serpent, entirely dark blue. It was over fifteen zhang long, and its scales, like polished black iron, gleamed with a cold metallic sheen under the faint light of the mineral.

Tier 3 High-Grade Ice Serpent Demon.

The giant serpent's vertical pupils stared intently at the three Golden Core cultivators at the entrance of the passage, without uttering a word, but it let out a sharp hiss.

The hissing sound was mixed with extremely strong spiritual energy vibrations, causing the ore on the cave walls to shatter and fall.

"A high-grade third-tier item, not easy to deal with." The late-stage Golden Core elder's expression was solemn. "Attack together."

The five people dispersed and approached the giant snake from different directions.

The Ice Serpent Demon did not sit idly by and wait for its death.

The enormous serpentine body lashed out, its tail sweeping across a group of rocks, shattering several boulders several meters high. The debris, carrying with it the raging torrent of water, formed a circular shockwave that swept outwards in all directions.

The old man, in the late stage of the Golden Core realm, formed hand seals, and a thick water shield condensed in front of him, taking the brunt of the shockwave. The water shield trembled violently, but did not shatter.

Fang Hai launched an attack from the flank, sending several water blades slicing towards the middle of the snake's body. The water blades struck the scales with a piercing metallic clang, leaving only a few shallow white marks on the scales.

The defensive power of a third-tier superior item is extremely terrifying.

The other two early-stage Golden Core cultivators also made their moves. One unleashed a fire spell to bombard the snake's head, while the other set up a trapping array with array flags in an attempt to restrict the snake's movement.

Li Yuan landed on the right flank of the battlefield.

The All-Seeing Mirror was running at full speed in the equipment slot.

The ice serpent demon opened its massive maw, and a beam of ice-blue light, several feet in diameter, shot out, heading straight for the late-stage Golden Core elder in front of it.

The old man dodged to the side, the icicle grazing his shoulder before striking the rock wall behind him. Enveloped in the extreme cold, the rock wall instantly froze into a shell several feet thick, the shattered rocks turning into crystal-clear ice blocks.

The after-swing of the icicle jet.

Li Yuan made a move.

With his right hand forming a blade shape, he activated the Golden Blade Technique. Dozens of golden blade lights shot out densely from between his fingers, all converging on a small area slightly below the ice serpent demon's neck.

Li Yuan suppressed the power, but it was still quite powerful.

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the scales, and several thinner scales were even shattered, revealing the dark red muscle tissue underneath.

The Ice Serpent Demon hissed in pain and swung its massive head at Li Yuan.

Li Yuan's figure flickered, and he activated his teleportation technique underwater, disappearing silently from his spot. The snake's head crashed into empty space, shattering a section of reef.

Li Yuan appeared on the other side of the snake demon.

Sky-Splitting Slash.

A gray spatial rift extended from the fingertip, reaching a length of over ten feet, precisely cutting into the spot where the Golden Blade Technique had shattered the scales.

Without the protection of scales, the Sky-Splitting Slash cut directly into the snake demon's muscle layer, making a cut several inches deep, and dark red demon blood gushed out.

The ice serpent demon let out a deafening howl.

The enormous serpent's body writhed wildly, crushing the surrounding rocks into dust. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the late-stage Golden Core elder launched a full-force attack from the front, unleashing a water dragon imbued with powerful spiritual energy from his palm, which slammed into the serpent demon's vulnerable head.

Fang Hai and two other Golden Core cultivators also attacked simultaneously, with attacks from all directions landing on the snake demon at the same time.

Although the Ice Serpent Demon was powerful, its injuries rapidly worsened under the combined attack of five Golden Core cultivators.

Finally, the old man in the late stage of the Golden Core realm unleashed a long-prepared killing move that struck the snake demon's already shattered neck scales, severing its spine.

The enormous snake's body convulsed violently a few times before slowly sinking into the mud at the bottom of the cave, its dark red pupils gradually dimming.

After the battle, the remaining low-level sea monsters in the cave had completely dispersed. Foundation Establishment cultivators poured in from the entrance of the passageway and began to clean up the battlefield.

Li Yuan and the other Golden Core cultivators dismembered the ice serpent demon's corpse.

The third-tier superior-grade inner core, snake bone, scales, and ice crystal pouch were all extremely valuable. The five Golden Core cultivators distributed the items according to their contribution ratios, with Li Yuan receiving the inner core and a section of snake bone.

Scattered throughout the cave were numerous deep-sea spiritual materials hoarded by the sea monsters: deep-sea corals, luminous ores, crystals, and sea beast bones—a wide variety of items. Foundation Establishment cultivators, under the guidance of Golden Core cultivators, collected and categorized them one by one.

The clearing team rested for a while in the cave and took stock of their spoils.

The entire extermination mission yielded fruitful results. A large number of second-tier sea monster inner cores and deep-sea spiritual materials were collected and brought under the alliance's control, to be distributed according to contribution points afterward. The spoils of the third-tier sea monsters were directly taken by the participating Golden Core cultivators.

During the rest period, Fang Hai sat down next to Li Yuan and handed him a bottle of pills to restore spiritual energy.

Li Yuan accepted the pill but did not consume it; instead, he stored it in his personal space. His own spiritual energy recovery speed far exceeded the replenishment efficiency of a second-tier pill.

Fang Hai then chatted for a few more minutes about the situation in the sea area.

"The total number of sirens is far greater than ours," Fang Hai sighed.

"The area of ​​this sea is several times larger than that of land, and dozens of times larger than that of islands. The number of sea monsters is also incalculable. Fortunately, the proportion of high-level sea monsters is not high. Although the absolute number of third-level and above is not small, they are scattered in such a vast sea area, and the probability of encountering them during normal navigation is not high."

"Moreover, most sea monsters are not of the same race and do not cooperate in battle. Unlike land monsters, some large monster clans can organize massive beast tides. Sea monsters mostly fight independently, occupying their own territories and not interfering with each other. It is actually quite rare to see a large number of sea monsters gathered in the same nest like today."

"Then why are we gathering here this time?" Li Yuan asked.

Fang Hai shook his head: "I don't know. It's possible that the spiritual veins or food chain in the deep sea have changed, forcing them to migrate to the shallow sea, and they just happened to meet in this cave along the way. It's also possible that the third-tier high-grade ice serpent demon has been operating here for a long time, attracting all the low-level sea monsters in the surrounding area."

Li Yuan nodded and did not ask any further questions.

After resting in the cave for an hour, the team began to evacuate.

Li Yuan followed the group out of the cave along the passageway, during which the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique continuously activated passively in his equipment inventory.

Throughout the entire cleanup mission, Li Yuan came into contact with dozens of cultivators from different islands and factions. Each cultivator had a different frequency of spiritual energy fluctuations and attribute characteristics, and the passive recording function of Kunpeng Swallow recorded this information one by one.

The system panel displays the latest progress.

[Kunpeng's Breathing (Blue) Growth Progress: 40→45/100]

After the team returned to the sea, the alliance deacon began to tally the results and contribution values ​​of each group.

Li Yuan single-handedly killed a Tier 3 sea monster, participated in the killing of a Tier 3 high-grade sea monster, and wiped out dozens of low-grade sea monsters, resulting in a considerable amount of contribution points.

The mission was over, and the cultivators from each group dispersed one after another.

Li Yuan did not return to the main island with the main group. Instead, he bid farewell to Fang Hai on the sea and then dived off in another direction alone.

To the south of the mission area, less than a hundred miles from here, lies the group of reefs where the third branch of the underwater ruins teleportation array is located.