Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

Since that's the case, Liu Nian didn't plan to waste any more time here. He returned directly to the Floating City and transformed into the Lord of the Tides, Sora.

Sora is the ruler of the amphibious fish-men. Liu Nian added Sora as a friend when they went to rescue the mermaid princess.

A flash of light, and Liu Nian appeared in a damp cave.

The air was thick with salty, fishy vapor, the ground was slippery with wet rocks, and water droplets fell from above, echoing crisply in the silent space.

Sola circled around Liu Nian, clicking her tongue in amazement.

"This disguise... it's amazing." Sola nudged Liu Nian. "Even the pattern on the scales is the same. If you hadn't told me beforehand, I definitely wouldn't have recognized you."

Liu Nian took a couple of steps, but still wasn't quite used to it.

The fishman's legs are similar to a toad's; he squats and hops, hopping and squatting, while his buttocks sway from side to side.

Liu Nian felt like a duck that had been pulled ashore...

"What's going on inside the dark cave?" he asked Sora beside him as he adjusted to his strange body.

As the leader of the amphibious fishmen, Sora had gone in with them when they attacked the Dark Nest, so she knew much more about it than Carotauros did.

At that moment, he was tilting his head to watch Liu Nian walk, the whiskers at the corners of his mouth twitching, clearly trying to suppress a laugh.

"Stop looking!" Liu Nian said irritably.

Sora immediately dropped his joking expression, squatted down, raised his hand to condense a ball of water, and then gently stroked the surface of the water with his finger—the ball of water obediently spread out, transforming into a flat map. His use of water magic was exquisite; the water flowed under his fingertips like a living thing, sometimes gathering into lines, sometimes spreading into a surface.

"The Dark Cave has a main passage that leads from the entrance to the deepest part. Besides that, there are many intricate paths, like a spider web, and anyone unfamiliar with it would definitely get lost." He pointed to a circular area in the center of the map, "This is a natural cave, and most of the trolls' buildings are located in this area."

"However," Sora changed the subject, tracing a few lines on the map with her finger, "after several battles, we've demolished most of those buildings."

Liu Nian: "Where was the last place you encountered those insectoid attacks?"

Sora moved his finger to a spot on the map that was off the main road, and pointed there: "This place. We were ambushed here. Those bugs crawled out from underground, they were everywhere, catching us completely off guard. A lot of our brothers died."

“Our warlocks explored it later,” Sora continued, “and there are some disjointed spaces down there, like natural caves, or like they were dug out by something. The structure is too complex, winding and layered, for a troll to fit in, so it has never been used.”

"So, those insectoid beings might be hiding down there?"

"Very likely." Sora looked up at Liu Nian. "Are you sure you want to go in alone? Those tunnels are very narrow; what if you get stuck inside..."

"I know what I'm doing. Which way is more convenient to enter?"

Sora pointed to a blue curve on the map: "This is the underground river. Go in from here and go downstream for about ten kilometers, and you'll reach the back of the Dark Cave. There's a secret passage there, which we secretly left behind so we could sneak into the trolls' lair. The entrance is very well hidden, located at the bottom of a well."

Liu Nian noted down the coordinates.

"Alright." He stood up, stretched his limbs, and said, "I'm leaving."

"Be careful." Sora gave him a fish-man salute.

Liu Nian plunged into the water.

The icy groundwater instantly submerged my head.

Although he felt very awkward on the shore, Liu Nian immediately felt the benefits of this body once he entered the water!

The propulsion from his flippers and tail fin was far greater than he had imagined; a casual flick sent him soaring a considerable distance, nearly crashing headfirst into the opposite rock wall. He struggled for a while, using both arms and legs, employing both breaststroke and doggy paddle, before finally figuring out the knack—

Relax your body, use your tail fin to generate power, and extend your arms forward together.

whoosh-

He glided out of the water like a real fish, so fast that even he was startled.

The underground river was more complex than he had imagined, sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, sometimes gentle, sometimes rapid. The rock walls overhead were so low they almost touched his back, while in wider sections they could accommodate several boats side by side. The water was crystal clear, but the light was extremely dim, with only occasional glimmers of light filtering through the cracks in the rocks, illuminating the floating dust in the water like scattered gold.

Liu Nian swam downstream with the current for about ten kilometers. The river became deeper and the water temperature dropped. Rough, man-made carvings began to appear on the surrounding rock walls, resembling some kind of ancient runes or simply markings.

He stopped at a secluded bend in the river, following the coordinates Sora had given him.

There was an inconspicuous crack in the rock wall, just big enough for a merman to squeeze in sideways. The rocks at the edge of the crack were covered with dark green algae, which were slippery and felt like a thin layer of slime to the touch.

Liu Nian turned to the side and squeezed through the dark passage little by little.

The passage was narrow and cramped, making it difficult for any race other than fishmen to squeeze in. Liu Nian crawled forward along the passage for about a few hundred meters when a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead.

Liu Nian emerged from the secret passage and found himself at the bottom of a well.

The well walls were made of rough stones and covered with slippery moss. Through the water, Liu Nian could see a halo of dim yellow light shining down through the well opening.

He kicked twice and surfaced, not even having time to catch his breath—

"pound!"

Something hit him on the forehead.

Liu Nian's heart tightened, and he prepared to strike at any moment.

I looked up and saw—

Damn it, what hit me on the head was a bucket!

A large, dark water bucket made of rough wooden planks.

Liu Nian was stunned for a moment, then heard a rough, impatient voice from above: "This damn well, the water is getting less and less... If this keeps up, I'll have to run ten miles to fetch water..."

It turned out that a troll was preparing to fetch water with a wooden bucket when it was thrown down and hit Liu Nian squarely on the forehead.

Liu Nian looked up at the well opening, then at the bucket, and suddenly a smile appeared on his lips.

Without thinking, he jumped straight into the bucket.

The bucket was huge, the kind of large wooden bucket specially used to draw water from deep wells, more than enough to hold a fishman.

Above the well, the troll began to shake the well rope.

crunch - crunch -

The rusty crank made a screeching sound as the axle wound around the rope, lifting the bucket up round and round.

Liu Nian hid inside the bucket, feeling his body rise little by little.

finally--

The bucket was raised to the top of the well.