Asura in Arknights

Yi hadn't lied about one thing earlier: this truly was his last clone. Encountering the Serpent God was never part of Yi's original plan.

"Really? You're fine, aren't you? Clothes are very resilient after absorbing water, I'm holding on tight, you won't fall."

Li Ang said calmly, completely ignoring Yi's exasperated expression.

"You... never mind."

Taking a deep breath, Yi could only suppress his anger again.

What can he do? He can't exactly go to Jingzhe to complain, that would make him look low... Yi hates these kinds of illogical brutes the most. His plans will have oversights, and nine times out of ten it's these kinds of people who make the mistakes.

Fortunately, the clothes he was wearing were of decent quality and didn't collapse under his weight; otherwise, this would have been his most laughable failure.

Although there was a slight mishap, Yi's plan has been progressing smoothly so far. The underground river leading to the Tianyue Basin has appeared, which can save them four to five days of travel time and reduce the chance of accidents.

"Go in, that's the entrance to the underground river."

Shrugging, Li Ang pushed aside the rampant vines growing on the rock wall and squeezed into the narrow crevice that could only accommodate one person at a time.

This time, Yi was not lying. Li Ang's senses had penetrated to a depth of about 100 meters underground, where he discovered a wide, flowing river.

As they ventured deeper into the cave, the sounds of wind and rain outside diminished considerably, and the faint sound of flowing water could be heard emanating from the depths of the cave.

The roads here are quite winding and twisting. In the narrowest places, people even have to lie down and crawl forward little by little, relying on the muscles in their hands. This is very much in line with people's understanding of underground caves.

However, Li Ang was prepared. The hard rock wall was like a lump of soft mud under his hands. Without causing any vibration, he carved out a passage that people could pass through normally.

This is a rather useless trick, only occasionally used in geological exploration. Li Ang learned it from Adele, but it can play a huge role in Li Ang's current role-playing.

'Ayu's' ability is to control mountains and rivers. Li Ang had a brief conversation with Nian before and roughly knew what this ability would look like. Although it would definitely be exposed during battle, it would be enough to fool Yi's clone for now.

The two continued deeper underground, stopping just before they reached the underground river.

"Let me rest for a bit."

Yi plopped down on the damp ground, and Li Ang also stopped leaning against the rock wall.

Next, they would need to rely on Yi's Originium Arts to make the ice ship, so Li Ang didn't urge him to get up and continue the journey.

After resting for a few minutes, Yi suddenly took the initiative to start a conversation. His eyes flickered slightly as he asked, seemingly casually, "I'm a little curious, where have you been all these years? There's been no news of you in the Great Yan."

"Does this have anything to do with what we're doing now?"

Li Ang did not answer him honestly.

"I was just asking casually, so let's talk about something relevant to the present."

Yi smiled nonchalantly, then changed the subject, "I'd like to ask, how much do you know about the basin beyond Linghai Peak?"

“I only know that a hallucinogenic plant grows there. You should ask Jingzhe for more details,” Li Ang replied after a two-second pause.

"So that's how it is..."

Yi nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "I didn't have a chance to discuss this with you before... Miss Jingzhe, are you listening?"

"...I heard it."

After a brief silence, the sound of the Awakening of Insects emanated from the scroll on Li Ang's back, probably projected into reality through Xi's power.

"However, I don't know much either. My master told me all of this before I set off."

He said that the Tianyue Basin is filled with a large amount of colorless and odorless hallucinogenic gas, and if you are not prepared, you will fall into hallucinations without realizing it.

"Apart from that, my mentor didn't tell me any more information, he just told me to be careful of the environment there."

"Hallucinogenic plants, huh... Zhang Daoling certainly knows a lot..."

Yi nodded, confirming Jingzhe's statement. "He wasn't unwilling to tell you more about that basin, but he didn't want to distract you. However, he's right. Besides being careful of hallucinogenic toxins, the other creatures there are also troublesome, as they are rare species that are not usually seen."

Then, Yi listed dangerous creatures that are relatively rare in the wasteland, such as needle fleas and split beasts. Some rare species have not even been seen by Jingzhe. If these creatures are not handled properly, they can even destroy a town, which is not something that ordinary exploration teams can withstand.

"Okay, that's all for now. Actually, as long as you wear a gas mask and don't always go to remote places, that basin isn't that dangerous."

"Most expeditions perished there because they were accidentally poisoned, even with my warnings. It's truly a poison that's hard to guard against."

As someone who had ventured deep into the Tianyue Mountains countless times, Yi's words were truly persuasive.

After explaining the facts to everyone for a while, Yi Cai licked his lips with lingering satisfaction.

"I've rested enough, let's continue our journey."

As he spoke, Yi stood up and walked ahead of Li Ang, taking the lead in heading towards the underground river.

Staring at Yi's back, Li Ang didn't notice anything unusual about him. He shook his head and followed him at a leisurely pace.

When Li Ang arrived at the riverbank of the underground river, Yi Zheng was half-squatting on the ground, controlling the flow of water in the river. A small boat made entirely of ice slowly took shape under his control.

"You're here? The ship isn't ready yet. You'll have to wait a bit longer," Yi said without turning his head.

Chapter Ninety-Eight Village

Although he had watched it many times, Li Ang was still amazed by Yi's exquisite control over Originium Arts.

Maintaining the basic structure of this ice ship is not as simple as just building casting units and pouring Originium energy into them.

He needs to maintain this spellcasting unit at all times and provide energy to it at a steady frequency. This type of Originium Arts that requires active maintenance is far more difficult than other types, not to mention that Yi used this extremely difficult spell to create an exquisite ship.

Li Ang had no doubt that if an engine were inserted into this ship, it could be thrown into the river and sail normally.

Even Yi, the weakest of all the beast incarnations, has carved out a path using Originium Arts. Although he is still somewhat weaker than his brothers and sisters, his clone ability makes him quite threatening.

Originium Arts is also a kind of 'knowledge', and it won't disappear just because you change bodies.

"Alright... Ah, come help me push the boat into the water."

Hearing Yi's shout, Li Ang walked to the side of the boat, placed his hands on the edge of the boat, and pushed forward with force. The entire ice boat slid into the river with a series of creaking and scraping sounds.

Before the ice boat slid into the river, Yi got up and jumped onto the boat.

With a splash, the boat suddenly sank, finally coming to a steady stop on the water's surface, and slowly drifted downstream.

Li Ang didn't learn chess. If he were to do that, the entire boat would probably be smashed to the bottom of the river. Li Ang's weight is completely inconsistent with his appearance.

Li Ang walked obediently to the side of the ship and stepped onto it. The ship's waterline had dropped to a rather dangerous level, probably unable to accommodate a third person.

The temperature on the ice ship was a little low, but not unbearable. Yi was the one who controlled the spell and was not greatly affected by the cold. Apart from Li Ang, it was estimated that only Xi and Nian could tolerate the cold on the ship, but they probably didn't want to sit alone on the same ship with their second brother.

Li Ang is the only candidate.

As soon as he sat down, Yi at the stern of the boat rubbed two long things out of ice and stuffed them into Li Ang's hands.

“…What is this?” Li Ang raised an eyebrow.

“Of course it’s a paddle,” Yi replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I know this is a boat paddle, so why did you give me this?” A bad feeling welled up in Li Ang’s heart.

"Of course you have to row the boat. You don't want to just drift along like this, do you?" Yi said with some surprise.

"...If I row, what about you?"

“Of course I’ll be at the helm,” Yi said, pointing to the rudder under his arm. “The flow of this underground river is very complicated. If I were to row, who would control the direction?”

"..."

Yi was right. The flow of this underground river was indeed very complicated. Li Ang only used his senses to explore the surrounding terrain slightly, and he felt dizzy. Counting the different height differences, there were hundreds of tributaries that Li Ang sensed.

A question also popped into Li Ang's mind... How did such a huge underground river system dry up?

Forget it... there's no point in thinking about it.

Shaking his head, Li Ang threw the two ice oars he was holding into the river.

"Hey? Why did you throw them away? Making two oars is such a waste of energy... Even if you don't want to row, you don't have to do this..." Yi paused for a moment, then said with some regret.

"I have a simpler way than this."

"Xi, can you hear me? Please, could you bring out an engine?"

About ten seconds later, a small black box landed in front of Li Ang with a thud. It was the heart of modern industry, the 'Originium Reactor'. Although it was only the smallest model, it was more than enough to power a small boat.

"...You guys even brought something like this?" Yi looked like he didn't know how to retort.

Although he could create the structure of a ship using ice, he couldn't do something as intricate as a reactor. So, Yi had initially planned to have others row the boat, but he never expected that Li Ang and the others would actually carry a reactor with them.

"I'm really defeated by you guys." Yi said helplessly, "Xi's ability is really convenient... If Xi could help me, the previous explorations wouldn't have been so difficult."

A cold snort came from within the painting. If it weren't for this special circumstance, getting her help would have been virtually impossible.

"Well."

Anyway, Yi was just making a casual remark; he knew it wasn't that easy.

Under Yi's control, the stern of the ice ship was slightly altered, with several propellers added, and he also casually stuffed the reactor in his hand into it.

With a hum as the reactor started up, the propeller blades spun rapidly, propelling the small boat forward slowly.

Because he needed to concentrate on identifying directions, Yi also became unusually quiet.

The sound of flowing water echoed in his ears as Yi controlled the small boat, propelling it forward through the intricate underground river system. Li Ang silently observed the path forward with his senses, perhaps knowing it might come in handy later.

While it's impossible to remember all the tributaries, it's still possible to remember the paths they took.

Time passed slowly as they continued their journey down the underground river. The Tianyue Basin was the lowest point in the entire Tianyue Mountain Range, where most rivers converged. However, Li Ang and his companions did not intend to follow the river directly to the center of the basin, as that would be too risky and unpredictable. After all, Yi did not know what lay at the end of the underground river.

The others couldn't stay in the world within the painting forever, so they planned to return to the ground after crossing Linghai Peak and traverse the Tianyue Basin in a normal manner.

When they were about halfway there, in order to conserve their energy, Yi stopped the boat and rested for a while before continuing.

"...We've arrived, this is the place."

Yi froze the river, wedging the boat in place, and pointed diagonally upwards.

The journey took less than six hours, likely because the boat was engine-driven, which was much faster than they had expected.

"Then let's go up."

Li Ang leaped off the ship and used Originium Arts, which allowed him to control sand and gravel, to clear a path and dig upwards. Although the consumption of Originium Arts was multiplied due to his lack of proficiency, it was nothing to Li Ang.

The underground caverns that originally led to the surface were too narrow, so there was no need for Li Ang to go through those narrow tunnels.

When Li Ang cleared the path to the surface and emerged from it, he was greeted by the long-awaited sunlight.

"Has the rain stopped?"

However, the next moment, a gentle breeze mixed with a light drizzle drifted onto Li Ang's face.

"It seems we've left the rain cloud's range..."

Yi, who emerged from underground a few seconds later than Li Ang, glanced at the sky and said leisurely.

There was only a thin rain cloud above their location. Although the sun hadn't fully emerged from behind the cloud, it still illuminated the area.

Looking back in the direction they came from, the area was still shrouded in a thick layer of dark clouds, with flashes of lightning visible in the clouds. Not far away was Linghai Peak, the upper half of which was covered in lightning.

This was not noticeable in the area affected by the previous heavy rain. From this perspective, it would be extremely dangerous for them to cross Linghai Peak according to their original plan. Even if Li Ang could block the lightning in the sky, the two paintings on his body would definitely not be able to stop it.

Looking back now, the initial plan to choose Yi was absolutely correct.

"Anyway... let everyone come out first."

Li Ang untied the scroll from his back and laid it out on the ground.

The people inside the painting could see what was happening outside, so after a few seconds, someone came out.

The first person to jump out was Nian. She breathed in the fresh air and stretched lazily. "Wow... the air here is really nice. It's a great place for camping."

"...Isn't it a little sad that all you think about all day long?"

Xi followed Nian out. After a night's rest, she had basically recovered.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Nian said cheerfully.

"..." Xi was too lazy to answer her.

"Is this... the middle part of the Tianyue Mountains? This doesn't seem like the kind of environment one would expect to find in a mountain range..."

After emerging from the world within the painting, Adele also noticed the unique environment. Although she hadn't specifically studied this area, Adele's geographical knowledge far surpassed that of the others present.

They are now standing halfway up a mountain, and looking down, they can see most of the Tianyue Basin.

But... no matter how Adele looked at it, the forest below looked more like a tropical rainforest... this kind of terrain shouldn't exist here, right?

"Perhaps it's because of the special environment here. After all, almost no one has been able to explore this place over the years."

Jingzhe, who was finally pushed out by Xuancheng, heard Adele's mutterings and casually replied.

"Special circumstances..."