Chapter 160: Chapter 159: Sore Neck After Eating

BOOM!—

The mist churned like boiling water, a dull roar rumbling from within, like the sound of muffled thunder.

Soon, a figure shot out from the mist, breaking free from its embrace.

The moment the figure stopped, the muffled thunder vanished without a trace.

"Looks like this is the complex you were looking for."

After breaking through the misty barrier, the world before them suddenly brightened, no longer dim and gloomy. Wu Chen set down Xue Hongling, whom he had been holding.

Xue Hongling casually smoothed back her hair, which had been tousled by the wind, her curious gaze sweeping over the bright expanse.

Seeing the collapsed bricks and stones strewn everywhere, she knew this must be the place Wu Chen had been so eager to find.

’To be lucky enough to reach a place that several sects have failed to explore for centuries... it’s all thanks to Wu Chen.’

"Let’s head inside and take a look."

Gazing at the surrounding collapsed walls and stone pillars, Wu Chen took the lead, heading deeper into the cluster of buildings.

’Now that I’ve found the place I’ve been looking for, it’s time to cut loose and search it properly.’

Standing atop a relatively intact stone pillar, Wu Chen gazed into the distance. He could see that the complex, shrouded in gray mist, was scattered in fragments across an area stretching for roughly twenty li.

It wasn’t particularly vast.

’From the looks of it, this sect isn’t even as big as the four sects of Refining Valley!’

Standing on the pillar, Wu Chen surveyed the area and frowned slightly.

After all, the four sects of Refining Valley controlled more than ten mountain peaks of various sizes.

Their territory spanned nearly a hundred li.

’By comparison, the place I’ve been looking for seems more like a minor sect.’

’A place like this probably doesn’t have any Martial Arts worth finding.’

Wu Chen frowned, though he wasn’t overly disappointed. He had, after all, mentally prepared himself for the possibility of coming up empty-handed.

He leaped down from the pillar, ready to comb through the ruins—destroyed by some unknown, brutal force—to see if he could find anything unexpected.

But at that moment, Xue Hongling’s voice called out from nearby:

"Wu Chen, come here!"

SWOOSH!

The moment Wu Chen landed, his figure flickered and vanished, reappearing beside Xue Hongling within a few breaths.

Following Xue Hongling’s gaze, Wu Chen took in the scene and gasped, a fiery glint igniting in his eyes.

About five zhang away lay a clear pool, roughly twenty zhang in diameter, from which a chilly mist rose.

It was teeming with Yellow-Scaled Fish, each nearly two feet long.

A quick count revealed there were no fewer than three hundred of them!

’Even a seven-inch Yellow-Scaled Fish is hugely beneficial to a Martial Artist at the Organ Refining Realm.’

’Who knows how long this cold pool has been nurturing them to grow Yellow-Scaled Fish to nearly two feet long. If you took these outside the secret realm, you’d probably startle even those above the Blood Coagulation Realm!’

The fire in Wu Chen’s eyes vanished as quickly as it appeared. He grew wary. "Let’s back up a little," he said.

"Okay." Xue Hongling nodded in agreement.

It was a strange place, after all. They had only been here for a moment and had already discovered this cold pool filled with incredibly precious, two-foot-long Yellow-Scaled Fish.

And there were so many of them.

Was it an illusion, or did the pool hold some other danger?

They had no way of knowing.

More importantly, these Yellow-Scaled Fish seemed to have no fear of them.

As they stood by the edge of the pool, the fish showed no signs of fleeing or diving deeper, but continued to drift about listlessly.

A few even seemed to be watching the newcomers on the bank with curiosity, as if judging them.

However, just as the two on the shore began to retreat quietly...

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The gills of two of the fish flared, and they spat two jets of water from their mouths.

The jets shot through the air with a piercing whistle, speeding toward the two figures on the bank.

"They even have tricks like that!"

Wu Chen drew his saber in an instant, precisely cleaving the two water jets.

"It’s rude not to return the favor!"

Illusion or not, the force that traveled up his blade confirmed to Wu Chen that the attack was real.

Besides, cowering wasn’t his style. Since they had attacked first, he decided to stop retreating and take on these Yellow-Scaled Fish head-on.

Glancing around, Wu Chen spotted a broken stone pillar.

It was thicker than a bucket, two zhang long, and carved with patterns of mountain peaks and clouds.

Wu Chen didn’t bother with a closer look; he walked over and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

"Go!"

With a low grunt, he heaved the stone pillar toward the pool several zhang away.

CRASH!

Wu Chen had thrown the pillar five or six zhang into the air, and it came crashing down into the pool, sending up a massive wave.

Only then did the fish in the pool panic and scatter in every direction.

But the impact was immense, and the resulting wave was enormous.

SPLASH!—

Countless droplets rained down, and only after a long moment did the water return to its calm state.

After the crash, twenty Yellow-Scaled Fish floated belly-up on the surface. A few others had been thrown onto the bank, where they flopped and floundered.

Wu Chen cautiously approached, picked up one of the fish, and confirmed it wasn’t an illusion—it was a real Yellow-Scaled Fish.

’I thought they’d have some other tricks up their sleeves. Turns out they just spit water.’

’That attack might be good for hitting a fly, but it would struggle against a Martial Artist at the Meridian Passage Realm or higher.’

Wu Chen brought a few fish over to Xue Hongling and showed off his prize.

"How about some grilled fish later?"

Xue Hongling shook her head.

"Don’t like them this big?"

"It’s not that I don’t like them."

Xue Hongling rubbed her neck, a troubled look on her face as she shook her head again. "It’s just... my neck hurts after I eat them."

Wu Chen was speechless.

He supposed that made sense. Last time, even a seven-inch adult Yellow-Scaled Fish had made her Qi and Blood surge so violently that he’d had to knock her out to let her recover.

’These Yellow-Scaled Fish have lived in this gray mist, untouched, for decades or even longer. The essence in their bodies must be far more potent.’

’A single bite would probably take Xue Hongling a long time to digest.’

’Even for someone at the Blood Coagulation Realm, eating one of these would be worth several months of arduous training!’

Wu Chen glanced back at the hundreds of Yellow-Scaled Fish still in the pool and thought:

’Even if I don’t find any Martial Arts on this trip, just with these Yellow-Scaled Fish... forget using them for Alchemy, if I stewed one a day, even someone with the worst aptitude could reach the Blood Coagulation Realm in half a year!’

Still, Wu Chen wasn’t in a hurry to catch them. The gray mist would last for a month, so he had plenty of time to load them into his storage bag.

His current priority was still finding Martial Arts.

Even so, Wu Chen decided to take the time to grill one of the fish. He was about to find out what made these two-foot-long, golden-scaled fish so different.

Just then, a voice like a great, booming bell rang out, reaching their ears:

"Friends, from wherever you may hail, why not come into the hall for a talk?"

The sudden voice startled both Wu Chen and Xue Hongling. They exchanged a look.

’The master of this place is still here!’

The same thought sprang into both of their minds.

Wu Chen had never considered this possibility. He’d assumed this place was just like the rest of the secret realm outside the mist—a place with valuable plants and Spiritual Objects, and perhaps a few more Martial Arts manuals at best.

’But a living person? That was completely unexpected.’

Wu Chen scanned the surrounding rubble and ruins, his mind racing with questions.

’A secret realm that has existed for two hundred years—no, that was *discovered* two hundred years ago, whose true age is unknown—actually has a living person inside it.’

’A being like that must be an unparalleled expert!’

’But if such an expert is here, why is this place completely smashed to bits?’

’What kind of cataclysmic power could have caused this devastation?’

’If someone like that has discovered us, there’s little chance of escape.’

’Besides, if they had hostile intentions, they would have attacked with lethal force already, not just called out after I made a commotion.’

After a moment’s thought, Wu Chen’s panic subsided.

He resolved to face whatever came his way.

He followed the direction of the voice, his gaze locking onto a great hall a hundred zhang away, which had been reduced to a half-collapsed ruin.

"Since we’ve been invited, it would be rude not to go."

"Let’s go have a look."

Wu Chen spoke calmly to Xue Hongling beside him, then took the lead, striding toward the collapsed hall in front of them.

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