Capítulo 7: Chapter 7 Undersea Exploration
Lu Li finally reached the bottom of the sea, about two thousand meters below the surface.
He chose a direction and swam towards the northwest of Golden Qilin Island.
His first entry into the sea filled him with excitement; everything before him was a novel sight.
Looking around, he saw plants like seaweed and sea grass everywhere, along with small hills formed by corals.
Various fish and shrimp scattered away upon sensing his presence.
The sound of undercurrents filled his ears.
Lu Li was not in a hurry and continued to swim forward, searching.
But after several hours, nothing had changed around him.
Apart from the seaweed and rocks, and the usual fish and shrimp, not a trace of Spiritual Energy or the shadow of a Demon Beast could be seen.
This puzzled him.
He searched for another hour, still without any findings.
"Could it be that the direction is wrong, or is this area lacking in Spiritual Energy?"
Just as Lu Li was about to turn back, a fluctuation of Spiritual Energy suddenly came from several dozen meters ahead.
"Huh?"
He slowly swam over for a closer look.
A round fruit was resting quietly above a trench on the seabed.
The Spirit Fruit was snow-white all over, swaying gently with the currents, and emitted a faint glow.
Lu Li approached and picked the Spirit Fruit, feeling a chill spread from his fingertips as soon as he touched it.
"Could this be the Ice Spirit Fruit?"
Lu Li was instantly overjoyed.
He often visited the family's Scripture Pavilion and knew a great deal about various Spirit Fruits and Spirit Roots.
The "Ice Spirit Fruit" grew in large numbers on the subsea shelves, absorbing the essence of the sun, moon, and earth to mature.
After maturing for three years, consuming it would enhance one's physical potential, enrich the Essence Blood, and significantly aid Qi Cultivation.
Because Sea Floor Demon Beasts often ate "Ice Spirit Fruits," their bodies were astonishingly powerful, and even their shed skin could be used to craft various Magic Artifacts.
"This Ice Spirit Fruit must have just matured, it's only of low quality."
Lu Li sensed the aura of the fruit and thought to himself.
If the fruit were not harvested after three years, it would continue to absorb the essence of the seabed.
In five years, it would rise to middle-grade, and after ten years, it would become a high-grade Spirit Fruit, by which time Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment level would find it beneficial.
As for Ice Spirit Fruits older than ten years, they were rare even on the outer edges of the sea.
"Not bad, at least there's some gain. Perhaps this trench holds more than just this one Spirit Fruit."
Lu Li stored the fruit away and continued to swim forward.
He moved along the seabed trench, slowly expanding his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings.
Now that he had made a find, he was no longer in a rush.
Sure enough, before long, another ripple of Spiritual Energy reached him.
Lu Li's spirits lifted instantly.
Just as he was about to go collect the Spirit Fruit, suddenly, a dark figure shot out from a hundred meters ahead, towards the northwest.
He turned his head to look.
A turtle demon, about the size of a zhang long, charged towards the Spirit Fruit.
The demon was entirely black, with thick limbs, and its eyes were full of a Water Evil Aura, showing it was battle-hardened.
And judging by its stance, it had already noticed the Spirit Fruit.
It had rushed over because an interloper had appeared.
The turtle demon looked fierce, and before it even got close, it spewed a stream of Water Evil Aura towards Lu Li, as quick as lightning.
Lu Li saw this and calmly summoned the Aminokaze, a flash of sword light bursting from his mouth and slashing towards the turtle demon's head like thunder.
Even though the pressure at the sea floor diminished the power of the sword technique, it was still too much for a meager Qi Refinement fourth level Demon Beast to resist.
Sure enough, the sword light flared and swiftly cut through the turtle demon's Water Evil Aura, then carried on, undiminished, heading straight for the opponent's head.
Before it could even attempt to escape, its fearsome face was churned to pieces, and its body slowly sank down.
Lu Li immediately went forward to collect the Demon Beast corpse with the Qi Refinement gourd, then transformed into the appearance of a sea turtle.
After a slight movement, he was able to control it with ease, as this demon's body was smaller, making it a much smaller target at the sea bottom.
He then swam towards the deep-sea trench below and saw another Ice Spirit Fruit growing at the bottom of the trench.
"Indeed, another one, it seems this trench is somehow connected to the Spirit Energy veins of the sea floor."
After collecting the Spirit Fruit, a chill noticeably stronger than before passed from his fingers.
"It seems this Spirit Fruit has grown for more than five years, it's a mid-grade Spirit Fruit."
Lu Li's face brightened with joy as he stowed it away in his Storage Bag.
These two Spirit Fruits were worth at least twenty Spirit Stones in total, a profit that he found quite satisfactory.
He continued to search along the trench.
Several hours passed, and during his exploration of this dark channel, he found five more lower-grade Spirit Fruits and two mid-grade Spirit Fruits.
"It's been quite a while since I came out; it seems today's gains will have to suffice."
Just as he was preparing to swim back,
suddenly, an immensely oppressive feeling came from behind, causing all the hairs on his body to stand on end instantly, and a sense of crisis welled up from the bottom of his heart.
Lu Li turned his head to look, and his soul nearly fled in terror.
"Damn it, how could a Giant Toothed Whale appear here?"
He saw a massive Sea Beast, several dozen zhang long and pitch-black, slowly swimming forward.
Its gaping maw was much larger than Lu Li's demon form, and its pair of eyes, like grinding plates, emitted a ghostly and cold glint.
This beast was a deep-sea Barbaric Beast, different from Demon Beasts in that they could not transform and their intelligence was low; they acted purely on instinct.
In the sea bottom, there were many such Barbaric Beasts, and even some Demon Beasts dared not provoke them lightly.
Lu Li lay quietly buried in the ocean floor's silt, feeling the other's presence, about at the level of Qi Cultivation seventh layer.
If a fight broke out in the deep sea, even with the Green Spirit Python, it would hardly guarantee a favorable outcome; he quickly retracted his presence until only his turtle shell was visible.
"You can't see me, you can't see me..."
Lu Li curled up inside the turtle shell, silently chanting, hoping that the Barbaric Beast was just passing by and had no interest in him.
After a little while, perhaps the prayers worked, for the Giant Toothed Whale slowly moved above his head, gradually swimming forward.
Seeing the presence gradually weaken above him, he slowly let out a sigh of relief.
Just as Lu Li thought he was safe, an unexpected change occurred.
"Boom, rumble..."
The Giant Toothed Whale suddenly turned around, opening its huge mouth and sucking in the direction of Lu Li.
At that moment, large amounts of seaweed and seawater poured into the mouth of the Giant Toothed Whale, and Lu Li was mixed in.
"Is the perception of this Barbaric Beast so astonishing?"
The sudden change left Lu Li somewhat at a loss.
Just as he could not help but think to summon his sword technique and release the Green Spirit Python for a desperate gamble, a spark of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind, and he thought of something.
Now, if he fought desperately, it would likely be difficult to make it back to the surface, and the Green Spirit Python would end up staying on the sea floor if things went wrong.
At that moment, the Giant Toothed Whale swallowed Lu Li along with the seaweed and fish, just like gulping down dates.
Lu Li made no resistance, wrapped in a pile of seaweed, and slowly moved toward the digestive tract of the Giant Toothed Whale.
Before long, he passed through a long passageway and arrived at a secluded space.
Regalos
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recibido Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder