A Regretful Return

Chapter 71 A Regretful Return

"They're out!"

At the edge of the pool, with a soft exclamation from Zhou Chun, Zhou Jiahe's spirit pet, the Azure Scale Crocodile, broke out of the water and opened its mouth wide to breathe.

Then Zhou Jiahui's pet water turtle also floated on the water's surface with splashes and slowly climbed ashore.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Jiahui, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately stepped forward and communicated with the spirit pets, asking them about the results of their underwater reconnaissance.

After a while, once the two women finished communicating with their spirit pet, Zhou Chun impatiently looked at them and asked repeatedly, "How was it? Could you two aunts tell me the details?"

"The situation is a bit hard to say."

"According to the Jade Crocodile, after it went deep into that cave, it did indeed enter an underground river with a large flow of water, and it did indeed find many of the strange fish that you mentioned, my nephew Zhengchun."

"Moreover, the underground river is not only filled with those strange fish, but also with many ordinary fish and shrimp and other monsters, including powerful monsters that even the Azure-Scaled Crocodile sensed as dangerous."

Zhou Jiahe looked at Zhou Chun and first told him the information he had obtained from his spirit pet's reconnaissance.

Then his gaze turned to Zhou Jiahui.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Jiahui also spoke up, saying, "The information my Whirlpool Turtle gathered is not much different from what Sister He said. The only difference is that it said the water quality in that underground river is very good, which it really likes."

After listening to what the two women said, Zhou Chun lowered his head and began to think.

After thinking for a while, he looked up at the two of them and said, "The Azure Scale Crocodile is quite powerful. A demonic beast that can make it sense danger must be a powerful first-grade demonic beast of some special kind, even if it is not a second-tier demonic beast. In that case, the risks inside are indeed quite high."

"However, neither the Azure-Scaled Crocodile nor the Whirlpool Turtle are, after all, just demonic beasts. The information they gather is still too vague. My suggestion is that the three of us go down and take a look ourselves. What do you two aunts think?"

Should we go down and take a look ourselves?

Upon hearing Zhou Chun's words, Zhou Jiahe and his companion exchanged glances, both somewhat hesitant.

Unlike Zhou Chun, the two of them, having lived long enough, had cultivated a spell called "Water Avoidance Technique".

But it is precisely because they have lived long and seen much that they are more aware of how dangerous the underwater world is, where there are many water monsters.

How could they not hesitate and worry if they were asked to venture into such a dangerous place at this time?

"Nephew Zheng Chun, are you sure you really want to go down and take a look? If we encounter any danger down there, we might not even be able to take care of ourselves, and then you..."

After hesitating for a while, Zhou Jiahe looked at Zhou Chun and whispered his worries.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun immediately smiled and said, "Don't worry, Aunt Thirteen. Although I don't have an underwater spirit pet to protect me like you, I still have ways to ensure my own safety."

"Alright, since you, Nephew Zhengchun, have no problem with it, then your aunt has no objection."

Zhou Jiahe nodded, which was considered his agreement.

Seeing this, Zhou Jiahui, not wanting the two to think she was cowardly, immediately replied, "I have no objection either."

So the three of them cast a "water-avoidance spell" and sat on the back of the water turtle, which carried them down into the cave deep in the pool. The green-scaled crocodile was driven by Zhou Jiahe to clear the way and drive away the strange fish.

After the water turtle carried the three of them into the huge cave deep in the pool, a wonderful underwater world came into view.

The waters deep inside the cave were not pitch black; instead, they were teeming with small, luminous fish and shrimp.

With the help of the faint light emitted by these small fish and shrimp, Zhou Chun and his companions were able to make out some of the scenery with their naked eyes.

However, one still needs divine sense to truly perceive the situation.

Under the detection of divine sense, all kinds of strange and wonderful aquatic animals in this underground water world can be seen at a glance.

It is a strange fish that looks like an ordinary small lizard, but it has no scales, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and a tail tip that flashes with a blue light.

A type of shrimp with two very long claws and eyes as bright as sapphires, radiating a blue light.

There are also strange fish that look like eels, with a long, narrow dorsal fin on their backs, and they swim very fast in the water.

However, these aquatic animals only look strange; they are not monsters.

The scent emanating from the water turtles kept them all at a distance, preventing them from getting close.

After traveling through the winding cave for nearly half an hour, the Whirlpool Turtle carried Zhou Chun and the others into the underground river.

Compared to the relatively calm water flow inside the cave, the water flow in this underground river is much more turbulent.

Even a massive creature like the whirlpool turtle has to paddle hard to avoid being swept away by the current.

"Should we go up or down?"

Zhou Jiahe, who was urging the Azure Scale Crocodile to lead the way, gestured to Zhou Chun and asked him a question.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun pondered for a moment and then pointed upstream.

They then left markers at the confluence of the cave and the underground river to avoid forgetting the route on their way back.

After going upstream for about 25 minutes, the Azure-Scaled Crocodile leading the way encountered a formidable opponent.

In the underground river, which was several dozen feet wide, a strange beast that looked like a cleaner and was covered in bone armor was fighting fiercely with the Azure Scale Crocodile.

Both monsters had a tough fighting style, unleashing spells to attack each other while simultaneously tearing at each other with their mouths.

But the Jade Crocodile has an owner.

At this moment, the Whirlpool Turtle carried Zhou Chun and the other two to the edge of the battlefield. Zhou Jiahe, who was on the turtle's back, immediately waved his hand and launched a golden hairpin magic weapon towards the strange monster.

Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiahui did not stand idly by either; they each unleashed their magical artifacts and began to attack the strange beast.

With the three of them working together, the strange beast had no chance to escape and was killed in the water by Zhou Chun's [Moon Blade Meteor Wheel], which cleaved its head open.

Since none of the three recognized the strange beast, Zhou Chun thought its corpse might have some use, so he cut it into several pieces and put them into the three people's storage bags.

Then they continued upstream to explore the area.

After going upstream for another quarter of an hour, Zhou Jiahe suddenly changed his expression, as if he had made a discovery.

She pointed to a spot, gesturing for the water turtle to go in that direction.

Soon enough, Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiahui realized what she had discovered.

Suddenly, another cave confluence, similar to the one they had entered through, appeared ahead.

Upon seeing this situation, Zhou Chun immediately decided to enter the cave to investigate.

Not long after they ventured deeper into the cave, they encountered a large group of those strange, catfish-like fish.

A dozen strange fish simultaneously attacked the Azure-Scaled Crocodile that was clearing the way ahead, preventing it from going deeper into the cave.

This made the three people behind them even more curious, so they immediately joined the battle, killing and scattering the group of strange fish, and then continued to venture deeper into the area.

However, not long after, the strange fish that had escaped earlier quickly returned with dozens of its kind, including three or four of them that exuded the aura of a first-grade high-level demonic beast.

"retreat!"

Without hesitation, Zhou Chun immediately issued the order to retreat.

The three quickly switched to the faster and more agile Jade Scale Crocodile, and then used the Whirlpool Turtle's massive size to bring up the rear, retreating rapidly towards the underground river.

After a rather disheveled escape, the three finally made it back to the underground riverbed.

However, the poor Whirlpool Turtle was beaten and seriously injured, so Zhou Jiahui had to temporarily put it back into her spirit beast bag.

Without the stable mount of the Whirlpool Turtle, and with all three having expended a considerable amount of their magical energy, they could only regretfully end their journey through the underground river.

Gurgle!

Suddenly, a large number of bubbles rose from the calm pool, and then the mouth of the Jade-scaled Crocodile, filled with sharp teeth, emerged first.

On the crocodile's back, Zhou Chun and his two companions, after spending an hour in the dark underground water world, finally saw the light of day again and opened their mouths wide to breathe in the fresh air.

After taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, Zhou Jiahe looked at Zhou Chun and said, "Nephew Zhengchun, let's end this trip here. Given the complexity of that underground river, without a Foundation Establishment cultivator accompanying us, we Qi Refining cultivators simply cannot stay there for long!"

Even with the three of them working together, they were still driven back by that group of strange fish, which shows how dangerous the underground river is.

Moreover, there is nowhere to meditate and rest within a 200-mile radius, making it difficult for them to even employ attrition tactics.

Therefore, in Zhou Jiahe's view, this matter could not be accomplished without the assistance of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Zhou Chun could use the purification stone jar to solve the problem of meditation and rest, but he didn't have a water-based combat pet, and his own cultivation was only at the ninth level of Qi Refining, so he couldn't explore the underground river on his own.

Therefore, although he was still somewhat unwilling and regretful, he rationally agreed with Zhou Jiahe's suggestion and promised to return to his family to report the results of this operation.

"Let's do as Aunt Thirteen says and go back to report what we've gained to the clan leader."

(End of this chapter)