Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Should I move forward or backward? To the left or to the right?
Holding the massive Dragon Lamp No. 2 like a suitcase, I scanned my surroundings. All around me was an endless expanse of darkness, silent and oppressive.
If I go forward, what if the Dragon Palace is behind me? If I go left, what if the Dragon Palace is on the right? In this vast underwater world, how am I supposed to know where the Dragon Palace actually is? To put it bluntly, even if the Dragon Palace was marked on Google Maps, my phone has no signal.
Since that's the case, I'll use the best and most scientific method to determine my direction.
What is the best and most scientific method? Of course, it's rolling dice! One, two, three, and four represent forward, backward, left, and right respectively. As for five and six, well, that means starting over.
Just as I found the dice in the Mustard Seed Pendant and took them out, they were instantly crushed into powder by the immense pressure of the seawater.
Damn it! Don't push me to get angry; if I do, even I would be scared of myself!
After cursing under my breath, I thought for a moment. Since the best and most scientific method didn't work, then I'll use an even better and more scientific method. As advertisements say—there's no best, only better.
With a wave of my hand, I unleashed a Nine Divine Thunder that struck a nearby reef, shattering it into pieces.
At this point, I can't help but interject. In many future discussions with Fatty about this incident, he looked at me with disdain and questioned: "Aren't you just fooling people? Since the reef can withstand such immense underwater pressure, how could your Nine Divine Thunder possibly shatter it? Is your Nine Divine Thunder stronger than a thousand atmospheres?"
I was momentarily speechless. Although that was indeed what happened at the time, I didn't know the theoretical basis behind it. After some searching online, I found an answer and confidently replied: "You don't know anything. The reef can withstand that immense pressure because it's subjected to pressure from all directions. Do you understand equilibrium of forces? It's when forces counteract each other so that the net force is zero. This concept might be too advanced for you to grasp. Anyway, my Nine Divine Thunder struck it in one direction; it would be strange if it didn't break."
Fatty retorted: "Then why did your dice break when you took them out? Didn't they also endure pressure from all sides?"
I searched again and explained: "That's because there was air inside the dice; in other words, the dice are containers. The air inside only has one atmosphere of pressure while the external pressure is a thousand atmospheres. Naturally, when taken out, they would be crushed into powder."
Kong Xuan wanted to argue further but ended up getting beaten up by me. Did he think he was invincible or something? Can't we just have a pleasant conversation?
I digress; let's return to the Mariana Trench.
I walked beside the Fragmented Reef and silently recited, "One step forward, two steps back, three steps to the left, four steps to the right!" After finishing, I crouched down to count the fragments of the reef. Excluding the powder and smaller pieces, there were twenty-five larger fragments. Twenty-five divided by four equals six with one remaining. One step forward means I should move ahead.
It was indeed scientific, so I decided to proceed forward.
Holding the flashlight, I slowly moved ahead. Walking underwater was difficult for maintaining balance; sometimes my head felt heavy while my feet felt light, and at other times I swayed side to side. After ten minutes, I had only covered a little over two hundred meters.
I couldn't help but calculate; at this speed, I would cover about 100 meters in an hour and 1 kilometer in ten hours. The Mariana Trench is approximately 5 kilometers long, so if I wanted to walk from one end to the other without eating or sleeping, it would take me over two thousand hours—almost three months. Moreover, this didn't account for the trench's width. If I included its width of 70 kilometers, unless I was extremely lucky, I would never find the Dragon Palace in my lifetime.
Thinking of this made me feel disheartened; I almost wanted to give up. It was just a Ruyi Jingu Bang after all. They could fight over it however they liked; without the four Yin Yang Ancient Coins in my possession, they wouldn't be able to gather seven Yin Yang Ancient Coins and thus wouldn't be able to absorb the Sun God's energy.
On second thought, if they obtained the Ruyi Jingu Bang, they would definitely come after my Yin Yang Ancient Coins. I certainly wouldn't agree to that, leading to a fierce confrontation. Although I could currently hold my own against one of them, their numbers were overwhelming. If they all rushed at me together, I would be overwhelmed and killed, and the Mustard Seed Pendant would be taken as well. Not only would the four Yin Yang Ancient Coins inside it be taken away, but also those six pages of the Book of Life and Death—they would gladly accept everything...
No, I still needed to take control.
I continued moving forward while swaying left and right. I didn't know how long I'd been walking when I once again entered the Icebound Expanse's Mystical Realm. Weakly calling out for Popsicle, I said, "Popsicle, come out quickly; I need to ask you something."
Suddenly, snowflakes began to gather rapidly in one spot. In an instant, a head appeared in the air wearing glasses and looking very much like a professor.
The 'professor' opened his mouth as Popsicle's voice came through: "Ask away; I'll tell you everything!"
I couldn't be bothered with his theatrics: "I'm hungry; what should I do?"
"If you're hungry, just eat! Is this such a difficult question that you need to ask me? Do you want me to feed you?" The professor looked astonished.
"Of course not! Can I eat anything outside? The moment I take something out, it will immediately turn into powder," I scoffed.
"Since you can breathe in the Mystical Realm, can't you also eat here? Master, let me remind you that this Mystical Realm is activated by you; your every action is intricately linked with it. You could say it's your other world—whether eating or sleeping, you can replenish yourself here," the professor said with his mouth moving.
"This is possible?" I was dumbfounded; this was too mysterious!
"Can't you just try it first? You're acting like a curious little baby, asking me everything. I feel ashamed to have a master like you!" The professor looked heartbroken.
Oh, so you're getting addicted to this, huh? I raised my hand and unleashed a burst of Nine Divine Thunder, smashing the professor's face to pieces, and the snowflakes began to dance in the air again. With a snort, I pulled out various foods from the Mustard Seed Pendant and started to gobble them down.
"Is it tasty?" came the voice of Ice Stick.
"It's okay, just enough to fill my stomach. By the way, can you get me a pot of hot water?" I munched on some wafers and took out a pack of instant noodles.
"Don't you know Fire Elemental Spells? Just boil the water directly," Ice Stick said with a hint of envy and a touch of despair. "Tsk tsk, I don't know when I'll be able to eat these things."
"There will definitely be a chance," I reassured Ice Stick. I was too lazy to boil water anyway, so I just ate some snacks and drank a bottle of beer. Wiping my mouth, I dove back into the deep sea.
After eating and drinking enough, I felt much better, even my steps seemed to quicken slightly.
From then on, whenever I felt thirsty, hungry, or tired, I would just go into the Mystical Realm to rest and eat. I wandered for six nights without any particular goal at first, but as time went on, the endless darkness and the never-ending gravel began to irritate me greatly. Moreover, that deathly silence was driving me nearly insane. If it weren't for being able to chat with Ice Stick in the Mystical Realm, I would have lost my mind by now.
In this aimless search, could I really find the Dragon Palace? Should I enter the Mystical Realm and roll the dice once to set a new direction? Or should I go back first and come again next time?
Just as my mind was wandering, a shadow flashed before me. About five or six meters ahead, it seemed someone ran past quickly and disappeared in an instant.
"Who?" I instinctively shouted.
Unfortunately, I forgot that I was underwater; aside from a stream of bubbles escaping my mouth that were instantly compressed into tiny bubbles by the seawater, I made no sound. Fortunately, my body was protected by energy; my mouth and nasal passages instinctively defended themselves, preventing me from choking on seawater.
Calming myself down, I swept my spotlight around wildly while turning clockwise. It seemed that this way, that shadow would have nowhere to hide.
There was nothing unusual around; could it be that I had just imagined it? Was it the monotony of walking for days that caused me to hallucinate? Yes, it must be an illusion; how could anyone run at such speed underwater? Even a fish couldn't vanish from my sight in the blink of an eye. After all, this spotlight known as Dragon Palace No. 2 not only illuminated up to two hundred meters away but also emitted a halo that allowed visibility within five meters.
I took a few steps forward to where that shadow had been. Sweeping the spotlight downwards—if someone had indeed run past earlier, there should be footprints left in the gravel.
There were no footprints on the gravel, so it seemed that what I had just seen was indeed just my imagination.
With a bitter smile, I straightened up and was about to continue forward when a shadow flashed in front of me again. This time, the shadow did not immediately disappear into the darkness but floated before me, rising and falling slowly.
It was a mermaid.
Its head, body, and limbs were completely human-like, with the only difference being a large fin on its back and a massive tail.
Honestly, I had never seen such an ugly mermaid. It looked as if a kindergarten friend had stuck some hard cardboard onto a clay figure, resulting in something extremely stiff and unnatural. Not only that, but this creature was exceptionally ugly; its entire face resembled something made from a lump of clay that had been thoroughly messed up by a mischievous friend.
One eye was larger than the other, the nose was crooked beneath one of the eyes, and its mouth lacked lips, exposing its stark white teeth inside.
I stared at the mermaid, and it stared back at me, seemingly equally shocked by each other.
After a long moment, a look of disdain appeared on the mermaid's face as it bent down to write a line in the dirt.
"Why are you so ugly?"
Comment 0 Comment Count