Splitting the Heave

The screen of light seemed to break the tunnel in two.  

With amazement filling his heart, he double-checked to make sure that the area was safe before approaching the light screen.

Gasping softly to himself, he reached out his hand to flick the light screen softly.

A tiny ray of energy emerged from the tip of his finger and struck the light screen, causing soft ripples across its surface. The ripples disappeared in an instant.

“This looks more like a protection screen instead of some sort of restriction! There’s no way the Coral Forest contains its own protection formation, right? Even though they say that the Coral Forest is a giant maze, there are no records of it containing a protection screen to restrict entry…” 

When Shang Xia tried to think of the implications, his Delicate Jade River Sword slashed towards the screen. A ray of sword light emerged.

The sword light created a deep gash in the barrier, but it recovered in the blink of an eye.

As his attack this time was much stronger, the ripples across the screen expanded much more than before. Rays of light twisted around each other to quickly restore the barrier.

Shang Xia knew that it was practically impossible for him to break the protection screen through brute force. At the very least, not with his current cultivation realm.

His thoughts turned to the water that disappeared from the bottom of the mine previously. With its sudden disappearance, it could only mean one thing. It was possible that the protection screen would open after some time. That was how the water either drained or entered the mine. When that happened, he would be able to cross the screen easily!

Well, that was what he thought. He didn’t know how long it would take for the barrier to disappear. The only thing he knew for sure was that the rank three undead corpse came from inside the barrier.

Right before he returned, a flash of inspiration struck. He retrieved the Vermillion Plaque he obtained from the corpse and started to play around it with it in his hand. After hesitating for some time, he sliced the barrier open with the plaque.

The protection screen that he failed to open with his Delicate Jade River Sword was ripped open easily. 

His expression changed slightly, but before he could congratulate himself on his genius idea, water burst forth from the gap in the protection screen.

Fortunately for him, he had been on guard the whole time. He twisted his body to the side to avoid the stream of water that was gushing out of the barrier and he retrieved the Vermillion Plaque. 

It didn’t take long for the protection screen to repair itself, stopping the flow of water completely.

“Looks like there’s a reservoir of water located behind the protection screen… From the looks of it, it isn’t small either!” Shang Xia thought about it before tearing a larger hole in the barrier with the Vermillion Plaque.

As the water poured out of the protection screen, Shang Xia forced his way through. The vortex created by the water spilling out of the protection screen threatened to pull him back towards the tunnel, but he stabbed his sword into the wall, preventing him from being pulled back. 

As the protection screen slowly restored itself, the area of the tunnel outside the protection screen was flooded completely. Since the tunnel consisted of a gentle incline towards the mine, a giant reservoir of water formed on the other side of the barrier without any signs of flowing away.

Shang Xia held his breath as he waited for the current to die down while the barrier restored itself.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

When everything finally settled, Shang Xia started to look around him. The water was extremely clear, and there wasn’t much sediment at the bottom. 

Looking around again, Shang Xia noticed that he was currently under a massive rock in the underground reservoir. From the size of the rock, it seemed as though the tip had already broken through the surface of the giant reservoir he was in.

Shang Xia suddenly thought about the origin of the Coral Forest’s name.

Retrieving his Jade River Sword, he followed the side of the rock as he slowly ascended. It didn’t take long for him to feel something different. It seemed as though there was a giant spiral flight of stairs leading upwards, and despite its rough appearance and uneven steps, it was clear someone planned to connect the stairs to the tunnel.

Due to his cultivation level, he was able to hold his breath for a long time. Instead of rising all the way to the top as quickly as possible, he decided to follow the steps to see where they led.

He moved quickly along the steps of the sunken staircase, and he rose tens of feet in a few seconds. Raising his head to look at the faint glow that came from the surface, it seemed as though he had quite a distance to go.

After rising several more feet, Shang Xia noticed that the stairs were leading to a hole in the structure beside. Glancing at the light coming from the surface, Shang Xia made a bold decision. He chose to enter the dark hole that the stairs led to, and after swimming for close to twenty feet, he finally emerged.

Shang Xia looked cautiously around him only to discover that he had entered a stone chamber. There were fluorescent stones inlaid in the walls, providing a trace of light in the otherwise pitch-black chamber.

Stepping out of the small pool in the middle of the chamber, Shang Xia circulated his inner qi immediately. The heat produced by his inner qi dried him off completely. In the time it took for him to dry off, Shang Xia had already looked around the room. 

The room he was in didn’t seem like a high-level cultivator’s chamber. It didn’t contain much either. There were only several pieces of digging equipment laid at the corner, and most of them were broken.

Secret tunnel! 

That was exactly it! The people who used the digging equipment there were definitely trying to create a secret tunnel! 

However, that created even more doubts about the appearance of the undead corpse. There was no way it had been hiding in the stone chamber all along.

There were endless possibilities. Did the undead corpse fall into the giant body of water and cross the protection screen unknowingly with the Vermillion Plaque in its possession? That was one possibility… 

After flipping through all the tools laid in the corner of the stone chamber, Shang Xia got to his feet in disappointment and tried looking for an exit to the stone chamber.

As the air in the chamber wasn’t exactly damp, Shang Xia knew that there had to be another way to leave the chamber.

Scouring the walls of the chamber, Shang Xia’s gaze eventually landed on a sculpture of a beast that could be seen on one of the walls.

Dusting off the sculpture, its sparking eyes were revealed and they resemble brilliant jewels.

As soon as he pressed his hands on the sculpture, a sharp cry came from behind the wall.

“Who’s there?!” 

Shang Xia froze instantly. The sound of several weapons soaring through the air could be heard, followed by the clash of metal against metal.

“Not good… It’s the members of the Rose Party! Hurry up and leave!” 

A miserable cry echoed through the chamber, and it was clear that the person who yelled had met his fate.

“Martial Brother Lao!” Another scream tore through the air.

“Rumble…” As the battle continued, the sounds of fighting entered the stone chamber Shang Xia was in.

“Run!” 

“Hehehe, None of you will escape today!” The person who spoke seemed a lot stronger than the others. 

Another cry rang through the air. It was obvious someone else had died.

“Don’t kill them all! Leave a few of them for interrogation. We need to know where the Zhu Family’s mansion is!” Yet another different voice sounded. Even through the stone wall, the voice rang clear in his mind. Shang Xia’s heart sank and he quickly lowered his hand.

“There's three of them… Two of them died. Perfect. There’s one left!” 

A pained shriek could be heard as the sound of a body hitting the floor filled the stone cavern.

“Alright. Ask him whatever we need. I’ll go take a look somewhere else. Catch up after cleaning everything up. I received news that the beast tide outside the Coral Forest had already subsided. The experts of the Tongyou Peak might show up any minute now.” His voice grew softer and softer and Shang Xia could tell that he had left the area.

“Brother Yu Wen told us to leave one of them alive, but he doesn't seem to care what we do to him now…” 

“The disciples of the Tongyou Peak are really weird. Why did they send so many Martial Realm disciples into the Coral Forest?” 

“Hehe, they’re just chess pieces that have been abandoned. They’re probably here to disrupt our senses. Otherwise, why would Brother Yu Wen leave without saying anything?” 

“Since this brat doesn’t know anything, why should we keep him alive?!”

A sinister laughter rang through the skies. “What if he actually knows something? Hehehe, brat, you definitely heard what I said. You’ve been abandoned by Liu Jitang. Do you really wish to help your precious Tongyou Institution that ditched you without a second thought? Tell me everything you know. Your granddaddy Ouyang here will give you a quick death.”

“I… Don’t know anything!” As soon as the words left his lips, another miserable cry rang through the air. 

“Huh? This brat is pretty resilient. Brother Dongfang, step back a little. My ice and poison dao reached the large completion stage and I’ll give him a taste of my Soul Cruising Needle!” 

Shang Xia could no longer sit still. Pressing the eyes of the beast sculpture on the wall, he revealed the passage to the room behind.

The cultivator whose back was facing Shang Xia barely turned his head when he was swallowed by an endless amount of sword light.