BXBX NOVEL Chapter 245: 244: Pre-war Preparations
Chapter 245: 244: Pre-war Preparations
Long Aotian was somewhat stunned while looking at the endless ‘sea’.
But Du Gang was not surprised, smiling and saying, “Didn’t the map indicate it? If one finger width is about two centimeters, it would be 64 kilometers wide, perhaps even wider in reality…”
At the moment, the river was boundless, and they saw no one, which was related to the river entrance they chose.
Instead of taking the three-way junction route, they walked far away from it. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to go, but that they didn’t dare, there was intense fighting on that road. If they were not careful, they would get sucked into the melee, which was why Du Gang chose to lead everyone around it.
“Long Aotian, you go and check the situation in the water!”
Du Gang initially wanted to go down and check it out himself, but thought better of it and decided to cautiously send Long Aotian instead.
After all, the Dragon Clan is aquatic and has increased speed underwater.
Without any resistance, Long Aotian actually seemed eager to do it, as this was where he grew up.
“Splash!”
With a diving plunge, Long Aotian disappeared into the water.
“Hmmm~!”
A low dragon chant echoed out.
In a moment of overwhelming emotion, Long Aotian transformed into his dragon form as he entered the water.
“Swoosh swoosh swoosh!”
Under the surface of the water, a golden figure was winding and twisting freely. It was moving at such a high speed that those standing on the shore couldn’t keep track of it with their eyes.
“His speed is at least two to three times faster than on land…”
Seeing this speed, Du Gang thought to himself. If so, Long Aotian could also hold back enemies underwater…
This moment, both Qiao Bing and Niu Dazhuang looked shocked.
“He can transform into a dragon…”
They had indeed seen some offspring of the Dragon Family before, but most of them only had dragon horns and didn’t have the ability to transform into dragon form.
As a matter of fact, among the four hybrid races of Penglai, the Azure Flood Dragon Clan, Purple Heavenly Eagle Clan, Taisui Spirit Clan, Fighting Saint Clan, only a few with special body structures could shape-shift, while those with normal bloodlines had almost no ability to do so.
For those original clans on the Primordial Continent, they generally only acknowledge those who can transform into their clan members, and they do not recognize those who cannot, even though their names are similar.
“Long Aotian is from the direct lineage of direct lineages…”
Niu Dazhuang was really astonished.
Facing one from the direct lineage was hard enough, but who would expect to encounter this offspring from the most direct lineage of them all.
This kind of situation, to Qiao Bing, might only be normal, but to Niu Dazhuang it was rather similar as his family lineage came from seeds spread by the Bull Demon King himself.
However, in reality, those who can transform into Kui Cow are extremely rare!
Moreover, even if members of their Niu Family can transform into Kui Cow, the Bull Demon King does not acknowledge them.
Hearing his words, Du Gang curiously asked, “Niu Dazhuang, your Niu Family is from where?”
This Niu Dazhuang was built strong and stood tall, and there were horns on his head, he must also be a hybrid race.
On the Primordial Continent, such mixed races were quite common and not unusual.
Niu Dazhuang laughed, “Our ancestors were from the Kui Cow Clan, which is the clan now led by the Bull Demon King…”
“However, those who can genuinely revert to their ancestral form are too few…” As he said this, he looked at Long Aotian with envy.
After a while, Long Aotian came back from swimming and jumped out of the water.
Du Gang asked, “So, how is the situation underwater?”
“Excellent!”
Long Aotian laughed, “The water depth is roughly between one and three thousand meters, but this is just the area close to the shore. I suspect that the depth at the center of the river could reach tens of thousands of meters!”
Hearing this, Du Gang nodded and jumped into the water himself, wanting to check it out in person.
Compared to hearing, he preferred to directly observe the situation underwater.
Cool!
The moment he entered the water, an intense bone-chilling cold hit him.
Looking at Long Aotian, however, there seemed to be no signs of discomfort, instead, he looked energetic and full of vitality.
As Du Gang looked around underwater, he realized he could see the situation above the water quite clearly, but not very far.
At the same time, looking downwards, he could only see about one to two hundred meters. Beyond that distance, it was pitch-black.
“You all come and see, how deep can you see underwater?!”
Not wanting to be alone in observing, Du Gang invited others to join him.
After a while, everyone had had a look and began to report back.
Qiao Bing shook her head, saying, “I can only see to a depth of one or two hundred meters, and then I can only see darkness…”
She is a typical human, without any special abilities, so it is normal that she can’t see far.
Du Gang nodded, Qiao Bing’s sight was similar to his, they couldn’t see too far.
After she finished speaking, Niu Dazhuang said, “I can probably see down to a depth of five to six hundred meters…”
Although he is humanoid, he has the bloodline of Kui Cow, and his underwater vision is not bad, but it is only slightly better than that of humans.
“Pfft!”
The Little Hawk King snickered, proudly saying: “I can see the bottom of the water!”
This meant he could see at least one or two thousand meters into the depths of the water.
Eagle eyes, they lived up to their reputation!
Long Aotian laughed and said, “That’s it? One or two thousand meters is your limit. Can you see any deeper?”
The Little Hawk King twiddled his mouth and said nothing.
Du Gang asked seriously, “Little Hawk King, tell us honestly, how deep can you really see underwater?”
The Little Hawk King was a bit reluctant to say, because underwater, he could only see a part of the seafloor, which was about a thousand meters deep. Other deeper areas were out of his sight.
Seeing his silence, Du Gang reminded him, “I hope you answer honestly, this is related to the efficiency of our team’s hunting and, at the same time, to our lives…”
Really?!
The Little Hawk King rolled his eyes, but still answered honestly, “I can probably see about a thousand meters deep underwater…”
Du Gang nodded, turned his head and looked at Long Aotian, “What about you? If the water is deeper, how far can you see?”
At this moment, Long Aotian stood up completely, lifted his head high, looked at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, “I can see the water as deep as I can see the sky!”
Du Gang pondered for a few seconds before saying, “Forget about looking at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, many people can do that, but what you just said is plagiarism!”
Long Aotian had a baffled look on his face, “Plagiarism?”
“I’m freaking talking about my vision, and you freaking talk to me about plagiarism?!”
Ignoring his inflated sense of self-importance, Du Gang mulled over it for a while, then said, “With such an advantage, I declare you, Long Aotian, have been promoted, your new position is scout!”
“From now on our team has two scouts!”
He laughed, “Long Aotian, from now on, you will dive to the bottom of the water, scout and see where the humans are hiding…”
He pondered for a moment, then said, “Qiao Bing, Niu Dazhuang, you two go down with me, dive and see how deep we can clearly see the surface of the water…”
Then, he said to the Little Hawk King, “You just stand on the water and be our test subject!”
The Little Hawk King shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
As kings of the sky, they rarely went underwater. After all, if their wings got wet, their speed would decrease, which could be very dangerous!
Soon, the four of them dove underwater. For every hundred meters they descended, Du Gang asked them to report what they saw on the water’s surface.
“Huh?”
At this moment, Du Gang, who was about one hundred meters underwater, felt puzzled as he looked at the situation on the surface.
In his eyes, the water’s surface seemed to have turned into an oval shape, with the Little Hawk King standing at the brightest point. The further away from him, the more blurred the image became until, eventually, he couldn’t see anything.
“What about you all? What do you see?”
He quickly asked them.
Qiao Bing shook her head and sighed, “I can hardly see the surface of the water here, let alone the Little Hawk King. I can only see a beam of light above…”
Du Gang, deep in thought, nodded and then looked at Niu Dazhuang.
Niu Dazhuang laughed, “I’m okay, I can see around ten-meters worth of the water’s surface…”
Long Aotian laughed, “Ha, ha, I don’t understand what you guys are talking about, but looking at things underwater and above water is the same for me!”
At this moment, Du Gang noticed that Long Aotian’s eyes were emitting a faint glow, which was different from when he was on land or above water.
Not only him, but Niu Dazhuang’s eyes also changed, though not as noticeably as Long Aotian’s.
“I understand now, Long Aotian’s eyes actually have two systems. One for underwater vision and one for above water vision…”
Du Gang laughed, “And Qiao Bing and I have typical human eyes. What we see is affected by total internal reflection, that is, when light from a denser medium enters a sparser medium and the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the refraction received by the human eye gradually disappears and reflection takes over…”
“Therefore, the deeper we dive, the less we’ll be able to see the water’s surface. Generally, if we go about two hundred meters deep underwater, we won’t be able to see the surface at all!”
Du Gang slowly nodded and said, “It should be like this if I’m not mistaken. But I’m not sure how the eyes of the demon clan work. Simply by looking at them, it seems they should also be adapted to human vision…”
He began to murmur to himself, “We’ll have to wait until we see the Demon Clan to make a judgement…”
Long Aotian and the others were totally baffled. What the heck was he talking about?
They understood every single word but when they were put together, they couldn’t make sense of it at all.
But it felt as if he really understood something…
Soon, Du Gang regained his composure and said with a smile, “I think I understand. Long Aotian, now you need to dive to the bottom and look around in other places. See if you can find the Demon Clan or other humans and remember their locations. Be careful and come back in two hours…”
“OK!”
Even though Long Aotian was brash and audacious, feeling useless within the team was quite unbearable. Now that he had been promoted to a scout, he was eager to prove himself. Upon hearing these words, he excitedly thrashed his dragon tail, and with a casual flick, the entire dragon twisted and rapidly retreated.
“That guy, he receives a bonus in speed and power underwater. If fighting against the Demon Clan, it should be easier, right?!”
Observing this scene, Qiao Bing nodded, soon reminding: “He indeed has a bonus, but my mobility and stealth capabilities are being hampered underwater…”
Du Gang nodded, turning to look at Niu Dazhuang.
Niu Dazhuang understood his intention and replied with a smile, “I have no limitations, in fact, I feel quite comfortable…”
Being of a water buffalo lineage, even though he couldn’t transform, he still felt at home in the water.
“Understood, let’s go up!”
Du Gang didn’t particularly like staying underwater, where he couldn’t fully utilize his strength.
Soon, the team of three resurfaced.
“What happened? Why did Long Aotian leave?”
Little Hawk King had a keen vision from the water’s surface and could clearly observe everything, even though he couldn’t hear the conversation between the people underneath.
Du Gang smiled, “I sent him on a reconnaissance mission. Now it’s your turn. Fly higher and observe the Demon Clan situation around the river. Try not to get injured and come back in two hours!”
Upon hearing these words, Little Hawk King nodded, “Alright, wait here!”
With that, he once again transformed into a gigantic eagle, flapping his wings vigorously and swiftly leaving the surface. He soared towards the sky.
“Big Dazhuang, I’ll make the first move…..”
“Make the first move?”
Dazhuang appeared puzzled, not quite understanding the meaning.
Du Gang suddenly realized these people weren’t gamers and hadn’t played similar games.
He explained, “What I mean is, I’ll act first, then you can follow up…..”.
“We should establish a sort of understanding. I’ll make the first move, then you go and engage the Demon Clan!”
Big Dazhuang then understood and laughed, “Got it!”
Du Gang nodded, “What do you fear most in your opponents? My Gold Foil can weaken an enemy’s strength, but each Gold Foil can only weaken one specific attribute…..”
“For example, strength, speed, Divine Power, Divine Thought, Deities, etc…”
Rather than let Big Dazhuang take the lead, it would be better for him to start with the Gold Foil. This could relieve some of Big Dazhuang’s stress.
Big Dazhuang pondered for a moment, then stated, “If we’re not dealing with a Destroyer, I hope you could decrease the opponent’s strength!”
He laughed, explaining, “The shield that I practice with can forcibly grab the enemy. As long as I have more strength, I can pull them….”
Du Gang nodded, “Understood, I will decrease the enemy’s strength.”
Next, he turned to Qiao Bing.
“And you, if you don’t need to sneak attack, what kind of abilities can you quickly defeat in a straight fight?”
“Quickly defeat?”
Du Gang nodded, “Yes, the kind that can be done in three to five seconds.”
Qiao Bing thought for a while, then stated, “I haven’t tried before, but if my Divine Power is more than 15 Ers superior, it becomes extremely overwhelming. So anyone with 20 Ers or less of Divine Power might be instantly killed when encountering me!”
She thought again and added, “Additionally, they need to have weak Divine Thought, or at most be on par with me, and can’t disrupt me….”
Hearing her mention Divine Thought, Du Gang asked, “Speaking of which, besides straightforward attacks and defenses, are there any techniques or other methods to enhance its power?”
“Yes!”
Qiao Bing nodded, saying, “We may not have it in South Yue, but I’ve heard that within the larger clans and big forces, there are ways to cultivate Divine Thought. However, they are extremely rare…”
“But exactly how, I haven’t seen it and so I don’t know…”
Du Gang seemed deep in thought.
Penglai Island did not possess any cultivation method related to Divine Thought.
The entire human race in the universe possesses eighteen Supreme Techniques, all of which were bestowed by the eighteen god clans on the Primordial Continent.
He wasn’t sure of their exact intentions, but it should be related to karma or cosmic power, since opening the heavens and creating humans by Pangu and Nuwa were done to save the Primordial Continent.
Did these god clans really casually give their most cherished Supreme Techniques to the human race?
The Supreme Techniques couldn’t be counterfeited, they were indeed real.
But surely these weren’t the clans’ most cherished techniques!
So, Du Gang guessed that within each of the god clans, there must be even more formidable techniques.
Previously, due to his limited perspective, he couldn’t learn much.
However, as he advanced into the God Spirit Level, he saw more and more, and knew more and more.
This Supreme Technique could basically be considered a boost to Divine Power, and it was very powerful.
But if a person’s divinity remained intact, what use would it be to destroy the physical body?
If the divinity runs away, wouldn’t all efforts be wasted?
Upon thinking about this, he concluded that those gods must have mastered one kind of attack technique of Divine Thought. This was the basis of their supremacy!
Ah well, these thoughts were too far-fetched for now!
Du Gang shook his head. Discussions about Divine Thought could wait till later. At least, he had not heard of anyone at the God Spirit Level amplifying Divine Thought to unleash a terrifying and overwhelming attack.
“Swoosh!”
“Splash!”
Little Hawk King and Long Aotian might have met halfway, they both returned one after the other.
Seeing this, Du Gang and others quickly crawled out from the underbrush and went to meet them.
“How is it? Did you gain anything?”
“Yes!”
Long Aotian grinned and said, “You guessed it right! It’s bustling underwater. In a place more than two hundred meters underwater, many Demons are hiding. Not just them, there are also quite a few of our human squads…”
Little Hawk King nodded and said, “What I observed was more or less the same…”
Du Gang nodded and asked, “Could you guys tell how much Divine Power they hold?”
The two exchanged glances and shook their heads in unison.
Divine Power was hidden in the divinity and didn’t exist in the real world. It’s impossible to see directly.
To know how much Divine Power someone else has, besides them saying it personally, there was no way to know.
Even about the Divine Power techniques the opponent could deploy, it was only possible to know after they had used them.
“That’s a bit…”
Du Gang frowned and said, “If we can’t find out the strength of the Demon squad, we can’t rashly make a move. If there are powerful beings among them, it will be difficult to handle later…”
“So, what should we do?”
When others heard him say this, they started to worry.
At this moment, Niu Dazhuang seemed to have something to say but hesitated.
Noting this, Du Gang quickly asked, “Dazhuang, do you have something to say? Just say it!”
Dazhuang cleared his throat and said, “I’ve been here for quite some time and have experienced many battles…”
“The Destroyer generally doesn’t show up around here…”
“Ah?”
Dazhuang asserted, “Perhaps there is a kind of tacit understanding. Basically, the lower half of the wilderness area is home to beings lesser than the Destroyer…”
“Based on my experience over the years and the conjectures of many strong people, these Demons are likely similar to us and belong to the stragglers…”
“The Demons appearing in the wilderness are not from the regular Demon army. They might have entered with the same intention as us, which is to make money…”
“Similarly, perhaps to maintain a balance, both sides have a tacit understanding and very few people intentionally break this understanding…”
Seeing the four still confused, Dazhuang continued, “For example, the Destroyers, we also have quite a few on our side, but none of them dare to hunt in the riverways of the lower half of the wilderness. After doing so, it won’t be long before the Demons would react similarly…”
Du Gang nodded and asked, “Are you sure?”
After he asked this, Dazhuang hesitated.
“I’ve rarely seen Destroyers around here. It should be true. These are messages passed on to me by previous teammates…”
“I see…”
Du Gang estimated that about seventy percent of his guess was probably correct.
Maybe those Destroyers truly had an implicit understanding to move to the upper half of the wilderness to battle.
PS: My body has collapsed. I’m experiencing heartburn, diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, etc. and have spent my day shuttling between the toilet, bed, and computer. I’ve only written this much, so I’m taking half a day off to recover.
Sigh, JuziMiao (the author’s pseudonym) might not get the first place in the Combat Power Ranking. Let’s be DINK (Double Income, No Kids), accept my fate, and let my bloodline die out with me (haha).
Last year, JuziMiao was a gunslinger (ghostwriter) who churned out 4000-5000 words a day without aiming for quality, just quantity. I could write 20,000 words in three hours, and my highest daily record was 60,000 words (it was half-hearted, only wrote for half a day). I wasn’t as desperate then and was also writing my own stuff for 10-11 hours per day in addition to the high-volume work.
Now, I write only this book every day, spending at least 16 hours, usually pushing for 20. But the quality seems to decline, the more I write, the worse it gets. This book could actually make it to the first place in the Combat Power Ranking this month with 60,000-80,000 or even 100,000 words a day, but the quality would be unspeakable. I don’t want to do it this way—being a gunslinger (ghostwriter) leads nowhere and only devours life.
So, no matter how poor the performance, JuziMiao plans to complete this book diligently. It could be less than 20,000 words a day or a maximum of 30,000-40,000 words, and to wrap it up with 3-5 million words to gain experience and learn lessons for the subsequent book.
Neutered JuziMiao… I concede to a lost bet. I’ve made the military order to not have any children in this life. So, I won’t waste energy and can write to my death. If I don’t aim to achieve divinity, why would I try so hard inscribing novels?
I don’t know why but dragging my ailing body, I feel like I’m writing a will… It seems my body really can’t hold up any longer. It’s already late. I’ll just sleep in and continue the fight tomorrow.
I hope all is well