Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Unusual Lake

The battle against the Five-Coloured Azure Spirit Beast was the first time Qinchuan, Zizi, and Sleepybug fought together, yet it yielded remarkably good results.
Though this joint operation was led by Qinchuan, with Zizi and Sleepybug only coming in as support and brought together by pure chance, it undeniably strengthened team cohesion.
It laid a strong foundation for future coordinated battles.

Qinchuan was nearly too happy to be woken from his pleasure, and Zizi seemed dazed for reasons unknown, while Sleepybug, oddly, did not bother him at all, only staring longingly at the Five-Colored Blue Venom Pearl.

So for a while, it was quiet.

“Brother, can I have this Blue Venom Pearl? My poison power will surge if I swallow it.”

It wasn’t until Sleepybug spoke that this blissful silence was broken.
Suddenly Zizi, her face flushed, pulled away from Qinchuan. Just now, she had once again mistaken him for…

Qinchuan, drawn by Sleepybug’s words, did not notice Zizi’s odd reaction and walked over to the corpse of the Five-Coloured Azure Spirit Beast.

“Younger brother, refine that Five-Colored Blue Venom Pearl. It isn’t very useful for me or Zizi, but it suits you perfectly.”
“Mm, thanks, big brother.”

Sleepybug cheerfully agreed, grabbed the Five-Colored Blue Venom Pearl, and moved aside to refine it.

Qinchuan brushed through the body of the Azure Beast and drew out a blue crystalline bead and a clear liquid wrapped in a thin blue membrane.

“Zizi, come here.”
“Ah, what is it?”

Zizi, still faintly flushed, came over and curiously looked at the ground.
“Zizi, this Blue Spirit Fluid boosts anti-toxin resistance. Let’s split it fifty-fifty.”
“Wait, is this edible?”
“Don’t worry. It’s good for your skin and keeps you beautiful.”
“Pfft—you really sound like an attendant from the Jewel Hall!”

At that doubt, Qinchuan did his best impression of a proper shop assistant and cut open the blue membrane.

A strange fragrance drifted out at once. Zizi could not help but inhale deeply, looking almost intoxicated.
Shopkeeper Qinchuan had once again won over a customer.

In the end, Zizi happily took half of the Blue Spirit Fluid and moved aside to refine it.
As for Sleepybug, he didn’t need it—he was so poisonous he could swallow venom mists himself.
Giving him any of this would have been wasteful.

So Qinchuan simply activated Devour.

“Ding! Devour successful. Gained 48,000 Evolution Points.”
“Ding! Devour of Swift-Soul Pearl successful. Speed increased by 20%.”
“Ding! Devour Blue Spirit Fluid successful. Resistance to Blue Venom Miasma increased by 100%.”

This trip through the Four-Star Zone was a true windfall. Compared with the barren Three-Star Zone, this place was overflowing with riches.
At this moment, Qinchuan’s speed had reached over 780; at this rate, another fight with the Five-Colored Azure Spirit Beast would let him clean up and finish it outright.

After a while, Zizi and Sleepybug both finished refining, and the three thieves entered the Five-Star Zone to begin their new round.
The Five-Star Zone was somewhat smaller, and the number of spiritual creatures also dropped—higher levels make each gain harder.
Most of the creatures here were level 25, though a few were level 26.

In the Five-Star Zone, the creatures carried on their usual rivalry and struggle, utterly unaware that disaster had already begun.
With Qinchuan’s current attributes, taking on elite commoners of this zone one-on-one posed no pressure at all.

Clearing the zone was part of Qinchuan’s daily work.
To improve efficiency, Sleepybug volunteered and swept a ring of poison around the Five-Star Zone with elegant ease.
This drove all the spirits toward the center.

“Where the hell did this big bug come from? How so poisonous?”
“I inhaled a little blue toxic haze and I can barely stand it.”
“Oh my, my leg’s rotting!”
“My arm…half of it is gone!”
...

Meanwhile, Qinchuan and Zizi stood comfortably at the center, calmly harvesting heads, then comfortably leveled up again.
This round yielded about 2,000 kills, and the Five-Star Zone became an apparent wasteland.

“Your poison deployment was excellent, huge contribution!”
“Upgrade Flicker Immunity.”
“Ding! Upgrade successful. Received Immune Rank 5, duration 1.5 seconds.”

Qinchuan was very pleased. A full 1.5 seconds of immunity could already dodge most skills.
It was a survival improvement and a combat boost.
Though not a raw stat bonus, a skill’s value far surpasses simple attribute gains.

Evolution Points: 58,000,000 / 208,000,000
Experience: 198,000,000 / 1,664,000,000
Rage: 60 / 100
Slaughter: 9,580 / 10,000

After finishing the cull, Sleepybug came running over in high spirits, excitedly saying, “Bro, I found a huge lake.”
Qinchuan could not help but ask, “A lake? Is there anything strange there?”
Sleepybug caught his breath and explained at once:

“The water is very clear, and there’s no toxin in it.”
“Out in the open, that’s not unusual, but in the Hallucinatory Jungle it feels strange.”
“What’s stranger is that the spiritual creatures won’t go near that lake, as if something terrifying is there.”

Qinchuan’s interest was stirred. “Come on, let’s go see.”

So the three thieves cheerfully walked to the edge of a large lake.
A light breeze stirred the surface into ripples, and a cool scent rushed over them, making anyone want to jump in and cool off.

Zizi looked at the water with longing and whispered, “The water looks so refreshing. I’d love to take a bath.”
“Bath?”
Qinchuan’s consciousness-form flashed with an odd smile: “Seems both of you sisters enjoy bathing outdoors.”

At that moment, Sleepybug kept watch over the unfathomable water. “Zizi-sister, maybe don’t. It could be dangerous down there.”
“Mm… but that is a pity.”

Qinchuan silently studied the water, hoping to notice something.
Sleepybug tilted his head with a cute expression. “Bro, what should we do now? Should I go down and check?”
“Mm, you wait up top. I’ll go down and have a look.”
“Mm… be careful, big brother.”

After saying that, Qinchuan splashed into the water and felt an immediate, comforting coolness.
“Mm, this water really is pleasant,” he thought to himself, then sank under and moved the water around with casual strokes.

The bottom was dark, but there was one advantage: when something bright appeared, it could be seen from a distance.
After a while of swimming, Qinchuan noticed a faintly spinning whirlpool far off.
When he moved closer, he found it was a bottomless underwater canyon.
At the very bottom, a weak blue glow was faintly visible.

“Hm, seems there’s something there.”
Without further thought, Qinchuan dived down.

After about ten minutes, a crisp system chime rang out.
“Ding! Found a Level 26, Third-Grade, Top-Quality Water Man, excellent quality, six-star elite.”

Qinchuan saw two partially transparent water men, their bodies faintly glowing blue, each holding a trident, standing at the mouth of a cave.