Chapter 103: Harboring Their Own Schemes
The water of the Ning River was about a hundred meters deep.
In other words, when Mo Lin stretched out his body, it was long enough for two of him to reach from the river’s surface to the riverbed.
After he dealt with the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish, he exerted strength toward the bottom of the river and quickly touched the riverbed of the Ning River.
Although the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box was not large, it was somewhat heavy, so it had steadily sunk to the bottom and had not been carried away by the river’s current.
Mo Lin came to the side of the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box, preparing to retrieve it.
His eyes burned with heat.
Back on the cargo ship, even though Ning Zhuo had only taken out the Demonic Core for an instant, Mo Lin had still sensed from it an aura no weaker than that of a Mountain Lord.
In other words, this Demonic Core was very likely taken from a middle-grade, perhaps even high-grade, Earth Rank demonic beast.
If he swallowed this Demonic Core, counting the various demonic beasts he had already devoured before, he would surely be able to step into the middle-grade Earth Rank.
The only problem now was—how to open the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box before him.
The box could only be opened by mana previously imprinted into it, and Mo Lin’s demonic power could absolutely not unlock it.
If he chose to destroy it and forcefully take out the Demonic Core, there was still one issue to consider—
This Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box was itself an Earth Rank magic treasure, extremely tough.
Although he too was an Earth Rank demonic beast, as an anaconda, he did not have much ability to concentrate force on a single point to blast it apart—of course, that was before Mo Lin had mastered the “Lightning Orb.”
Now, Mo Lin could give it a try.
However, just as Mo Lin coiled around the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box, intending to take it ashore and blast it open, he suddenly felt the pressure on his body lighten.
What was this?
Mo Lin was astonished.
He discovered that, though he had been at the lightless hundred-meter-deep riverbed, he could now see sunlight falling upon him.
The water that had originally surrounded him seemed to have encountered some mighty power and was forcibly pushed aside, forming a “waterless zone” more than ten meters long, several meters wide, and nearly a hundred meters deep.
Mo Lin raised his head and saw above the “waterless zone” a middle-aged man dressed in a python-embroidered robe, his face filled with joy as he stared intently at him:
“Sure enough, an Earth Rank anaconda demon!! Truly, what one seeks with worn-out iron shoes is gained effortlessly!!”
Who was this?
Although Mo Lin did not recognize the man above the Ning River, he did recognize the python robe he wore.
This middle-aged man, who possessed the cultivation of a middle-grade Earth Rank, and who had forcibly parted the waters of the Ning River to expose him under the open sky, was surely a noble of the Great Qian Dynasty.
Yet from the man’s fiery gaze—so heated it was as if he were staring at a lover—Mo Lin felt only a deep chill.
This man was very dangerous!
Dong Li, being a lower-grade Earth Rank cultivator, looked at Mo Lin’s exposed form in the river, and at the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box coiled by his tail, and his face instantly changed:
“Demon... anaconda demon!”
The item inside that Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box must not be lost.
He had to take it back!
Dong Li looked toward the Prince of Jiyang.
Although he did not want the Prince of Jiyang to know what was inside the box, given the current situation, trying to seize it from the hands of an Earth Rank anaconda demon would likely require cooperation with him.
So Dong Li said:
“Prince of Jiyang, how about we join forces to subdue this anaconda demon?”
The Prince of Jiyang nodded. Dong Li’s proposal was exactly to his liking.
He looked at Mo Lin and laughed loudly:
“Anaconda demon, you had best surrender obediently and make a trip to this king’s residence. This king wishes to borrow your scales to add some luster to my python robe.”
With that, he was the first to charge into the river.
Once the Prince of Jiyang released his control, the hundred-meter “waterless zone” instantly collapsed, crashing back into the riverbed, and Mo Lin once again felt the crushing pressure of the water.
Dong Li, regardless of his status as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, also dove into the river together with the Prince of Jiyang.
On the riverbank, Ning Zhuo, having lost the Demonic Core, held the Coiling Dragon Staff in hand, preparing to leap into the river to atone for his failure. Yet one command froze him in place:
“Ning Zhuo, stay by the river and keep watch.”
It was his Chairman himself who had given the order. Thus, Ning Zhuo could only restrain his impatience and stand guard by the riverside.
In the river, the Prince of Jiyang had already engaged Mo Lin in battle.
Although compared to Mo Lin he was not adept in water combat, making his movements in the river somewhat awkward, relying on his cultivation one grade higher than Mo Lin’s, he was able to fight evenly with him.
Yet Mo Lin still kept his tail coiled tightly around the box, unwilling to let go, which left him somewhat restricted.
When Dong Li, dressed in fine garments, also entered the river, Mo Lin found himself suppressed once again.
This was unlike when he had outwitted two Earth Rank Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.
At that time, Mo Lin had a whole group of Nether-Tailed Profound Fish shielding him from harm, forcing the two Earth Rank fish to hold back.
Moreover, although the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish had intelligence, they were violent-tempered, and Mo Lin had ways to deal with them as long as the chance presented itself.
But now, the Prince of Jiyang and Dong Li—one a middle-grade Earth Rank, the other a lower-grade Earth Rank—both had strength not inferior to his, and far greater cunning than the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.
Mo Lin immediately found it troublesome.
Of course, the two before him were not wholeheartedly cooperating to kill him either.
The Prince of Jiyang wanted to capture Mo Lin alive, especially to take his scales, so he constantly held back, always trying to capture Mo Lin without harming him, attacking only inconsequential places like his tail.
Meanwhile, Dong Li feared that the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box coiled around Mo Lin’s tail would be shattered in a three-way clash, exposing the Demonic Core to the Prince of Jiyang. So he restrained himself from striking at Mo Lin’s tail.
At times when the Prince of Jiyang attempted to attack Mo Lin’s tail, Dong Li would even deliberately step in at just the right moment, blocking the Prince of Jiyang’s strikes from hitting Mo Lin’s tail—or rather, the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box.
Once or twice was tolerable, but after repeated exchanges, Mo Lin began to sense something amiss.
Why did it feel like these two were not on the same side?
The python-robed man was always aiming for his tail, while the other seemed intent on guarding it.
If Mo Lin hadn’t seen them arrive together, he would have suspected they bore some old grudge.
But the Prince of Jiyang too was growing irritated with Dong Li.
Unable to speak underwater, he could only glare at him viciously:
What the hell are you playing at?
Dong Li had bitter difficulties he could not speak of.
The Demonic Core inside that Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box absolutely could not be revealed to the Prince of Jiyang—that was the very Demonic Core he had secretly prepared to deliver to the Red Turban Army!
Thus, even if it ruined the Prince of Jiyang’s plans and earned his wrath later, Dong Li could not care about that now.
Their internal conflict did not escape Mo Lin’s notice.
He glanced at the Black-Iron Spirit-Sealing Box coiled on his tail and faintly sensed the truth—could their disunity be because of this object?
At that thought, Mo Lin shifted his mind.
Rather than continue fighting in the depths of the river—his most advantageous battlefield—he seized the moment in a clash with the Prince of Jiyang, and following his force, darted upward toward the river’s surface.
Before long, he broke through to the surface of the Ning River.