Hedonist Prodigy

Chapter 96: The Bizarre Monster

The strange reaction of the water monsters immediately put Jiang Feng on high alert. He wasn’t sure if these monsters would attack people unprovoked, but being targeted by one made him extremely cautious.

Suddenly, with a “plop,” one of the water monsters lashed its tail, leaping several meters high before crashing heavily into the Tianchi Lake like a cannonball. 

A spray of water rose high, forming a curtain that splashed towards Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng darted back, taking several steps to avoid the spray. The water monster surfaced again, letting out a few hoarse roars as it stared at Jiang Feng before disappearing back into the water.

Soon, the other water monsters followed suit, shaking their heads and disappearing into the water one after another. Ripples spread across the surface, creating a frothy, boiling effect.

The water was instantly agitated, as if it were boiling. Jiang Feng, slightly puzzled by the reactions of the water monsters, waited until the ripples were about to subside before leaping into the Tianchi Lake and swimming after them.

The water monsters swam very fast, far exceeding Jiang Feng’s speed. He could only follow the ripples on the surface, chasing after them. After swimming for an unknown distance, Jiang Feng felt he had reached the center of the Tianchi Lake. Suddenly, the surface became calm, without a ripple, only the moonlight shining upon it, making it appear holy and beautiful.

Frowning slightly, Jiang Feng held his breath and plunged into the deep water. After sinking about twenty meters, he slowly opened his eyes a crack. Once he adjusted to the water pressure, he opened them fully, and what he saw shocked him greatly.

He didn’t know when, but he was now surrounded by about a dozen water monsters. The monsters were right around him, not gone, floating silently in the water like upright reefs, their eyes wide as they stared at him.

Jiang Feng sensed danger and was about to surface when a black shadow, swift as lightning, hurtled towards his chest.

The monster’s speed was incredible; the water seemed to be sliced ​​open by a sharp blade, so fast that only a faint shadow could be seen.

The speed was too great, and Jiang Feng was not agile in the water. He was careless and was knocked over by the monster, tumbling out of the water and crashing back down.

Although the buoyancy of the water lessened some of the impact of the fall, Jiang Feng still felt his blood churning. He realized he had been too careless, or perhaps these monsters were too cunning, so intelligent that they had lured him into the Tianchi Lake before attacking him.

After falling into the water, Jiang Feng dared not linger and quickly swam back the way he came. Soon, he heard several sounds of water breaking behind him, and several water monsters came chasing after him.

Jiang Feng cursed inwardly. He barely had time to react before he felt the suction of the water suddenly increase dramatically. At the same time, he saw several water monsters swimming rapidly around him.

The swimming water monsters didn’t attack him; they just kept circling him. As the monsters swam, a small whirlpool gradually formed on the surface of the water. Jiang Feng was now in the center of the whirlpool, completely sucked in by the water and unable to move.

Jiang Feng’s expression changed drastically. He swung his fist and punched one of the water monsters. Sensing the threat, the monster flicked its tail and wrapped it around Jiang Feng’s arm.

With a muffled “crack,” Jiang Feng felt as if his fist had struck a hard rock. His fist felt almost shattered, and he felt a sharp pain.

The water monster, after being punched, swam several meters away, glaring at him menacingly, its breath coming in foul gas.

The smell made Jiang Feng feel nauseous. He gritted his teeth, trying to swim out of the whirlpool, but then he saw other water monsters swim over, forming three circles, churning the water and creating splashing waves, blocking his path.

The whirlpool grew even larger, the powerful suction causing Jiang Feng to float like a piece of duckweed, his body involuntarily tossed about by the whirlpool.

This made Jiang Feng gasp. He knew all too well that if this continued, he would surely die. Without hesitation, he pushed off with his feet, his figure leaping into the air, attempting to escape the whirlpool’s control.

Just as he leaped up, Jiang Feng sensed something was wrong. His body began to fall uncontrollably. Suddenly, a water monster leaped up with him, biting his trouser leg and dragging him down.

Jiang Feng’s expression changed drastically, but it was too late. He couldn’t exert any force while in mid-air, and the water monster was enormous. The difference in strength was too great, and Jiang Feng was instantly dragged and slammed onto the water’s surface, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

The icy pool water rushed into Jiang Feng’s eyes, ears, nose, and throat. He didn’t know how much water he had swallowed, and the water was so cold that it made his lungs feel like they were about to explode.

Then, Jiang Feng saw jets of water shooting into the air like fountains. These jets merged into a single, beautiful spray under the moonlight.

Soon, the dozen or so water columns merged into one, forming a magnificent spectacle of a waterspout. Jiang Feng was speechless with astonishment. He knew that if anyone on the edge of Heavenly Lake were to witness this sight, they would be even more awestruck than he was in the water.

But the awe was fleeting. As the waterspout formed, Jiang Feng was as if drawn by a magnet, sinking headfirst into the water.

Jiang Feng knew that anything he did now was futile. He quickly held his breath and swam downwards, following the whirlpool’s trajectory.

After descending an unknown distance, the water before Jiang Feng’s eyes gradually became murky. His feet had reached the bottom of Heavenly Lake.

Here, nearly fifty meters below the surface, the water pressure from all sides relentlessly crushed Jiang Feng, squeezing his internal organs as if they were about to shift.

His tightly held breath had reached its limit. Jiang Feng gave a bitter laugh, reluctantly closing his eyes. He hadn’t expected to encounter such a thing.

Suddenly, Jiang Feng’s footing gave way, and he plummeted straight down. The speed of his fall abruptly increased. Jiang Feng felt his feet sink into nothingness, his face changing drastically. Then, quickly, the surrounding water pressure vanished, and he found himself in an unknown space.

His feet touched solid ground. Still somewhat shaken, Jiang Feng tried to breathe, realizing he was no longer underwater and could breathe freely.

However, the smell of his breath was foul and murky, filled with an incredibly pungent stench. Even a small breath sent shivers down his spine, making him almost choke on his own.

“Where is this?” Jiang Feng was stunned, never expecting such a place to exist beneath the Tianchi Lake.

Jiang Feng closed his eyes slightly, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before opening them and scanning his surroundings. Upon seeing what he looked, he immediately took several steps back.

A few meters in front of him, a pair of enormous eyes were staring intently at him. These eyes emitted a strange, eerie green light, like two flashlights piercing through the darkness.

Jiang Feng looked closer and realized it was also a water monster, but unlike the one he had seen in the Tianchi Lake, this one was entirely emerald green and ten times larger, lurking in this underground space like a small mountain of flesh.

“What is this?” Jiang Feng was slightly stunned.

The water monster stared at Jiang Feng, its gaping maw chewing repeatedly, producing a chilling grinding sound. After only a minute, the monster opened its mouth and spat something out, which rolled to Jiang Feng’s feet.

Jiang Feng’s figure flashed, and he took several steps back. The object was none other than a human skull, now covered in sharp teeth marks, half of it broken.

Moreover, traces of flesh and blood clung to the skull, a truly gruesome sight. Jiang Feng’s heart skipped a beat. He finally understood why the underground space was so murky and foul-smelling—it was because of this large, emerald-green water monster.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this mysterious space beneath Heavenly Lake was likely the lair of this emerald-green water monster. The stench, besides the monster’s own, was mixed with the smell of excrement and rotting corpses.

But soon, Jiang Feng’s expression changed again. He remembered that the water monsters in Heavenly Lake didn’t eat; they survived by absorbing the essence of moonlight.

But this emerald-green water monster seemed different. It fed on meat, but there were no fish or shrimp in Heavenly Lake. Therefore, this monster might very well be surviving by eating humans.

“Man-eating?” After a moment’s thought, Jiang Feng felt it was highly likely. Although such behavior was absurd and bizarre, he couldn’t find a better explanation.

At the same time, Jiang Feng also understood why the black water monsters in Tianchi Lake, after trapping him, weren’t in a hurry to kill him. Their strange behavior was ultimately aimed at driving him here, delivering him to this emerald-green water monster, to become its food.

It was a horrifying food chain, like ants on land, divided into worker ants and queen ants. Worker ants are responsible for transporting and finding food, while the queen ants are responsible for reproduction, forming a complete food chain cycle.

The black water monsters moving in Tianchi Lake were merely workers; their job was simply to find and transport food for this emerald-green water monster.

Shocking, utterly shocking.

Besides shock, Jiang Feng couldn’t find any suitable adjective to describe what he had witnessed!