Sorry for the delay.
Inside the barrier, Hu Feifei raised her hand and first unleashed a stream of spiritual energy to attack Jing Li. The spiritual energy transformed into countless wind blades that whistled through the air and reached Jing Li in an instant.
Jing Li had been closely watching Hu Feifei’s movements since entering the water. Upon seeing the attack, he immediately waved his hand to erect a water wall in front of him.
The wind blades crashed into the water wall and were largely deflected, their force dissipated. The flowing water inside the wall even dispersed the blades until they disappeared completely.
However, after neutralizing the attack, the water wall did not dissipate. Instead, it condensed into numerous sharp ice spikes that flew toward Hu Feifei.
Seeing the incoming assault, Hu Feifei scoffed disdainfully, raised her hand, and summoned more wind blades to intercept the ice spikes in midair, causing them to fall to the ground.
“Didn’t expect you to have this level of skill,” Hu Feifei sneered at Jing Li, her eyes gleaming with icy malice.
“No wonder you dared to go against me in the forest, but that’s where it ends.” She began to concentrate, channeling all her spiritual energy into her palms. “Once I’ve killed you and taken the spiritual energy demon core, I’ll even take your fox friend as dessert.”
“In fact, I should thank you. If it weren’t for you, he wouldn’t have leaked demonic energy on the plane, and I wouldn’t have discovered the demon hiding by your side. How delightful!”
As Hu Feifei’s spiritual energy built up, a small storm began to form in the palm of her hand, churning the surrounding seawater into a vortex. The faster the energy accumulated, the more rapidly the vortex spun, causing the strands of hair falling across her chest to flutter wildly in the current.
“Looking at it this way, maybe I can dig deeper and find out the secrets between Gu Tingshen and the Jing Group’s President. Who knows what unexpected rewards I might uncover?”
The storm grew thicker, and the vortex in her palm spun faster, its colors shifting to a dark, ominous hue. Upon closer inspection, one could even see it had sucked in leaves, sand, and pebbles from the seafloor.
“But none of that matters to you anymore, because you won’t be around to see it.”
Hu Feifei smiled smugly and thrust the rapidly spinning vortex towards Jing Li, her eyes filled with confident certainty that he would be unable to withstand her full-force attack.
However, the next moment, her expression changed drastically.
Seeing Hu Feifei’s true ugly nature revealed, Jing Li remained unfazed. As she had been channeling her spiritual energy, he had been quietly gathering his own power, preparing to strike back with full force.
Their previous confrontation in the forest gave him a sense of her formidable abilities, so he was naturally not going to be careless here. Fortunately, her focus was entirely on her calculations, thinking that in the depths of the sea, beyond the sight of ordinary people, she could use her spiritual powers without restraint. But she failed to realize that as a koi, Jing Li would be even more at home in the water than on land.
Jing Li allowed himself to be immersed in the essence of the sea, extending his spiritual awareness to the distant depths. Outside Hu Feifei’s barrier, he erected another barrier of greater breadth, then commanded numerous water columns to rise from the seafloor and silently approach.
The water columns surged forward with lightning speed, sweeping up seabed debris as they went. In the instant after Hu Feifei’s words, all the water columns burst through the layers of her barrier and converged upon her, swallowing up the vortex she had sent.
Hu Feifei’s barrier was instantly shattered, and if not for the outer layer still holding, she would have been dragged into the depths by the rushing waves.
“Impossible!!!”
Hu Feifei, having never witnessed such a scene before, was so horrified that her face turned pale. She tried to mobilize her spiritual energy to resist, but after her previous attack, she had exhausted most of her power. Now, even her utmost effort could only conjure a weak breeze, which was completely incapable of withstanding the powerful water columns in front of her.
However, the water columns were rapidly approaching, about to suck her in and shred her to pieces.
In the nick of time, Hu Feifei was forced to transform back to her original form and quickly evade the water columns. She then tried to escape by unleashing her last-ditch survival skill on Jing Li.
“So your true form is a weasel.”
Jing Li murmured calmly, immediately controlling the water columns to entrap the yellowish-brown energy she had released.
The water currents constricted, gradually enveloping the yellowish-brown energy to form a massive water ball, then directly slamming it onto Hu Feifei’s true body, trapping it inside.
Hu Feifei’s survival skill had the power to confuse the mind, and its stench was foul beyond measure. The concentrated essence of the aroma she had fully unleashed now permeated the water ball, becoming overwhelmingly pungent.
As soon as Hu Feifei was enveloped in the water ball, she was immediately sickened, her eyes rolling back as she thrashed her limbs desperately, trying to escape the lethal confinement.
However, the water ball, though soft in appearance, was impenetrable. Her frantic struggles were futile, as she couldn’t exert any real force.
In just a few seconds, before she could find a way out, the stench had already overcome her, and she slipped into unconsciousness, her vision blurring with hallucinations.
“It seems your kind’s survival skill is indeed quite effective,” Jing Li remarked, scanning Hu Feifei. He then extracted a portion of her demonic energy from the water ball, expertly drawing out the majority of her power and holding it in his palm.
Gazing at the nearly pitch-black demonic energy, he coldly stated, “It’s even filthier than the Camphor Tree Spirit’s power. It seems that the immoral things you have done are even more despicable.”
At the mention of the Camphor Tree Spirit, a flicker of lucidity passed through Hu Feifei’s eyes, and she looked up at him sharply.
Helplessly, she watched as Jing Li refined her prized demonic energy into life force, which was then dispersed by the water current and carried far away.
“No!!!” Hu Feifei’s eyes widened in horror, her pupils dilating as she watched her life force fade, desperately wishing she could pounce on him.
However, with most of her demonic power drained, she had no strength left. She even used up all the remaining strength in her body because of her hoarse roar just now. After shouting, she slumped down within the water ball in defeat.
“Hmm, so the Camphor Tree Spirit didn’t tell you about his own fate when he revealed information about me?” Jing Li glanced at her lightly, waiting until the wounded life force had dissipated completely before releasing his hold on Hu Feifei.
Without support, Hu Feifei tumbled out of the water ball and onto the barrier Jing Li had erected, her appearance completely disheveled.
The Camphor Tree Spirit had indeed told her that Jing Li’s attack method was water and that his strength was not low.
But previously, she had not taken the Camphor Tree Spirit’s words too seriously. In her eyes, he was merely an insignificant low-level demon that she could easily crush. His mention of Jing Li’s power had only meant that Jing Li could at most restrain a creature like the Camphor Tree Spirit.
However, after their initial clash in the forest, she realized Jing Li’s strength was higher than she had anticipated. But she had always been overconfident in her own abilities, thinking that his previous advantage had been merely a stroke of luck, and that his power would have been weakened after their encounter.
But as a precaution, she had chosen to hold back until reaching the sea to attack with full force. Since Jing Li’s attack method was water, the sea would be the most advantageous domain for him, so surely, he would let down his guard.
Her plan had been to strike him fatally while he was off his guard.
But now, she realized she had been mistaken.
Unfortunately, reality would not give her a chance to make amends.
As for Jing Li…
Sensing something amiss, Hu Feifei looked up at Jing Li, spitefully accusing, “So you knew about our plot all along?”
Hu Feifei suddenly recalled the sparse information the Camphor Tree Spirit had relayed to her, and his repeated refusals to meet them on the grounds that his spiritual power had been severely damaged.
Now it seemed suspicious. The old thing must have kept a backup plan, wanting to watch them fight to the bitter end while also fearing they might not be able to overcome Jing Li’s retaliation.
“Our”? So this had been a group operation, and she was just the one sent in as the vanguard?
Jing Li raised an eyebrow but did not engage her words. Instead, he said, “I’ll give you two choices. Either maintain your human form and obediently participate in the program, and we’ll deal with the rest later.”
“Or I can just put you out of your misery right here.”
He then let out a light chuckle, though his eyes held no mirth. His tone was icy as he remarked, “After all, accidents happening at the bottom of the sea resulting in a death or two are not exactly uncommon, are they?”
Meeting his frigid gaze, Hu Feifei shuddered involuntarily.
This was the first time in her long life that she had felt her very existence threatened, and it filled her with fear.
“I-I choose the first one,” she stammered fearfully.
Her cowering, servile demeanor was a far cry from her previous arrogance.
“You better behave yourself after you leave. Otherwise, I don’t mind exposing your true form in front of the humans,” Jing Li said, regarding her coolly.
Hu Feifei looked at him with horrified eyes.
Revealing her true form in front of humans would mean suffering the punishment of the laws and enduring the agony of being struck by a thousand thunderbolts. And the humans who witnessed her would have their memories cleansed, forgetting everything.
She had thought Jing Li was showing some compassion for his own kind, but now it seemed he was simply trying to minimize the trouble.
Hu Feifei quickly reined in her previous scheming thoughts and obediently nodded, swearing an oath to the heavens, which seemed to appease the young man somewhat.
*
The diving instructor had just jumped into the sea when he felt the strap holding the high-definition camera and light above him suddenly jerk, and the equipment immediately plunged into the water.
As he dove down to try and retrieve the equipment, a school of fish suddenly swam in front of him, blocking his movement. By the time the fish dispersed, the strap was nowhere to be seen, having fallen into the depths.
He looked up, intending to inform the guests and ask them to wait, but the opposite side was completely empty, without a single person in sight.
The instructor grew anxious and concerned for the guests’ safety. He considered swimming over to find them first before retrieving the equipment, but the water was already quite deep, and the dimming light made it difficult to discern direction.
Deciding it was best to act quickly, he took a deep breath and plunged downwards, aiming to recover the gear as swiftly as possible before going after the two.
The deeper he went, the darker it became. By the time he reached the seafloor, he could only make out the vague outlines. Straining his eyes through the mask, he carefully scanned the area, inch by inch.
After a few minutes of searching, he finally spotted a glimmer of light beneath a rock. Approaching, he found the camera and light fixture wedged in a crevice.
Quickly picking them up and confirming they were undamaged, he reattached the gear to his head and started swimming back up.
However, as he ascended, the surrounding water suddenly grew murky, with sediment from the seabed churning upwards.
The ocean could be treacherous and prone to sudden storms. Being a seasoned diver, the instructor recognized the signs immediately, his expression changing to one of alarm.
Fearing the situation in the water might take a dangerous turn, he did not dare delay further and frantically swam upwards in search of the two guests.
Luckily, he had not gone too far when he spotted two figures in the distance, gradually approaching his direction.
He hurriedly swam over and found they were indeed the two guests he had lost earlier. However, the female guest seemed to be in a rather poor state.
Concerned, the instructor gestured for the two to follow him up to the surface. He then grabbed hold of Hu Feifei’s arm, swimming alongside Jing Li back to the boat.
Hearing the commotion in the water, the crew quickly maneuvered the boat over and pulled the three of them aboard.
But as soon as Hu Feifei’s mask was removed, revealing her pallid complexion, one of the staff members couldn’t help but exclaim, “What happened to Ms. Hu Feifei?”
The outburst drew the attention of the other people on the boat, and they all turned to look at Hu Feifei. Jing Li also glanced over at her dispassionately.
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