Chapter 923: Magic Jawbreaker
Several minutes of swimming and groping in the dark later…
‘Well, that’s definitely stuck…at least I managed to get it to the hole’s edge…so is it safe to assume I shouldn’t summon you guys while you’re busy…what are you doing exactly? Filter cultivator?’
[More or less.]
[Hehehe, my skin feels tingly.]
[That and I don’t think we’d even be able to fit down here.]
‘Figures…well then, time to go get one of my cousins.’
[Which one?]
‘The one that’s actually aquatic.’
…Meanwhile…
“Huh? What the…”
“Hmmm? Wassup?”
“Am I going crazy, or does the aether concentration in the water feels… thicker?”
“Can’t really tell. It’s hard enough trying to absorb all of this aether as is.
“Fair enough.”
It should probably go without saying, that not all of the Zhen Clan scions were enjoying the benefits of the [Tempering Spirit Pond] in equal measures.
Whether it was due to innate incompatibility between warrior and treasure, limitations based on one’s aether formula or just general laziness was unknown. Regardless, it was under these conditions that Zhen Hai, who was essentially acting like a fish in water right now, asked his cousins, Zhen Guo and Zhen Feng, who were both struggling to control the surrounding energy as they spoke, if they had noticed anything weird about the magic pond of water they had all been sitting in for the past half hour or so.
It should be noted that absolutely none of them had noticed that Zhen Liu had a short discussion with Zhen Yue before submerging himself, so they couldn’t attribute any weirdness to him.
Yet.
“Guys, I’m serious. The aether in the pond feels a lot more concentrated. Like it’s starting to prickle my skin with how concentrated it’s getting.”
“What, like another source of aether just appeared out of nowhere and began empowering the water?,” Zhen Feng retorted, partially forgetting that he was family with someone who regularly caused such phenomenon to occur.
“Kind of.”
“Hogwash.”
“A silver coin says that the source of this change is probably related to Xiao Liu…again,” Zhen Guo commented while still devoting most of his focus on absorbing the aether in the pond.
“You’re on.”
Splashing sound of someone winning a bet.
“Zhen Hai, I need your help extracting something from a weird passageway I found at the bottom of the pond!”
“Ey yo, wha-WAH!”
In the blink of an eye, Zhen Liu had popped out of the water like a frog or an otter, grabbed Zhen Hai by the shoulder and proceeded to pull him under the water before anyone could say shit.
While this was happening, Zhen Feng was understandably taken aback by the sudden flurry of activity, while Zhen Guo was still meditating the whole damn time.
The two young warriors shared a moment of awkward silence, until Zhen Guo decided to break it.
“Pay up.”
“Bitch…”
…Meanwhile, under the water..
{Note: Aether warriors of sufficient cultivation are able to communicate with one another using their aether in place of words. This is especially useful in places where sound can’t travel, or in incredibly toxic locations where keeping one’s mouth was paramount.}
“Ey yo, what the fuck?!”
“I need your help.”
“Why?”
“Because of that.”
“What?”
“That!”
“Oh!”
When Zhen Hai was initially dragged under by Zhen Liu, the former was getting ready to punch the latter in the face.
He didn’t care that Zhen Liu was technically physically stronger than himself, if you cause shit, you get hit, that’s the rule.
However, any ideas of retaliation and revenge were thoroughly tossed out of a window and into a grinder the moment Zhen Hai realized why Zhen Liu had dragged him under.
“That’s…that’s a big ass pearl.”
“Right? Although, it’s not colored like any pearl I’ve ever seen.”
At the bottom of the [Tempering Spirit Pond], stuck in what appeared to be a giant hole in the ground, was a large, iridescent, predominantly amber-colored pearl that seemed to be radiating with power even with the interference from the surrounding waters…at least, that’s what Zhen Hai initially thought when he detected this weird looking treasure.
Upon closer inspection,he realized that the waters were actually being influenced by this weird pearl. It was if he was staring at the crystallized and concentrated power of the [Tempering Spirit Pond] itself.
“Alright, enough gawking,” Zhen Liu said in order to get his cousin to focus on the present. “I need your help getting it out of the hole.”
“Wait, really? Is there a weird aether seal on it or something?”
“Nah. I just need another pair of hands to pull it out.”
“Bruh.”
Despite his misgivings though, Zhen Hai proceeded to help his cousin extract the beach ball sized pearl from the hole at the bottom of the pond.
____________
That sounds like a country song.
|Shut up.|
___________
“Alright, just put your hand there and…”
Pop!
“Huh…I figured there would be a more dramatic reaction to us taking this thing,” Zhen Hai commented as he and Zhen Liu held the pearl in their hands. “I’m a little disappointed.”
“To be fair, the ‘dramatic thing’ was that dragon-blooded monkey from earlier that laid a beating on grandfather and that hermit teacher of Jinju Ren’s.”
“Oh…wait, was that monkey you mentioned aiming to devour this thing or was empowered by this thing?”
“Probably both.”
“Huh…well, it’s ours now.”
“Yup.”
With their loot secured, the First and Fourth Young Master of the Zhen Clan proceeded to return to the surface to show off their latest prize to the elders and their other cousins.
Unaware that they had essentially discovered something incredibly potent.
Well, Zhen Hai was unaware
…
‘So…this thing is that powerful, huh?’
<=More or less, yes.=>
‘But it’s kind of useless to someone like me, due to…’
=You being much stronger than whatever benefits it could provide.=
‘As supplemental material?’
‘Huh…’
=Are you thinking of just taking the pearl for yourself and using for things, or…=
‘Nah. Gonna let the elders and stuff take a crack at it, break the news and go from there.’
‘Besides, I have you two and a literal infinite library to work with. The chances of me being able to find another one of these things or something equivalent is a lot higher than the average schmuck anyways.’
<=You're not entirely wrong, but still feels like a wasted opportunity.=>
‘The words you’re looking for are “alternative gains”. Having strong family members will help in the long run.’
<=Whatever you say…=>
____________
“Is…Is that a giant amber pearl”
“Uh…we guess?”
“I thought it was a magic jawbreaker.”
“What the fuck is a jawbreaker?”
“Type of candy I saw back in Roaring Tide.”
“Huh…”
When Zhen Hai and Zhen Liu reached the surface,with the beach ball sized pearl in hand, they assumed the elders would be present to explain to them what they had found exactly.
Instead, they had found that while the members of their generation were present, the elders had gone away for the time being.
Apparently a wandering aether beast had showed up entering the perimeter, so they decided to go deal with it. Whether it was to capture or eat it, was unknown at this time.
Regardless, this sudden event just meant that the Zhen Clan scions and associated parties had plenty of time to scrutinize over the nature of the pearl and determine its overall purpose. That and it was just sort of interesting to poke at.
“So…you found this thing at the bottom of the [Tempering Spirit Pond]?,” Zhen Xing asked.
“Yup.”
“Where the aether is usually so dense,” Zhen Yue continued, “that unless someone is like you and has no aether channels that could get overloaded, or like Zhen Hai, who…”
“Who can take on such burdens without crumbling like a bitch.”
“How humble,” Zhen Guo teased.
“Thank you.”
“Who can apparently withstand such conditions,” Zhen Yue continued. “Would never be able to find it under normal conditions.”
“Basically, yeah.”
“Uh huh…”
After this observation was made, the Zhen Clan scions, excluding Zhen Hai, all began to stare at Zhen Liu with flat expressions on their faces.
Zhen Liu wasn’t ignorant of these staring faces, but he decided to let them stew on the emotion for a couple more seconds before finally breaking the awkward silence himself.
“Is there something on my face? Did I actually get scratched by that monkey beast from earlier?”
“Nothing,” Zhen Yue replied. “It’s just…has it ever been brought up that you’re like a walking magnet of fortune and disaster?”
“Someone did once or twice before this moment, yes, but I don’t see how that statement is relevant to this situation.”
“Well…there is a very likely chance that this giant pearl that you and Zhen Hai dug up from the bottom of a pond meant to refine our cultivation, and was guarded by a dragon-blooded monkey beast that was strong enough to beat up our grandfather, is actually some kind of valuable as hell treasure,” Zhen Yue elaborated. “And you seem rather unperturbed by that fact.”
“Meh,” Zhen Liu said as he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s probably not that valuable.”
…Literally seconds later after more knowledgeable people showed up…
“IS THAT A [TEMPERING SPIRIT AMBER PEARL]?!”
“I stand corrected.”
