"Family treasure?" The words hung in the air. Luo Zhen stared at A Bao. "What kind of family treasure?"
A Bao sighed, a hint of sorrow in his eyes. "It seems you truly have no memory of the Black Water Mystic Snake clan, Young Master. The story of this treasure begins long ago, during the Great Upheaval."
He continued, "To seize the bloodline and body of the Silver Flood Dragon, the factions of the lake fought a bitter war that lasted a century. When the chaos finally settled, countless powerful clans had been wiped from existence. Others, like the Cod and Seahorse families, were left clinging to life, mere shadows of their former selves."
"The Cod and Seahorse were our staunchest allies. To ensure their lineages wouldn't die out, they joined forces with the Black Water Mystic Snake clan. Together, our ancestors buried a great treasure in a secret location, sealing it with a powerful enchantment."
"The seal can only be broken by the descendants of all three families working in unison."
"I see," Luo Zhen said, nodding slowly. The pieces were starting to fit. "But how do you know all this? And for that matter, how did the Cod and the Seahorse know who I was?"
"Young Master, I was a core member of the clan, too," A Bao said, a little hurt. "I may not share the Mystic Snake blood, but the family never treated me like an outsider. I knew the secrets."
"As for the others," he explained, "I told them about you. We've stayed in contact all these years, always hoping, always searching for a descendant of the Black Water Mystic Snake so we could finally unlock our shared legacy."
"Well then," Luo Zhen said after a moment. "You'd better invite them in."
"Right away," A Bao replied, hurrying off.
A few moments later, a massive silver cod and a giant, pale-blue seahorse glided into the chamber. Both radiated the power of the early Earth Profound Realm. The moment their eyes landed on Luo Zhen, their faces lit up with pure joy.
"Brother Snake!" the Seahorse cried, his voice brimming with excitement. "We've finally found you!"
"Yes! Now we can finally open the treasure!" the Silver Codfish added, his fins trembling with anticipation.
Luo Zhen's tongue flicked out, tasting the air. "Not so fast, you two," he said, his voice a low hiss. "I'm afraid I have to disappoint you."
"Disappoint us? Brother Snake, what are you talking about?" the Seahorse asked, his excitement instantly turning to confusion.
Luo Zhen chose his words carefully. "The Xuanyin bloodline in me… It's incredibly thin. I may not have the strength to help you break the seal."
"How can that be? You're a Black Water Mystic Snake, aren't you?" the Seahorse pressed, clearly stunned.
"Technically, no," Luo Zhen admitted calmly. "I simply carry a trace of your ancestor's bloodline."
"That's… impossible," the Seahorse stammered. "The Xuanyin bloodline belongs to the Black Water Mystic Snakes alone. If you have the blood, you are a Mystic Snake. There's no other way."
Luo Zhen just offered a cryptic smile.
The Seahorse turned to his companion. "Brother Codfish, what do you make of this?"
The Silver Codfish was silent for a long moment. "If I remember correctly," he said slowly, "the seal only requires the presence of the Xuanyin bloodline. It might not matter if he's a true Black Water Mystic Snake or not."
"He's right!" the Seahorse exclaimed, his hope reignited. He turned back to Luo Zhen. "It doesn't matter! As long as the bloodline is there, it should work!"
"Brother Codfish and I searched this entire lake for decades. You have to be the last one. The very last." His voice was pleading. "Your bloodline might be weak, but it has to be enough!"
He paused, then made his offer. "Come with us, Brother Snake. Please. If we open the seal, one-third of everything inside is yours."
An offer like this, dropped right in his lap, was too good to refuse. Still, he had to be cautious.
"Where is this place?" Luo Zhen asked.
"Outside the Chaotic Waters," the Seahorse explained. "About five hundred miles east, there's a desolate wasteland called the Pit of Scattered Rocks. The treasure is hidden in there."
Luo Zhen nodded, mentally pulling up his system map. A quick scan confirmed it: the Pit of Scattered Rocks showed no signs of immediate danger.
"Alright," he said. "I'm in."
"Fantastic!" the Seahorse beamed. "Let's go now!"
They left the Chaotic Waters behind, the Seahorse and Silver Codfish leading the way toward the pit. An hour later, they arrived at the edge of a gaping maw in the seabed, so vast they couldn't see the other side. Its depths churned with a lurid, green life—a thick, moving carpet of aquatic weeds.
"This is it," the Seahorse said, noticing Luo Zhen's apprehension. "The treasure is sealed in the very center."
"A word of warning, Brother Snake," he added grimly. "Be careful on the way down. The weeds here… they're hungry."
"Hungry? What do you mean?"
"These aren't normal plants. They constrict and devour living things," the Seahorse explained. "Even at our level, if you get careless, they will tear you apart. As long as we stay on high alert, though, we should be fine."
Luo Zhen eyed the thick, pulsating stalks below. "So, they eat flesh. Like the carnivorous plants on land."
The Seahorse nodded. "It's a blessing, in a way. Their viciousness keeps this place completely barren of other life. It's why our treasure has remained untouched for so long."
"Alright," he said, shaking off the thought. "No more talk. Let's do this."
With a grunt, the Seahorse expelled a shimmering curtain of water that wrapped around him like a shield. He plunged into the pit, and the instant the carnivorous weeds touched the barrier, they recoiled as if shocked.
The Silver Codfish followed, streams of frost pouring from his mouth, flash-freezing any plants that got too close. He was an ice-wielder, too.
Seeing his companions' methods, Luo Zhen unleashed his own icy breath, creating a path for himself as he descended into the deadly green maze.
Protected by their powers, they navigated the treacherous weeds for a good half hour until the suffocating greenery suddenly gave way to a wide, open space. It was a clearing, like a small town square on the seafloor, barren except for a few scattered rocks.
At its center, an intricate pattern was carved into the ground, marked with three small, distinct indentations.
"The seal," the Seahorse announced. "All we have to do is place a drop of our essence blood into each of these slots, and it should open."
The indentations in the stone were small, no bigger than a thumbnail. A single drop of blood would be more than enough.
The Seahorse and the Silver Codfish each pricked themselves, letting a drop of crimson essence fall. Luo Zhen focused his demonic energy, forcing a single, dark drop of his own blood to the surface. One by one, they let their offerings fall into the slots.
Instantly, the indentations for the Seahorse and the Silver Codfish flared with a blinding light. But Luo Zhen's slot remained dark and lifeless.
"What's happening?" the Seahorse muttered, his voice tight with anxiety. "Is the Xuanyin bloodline too weak?"
"I don't know," Luo Zhen said, his eyes fixed on the seal. "Give it a second."
Ten long seconds ticked by. Just as the Seahorse's patience was about to snap, Luo Zhen's indentation began to glow, a faint but steady light that slowly grew to match the others.
With all three slots activated, the entire pattern on the ground began to rotate. A low grinding sound echoed through the water until, with a final, decisive CLICK, a section of the floor sank away, revealing a dark, gaping hole large enough for all of them to enter.
"It's open," the Seahorse breathed, sagging with relief. "The treasure is in there! I'm going in!" Without another word, he plunged into the darkness.
The Silver Codfish and Luo Zhen were right behind him.
The passage opened into a cavernous chamber, a hidden world beneath the seafloor. It was immense, easily a thousand square meters, lined with row upon row of shelves.
But as they took in the sight, the Seahorse's initial excitement curdled into disappointment. "There's… almost nothing here."
The Silver Codfish sighed, a heavy, weary sound. "It seems we got our hopes up for nothing. I expected priceless artifacts, not just a few common spirit stones and herbs."
"You're wrong," Luo Zhen said suddenly. "This place was once filled with treasures."
"What makes you say that, Brother Snake?" the Seahorse asked.
"Look closer at the floor."
They did. And then they saw it. A fine, dense network of roots snaked across the entire chamber floor. They were the same color as the stone and grew so flat against it that they were nearly invisible.
"The roots!" the Seahorse roared, shock turning to fury. "The roots absorbed everything?!"
"It appears so," Luo Zhen said, drifting over to a shelf. "You see? They've crawled up onto the shelves themselves. Most of these boxes are empty, their contents long since digested." Judging by the faint aura left behind, the boxes had once held priceless alchemical pills.
"DAMN IT ALL!" the Seahorse bellowed. "Where did they even come from?"
"Where do you think? The weeds in the pit," the Silver Codfish said grimly. "They may look like plants, but they grow like trees. It would have been nothing for their roots to push down this far." He let out another heavy sigh. "We can only blame ourselves for taking so long. If we had gotten here sooner, all of this would have been ours."
The words only made the Seahorse angrier.
"Raging won't change anything," the Silver Codfish said, his tone pragmatic. "Let's just divide what's left. There may not be many spirit stones, but it's enough to get us to the mid-stage of the Earth Profound Realm. It's not a total loss."
"After we're done here, I'm going to rip out every single one of these roots," the Seahorse snarled. "And then I'm going to burn every last one of those weeds outside to ash."
While they began collecting the remaining stones and herbs, Luo Zhen, who had little need for such things, let his gaze wander. His eyes landed on a dusty shelf in the far corner. On it sat a single, leather-bound manual next to a large, sealed ceramic vat.
Curious, he swam over and opened the book. Two minutes later, he closed it, a rare look of excitement on his face.
It was a manual for a body tempering technique. And the vat next to it held all the necessary ingredients.
"Brother Snake? What did you find?" the Silver Codfish asked, noticing his strange behavior.
"A manual," Luo Zhen replied, holding it out.
The Silver Codfish took it, and his eyes widened in shock after reading only a few lines. "This is… this is my clan's Molten Gold Body technique! This is a Heaven Profound Realm art! Master this, and you could withstand a full-force blow from a peak Heaven Profound expert!"
"Molten Gold Body? I think I've heard of that," the Seahorse murmured, swimming over.
The Silver Codfish finished the manual, his voice filled with renewed wonder. "And the supplementary materials are here, too?" He looked at the vat. "This must be full of them! The primary ingredient should be Golden Marrow Worms!"
He pried open the lid. A soft, golden light pulsed from within. As it faded, they saw the vat was filled with a host of shimmering ingredients, the most numerous of which were chopstick-sized, crystalline worms that looked as if they were spun from pure gold.
"Golden Marrow Worms, just as I thought!" the Silver Codfish declared.
"Congratulations, Brother Codfish," the Seahorse said sincerely. "You've recovered a lost art of your clan."
The Silver Codfish just nodded, a wide grin spreading across his face.
"Brother Codfish," Luo Zhen said suddenly, cutting through the celebratory mood. "How about you let me have this manual and the materials?"
He held up a hand to stop the immediate protest. "In exchange, you can have my entire share of the treasure."
The Silver Codfish paused, his gills fluttering in thought. "Your entire share? But… this technique is priceless. With these materials, the Molten Gold Body is a certainty!"
Luo Zhen smiled. "Let's cut to the chase. What will it take for you to make the trade?"
The Silver Codfish considered it. "Alright. Since you're serious… throw in another hundred low-grade spirit stones, and we have a deal."
"A hundred low-grade stones?" Luo Zhen chuckled. With a slight heave, he coughed up ten glowing stones from his gullet. Unlike the others in the room, these pulsed with a richer, deeper light. Demon beasts, lacking spatial storage, often kept valuable items in their stomachs. Luo Zhen had prepared these for just such an occasion.
"These are ten mid-grade spirit stones," Luo Zhen said coolly. "By my count, that's exactly what one hundred low-grade stones are worth."