Chapter Eighty-Eight: Breaking Through the Deep Sea Ice

In truth, compared with the secret of the Heaven-Spirit Lock, what Lei Dong cared about most was always the condition of his comrades. Whenever he thought back to that earthshaking blow, a chill of lingering dread rose in his heart. Though his comrades had merely been caught in the fallout of the clash between the Glutton and Divine Punishment, Lei Dong still dared not be sure they had escaped grave injury.

And when he looked at Huang Xiwen lying quietly on the ground nearby, he felt a nameless terror seize him. One comrade, one elder brother, had already been lost; there could not be a second.

Yet before he could confirm whether the Glutton truly meant no harm, Lei Dong did not dare let his mind wander. He could only grow more and more anxious in silence. It was only after a few brief exchanges that he realized this oddly shaped but formidable fellow really bore no ill will, and that he was determined not to speak of the Heaven-Spirit Lock’s secret. At that point, Lei Dong swiftly shifted the focus of the conversation elsewhere.

First he pretended to mention something the Glutton feared, testing him. Once he confirmed that the Glutton really was afraid, he immediately pressed the advantage, driving him step by step into a corner. He frightened him first, then angered him, and then used a single “unless...” to let that anger subside while hinting that there was another way. The wary Glutton had indeed been struck in his weakest spot. As soon as he heard there was still room to bargain, he immediately settled for the next best thing and agreed to do one thing for Lei Dong.

Of course, Lei Dong was gambling as well. He was betting not only that the Glutton feared that subject, but also that the slight wariness toward him that had slipped through in the Glutton’s words was real.

And indeed, Lei Dong won his bet.

The poor Glutton had lived for more than two thousand years and prided himself on broad experience, but he could never have imagined that in the present world there would be such a thing as a special forces sniper, let alone that he would be quietly trapped by the practices of behavioral psychology, linguistic psychology, and negotiation psychology, not to mention the skillful application of superb negotiation tactics, all at the hands of a youngster who looked scarcely older than twenty.

Now, having finally maneuvered this ancient spirit who had awakened before the founding of the nation into falling for it, Lei Dong felt quite pleased with himself. Such a vast and ancient being from legend ought not to break his word, should he?

Who would have thought that fear would indeed bring about exactly what one feared most? The moment the word “healing” was mentioned, the Glutton’s great head shook furiously like a rattle drum.

“No way! I won’t treat them!”

“Damn it!” Lei Dong instantly blew up. After all that effort, he was still refusing to help? Fine, then! Lei Dong jumped and shouted, “Heavenly Immortals—”

That phrase truly deserved its reputation as an infallible curse. The Glutton immediately wilted.

“Hold on, hold on, don’t shout! Why do you fly off the handle so fast? It’s not that I don’t want to help. It’s just... it’s just...”

“What is it?” Lei Dong found it strange that the Glutton kept hemming and hawing without saying a word. Could this fellow have some unspeakable difficulty?

After a long, grunting struggle, and with Lei Dong pressing him more and more urgently, the Glutton finally had no choice but to say, “The truth is, I can’t...”

Lei Dong was astonished. “You can’t? What do you mean you can’t? With cultivation as high as yours, you can’t even heal a few minor injuries?”

The Glutton shook his huge head and said with self-assured finality, “Who told you that having high cultivation means you can definitely heal wounds? You there—do you think I, the Glutton, come from dragonkind? We dragonkind, do you understand? We are for fighting, not like those little ladies from the Witch Sect, who are the ones responsible for healing injuries, all right?”

“The Witch Sect?” Lei Dong subconsciously glanced at Shuiyao, who was still lying motionless on the ground. So there really was such a thing? Fighting—fighting whom? Was the battle he had once seen in his dreams, between those birdmen and the men and women in ancient attire, part of it? And where had those battles taken place?

And healing—healing whom?

Lei Dong felt as though he had learned many things today he had never even heard of before, yet the truth remained shrouded in layer upon layer of fog. Judging from this glutton’s expression, he seemed to know a great many things. Could he think of some way to coax a little information out of him?

Lei Dong frowned and rolled the matter over in his mind, but the Glutton had grown somewhat impatient.

“Originally, if you little Daoist priests all had even a tiny trace of dragon blood, it wouldn’t have been impossible for me to help out a bit. But I really can’t do this. Still, you don’t need to make such a long face. Those few little Daoist priests were not badly hurt. In less than half an hour, they’ll wake up.”

“Really?” Lei Dong was both shocked and delighted.

The Glutton, however, seemed deeply dissatisfied with Lei Dong’s reaction. He stuck out his neck and shouted, “What do you mean, really? Drop the ‘really’ and it’s true! Do I have any need to lie to you? Believe me, if I just puffed out a breath, the few of you little Daoist priests would all turn into dead Daoist priests. Besides, you’ve already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, and those little Daoist men and women are at least at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Yet you still couldn’t even handle that birdman, whose strength was at most that of the mid-Golden Core stage. You’re far too weak. Has the cultivation world really declined to this point now? You’re simply embarrassing me, Lord Glutton...”

“Mid-Golden Core stage?” Lei Dong could hardly believe his ears. That white pillar of light, which had seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth, which had driven him and his team into such a miserable state that every one of them was wounded, even costing the life of one comrade, was only equivalent to the power of the mid-Golden Core stage?

How could that be?

Then what realm did that final white radiance, carrying such world-shattering force, correspond to?

Lei Dong’s heart suddenly grew heavy.

Still, after a moment he set those thoughts aside. No matter what, the immediate danger had passed. At worst, once he returned to base, he could find that old fraud of a master and ask him carefully. What was pressing now was how to break through the thick ice in front of them.

Just as the Glutton continued babbling about being “embarrassing” and the like, Lei Dong hurriedly cut him off. “All right, all right. You’re number one under heaven, you sweep across the universe, you swallow all three realms—fine. But what about the thing you agreed to do for me? You’re not trying to renege, are you?”

The Glutton’s tiny pea eyes glared furiously at Lei Dong. After a resentful grumble, he finally said unwillingly, “Speak. As long as you’re not asking me to look after the few of you little Daoist priests, I’m not a nanny...”

From the Glutton’s expression, Lei Dong could tell he was indeed on the verge of backing out, only held in check by the way he had been verbally cornered. The more he looked at him, the more Lei Dong felt that although this fellow spoke arrogantly and had lived many years, he was in truth not all that thick-skinned. Or to put it more bluntly, he was a little dim—if he didn’t want to do it, why not just turn and run? Could Lei Dong really have stopped him?

What Lei Dong did not know was whether this matter at hand was something the fellow was willing to do, or even had the ability to do. But Lei Dong felt his own skin was much thicker than this dim-witted creature’s, and without the least courtesy, he pointed toward the sea.

“Then break open the ice on the sea for me.”

The Glutton was instantly delighted. His pancake-like body spun round and round in midair. His mouth stretched so wide it looked as though it might tear his body in two. With a note of pleasant surprise, he asked, “Just this? You’re serious?”

The ice on the sea was several meters thick, covering a stretch of water more than a hundred li across. Under the sunlight it shimmered with a blinding white brilliance. According to the plan, the research vessel Snow Dragon, which was to receive them, was already less than an hour away and should soon be within the ice-covered zone. Though this region was near the Antarctic ice continent, it was not yet the season when the seawater froze, so when the research vessel arrived, it would probably not be accompanied by an icebreaker.

Lei Dong felt that with his own physical strength, breaking the ice within a certain area would not necessarily be difficult. But to clear a complete passage through it would probably not be possible in a short time. And once too much time passed, who knew what might happen? Would the military of the Minya Federation, having lost an entire reinforced company of Sea God Assault Troops, do something desperate and throw this operation into massive uncertainty, even turning victory into defeat at the last moment?

So Lei Dong could only place his hopes in this glutton, whose power far surpassed his own, and hope he had such a skill. Yet who would have thought that the moment he heard the request, the fellow would be overjoyed, looking as though he had just gotten the better end of the deal? Could there be some hidden catch in this?

Still, the most urgent thing was to open a route across the sea. Since this glutton had the ability, who cared what tricks there might be, or whether he was taking advantage of the situation? Lei Dong nodded hard and said with absolute certainty, “Of course I’m serious. The only question is whether you have that ability.”

The Glutton was visibly excited now. He paid Lei Dong’s suspicion no mind at all. Somersaulting in midair, he landed on the ice with a thud. With a loud boom, the ice beneath him exploded into a gaping hole. His figure vanished instantly beneath the surface, and from under the water came a burst of excited shouting.

“Remember this, boy: besides my original name, I have another one, and it is Sky-Devourer!”

“Sky-Devourer? Isn’t that just a glutton?” Lei Dong snorted with laughter.

At that instant, crackling sounds rang out in endless succession. The thick ice sheet suddenly split open with a crack dozens of meters wide and more than a hundred meters long. A faint white radiance rose up, but it had no chance to reach the sky; instead, like flowing water on the surface of the sea, it was drawn straight into the Glutton’s gaping mouth. Then the Glutton’s voice rang directly in Lei Dong’s mind.

“Delicious, delicious. What a tasty holy light. That’ll keep me fed for a while...”

“Damn it, so he’s still eating it after all! As expected of a glutton—he’ll eat anything, meat or vegetables alike...” Lei Dong nearly sat down flat on the ground. Then he suddenly remembered something and shouted, “To the south! Make the passage wider to the south!”

The Glutton answered from afar, “You think you need to tell me that? That big ship seventy li to the south, right? A few little fellows on board are already getting anxious, hahaha, this is fun!”

Lei Dong was struck with alarm. To be able to sense movement seventy li away so effortlessly—this glutton really was formidable.

Still, as he watched the ice sheet break apart at high speed across the sea, a huge weight finally lifted from Lei Dong’s heart. He rose to his feet, ready to walk toward the place where his comrades lay sprawled, when he suddenly noticed that the crack in the ice had come to an abrupt halt.

The next moment, the Glutton’s great head emerged from the sea.

“Boy, let me ask you—how did you figure it out?”

“Figure out what?” Lei Dong was a little dazed.

“What else?” the Glutton said in a tone of bitter disappointment. “The Heaven-Spirit Lock, of course!”

Within his spiritual sense, Lei Dong could clearly feel the Glutton’s little eyes rolling around, as though he would not rest in peace without an answer. Lei Dong could not help laughing aloud. “Figure out my ass! You really thought that if you just gave me the beginning of a thing, I’d be able to guess the ending? I was fooling you—”

Splash!

The Glutton shuddered all over and toppled helplessly back into the seawater he had just opened, sending up a tremendous spray. Only after a long while did a resentful voice ring in Lei Dong’s mind.

“Boy, you’re vicious!”

Immediately afterward, the ice on the sea split apart even faster. The cracking and shattering of the ice rang out in a dense, continuous roar, so packed together it could not be distinguished one sound from the next. The white light rising again and again, wrapped around the Glutton’s mouth, now opened to a span of several dozen meters, and stretched swiftly southward, as though only by doing so could it properly express the Glutton’s fury.

Lei Dong could not help laughing again.

But the instant his gaze fell upon Huang Xiwen lying on the ground, his laughter stopped abruptly, replaced by boundless sorrow.

Step by step, his face grave, Lei Dong walked to Huang Xiwen’s side. After a long while, his right hand slowly rose and pressed to his temple, and together with his comrades, he offered the most solemn military salute.