Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World

Chapter 1003: Chapter 525: Pearls in the Clam Shell_2

After washing off the bloodstains with the stream water, he reached into the water again and suddenly sensed something unusual.

As Er Gou was about to scoop up some water to drink, Gu Sheng hastily stopped him.

"Wait, don’t drink!"

Hearing this, Er Gou was stunned, and the water slipped away from his fingers.

"Brother Sheng, what’s wrong?"

"Something’s off with the water."

"What? How come I haven’t noticed anything?"

"There’s a fluctuation of spiritual power in the water. It’s very faint, but it’s there."

Er Gou shook his hand vigorously, then wiped his hand forcefully on his clothes, as if he had touched something dirty.

Seeing him like this, Gu Sheng couldn’t help but chuckle.

"I said there’s spiritual power in the water, not dirt. What’s with the fuss?"

Er Gou scratched his head awkwardly: "I’m just afraid of extra trouble..."

Gu Sheng smiled and reached into the water again. After carefully sensing it, he suddenly bent down, paddling through the water as he headed toward the mountain.

After walking for quite a while, he finally stopped.

"There’s something in the water, right here."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked into the water but couldn’t see anything.

"Brother Sheng, where’s the thing?"

"Yeah, the water is so clear, I can see the bottom at a glance. Why can’t I see anything?"

Actually, Gu Sheng couldn’t see anything either, but he felt it. He knew his senses wouldn’t be wrong.

After pondering for a moment, he directly took off his outer robe.

Seeing him like this, Huang Shan nervously held him back.

"Brother Sheng, there are countless dangers in South Mountain, and this water may seem clear, but it’s not as simple as it looks. You better not go down."

"There’s definitely a fluctuation of spiritual power in the water. I must investigate. Wait for me here, I won’t be long."

Having said that, Gu Sheng leaped into the water.

Everyone watched as his figure submerged into the water, then witnessed his silhouette vanish before their eyes.

At the moment Gu Sheng’s silhouette disappeared, everyone couldn’t believe their eyes and rubbed them.

They had been watching him closely; how did he disappear?

For a moment, everyone’s heart was in their throats.

Underwater, Gu Sheng was diving down toward the source of the spiritual power.

After an unknown amount of time, he flipped over block after block of stone, finally spotting a huge clam.

He reached out to confirm the spiritual power was emanating from there and immediately swam toward it.

To be safe, he released divine power around himself and then slowly approached.

Unexpectedly, it seemed the clam had no attack power. Until his hand touched the clam shell, it remained motionless.

Surprised, Gu Sheng tried various ways to open the clam shell, but none succeeded.

As the oxygen in his abdomen began to deplete, necessitating his return to the surface, he reluctantly retracted his divine power, withdrew all defenses, and turned around to leave, when suddenly there was a booming sound from behind.

A string of bubbles raced toward him, and astonished, Gu Sheng turned his head.

He glanced back just in time to see the clam shell open!

For a moment, he was indescribably excited.

To prevent the clam shell from closing again, Gu Sheng released his divine power.

However, as soon as his divine power reached the shell, the clam closed again.

After a brief pause, Gu Sheng seemed to have figured something out and promptly withdrew his divine power.

Sure enough, without the aggression, the clam shell opened once more.

Realizing what was happening, Gu Sheng dared not use divine power again and swiftly moved forward, collecting all the pearls inside the clam shell into his storage ring.

Feeling waves of spiritual energy flooding into his body, Gu Sheng only dared to open his Dantian and absorb all the spiritual energy.

In an instant, the spiritual energy in the stream vanished as if it had never existed.

Gu Sheng’s lungs compressed to their limit, and as the clam shell slowly disappeared, he swiftly swam back to the surface.

At this moment, the people on the shore were sweating bullets, tense from not seeing his figure for so long, their hearts sinking steadily, and their minds filled with troubling thoughts.

Just as they were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, Gu Sheng burst out from the water and grabbed hold of the bank, panting heavily.

Seeing him, Shi Lou and the others’ eyes lit up.

"Brother Sheng, you finally returned!"

"Brother Sheng, are you alright?"

Seeing their anxious looks, Gu Sheng quickly waved his hand to indicate he was fine.

Huang Shan and Er Gou came forward to pull him up, one on each side.

Gu Sheng sat heavily on the bank, feeling the cold air drum into his lungs, empty yet uncomfortably full as it entered.

Touching his chest gently, Gu Sheng carefully released divine power.

Finding nothing amiss, he finally felt at ease using divine power to recover his body.

After a while, he finally evened out his breath.

Seeing him like this, Shi Lou felt deeply distressed.

"Brother Sheng, it’s better not to take such risks next time; it’s really too dangerous."

After he spoke, Er Gou nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, the water looked clear to the bottom, but once you dove in, you disappeared after a short time, showing there’s something strange underwater. What if we encounter water monsters like last time? That would be bad."

Hearing his words, Gu Sheng curled his lips and flipped his wrist, revealing a pearl-like gem in his palm.

Er Gou was still muttering, but seeing the pearl, his words came to an abrupt halt.

Huang Shan’s eyes brightened, and he reached out to touch the pearl.

"Brother Sheng, is this... a Luminous Pearl?"

"No, it’s a pearl from inside the clam shell that can greatly enhance spiritual power—one pearl is equivalent to ten pieces of high-level Spirit Stones."

As Gu Sheng finished speaking, everyone’s jaws dropped in astonishment.

"Brother Sheng, you say this small pearl is worth ten high-level Spirit Stones?"

"Yes, this is what’s been emanating spiritual energy from the stream."

"Did the pearl just grow in the water?"

"Of course not. These pearls grow in the clam shell, and it was by chance that I got them—there are more than ten pearls, one for each of us."

Gu Sheng took out all the pearls and distributed one to each person.

With not enough left to go around, Gu Sheng seemed a bit troubled.

Understanding his thoughts, Huang Shan smiled and said, "Brother Sheng, you keep the remaining ones. If we encounter trouble, you can use the pearls to save us."

After he spoke, Shi Lou also nodded with a smile.

"Yes, keeping them with you is like having a life-saving item; if I didn’t like mine so much, I’d want to give it to you too."

Hearing his words, Gu Sheng quickly withdrew his hand.

"What belongs to who, let them keep it; the remaining ones I’ll keep, and if anyone breaks through, I’ll give them a pearl."

"Alright, we’ll do as Brother Sheng says."

While everyone joyfully fiddled with their pearls, Huang Shan suddenly stood up.

Looking eastward, his expression quickly turned tense.

"Brother Sheng, someone seems to be coming from over there. I don’t know which sect they belong to."

Hearing this, Gu Sheng quickly got up.

Glancing over, he immediately grabbed Er Gou beside him.

"Quickly stash your things; we’re leaving."

With these words, he didn’t wait for Er Gou to respond, pulling him along as they moved forward.

Er Gou, pulled forward, finally put away his things.

Gu Sheng chose a secluded path, leading the group southwest.

Entirely, after two hours, the pursuers finally disappeared.

As darkness approached, Shi Lou pointed to the right and said, "Brother Sheng, it looks like we can take a break over there—why don’t we rest first?"

Thinking about it, Gu Sheng nodded.

"Alright, let’s head over there. Tonight we’ll take turns keeping watch to prevent those from Purple Mist Peak from catching up."

Hearing this, the group finally understood.

"Brother Sheng, are the people we saw today from Purple Mist Peak?" Shi Lou asked in surprise.

"And Heisha Sect," Gu Sheng added.

"Did they find us so quickly?"

Recalling the scene at that time, Gu Sheng denied this notion.

"They probably weren’t searching for us specifically. They must have discovered the spiritual power in the water and tracked it from downstream."

"So if we hadn’t obtained the pearls, they would have ended up with the treasure?"

"Perhaps."

"Thankfully, we got them; otherwise, if they fell into the hands of those villains, just thinking about it makes me upset!"