Roger asked first, "What's the situation there? What are the insurmountable dangers?"
An Guoqing paused, his expression grim, and said, "That place is an underwater river with an extremely shallow current. I estimate the depth to be over two hundred meters. The equipment we used to have couldn't support that depth, and those who went down there never came back. The main problem with that place is its depth, which is why I ordered this batch of high-depth diving suits that can dive to 250 meters to withstand the underwater pressure!"
An Guoqing's meaning was clear: they didn't have precise data on the depth of the underground river there, only an estimate. They had never exceeded that depth before, and even if they passed that lowest point, who knew what lay on the other side of the underground river? If it continued to deepen, into an even deeper underground river, even if they made it across, they might not be able to return. So, even if they made it across, it would still be a life-or-death gamble!
Volume 1, Chapter 392: The Insurmountable Hurdle
Apart from Wei Xiaoyu and Zhou Xuan, everyone else was a true diving expert, so they were adept at wearing diving suits and got into position in a very short time. Zhou Xuan and Wei Xiaoyu, on the other hand, were less skilled and could only be considered pseudo-experts.
While some people use superpowers to make their diving abilities extraordinary, their actual skills, understanding, and adaptation to diving are still inferior to those of others.
Zhou Xuan was slightly better than Wei Xiaoyu, having also experienced diving a few times in the United States. However, compared to those experts who scuba dive every day, he was far behind. For them, diving was as natural as eating and sleeping, something they did daily, while Zhou Xuan only did it when necessary. Although he had experience, his actual skill was far lacking. However, his special ability could compensate for any lack of experience. If his movements were not as good as others, so be it; as long as he could dive longer, that was enough.
Having experienced what happened at Black Dragon Pool, An Guoqing no longer underestimated Zhou Xuan's clumsy movements. On the contrary, he felt that Zhou Xuan was just pretending to be weak. He believed that Zhou Xuan could move freely underwater at a depth of 250 meters and that someone who looked clumsy while wearing a diving suit was a poor diver.
A few minutes later, all eight people were dressed in diving suits and equipment, but all eight looked very nervous, though each had a different mindset.
An Guoqing was anxious about whether he could overcome the hurdle he couldn't overcome before. He didn't know what kind of dangers and difficulties he would face in the future, but this hurdle that he had been unable to overcome for more than ten years had become a worry in his heart, and he thought about this problem all the time.
Zhou Xuan's real concern was whether or not they could find the Nine Star Pearl; that was the key question.
The others, except for Roger, were all somewhat afraid because of their previous encounter at Black Dragon Pool, but they were willing to risk their lives for money.
Of course, this excludes Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying. The two of them would never pay An Guoqing a little money. From beginning to end, Zhou Xuan and the two of them never had any financial cooperation with An Guoqing. Wei Xiaoyu only came because of Zhou Xuan, while Ran Ying was driven by Zhou Xuan's curiosity. On the one hand, she did not believe what Zhou Xuan said, but on the other hand, she was amazed by the strange abilities that Zhou Xuan showed. At the same time, she was shocked by the facts that Zhou Xuan told her, and came with him to explore this underground river under the skylight.
Although Zhou Xuan hadn't gone into the water yet, he had already used his supernatural abilities to conduct a comprehensive survey. The underground area here was indeed complex, with several underground rivers. However, within a 15-meter radius of the inlet, this waterway did not connect with any of the other underground rivers. Beyond 15 meters, there were five connecting points. Because Zhou Xuan's detection range was only about 50 meters, he had not been able to detect any further.
Once everything was ready, An Guoqing waved his hand. Wolf and the Daniel brothers went into the water first, followed by Roger, Zhang Ya Ge, An Guoqing, Zhou Xuan, Wei Xiaoyu, and Fu Ying. The eight of them went into the water one after another, turning on their diving lights as they entered.
Before going into the water, the eight people had already tied guide lines to their backs. Two guide line reels, each 500 meters long, were fixed to the air tanks on each person's back. In the complex underground river, the guide lines were the only reliable way home. This was unlike on land, where compasses, markings, and communicators could be used. But in the underground river, none of these were effective. The strong magnetic field underground rendered compasses useless, and markings were also ineffective, as any marks drawn would be washed away by the current. Communicators would suffer severe quality reduction after passing bends and obstacles, or worse, become completely unusable.
After everyone was in the water, An Guoqing said, "Communication device test, did everyone hear that? If you did, please respond!"
"I heard you!"
"I heard you!"
Everyone who was in front of and behind answered once, and then they descended.
Unlike other underground rivers, which are usually parallel or slightly inclined, this one plunges straight down at almost a 90-degree angle. The entrance is only a little over two meters wide, but it widens as you go down to a depth of five or six meters. At a depth of over ten meters, the underwater width is almost seven or eight meters.
At a depth of about 20 meters, the underground water cave tilts forward, but the terrain is still downward. After another 10 meters or so, there are five water caves in front of the underwater cave. One of them has water flowing out clearly, while the other four are water flowing away.
An Guoqing said, "We don't need to explore the one that comes out of the stream. The other four will meet after about eighty meters, so any of these four streams will lead to the same place. However, there are more than a dozen branching tunnels at the meeting point. We have explored each of these tunnels before, but we could only advance seventy or eighty meters before we couldn't go any further. Each underground river is more than two hundred meters deep at that point. We couldn't cross it before, but we'll figure it out when we get there!"
Next, An Guoqing pointed to a slightly larger opening. A larger opening would be more suitable for a larger group to pass through. The eight people's diving speed was not very fast, but it was not slow either. The air consumption of diving tanks is much less for highly skilled divers than for ordinary divers. This new type of tank can last an ordinary person four and a half hours, but in the hands of these experts, it can last for about six hours.
After entering the water, Zhou Xuan secretly used his supernatural abilities to improve the physical condition of Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying, ensuring that their heartbeats were normal and unaffected by the underwater pressure, thus reducing oxygen consumption.
In underground rivers, even just one more minute of oxygen can be a lifesaver.
Zhou Xuan also paid special attention to the distance between himself and Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying, in case of any danger. Fu Ying didn't pay much attention, but Wei Xiaoyu was always close to him.
Zhou Xuan pushed his superpower to its limit. Although there was some loss, it was only for detection, and compared to the loss from conversion and absorption, it was negligible. When Zhou Xuan obtained the ice energy superpower, detection also caused heavy losses, but now it was different. For him, the level of loss from detection was much lower than that of detection, which could be recovered at any time. As long as he did not incur major superpower losses, detection would not take much effort.
This underground water cave not only gets deeper and deeper, but also has countless stalactites protruding from its walls, as if the water cave was originally transformed from a karst cave.
Sixty meters from the entrance to the water cave, the depth stopped decreasing and remained at approximately one hundred and ten meters. The direction forward was only slightly inclined. After walking another twenty meters, it indeed connected with other exits. However, the surroundings were like a maze, with a total of thirteen cave entrances.
An Guoqing stopped giving directions on which path to take. Previously, each time they descended to these points, they could only go as far as eighty meters through these cave entrances. After that, the underwater passages extended further down to a depth of over two hundred meters, exceeding their diving limits. Going down even just one more meter would cause them to burst from the pressure, so they had to retreat. Some risked their lives for the bounty, but none of them ever returned. Clearly, going down further wasn't just about the depth; there were likely undercurrents, and those who went down were swept away, even their bodies.
Since entering the water, Zhou Xuan has been using his special ability to detect the water molecules here. Strangely, the water molecules here do not contain the energy molecules transformed from the solar flames of the Nine Star Pearl. In other words, they do not contain the molecules found in the well water in Poxin Village. From this, it can be estimated that the underground river of the Seventh Window is not connected to the water in the well in Poxin Village.
This measurement is accurate because Zhou Xuan's current superpower inherently contains the same molecules found in the well water of Poxin Village, which is the energy transformed from the solar flames. Although he possesses this ability, Zhou Xuan still doesn't understand why it allows the people of Poxin Village to live longer after drinking it. This energy is also different from the ice energy superpower.
Previously, Zhou Xuan's ice energy ability was meant to stimulate the body's functions and restore the elderly to the state they were in more than ten years ago. However, the ability of this solar energy molecule directly grants the elderly longevity. It's just that the molecules contained in the well water are extremely weak, so Zhou Xuan couldn't detect much abnormality in the elderly in Poxin Village.
While diving, Zhou Xuan noticed that An Guoqing didn't say anything else. He wondered to himself about the origin of the Nine Dragon Cauldron he possessed. An Guoqing couldn't explain it clearly, only saying that he got it from the skylight of the Three Gates Sea. But which skylight did he get it from?
But why did An Guoqing lead them through this seventh skylight with such certainty? Could it be that they obtained the Nine Dragon Cauldron from this skylight?
It's impossible to figure out unless Liu Zijie, who obtained the Nine Dragon Cauldron back then, is resurrected. Otherwise, no one can figure out the true origin of the Nine Dragon Cauldron. However, Liu Zijie has been dead for almost two hundred years, and this secret is probably buried deep underground with him.
There are thirteen cave entrances ahead. An Guoqing had previously led his team to explore each one, and they all showed that they could only dive to a depth of about eighty meters, so choosing which cave to go to didn't really matter.
Previous diving equipment could not withstand the pressure at depths of over 200 meters, and the cylinder capacity was only two hours. Modern ultra-concentrated cylinders can reach a capacity of four and a half hours, which are heights that previous diving equipment could not achieve.
Even so, Shi Guoqing couldn't guarantee that he would be able to get through that hurdle this time, because that side was still a mystery to him, an unsolvable mystery!
This time, they chose a relatively large opening again. The pressure gauge showed a depth of 135 meters. Everyone carefully made their way through the underground river, as there was not a single air gap. This was even more terrifying than in the Black Dragon Pool. Although they hadn't found anything strange emerging yet, in the Black Dragon Pool, once they surfaced, they were back in the human world. But here, they were surrounded by dark and terrifying underground rivers. One wrong move, and they might be buried in this gloomy, dark river.
Because of the perilous scene in the Black Dragon Pool, everyone was very careful, and Zhou Xuan was even probing the depth and path of the Yin River ahead.
Here, his ability to detect was somewhat hindered, not as smoothly as on land, and he couldn't reach as far. Even when he condensed his power into a beam, he could only detect up to 60 or 70 meters. These rocky cave walls effectively blocked his power from penetrating. He could only detect smoothly in unobstructed water, but the Yinhe Cave was winding and not straight, so his power was also blocked.
Because the river has bends, Zhou Xuan could only detect about 30 meters ahead. The water depth seemed to be increasing, and after diving another 30 meters, the water depth reached 160 meters. An Guoqing also seemed to be getting nervous.
Because An Guoqing had traveled this route before, it took him very little time, just over an hour, to reach the place where they could no longer go.
Ahead lay a deep, sloping cave, 209 meters deep. An Guoqing paused, then said in a deep voice, “Everyone, please be careful. I’ve been here before. Beyond this point lies an insurmountable obstacle. Everyone must be cautious.”
The guide line had been extended about halfway down the wheel, which should be about 250 meters. In other words, it was about 250 meters away from the bottom of the skylight hole where they were going to enter the water.
Although everyone was nervous, fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the diving suits, and the pressure they could withstand did not feel abnormal. In the Black Dragon Pool, they all dived to a depth of about 250 meters, which was, of course, the limit for some of them.
After diving another thirty meters or so, the water depth reached about 245 meters. Even An Guoqing became nervous. This was a place he had never been to before, and a sense of unfamiliar fear spread through his heart.
Zhou Xuan used his supernatural abilities to protect Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying. At the same time, he detected that the underground river had reached its bottom fifteen meters below. He didn't know what lay behind the thick, impenetrable rocks, but the water flow there was somewhat strange. The water was flowing, but not rapidly, as could be seen when the light shone on it.