Chapter 095: The Third Divine Power!

The truth of the rumor could not be verified.

But the fire evil hidden in the fissure was real. It was merely troublesome to collect.

At a depth of more than a thousand meters, the water pressure alone was beyond what ordinary martial artists could withstand.

It was true that once a martial artist’s vital energy and blood reached one hundred units and they stepped into the professional rank, they could condense protective internal force to defend themselves.

Yet in the lake, pressure from every direction came endlessly and relentlessly; a professional-ranked martial artist’s protective force could not endure it at all and would be crushed and burst apart together with the body it was meant to shield.

Only after breaking through to the master rank, and relying on one’s imposing aura, could one contend with the water pressure.

As for how long one could maintain it, that depended on one’s vital energy and blood.

Someone with eight hundred units would naturally last far longer than someone with two hundred.

The same held true for grandmasters.

Of course, in this modern age the New World also had submarines, and there was no problem reaching the bottom of the lake by submarine.

But the people who went to the depths of Crimson Lake were basically there to gather fire evil.

If one stayed inside a submarine, how could it be collected?

So the problem ultimately returned to the martial artist himself.

If one’s strength was insufficient, going down to the bottom of Crimson Lake to gather fire evil was utterly unrealistic.

As for master- and grandmaster-level martial artists descending into the water to collect fire evil for money, there were such people, but not many.

That was why, despite the presence of fire evil at the bottom of Crimson Lake, its abundance had never changed much.

If Tang Mubai went, he would certainly be able to gather a great deal.

The terrifying pressure of over a thousand meters of water depth was a major problem in the eyes of others, but for Tang Mubai it was hardly anything.

A mid-tier divine power, pressure control, was more than enough to resist the crushing force of the lake water.

Tang Mubai only needed to bring some simple diving gear, mainly an oxygen tank.

He was confident he could resist the water pressure, but he did not dare guarantee that he could hold his breath underwater for several hours.

And right, he would also need a container for storing the evil energy.

After making up his mind, Tang Mubai immediately placed an order for the equipment on the martial arts network’s marketplace.

By the time evening was drawing near, the required gear had been delivered to his door.

After receiving it, Tang Mubai did not even take it back to his room, but simply threw it into the car.

After dinner, he kept his young cousin company while she watched television, waited until the little girl had gone to sleep, and then waited until after midnight.

Only then did Tang Mubai take his C-rank alloy combat blade and leave the house, driving toward Crimson Lake.

At midnight, there were almost no pedestrians on the streets, and even fewer vehicles.

Tang Mubai sped all the way from the eastern district to the western district. As he neared Crimson Lake, he found a secluded corner to park the car, took his gear and weapon, and walked the rest of the way on foot.

Because a magma conduit passed beneath its depths, Crimson Lake, which covered nearly eight thousand mu, was in truth a lava lake. Only the amount of magma was small, and it lay too deep, so the lake water did not boil much.

Naturally, the water of Crimson Lake could not be drunk, but when used to irrigate crops it had the miraculous effect of healing them.

Even the silt at the bottom of the lake was the finest fertilizer.

This had led to all the land along the lake’s shores being developed and planted with grain.

Even the two hilltops on either side of Crimson Lake were covered with all manner of crops.

The famed Crimson Lake Rice, harvested four times a year, was one of the thirty-eighth region’s most important staples.

With such a vast area, it was easy for Tang Mubai to find a secluded place to enter the water. Once he had finished putting on his equipment, he quickly stepped into the lake.

The moment his whole body submerged, Tang Mubai switched on the underwater lamp, and at the same time pushed his perception to its limit, walking step by step toward the center of the lake.

The fissure, more than a thousand meters deep, lay at the very heart of Crimson Lake.

Tang Mubai moved quickly along the lake bottom. When he was about to reach the center, a dark ravine appeared before him, more than a thousand meters long and over a hundred meters wide.

If the rest of the bottom of Crimson Lake could still be called fairly level, then this ravine was like a gaping mouth, a terrifying abyss.

The conduit through which magma passed lay at the bottom of that abyss, within the even darker fissure.

Tang Mubai stood at the edge and looked down for a moment, then raised his protective internal force and jumped in.

Elsewhere in Crimson Lake there were all kinds of fish, but inside this ravine there was utter stillness, without the slightest trace of life.

Tang Mubai descended all the way down and did not discover a single aquatic creature.

The surrounding water pressure, however, grew greater and greater as the depth increased.

Tang Mubai did not immediately activate his divine power, pressure control. Instead, he descended a little farther, sensing his own limit and how much he could bear.

Only when he felt the time was about right did he release pressure control to withstand the terrifying crushing force from every direction.

On land, it had no visible shape.

But now, in the water, the formless power released by pressure control clearly condensed into a transparent shield, protecting Tang Mubai and the equipment on his person from being crushed by the water pressure.

He continued descending, and the pressure surrounding him grew ever stronger.

The transparent shield produced by pressure control also became thicker and more substantial.

It was fortunate that this was a divine power; if it had been one’s own imposing aura, the mental energy consumed would have been enormous, and it would not have been sustainable for long.

Of course, if one carried spiritual treasures or artifacts that resisted crushing force, that was another matter entirely.

As for Tang Mubai, with pressure control at his disposal, descending to a depth of a thousand meters caused him little trouble.

By the time he reached the bottom of the ravine, at the edge of the fissure, the transparent shield around his body had become almost a ring of glass.

Through that thick glass, Tang Mubai looked down into the depths of the fissure. At the bottom of the cleft, more than a hundred meters below, he could already see red magma flowing slowly.

Clusters of fire evil, like serpents, drifted and danced above the magma.

Tang Mubai stared for a moment, then took out the container for storing evil energy and slowly descended along the cliff face of the fissure.

At that very moment, a terrifying heat suddenly surged in from every direction and converged on Tang Mubai, scorching his protective force and causing it to distort.

When he had stood at the edge of the fissure, he had not felt any heat. But the instant he entered the cleft, that dreadful temperature came rushing upon him.

Though astonished, Tang Mubai did not panic. He kept his protective force revolving around him and continued downward until he reached the area closest to the fire evil.

The appalling heat became even more frenzied at that point, battering Tang Mubai without cease.

His protective force, like glass, began to melt under the flames.

Seeing this, Tang Mubai’s expression changed. He quickly circulated the Tai Chi Heart Sutra and tried to absorb the fire evil drifting around him.

Heat Resistance increased by 5.

A prompt suddenly appeared.

Tang Mubai froze, and the next moment he was ecstatic. The system had counterattacked.

Heat Resistance increased by 10.

Heat Resistance increased by 15.

Heat Resistance increased by 20.

...

Without resisting, he recondensed his protective force and allowed the system prompts to continue.

In the end:

Heat Resistance has reached 100. Consume 10 years of lifespan to unlock the divine power Temperature Control?

A familiar new prompt flashed through his mind.

Tang Mubai grinned as he answered inwardly.

“Yes.”

With a hum, his body suddenly trembled, and a familiar yet wondrous sensation surged rapidly through his heart and mind.

It was an understanding and mastery of temperature, constantly unfolding in Tang Mubai’s consciousness, engraving itself into his memory and becoming second nature.

The divine power Temperature Control was not limited to high temperatures; it included low temperatures as well.

He had never tested its exact limits, so he was not entirely sure.

But the heat gathering around his body at this moment was just within his range of control.