While Lin Wenwen was lured to Yang Master Luo's birthday party by Dong Lijia with money, Yuan Tianxing let Old Guo bring the others away from the underground river, then headed back to find a place to seal the river for good.
Back to a spot not far away from the waterfall, he found the water flow growing slow already. The water level wasn't dropping though. Also, as there was now a large breach on top of the waterfall, the waterfall had grown larger than before. He had no idea where the river was flowing to. It would be great if it were flowing into the ocean.
Those huge globefishes with tentacles all over their bodies weren't crowding near the hole. The three-meter wide hole had now become about eight meters wide, and rock pieces had fallen all over the pond under the waterfall.
He looked around, then leaped into the hole that he had created on the rock face earlier.
"Eh!" The sharp pain coming from his shoulder and chest made him let out a muffled moan. He turned on the flashlight and undid his buttons to check himself, but found no burning wounds on his skin and only a large, dark-purple bruise. The purple area hurt like hell though.
"Ah!" He felt that area with his fingers. But once his fingers touched that area, he couldn't help but moan with a deep voice. That really hurt!
He took a deep breath, then buttoned up his shirt and turned to look at the hole on top of the waterfall. He held the flashlight in his mouth as he raised an arm and pressed his hand against the rock face, controlling the surrounding rock. He couldn't feel the arm on the injured side of his shoulders anymore.
He gathered a small part of his energy near his wound to suppress the explosive energy that had invaded into his body through the black water while sending the rest of his energy into the rock, toward the waterfall. Under his control, the rock near the hole started moving and growing.
His earth power allowed him to freely move the rocks and make them grow. However, the rocks near the water had all been corroded by the water and filled up with the strong energy that came from the water. That energy largely weakened Yuan Tianxing's power.
With one hand on the rock face, Yuan Tianxing released his energy at the highest rate while controlling the rocks near the waterfall with his mind power. Soon, the breached rocks on top of the waterfall started growing thicker and thicker. The rocks on the upper side reached downward while the ones on the lower side reached upward. The hole was soon sealed up, yet the rocks didn't stop growing.
Yuan Tianxing didn't plan cut off the water flow completely, because if he did, the water behind the rock might burst out over time. The water was corrosive, so the rocks wouldn't be able to hold it off forever.
Hence, he left a small vent for the water. The rocks near that vent were so thick that not even those enormous monsters in the lake could break them.
By the time the rocks grew to around twenty meters thick, Yuan Tianxing was already soaked in sweat. Nevertheless, he clenched his teeth and made the rocks thirty meters thick. The water now flowed out of a thirty-meter-long, meter-wide vent.
Dropping his hand from the rock, Yuan Tianxing leaned against the rock face and sat down weakly. He gasped for air, his face twisted in pain.
His energy was almost consumed up. The energy he used to press his wound grew weaker, so the energy from the river water started invading his body and corroding his flesh and blood. He watched the waterfall grow thinner and the water level of the pond drop, then spent quite a while observing the lake. As the vibes of those fierce fishes all seemed to sink to the bottom of the lake, he gritted his teeth and got up, prepared to leave.
He followed the vibes of his teammates toward the outside, but he started feeling difficulty controlling his body while walking. The pain was seeping into his chest from his skin, even making him find it hard to breathe. Furthermore, the thin air underground worsened his discomfort.
Thankfully, he had a strong mind. He endured the discomfort and moved toward the outside as soon as possible. His moving speed dropped a lot, and he started to even stagger.
Old Guo and the others were waiting for Yuan Tianxing in the area where the underground river flowed into the nest of those underground gorillas. Abruptly, Old Guo slightly raised his head to look at the upper stream of the river as he furrowed his brows and said, "He's back."
He was back, but his vibe had become much weaker than before. He was barely holding up! Feeing that, Old Guo moved his feet and disappeared from where he was. The others were excited to hear what he said, but then confused by his movement.
Li Zheng reacted a little faster than the others. He suddenly had a bad feeling that put a solemn look on his face. But before long, Old Guo brought Yuan Tianxing back. The latter was leaning on his shoulder with his head dropped.
"Deputy Chief!" Li Zheng and his men called him in one voice.
"He passed out. Bring him back to the base as soon as possible," Old Guo sounded calm, but he swiftly darted into the underground gorillas' nest without pausing, and the others quickly followed behind him.
"What happened to Deputy Chief?" Li Zheng nimbly followed by Old Guo's side and asked anxiously.
"He has the energy from the river inside his body. His own energy has been consumed. So, in order to resist the destructive energy from the lake, his body put him into unconsciousness for his own protection," said Old Guo.
"Consumed? Deputy Chief is at level-seven already. I can't believe he almost used up his energy! What did he do back in there?" Li Zheng said with both concern and confusion. Thankfully, it didn't take them long to return to the earth's surface through the largest tunnel in the underground gorillas nest.
Yun Meng came over once she sensed their vibes, "How did it go? Did you find out anything? Eh? What happened to Yuan Tianxing?"
Seeing Yuan Tianxing, who was carried by Old Guo, Yun Meng instantly realized that something was not right.
"He's injured. The others will tell you about what happened. Call Liu Shanlin and let her send Yuan Tianxing back to the medical department in the base," Old Guo put Yuan Tianxing into Li Zheng's arms and then said to Yun Meng.
Liu Shanlin was a level-five female zombie with wind power under Yun Meng's command. At that moment, having a wind power possessor sending Yuan Tianxing back to the base with her power was the best choice.
"Roar!" Yun Meng turned and gave a roar. 'Liu Shanlin, come here.'
Soon, a medium-sized, average-looking female zombie in a camouflage suit showed up in front of the others. Yun Meng pointed at Yuan Tianxing and said to her, "Send him to the medical department to Lin Hao, now!"
"Roar!" 'Yes, Ma'am!'
Liu Shanlin responded immediately, then turned and walked to Yuan Tianxing. She put an arm of his around her own neck, then disappeared within a blink. Meanwhile, Li Zheng and the others found the vehicles that were parked nearby and drove back to the base at high speed.