Lin Wu was watching how far the man would go to fulfill his obsession for something that did not even exist there. As for the water itself, Lin Wu could guess what must have happened. He had evolved in the water, and that was perhaps the reason for it.
Lin Wu's body was inherently radioactive and would turn any place that he lived radioactive. Although he was not fully awake in the two years he had stayed unconscious here, he could guess that he had probably caused a change in the crystal after merging with it. Perhaps the radioactivity was sealed in it all that time, and when Lin Wu merged with it, it started leaking out.
Lin Wu remembered that the first time he dripped into the water, it was just normal water. There was nothing in it, not even any other creatures. At that time he was a common mud worm, so if the water was radioactive, he would have definitely died.
Even outside when he was moving towards the crater according to the quest, he had only survived because he was deep underground and had not come out. This stopped the toxins and heat from killing him… well, almost killing him. It was also likely that the other crystal in the area had possibly added to the radiation.
Then there was that mysterious beast as well, which had killed that nascent soul realm cultivator from the royal court of the Ling Kingdom. Lin Wu was able to obtain a bloodline sample from it as well, which meant that it was a possible culprit too.
Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen were going deeper and deeper into the water, yet just after twenty meters the diameter of the barrier had shrunk by a third. One could imagine how much of a profound effect was occurring on the barrier because of the radiation.
Although Lin Wu did not know how radiation worked in a cultivation world such as this or how it interacted with spirit qi, he could estimate some things after listening to the talks of the three men. Right now Lin Wu was thinking of a few things.
It was likely that these three men would possibly die if their barrier was broken, as they were not even one tenth of the way down. Their Spirit sense was suppressed because of which they could not perceive the true depth of the underground lake, and the darkness was not helping them either. The fire balls that Bei Wen had created, could only illuminate a small area of about five meters before the light faded away.
Lin Wu could see that it was a bit abnormal as this was clear water and the light should have traveled much farther than that. But then he realized that the reason behind that was perhaps spirit itself.
'So if the fire is made with spirit qi, its illumination is also restricted by the radiation? Hmm… interesting.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu knew the true depth of the water and knew that it was more than four hundred meters deep. If Shirong and the two men continued on for even a hundred meters, it was likely that their barrier will not last even if they stopped and came back from that point.
"Young Master Shirong, we should head back I don't think the barrier will hold on for long!" Ye Dai warned with fear in his eyes.
"I agree too, Young Master. We can come back once we have appropriate measures." Bei Wen spoke.
"You really think that would be possible?! Now that we've killed their people, the clans will definitely send more people to investigate this area. Even if we are free from suspicion, they will not give up that easily. The people that come to investigate the deaths will most likely take a look in the rest of the area as well.
You do not know the workings of the clans, almost any clans will do everything in its power to gain more benefits. We cannot leave it up to chance and let them find whatever that is hidden here." Shirong replied with a stern voice.
Ye Dai and Bei Wen were taken aback by his scolding and were now cursing their luck. They were now doubting whether it was really a good thing having been chosen by Young Master Shirong. Even if he wanted to die, why was he taking them with him!
Shirong saw the faint change in their eyes the moment he said that, and knew that perhaps he had said much more than he should have. Living in a clan and being the Young Master of all things had allowed him to gain enough experience to gauge the thoughts of a person just from their eyes and subtle changes in their expression.
Shirong knew that he would have to rectify and placate them quickly as they were in a rather dangerous situation and if they decided to rebel at this point, there was no way he would be able to survive even if he was much stronger than them.
~Sigh~
Shirong took a let out a sigh and calmed himself down before showing a much milder expression.
"I know you two are scared, but know this that you will not have a lack of resources if you follow me. The clan will amply supply you with whatever you require, whether it be pills or other things. And… if the patriarch is particularly satisfied by your performance, he may even allow you two to join the clan." Shirong spoke.
The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen were now greatly interested in Young Master Shirong's words. Although the two of them had joined him back when Shirong was still living at the clan. They were actually not servants working in the clan. They were but measly cultivators who did small time job requests to get money.
"Besides, I will not be stupid and let myself get killed like this. I have been ordered by the ancestor to investigate this place and he knows that there is definitely something precious here." Shirong added at the end as an irresistible bait.