Chapter 207: Chapter 206: This Young Lady, I’ll Give You Everything

"White Ape Transformation!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Su Yu unleashed his strongest trump card while still underwater.

Against an expert like Hong Lei, who was at the Perfection level of the Muscle Forging Realm, a single slip-up could be fatal. He had to be prepared.

The next instant, an ancient, wild, and incredibly tyrannical aura erupted from within Su Yu’s body.

"CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!"

Su Yu’s height shot up in an instant. His frame grew taller and more slender, and his muscles became so defined they looked as if they had been meticulously carved, making one want to reach out and trace their lines.

His skin turned a deep, dark gold, like the body of an ancient Buddha. His black hair instantly grew, cascading down to his waist like a waterfall. The surrounding water, vaporized by his Qi and Blood, actually began to sizzle.

Feeling the explosive power coursing through his limbs, a flash of extreme excitement appeared in Su Yu’s crimson eyes. He even felt an impulse to turn back and clash head-on with Hong Lei.

But he immediately suppressed this dangerous thought. ’An expert at the Perfection level of the Muscle Forging Realm is absolutely not someone I can fight, not even for a single move.’

’I’ll take the treasured medicine now, just in case!’

Without hesitation, Su Yu took out the treasured medicine, a Purple Marrow Date, and swallowed it.

As the treasured medicine went down his throat, it transformed into a searing torrent that exploded in his Dantian. It continuously replenished the black-hole-like consumption of the White Ape Transformation, causing Su Yu’s violent aura to intensify by another thirty percent.

All preparations were complete!

Su Yu bent his legs sharply, then stomped down on the silt at the bottom like two powerful springs.

"BOOM!"

The silt at the bottom instantly exploded, forming a crater several dozen feet wide. The immense reactive force kicked up a turbulent, murky undercurrent. Using this thrust, Su Yu’s massive body shot forward like a heavy torpedo leaving its tube, brutally tearing through the water as he sped away in the opposite direction of Qian Qinghong!

The massive underwater disturbance he had intentionally created was instantly detected by Hong Lei, who was hundreds of yards away on the surface.

"You bitch, where do you think you’re going!"

Hong Lei roared, his body shooting out of the water like a black python emerging from an abyss. He stomped his right foot heavily on the river’s surface. With a thunderous "BANG!", his brutish force actually stomped a crater several feet deep into the water, sending splashes flying in all directions like sharp arrows.

The next instant, using the rebound force from the water, he shot forward like a black cannonball, skimming across the surface in pursuit!

He was indeed not proficient in underwater techniques, but with the terrifying force of the Perfection Muscle Forging Realm supporting him, he could run on the waves. His speed was only about twenty percent slower than it was on land.

Deep underwater, Su Yu felt the violent, oppressive presence rapidly approaching from above and couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.

He no longer had any thoughts of testing the waters. He pushed the Bibo Fish Dragon Skill and the White Ape Transformation to their absolute limits, his body flashing through the dark depths like lightning as he fled for his life.

One chased above the water, one fled below.

Their speeds were both horrifyingly fast. In just a few breaths, they had already covered several miles, completely disappearing into the mist.

Several breaths after they had left, Qian Qinghong decisively climbed out from the silt deep at the bottom of the river.

Gazing at the terrifying undercurrent that had lured Hong Lei away, she didn’t know who had saved her in her desperate situation, but gratitude for surviving and the lingering fear of death instantly flooded her entire being.

She clutched her bleeding wound and fled toward Black Stone City with all her might.

"Hong Lei... if I survive this, just wait until I use the treasured fish to break through to the Muscle Forging Realm. I’ll annihilate your entire clan!" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

...

「Back to Su Yu.」

After speeding through the water for a while, Su Yu realized that not only was Hong Lei failing to catch up, but the distance between them had actually widened by over a hundred feet. He breathed a silent sigh of relief.

’Just a little longer.’ Ahead was the true deep-water section of the Black Water River, where the depth exceeded a thousand feet! Once he dove in there, Hong Lei would be as good as blind on the surface, unable to lock onto his aura.

On the surface, Hong Lei’s expression darkened. He had already realized that the aura of the person underwater was wrong. It was filled with a violent energy, not that of the woman, Qian Qinghong.

Moreover, this person was faster. He was about to be shaken off!

’Should I turn back and search for Qian Qinghong now?’

’In this vast river, that woman has probably vanished without a trace, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.’

"In that case, I’ll just have to kill you, her accomplice!"

A vicious glint flared in Hong Lei’s eyes. He flipped his hand, retrieved a pitch-black medicinal pill, and swallowed it.

Instantly, his aura intensified, and his speed across the water surged! He then flicked his wrist, and a three-sided, bone-piercing spike shot from his hand, producing a shrill sonic boom as it viciously stabbed toward the dark shadow in the water below!

"WHOOSH!"

Su Yu was swimming at top speed underwater when he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. His hearing caught the sharp whistle of something tearing through the water, and his heart jumped.

’Holy cow! To pierce through dozens of yards of heavy water pressure and still have such terrifying speed and killing power?’

The next instant, Su Yu’s waist and abdomen suddenly tensed. He executed a Swimming Fish Tail maneuver, his body darting rapidly through the water once more, narrowly avoiding the projectile’s attack.

"BOOM!"

The three-sided, bone-piercing spike ultimately slammed into a hard, submerged reef, blasting it to smithereens. Shattered rock mixed with the undercurrent, churning up silt and sand behind Su Yu.

’Fucking freak!’

Su Yu couldn’t help but curse inwardly. The explosive physical power of a Perfection Muscle Forging Realm expert was simply unreasonable! If not for the old bastard’s somewhat crude projectile technique, combined with the water weakening its speed and accuracy, he would have definitely been injured just now.

And if he were injured and his speed slowed even a fraction, what awaited him was being caught and beaten to a pulp!

On the surface, seeing his attack miss, Hong Lei’s expression was so dark it could drip water. He began launching a series of furious fist auras into the water from a distance.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

Large sections of the river’s surface were blasted open into massive craters dozens of feet deep by the Fist Force, the water erupting as if hit by bombs.

Fortunately, this was nothing more than a impotent rage!

Su Yu stayed glued to the riverbed. By the time the fist auras passed through the thick layers of water, they were weakened to nothing more than a gentle undercurrent brushing against him.

But Su Yu didn’t dare to be complacent. Noticing that the old ghost on the surface had taken some kind of drug and seemed to be closing the distance, he once again pulled out the red dragon earth ginseng, chewed it haphazardly, and swallowed.

’Qinghong, oh Qinghong, I’ve spent a fortune to save you. If you don’t compensate me properly when we get back, there’s just no excuse...’

After all, he had just consumed two mortal-grade, top-quality treasured medicines in a row, only to have their energy rapidly consumed by the White Ape Transformation. Under normal circumstances, who knows how much progress they would have added to his Breakthrough Points!

However, Su Yu wasn’t the type to haggle over every detail, especially with friends.

Qian Qinghong had always been incredibly generous, investing a great deal in him. Especially when he was at his weakest, he had relied on the Qian Family’s Bibo Fish Dragon Skill to catch many good things, allowing him to grow during that vulnerable time.

The two continued their chase, locked in a stalemate for several quarter-hours.

Suddenly, Su Yu felt the surrounding water temperature drop sharply. The underwater terrain ahead dropped off like a cliff.

’I’ve made it! The real deep-water zone!’

Su Yu immediately executed another Swimming Fish Tail, dodging a projectile from behind, and shot into the true deep-water zone.

As the depth instantly plunged to a thousand feet, Hong Lei, who had been relentlessly pursuing on the surface, completely lost his perception of the Qi and Blood fluctuations below.

"Damn it!"

Hong Lei stood on the river’s surface, his face terrifyingly grim. He suddenly raised both fists and, like a maddened beast, smashed them violently into the water below him.

"BOOOOM!!!"

His furious strike blasted a massive, hollow crater in the water’s surface, spanning over a hundred feet wide. Then, the surrounding river water rushed back in, creating a thunderous roar.

After venting his fury, Hong Lei glared at the profound darkness of the Black Water River, finally letting out a cold snort. With a flick of his wide sleeves, he turned and ran back across the water, departing.

...

Su Yu continued swimming underwater for another quarter-hour. Only after confirming that Hong Lei’s presence was gone for good did he finally breathe a true sigh of relief.

With a thought, he immediately deactivated the White Ape Transformation.

The instant the transformation ended, a wave of extreme exhaustion and soreness, as if his very marrow had been sucked dry, washed over his entire body.

Like a deflated ball, he bobbed up to the surface with the current, greedily gulping down fresh air.

"Whew... those old freaks at the Muscle Forging Realm are practically inhuman..."

Su Yu lay spread-eagled on his back, letting the river water support him.

’Looks like I still need to stick close to a strong backer. For my master to be able to support the massive White Ape Martial Arts Hall in a den of dragons and snakes like Black Stone City, his strength must be unfathomable. I’ll have to serve him a few more cups of tea when I get back.’

Su Yu gave a helpless, wry smile.

’I really have quite a few enemies now. The Iron Armor Martial Arts Hall, the Huyan Family, and now this Water Snake Gang... If they send a Muscle Forging Realm expert after me, it’s going to be a real problem.’

’I wonder if Senior Sister Wanzhu can put in a little more effort and break through to the Muscle Forging Realm too. Then the White Ape Martial Arts Hall would be even stronger, and it would buy me more time to develop.’

"CHIRP! CHIRP!"

Just as he was thinking, a familiar cry came from the sky. The Cyan-Scaled Sea-Exploring Swallow flapped its wings and landed on Su Yu’s soaked chest. He had been swimming so fast underwater that the little fellow had nearly lost him from the sky.

Su Yu fed it a little millet and gave it an order:

"Go on, no slacking. Fly higher and keep a close watch on the surrounding waters for me. Warn me immediately if there’s any danger."

...

「An hour later.」

Having recovered most of his stamina, Su Yu turned and began swimming back toward Black Stone City.

He hadn’t been swimming for long when the Cyan-Scaled Sea-Exploring Swallow spotted a figure again.

This time, however, it wasn’t an enemy.

Su Yu’s heart stirred, and he swam over, following its guidance. Before long, he saw a broken wooden plank floating on the river’s surface. Clinging to it was none other than Qian Qinghong!

Qian Qinghong had also recognized the familiar sea swallow circling in the air. Furthermore, her injuries were so severe that she was on her last legs, so she stopped hiding and revealed herself.

Su Yu swam over quickly.

The Qian Qinghong of this moment bore no trace of her usual heroic and valiant demeanor. Her tight-fitting black water tunic was mostly torn, revealing a breathtaking sight beneath.

Her stunningly beautiful face was now completely drained of color, adding a touch of a fair maiden’s fragility.

"Brother Su... was it really you who lured that old scoundrel away?" she asked, her voice as faint as a gossamer thread as she lay weakly on the driftwood.

Su Yu swam to her side, steadied the driftwood with one hand, and nodded. "Qinghong, you really have to compensate me properly when we get back! I spent a fortune luring that old fool away."

A brilliant smile lit up Qian Qinghong’s pale face. Without any hesitation, she let go of the driftwood and draped her limp body directly onto Su Yu’s broad back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Two astonishingly soft mounds pressed against his back. Even with Su Yu’s remarkable composure, his body stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"Hey, hey, I thought we were the closest of friends. Friends are supposed to help each other out. Isn’t talking about money so tacky...?" she breathed into Su Yu’s ear, her breath as fragrant as an orchid.

"That won’t do." Su Yu supported her fair, supple legs and began swimming toward Black Stone City again, chuckling. "Even brothers must settle their accounts clearly. I spent so much this time. If you try to welsh on the debt, I’ll just have to camp out at your front door."

Qian Qinghong was already incredibly weak. She pressed her cheek tightly against Su Yu’s warm, broad back, feeling the reassuring fluctuations of his Qi and Blood as her consciousness began to irresistibly fade.

Just before she lost consciousness completely, the corners of her mouth curved into a gentle smile, and she whispered into Su Yu’s ear:

"Alright, I’ll compensate you. Whatever you want... this young lady... will give it all to you..."