The surface of the swamp vanished, replaced by an oppressive, freezing darkness.
Yoriichi was violently dragged deep into the underwater sinkhole, the immense pressure of the abyss immediately pressing against his eardrums. He didn't panic. He didn't open his mouth to scream. His ancient, disciplined mind instantly locked his body down, his heartbeat slowing to a glacial pace to conserve every precious molecule of oxygen currently trapped in his lungs.
Through the murky, pitch-black water, his Transparent World vision pierced the gloom, illuminating the massive, terrifying anatomical structure of his captor.
'So, it is the Black-Water Tyrant Salamander,' Yoriichi thought, his crimson eyes locking onto the beast's glowing, bio-luminescent veins.
The creature was a nightmare of aquatic evolution. It possessed four thick, muscular limbs ending in webbed, dragon-like claws designed to tear through bedrock and flesh with equal ease. Its body was coated in a thick, pitch-black slime that made it virtually frictionless in the water.
'Judging by its skeletal density and the sheer volume of its beast core... it is a high-tier Rank 3,' Yoriichi analyzed. 'But it shouldn't be here. This species is strictly territorial to the deeper, central aquatic zones of the Black-Corner Region's underground rivers. The thermal vents must have driven it to the surface shallows to hunt.'
Sensing that its prey was completely submerged, the Tyrant Salamander decided to end the hunt. It aggressively tightened its elongated, slimy tail around Yoriichi's torso and arms, applying the full, crushing kinetic force of a high-tier Rank 3 beast. It intended to completely shatter the human's ribcage, collapse his lungs, and tenderize the flesh for easy consumption.
The beast flexed its massive muscles, the tail constricting like a vice of solid steel.
Yet, absolutely nothing happened.
There was no sickening crunch of breaking bone. There was no burst of bloody bubbles.
To the Salamander's profound shock, squeezing the human felt exactly like trying to crush a boulder of tempered steel. Yoriichi's Nine-Star Dou Zhe foundation, having been violently reforged by his borderline suicidal training and the continuous biological quenching of the Mystic Aqua Spirit Ginseng, possessed a physical density that completely defied common sense. His muscles were like braided steel cables; his bones were essentially iron.
The beast paused, its primitive intelligence sparking with genuine confusion. It had hunted dozens of humans in these swamps, but it had never encountered a mortal vessel this unyielding. It knew, instinctively, that the Dou Qi fluctuations radiating from this human were far lower than its own cultivation, yet the physical defense was monstrous.
Frustrated, the Salamander let out a localized underwater hiss, a sound that vibrated painfully through the water column. It plunged both of them even deeper into the lightless abyss, the water pressure mounting exponentially.
Then, with a violent flick of its massive tail, the beast hurled Yoriichi away.
Yoriichi was launched through the dark water like a torpedo, his back slamming heavily against the jagged, rocky wall of the underwater cavern.
'Urgh,' Yoriichi internally grunted, the impact jarring his teeth, though his tempered skeleton absorbed the brunt of the kinetic shock.
The Tyrant Salamander did not immediately follow up with a lethal bite. Instead, treating this uniquely durable human like a new, intriguing plaything, it hovered a few dozen yards away in the dark water. Its glowing yellow eyes locked onto Yoriichi's floating form, waiting for the inevitable. It was waiting for the human to panic, to struggle for the surface, and ultimately, for his heart to stop beating as the oxygen ran out.
Yoriichi found it incredibly difficult to move. The sheer density of the deep water restricted his limbs, making every motion feel like he was swimming through thick mud.
But staying pinned against the wall meant certain death by asphyxiation.
'If it wants to play,' Yoriichi thought, gripping the hilt of his katana, 'I will indulge it.'
He forcefully kicked off the underwater rock wall, swimming forward through the crushing depths. As he moved, he silently mouthed the words, air bubbles trailing from his lips.
Sun Breathing...
The Sun-Steel Katana slid from its lacquered scabbard. Even submerged in the freezing abyss, the blade instantly ignited, glowing with a terrifying, crimson-gold luminescence that illuminated the dark water.
...Sixth Form.
Yoriichi lunged. The water resistance was immense, but he funneled his Dou Qi entirely into the blade's edge.
Solar Heat Haze!
He executed a charging, two-handed strike. The terrifying heat of the blade instantly flash-boiled the water it touched. A massive localized cloud of superheated steam and blinding bubbles erupted around the katana, heavily distorting the light and entirely obscuring the true length and trajectory of the blade.
The Tyrant Salamander, seeing the glowing weapon approach, raised a thick, dragon-like claw to effortlessly swat the human away.
But the blade wasn't where it appeared to be. The visual distortion of the Solar Heat Haze caused the beast to misjudge the strike. The katana bypassed the claw entirely and carved a searing, jagged line across the Salamander's massive shoulder.
The beast shrieked, a horrifying, bubbly roar of genuine pain. The Sun-Steel blade had successfully burned through its protective slime and scorched its flesh, leaving a trail of boiling blood in the water.
Enraged, the Salamander abandoned its playful demeanor. It lunged, its massive jaws snapping shut where Yoriichi had been a fraction of a second before.
The underwater battle devolved into a desperate, high-stakes clash. Yoriichi seamlessly transitioned through the other forms of Sun Breathing, using the Clear Blue Sky to horizontally deflect the beast's sweeping claws, and the Fire Wheel to vertically evade its snapping jaws.
However, his internal monologue was racing, constantly planning.
'This is unsustainable. The water pressure is severely dulling the kinetic impact of my slashes, and the slime coating its scales is mitigating the thermal damage. I am wasting Dou Qi and, more importantly, oxygen.'
Whenever Yoriichi found an opening, he would immediately push his legs against the water, attempting to swim violently upward toward the faint, shimmering light of the surface. But the Salamander, possessing apex aquatic agility, was relentless. Every single time Yoriichi gained twenty feet of altitude, the beast's impossibly elastic, slimy tail would whip out of the darkness, cling to his ankle or waist, and violently drag him back down into the abyss.
It was a suffocating war of attrition, and time was running out.