Thick blood gushed out. Ning Beichen's sword had split the large crocodile's mouth in two, and he had charged out from within.
However, he still felt it wasn't enough. He brandished the bronze ancient sword in the water, hacking at the ten-meter-long crocodile. Blood splattered everywhere, dyeing the surrounding river red.
In a short while, the ten-meter-long crocodile was cut into several sections by Ning Beichen and sank to the bottom, not even a complete corpse remained.
Ning Beichen rested for a moment before landing on the large domed bird statue. He grabbed one of the bird statue's wings with his hand and used his other hand to pry out the bird statue's eyes.
Soon after, Ning Beichen held two crimson beads. When these beads were in the bird statue's eyes, they only occasionally emitted red light.
But after Ning Beichen dug out the two beads, the entire surface of the water was illuminated red by them.
Moreover, Ning Beichen felt a fiery energy from these two crimson beads. Upon closer inspection, one could see shadowy figures sealed within these crimson beads.
However, being underwater, Ning Beichen couldn't see clearly. He simply put away the two crimson beads without exploring further, and began to ascend, preparing to leave the water.
As he ascended, strangely, no piranhas or crocodiles attacked him. Even when Ning Beichen swam through schools of piranhas, they showed no reaction.
Ning Beichen didn't believe the piranhas were afraid of him. After all, piranhas lacked intelligence and wouldn't refrain from attacking just because Ning Beichen was powerful.
"Could it be because of those two crimson beads? That's why these piranhas and crocodiles didn't attack me?"
Ning Beichen mumbled to himself. He then stopped in the midst of a large school of piranhas and took out the two crimson beads.
At this moment, the piranhas seemed to have encountered a terrifying natural predator. One by one, they immediately moved away from Ning Beichen's side.
"It seems it is indeed related to these two beads in my hand. I wonder what they are?"
Ning Beichen became increasingly interested in the two beads. He paid no more attention to the piranhas and quickly surfaced. However, he was no longer at the spot where he had entered the water, and it took him several searches to find Zebra.
Zebra had been kneeling on the ground. Seeing Ning Beichen return, he became so excited that he kowtowed vigorously, appearing even more agitated than Ning Beichen, the person involved.
Ning Beichen originally wanted to explain to him that he wasn't a saint and that he didn't need to be like this.
But seeing Zebra's devout expression, Ning Beichen swallowed his words. He felt he couldn't explain it clearly to him.
"Alright, Zebra, stop kneeling."
Ning Beichen said to him. He had to say it several times before Zebra finally stood up, still maintaining a respectful demeanor. If he hadn't spoken, one would have thought he was Ning Beichen's servant, not his guide.
Ning Beichen ignored him and began examining the beads he had pried from the eyes of the bird statue on the large dome.
He hadn't been able to see clearly underwater before. After coming ashore, Ning Beichen could clearly see a black shadow within each of the two crimson beads.
The black shadows were very small, about the size of a peanut. Their shapes were peculiar and not fixed. At first glance, they looked like ink, and at another, like a small person.
But after a while, the shadows dispersed, appearing to transform into something terrifying.
Ning Beichen studied them for a long time but couldn't figure anything out. At least, he hadn't seen such things before, nor had he read about them in books.
He wondered if any of the "Mortal Faders" knew what these things were. Ning Beichen planned to ask them upon his return.
With the items in his possession, even if they were truly extraordinary treasures, the few Mortal Faders he controlled wouldn't dare to harbor any ulterior motives. If they did, Ning Beichen could crush them with a single thought.
A few days later, Ning Beichen left the Amazon rainforest.
As he was leaving, Zebra looked very reluctant to part. If Ning Beichen had told him to "follow me" at that moment, Zebra might have unhesitatingly followed him as a servant.
Upon returning to Haizhou New City, Ning Beichen handed over the medicinal herbs he found in the Amazon rainforest to Liu Yilin for research, including the two crimson beads.
As a result, the instruments used to detect the two beads suddenly exploded with a bang.
Fortunately, Liu Yilin had cultivation and immediately retreated the moment the instruments exploded. A normal person would likely have been killed.
When Ning Beichen rushed over upon hearing the explosion, the entire laboratory looked as if it had been ravaged by a cataclysmic storm; nothing inside was intact.
However, the two beads that caused the explosion were unharmed. They lay on the ground, flashing and emitting a dazzling light.
As Ning Beichen was about to walk over, Liu Yilin quickly cautioned him to be careful.
Liu Yilin knew her instruments well. The fact that they could explode indicated the immense energy contained within the two beads.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Ning Beichen nodded to her, reassuring her, and then walked over and picked up the beads from the ground.
He then examined the beads closely and noticed that the shadows within them seemed to have grown. Before, they were about the size of a peanut; now they were at least twice as large, and the shadows appeared very active.
Ning Beichen's curiosity about these two beads grew. The place he found them was not a blessed land, but the ruins of some unknown ancient dynasty or royal family, not a sect of cultivators, yet such strange beads appeared.
Ning Beichen attempted to channel some of his internal energy into the beads, only to be astonished that his internal energy was being devoured.
No, that's not right!
It should be said that it was being devoured by the shadows within the beads.
After his initial surprise, Ning Beichen continued to channel internal energy into the beads.
One minute passed, five minutes passed, ten minutes passed. Ning Beichen finally released his hand and saw that the shadows within the beads had changed again.
If they were the size of two peanuts before, they were now about the size of a lychee pit, presumably having grown after absorbing Ning Beichen's internal energy.
"Could it be... the shadows inside are alive?"
Ning Beichen pondered, but couldn't be sure. Even with professional magnification equipment, Liu Yilin couldn't get a clear look at the shadows inside the beads. Whether viewed with the naked eye or through instruments, the shadows were a blur, appearing like anything and yet like nothing at all.