Super Gene Hunting Ground

The Second Stage Cultivation of the White Elephant Divine Skill was very special.

Inside a pressure vessel filled with water, Yang Xiao had to sit in the water, running the White Elephant Divine Skill Cultivation Method while enduring immense pressure.

This cultivation stage was quite dangerous; one little mistake, and the cultivator could die inside the pressure vessel.

Yang Xiao had never really understood the role of the White Elephant Divine Skill’s Skin Renewal. Although after cultivating Skin Renewal, he felt his skin had entered a new Evolution Stage, he was still a bit fuzzy on its concrete functions.

Gu Bo said to Yang Xiao:

”Yang Xiao, jump into the vessel first, dive to the bottom, and see how long you can last.”

Yang Xiao laughed and said:

”You can’t breathe in the water, and you still have to circulate your Cultivation Technique. The oxygen consumption is crazy. I figure I won’t last more than a few minutes.”

”Hehe, I won’t add pressure for now. You just dive and test your breathing. When you can’t hold it anymore, just surface for air.”

Hearing that, Yang Xiao took off his clothes and jumped into the vessel.

The vessel was made of a special transparent material, so Gu Bo could clearly see Yang Xiao’s condition in the water from outside.

Yang Xiao took a deep breath and dived to the bottom.

He’d thought he would soon feel suffocated, but suddenly he felt a strange reaction from his body—there wasn’t the slightest discomfort from holding his breath.

He was shocked to see that tiny bubbles were emerging from the skin all over his body.

”Holy shit, what’s going on?”

Yang Xiao wasn’t breathing, yet he didn’t feel any lack of oxygen at all.

So he popped his head out of the water, looked at Gu Bo, and said,

”Old Gu, what’s going on? Why don’t I feel suffocated in the water?”

Gu Bo let out a hearty laugh and said:

”You thought you cultivated Skin Renewal for nothing? Your skin hasn’t just gained the Evolution Ability of self-healing wounds—your pores can now breathe in water, absorbing the oxygen in the water. You’re pretty much like a fish now.

Of course, because the oxygen in the water is limited, and the water in this vessel is also limited, the time you can stay in the water is still restricted.

But don’t worry, we’ll inject oxygen into the vessel, so you’ll be able to stay in the water for quite a long time.”

”Oh, so that’s how it is. No wonder there were so many bubbles coming off my skin. So from now on, I can basically move freely in the water, right?”

”Hehe, you’re an Emperor Level Transcendent Expert. How could water possibly trap you?”

Yang Xiao jumped into the pressure vessel again to first test how long he could ”breathe” underwater.

This time, Yang Xiao stayed in the water for a full hour. Only when his breathing started to feel a bit uncomfortable did he surface.

Gu Bo had been monitoring all the parameters in the pressure vessel.

”Yang Xiao, without pressurization and without added oxygen, you can stay in this water for about an hour. Rest for a bit first. Later, I’ll test how long you can last with added oxygen and pressure.

Because we’ll be adding oxygen, you don’t need to worry about a lack of oxygen in the water. What you need to worry about is the water pressure.

In a moment I’ll put the lid on and gradually increase the water pressure. When you reach your limit, give me a hand signal, and I’ll stop increasing the pressure.

In an emergency, there’s a pull ring at the bottom of the pressure vessel. As long as you yank it hard, the bottom will automatically blow open. It can save your life at a critical moment.”

Yang Xiao rested for half an hour, then dove into the pressure vessel again.

Gu Bo put the lid on and pressed a few buttons. High-concentration oxygen began to be injected into the water, and at the same time the water pressure started to rise slowly.

Yang Xiao suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, as though the entire body of water was pressing down on him.

According to the cultivation rules, Yang Xiao was not allowed to run any other Cultivation Techniques to resist the water pressure. He could only run the Second segment Water Scripture Technique within the White Elephant Technique.

Yang Xiao sat at the bottom of the vessel and began to circulate the Water Scripture Technique. A warm current spread out from inside his body, forming within him a force that pushed outward, resisting the ever-increasing external water pressure.

Under normal circumstances, before Evolution, ordinary people on Earth could only dive to about ten meters, with professional divers able to go somewhat deeper.

Typical manned military submarines could dive to around 300 meters, while unmanned robotic submarines could reach depths of ten thousand meters or so.

If a manned military submarine went down several thousand meters, the entire submarine could be crushed flat.

Gu Bo slowly increased the pressure in the vessel, and Yang Xiao constantly felt the pressure of the surrounding water mass bearing down on him.

Moments later, Yang Xiao heard the sound of his muscles and bones being squeezed. He felt unbearably uncomfortable and hurriedly reached his hand out toward Gu Bo outside the transparent vessel, giving it a shake.

Gu Bo quickly stopped adding pressure and even released a small portion of it. Yang Xiao immediately felt a bit of relief.

Gu Bo held up a data device and shook it in front of Yang Xiao’s eyes through the pressure vessel.

Yang Xiao glanced at it. On it were the words ”Water depth: 980 meters.”

In other words, with no Defense equipment, just relying on the Water Scripture Technique within the White Elephant Divine Skill, Yang Xiao was withstanding the equivalent of water pressure at a depth of 980 meters.

Gu Bo then put a clock outside where Yang Xiao could clearly see the time, and told him that today’s first cultivation session would last for one hour.

The two of them had agreed on this beforehand. After Yang Xiao got through the adaptation period, they would gradually increase his cultivation time.

Sitting at the bottom, Yang Xiao’s muscles were deformed by the water pressure, and his whole body felt as if it were embedded in rock. Even a simple act like lifting his head was extremely strenuous.

Yang Xiao calmed his mind and ran the Water Scripture Technique, resisting the immense water pressure.

Focusing inward with his mind, he saw that in the sky above his Spiritual Power Sea, the projected White Elephant Divine Beast was currently shining brilliantly, continuously injecting a stream of Energy into his body, flowing through him and assisting the Water Scripture Technique in resisting the terrifying water pressure.

The other two Divine Beasts, the Flying Leopard and the Heavenly Dragon, simply hovered above the Spiritual Power Sea without any particular reaction.

Gu Bo walked out of the Cultivation Room and went to the first floor of the Heavenly Book Pavilion, where he found his second uncle, Gu Jie.

Gu Jie kept his head down, reading, and asked without looking up,

”How deep a water pressure can that kid withstand?”

”Nine hundred eighty meters.”

”What?”

Gu Jie snapped his head up to look at Gu Bo, a look of astonishment on his face.

If Yang Xiao had used a Genetic Evolution Method to counter the water pressure, Gu Jie wouldn’t have been surprised even if it were not just a thousand meters but five thousand meters.

However, in the Second Stage of cultivating the White Elephant Divine Skill, he could only run the Water Scripture Technique. For Yang Xiao to withstand the equivalent of 980 meters of water pressure on his first cultivation attempt was indeed unexpected to Gu Jie.

”That kid is freakish. Back then, my first time was only around 690 meters, and he actually did 980. That’s insane.”

Gu Bo nodded.

”At Yang Xiao’s current pace, he’ll probably be able to complete the entire White Elephant Divine Skill in about a month. Add our Wind Eagle Divine Skill on top of that, and it probably won’t even take two months.

To complete the Heavenly Dragon Divine Skill, White Elephant Divine Skill, and Wind Eagle Divine Skill in just three to four months—this is a miracle unheard of. Even the eight Saint Level Supremes from five hundred years ago were far inferior to Yang Xiao, right?

According to the cultivation notes left behind by those eight Saint Level Supreme experts, the fastest among them still took three years to finish cultivating the remaining three sets of Genetic Cultivation Methods.

So what kind of monster is this Yang Xiao, exactly?”

”But even so, his Genetic Evolution Realm hasn’t improved much. That’s what’s so contradictory!”

Gu Bo and his second uncle Gu Jie were both utterly baffled.