In the bright moonlight, as far as he could see, that wasn’t a human hand at all, but some kind of animal’s claw. It was too far away for Li Xiang to make out the submerged body, so he couldn’t tell what kind of sea monster it was.

An ordinary person would most likely mistake it for someone drowning, rush in to rescue them, and get eaten.

Li Xiang’s figure flickered as he dashed across the water’s surface. He was very curious. ’What the hell is this thing? Its intelligence is pretty high. And its acting is quite convincing.’

He wasn’t the least bit afraid. As a Tier Seven Transcendent with an Extreme Speed of 5 Mach, he could easily escape even if he couldn’t win, although his combat power would be greatly diminished in the water.

Li Xiang was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the dark figure’s location and began running in circles around it, his feet skipping across the waves.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of the monster attacking him; it was that if he slowed down, he would fall into the water. The only reason he could run on water and cross straits was purely because he was fast enough.

System: "Detected a Tier Sixteen Mutated Creature: Illusory Demon Crocodile."

’A saltwater crocodile? And it’s huge.’ Now that he was closer, Li Xiang saw that it was a saltwater crocodile, a full seven or eight meters long and estimated to weigh over 1,000 kilograms. Even among saltwater crocodiles, this one was a giant.

The saltwater crocodile had been feeling smug, thinking Li Xiang had fallen for its trap. But it never expected him to be so fast that he was literally running circles around it, leaving it dizzy.

With its prey right in front of it, it naturally dropped the drowning-human act and prepared to strike with a death roll.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t quite lock onto Li Xiang’s position, so it dove underwater to lie in wait.

Li Xiang had considered using the Profound Iron Mountain-Removal Rod on it, but the crocodile was clever and had hidden in the sea. The water resistance was too great; the rod probably wouldn’t be very effective.

Sword Qi might not be powerful enough either. An ordinary rifle, when fired underwater, has an effective range of less than a meter.

’Looks like I’ll have to use myself as bait.’ Li Xiang stopped running. The Black Mountain Profound Armor he wore was quite heavy, so he plunged into the water and began to sink.

The saltwater crocodile saw its chance and shot toward Li Xiang like an arrow. Its small eyes glinted with an excited green light as it prepared to unleash its signature move—the death roll. ’No matter how powerful this human is, once he’s in the water, he’s mine.’

The seven-to-eight-meter-long giant crocodile lunged, its massive jaws gaping, and clamped down on...

Huh? The crocodile was dumbfounded.

The human had caught its upper and lower jaws with his two hands. Despite its bite force of over two tons, it couldn’t clamp down at all.

Little did it know, it had just tried to bite a block of alloy steel.

This saltwater crocodile had used this deceptive tactic to eat many humans. Even the most formidable people, approaching in small boats, would be capsized by it. Then, with its crushing bite force and signature death roll, there was basically no escape.

But this time, it had encountered an Extraordinary Being. And not just any Extraordinary Being, but a freak among them with the strength of fifty tons. How could it possibly bite down?

It tried to initiate a death roll, but with a powerful tug from Li Xiang, its upper and lower jaws were torn apart. Blood dyed the seawater red.

System: "Congratulations, Host. You have slain the Tier Sixteen Mutated Creature, Illusory Demon Crocodile. Reward: 1600 Achievement Points, three stalks of the Tier Eight Mutated Spiritual Medicine Golden Crocodile Mouth Flower, and one set of the Tier Fourteen Extraordinary Item Purple Mirage Armor."

Li Xiang swam hard to break the surface. Then, with a powerful kick, he shot into the air, carrying the saltwater crocodile that weighed over a thousand kilograms. He landed on the beach, pulled out his White Fang Dagger, and began to skin the crocodile.

’Such good crocodile skin would be a waste to throw away.’ As for the meat, the crocodile was too big; the meat was probably tough and wouldn’t be easy to cook until tender.

After dealing with the crocodile, he flipped his hand and took out the set of Purple Mirage Armor. It was purple all over with a beautiful scale pattern. ’It feels a bit effeminate, more suitable for a girl to wear.’

This set of Extraordinary Armor was of a higher Tier than his Black Mountain Profound Armor. Besides its basic defensive function, it had two Extraordinary Attributes: "Water Avoidance" and "Mirage Realm."

"Water Avoidance" allowed the wearer to breathe underwater. Li Xiang mulled it over. ’This Armor must be able to filter seawater, allowing only oxygen to permeate.’

Many modern technological materials, like certain membranes, could also achieve this.

In terms of molecular weight, a water molecule is lighter than an oxygen molecule, but its structure (volume) is larger. Water molecules have a "V" shape, while oxygen molecules are linear. Therefore, many filters can block water molecules while "leaking" air molecules.

And there is oxygen in seawater, which comes from many sources, such as dissolved oxygen from the air or from the photosynthesis of seaweed and algae. Furthermore, some research suggests that in deep-sea environments, oxygen can also be produced by polymetallic nodules. Under special conditions, these nodules can electrolyze seawater to produce oxygen.

It was no surprise that a set of Extraordinary Armor possessed an Attribute for a function that could be achieved by technological items.

As for the "Mirage Realm" Attribute, it could create an Illusion Realm to confuse enemies.

’This Armor is great. I can go deep-sea diving in the future.’

Li Xiang had always felt that there should be more numerous and powerful potential Mutated Creatures under the sea, possibly even some with Saint Tier potential. After all, the behemoths of the ocean were far larger than those on land. However, with his current abilities, he couldn’t venture into the water. Even if he did, his combat effectiveness would be weak, which was why he had never gone in.

But with this set of Armor, diving into the deep sea would no longer be a problem.