A water-type trainer who specializes in dragon-type water.

At this moment, beneath the lake...

Qi Shu just entered the water and raised a Poké Ball from his sleeve.

With a muffled "poof!" sound, a flash of white light flashed, and a creature with a blue head and yellow-green legs appeared. Its legs were black at the tips, and its joints were blue. Its body was spherical and black with brown stripes. Its eyes were large and striped with light blue. Its head was surrounded by bubbles and had three blue protrusions. It was the Water + Bug Pokémon—Spider-O.

Qi Shu gave a look, and the Spider King nodded. He opened a huge and strong bubble, wrapped Qi Shu and the Spider King himself, and began to search for Zhang Heng underwater. "Hey, where's Brother Zhang Heng?"

The Spider King pointed with his forelimbs at a black dot about 30 meters away. Qi Shu followed the Spider King's gaze, wiped his eyes, took a closer look, and then exclaimed, "What the hell?!"

Zhang Heng clutched the hatch with one hand, paddling the water with the other as he swam steadily toward the lake's bottom. His control over water energy, thanks to his Water Control, gave him an unusual affinity for it. While he couldn't breathe freely underwater, he could reduce the water pressure and avoid being repelled by it. Qi Shu, watching from behind, was stunned and asked, "Can you swim so fast with just one hand? Is that even scientific?"

"Little Drop Spider, elbow! Catch up with him!" Upon hearing this, the Drop Spider King raised his front legs slightly to control the bubble and chased in the direction of Zhang Heng.

Zhang Heng suddenly felt a suction force and hurriedly stopped moving. He carefully slid his hands through the water, trying to maintain his balance so that he could observe the scene in front of him more clearly.

Ahead, a mysterious expanse of reefs suddenly appeared. These reefs varied in shape and height, like an underwater maze. Among the many reefs, one particularly caught their eye—a pitch-black hole, about two meters high, like the gaping maw of a giant beast, emitting a terrifying aura.

Beyond the cave entrance, a powerful force was exerting its influence on the surrounding lake water, forming a massive white vortex. Like an invisible hand, this vortex desperately sucked the lake water back into the black hole-like cavern. The rushing water roared, seemingly seeking to devour anything that came near it.

Closing his eyes slightly, Zhang Heng concentrated on sensing the energy fluctuations around him. Soon, he noticed that an extremely pure water energy was continuously emanating from the inside of the cave.

He thought to himself: "It seems that there is no way to sneak into this cave by relying on the power of water control alone. I can only use the wave water." Just as he was about to use the wave water to sneak into the cave, a faint voice came from behind: "Brother Xiaoheng, come to me quickly!"

Zhang Heng wondered, how could the water talk? He paddled across the lake and looked back to see Qi Shu and the Dripping Spider King riding in a bubble. So that was it. A moment later, the bubble came to Zhang Heng's side. The Dripping Spider King raised his two front paws slightly, causing the bubble to grow even larger, enveloping Zhang Heng.

Qi Shu said accusingly, "Why did you jump into the water right after you finished talking? If I hadn't caught up with you, you would have suffocated to death at the bottom of the lake. It's too dangerous!"

Zhang Heng couldn't explain further. After all, the power of water control was too strange. He could only say awkwardly, "I didn't worry so much. I'll be more careful next time."

Qi Shu was about to speak when Zhang Heng quickly interrupted him: "How powerful is your Spider King now that he can create such a large bubble?"

Qi Shu raised his head, placed a hand on the head of the Spider King, and said proudly, "You all say that a girl like me only knows how to capture spider-type Pokémon like the Spider King and the Spider King, so how can I know how powerful they are! Humph! The little Spider King is now a quasi-king level fighter, just a little bit weaker than the Shovelbug."

Zhang Heng nodded. "You've cultivated it very well. You can fully utilize the blister properties of the Spider Dripping Tyrant."

The Water Bubble ability is exclusive to the Pokémon family. It forms a bubble to hold objects within. In combat, it doubles the power of Water-type abilities, reduces the damage of Fire-type abilities by 50%, and invulnerable to burns. This effectively transforms Bug-types from being fire-weak to being fire-resistant, making it one of the few Bug-type Pokémon capable of teaming up against Fire-type abilities. (Speaking of which, can anyone explain the psychological toll of a head-on teaming up with a Pyroblast?)

Qi Shu was very happy and asked, "How do we move forward? Do we need to go through that cave?"

Zhang Heng nodded. "That's right. If nothing goes wrong, we should be able to reach the island in the middle of the lake directly."

Qishu wanted to ask more carefully, but Zhang Heng spoke up first, "Do you believe me, Qishu?"

Qishu nodded without hesitation: "Of course I believe it." After all, Qishu grew up under the support of the Zhang family, which is why she was able to achieve the achievements of a 16-year-old genius gym leader. She has no father or mother, no name, and it was her master who gave her the surname after he adopted her.

Zhang Heng said, "Okay, let's go straight into the cave. No matter what you feel next, don't be alarmed or ask questions. I will protect you."

"Little Drop Spider, dive into that cave." Upon hearing this, the Drop Spider King controlled the bubble to move forward. He didn't even need to control the direction. Once he entered the suction range, he was naturally sucked in.

The cave was completely dark. All they could sense was the increasingly refined water energy ahead, delighting the fellow Water Pokémon. The abundant water energy allowed the Spider King to use his Water Bubble ability with even greater ease. Even the Pokémon egg in Zhang Heng's arms trembled slightly, enjoying the environment and showing signs of hatching.

The route ahead was becoming increasingly winding. Using the faint electric light from the electric bugs to sense if there was any danger ahead, Qi Shu exclaimed, "Ah?! Be careful!"

A 40-degree angle appeared in front of him. The Spider King used water energy to control the speed of the bubbles, but the undercurrent was getting faster and faster. At this speed, it would only hit the rock wall and cause the bubbles to burst.

Zhang Heng raised the Poké Ball of Bodangshui, and the divine beast's pressure was released in the bubble, forming a small divine beast field. Under the protection of the field, the bubble passed the angle smoothly and then drifted forward.

The wilderness area is a special area where the energy of a certain attribute is more concentrated than other attributes and gathers together. The field of the divine beast is a special phenomenon that marks the appearance of the divine beast. The power of the divine beast will affect the real space and form a special space isolated from the world. The stronger the divine beast, the larger and more solid the field.

Qi Shu felt the pressure from the divine beast and looked at Zhang Heng in disbelief, saying, "What is this?!"

Zhang Heng: "There's a faint light coming from up ahead. We should be there."