Seeing that the Divine Lady seemed to be communicating with the strange fish in the sea, Shen Jue and the others could not help but feel astonished once more. But on second thought, the Divine Lady was a natural-born deity who understood the principles of heaven and earth and could communicate with all things. It was only natural for her to have such abilities.
Standing among the crowd, Pei Du lowered his eyes in thought for a long time. Finally, he took a step forward, cupping his hands in a polite and respectful salute toward the snow-white figure by the railing.
“Divine Lady,” he said in a measured, calm voice that carried the steady weight of a military advisor. “This student, Pei Du, boldly begs for your guidance. Why did this shoal of fish suddenly block our ship?”
He would not have asked so abruptly unless it were absolutely necessary. He spoke up now only because he bore the responsibility of the army's military advisor. If he could not grasp enough information, he would inevitably make mistakes in his subsequent arrangements.
The Divine Lady turned slightly, her gaze falling upon Pei Du, but she did not answer his question immediately.
The sea breeze lifted her silver-white hair, and the pearl ornaments nestled within jingled softly, sounding like shattered jade falling into a silver platter.
After a brief silence, she let out a soft sigh.
“All things have spirits. They are asking me for help.” A trace of compassion flickered across her cool, clear eyes. “A seabed anomaly has occurred. They managed to escape, but their companions could not make it out in time.”
“A seabed anomaly?”
Everyone looked at one another, their eyes filled with shock.
“So the strange fish were ramming the ship to ask for help. No wonder they refused to leave even after smashing their heads bloody.”
“What is this seabed anomaly the Divine Lady speaks of? Could some kind of monster have appeared at the bottom of the sea?”
“It's possible...”
Whispers gradually broke out across the deck.
“It is not a demonic scourge, but a natural disaster.”
After saying this, the Divine Lady turned back to face the sea. The pod of dolphins remained quietly afloat on the water's surface.
The largest dolphin at the very front held its head high, its tail fin waving gently as if awaiting her response.
“Lead the way,” she said.
Realizing that the Divine Lady intended to resolve a natural disaster, and recalling the karma Shen Yu had once mentioned, Shen Jue instinctively wanted to say something. However, the quick-eyed and swift-handed Pei Du stopped him.
He subtly shook his head at Shen Jue.
Although he also felt it was truly not worthwhile for the Divine Lady to violate the heavenly laws just to save a shoal of fish, the decisions made by a deity were not something mortals could change with a few words. Moreover, the more they spoke, the more likely they were to make a mistake, and they might even end up annoying her.
For a moment, everyone was fraught with worry.
In contrast, the dolphins in the sea were wild with excitement, leaping and bounding over the water to guide the tower boat.
They sailed for about an hour.
The people on the ship soon noticed that the surrounding sea seemed to have changed color, its deep blue now tinged with a murky grey.
The further they went, the darker the grey became.
The water temperature rose noticeably as well. The soldiers on the deck could feel a wave of hot, humid air rising from beneath their feet, as if they were sailing over a pot of soup on the verge of boiling rather than the sea.
By now, the dolphins could go no further.
They could only halt in place, gazing pleadingly at Yun Shu on the ship while emitting urgent, mournful cries.
Shen Jue and the others could not understand them, but Yun Shu could. They were crying out for help, begging her to save their companions...
“I understand.”
Though those were the words Yun Shu spoke aloud, she said something else to the system in her mind: “Open the monitor and let me see.”
Even though the blue whale was massive, the ocean floor was vast, and searching for it would be an incredibly tedious task.
Fortunately, the system had previously installed a monitor on the blue whale. Otherwise, she certainly would not have been able to find it anytime soon.
The little fox did not delay for a single second, swiftly opening the monitor and even mapping out the fastest route for Yun Shu.
It turned the system panel toward Yun Shu. “Host, just control the Abyssal Tower Boat and follow this route.”
Yun Shu looked up, swept her gaze over the system panel, and immediately activated the Abyssal Tower Boat's diving function.
The entire tower boat shuddered violently as a low, heavy clanking of interlocking gears echoed from beneath the deck.
“The ship is sinking!” someone cried out in alarm.
A commotion instantly broke out on the deck.
In their panic, everyone reached out to grab onto anything they could. Their eyes widened as they watched the grey-blue water line silently climb up the sides of the hull, drawing closer and closer.
“Do not panic.”
The Divine Lady's voice rang out. It was as cold and detached as ever, yet it acted as a soothing balm to the panicked crowd.
“The Abyssal Tower Boat can travel unimpeded even on the seabed.”
The moment her voice fell, the tower boat submerged completely into the sea.
Seawater surged up from both sides of the gunwales, prompting everyone to instinctively close their eyes and hold their breath.
However, nothing happened.
A pale gold barrier rose from all around the ship, enveloping the entire tower boat like a massive glass dome.
The seawater slid smoothly across the barrier of light, leaving not a single trace behind.
Witnessing this, everyone gasped in astonishment.
“Is... is this the scenery of the seabed?”
Shen Jue slowly released his grip on the railing, staring at a silver-white sea fish swimming past the golden wall of light.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed, a barely audible sound.
“I wouldn't have dared to dream that one day we could move so freely underwater...” Feng Chunya murmured to herself. “We can even see the stones on the seabed clearly.”
Pei Du remained silent, but his expression had long since lost its usual composure, leaving only sheer shock.
The tower boat sank silently.
The light from the sky above drifted further and further away.
More and more dust suspended in the seawater, with greyish-brown debris mixing with tiny bubbles as they billowed upward.
Then, they saw light once more.
At first, it was just a faint orange-red glow, like the first blush of dawn on the horizon before the sun breaks through. But as the tower boat continued to descend, the red light gradually filled their entire field of vision.
A crimson, churning, and blindingly hot glare erupted from the deepest depths of the abyss, reflecting off the dark blue seawater like a piece of red-hot iron.
The tower boat did not halt for a moment, swiftly passing through the final layer of thick, grey-brown turbidity.
A shocking sight met everyone's eyes.
The seabed looked as though it had been violently torn apart by a giant hand, leaving several hideous fissures. Jagged black rocks lined both sides of the cracks, and red-gold lava was churning out from within them.
“Look over there, what is that?”
A soldier took a half-step back in fright.
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.
In the next second, they saw a massive figure pressed tightly over the widest crack of the volcanic crater.
Its tail hung limply to the side, the tail fin already badly burned and incomplete. Its back was covered in shocking burns, and the boiling lava flowed around both sides of its body, heating the surrounding seawater into a boiling white mist. Yet, it remained completely motionless, as if pinned to the spot.
Yun Shu naturally saw the blue whale as well. Realizing that the healing skill of the Orchid of the Blue Void was still on cooldown, her heart sank.
The little fox was equally anxious. “Host, that silly fish ate a lot of Body-Tempering Pills, so it's tough and thick-skinned, but that doesn't mean it can block lava with its own body!”
“How can it be so silly?!”
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