"How about we go for a swim to change things up?"
Before Tenth could even react, Lam Minh gave a cunning smile, turned around, and plunged straight into the East Sea like a torpedo.
SPLASH!
A huge column of water shot into the sky.
Tenth was stunned for a moment, then roared in anger. "Trying to run? Don't even think about it!"
Without a moment's hesitation, he also dove in, piercing through the water's surface, chasing after Lam Minh. He would never let this cockroach who had humiliated him escape.
Beneath the water's surface, a completely different world revealed itself. Sunlight was refracted, creating shimmering beams of light. Schools of colorful fish swam around.
But neither Lam Minh nor Tenth was in the mood to enjoy the scenery.
A new chase, in a completely new environment, had begun.
Lam Minh activated his Dragon God Battle Armor and dragon wings to their maximum. Although the pressure of the seawater was immense, his Dragon race bloodline gave him a strange adaptability. He felt like a fish in water. His dragon wings were not just for flying; underwater, they became giant fins, each flap creating a huge propulsive force, helping him shoot forward at a terrifying speed.
Tenth was no slouch either. The body of a Nascent Soul expert allowed him to completely ignore the water pressure. He circulated his spiritual energy, creating a membrane around his body to minimize all resistance, and pursued Lam Minh relentlessly.
One ran, the other chased.
Two streaks of light, one black and red, one jet-black, zipped through the bottom of the sea, causing the marine creatures to flee in panic, creating unprecedented chaos.
Tenth, despite his great speed, couldn't catch up to Lam Minh immediately. His anger flared again, and he occasionally launched long-range energy attacks.
A ball of dark energy shot forward.
Lam Minh didn't dodge. He knew that dodging would reduce his speed. He was in the [Immunity] state, so he just let the ball hit his back.
BOOM!
A dull explosion echoed underwater. The explosion created a huge propulsive force from behind.
Lam Minh, instead of being injured, used that very force to shoot forward even faster.
"Thanks for the 'push,' old man!" he didn't forget to provoke him telepathically.
"YOU BASTARD!!!" Tenth was so angry he nearly coughed up blood. He had inadvertently helped his enemy again.
The chase continued like this.
Both of them dived deeper and deeper.
1000 meters... Sunlight was gone. All around was a deep, dark blue. The water pressure was enough to crush a military submarine.
2000 meters... All around was absolute darkness. Only strange, bioluminescent sea creatures swam by.
3000 meters... The water pressure had become terrifying. Even Tenth had to use more spiritual energy to maintain his protective membrane.
Lam Minh still didn't stop. He just aimed straight for the direction where he sensed the ancient aura and swam towards it. He was deliberately leading Tenth to the "home" of a "friendly" neighbor.
Tenth, in his rage, didn't notice the anomaly. He only knew one thing: he had to catch that damned kid and tear him into a hundred pieces.
They had entered a deep-sea area where humans had never set foot. A world of real monsters.
And the "host" Lam Minh was about to visit was slowly stirring from its thousand-year slumber, having sensed two uninvited guests charging straight into its living room.
...
The darkness at the bottom of the deep sea was almost absolute, the water pressure here could crush even the hardest alloys. But for a Nascent Soul and a Golden Core expert, it was just a minor obstacle.
Lam Minh was still in the lead, his speed not diminishing at all. He could feel that the giant aura was very close, right ahead. He could sense it stirring, like a volcano about to erupt.
Finally, after passing through an underwater trench, a vast space suddenly appeared before their eyes.
The Palawan Trench, Philippines.
It wasn't completely dark here. A faint light emanated from strange corals and creatures, creating a scene that was both mystical and eerie.
And in the very center of that vast space, Lam Minh saw the owner of that aura.
Even he was stunned for a moment.
It was an octopus.
An octopus of indescribable size. Its body was as large as a small hill, and its eight tentacles, each hundreds of meters long, were gently undulating in the water. Its entire body was a milky white color, with blue patterns that could change color with its emotions.
It had been sleeping. But the presence of the two uninvited guests had awakened it.
The giant octopus, or rather, a legendary Kraken, slowly opened its eyes. Its eyes were as large as two cars, golden in color, staring intently at the two intruders.
An ancient, powerful aura, even slightly stronger than Tenth's, slowly radiated out, stirring the entire sea region.
Initial-Stage Nascent Soul, but it was a deep-sea monster that had lived for who knows how many years.
Tenth, who had just caught up, also froze when he saw the monster before him, his expression changing drastically.
"This... this is the Deep Sea Demon King?" he stammered. He had heard of the existence of ancient monsters at the bottom of the sea, but he never thought he would encounter one.
And then, he looked at Lam Minh. He saw the complete lack of surprise on the kid's face.
He understood instantly.
He had been set up.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he roared in his mind, his anger flaring up again. "YOU DARE LEAD ME HERE! DO YOU WANT TO DIE TOGETHER?"
Lam Minh didn't answer him. He just turned, looked at him with a meaningful smile.
The Kraken seemed to have identified the two intruders. It didn't know who was friend or foe. To it, both were intruders who had disturbed its sleep.
It slowly moved its giant tentacles. Its aura grew stronger and stronger. A battle was about to break out.
Just then, Lam Minh made a very small, but incredibly cunning move.
He quietly used his fingernail to make a small cut on his fingertip.
A drop of Golden Blood, carrying the purest Dragon God bloodline, slowly seeped out. It didn't dissolve in the seawater but condensed into a small, golden blood gem.
He used a gentle wisp of spiritual energy to push that drop of Golden Blood away, letting it drift along a small ocean current, towards a distant direction, out of sight of both Tenth and the Kraken.
After seeing that the drop of Golden Blood had traveled far enough.
Lam Minh turned back to look at Tenth, who was still wary of both him and the Kraken.
He gave a final smile, a smile full of pity and triumph.
"Hope you survive this, Tenth."