"What?!"
An Yuexi's face changed dramatically. She turned back in alarm, probing with her divine sense, but found nothing. Yet, she didn't relax in the slightest. She knew the range of her divine sense was limited; even if it detected no danger, that didn't guarantee safety.
She turned to Lin Feng, her voice tight. "Is someone really following us?"
"To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent certain," Lin Feng admitted, his expression grave, a flicker of frustration in his eyes. "But throughout our journey, I've had this feeling of being watched, more than once. Every time I tried to confirm it, I found nothing." Since cultivating the Chromatic Starlight Art, he had discovered his perception of danger had become vastly more acute than before. This 'sixth sense' had proven itself many times in practice; during their descent alone, it had allowed him to evade several powerful demon beasts.
Truthfully, not long after entering the sea, Lin Feng had sensed a faint, elusive threat trailing them. Despite his covert vigilance, he'd found no trace of a pursuer, chalking it up to his own paranoia. But just moments ago, the feeling had resurfaced, stronger than ever before, strong enough to startle Xiao Qiu. This confirmed it wasn't just his imagination. They were very likely being followed...
An Yuexi sounded flustered. "What should we do now?"
"We find a way to shake them off." Lin Feng's eyes gleamed as he rapidly considered their options. Simultaneously, he pushed his divine sense to its limit, scouring their surroundings.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed. "Huh? This place..." he murmured, surprise tinged with suspicion.
An Yuexi's heart leaped into her throat. "What is it?"
Lin Feng didn't answer immediately. Instead, he concentrated intently, his divine sense focused. With a flick of his right hand, a jade slip appeared. He began examining the slip while simultaneously surveying their surroundings. A look of dawning joy spread across his face. "It really is here... It actually is here..."
The jade slip he held was one he'd acquired long ago, after the events on Black Pine Island. Lost at sea and seeking directions, he had encountered—and subsequently killed—a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Great Wave Alliance. Among the man's possessions were two map jade slips: one a standard sea chart, the other detailing an unknown location. Lin Feng had given the second one only a cursory glance back then. Now, observing the underwater terrain, a sense of familiarity struck him. Thinking back, he recalled this slip. Comparing it now, it was a perfect match!
That Great Wave Alliance elder had somehow also ventured to these crushing depths and mapped a significant area. Evidently, the man had been a Qin Family agent, tasked with searching for the Blue Moon Sect ruins. Unbelievably, he had found this very spot, yet, due to carelessness or sheer bad luck, had failed to discover the ruins themselves.
While useless for finding the ruins, the map now offered Lin Feng an immense stroke of fortune. It contained one crucial piece of information – information that could help them escape their pursuers...
...
Lin Feng's eyes brightened with resolve. A plan crystallized in his mind. It was risky, he hesitated for a split second, but quickly decided – it seemed the most feasible option!
An Yuexi waited a few moments, her anxiety mounting. "Mu Gongzi, what exactly are we..."
Lin Feng, his decision made, cut her off. His gaze fixed intensely on the seabed to their right front. "Miss An, come close to me! We're heading that way!"
"Ah?" An Yuexi was momentarily bewildered by the abrupt command to 'come close'. Before she could fully process it, she saw Lin Feng pull out a cloak as thin as a cicada's wing. She recognized this magic treasure – a rare artifact capable of concealing one's aura. Understanding dawned. She moved closer. Lin Feng flicked his wrist, and the Invisibility Cloak enveloped them both.
...
Meanwhile, several kilometers behind Lin Feng and An Yuexi.
Two figures hovered effortlessly in the dark water. Before them lay the immense corpse of a fish-like demon beast, the size of a large wagon. This was the Rank Five, early-stage beast Lin Feng and An Yuexi had painstakingly avoided earlier. Now, it was very, very dead.
"Hmm?" The instant Lin Feng and An Yuexi vanished beneath the cloak, one of the figures let out a soft sound of surprise, his head snapping up to look forward.
The other figure immediately asked, "Ancestor, what is it?" This man wore dark golden robes and had a long, narrow face. It was none other than Qin Huangtian, City Lord of Black Loong City!
The man Qin Huangtian addressed as 'Ancestor' was an elderly figure draped in violet robes. His skin was dry and wrinkled, appearing almost skeletal, yet an aura of immense, unshakeable power radiated from him.
The violet-robed elder waved his right hand, storing the beast's corpse. He frowned slightly. "The auras of those two… they suddenly vanished."
"What?!" Qin Huangtian exclaimed, shocked. He immediately focused his senses forward, then gasped, "They truly are gone?! How is that possible..."
The elder's frown lasted only a moment. His expression quickly smoothed into its usual impassivity. "Calm yourself," he said coolly. "I can still detect a faint trace. They likely employed some concealment artifact. We simply follow..."
...
The two pursuers soon arrived at the spot where Lin Feng and An Yuexi had disappeared. They continued forward a few more kilometers until a vast, seemingly bottomless trench split the seabed before them.
The violet-robed elder stared at the trench, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes. It was quickly replaced by a sneer of disdain. "A rather fine concealment treasure," he murmured. "Thinking they can deceive me? How naive..."
He seemed confident he had pinpointed Lin Feng and An Yuexi's hiding place. Qin Huangtian, however, sensed nothing. He instinctively sent his divine sense probing into the trench's depths. "Ancestor, where are they hiding? Could the Blue Moon Sect ruins actually be here? Then we should..."
He never finished his sentence. His expression abruptly twisted into one of horror! Beside him, even the violet-robed elder's pupils constricted violently, shock and dread washing over his face!
"Huummm..."
Simultaneously, an overwhelmingly powerful aura erupted from within the trench. The surrounding seawater vibrated faintly. Two crimson lights ignited within the pitch-black abyss, growing larger until they resembled two massive lanterns. Eyes!
Feeling the terrifying aura surging from the trench, the violet-robed elder spoke with unprecedented gravity. "Disaster!! A Rank Five, late-stage demon beast! Be on guard!!"
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Even as he spoke, dark shapes began snaking out of the trench, thick and numerous, latching onto the trench's rim like grappling hooks. The crimson eyes grew larger still as an enormous form hauled itself up from the depths.
The creature resembled a monstrous octopus, but scaled to the size of a five-story building. Not just its eyes, but its entire body was a deep, unsettling crimson. Blood-red seawater seemed to swirl around it, as if the beast itself bled into the ocean. Most horrifying was its lower body: countless thick tentacles, each studded with vicious hooks, writhed beneath it – easily over a hundred!
Seeing the beast in its entirety, Qin Huangtian's face turned deathly pale. "Hundred-Tentacled Blood Octopus!!" he gasped, terror lacing his voice.
The muscles in the violet-robed elder's face twitched, his composure fractured. His eyes darted, a mixture of shock and fury flashing within them, as if realizing something terrible. His gaze involuntarily shot towards a specific spot near the Hundred-Tentacled Blood Octopus...
"SCREEE!!!"
At that exact moment, the Blood Octopus let out an ear-splitting, monstrous screech, filled with rage. Dozens of its tentacles shot forward like colossal, barbed spears, stretching impossibly long, piercing through the water with terrifying speed, aimed directly at the two humans!