125: Chapter 125 The Dragon Burial Stirs Up Strange Events, Elite Troops Descend to Sea (1)

Luo Qingcheng set down her teacup.

"That man—I can smell his poisonous miasma from the peak." She traced a circle on the teacup with her fingertip. "When a Golden Core Stage Protective Aura touches this poisonous miasma, the outer membrane of the aura will be corroded. Although it cannot harm the physical body, it can strip a layer of skin off the surface of the Golden Core Stage defense."

"What do you think he can do?"

"In the three months before the war, he can push the defensive depth of Blue Moon Island's perimeter out by another layer. If the poisonous miasma is spread in the buffer zone between the reef area and the Restriction line, anyone sneaking in from the sea will have to endure a layer of poisonous miasma before facing the Geng Metal Sword Intent." Luo Qingcheng picked up the teacup. "Additionally, regarding the 'Explosive Alchemy' he mentioned... if he can cause the Medicinal Pill to explode with directional impact inside the Pill Furnace, it would be a mobile array-breaking hammer on the battlefield."

When night fell, a spark of light appeared again in the direction of the reef area.

Gu He lit an oil lamp outside the shack.

The flame was small—just enough to illuminate the row of mushrooms on the stone slab in front of him. He held a hammer in his right hand and turned over a dark brown mushroom with his left. Every time he turned it over, the hammer would fall once. The sound of the hammer traveled far across the reef area in the night; the rhythm was steady, not like working, but like counting beats.

The water outside the shack was rising with the tide. The seawater reached a point one foot away from the shack's entrance—Gu He looked down at the water and moved the oil lamp an inch higher. Then he continued hammering the mushrooms.

A clanging sound came from the direction of the Pier—Leng Feng was driving the array piles for the second phase of the Killing Array at the berth. The sound of the piles being driven into the reef base rang out every ten breaths—perfectly staggered with the rhythm of Gu He's mushroom hammering.

The spiritual light lamp in the Trial Workshop was on—Chen Mo was testing the third batch of military standards in the fourth pot tonight. The spiritual fire at the bottom of the pot cast the ceiling in a dark red hue.

The Spirit Stone trough on the third branch of Qixia Peak was filled to the waist of the peak tonight. Luo Qingcheng had the cavalry crush the gravel even finer than yesterday—the propulsion speed of the Geng Metal Sword Intent deep within the earth's veins was one day faster than expected.

The military communication channel that Commander Tie Zhan opened for Lu Changyuan replied on the morning of the third day after Gu He arrived on the island.

The reply came from a seventh-rank assistant official in the Military Medical Bureau—one of Commander Tie Zhan's men. The assistant official wrote concisely on the receipt: 'Gu He, a seventh-rank alchemist on the roster of the Military Medical Bureau. He has been in the bureau for eleven years, specializing in physical anesthesia and toxic concoctions. He was nominated for assessment by the Bureau Chief three times and rejected—the reason in all cases was "techniques do not comply with regulations." A month ago, he was transferred out of the Military Medical Bureau's establishment by Right Commander Li Feng under the guise of wartime personnel deployment and assigned to the Blue Moon Island recruitment list. There are no disciplinary records in his file.'

A small line of text was appended: 'This person's transfer procedures are completely legal. However, the day before the transfer order was issued, the logistics manager of Right Commander Li Feng's mansion stood at the entrance of the Military Medical Bureau for an hour. The transfer order was among the first batch of urgent dispatches sent out from the Unified Coordination Department the following morning.'

Lu Changyuan folded the receipt and put it into his sleeve. The transfer order went out from the Unified Coordination Department—Vice Commander Han Yi's Unified Coordination Department. Right Commander Li Feng wanted to kick an eyesore of an alchemist out of the Military Medical Bureau, and he used the urgent dispatch channel of the Unified Coordination Department.

The one surnamed Han did this job for the one surnamed Li Feng—ten years ago it was swapping boxes, ten years later it was transferring personnel.

An abandoned pawn of the enemy—accepted.

The same morning.

The third scheduled report from the Cold Dragon Abyss observation post was delivered to the Lords Mansion—unlike the previous two, this report had an extra line marked in red ink.

'Observation point: Surface of Cold Dragon Abyss. Time: 7:45 AM. Surface anomaly: The frequency of surges around the Abyss Mouth has nearly doubled compared to the previous day (yesterday about three to four times per hour → today seven to eight times per hour). Origin of surges: Bottom of the abyss. Accompanying phenomenon: The black fish schools around the perimeter of the Abyss Mouth have begun to gather in shallower layers—yesterday they were at a depth of six hundred zhang, this morning they have risen to four hundred zhang.'

Lu Changyuan took the report and went to the Cold Dragon Abyss.

Su Qingli went with him. She had temporarily set up a small water-viewing mirror on the reef north of the Abyss Mouth—the mirror surface was modified from a second-rank Formation Plate, capable of converting underwater Spiritual Qi fluctuations into visible light patterns. The light patterns on the mirror surface were flickering much faster today than usual.

"It is not a giant beast." Su Qingli pointed her finger at the center of a light ring constantly expanding on the mirror surface. "The breathing interval of a giant beast is forty-seven breaths—the interval of this fluctuation is unstable, sometimes a dozen breaths, sometimes thirty-some breaths. It is not breathing—it is something else pushing Spiritual Qi into the water layers."

She slid her finger down from the center of the light ring—all the way to the bottom of the mirror. There was a mass of extremely dark green light there. The green light on the mirror surface occasionally bulged outward and then retracted, shaped like a heart beating extremely slowly at the bottom of the water.

"A black turtle egg." Lu Changyuan pressed his hand against the reef. The surface of the reef was slightly warm—the temperature had risen by about half a degree compared to the day before yesterday. The heat seeping up from underwater was transmitted to his palm through the surface of the reef. Although the crack on the outer layer of the eggshell was mostly blocked by sludge, it had not fully closed. The grayish-white mucus seeping from the edges of the crack dissolved in the water, releasing a faint, dark green Spiritual Qi—the Spiritual Qi spread upward along the cold water layer of the Abyss Mouth, pushing the black fish schools below four hundred zhang up by one layer.

"The crack in the eggshell has triggered Spiritual Qi disturbances in the deep water layer—the disturbances are being pushed outward along the undercurrents at the bottom of the abyss, creating water pressure fluctuations at the Abyss Mouth." Su Qingli traced the light patterns from the water-viewing mirror onto paper. "The current fluctuation intensity is not yet high—the black fish have only floated up one hundred zhang and have not yet left the Abyss Mouth. But in a few more days—once the black fish schools are pushed out of the Abyss Mouth, they will surge toward the northeast coast of Blue Moon Island along the seabed fissures in the direction of the Outer Port berths."

"How long?"

"Based on the current rate of increase—four or five days. After the main army sets out." Su Qingli folded the traced light pattern diagram. "Young Lord—after the main force leaves, only the remaining Mortals, veteran Daoist soldiers, and the witnesses in the shack area will be left on the island. Once the black fish schools surge onto the northeast coast—with the Sword Ray Cavalry that Leng Feng is taking away gone, Fairy Luo will be the only one guarding the heart pulse of the Killing Array, and she won't be able to spare a Clone to go to the shore and clear the fish."

Lu Changyuan walked halfway around the reef at the Abyss Mouth. The water surface of the Abyss Mouth shimmered with a dark green color under the morning sun—the Spiritual light permeating upward from the bottom of the water stained the surface. A few unknown seabirds flew over the Abyss Mouth; after flying past, two feathers fell from their wings—the moment the feathers touched the water surface, they were wrapped by the dark green Spiritual light and sank.

"Explore the abyss." Lu Changyuan stopped at the edge of the reef. "Before the main army sets out—map out the entire underwater terrain from the bottom of the abyss to the Dragon Burial Trench. Where the black fish schools are surging, which fissure they are using to reach the northeast coast, and whether there are other exits at the bottom of the abyss—get everything figured out."

"Who shall I send?"

"Leng Feng. Pick ten cavalrymen with the best swimming skills—prioritize those in the Sword Ray Cavalry who can go underwater. Equip each with a second-rank Water-avoiding Talisman, heavy black iron armor, and a Jade Slip for tracing." Lu Changyuan took out a Formation Plate from his sleeve—a miniature Formation Plate for a third-rank underwater traction array. "After descending to the bottom of the Dragon Burial Trench, insert the traction array piles—in case of an emergency, activating the array piles can pull them back to the surface from a depth of three thousand zhang."

Su Qingli adjusted the water-viewing mirror to point directly below the Abyss Mouth. The light dots of the black fish schools on the mirror surface were moving from four hundred zhang toward three hundred and fifty zhang—the speed was not fast, but the direction was steadily upward.