192: Chapter 192 Reconnaissance and Recovery, Enemy Traces Found (1)

The sky had not yet fully brightened. On the Pier at the Outer Port of Blue Moon Island, Su Qingli stood guard beside the Receiving Formation. She had been keeping watch since the Zi hour—the signals from the four sensor array-chips on the Formation Plate of the Receiving Formation had been growing denser.

She placed the Formation Plate on the stone platform at the outermost edge of the Pier's jetty. The surface of the stone platform was dampened by the night dew, and the moisture-proof Array Pattern on the bottom of the Formation Plate reflected a faint blue light against the wet stone. Beside the Formation Plate was a cold-light stone lamp; the cold light within the wick had dimmed by one level, a brightness indicating that the Spirit Stone was nearly exhausted.

Su Qingli did not change the wick. Her eyes remained fixed on the position of the sixth fluctuation source on the Formation Plate. The amplitude of the sixth fluctuation source had jumped up another small notch within the last half-hour—the magnitude of the jump was not large, but it had not receded after rising.

She had locked the sensing range of the Receiving Formation in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench—a fan-shaped coverage of approximately sixty degrees, east-southeast from the Ring Reef. On the Formation Plate, the six fluctuation sources—the two closest (the sixth and seventh)—were moving toward Blue Moon Island. The direction of movement was stable—there was no deviation and no detouring.

She pulled the array-ruler from her sleeve and measured the distance between the seventh fluctuation source and the Ring Reef on the Formation Plate. The scale on the array-ruler indicated—less than one hundred li.

Footsteps approached from the direction of the Pier's jetty. It was Lu Changyuan. He walked over from the Lords Mansion and stopped beside Su Qingli. He glanced at the Formation Plate, then looked up at the sea surface to the east of the Ring Reef. The morning mist over the sea had not yet dissipated; the fog spread a thin, grayish-white layer across the water. Visibility in the morning mist was less than three li—anything beyond three li was completely obscured by the fog.

"Hasn't Leng Feng surfaced yet?"

"Not yet." Su Qingli tucked the array-ruler back into her sleeve. She tapped her finger on the position of the seventh fluctuation source on the Formation Plate—her fingertip brushed a ring of extremely fine spiritual light ripples against the surface of the plate. "The seventh one—it's still pushing forward. Its speed is nearly ten percent faster than it was half an hour ago."

Lu Changyuan withdrew his gaze from the sea and took the Formation Plate from Su Qingli's hand. The plate vibrated slightly in his palm—it was the residual vibration of the array force, triggered when the underwater fluctuations captured by the sensor array-chips were transmitted back through the Receiving Formation's circuitry. He held the Formation Plate up to his eyes—the distribution of the six fluctuation sources on the plate was clear at a glance. The sixth was directly east of the Ring Reef—at a distance of approximately one hundred and ten li. The seventh was to the north of the sixth—at a distance of less than one hundred li. The remaining four were further away—distributed across a fan-shaped area of about fifty li between the altar and the red circle.

"How long has Leng Feng been down?"

"Nearly one hour."

Lu Changyuan placed the Formation Plate back onto the stone platform. As he set it down, the edge of the plate bumped against the base of the cold-light stone lamp—the cold light in the wick flickered once before stabilizing. He stood on the Pier, his hand resting on the edge of the stone platform. The edge of the stone platform was icy cold—the night dew had not yet dried.

They waited for approximately another half-hour.

On the water surface to the east of the Ring Reef—far in the distance—a ring of extremely fine ripples appeared. The ripples did not ripple from the outside in—they were pushing up from beneath the water. The surface of the water bulged upward in the center of the ripples—then it was sliced open by something from below.

Leng Feng's head was the first to emerge from the water—his face was coated with a layer of grayish-white fine silt brought up from the deep water. Then came Deng Yue, Ma Yuan, and Tian Qi—the four of them surfaced one after another. Their breathing was nearly twice as heavy as usual when they emerged—the rise and fall of their chests were clearly visible in the morning mist. The entire ascent had been at maximum speed—they had traveled from twelve hundred zhang to the surface in less than half an hour.

Leng Feng vaulted over the reef on the east side of the Ring Reef—his knees buckled slightly to cushion the impact as his feet landed on the rocks. The force of the cushioning crushed a layer of barnacles on the surface of the reef—debris fell from the edge of the reef into the water. The grayish-white fine silt clinging to his armor plates began to run off after he surfaced—the mud dripped onto the reef along the edges of his armor.

He took the rubbing Jade Slip from the waterproof bag at his waist. The surface of the Jade Slip was still wet—the water pressure of the deep sea had made the spiritual patterns on the surface of the Jade Slip shine brighter than usual. He held the Jade Slip in his palm and walked toward the Lords Mansion. Seawater from his armor dripped all the way from the Pier's jetty to the entrance of the Lords Mansion.

Inside the Lords Mansion, Leng Feng placed the rubbing Jade Slip on the nautical chart table. Four items were already spread out on the table: the fragment map, the altar rubbing, the fluctuation source distribution chart, and the military-issued standard checklist. Leng Feng placed the rubbing Jade Slip next to the fragment map—the spiritual light from the Jade Slip cast a faint, cool-colored circle of light onto the beast-hide surface of the fragment map.

"The sixth fluctuation source—" Leng Feng pressed his finger on the location marked on the rubbing Jade Slip. The seawater on his finger had not yet dried—his fingertip left a tiny wet mark on the nautical chart's surface. "It is not a single entity. It is an entire group—at least over a hundred Foundation Establishment Stage Abyssal Beasts. They are arranged in a fan-shaped advancing formation—the width of the formation is approximately three li."

He moved his finger away from the Jade Slip, then pulled another recording Jade Slip from his waterproof bag. This Jade Slip recorded the distribution of spiritual power intensity he had scanned while observing from below at a depth of twelve hundred zhang. After passing through the interference of the water-displacement layer, his Divine Sense encountered a dense wall of spiritual power reactions in the direction of the sixth fluctuation source. The reaction wall was about half a li thick, arranged in three rows. The interval between each row was about twenty zhang—a typical deep-sea assault formation. At the head of the formation were two False Core Haiyuan Clan commanders, their bodies nearly twice the size of ordinary Abyssal Beasts—humanoid upper bodies, snake tails for lower bodies, and the spiritual power fluctuation frequency of their scales was completely different from that of the Foundation Establishment Stage Abyssal Beasts.

"Advancement speed—" Leng Feng traced a line with his finger along the speed marking line on the rubbing Jade Slip. The marking line extended from the sixth fluctuation source toward Blue Moon Island—the time intervals marked on the line were the results of the timing Leng Feng had performed with his Divine Sense during the reconnaissance. "Approximately fifty li per hour. At this speed—it will reach the periphery of the Ring Reef in less than two hours."

Lu Changyuan did not speak. He looked at the marking line on the nautical chart table—his finger tapped once on the edge of the table. After tapping, he turned his head to look at Su Qingli.

"What about the seventh one?"

"The seventh one—" Leng Feng pulled the third recording Jade Slip from his waist. The content recorded on this Jade Slip was very short—it was something he had incidentally scanned with his Divine Sense during his diagonal ascent. "It is smaller than the sixth fluctuation source. About seven or eight individual Abyssal Beasts—only half the size of a person, and their swimming speed is nearly three times faster than the formation. Their direction is also Blue Moon Island. Distance from the reef wall—approximately sixty li."