203: Chapter 203 Deep Water Blind Spot, Dark Currents Advance (1)

Four hundred zhang underwater and beyond—the light was already gone.

The Water-avoiding Talismans of Leng Feng and his three companions automatically activated about half a stick of incense after they entered the water—the pale blue water ripples radiating from the surface of the talismans expanded into an air membrane about two fingers thick around each person.

The air membrane clung to their armor—seawater was kept outside the membrane, but the pressure of the Deep Water Zone pushed through the membrane and onto the armor.

For every hundred zhang they descended, the pressure on the surface of the armor increased by one notch.

The first twelve hundred zhang—Leng Feng was well-acquainted with the route.

He had already traveled this safe passage at least four times: the first time for trench exploration, altar reconnaissance, ice cave marking, and the fourth for lateral reconnaissance.

Each time, he had left markers along this passage—carvings on the reefs, spiritual light markers on the rock walls, and array piles on the edge of the undercurrent.

These markers had been soaked in seawater in the deep water for several months—the edges of the carvings were half-filled with fine silt, and the brightness of the spiritual light markers had dimmed by nearly half compared to when they were newly carved, but they were still recognizable.

The school of black fish had almost completely dispersed.

The giant beast had returned to a deep slumber—after which the black fish school migrated back from the periphery to the deep sea, leaving only fewer than two hundred stragglers.

Now—when Leng Feng and the other three passed through the one-thousand-zhang water layer, their Divine Sense swept out and only encountered fewer than thirty.

The thirty black fish scattered at eight hundred zhang underwater—the distance they kept was nearly double that of the Bone Fish school, and they did not approach.

The Bone Fish school was still there.

At about twelve hundred zhang deep—the density of the Bone Fish had dropped from over a hundred per hundred zhang to fewer than forty per hundred zhang.

After the giant beast fell into a deep slumber, the deep-sea biological chain was recovering—the Bone Fish's food (deep-sea krill and bottom-dwelling crustaceans) had not yet fully returned to this layer.

The remaining Bone Fish were the old and weak individuals that had not followed the giant beast to migrate deeper, but they were still there—Leng Feng took a pellet of Bone-Repelling Paste from his waterproof bag, crushed it with his fingers, and sprinkled it in front of their four-man diamond formation.

The powder of the Bone-Repelling Paste diffused in the water—the speed of diffusion was nearly ten times slower than in the air, but the scent released after the powder dissolved traveled much further in the water than in the air.

The mixed scent of rotten seaweed and rust could be smelled by the Bone Fish from about three li away underwater.

The Bone Fish parted to both sides—the distance of their parting was enough for the four-man diamond formation to pass through.

The angle of the diamond formation was compressed to about forty degrees—Leng Feng in front, Deng Yue at the left rear, Ma Yuan at the right rear, and Tian Qi at the back.

The distance between the four was about two zhang—at a water pressure of twelve hundred zhang underwater, this distance was the maximum effective range for spiritual power communication.

After passing the Bone Fish school—Leng Feng began to turn horizontally.

The undercurrent at twelve hundred zhang underwater was a water current pushing diagonally upward from the depths of the Dragon Burial Trench toward the Outer Port—the temperature was nearly one degree lower than the surrounding seawater.

Leng Feng had marked the boundary of the undercurrent with his Divine Sense during his last reconnaissance—the boundary was an extremely thin temperature dividing line.

The water temperature inside the line was one degree lower than outside—this temperature difference was sufficient to be captured by Divine Sense in the Deep Water Zone.

The four advanced along the core of the undercurrent.

The angle between their bodies and the direction of the water flow was compressed to about twenty degrees—the resistance was minimal.

The flow speed of the undercurrent itself was about ten li per half a shichen—advancing with the current was nearly twice as fast as in calm water areas.

The sound of the undercurrent masked the noise of the four people paddling—the low-frequency rumbling sound emitted when the water current passed between reefs and rock walls swallowed up all the clashing of armor and human voices.

Su Qingli's voice came from the Receiving Formation jade piece hanging at Leng Feng's waist.

The Receiving Formation jade piece was only the size of a thumbprint—the surface was carved with three circles of extremely fine communication Array Patterns.

Su Qingli's voice from the Formation Affairs Room came through the communication channel of the Receiving Formation—under the pressure of over a thousand zhang underwater, the voice was a bit muffled, but every word was clear.

"The patrol line is about three li to your front left. The direction is sweeping from east to west—the speed is five li per half a shichen. In about another stick of incense, it will pass directly in front of you."

Leng Feng raised his right hand—and pressed his palm down.

The four-man diamond formation slowed down simultaneously—dropping from propulsion speed to drifting speed.

The propulsion for drifting came from the undercurrent itself—there was no need to paddle, and there was no extra water noise.

One stick of incense later—Leng Feng's Divine Sense encountered the patrol line about three li ahead.

At least ten Haiyuan Clan patrol soldiers—their bodies were a size larger than humans, with humanoid upper bodies and snake tails; the frequency of the snake tails swinging in the water was extremely low, but the distance pushed with each swing was extremely long.

Their bone spears were embedded with dark cyan glowing crystals at the tips—the crystals emitted a very faint, deep blue light in the water.

Ten spear tips lined up in a horizontal line—sweeping from east to west.

The patrol line passed about one li directly in front of Leng Feng and the other three—without stopping, without turning.

They did not discover the four people in the undercurrent.

The water temperature of the undercurrent was one degree lower than the surroundings—the deep blue light of the crystal spear tips could not penetrate the temperature difference layer of the undercurrent.

After the patrol line passed, Leng Feng started to advance again.

Depth: fifteen hundred zhang.

Ice Cave.

Leng Feng had marked this location during his last reconnaissance—a cave at a depth of fifteen hundred zhang that had been sealed with over a dozen layers of ice-attribute magic by an Ice-Armored Beast.

Inside the cave grew cold marrow ganoderma—three of which had already been taken (Lu Hu used one that was over a hundred years old for Foundation Establishment, and the remaining two were given to Gu He and Chen Mo).

The fourth immature white sprout had its roots left behind.

Now, the cracks in the ice cave were wider than three days ago.

The widest crack had expanded enough to insert two fingers—three days ago, only one could be inserted.

A very thin layer of water film had appeared on the surface of the ice crystals at the edge of the crack—the water film swayed slightly in the seawater carried by the undercurrent.

The temperature inside the ice layer was still rising—when Leng Feng's Divine Sense swept over the surface of the ice cave, the temperature inside the ice layer was nearly one degree higher than three days ago.

Thermal expansion and contraction—the ice layer cracked from the inside; the wider the crack, the more the aura of the spiritual plant sealed inside the ice cave leaked out.

Behind the ice cave—that cluster of white-blue light was still there.

The spiritual plant had not been taken.

The Haiyuan Clan probably did not yet know of the existence of the ice cave—or perhaps they knew but were busy activating the seal and did not have time to send someone to dig up an immature white sprout.

But the crack was already wide enough to allow the aura of the spiritual plant to leak out steadily—if any patrol soldiers passed by here, they would definitely stop if their Divine Sense swept over the leaking aura of the spiritual plant.

Leng Feng did not stop.

He adjusted his direction next to the ice cave—about ten degrees south of east, and continued to push deeper along the undercurrent.

Su Qingli sent another message.

The voice was more muffled than before—the deeper the depth, the greater the attenuation of the communication array path.

"About five li ahead—a patrol team is changing shifts in the direction of the altar. During the shift change, the north side will be clear for about one stick of incense—you can cut through from the north side."

Leng Feng shifted the direction of the diamond formation about fifteen degrees to the north.

The four advanced along the rock wall on the north side of the altar—the rock wall was covered with dark brown seaweed that had been soaked in seawater for who knows how many years.

The leaves of the seaweed swayed in the water current—the four passed through the seaweed cluster, and when the leaves brushed against their armor, it emitted an extremely faint rustling sound.