206: Chapter 206 The True Face of the Abyss: A Weak Link

Leng Feng surfaced before nightfall, nearly half a day earlier than expected. On the way back, he drifted upward with the undercurrent. The push of the undercurrent and the buoyancy of his ascent combined to make his speed nearly twice as fast as when he went down. From two thousand Zhang to the surface, the entire journey took less than four hours.

The four of them climbed over the reefs on the east side of the Ring Reef one by one. Upon emerging, their chests heaved nearly twice as deeply as usual—the transition between the high-pressure environment of the Deep Water Zone and the low pressure of the sea surface required their lungs to slowly adapt. Leng Feng stood on the reef. The grayish-white silt clinging to his armor scales began to run down after emerging from the water. The mud dripped along the edges of the scales onto the reef, just like the last time he surfaced, but this time the silt was a shade lighter. It was the sealing array ink powder that had dried for two thousand years in the mountain pass.

Deng Yue stood up from the reef. The old wound on his left shoulder had split slightly under the deep-water pressure. The edges of the wound were bleached white from the seawater, but the wound itself was not deep; only the newly formed outer scab had been forced open by the water pressure. Gu He's Hemostatic Powder was pressed onto it about ten breaths after emerging from the water. The dark purple blood stopped seeping out once covered by the medicinal powder. Deng Yue unbuckled the spare armor scale from his waist and replaced the white gauze underneath with a new one. Standing on the reef, he slipped his left hand back into the strap on the inner side of his shield.

Leng Feng took out the rubbed Jade Slip from his waterproof bag. A layer of extremely fine grayish-white silt clung to the surface of the Jade Slip—it was the sealing array ink powder. He wiped the surface of the Jade Slip with his finger. After clearing the silt, the spiritual patterns on the Jade Slip shone even brighter than before he went into the water. The water pressure at two thousand Zhang in the Deep Water Zone had compressed the spiritual patterns extremely tightly, making them shine even brighter.

Inside the Lords Mansion, four items were still spread across the sea chart table: the remnant map, Su Qingli's wave source distribution map, the military's standard issue inventory, and Chu Yunfei's transmission. Leng Feng placed the rubbed Jade Slip next to the remnant map. The spiritual glow from the Jade Slip cast a very faint, cool-colored spot of light onto the beast skin surface of the remnant map.

The rubbed Jade Slip recorded the complete layout of the formation platform. The square formation platform was about a hundred Zhang across. Its base was constructed from layers of dark green-black boulders, with no mortar between them, held together entirely by interlocking patterns. The platform's surface was covered with Sealing Patterns—each ring of patterns growing denser from the center outward, with the outermost ring so fine that individual lines were almost invisible to the naked eye. In the exact center of the platform was a perfectly circular depression about three feet in diameter. Engraved around the edge of the depression were three rings of auxiliary Sealing Patterns of different colors: deep blue for the outer ring, dark red for the middle ring, and silver-gray for the inner ring. The three rings of auxiliary patterns flashed alternately in a full cycle of about forty breaths. The rhythm of the flashing was completely synchronized with the main wave on the Receiving Formation.

The Jade Slip also recorded the situation around the formation platform: about fifty elite guards, a High Priest in dark gold shell armor holding a bone staff, and three spiritual energy transmission lines.

Finally, there was a line of notes on the edge of the Jade Slip—Leng Feng's own assessment. The writing was scribbled more sloppily than usual due to the underwater pressure affecting the stability of his fingers.

"Outer ring nearly full. Middle ring half full. Inner ring almost empty. The Haiyuan Clan is redeploying forces from the The Lid to accelerate the Lock Core—this is confirmed to be the root cause of the reduced patrol density toward the Connection Node."

Su Qingli made a final comparison between the data rubbed by Leng Feng and the remnant map. She flattened the remnant map and used a formation ruler to measure the positions and distances of the three nodes on it. Then, she took out the triangular diagram she had drawn earlier. The three vertices of the triangle were labeled 'Altar', 'Red Circle', and 'Connection Node' respectively. The exact center of the triangle was labeled 'Main Hub'. On the triangular diagram, she marked the colors of the three rings of auxiliary patterns rubbed by Leng Feng next to their corresponding nodes: The Lid -> Deep Blue, Lock Core -> Dark Red, Connection Node -> Silver-Gray.

The complete picture had been pieced together.

The Main Hub of the Sealing Pattern was a stone-built formation platform constructed inside the undersea mountain range—ancient Cultivators from two thousand years ago had used the entire mountain range as the formation base, engraving the Sealing Pattern onto the platform. In the exact center of the platform was the sealing opening, and directly beneath this opening lay the abyssal vein.

The three rings of auxiliary patterns formed a triple spiritual energy lock. The outer ring of deep blue corresponded to the Altar (the The Lid). The middle ring of dark red corresponded to the Red Circle (the Lock Core). The inner ring of silver-gray corresponded to the Connection Node. All three rings had to be filled with spiritual energy simultaneously for the central opening to unlock. If any single ring lagged behind, it would be useless no matter how full the other two were.

The function of the Sealing Pattern—as confirmed by Chu Yunfei's transmission—was to 'seal and suppress' the abyssal vein. Two thousand years ago, ancient Cultivators used this set of Array Patterns to sever the connection between the Haiyuan Clan and their deep abyss energy root. From then on, the Haiyuan Clan could no longer cultivate high-level generals above the Nascent Soul stage—the species' war potential was cut off at its roots. The Haiyuan Clan was mobilizing their entire race to pry open the seal, because once the seal was opened and the abyssal vein restored, their reproduction and advancement capabilities, which had been suppressed for two thousand years, would be released in a short period. They needed to create more high-level combat forces before the full-scale war broke out.

This was why the Haiyuan Clan was in such a hurry to activate the seal. This was why Gu He's Spirit Mouse had bristled in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench—the Spirit Mouse had smelled the aura of the abyssal vein. Deep abyss energy that had been sealed for two thousand years—someone was now trying to pry it open from the outside.

The key discovery Leng Feng observed was that the spiritual energy injection progress of the three rings of auxiliary patterns was severely inconsistent. The The Lid direction had accumulated for the longest time—the Haiyuan Clan had been operating in the Altar direction for at least twenty years, and in the past three months had accelerated the activation with all their might, so the brightness of the outer deep blue auxiliary pattern was already nearly full. The Lock Core direction was lagging behind by at least several paces—the brightness of the middle dark red auxiliary pattern was only nearly half that of the outer ring. The Connection Node direction had made almost no progress—the brightness of the silver-gray auxiliary pattern was less than thirty percent of the outer ring.

The reason for the progress gap: the Haiyuan Clan was redeploying forces from both the The Lid and the Lock Core directions to accelerate the Connection Node. The differences in thickness and flow rate of the three spiritual energy transmission lines that Leng Feng observed underwater were proof of this—the conduit in the The Lid direction was the thickest and had the most stable flow; the conduit in the Lock Core direction was only half as thick, with a fluctuating flow; and the conduit in the Connection Node direction was the thinnest, with a flow rate less than thirty percent of the The Lid's.

This progress gap was the weak link. All three rings had to be filled simultaneously—but the The Lid was already nearly full. If the The Lid was filled first, the Haiyuan Clan would be forced to redirect the spiritual energy released from the The Lid toward the Lock Core and the Connection Node. Leng Feng's reconnaissance had confirmed that the Lock Core direction still needed at least five days to be fully injected. Meanwhile, the The Lid direction—calculated according to Su Qingli's acceleration curve—would be worn through in two to three days at most.

The Lid worn through -> redirection of spiritual energy -> acceleration of the Lock Core and Connection Node. However, what the Haiyuan Clan was currently doing was withdrawing troops from the The Lid and the Lock Core to help the Connection Node. If they could create interference in the direction of the Lock Core or the Connection Node—without having to face the main force of the Haiyuan Clan head-on—they could slow down the entire activation process. Even a delay of a few days would allow Blue Moon Island to hold out for a few days longer.

Lu Changyuan looked at the formation platform structure on the rubbed Jade Slip. His finger paused at the position of the Connection Node.

"Their weakest point happens to be exactly where we need to cause a delay."

Su Qingli walked out of the Formation Affairs Room, holding the latest data from the Receiving Formation. Under the cold light lamp, the dense wave lines on the rubbed paper reflected a very faint blue. She spread the paper on the sea chart table and tapped her finger on the wave line of the outer wave source.

"The outer ring has jumped up by nearly another five percent over the past half day. At this rate, the outer Restriction in the The Lid direction will be worn through in two to three days at most." She picked up her Formation Pen and drew a new line on the beast skin paper. One end of the line was the time when the The Lid's Restriction would be worn through, and the other end was the time required for the Lock Core and Connection Node to be fully injected with spiritual energy.

Between these two time points, there was a window of about two to three days.

The The Lid would be worn through, but the Lock Core would not yet be fully injected. Within this window, the Main Hub would not open, but the outer protection of the seal would disappear. With the formation platform exposed, the Haiyuan Clan would go all out to accelerate the injection of spiritual energy in the Lock Core direction. That would be the most vulnerable moment for the Haiyuan Clan—their forces would be pinned down in the Lock Core direction, and they wouldn't have had time to fully reinforce the Connection Node direction yet. It was also the only window for Blue Moon Island to interfere with the seal.

Lu Changyuan stood before the sea chart table. Six items lay on the tabletop: the remnant map, Leng Feng's four deep-abyss exploration rubbings, Su Qingli's wave source distribution map, Chu Yunfei's abyssal vein transmission, the list of military outposts, and Commander Tie Zhan's support allocation order. He pressed his hand against the edge of the table and tapped his fingers twice on the surface.

Outside the window, the green lights of the twelve sentry posts on the Ring Reef were still lit. The Old Veteran's observation scopes were still aimed toward the Dragon Burial Trench. The dark purple water band had been completely dispersed by the tide, and the sea surface had returned to its usual dark blue. However, not a single wave signal on Su Qingli's Receiving Formation had disappeared. The seventh wave source—the one that had hovered near the surface when Leng Feng entered the water—was still pushing forward. The eighth was already steadily lit on the edge of the Formation Plate.

The window was approaching. Yet Blue Moon Island had not yet decided whether to go.