208: Chapter 208 The outer barrier is worn through, and the clouds press down on the sea line.

Early morning of the third day. Mao hour.

Su Qingli had kept watch in the Formation Affairs Room all night. The wick of the cold-light stone lamp had been changed twice that night—the first time at Zi hour, the second at Yin hour. Now, the brightness of the second wick had begun to shift from bright white to a faint yellow—it was almost time to change to the third one. She did not change it. Her eyes remained fixed on the waveform line of the outer-circle fluctuation source on the Receiving Formation.

The outer-circle fluctuation source—corresponding to the altar direction, the Lid.

She had been staring at this waveform line for at least three days. From that night in ch155 when she drew the acceleration curve, to Leng Feng entering the water twice (ch155-15, h157-158 total hub confirmed), to yesterday evening when Leng Feng took thirty people into the water (ch159). Over these three days, she had recorded every change in this line on rubbing paper—the dense sampling points on the paper had already piled up to nearly three pages.

Now, this line was changing. Starting from Zi hour—the stable forty-breath pulse waveform began to show changes. The amplitude of the pulses was rising—the peak value of each cycle was a negligible bit higher than the previous one. Negligible—but if one connected two hundred cycles together, the upward trend looked like a diagonal line rising from the sea level.

By Yin hour—the amplitude had already reached nearly twice the highest value she had ever recorded.

By Mao hour—nearly three times.

Then it stopped. The waveform no longer pulsed—it turned into a continuous, flat, high-intensity bright line. The amplitude no longer fluctuated up and down—it remained constant at almost the full-scale position of the Receiving Formation. Su Qingli looked at that bright line—her fingers stopped at the edge of the Formation Plate.

The pulses had turned constant. She had seen this kind of waveform change when the temporary live line at Xuangui Island was impacted to the critical point by demonized sea beasts. The Restriction had changed from "still resisting" to "already worn through." The Lid direction—the outer layer Restriction of the seal—had been worn through.

She stood up—her knees stiffened for a moment after squatting in front of the Formation Plate all night. She pressed a hand to her knee and then walked out of the Formation Affairs Room. The cold-light stone lamp at the entrance of the Lords Mansion was still bright white—she pushed open Lu Changyuan's door.

"The Lid—is broken."

When Lu Changyuan walked into the Formation Affairs Room—besides that constant bright line on the outer circle of the Receiving Formation, the fluctuations of the middle circle (Lock Core) and inner circle (Connection Node) also began to accelerate synchronously. The amplitudes of the two lines had both jumped up by one notch in less than half an incense stick of time—the magnitude of the jump was greater than any other time in the previous three days. After the Lid was worn through—the Haiyuan Clan diverted all the spiritual power released from the Lid direction to the Lock Core and Connection Node. The spiritual power injection speed for both directions jumped up simultaneously.

Su Qingli used a formation pen to draw new comparison lines on the rubbing paper. The Lock Core direction—the amplitude jumped from less than half of the outer circle before the Lid was worn through, to nearly seventy percent of the outer circle before it was worn through. The Connection Node direction—the amplitude jumped from less than thirty percent to nearly half. Both directions were accelerating—and it was a jump-style acceleration, not a gradual one.

"The spiritual power fully released by the Lid is enough to push the injection speed of both directions up by one notch simultaneously. Based on this new slope—the time for the Lock Core to be filled might be shorter than the five days previously calculated." She pressed the formation pen onto the paper—and drew a dashed line forward from the new data point. "Four days—four days at most. The window is still there—but it is tighter than calculated yesterday."

Lu Changyuan walked from the Formation Affairs Room to the Outer Port Pier. The sky was not yet fully bright—the morning light was still buried beneath the sea level on the east side of the Ring Reef. Leng Feng was already waiting on the Pier—he had entered the water yesterday evening, but was now standing on the Pier. His armor plates were still stained with mud and sand brought up from the Deep Water Zone—it was scraped on when he opened up the retreat route in the direction of the Connection Node last night.

Leng Feng's ten-man personal guard stood in a row behind him. Deng Yue had replaced the armor plate on his new left shoulder wound—the hemostatic powder under the armor plate seeped a very faint gray-green onto the white gauze. Ma Yuan and Tian Qi stood on his sides. The other seven stood in line—each of them had, in addition to waterproof bags and traction formation stakes at their waists, an extra Spirit-Breaking Talisman specially made by Su Qingli. The Spirit-Breaking Talisman was specially designed for spiritual power transmission lines—three circles of miniature blasting Array Patterns were carved on the talisman face, with the triggered target locked onto the spiritual power node itself.

The assault route for the thirty people had already been marked on the map. Entering the water on the east side of the Ring Reef → following the safe passage for 1,200 zhang → turning into the undercurrent → bypassing the outer patrol circle of the Connection Node → setting an ambush at the intersection of the spiritual power transmission line between the Connection Node and the total hub. The target was the one in the Lock Core direction among the three transmission lines—firepower was concentrated on the joints of the conduit. The joint was the most fragile part of the entire conduit—once blown apart, it would take the Haiyuan Clan at least several days to reconnect the conduit from the 2,000-zhang deep seabed.

The retreat route was the same as the entry route—drifting upward with the undercurrent, the speed would be nearly twice as fast as the way there. Su Qingli would navigate the entire process from the Formation Affairs Room using the Receiving Formation—the positions of the nine fluctuation sources would be updated in real-time. If the vanguard moved—Leng Feng would receive a message in advance.

"Ready." Leng Feng pressed his hand on the Grand Commander seal at his waist. "As soon as the window opens—we go."

Lu Changyuan nodded. Then he looked at the sea surface in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench.

On the sea surface—a strange phenomenon appeared after the ebb tide.

The ebb tide was pulling seawater outward—the normal direction. The water level around the Ring Reef was dropping—the tops of the reefs in the shallow water zone were emerging from the water. But in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench—about three miles away—the water was not receding outward. The water was receding toward the Dragon Burial Trench. The water was backflowing toward the mouth of the trench.

About three miles outside the Ring Reef, a patch of reef that never usually emerged from the water was exposed. The surface of the reef was covered with dark brown seaweed that had been soaked in seawater for who knew how many years—the seaweed was dripping seawater in the morning breeze. The area of the reef had expanded by nearly double in the last half an incense stick of time.

Seawater backflow. There was only one explanation—something deep in the Dragon Burial Trench was absorbing a massive amount of water. The amount of water being sucked in was enough to change the direction of the ebb tide.

Su Qingli stood on the Pier. She turned to the latest page of the real-time data from the Receiving Formation—the eighth fluctuation source on the page had entered the recording range from the edge of the Formation Plate. The ninth—was also lighting up at the edge. She measured the positions and speeds of the two new fluctuation sources on the Formation Plate with her fingers—then looked up at the exposed reef in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench.

"The direction of the seawater backflow—is the same as the direction where the outer layer Restriction of the seal was worn through. After the Lid broke—the base of the seal is absorbing water. The abyssal vein—is recovering."

Commander Tie Zhan's message arrived at this moment. A military emergency report—the message was very short, and the military department mark on the surface of the Jade Slip was vermilion. Lu Changyuan took the Jade Slip—the Jade Slip vibrated slightly in his palm.

"There is also an abnormal ebb tide in the direction of the Deep Water Zone. The vanguard of the Royal Capital Battle is expected to arrive at the first defense line in four days—hold on for another four days."