210: Chapter 210 Silent Deployment, The Dark Web Begins

Leng Feng was already waiting at the Pier.

Standing behind him were Deng Yue, Ma Yuan, and Tian Qi—only three people.

It was not a thirty-person assault unit, but a four-person reconnaissance squad.

The thirty-person assault plan was still pressed on the sea chart table—that required blowing up the spiritual power transmission lines, facing False Core guards.

The interfering Formation Stakes were different—no contact with the enemy, not diving too deep, and fast.

Leng Feng held the waterproof bag open—taking the low basket from Su Qingli.

Twelve Formation Stakes were placed into the waterproof bag—they fit perfectly.

The grooves of the Formation Stakes were sealed shut—the lightning-struck wood powder would not leak into the seawater.

"Positions."

Leng Feng drew an arc in the direction of the Connection Node on the sea chart—the arc started about twenty li from the periphery of the Connection Node and extended thirty li to each side.

Twelve points were evenly distributed along the arc—the distance between adjacent points was five li.

Each point avoided the fixed trajectories of the patrol lines.

"Go down through the safe passage—at twelve hundred zhang, turn toward the undercurrent.

The undercurrent pushes toward the Connection Node—follow the current, no need to swim yourself.

After planting all twelve—circle around the front of the Connection Node from the other end of the undercurrent, and return along the original path.

The whole process—less than half a day."

"The main force of the Haiyuan Clan is in the direction of the Lock Core."

Su Qingli copied the latest data from the Receiving Formation onto a small slip of paper and handed it to Leng Feng.

The paper contained the real-time positions of nine fluctuation sources—the sixth to ninth fluctuation sources were all in the waters surrounding Blue Moon Island, with the nearest, the seventh, less than thirty li from the reef wall.

But in the direction of the Connection Node—about one hundred eighty li from the depths of the Dragon Burial Trench—that area on the Formation Plate was completely dark.

"There are currently no new patrol trajectories in the direction of the Connection Node."

At the third quarter of the Chen hour, the four of them entered the water.

Deng Yue had replaced the waterproof armor plate on his new left shoulder wound—the hemostatic powder on the wound would not dissolve under water pressure: Gu He had added an extra ingredient of sticky seaweed powder that grew in the shallow waters of the reef area to this batch of hemostatic powder; upon contact with water, it would instead congeal into a thin film.

Ma Yuan and Tian Qi carried their shields on their backs—shields were unnecessary underwater; the shield faces were turned outward, and the inner sides of the shields were pressed against the waterproof bags.

The four of them entered the water faster than any previous time.

The first twelve hundred zhang—Leng Feng was familiar with the route.

The black fish schools had dispersed, and the Bone Fish schools were still there, but their density was less than forty percent of what it was three months ago.

The cold water layer sandwiched at least three clearly perceptible water temperature interfaces between three temperature cliffs—Leng Feng paused for half a breath at each interface to confirm the direction, then continued to dive.

Upon reaching twelve hundred zhang—the water temperature at the edge of the undercurrent was nearly one degree lower than the surroundings.

Leng Feng tilted his body about twenty degrees toward the undercurrent—the undercurrent pushed obliquely upward from the depths of the Dragon Burial Trench toward the Outer Port, its flow direction almost parallel to the direction of the Connection Node on the seabed.

The four of them were enveloped by the water flow within the undercurrent—their swimming speed was nearly fifty percent faster than without the undercurrent.

Su Qingli's messages vibrated on the receiving jade piece at their waists every half stick of incense—her voice was compressed very short underwater:

"About five li ahead—no patrols."

"Continue forward—the last patrol in the direction of the Connection Node has already moved toward the Lock Core. The shift change time has passed—no replacements."

Every five li—Leng Feng took a Formation Stake out of the waterproof bag.

The movement of driving the Formation Stake into the seabed mud was extremely light—rotating and drilling down, until the top of the stake was less than half a foot from the surface of the mud.

The miniature Array Pattern on the top of the stake lit up with a faint dark cyan circle upon contacting the spiritual power in the seawater—then dimmed.

The interference began to take effect—the chaotic fluctuations emitted by the stake body mixed with the fluctuations of the seawater itself, making it completely impossible to distinguish from the normal background of the sea tides.

Ma Yuan was responsible for recording the points—every time one was driven in, he noted a coordinate on the rubbing paper with a charcoal pen.

The rubbing paper was wrapped in a waterproof film underwater—the lines drawn with the charcoal pen would not smudge under water pressure.

By the seventh one—the undercurrent in the direction of the Connection Node suddenly intensified.

The water flow pushed outward from the Connection Node—the direction of the push intersected with the direction of the undercurrent, forming a chaotic water vortex at the intersection.

Leng Feng stopped at the edge of the water vortex—looking in the direction of the Connection Node.

The Connection Node was twenty li away—that intertwined mass of dark blue and silver-gray light looked like a semi-transparent dark fire underwater.

The silver-gray pipe—the one connecting to the Connection Node—the pulsation frequency on the pipe wall was accelerating.

Su Qingli's calculations were correct: after The Lid was worn through, the Lock Core was accelerating, and the Connection Node was also accelerating.

But the faster the acceleration—the more focused the main force of the Haiyuan Clan was on the spiritual power transmission itself.

When Leng Feng was planting the eighth Formation Stake—a patrol of the Haiyuan Clan passed by less than three li overhead.

The patrol soldiers' gazes were entirely focused on the spiritual power detection bone pieces in their hands—the dark blue spiritual light on the bone pieces was flickering extremely fast.

They looked at the bone pieces—looked at the flow of spiritual power.

No one looked into the seabed mud.

The eleventh one—there was a hard lump in the mud at the bottom.

A rust-colored stone—with sharp edges, not a sunken stone from the seabed.

It was an artificial metal part—the surface had been corroded for at least a hundred years, the shape being a corner of a square base.

On the base remained a few melted copper-colored Array Patterns—remnants of an ancient sealing formation base.

The periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench had once been paved with more formation bases than what could be seen now—time and water pressure had buried them into the mud.

Leng Feng drove the eleventh Formation Stake into the mud twenty zhang away from this remnant—avoiding the metal's interference with the disturbance.

Then he drove the twelfth one into the last position about five li away.

All twelve were in place.

Leng Feng pressed his finger against the waterproof bag at his waist—the empty bag collapsed against his waist under water pressure.

He took the rubbing paper from Ma Yuan's hand—on the paper, the twelve coordinates connected into an even arc.

He looked at it for three breaths—then tucked the rubbing paper into the innermost waterproof layer.

"Withdraw."

He tilted his chin toward the undercurrent.

The four of them turned simultaneously—heading back along the flank of the undercurrent.

When Leng Feng drove in the twelfth Formation Stake—on the sea surface behind Blue Moon Island about one hundred eighty li away, an unmarked spirit boat was approaching Blue Moon Island from the direction of the fortress.

The spirit boat had a very shallow draft—the bottom of the boat was almost touching the water surface.

No flags were hung on the bow, and there were no military markings on the hull.

A dozen or so injured Cultivators sat on the deck—the fortress uniforms they wore were so tattered that it was almost impossible to tell their original color.

The leader crouched by the gunwale—a scar slanted from his left eyebrow to his chin, the skin at the edge of the scar being the pale color of an old wound.

He rested his hand on the deck—his fingers tapped twice very lightly on the deck.

Under the cabin—in the interlayer of the deck—a dozen poisoned blades were neatly stacked under a waterproof cloth.

The poisoned blade surfaces gleamed with a very dark green in the darkness.

Wei hour.

When the four of them surfaced from the flank of the undercurrent, the sky was still bright.

Gu He was already waiting at the Pier.

He crouched on a wooden box next to the mooring stone, his black iron medicine gourd resting on his knees—the three copper rings on the gourd mouth gleamed with three different metallic lusters in the sunlight.

When he saw Leng Feng surface, he first looked at the waterproof bag on Leng Feng's back—the bag was deflated, pressed against his waist.

Then he looked at the armor plate on Deng Yue's left shoulder—the newly replaced waterproof armor plate was intact, with no blood seeping through.

Then he looked at Ma Yuan and Tian Qi—the two of them had unslung their shields from their backs, the shield faces turned outward, leaning against the edge of the water platform.

"No one is hurt."

Gu He's muttering was a notch quieter than usual.

He picked up the black iron medicine gourd from his knees—it hadn't been opened.

He hung the gourd back at his waist, stood up, and brushed the wood shavings off his knees.

"Waited for nothing."

Leng Feng unfastened the waterproof bag from his waist.

The empty bag had been soaked in water for nearly half a day, and the waterproof Array Pattern on the edges had dimmed.

He handed the bag to Tian Qi, who was reaching out to take it on the Pier—then propped himself up on the edge of the water platform and flipped onto the Pier.

The seawater on the armor plates flowed down along the seams, pooling into a small puddle on the stone slab.

Deng Yue was the second to get onto the Pier.

The newly replaced armor plate on his left shoulder had not deformed under water pressure—the film formed by the sticky seaweed powder that Gu He had added was still there underwater.

He moved his left shoulder—rotating his shoulder joint, no strange sounds were made.

Ma Yuan was the last to come up.

He pulled the rubbing paper out from the innermost waterproof layer—the arc formed by the twelve coordinates on the paper was clear enough in the sunlight to see the strokes of the charcoal pen.

He handed the rubbing paper to Leng Feng.

Leng Feng took it and looked at it for three breaths—compared to the arc drawn on the sea chart table before entering the water, the twelve actual points were off by less than half a li.

Everything was within the permissible range.

"Formation Affairs Room."

Leng Feng held the rubbing paper between his fingers.