397: Scattered after being attacked

Wen Xinghai knew that the most difficult part of this exploration was not the distance itself.

For a group of Cultivators led by Golden Core, venturing thousands of miles into the ocean was not a difficult task.

Not to mention they had prepared Immortal Boats in advance, allowing the Foundation Establishment Cultivators to conserve Spiritual Power consumption and greatly increase endurance.

Similarly, ordinary Sea Beasts were not a problem.

Sea Beasts were merely a special designation for "Yao Beasts in the sea," and of course, they could also include Spirit Beasts.

In any case, regardless of what they were, they were unawakened creatures.

They only followed instinct, guarded their territory, and did not easily venture out.

Therefore, by scouting ahead some distance and avoiding their territories, they could prevent large-scale battles with the Sea Beasts.

They could even treat the unavoidable Sea Beasts along the way as spoils of war.

Overall, the risk was extremely low.

However, if these Sea Beasts were being controlled by the Yao Race, the problem became serious.

The ocean was vast, and for some unknown reason, the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence of many islands seemed even better than that of the Immortal Peaks on the mainland.

Over the years, who knew how many Fifth-Grade Sea Beasts, or even Fourth-Grade ones, had emerged.

When the Yao Race controlled them to launch a joint attack, the player teams would only face annihilation.

"We must confirm first."

Wen Xinghai narrowed his eyes and immediately issued orders.

"Teams One, Two, and Three, begin exploration in Area A.

"Teams Four, Five, and Six, begin exploration in Area B.

"Team Seven... Team Ten..."

The commands were issued methodically.

The orders were transmitted directly via Voice Projection; although they seemed numerous, they were actually issued simultaneously.

It was even more timely than using the player communication System.

The players who received the orders immediately began exploring the pre-designated areas.

It was called exploration, but the players had not received corresponding training.

The main force, the Mortal Foundation and Immortal Foundation players, could not yet use Divine Abilities, so their scouting capabilities were inherently low.

Furthermore, at this stage, most players chose to prioritize cultivating combat Spells, making scouting Spells exceedingly rare.

Therefore, the players had to resort to crude methods:

Sending Suicide Squads to boldly rush in and fight wildly to determine if enemies were present.

Although this couldn't find lurking enemies, it was already a good method when dealing with Yao Beasts that lacked Sentience.

Sure enough, news began trickling back shortly after:

"This is Team One. We encountered the enemy in Area A. Someone was instantly killed. It should be a Fifth-Grade Great Yao. We didn't see its appearance, only a wave of water."

"This is Team Five. We encountered the enemy in Area B and lost half our members. The enemy is a Crab Yao. Its combat strength is very high; it should also be Fifth-Grade."

"This is Team Nine. We encountered the enemy in Area C..."

"This is..."

Listening to each reply, Wen Xinghai's expression grew increasingly solemn.

So many areas, all encountering enemies, and all possessing Fifth-Grade Yao Beasts.

More disturbingly, all these Yao Beasts were advancing toward the flying boat, their target clearly defined.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The flying boats on the periphery were being attacked, collapsing downward one after another, turning into fireballs.

Wen Xinghai immediately ordered:

"The flying boats on the sides form a formation, and the central flying boat accelerates forward."

Soon, the players abandoned the flying boats on the sides as bait, leaving only the central flying boat to continue flying eastward, barely escaping the attack of the Sea Beast swarm.

After counting the numbers, Wen Xinghai's expression grew even more serious.

The force that started with over 100,000 people was now reduced to only about 50,000.

He looked up toward the east; they had reached the Deep Sea.

The sea surface was vast, the sky and the sea merged almost into one, clouds and waves were indistinguishable, and even the wind lost its tranquility, becoming increasingly violent.

"The spiritual atmosphere has changed too?"

Wen Xinghai's eyebrows furrowed.

This was the players' first time reaching the Deep Sea.

Thanks to the bait strategy, their central force was able to achieve results that previous explorers could not.

Not only was the environment of the Deep Sea different from the Near Sea, but even the spiritual atmosphere between Heaven and Earth was different.

Wen Xinghai exchanged views with the other Golden Core, reaching a conclusion:

The spiritual atmosphere here suppressed Fire and Earth, but favored Water and Wood.

This was consistent with everyone's speculation about the Deep Sea, and not surprising.

But... "It is too distinctly separated."

Wen Xinghai's Spiritual Sense moved back and forth between the Near Sea and the Deep Sea, and his frown deepened.

spiritual atmosphere is the overall manifestation of Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence. It is affected by the environment of Heaven and Earth, and also by the Breakthrough or demise of High-level Cultivators. The appearance of Heaven And Earth Treasure also brings about changes.

But no matter what caused the change in spiritual atmosphere, it would not be a neatly defined region; instead, it would start from the center of change and gradually spread outward, decreasing from strong to weak.

Only the spiritual atmosphere shaped by the overall environment is relatively uniform, but taking a specific environment as the center, the outward distribution still follows the strong-to-weak pattern.

However, the spiritual atmosphere of the Deep Sea was somewhat strange.

Because there was no transitional change in spiritual atmosphere from the Near Sea to the Deep Sea; crossing a certain line caused the spiritual atmosphere to change instantly.

This feeling made Wen Xinghai very uneasy.

This spiritual atmosphere did not seem to be shaped by the environment of Heaven and Earth, nor was it caused by Heaven And Earth Treasure, much less the Breakthrough or demise of a High-level Cultivator.

Instead, it seemed that some Powerful Individual was artificially drawing the boundary and artificially controlling the spiritual atmosphere.

What kind of Realm did such a Powerful Individual possess?

"Immortal Master Xinghai, what should we do now?"

A Golden Core Players sent a query.

"Scatter, scatter immediately."

Wen Xinghai pondered for a moment: "We planned this anyway. We will disperse and bring back as much intelligence as possible."

The inquiring Golden Core was somewhat unwilling:

"We brought so many people here, over twenty Golden Core came, and we brought enough Materials on the flying boat. Are we really not going to establish a base in the Far Sea?"

Wen Xinghai hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, reason prevailed:

"We don't have the ability to build a Teleportation Array. Building just a flying boat docking point or a logistics base wouldn't be very meaningful.

"Moreover... my intuition tells me that if we don't disperse immediately, we might be wiped out in one fell swoop... Scatter! Now!"

Wen Xinghai directly issued orders to all players, and also to the members of Red Rain Pavilion.

"Kaitian, you scatter too. The original squad action plan is canceled. All members of our Red Rain Pavilion must disperse. Gather as much intelligence as you can..."

Wen Xinghai looked toward the east, his Spiritual Sense trembling: "Don't think about searching for treasure anymore."

The moment his voice fell.

The instant the players left the flying boat and flew rapidly in various directions.

Boom!

A tremendous explosion suddenly erupted.

The fleet of flying boats instantly turned into dust, and the terrifying impact force exploded, stirring up a tidal vortex that swallowed all the debris.

In the distance, a figure stepped upon a massive wave.

The figure had horns on its head, its hands and feet were claw-like, it had a tail behind it, and its entire body was covered in scales.

Riding the waves, stepping on the sunlight, two long Dragon whiskers swayed in the gale.

A hint of cruelty flashed in its eyes.