The sea turtle in charge sighed. “Exactly. His original form is a barracuda. He sold the fake applications for money so he could sell betel nuts wholesale. He’s already escaped to avoid punishment!”
“Never mind what he was trying to sell. Let’s set that aside,” Shen Wei said. “Can you tell us what your tribe keeps watch over? How were the applications copied?”
Looking pained, the sea cucumber replied, “My lord, none of us even dare approach the forbidden area other than the Barracuda tribe, who’ve always been the ones to stand watch. It’s said that some sort of ancient artifact is sealed inside there. Oh, and I should mention that the great Snake tribe chief came here earlier. He was annoyed that we couldn’t explain in more detail, so he decided to go see for himself. We didn’t dare stop him! But soon after he entered, an earthquake shook the South Sea, and the great chief hasn’t been seen since! We still don’t know what’s going on!”
Shen Wei glanced back at Zhao Yunlan, who roused himself from his daydreaming and stood up straight. “Right, then. That’s enough bullshit. Lead the way.”
By that point, it was late at night. The Dragon Boat Festival was still underway, and there was no sign of the moon. The ocean looked bottomless, but something seemed to be stirring in its depths—something restless and agitated, creating wave after wave in perfect time with Zhao Yunlan’s heartbeat. Their little party was still a thousand kilometers away from their destination when the South Sea Water tribe leaders, who had gone pale from fright, stopped dead. Nothing could persuade them to proceed any further.
The second-in-command said, “It used to be that during holidays, we felt brave enough to visit the forbidden area and do a lap to check things out. But then that stupid fish touched something he shouldn’t have, and ever since, the forbidden area has grown scarier by the day. At first, it didn’t get too frightening until we got within just five kilometers, but now, even from hundreds of kilometers away, we can hardly breathe from terror…!”
As soon as he got those words out, his eyes rolled back in his skull. Unconscious now, he began to sink, as if deficient in both blood and qi. A black shadow flashed in Shen Wei’s hand, and the Soul-Executing Blade materialized, extending several meters out. With the blade still sheathed, he fished the sea cucumber back out of the water.
The sea turtle was in no state of mind for further pleasantries. He bowed to Shen Wei from a safe distance, then resumed his original form, picked up his partner, and shot off like a torpedo.
Two shadows flew swiftly over the dark waves, heading for the forbidden area of the South Sea.
The closer they got, the calmer the water became. By the time they were eight kilometers out, the water’s stillness was downright unnatural, as though a pair of invisible hands had stretched its surface taut. It was like a pool of dead water, unbroken by even a single ripple.
In no time at all, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei reached the center of the forbidden area and found themselves confronted by a peculiar vortex. Not quite two meters in diameter, it swirled with incredible speed, like a needle embedded right in the sea floor. Knives couldn’t cut through water, but it was as though something had cut a circle around the vortex, separating the water within from the water without. The water inside swirled rapidly, but the water outside remained unmoving.
The barest wisp of black smoke—hardly noticeable—seemed to hang above the vortex. It echoed the Soul-Executing Blade in a way that said they shared one source.
“If this is something left behind by a sage from the era of Chaos, we might not get along,” Shen Wei said. “Let’s forget everything else. The traces I left all over that application awakened whatever is sealed here. With the seal already loose, Fourth Uncle’s arrival only added fuel to the fire. The seal’s probably done for. Do you have any recollection of what’s behind it?”
Zhao Yunlan’s brow furrowed in thought, but he shook his head. “I’ve never seen it, but…”
He broke off as something flashed inside his bag. It was Fourth Uncle’s lamp of life—a small candle encased protectively in a dragon’s pearl. It resembled a crystal light, and right now it was flashing like it was about to die. Its weak light cast a beam across the water’s surface, pointing straight into the vortex.
With no warning, the dragon pearl disintegrated, and the dwindling flame gave a single flicker. Zhao Yunlan reflexively cupped his hand around it just as the vortex below them exploded. All the stars in the sky above suddenly seemed like dust blowing in the wind. Shen Wei pulled Zhao Yunlan into his arms at once, holding his long blade in front of them both.
In an instant, it became shockingly apparent that something was deeply wrong—he and Zhao Yunlan weren’t actually touching, despite how close together they were. Shen Wei whipped his head around in shock. There was some sort of clear film in between them.
Zhao Yunlan said something, but the sound didn’t penetrate the invisible barrier. Shen Wei read the words off Zhao Yunlan’s lips. “This bubble is…”
Bubble?
Shen Wei looked around. Fourth Uncle’s lamp of life was reflected everywhere, revealing what might’ve been infinite layers of clear film, like soap bubbles clustered together. Vague mirages flickered across the surfaces of the bubbles, reflecting both Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan an endless number of times. It was a frightening sight.
Only a few short moments later, the two of them, each trapped in their own bubble, started to drift apart. As the distance between them grew, Shen Wei’s eyes went red. Drawing his blade, he slashed at the bubble.
There was a boom as the Soul-Executing Blade, which could cut through anything in the world, sank into the mud. Countless eerie bubbles were shattered, only for even more to rise from the seabed. The ocean’s surface began to roil with mountain-sized waves, roaring at a volume much like the sound when Pangu had first split apart Chaos.