Because he needed to conceal his tracks, Xiao Yun moved slowly underwater while keeping watch over the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud. He traveled roughly parallel to the island's coastline, taking care to avoid the coral and shellfish colonies clinging to the Rock Wall.
Along the way, Xiao Yun discovered a vast abalone habitat. Since no one had ever harvested abalone within Sea God Island's protected waters, the abalones there had grown exceptionally large. The smallest measured ten centimeters, most were around twenty centimeters, and the largest batch reached a full fifty centimeters.
Using the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, Xiao Yun easily collected a large number of abalones. Naturally, he did not intend to strip the place bare. He took only half of each size group before continuing onward.
As he traveled, a continuous cross-section of sedimentary layers appeared ahead of the shroud. The edge of the section was more regular than the surrounding seabed, as though it had been carved by human hands.
He did not cross the section. Instead, he adjusted his direction along its edge and moved laterally toward deeper waters. After traveling for about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a structure made of dark stone came into view. No organisms clung to its surface, nor was it covered in silt, as if it had been cleaned not long ago.
A faint halo hung above the structure, remaining synchronized with the surrounding pressure and temperature conditions in the deep water, as though it were steadily releasing trace amounts of energy outward.
After confirming its orientation and shape, he determined it was an artificial structure. Only after finding no obvious warning markers or signs of traps did he let the shroud approach its base at an even slower speed, circling it once to inspect