The Nightmare Beast's mouth curled upward, its smile stiff and twisted. Chen Wuya's hand was still pressed against the ice as Misaligned Force intertwined with Bai Zhi's sword intent and probed into the seabed, golden light stabbing into the black mist like needles. But just as it was about to touch the core, the mass of black mist suddenly churned violently, as though it had sensed something.
His heart tightened, and he immediately withdrew his power.
When his palm left the ice, his fingertips were numb. He took a breath, then turned to look at Bai Zhi. Her face was still pale, but her eyes were clear as she stared at him.
"It's waiting," Bai Zhi said softly. "It's not waiting to counterattack. It's waiting for us to keep going."
Chen Wuya nodded. He had felt it too. That sinister aura had not scattered. Instead, it was contracting, as though something were pulling it deeper within.
Mo Feng moved then. Leaning against a reef with his eyes closed the whole time, he slowly opened them now, raised a hand to rub his forehead, and said hoarsely, "I'm awake."
Chen Wuya immediately got up and walked over. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." Mo Feng sat up a little straighter and took a yellowed bamboo scroll and several torn pages from his robe. "That strike just now... reminded me of something in the deep-sea secret realm. I never dared to be certain, but now, I have to say it."
Bai Zhi braced herself against the reef and shifted closer. The three sat around the edge of the ice sheet as Mo Feng spread out the ancient records.
A sacrificial altar was drawn on the paper. At its center stood a stone stele shaped like a Reverse Scale. A woman stood before it,