Reconnaissance

Leaving the Eternal Silence Return Ruins was no easy task.

Though the energy turbulence at the periphery was not as violent as that in the depths, it was still enough to tear apart an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Jingtian drove Guixu Assimilation to its limit, his massive body moving like the nimblest fish through gaps in the energy vortices and the sheltered sides of undercurrents. Rather than relying on brute force to charge through as he had on the way in, he went with the flow, guided it, and even occasionally used the turbulence to accelerate himself while erasing his tracks.

After more than a month, he finally completely escaped Guixu's suffocating energy field and returned to the "normal" deep-sea environment. The water grew warmer, the pressure shifted, and familiar Soul Power fluctuations and life auras from the outer seas began to enter his senses. Though he was still deep in the open ocean far from the continental shelf, compared to Guixu's deathly silence, this place could already be called "brimming with life."

Jingtian did not immediately travel at full speed. First, he hid for several days in a complex region of undersea mountains near Guixu's exit, carefully sensing his surroundings to confirm that there were no Sea God Island hunting squads or other suspicious Soul Power fluctuations nearby. At the same time, by hunting several deep-sea behemoths with thirty to forty thousand years of cultivation that had wandered into the area, he further stabilized his recovered cultivation and tested the practical effects of his poison arts after integrating Guixu's traits—his venom had become even more insidious and difficult to defend against. In particular, the quality of Silent Wither could greatly slow an afflicted target's Soul Power recovery and wound healing, leaving him quite satisfied with the results.

Once he had confirmed it was safe, he began his long journey home.

His route had been meticulously planned to avoid, as much as possible, known shipping lanes frequently used by human soul masters, "rich zones" where soul beasts gathered, and sensitive waters that might harbor powerful Sea Soul Beast lords. Like a ghost in the deep sea, he lay low by day and moved by night—though the deep sea had no day or night; this merely referred to his periods of activity. He relied on his powerful senses to avoid danger in advance. When danger truly could not be avoided, he dealt with it swiftly, devoured the target, cleaned up the scene, and never left loose ends.

Along the way, he encountered migrating pods of gigantic whales, undersea overlords fighting savagely over territory, and scattered human soul master exploration fleets, which he avoided from afar. He even sensed, from a great distance, an extremely obscure yet terrifying aura that made even his heart palpitate. It lurked within a bottomless trench, seemingly a hundred-thousand-year-level existence, and he immediately detoured hundreds of miles around it.

Time passed in silent stealth. One year, then two...

When the familiar feeling of desolation, barrenness, and thin Soul Power once again entered his senses, Jingtian knew he was almost there.

The Western Silent Sea Abyss.

This barren sea, once regarded by him as a "novice village," and which he had hastily left behind because of the Silver-Veined Thunder Eel and human soul masters, now seemed somewhat "familiar" after his life-and-death trial in Guixu and fifteen years of distant cultivation, plus three years of recovery. Of course, what he felt more than anything was vigilance.

Rather than charging directly toward the location of the nest he remembered, he came to a complete stop several hundred nautical miles from the Western Silent Sea Abyss and concealed himself beneath a vast fan of seabed sediment.

What came next required the utmost caution.

Sea God Island knew that his "old nest" was in the Western Silent Sea Abyss—it was not hard to infer from the Hagfish's memories and the traces of his early activities. Though nearly twenty years had passed, and they might have concluded that he had long since died in Guixu or fled elsewhere, given Sea God Island's methods, they might well have left hidden sentries, surveillance Soul Tools, or regular patrols here.

He needed to conduct a thorough reconnaissance first.

Like a lifeless reef, Jingtian lay motionless beneath the sediment for seven full days. Centered on him, his senses spread slowly toward the Western Silent Sea Abyss like the finest Spider Web, overlooking not a single abnormal Soul Power fluctuation, energy ripple, or trace of an artificial construct.

Over those seven days, he sensed quite a few soul beasts. Most were weak, with only the occasional thousand-year or Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast active around the edges, little changed from when he had left. He also detected some natural energy disturbances on the seabed, but nothing unusual.

Then, on the evening of the eighth day—by his internal sense of time—his senses caught an extraordinarily faint yet remarkably regular energy pulse within the shadow of a relatively high sea ridge about fifty nautical miles from the area where his nest, the fissure, lay.

This pulse appeared roughly once every two hours, according to deep-sea time estimates. It lasted only a very short time and was extremely weak. If not for his sharp senses and deliberate search, it would have been almost impossible to notice. The energy contained in the pulse bore obvious characteristics of an artificial Soul Tool. It was somewhat similar to the detection fluctuations from the Raging Waves Team's Soul Tool ship back then, but more concealed and enduring.

A surveillance node! Jingtian's heart tightened. Sea God Island truly had not completely given up on this place. They had set up long-term, hidden surveillance Soul Tools here. And the location had been chosen well: high on the sea ridge, with a broad field of view—detection range—while using the shadows and terrain for cover.

He continued expanding his sensory range and searched even more carefully. Three more days passed, and he discovered two similar but even more concealed sources of faint energy pulses in two other directions, roughly thirty and seventy nautical miles from the nest.

The three surveillance nodes formed an irregular triangle, faintly enclosing the area of his old nest within their monitoring range. This was clearly a carefully arranged surveillance network, intended to detect any living being with a certain level of Soul Power attempting to approach that area.

"Just surveillance... no powerful ambushers?" Jingtian carefully sensed the surroundings of each node and confirmed that no powerful Soul Power fluctuations lay hidden nearby. This allowed him to relax slightly. Though Sea God Island clearly valued the matter, nearly twenty years had passed, and they likely believed that he was either dead or had fled far away. They had not stationed Title Douluo-level powerhouses here permanently, merely laid down a surveillance net and waited for the prey to return on its own.

But this surveillance network was still troublesome. Once he approached the nest area, no matter how well he hid himself, there was no guarantee that these Soul Tools designed specifically to detect Soul Power and life fluctuations would not pick up something unusual. If an alarm was triggered, Sea God Island would surely receive the information immediately and dispatch powerful experts to encircle and kill him.

He had to break through the surveillance net without a sound, enter the nest, obtain the Soul Bone, and then flee at once.

Jingtian began carefully observing and analyzing the detection patterns, pulse frequencies, and coverage blind spots of the three surveillance nodes. In theory, no detection system had absolutely no blind spots, especially amid the complex terrain of the deep sea. Like the most patient assassin, he spent half a month recording, deducing, and even risking approaching to the limit of a safe distance, using the terrain and his own concealment to sense their energy characteristics at close range.

At last, he found an opportunity.

The three surveillance nodes were not fully synchronized. Their pulse emissions had an extremely slight time difference. Moreover, due to deep-sea currents, uneven terrain, and interference from natural Soul Power fields in certain areas, their detection coverage was not seamless. There were brief overlapping blind spots and detection "windows" created by the intervals between pulses.

In particular, between two of the nodes, the obstruction of an undersea rift valley and interference from weakly magnetic hot springs welling up within it created a "relatively safe passage" spanning several miles for an extremely short time, from the third to the fifth breath after each pulse emission.

This passage did not lead directly to his nest, but it would allow him to silently slip into an area closer to the nest where the surveillance was relatively weaker.

With the route planned, he chose to act the instant the three surveillance nodes next emitted their pulses and were about to enter that brief "window."

Jingtian adjusted himself to peak condition, fully activating Guixu Assimilation and suppressing even his Soul Power and life fluctuations to the level of a creature in near hibernation. His massive body pressed close to the seabed as he swam toward the undersea rift valley and hot spring area like the most agile shadow.

Now!

The instant the three surveillance nodes emitted their pulses almost simultaneously and energy ripples swept across the designated area, Jingtian moved! Like a phantom, he precisely "slid" into the brief "safe passage" formed by the terrain and energy interference. He was swift as lightning, yet utterly silent, without stirring the slightest abnormal current or Soul Power ripple.

Three breaths later, he had crossed the passage and appeared in another relatively "calm" area, though it still lay at the edge of the coverage range of two other nodes. He did not stop. Immediately using jagged reefs and uneven terrain as cover, he continued moving inward, constantly adjusting his route to evade the scans of subsequent pulses.

The entire process was fraught with danger, like walking a tightrope. A mistake at any stage could have triggered the alarm.

But Jingtian succeeded. With his thorough understanding of the surveillance net, his ultimate concealment techniques, and his precise grasp of timing, he had broken through Sea God Island's surveillance network like the most cunning assassin of the deep sea. Soundlessly, he entered the core region of the Western Silent Sea Abyss and slowly approached the fissure nest he had been away from for nearly twenty years, where the ancient Soul Bone lay hidden.

The target was getting closer and closer.

Dark violet rings glimmered faintly in the absolute darkness, reflecting the cold desire in the hunter's eyes.

Soul Bone, here I come.