Gray Catfish leaned against a rock beside the pool, half his body submerged in the warm spring water. His eyes were almost closed, and he seemed focused on healing. Yet his brow was slightly furrowed, making it clear that absorbing geothermal energy did not occupy all his thoughts.
After a long silence, he finally opened his eyes slowly and glanced at Thorny Sea Urchin, who was soaking in the hot spring nearby. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Do you feel... something isn't quite right?"
At his words, Thorny Sea Urchin poked half his head out of the spring. The limp, pitch-black spines covering his body had regained seventy or eighty percent of their luster and resilience, swaying gently in the warm water. He blinked his mung-bean-sized eyes and asked in a muffled voice, "What isn't right?"
Gray Catfish did not answer directly. Instead, he cautiously released a wisp of soul power and formed a soundproof barrier around them. Only after making sure the other leaders in the pool could not hear them did he speak slowly, his voice lowered to a near whisper. "How could the South Sea possess such a treasure without any of us knowing?"
Thorny Sea Urchin replied, "This place isn't far from Ao Yu's territory. We wouldn't..."
His voice abruptly trailed off.
Indeed.
This place was not particularly far from Ao Yu's territory. With the resources and knowledge accumulated over his ten thousand years of ruling the South Sea, how could Ao Yu possibly have been unaware of a hot spring with such astonishing effects right on his doorstep? And if he knew, how could he have left it unused, letting enemies who had come to hunt him down reap its benefits for nothing?
Unless this hot spring had never been natural to begin with!
Thorny