Faced with the magnificent world of smoke before them, the group swam through the scalding seawater while marveling amid the ear-piercing roars.
"Ah, sure enough, the sounds we'd been hearing all this time were made by all these fountains together."
"As these submarine hot springs erupted, they produced tremendous noise. The noise reflected upward along the smooth, vertical cliffs, then gradually weakened through the water. That's how the so-called sleeping lion's snoring came to be."
"That's a very reasonable explanation."
"Sigh, and here I was hoping some sleeping monster was really hidden down here. Who knew it would all end with such a boring natural phenomenon~"
"You're overthinking it. If there really were some monster, it would have long since been dealt with or captured by the Church members who came here before."
"But natural sights like submarine hot springs usually nurture a great deal of life nearby. Yet aside from all this noisy sound, this place is still utterly lifeless. Is it simply too deep?"
"The scale and activity of these hot springs are both absurdly immense. Logically speaking, they should connect to some volcano within."
Ye Chen and the others gradually passed through this natural chimney field hidden in the deep sea. Then, just as expected, they discovered an enormous, rugged submarine volcano farther below the forest of hot springs.
The volcano's surface was covered in countless fine cracks, each one filled with the crimson, scalding colors of magma, providing one of the few sources of light in this dark and oppressive deep sea.
However, this volcano was still not the end of the trench.
Ye Chen and the others lingered between the hot springs and the volcano for a while, briefly marveling at nature's uncanny craftsmanship before continuing down along the volcano's slope.
They were about to