The Hunt for the Whale-Salamander Beasts [Monthly Votes, Please]

Several months later.

Sea mist shrouded a remote stretch of ocean, and danger seemed to lurk within the white haze.

No birds flew overhead. Terrifying currents churned in the deep below, and few sea beasts swam through the area.

Only the occasional sturdy sea beast ventured into these waters.

Amid the swirling mist, a monstrous beast was faintly visible. It was as enormous as an island, with thick moss growing across its back.

If it lay on the surface, anyone peering through the mist would mistake it for a rocky island.

A low whale call pierced the vast sea and echoed between heaven and earth, yet some sea beasts seemed not to hear it at all.

It was a sound unique to Whale-Salamander Beasts, audible only to their own kind.

As the sound waves passed through layer upon layer of seawater, a pair of enormous eyes snapped open in a lair ten thousand zhang below.

A similar call answered. The huge figure in the mist heard it and showed a flicker of delight.

The next moment, it vanished into the mist, plunging into the deep as a streak of dark light.

In the lightless depths, a moving island slowly came to a halt. Only after a streak of light entered did it begin to descend.

A gigantic beast was dragging the island-like lair as it swam along the seabed.

Unlike the dark waters outside, countless spirit grasses and flowers glowed with ghostly blue light inside the lair. Spirit stones studded its ceiling like stars.

"My dear, I had good luck this time. I brought back plenty of fresh prey, including two human Nascent Soul Cultivators. They'll nourish you and our child nicely."

A burly, rugged figure appeared, grinning with bloodthirsty delight. He opened his mouth and spat out two battered