Those Were Once Fish
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Boss, something's following us down below. A lot of them... I can't count them all. At least a hundred.
Su Zhan glanced down.
Beneath the blood-red seawater, dozens of pairs of eerie blue eyes are rising from the depths.
That's a fish.
Wrong.
Those were fish from the past.
These Sea Beast, twisted and mutated after being corrupted by Devil Qi, are each as large as a small mountain. Their bodies are covered with black scales and extra limbs, and their mouths can open to the back of their heads, filled with countless inward-curving fangs.
Hundreds of Demonized Sea Beasts surrounded Su Zhan from all directions, completely blocking his path.
"Blocking the road?"
[Nine Heavens Divine Lightning]: It should be a natural patrol force of the Demon Sea. Any living creature that intrudes will be attacked, regardless of the Black Demon Sect's orders.
Su Zhan did not slow down.
"A small-scale event."
He pressed his right hand down.
The dark golden light of the Immovable Wisdom King Wall condensed in his palm, transforming into a disc three zhang in diameter, which he then pushed flat and smashed down onto the sea surface.
Boom!
The CD had carved a crater a hundred feet in diameter into the sea. Seawater sprayed outwards, forming a circular wall of water.
The Demonized Sea Beasts that rushed up from below were the first to be hit by the oppressive force field of the Immovable Wisdom King Wall.
The largest Sea Beast leading the pack—a full thirty zhang long and nearly at the Martial King First Stage —saw its head collide with the dark gold disc, and its entire skeleton emitted a series of cracking sounds.
Its speed dropped sharply.
His limbs twitched twice, and his entire body was pressed into the seabed mud by the force of the disc, unable to turn over.
The herd of Sea Beast that followed hesitated upon seeing this.
They aren't very intelligent, but their survival instincts are still there. The leader was knocked down, so the others naturally had to think twice.
Su Zhan didn't give them time to weigh their options.
Three pairs of purple-gold wings materialized behind him from the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning, and his speed suddenly increased dramatically.
He transformed into a streak of purple-gold lightning, whooshing past the heads of the Sea Beast horde.
The shockwave, carrying arcs of lightning, swept downwards.
"Crackling and popping--"
Seven or eight Sea Beasts were struck by the lightning arc, their bodies convulsing, their black scales bursting under the high temperature, and a burnt smell spreading.
They weren't dead, but they completely lost the ability to pursue.
Su Zhan flew over without looking back.
The Sea Beast thrashed behind him for a while, but ultimately failed to catch up. The speed difference was too great.
They flew for another quarter of an hour.
The blood mist ahead suddenly thickened.
It's not a gradual deepening, but a clear dividing line—the previous step is light red, and the next step is deep red to almost black.
The concentration of Devil Qi in the air increased at least tenfold along this line.
Su Zhan stopped and hovered on this side of the dividing line.
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Fluctuations of a large- Formation have been detected within a 300-mile radius ahead. This is the Demon Sea Sect-Protection Grand Formation mentioned in the Soul Search intelligence.
[Nine Heavens Divine Lightning]: The energy nodes of the Formation are distributed on the seabed, totaling thirty-six. Each node is guarded by a Martial King Rank guardian. If you forcibly break through, all thirty-six Martial King will be alerted simultaneously.
Su Zhan stroked his chin.
Thirty-six Martial King.
He didn't care about one or two at a time. But thirty-six of them coming at him together, plus the support of the Sect-Protection Grand Formation, was a bit of a problem.
It's not that we can't beat them, it's that we're wasting our time.
He wanted a swift victory, to take down the Sect Master directly.
"Is there any way to sneak over? Just for a short while, it doesn't matter if we reveal ourselves to the Sect Master."
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: There is an idea. There are patrol gaps between each Formation node. The interval is about fifteen breaths. If I lay out the threads in advance and mark the time windows of all the gaps, you can theoretically pass through them in rhythm and not trigger an alarm.
"Is fifteen breaths enough?"
[Nine Heavens Divine Lightning]: With your current Thunder Escape speed, you can run 600 zhang in 15 breaths. The distance between the Formation nodes is 500 zhang. That's barely enough.
Su Zhan shifted his weight forward.
"Then let's give it a try."
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Give me thirty breaths to prepare.
Three thousand silk threads silently dispersed from Su Zhan's shadow, disappearing into the deep red to black sea ahead.