Dawn had barely broken when they reached the waters above the Medicine Vault.
The sea looked calm, but beneath it stood an inverted stone hall. Dark green sea vines covered its roof, and a stone Gate lay a hundred meters down. Before the Gate crouched a Soul Beast whose shell was as vast as a reef island.
Ninety-eight thousand years old. An Abyssal Dragon-Clawed Crab.
Its left claw was damaged, but its right stretched over twenty meters. Each time it opened and closed, a visible ripple of distortion spread through the surrounding water.
Tang San withdrew his spiritual power, his expression grave. "It's guarding the stone gate. We can't get the medicine without going through it."
"Can we communicate with it?" Qian Renxue asked.
"Sea Soul Beasts are fiercely territorial. It's made the Medicine Vault its nest."
Bai Jin rolled his shoulders. "Then let's talk it over. It lets us through, and we won't tear its home apart."
Zi Zhenzhu stared at the shadow below. "What if it refuses?"
"I'll reason with it."
No one asked how he planned to do that.
Tang San summoned the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, wrapping the four of them in a blue curtain of light. He descended with Qian Renxue, Bai Jin, and Zi Zhenzhu, while Hu Liena and the other two stayed on the surface to receive the rescued captives.
The Vast Sea Protective Shroud kept the pressure at bay and concealed their presence. The Abyssal Dragon-Clawed Crab lay before the hall's Gate, its compound eyes slowly turning, unaware of the four approaching.
When they were thirty meters from the stone Gate, Bai Jin suddenly looked up.
"Stop."
A transparent feeler lay hidden among the sea vines. It brushed the edge of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.
The giant crab sprang upright.
A