The Eastern Region coastline was more serene than imagined. Standing on the cliff edge, the Youth Camp gazed out at the dark blue sea, which resembled solidified silk, devoid of even the usual waves. Only the distant horizon shimmered with a pale silver light—the direction of the Tidal Altar. The Star-Track Token in Loran's hand trembled violently; the patterns on its surface transformed into flowing water, trickling down her fingertips and forming small streams on the ground, meandering towards the sea.
"Something's not right, this isn't a normal tide." Lei Lin transformed into human form, his dark hair billowing in the sea breeze, the golden velvet at his ear tips shimmering with light. He crouched down and touched the stream on the ground, a chilling sensation spreading through his fingertips. "The spiritual veins in the seawater are 'flowing backward,' as if they're being pulled back by something." Before he finished speaking, a silent giant wave suddenly surged up on the sea surface. The crest of the wave had no splash, only a grayish-blue " Reverse Tide Energy," like a giant, transparent hand, crashing towards the rocks on the shore—the moment the rocks touched the reverse tide, they turned into tiny grains of sand and were swept away by the seawater.
A Shi quickly pulled out his crystal pattern record book and flipped to the Ancient Tidal Atlas he had previously copied. "It says, ' The Tidal Altar is hidden in the eye of the deep-sea spiritual vein; one must enter with the tide, or perish against it.' -- It's currently the inverted tide season, and we can't even get close to the seabed." A Ya took out several strands of " Sea Spirit Fiber " that glowed with blue light from her bag. These were Symbiotic Fiber that she had soaked in the juice of the Contract Flower when she was in the Southern Realm Ancient Tree Array: "I can weave these fibers into a ' Breathing Symbiosis Net ' so that we can breathe underwater, but the energy of the inverted tide will tear the fibers apart. We need to find a way to stabilize the undercurrent first."
Loran looked down at the Star-Track Token, and the water ripples on the token suddenly reflected an image: deep in the sea, an altar shimmering with pale gold floated above the Spirit Vein Eye. In the center of the altar stood a woman draped in a robe with water ripples, her hair blending into the seawater, her eyes pure blue, yet devoid of any spirit—it was the Tidal Lady. In the image, the Queen was raising her hand to touch the Contract Stele on the altar, but the moment her fingertips touched the tablet, she suddenly staggered backward, as if she had forgotten something, her eyes filled with bewilderment.
"She's losing her memory," Lei Lin suddenly said, his Golden Crystal Power resonating with the water ripples of the Star-Track Token. "I can sense the fluctuations in her spiritual core; they're chaotic, like it's entangled in countless fragments—a thousand years ago, to suppress the rift, she may have used a 'memory-for-power' technique. Now, the stronger her power, the faster her memories are fading."
To avoid the reverse tide, the group decided to wait until moonrise—ancient records state that the reverse tide recedes temporarily for half an hour on the night of the full moon each month, the only chance to enter the seabed. While waiting, A Mu adjusted the ice and fire power of the New Sprout Sword to "ice primary, fire secondary," condensing a layer of " Ice-Fire Undercurrent Anchor " on the scabbard. "When we enter the water, I'll use the anchor to anchor the surrounding undercurrents, preventing the reverse tide from suddenly attacking." A Ya accelerated the weaving of the Breathing Symbiosis Net, mixing fragments of Lei Lin's gold crystal into the fibers to make them resistant to the corrosion of the reverse tide; A Shi marked the location of the spiritual vein eye on the map, circling the "danger zone around the Contract Stele " in red—where the Reverse Tide Energy most concentrated.
As the full moon rose above the sea, the tide receded as expected. The group quickly donned their Breathing Symbiosis Net and, following Loran and Lei Lin, leaped into the water. The underwater world was completely different from what they had imagined: there were no colorful fish, only pale blue "fluorescent coral forests," their glow shimmering with the rhythm of the tides, as if guiding their way; floating in the sea were tiny "fragments of memory," and touching them revealed blurry images—the scene of the Tidal Lady signing a pact with the Ice Spirit Clan's envoy a thousand years ago, the pain she felt when she first used her memories to exchange for power, and her solitary figure resisting the turbid energy during the rift eruption.