Dragon Bones
Long Tian squatted at the bow of the boat for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn without moving. The outline image transmitted back by the Dragon Shadow continued to unfold in his mind, and the angle and spacing of every branch overlapped with the skeletal structure of the Dragon Shadow behind him. He stood up, took off his coat and put it in the cabin, and also took off his boots, stepping barefoot on the deck.
"I'll go down again."
The man at the stern nodded, took a roll of thin rope from the cabin, tied one end to an iron ring on the side of the boat, and handed the other end to Long Tian to tie around his waist. Yu Jin stood up from the cabin entrance, said nothing, squatted down by the side of the boat, retracted the probe and placed it on the deck, making room on the side of the boat. Long Tian tied the knot, stepped onto the side of the boat, and flipped into the water.
The water temperature was higher than what he had felt on the outskirts of the Great Abyss last time, as if the lower water flow was causing the warmer water layer to surge upwards. He adjusted his breathing, allowing the Dragon Shadow's light layer to descend from above the bow and adhere to his back. The wing membranes folded into narrow strips suitable for moving forward in the water, and the light from his forehead readjusted to a scattering mode after entering the water, illuminating the waters in front of and below him.
As he passed through that interface, his physical sensations matched the feedback from the aura detection—it was like passing through the boundary of a medium with a different density. The interface caused a brief pressure change as he passed through, before returning to normal. He continued to sink for a distance, and at a depth of about three zhang (approximately 10 meters), the top of the stone structure came into view.
Upon closer inspection, it is even clearer than the outline transmitted by the light layer. The stone surface is whitish in color, and under the light layer, it presents a smooth texture as if it has been repeatedly polished by water. The longitudinal ridge extends forward from its position, and the supporting edges on both sides of the ridge extend outward in a symmetrical manner. The end of each supporting edge is tapered into a rounded angle. The surface is smooth, without seams or carving marks, as if it were formed naturally, or as if it had been worn away by water for a very long time, removing all traces of processing.
He swam along the ridgeline for a distance. When he reached the middle of the ridgeline, he saw an area that differed from the surrounding stone surface in texture—it was darker in color and its surface did not reflect light, as if it were covered by a thin layer of dark sediment. The shape of that area corresponded to a row of stones arranged side by side, and its position was exactly in the middle of the corresponding ridgeline on both sides, as if it were a reserved insertion position.
He hovered above that area and placed his right palm on it. The pulse of the Origin Return Pearl flowed through his palm into the darker area. The temperature of the stone surface was lower than he had expected, like a dark stone maintaining its temperature through continuous flow. The aura of the Origin Return Pearl did not diffuse after entering the stone surface, but instead extended along the path inside the stone for a distance before merging into the main body of the spine, like a pre-laid conductive path that had been idle for a long time being reconnected.
Long Tian felt the Origin Return Pearl in his chest accelerate its rotation the moment his breath entered the spine, and his new core simultaneously increased its pulsation frequency. He felt the surface of the spine in front of him light up slightly at that moment, and then, as it continued to glow, it began to transmit the light segment by segment along the spine—extending forward about two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) to a point where the spine was slightly raised, and then stopping there. After the light gathered at that raised point for a while, it formed a circular bright spot about an arm's width in diameter, with a uniform ring of engravings around its edge, like a marker disc embedded in the top of the spine. He removed his hand from the stone surface... He pulled back, hovering above the circular bright spot, watching its continuously glowing outline under the light layer through the water. The engravings on its edge belonged to the same series as the serrations around the groove at the center mark of the silk map. After shining for a while as he watched, the bright spot began to slowly narrow towards the edge, as if the light layer was converging towards the edge along the path it followed, eventually disappearing completely into the engravings on the edge of the mark plate. The surface of the entire ridge returned to its original light gray tone, with only a faint layer of residual heat remaining on the mark plate, gradually fading and disappearing completely under the continuous illumination of the light layer.
Long Tian floated above the marker for a moment, confirming it had returned to its closed state, before retracing his steps towards the surface. He felt a brief pressure difference again as he passed through the barrier, then burst through the water, grabbed the gunwale, and climbed onto the boat. Water dripped from his clothes and hair onto the deck, forming a small puddle at his feet. He squatted by the gunwale, wiped the water from his face, and then bent down to put his boots back on.
"There's a marking plate in the middle of the ridge line below, matching the grooved edge engraving on the silk map, but it's closed." He tied his bootlaces, stood up, and put his coat back on. "The direction of the ridge line perfectly matches the structure of the Dragon Shadow; each ridge corresponds to the position of a rib. It's not some randomly constructed structure; it is itself a complete dragon-shaped skeleton built of stone, placed on the seabed surface, and sealed in some way to maintain its position from the long-term effects of ocean currents and sediment."
The man at the stern remained silent after listening. He took the thin rope that Long Tian had untied and put it into the cabin, then turned the bow of the boat so that it was positioned directly above the marker. Long Tian squatted on the deck for a while, checking the details he had sensed under his skin against the positions of the markers on the overlay map, confirming that the direction of the ridge line matched the location of the map markers, and that the position of the marker coincided with the position of the endpoint marker on the overlay map.
Yu Jin stood on the ship's railing, gazing at the outline below the water that had sunk back into the darkness. The light from the dark gray bead shone on the sea after nightfall, like an old lamp placed on the edge of the deck. In the continuously lit layer of light, it provided a uniform base illumination for the entire inky water, allowing the shallow seawater around the deck to maintain a discernible transparency under the continuous light, and to continuously reveal its outline and state under the illumination.