Chapter 380

Chapter 380

As the light reappeared, the current that had been carrying them forward also slowed down.

Val swung its streamlined body, beginning to propel itself forward with its own strength.

As it gradually left the narrow underground waterway, the heavy, impenetrable darkness began to fade, and everything around slowly returned to calm.

At this moment, everyone was in the pitch-black depths of the sea, and the roaring sound of the water that had been in their ears had completely disappeared.

Lorant rubbed his ears and sat up straight, carefully observing his surroundings.

Shenuska raised his hand, and at some point, a pearl emitting a soft, lustrous glow appeared in his palm.

The mermaid gently sent it upward, and the pearl slowly floated up, hovering at the tip of the Mechanical Unicorn Whale's horn, using its faint light to illuminate the path ahead.

Under this gentle glow, Lorant's vision gradually returned to normal. He began to see the strangely shaped reefs and the massive shadows formed by beautiful corals on the seabed, as well as some corals that emitted green or orange-red light in the dark seawater, and the almost motionless, translucent, and ethereal beasts floating in the water.

This was the seabed, a dreamlike place that had never been seen or developed by anyone.

Lorant was seeing such a beautiful scene for the first time.

The seabed here was not a barren wasteland.

Before Lorant, the seabed displayed a rich and diverse array of life.

A vast underwater forest of unknown height and breadth, composed of some special aquatic plants, beautifully shaped corals, massive reef walls, peculiar beasts, and glowing shells and minerals.

All of these together formed a serene, eerie, and fantastical scene.

The twinkling lights reflected in Lorant's eyes, and for a moment, he was mesmerized.

The scenery here was completely dreamlike, a place he had never imagined could be so beautiful.

Although there were many beasts surrounding them, when they did not actively attack, merely appreciating the unique beauty of these seabed beasts was enough to captivate anyone.

"This place..." Lorant instinctively lowered his voice and asked Shenuska, "Is this the seabed of the Western Sea?"

"Have we already entered the depths of the ocean?"

If it weren't for the surrounding scenery and the silent feedback from Fa Meng beside him, Lorant would have found it hard to believe that he was already at the bottom of the sea.

After all, when they were heading to the mermaid's secret realm, Lorant and the others had gone through a lot of trouble.

The three of them not only used a long-distance teleportation array but also crossed a considerable stretch of mountains, taking more than a day to reach the mermaid's secret realm hidden in the mountains.

So, it seemed a bit off that they had reached the ocean in just about thirty minutes of water travel.

But the surrounding environment clearly told Lorant that this was definitely not the bottom of the Holy Shield River or any lake.

The ocean was the ocean, and even without seeing its full extent, it could give people a completely different perception.

"Yes, we have already entered the seabed," Shenuska nodded. He didn't deliberately lower his voice, as the energy shield around Val seemed to have a good soundproofing effect. Even though Shenuska was speaking next to a large, white-eyed fish-like beast, the beast outside the shield showed no reaction at all.

Lorant nervously watched a unique aquatic beast that glowed and, as it contracted its gelatinous, translucent body, emitted an even brighter light. The beast, which seemed to sense something, floated towards Val and, upon reaching it, paused in confusion.

Val also stopped moving, like a stone submerged in water, quiet and lifeless.

The jellyfish-like glowing beast carefully circled around Val but ultimately found nothing and left.

"We just traveled here on the 'Undercurrent,' which is incredibly fast and powerful, but also very dangerous."

"Beasts cannot go against the current. Both Val and I can only pass through the entrance when the current is relatively calm. Normally, it would take several hours to get here even from the Merpeople's secret realm by water," Shenuska explained. "It's precisely because of the current that we were able to reach the West Sea so quickly."

Fa Meng, like a tourist visiting the place, had her entire miniature dragon body firmly pressed against the energy shield Val had raised.

The energy shield was originally invisible, but somehow, under Fa Meng's touch, it felt like a thin layer of glass, giving her the sensation of leaning against a bus window to enjoy the scenery.

After briefly indulging in the beautiful underwater scenery and the beasts, Lorant quickly snapped out of it and remembered why he had come here. He grabbed the chubby paw of the little fat dragon, forcing the young shopkeeper to refocus and start carefully observing the dazzling corals outside, hoping to find a transparent one among them.

However, transparent corals were clearly not easy to find, and Lorant himself wasn't particularly lucky. After the initial excitement wore off, he quickly adjusted his mindset and began calmly scanning everything outside with his gaze.

Meanwhile, Fa Meng followed the method Lorant had discussed with her earlier and started using her abilities to scan the entire seabed.

She was much more adept at this than Lorant. As soon as her energy swept out, the feedback from all the living creatures in the area appeared in a small, chessboard-sized projection before her.

Although everything alive, from corals to different species of beasts, could reflect energy in various ways back to Fa Meng's consciousness, she wasn't familiar with the underwater world. All the energy waves that returned to her mind were foreign.

This made it difficult for Fa Meng to form a complete image. She could only roughly represent the shapes and positions of objects in her hands.

Thus, Val had to swim very slowly, allowing Fa Meng to observe the energy waves returning to her mind while visually confirming what each wave represented—whether it was a creature or a plant—so she could continue scanning the surroundings.

Fa Meng had a strong learning ability. After just a few energy scans, she had a basic understanding of most common underwater beasts, corals, algae, and shells, and began building her own database.

With this database for filtering, the entire process sped up significantly.

Even so, by the time Lorant started feeling uncomfortably hungry, Val was still circling around the reef area with Fa Meng.

Seeing Lorant's somewhat wilted state, Shenuska made a decision.

"Alright, young shopkeeper, I think today's exploration can come to an end. Let's head up and rest, and continue tomorrow," the Merperson said without giving Lorant a chance to object. He immediately patted Val's head and made a strange sound, similar to Val's call, urging the Mechanical Unicorn Whale to turn and swim upward.

Lorant didn't object either. Being on Val's back was different from being on Fa Meng's small boat. On the boat, there was at least some space to move and rest, but here, it was impossible to move at all.

Moreover, they were in the deep sea, where Lorant couldn't rest properly.

Thus, exploring the seabed was definitely not a task that could be completed in a single day or done continuously for long periods.

Val's upward speed far exceeded Lorant's expectations. Shenuska pressed a hand to his throat, and a melodious song emerged from between his fingers. Lorant didn't see the formidable warrior of the Merpeople open his mouth, but he clearly heard the beautiful singing.

He felt a warmth spread through his body, as if a sun were rising in the depths of the sea, forcefully dispelling the surrounding cold.

The seabed itself was complex, with tall corals and massive reefs providing ample cover.

Even a beast as large as Val wasn't particularly conspicuous while swimming among them. In the hours they spent below, Lorant didn't see many groups of beasts.

But as Val swam upward, it became fully exposed to the eyes of countless aquatic beasts.

Many beasts that sensed the water's movement began charging toward Val.

Lorant, initially tense, was ready to have Fa Meng intervene at any moment. However, when Shenuska's song rang out, it didn't attract more beasts. Instead, the aggressive beasts uniformly stopped in their tracks, then turned and swam away from Val as if in a daze.

It was as if they had been hypnotized, instinctively unwilling to approach Val's location.

The beasts' dazed movements looked quite eerie, and Lorant finally understood why Shenuska was so confident. With Val's protective shield, which could withstand the immense pressure of the deep sea and somewhat dull the senses of the surrounding beasts, combined with its insulation, even in the cold depths, those inside could endure for a considerable time.

Shenuska's abilities effectively repelled the beasts, confusing them so they wouldn't attack Val.

With these two working together, even in the depths of the sea, they could carry out exploration activities normally.