Two updates today
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When she saw Yang Kai's attitude suddenly turn cold, the Saintess gave a snort of her own. "I wasn't counting on you to save me in the first place. Just look after yourself!"
With that, she stormed off to the side in a huff, clearly unwilling to exchange another word with Yang Kai.
Seeing her like this, Yang Kai secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He still had no idea what waited below—there could very well be enormous dangers lurking in the deep. If the Saintess kept sticking to his side, it would seriously cramp his style. Far better to be on his own, free to move as he pleased without having to worry about anyone else's survival.
Sure, the woman had let him stay on the main ship earlier, but they were nothing more than strangers thrown together by circumstance. Yang Kai had no obligation to protect her.
In his eyes, she was just a sheltered girl who'd grown up in a greenhouse. She had some skill and wanted to prove herself, but she needed a taste of hardship before she'd understand just how vicious the world could be.
After a long wait, the warriors from the seven-family alliance finally finished their deliberations. At the yellow-faced old man's barking orders, the chosen outsiders were divided into seven teams.
When Yang Kai had signed up, he'd picked one at random. Only now did he realize that the group he'd chosen happened to belong to the Hai Family—the same one the yellow-faced old man was from.
There were roughly forty outsiders in this team, and each one looked to be no slouch in terms of strength. One of them was in the Transcendent Realm: the Saintess of Nine Heavens Holy Land. She wasn't in this group, though—she'd been assigned to another family.
The yellow-faced old man strode up to the assembled group, cleared his throat, and swept his gaze over them. "This old man is Hai Wangu, a Guardian of the Hai Family within the Seven-Family Alliance. I'll be the one leading you into the ancient ruins beneath the sea. I trust you'll follow my orders and refrain from acting on your own—no sense courting unnecessary casualties. Apart from you outsiders, the Hai Family will also be sending a dozen or so capable fighters to coordinate with you. You chose the Hai Family, and I will do my utmost to keep you safe. But let me be blunt up front: if anyone among you acts against the group's interests, don't blame me for being ruthless."
He delivered this speech with an authoritative sweep of his gaze. Nobody said a word.
Hai Wangu nodded with satisfaction. "Then… each of you is responsible for your own fate. Let's move out!"
He was the first to launch himself into the air. The forty-plus outsiders and the Hai Family's dozen or so warriors fell in behind him, soaring toward the sea's surface.
At the same time, the remaining six families set off as well.
As they flew, Yang Kai studied the Hai Family's contingent. There were only a dozen or so of them, but counting Hai Wangu himself, that made three Transcendent Realm experts. The rest were all at the peak of the Shenyou Realm. Small in number, yes, but their overall strength was far superior to the group of outsiders.
The Hai Family had deployed its elite, holding all the initiative. The other six families had lined up roughly the same kind of force.
Before long, they reached the ocean's surface. Hai Wangu waved his hand and summoned a disc-shaped Artifact that shimmered with silver light and radiated dense waves of energy. It was unmistakably a Spirit-grade Artifact.
"Everyone, gather close. I'll take you down," Hai Wangu called out.
They all hurried over to him.
Hai Wangu channeled True Yuan into the disc, and in an instant, a curtain of silver light enveloped a radius of twenty zhang around him. Under his control, the luminous barrier plunged downward, carrying everyone beneath the waves.
Seeing this display, many of the warriors' expressions tightened. Hai Wangu hadn't unleashed any particularly devastating Artifact or martial technique, but the ability alone to transport dozens of people into the ocean commanded a measure of respect.
Hai Wangu caught the looks on their faces, and a faint smugness crept across his features.
All around them lay deep blue seawater. Below was utter darkness stretching to a fathomless depth. The abyssal gloom sent a chill through their hearts, and more than a few warriors who had never ventured far into the sea swallowed hard, inching closer to Hai Wangu as though proximity to him meant greater safety.
Yang Kai glanced around and saw bright lights dotting the waters in every direction—the other six families' warriors, each employing their own methods to descend into the deep.
The silver barrier Hai Wangu had created was remarkably sturdy. Seawater flowed along its outer surface without seeping in even a drop. Schools of brilliantly colored fish drifted past on all sides, and the group pointed at them with wide-eyed fascination.
As they descended deeper, the look on Hai Wangu's face grew less and less relaxed. The ocean's depths were bottomless—the farther down they went, the greater the crushing pressure. Even as a Transcendent Realm expert, sustaining an Artifact of this scale drained an enormous amount of True Yuan.
The silver barrier itself seemed to be feeling the immense strain. It had lost its former smoothness, and the enclosed space was slowly shrinking.
Those warriors who noticed couldn't help but let their expressions change. They frowned and studied Hai Wangu, uncertain whether he could hold out.
After descending a while longer, Hai Wangu suddenly spoke up. "Everyone, I need to ask a favor. Could you channel your True Yuan and help me keep the Artifact running? At this rate, I'm afraid we won't make it to the bottom."
At this, quite a few of them cursed inwardly.