The light overhead gradually dwindled, and the seawater pressing in from every direction brought with it ever-greater water pressure.
Some of the Gu Masters began activating their Water Shell Gu.
The Water Shell Gu, created by Fang Yuan himself, was naturally extraordinary in its effects!
Almost the instant it was activated, every Gu Master from the small fishing village felt the pressure plummet. Their bodies relaxed, as if a burden of several hundred jin had been lifted from their shoulders.
Looks of pleasant surprise surged onto the Gu Masters' faces, even though they had already tested the Water Shell Gu back in the village chief's house.
But just then, someone suddenly sounded a warning signal.
A massive swarm of Weaving Shuttle Sea Spiders was hurtling toward them.
These sea spiders swam at terrifying speeds. When they moved as a group, upon encountering prey they would violently scatter, spraying tough strands of silk from their bodies to bind their quarry layer upon layer, until it was ultimately slaughtered.
Seeing such an enormous swarm of Weaving Shuttle Sea Spiders, the faces of the small fishing village's Gu Masters turned ashen. Even the old village chief, a Third Transformation Gu Master, wore a look of sheer terror, unable to maintain his composure.
The swarm of sea spiders was immense, and these creatures excelled at using numbers to overwhelm the few, using weakness to overpower strength. Many formidable ocean beasts would be entangled by them and eventually meet a miserable end.
Even a Third Transformation Gu Master, if dragged into a prolonged fight, would not be their match.
The dangers of the seafloor were truly too numerous. On the surface, the vast ocean appeared calm and tranquil, but beneath it, dark currents surged and killing intent lurked everywhere.
"It's nothing." Fang Yuan transmitted via voice, and at this critical moment he waved his hand with casual ease.
In the next instant, the small fishing village's Gu Masters nearly had their eyes pop out of their skulls!
A colossal torrent of water materialized in the blink of an eye, slamming into the swarm of sea spiders before transforming into a tremendous vortex, like a waterspout that sucked every last spider into its embrace.
"Hurry, move on — I can't hold this for long," Fang Yuan said deliberately.
The small fishing village's Gu Masters snapped out of their stupor and hurriedly continued their descent.
Once they reached a safe distance, the Gu Masters looked back. The massive water vortex was slowly dissipating. The sea spiders had been spun into utter disorientation. Their intelligence was extremely low, operating purely on instinct, and with no prey in sight they regrouped and continued swimming onward.
The boulder weighing on the Gu Masters' hearts finally dropped. The looks they directed at Fang Yuan were filled with admiration and awe.
Many of the Gu Masters who had previously exchanged blows with him now realized just how powerful Master Chu's combat strength truly was! Most importantly, his approach had been exceedingly wise.
If he had simply slaughtered everything in the seawater, the bloodshed would have lure even greater troubles.
Only by restraining them without killing — that was the mark of a seasoned hand.
The group pressed onward. With Fang Yuan escorting them, these Gu Masters faced absolutely no risk.
Sea spiders were merely one of the countless dangers lurking beneath the waves. Oil-collecting Gu Masters contended with no fewer than a hundred varieties of fearsome beasts, and sometimes they encountered special ocean currents where the only option was to drift along helplessly.
The rest of the journey, though still presenting some troubles, brought nothing catastrophic like the sea spider swarm.
After a halting trek filled with effort, the group finally descended deep enough to reach the front of the trench.
There was no need to plunge into the trench itself, because the black oil resources here were exceedingly rich, and no Immortal Gu Master-level being had ever come to mine them.
The trench was brimming with dark, heavy oil, and at the same time, countless streams of black oil oozed outward. These tributaries of oil, at first glance, resembled the massive tentacles of a giant octopus, or perhaps great kelp walls — interwoven and tangled in chaotic disarray.
The small fishing village's Gu Masters each activated their Gu Insects and cautiously approached these outward-flowing streams of black oil.
They began collecting the black oil, like diligent little bees.
Fang Yuan did not lift a finger. Instead, he hovered nearby, observing in silence.
These specialized Gu Insects for collecting black oil were almost exclusively the core Gu and Life Gu of the oil-collecting Gu Masters. In their prior exchanges, Fang Yuan had not probed into these matters — doing so would have been a serious breach of etiquette. But with his current level of discernment, a single glance was enough for him to grasp nearly everything.
The realm of quasi-supreme Grandmaster of Refinement Path — that was no joke!
"The only primary resource around this nameless little island is black oil. Once I use these black oil materials to refine new Gu Insects and hand them over, their oil-collecting efficiency will skyrocket."
He was still musing over this when suddenly a massive school of Shell-Crested Sharks came charging at them.
These sharks opened their enormous maws, revealing mouths full of white shells that served as their razor-sharp teeth.
Shell-Crested Sharks were quite unique.
They were born without teeth. As they grew, they would each select shells from the seafloor sediment and hold them in their mouths. Over time, these shells would take root in their gums like fertile soil, living there and growing whiter and harder the longer they stayed.