Chapter 3312: The Nine Seas

A Hook Beak Squid rose from the depths like a monstrous phantom.

Its body was enormous, its tentacles stretching for hundreds of meters. At the center of its mass was its massive hooked beak, sharp enough to crack open ship hulls like eggshells. Bioluminescent patterns flickered across its skin in eerie blue lines, pulsing like a heartbeat.

It glided past them in the distance. Even Little Shrubby’s speed did not disturb the giant squid. It simply drifted, its long tentacles waving slowly as if it were a drifting island of shadow.

Next they saw a swarm of Jet Wave Trigger Fish.

Each one was the size of a horse, with triangular heads and bulging eyes. Their bodies were sleek and streamlined, covered in shimmering scales that refracted light even under the dark waters. Every few seconds, one of them fired a compressed blast of water from its mouth, powerful enough to carve a hole through stone.

Meng Bai’s jaw dropped. "They use water jets to hunt. That is incredible."

Daoist Chu nodded. "It is no wonder humans cannot survive here. Even some immortals would not dare wander the Eighth Sea without sturdy protection."

The weather intensified as they traveled deeper. The winds shifted violently at times, changing directions every few minutes. The waves rose sharply, then flattened without warning. The water seemed to swallow light the further they traveled.

Shanhu Guimen turned to Lin Mu and explained, "This is why our clan uses ships reinforced with Ocean Light Coral. They carry a faint aura of the sea itself, so most beasts ignore them. Without such protection, ships traveling here would be hunted constantly."

Lin Mu thought of the ship they had stored earlier. "I can see why your clan maintained it so carefully."

"We have had many centuries to perfect it under the guidance of the Merkin," Shanhu Guimen said. "The seas are both our home and our greatest threat."

An hour later, Lin Mu asked the question that had lingered in his mind since they entered this region. "Tell me more about the Nine Seas. I understand the Seventh well enough. But what makes each sea so different?"

The youngsters glanced at each other, and Shanhu Guimen was the first to answer.

"The Nine Seas are not divided by lines or walls. They are divided by nature itself. Each sea has its own temperament and its own ecology. Even the colors of the water can tell you which sea you have entered."

Shanhu Qing added, "For example, the Second Sea is filled with large reefs and shallow waters. The Third Sea is full of whirlpools and unstable tides. The Fourth Sea is dominated by volcanic islands and steam geysers. The Sixth Sea has floating algae forests that stretch for hundreds of kilometers."

Lin Mu listened with interest.

"So which of the seas is the most dangerous?" he asked.

Shanhu Dian answered, "The First Sea, Fifth Sea, Eighth Sea, and the Ninth Sea are the worst. The First has storms that never end. The Fifth is filled with beasts that migrate constantly and attack anything they see. The Eighth is what we are crossing now."

"And the Ninth?" Lin Mu prompted.

At the mention of the Ninth Sea, all five youngsters fell silent.

A somber weight settled over them.

Shanhu Guimen took a long breath. "The Ninth Sea is the smallest of the Nine Seas. But it is the most dangerous. It is the only sea that no clan or power has managed to claim, even partially. Even in the Eighth Sea there are some supply islands used by a few merchants but there are simply none in the Ninth Sea."

Lin Mu found this strange. "How can the smallest sea be the most dangerous?"

Shanhu Guimen looked toward the horizon. "Because the Ninth Sea is not truly separate from the Eighth Sea. It lies within it, like a hollow circle. The Eighth Sea forms a ring around it."

Daoist Chu raised an eyebrow. "So the Ninth Sea is a place inside another sea?"

"Yes," Shanhu Ying replied softly. "It is like a heart of darkness inside a body of deep water. Many believe the Ninth Sea was never meant to exist."

Shanhu Jie continued, "Long ago, there were only Eight Seas. That is what our legends say. But something happened. Something powerful enough to warp the sea itself."

"Something powerful enough to create a new sea," Lin Mu murmured.

Shanhu Qing nodded.

"There is a myth in our clan. It says humans once ventured into the deepest part of the Eighth Sea. They performed some unknown ritual or disturbed something they should not have. Whatever they did awakened a terrible curse. That curse reshaped the waters and formed the Ninth Sea."

"And that curse is why your clan had to abandon its ancestral island," Daoist Chu guessed.

All five youngsters nodded slowly.

"We do not know the truth," Shanhu Guimen admitted. "But we do know that the Ninth Sea is filled with distortions, storms, strange energies, and ancient remnants. Only those with our fully awakened bloodline can survive inside it for any length of time."

Lin Mu looked toward the distant horizon where the water grew darker.

The Ninth Sea was calling them.

And whatever awaited them there, it was far from ordinary.

Night fell slowly over the Nine Seas world, and with it came a silence that was neither peaceful nor natural.

For hours Little Shrubby raced across the water, his fiery paws striking the surface like miniature suns that sparked and hissed against the restless waves. The sky darkened, yet they pressed on. The light gradually drained from the world until the last streaks of sunset vanished completely.

By the time the group noticed that the sea ahead had turned even darker than the night around them, they knew they had arrived.

Before them lay the Ninth Sea.

The air felt heavier. The horizon seemed to crumble into a dark mass. It was not a line between sea and sky but an endless abyss, where both were fused into one oppressive expanse.

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