Chapter 45 – Chain of Strategems

Hao Chen beat his breast and stomped his feet for a moment as Feng Ye once again distanced himself. 

As the two of them dived deeper, the view ahead became increasingly dim. Feng Ye’s pitch black robes blended in with the dark sea water around him, rendering him nearly invisible.

No, completely invisible. Feng Ye’s figure vanished briefly from Hao Chen’s view, and he hurriedly chased after him. In order to avoid losing him, Hao Chen stopped thinking about those messy things and followed Feng Ye agreeably.

The two of them didn’t speak for some time, and there was silence all around.

Waves crashed perpetually on the surface, but the deep sea was tranquil, without any sounds or patrolling fishes.

This actually wasn’t normal. How could there be no fish in such a vast sea?

Not including Hao Chen.

Generally speaking, this sort of situation meant that there was something extremely terrifying lurking nearby, keeping sensible fish away.

Hao Chen had actually noticed the abnormality long before, but Feng Ye was leading the way in front, and since he didn’t stop, Hao Chen didn’t stop either.

After swimming for a while, the silence persisted, and the light in his field of vision grew continuously weaker. All Hao Chen could see was Feng Ye in front of him. There was no telling what was hiding in the water only meters away.

But he could sense it. When moving through the deep, lightless sea, vision was not the key sense.

A sense of smell, along with skin that could detect subtle changes in the flow of seawater, were what fish relied upon to navigate the deep sea.

The gentle current suddenly surged in a slight wave.

They were getting closer to whatever was lurking here. Upon realizing this, Hao Chen asked in a somewhat dubious tone: “Fellow Daoist Feng Ye?”

Feng Ye didn’t answer. He just continued to move forward with his head down.

Hao Chen had no choice but to continue following him. He was somewhat baffled. Could it be that Feng Ye couldn’t sense the danger here at all, and was just stubbornly swimming down?

It was difficult to say. Hao Chen could sense the danger in such dark water by sensing changes in the water flow, but Feng Ye was not a fish, and may not have the same perception ability.

No matter how strong a creature was on land, its strength would be greatly reduced in the sea.

After swimming for a while, the current became more drastic, its intensity outpacing the speed at which they were moving.

This showed that…..

Hao Chen peered at the dark sea beneath his feet. The thing lurking in the darkness had noticed them, and was already making its approach.

The vibrations against his skin became increasingly obvious. It was coming from the front. No…..there was also one below…..and behind…..Hao Chen looked around, feeling vibrations through the water flow in nearly all directions. 

There was more than one monster lurking here!

And the nearest one had already arrived in front of them…..

“Fellow Daoist Feng Ye!” Hao Chen shouted at once.

However, Feng Ye didn’t stop, just continuing to move forward as if unaware. He was about to collide with the monster in front of him, which had its mouth wide open, waiting for the prey to fall into its trap.

The reduction in ability was too great, just like a broken bone. Danger was so close, and Feng Ye didn’t even notice.

Although Hao Chen had always been indifferent to the fates of mortals, at the moment Feng Ye was about to send himself into the belly of a monster, he moved before he had time to think.

He grabbed Feng Ye’s shoulders and pulled him backward with force.

The monster in front with its mouth yawning open realized it had been spotted by its prey, and changed its strategy, beginning to inhale water like a whale.

The water in front of them suddenly transformed into a whirlpool, and the raging currents swept the two people toward the belly of the monster.

Hao Chen stepped in front of Feng Ye and gave a casual wave of his fan. At once, the violent water flowed past him while he stood firmly in place.

But the other monsters attacked at the same time, extending hideous tentacles from the pitch-dark sea below. These tentacles were covered in suction cups with criss-crossing fangs, suctioning to the two people’s legs as they crawled upward.

There was also danger behind them. Something was approaching at high speed, sword-like jaws splitting the water as it barreled toward them, intent on splitting them as well.

The turbulent flow of water conveyed danger in every direction. Hao Chen wasn’t paying attention to the monsters surrounding them, which were either already attacking or about to make a move.

He just stared at Feng Ye in front of him. In the remaining light, he caught a clear glimpse of Feng Ye’s expression.

The eyes that should be gleaming currently held no luster. His pupils were directed forward, but were unfocused and unseeing.

There was only dullness remaining on that face.

Dullness like that of a puppet.

Hao Chen’s mind raced, and he suddenly attacked. Not waiting for the swift monster to pierce them both, he directly pierced Feng Ye’s chest with his hand.

As expected, there was no sticky sensation of reaching through flesh and blood. As his hand passed through Feng Ye’s chest, all he felt was the same uniform water pressure.

Feng Ye’s face remained lifeless. After Hao Chen pulled out his hand, a large hole was left in his chest. There was neither flesh nor blood in the hole, only water flowing through it.

Hao Chen blinked, and there was suddenly no trace of Feng Ye in front of him. There were only the black and white daoist robes that Feng Ye habitually wore, with half a sleeve torn off by Hao Chen.

And on those daoist robes were complex array patterns.

“Illusion array……” Hao Chen murmured as he inspected them.

There was still some lingering spiritual power in the array that had not yet dissipated. The illusion had still been going until Hao Chen suddenly took action and pierced through the chest of the illusionary Feng Ye.

When the array was destroyed, the illusion also stopped working.

He finally understood that he had been tricked.

He began to replay the previous events. The Feng Ye who had argued with him before must not have been fake, as this level of illusion array was not capable of such realism. So it must have been after…..that!

Hao Chen suddenly remembered the moment Feng Ye vanished briefly from his field of vision. The illusion array had been activated at that moment, and the person swimming in front of Hao Chen was no longer a living being, but a daoist robe covered in array patterns.

From that moment on, Feng Ye never said another word. Hao Chen had followed behind him, unaware of his dull appearance.

But when he thought about it carefully, something didn’t seem right. When had Feng Ye drawn the array patterns? Although this illusion array was not very complicated, it couldn’t be drawn in such a short amount of time.

Likewise, it was impossible to prepare it in advance. Feng Ye couldn’t have predicted the future and anticipated the current situation. He must have acted on impulse.

But Hao Chen had clearly never left his side…..

No! Hao Chen suddenly recalled that they had indeed been separated for a time. When Feng Ye was running away atop the monster, although Hao Chen had caught up with him quickly, Feng Ye had been away from him for an incense stick of time.

It was during this period that he had finished drawing the array.

This was simply a chain of stratagems!

The incident on the shore had just been a cover-up. Feng Ye had never expected to get rid of Hao Chen through that incident. He’d ridden the monster away just to separate from Hao Chen for a while so that he could prepare his ultimate move.

Thus, when Hao Chen met Feng Ye again underwater, he didn’t seem upset about failing to throw him off the trail. Rather, his attitude was very casual, as if he had expected it.

Perhaps he had been deliberately waiting for Hao Chen to find him, so that he could implement his real plan hidden beneath layers of obfuscation.

“Ha.” Hao Chen suddenly laughed – but there was no joy in his laughter.

Only suppressed wrath.

He had been angered to laughter!

He just swore that even if it was you, he would save you. But unexpectedly, Feng Ye turned around and, before Hao Chen could finish being moved, used an illusion array to lure him into the monsters’ lair.

What was that human saying?

When a man opens his mouth, only lies come out.

“Hehe…..” Laughing once wasn’t enough for Hao Chen, so he laughed again, louder and louder. He no longer cared about being exposed, nor did he waste time using his spiritual consciousness to speak.

He just curled his lips underwater and sneered to his heart’s content.

The chill in his laughter leaked into reality. This was not a metaphor.

The temperature in the deep sea was actually not that cold. On the contrary, it was very warm due to its proximity to a volcano.

But at this moment, a fine layer of ice spread out in all directions with Hao Chen at the center.

The temperature abruptly plummeted.

Cold, gloomy, terrifying spiritual power was released unreservedly, its magnitude so great that all of the monsters in the sea couldn’t match it.

Monsters had always had keen senses, and had already realized that the spiritual power contained within this human-looking thing was extremely vast. 

The monster that was trying to suck Hao Chen into its stomach immediately shut its mouth and gave its tail a soft flick, trying to retreat silently.

But although this particular monster had stopped in time, the others did not.

The swordfish monster, its jaws long and sharp, was barreling forward extremely fast. Unable to stop its momentum, it charged straight at Hao Chen.

With a swish, Hao Chen casually waved his fan and the swordfish monster was split in two by an invisible current. It divided along the middle, spewing out blood like red dye to stain the dark sea.

At the same time, the tentacles that had not yet loosened around Hao Chen’s ankles suffered the same fate as the swordfish and were directly bisected.

The octopus monster retracted its remaining tentacles and retreated tremblingly into the deep sea.

However, Hao Chen had no intention of showing mercy to these monsters that dared to offend him. He was full of rage, and the culprit had disappeared to who knows where, so he needed someplace to vent his anger.

This group of monsters had brought about their own destruction. But just when Hao Chen was about to start killing them, he heard a human voice:

“God, spare my life!”

Hao Chen’s fanning motion paused. His gaze swept across the seabed before settling on the octopus whose tentacles he had sliced in two.

Octopuses were known to be intelligent creatures. Other monsters of the same level around it were unable to speak the human language, but it could.

But so what? Speaking the human language was not uncommon.

Weren’t there over tens of millions of fish in his North Sea that could speak it?

Hao Chen had only paused, and still had no intention of letting these monsters go.

Seeing that he was about to attack again, the octopus monster once again begged for mercy: “God, we are all very familiar with this area of the sea. Why has Your Greatness come here? As long as you allow us to live, we will go through fire and water to bring about your will.”

Hao Chen’s heart was moved. He actually had no purpose in coming here other than following Feng Ye to find the Jianmu seed.

And where had Feng Ye gone after leaving him? Naturally, that was the location of the Jianmu seed…..this group of monsters that resided here all year round must be aware of the divine Jianmu.

So Hao Chen asked ponderously: “Where is the Jianmu seed?”

“Jianmu?” The octopus seemed very surprised to hear this. Without waiting for Hao Chen to ask further, it went on to explain: “The Jianmu seed was taken away by a human a hundred years ago. There are none here at all.”

Hao Chen frowned slightly upon hearing this. It wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. He said with some displeasure: “That human only took one seed. Are there no other Jianmu seeds here?”

“God, please forgive me.” The octopus noticed Hao Chen’s unfriendly tone and immediately waved its remaining tentacles in a plea for mercy, simultaneously flattering Hao Chen: “ God, your knowledge is extensive, and you should know that the smaller the realm, the easier it is to collapse. A slight change, such as a tsunami or a volcano, can lead to the destruction of a small world.”

Hao Chen wasn’t fooled by the flattery, but he didn’t interrupt the octopus. Because the octopus was correct – the smaller the world, the more unstable it was.

The octopus continued: “Isn’t it strange, God? The Floating Island Secret Realm is obviously just a small world, yet there are so many spiritual plants here, and the spiritual energy is almost comparable to the heavens where you reside.”

Comparable to the heavens? The spiritual energy of this realm was only slightly better than that of the mortal world. This octopus was just a frog in a well, only able to see a small portion of the sky. Hao Chen was about to scoff, when he suddenly realized that the octopus was probably referring to the events of one hundred years ago, when the Jianmu seed was still here. The octopus’s next words proved him correct.

“Everyone knows that Jianmu is a sacred tree capable of connecting heaven and earth, but few people know that an unsprouted Jianmu seed can stabilize a realm and gather spiritual energy.”

“Is was precisely because of this seed that a small world like the Floating Island Secret Realm was able to thrive. It was also a treasure that all of us monsters living here jointly guarded. It was the Jianmu seed that created this paradise.”

“Although the Floating Island Secret Realm will connect to the human realm every ten years, it is only for one day. And those humans are often dazzled by the magical elixirs on the island, with no idea that the real treasures reside in underwater caves.”

“But a hundred years ago, one human infiltrated the seabed.” When the octopus said this, its anxious tone gained an element of uncontrollable anger. Even after a hundred years, it had still not forgotten that incident.

“He noticed the difference between the Floating Island Secret Realm and other small worlds, and realized that something might be hidden in the seabed, so he ventured alone into the deep sea to explore.”

“It is unknown what sort of method he used to hide himself from our eyes and ears and sneak into an underwater cave. He then found the Jianmu seed, and!” Speaking of this, the octopus could no longer control its emotions, and its voice rose by several degrees: “And he snatched it away!”

Its words were echoed by the monsters around it, big and small. They shared a common hatred for their enemy and began to grow agitated, temporarily forgetting that they were in the presence of a great god. 

Seeing the currents beginning to surge again, Hao Chen gave his fan an impatient swish. The angry monsters who were showing signs of moving immediately went quiet, floating obediently in the sea without moving a single muscle.

The octopus also retracted its tentacles and returned to a normal volume: “We tried our utmost to stop that human, but we still failed. After killing two of our companions, he left the Floating Island Secret Realm with the Jianmu seed.”

“It was after the Jianmu seed left the Floating Island Secret Realm that the realm, without the Jianmu seed’s protection, began to show signs of collapse. Although on the surface, the realm appears to be thriving, the situation is in fact already very precarious. Any overly violent shock may lead to the collapse of this world.”

“God, if there was truly another Jianmu seed, how could the Floating Island Secret Realm have fallen to its current state?” The octopus lamented. Once the Floating Island Secret Realm collapsed, those who lived in it would naturally not be spared.

Hao Chen was silent. The octopus’s words had actually convinced him. It seemed that there was no second Jianmu seed here. There was only one seed from beginning to end, the one Ling Yun took away one hundred years ago.

This was actually his original idea. The reason he hadn’t expected Feng Ye to come to the Floating Island Secret Realm was that he didn’t believe that there could be a second Jianmu seed. 

The more powerful something was, the rarer it was. How could a sacred tree such as Jianmu grow everywhere like an ordinary plant? 

In Hao Chen’s subconscious mind, the Jianmu seed was one of a kind.

The octopus had solved a puzzle for him, but this also raised another question: why did Feng Ye feel that there was a second seed?

Hao Chen recalled the conversation between Feng Ye and Administrator Zheng in the Armory Pavilion and immediately refuted himself.

No, Feng Ye likely didn’t firmly believe that there was a second Jianmu seed here. He just firmly believed that a Jianmu seed existed somewhere in the world.

So when he asked Administrator Zheng if Jianmu had actually burned down completely, only after receiving a positive answer did he begin to think that there might be a second seed, and therefore decided to come to the Floating Island Secret Realm to investigate.

Everything seemed to be explained, but digging deeper revealed more mysteries. What was the connection between Feng Ye and Jianmu? Why was he so obsessed with it? And why did he so firmly believe that Jianmu still existed?

A smack sounded through the currents as Hao Chen rapped his fan against his palm. He was getting a little impatient thinking about it, and felt that this question was a bottomless pit. There was no other way to get to the bottom of this other than questioning Feng Ye directly.

He simply didn’t think about the Jianmu question anymore, focusing instead on how Feng Ye tricked him into the monsters’ lair.

Speaking of which, Feng Ye had come all the way here in search of the Jianmu seed, and even went to great lengths to get rid of Hao Chen. But as it turned out, there was no second seed at all. Hadn’t Feng Ye’s efforts come to nothing?

The thought was rather satisfying. That bastard had used an illusion to deceive his feelings!

But this was only a small win. Hao Chen still couldn’t forgive Feng Ye for luring him into the monsters’ lair.

Even though this group of monsters didn’t do anything to him, he was still very angry!

He had instinctively pulled Feng Ye back from the fish’s mouth and shielded him behind him, never suspecting that what he had saved was a piece of clothing covered in array patterns!

He had lived for tens of thousands of years, and had never suffered such humiliation!

The more Hao Chen dwelled on it, the more unbearable it felt. He decided to teach Feng Ye a lesson.

At this thought, he gave a command to the group of trembling monsters around him: “Follow this scent and find the owner of these robes.”

He held up the broken-sleeved daoist robes that Feng Ye had left behind.

At once, a monster with a well-developed sense of smell came close for a sniff and then quickly retreated, not daring to linger near Hao Chen.

“God, what should we do with that person when we find them?” Asked the octopus, as the group’s representative.

“You should……” Hao Chen pondered for a moment.

His lips suddenly curved in a smile that lacked any warmth. It made one feel cold all over, and these thick-skinned monsters couldn’t help but shiver.

Behind his fan, his thin lips opened and closed as he uttered four frigid words: “Kill him without mercy!”

As he finished speaking, the calm sea began to stir again. The monsters around him spontaneously took off in all directions, hunting for the man who had been sentenced to death.

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Chapter 44 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 46