Chapter 163: The Palace at the Bottom of the Sea

Chapter 163: Chapter 163: The Palace at the Bottom of the Sea

The already uncalm water surface became exponentially more bizarre in a mere moment.

The suspended golden beads sank simultaneously. Right where they disappeared, the seawater began to swirl.

Waves rose as sharp as blades. From the gloomy clouds high above, several streaks of lightning struck straight down without a single thunderclap of warning.

"Be careful!"

Evelyn was the first to react. She jerked backward, her other hand grabbing Jeremy’s collar and pulling him forcefully back.

Having just retreated a few steps, the spot where they had stood was smashed by several purple lightning bolts.

A crackling explosion rang out. The reef shattered. A pitch-black scorch mark was branded onto the ground, billowing smoke, the acrid burning smell assaulting the nose.

Phoenix looked up, his voice still steady but faster than usual: "There is an anomaly above. Be careful."

Jeremy also looked up.

The dense clouds grew increasingly thicker, pitch-black like spilled ink. Flashes of lightning flickered within without any rhythm, sometimes rapid, sometimes sparse, illuminating patches of clouds before sinking back into darkness.

Successive streaks of heavenly lightning struck down consecutively with a crushing posture, plowing the reef shore into deep craters, showing not the slightest intention of stopping.

In the central position, amidst the thickest cloud layer, a massive black shadow faintly appeared.

It did not move. It emitted no sound. It merely hovered there, like a mountain suspended upside down in the sky.

But unclear if it was because the distance was too far or for some other reason, Jeremy completely could not sense its aura. The spiritual consciousness he released was swallowed the moment it touched that cloud zone, like throwing a stone into a bottomless well.

It was also impossible to distinguish whether it was a Wasteland magical beast or something else.

The "anomaly" Phoenix mentioned was likely this thing.

Before he could take a closer look, the amount of lightning pouring down doubled.

And this time, the strike direction clearly aimed straight at him.

The first three bolts fell exactly where he had just stood. Jeremy dodged to the left, and the next three bolts chased him to the left. He flew up, and the next three bolts struck horizontally through the air right at his chest level.

As if it were locking onto a target.

Jeremy slightly furrowed his brows, continuing to dodge. The hem of his uniform was grazed by a bolt, scorching a patch.

Lucius stood in the back, his gaze shifting from the scorch marks on the ground to the glass vial still in Jeremy’s hand.

He held out his hand: "Give me the vial."

Jeremy did not ask why. He swung his arm, tossing the glass vial, still more than half full of golden liquid, through the air.

Lucius flashed over and caught it.

Then, before the other four could react, Lucius used instant teleportation coupled with his wings, reaching the central area of the sea in the blink of an eye — right beneath that massive black shadow.

"Lucius!" Leon roared.

But Lucius didn’t bother to turn around. Just as the group was wondering what he intended to do, they saw Lucius pop the vial’s cap, flip it upside down, and empty the entire golden liquid into the water.

The bright golden stream poured onto the gray sea surface.

The moment the seawater and that liquid merged, the entire sky went dark.

Not gradually darkening. But completely extinguishing, as if someone had blown out a lamp.

This time, the heavenly lightning was no longer a few sporadic streaks, but a net blanketing the entire sea area, including the reef shore where they stood.

Thousands of lightning bolts struck down simultaneously, so dense that the sky looked as if it were being shredded by purple streaks of light. Leaving almost no gap to dodge.

Lucius put away the empty vial, retreating quickly toward his teammates.

The Ice Prism Sword appeared in his hand. Before the lightning touched the ground, Lucius swung a vertical sword aura from top to bottom, cleaving the sea surface in two, forcibly tearing open a bottomlessly deep fissure.

The water parted to both sides like two walls. In the middle was a pitch-black crevice leading straight to the bottom.

"To the seabed." He sheathed his sword, signaled, and plunged down first.

"Boom!" The sound of thunder finally arrived, rumbling continuously, pounding into the ears as if someone were smashing a hammer against the eardrums.

Seeing thousands of lightning bolts about to strike, the group did not hesitate either.

Evelyn pulled Phoenix, Leon grabbed Jeremy’s wrist, using their fastest speed to plunge into the fissure.

Lucius — the one who descended a step earlier — waited until everyone was fully inside, then took a square magic tool engraved with the four cardinal directions from his space, tossing it overhead. Simultaneously, Lucius waved his hand to close the fissure shut.

The seawater collapsed overhead like a curtain.

The magic tool transformed into a four-directional array defensive barrier, its four corners planted in four directions, blocking the majority of the lightning damage crashing down through the water layer.

But only the majority.

In this situation, Jeremy didn’t ask the reason why Lucius abruptly acted like that either. Seeing the four-directional barrier begin to crack with fine lines like a spiderweb, Jeremy immediately pulled out two more defense-enhancing magic tools, stacking them to form the second and third layers.

Outside the barrier layer, the seawater boiled. Bolt after bolt of lightning pierced through the water surface, touched the barrier, and spread into intricate electric webs before extinguishing.

That thunderstorm lasted for a full half hour.

During that time, the seawater churned violently. The magical beasts sleeping at the bottom were awakened, lunging out of their caves, and then the majority were crushed to death by this bizarre lightning punishment before they could even react. Their corpses floated past the barrier, charred black and contorted.

Fortunately, midway through, Phoenix’s healing magic array had also taken form. A dark green circle spread beneath the group’s feet, seeping upwards through their heels. Coupled with medicinal herbs, the group avoided severe injuries.

But the heavenly lightning’s power was too immense. Some bolts managed to pierce through all three barrier layers, and every time that happened, someone in the group would cough up a mouthful of blood. To say they were completely uninjured and unscathed would be incorrect.

The thunder gradually thinned out. The seawater returned to a tranquil appearance.

Jeremy wiped the bloodstain at the corner of his lips with the back of his hand, borrowing magic power to release his spiritual consciousness outward to probe.

The thunderclouds and fog in the sky had completely dissipated, returning to the original murky gray color.

As for the massive black shadow obscured earlier... it turned out to be a palace.

Domed roofs, spires, winding corridors. But it was clearly only an ethereal reflection. A gust of wind blew past, and the entire palace rippled along with it, like a reflection on the water’s surface.

"The water color has changed." Leon’s voice rang out beside him. "Probably related to that liquid from earlier."

Jeremy retracted his gaze, looking around.

Indeed. The initially murky grayish-blue hue had turned into crystal clear blue, clear enough to see dozens of meters deep. And in the middle stretched a pale golden line of light, thin as a thread, winding its way toward the deep bottom, leading to an unknown destination.

On that thread of light still lingered a massive amount of lightning elemental power from the heavenly lightning strike earlier, occasionally flashing a tiny purple spark.

Realizing that, the four also understood what Lucius’s action earlier was aiming for.

The massive shockwave caused by the lightning smashing into the sea surface was likely the mandatory condition for this golden path to appear. Dripping a few drops was only enough to awaken the defense layer. Emptying the entire vial was needed to open the door.

Evelyn glanced at Lucius. Lucius was using a cloth to wipe his sword blade, not looking up.

And the clue regarding the specific location of the ruins Griffin mentioned was likely the endpoint of this golden path.

Connecting it with the palace mirage suspended in mid-air, the group became even more certain.

No one spoke a superfluous word. They downed healing potions while following the thread of light, diving deep down.

Also thanks to the thousand bolts of heavenly lightning earlier, the magical beasts on the seabed were nearly wiped clean. But their corpses still lay scattered on the sandy bottom — and the Magic Soul Crystals within their bodies remained intact, sparkling through the charred flesh.

The one to two-star types accounted for the majority. But the deeper they went, the number of Magic Soul Crystals from three-star, even four-star magical beasts, wasn’t small either. One was as large as a house, lying on its side on the sandy bottom, its charred black scales peeling off in chunks.

Adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, the group picked them up as they went. Leon used his lunar blades to slice open the corpses, Evelyn used vines to dig the crystals out, Phoenix collected them, and Jeremy counted.

By the time they reached the endpoint of the golden path, they had gathered nearly three hundred crystals.

Throughout that entire distance, they did not encounter a single living magical beast. It could be said to be suspiciously smooth.

And exactly at a location less than a hundred meters from the endpoint, there was indeed a palace.

It lay still at the bottom of the sea, its domed roof covered in a layer of dead coral, its pillars leaning yet still standing. The exterior looked exactly like the mirage suspended in the sky.

That confirmed their speculation.

But just as the group prepared to enter — which was also the place called the ruins — the totem mark on their wrists, the remnant from the magic array in the undersea tower back then, simultaneously burned hot and flushed red.