Free Web NovelChapter 348: Chapter 54: Deep Sea Scenery
"So the shallow seas have naturally become High Spirit Areas. And the shallow sea layer happens to be where the vast majority of fish live. No wonder the Spirit Awakening phenomenon among Sea Beasts is so common."
As he admired the same view, Su Zhou had a sudden epiphany. ’No wonder I could casually spot hundreds, even thousands, of Spirit Awakening Sea Beasts back in the South Sea. The ocean itself is a gigantic Spirit Storage Array!’
As the submersible continued its descent to the semi-deep sea region, around a thousand meters down, the intense Spiritual Power interactions of the upper layers gradually faded from view.
The Northern Mariana Sea Area is not a region rich in life. Unlike coastal areas or the waters around coral reefs, there were no large schools of fish or various strange creatures to commentate on. It seemed the two-hour descent would be quite boring.
However, could a program jointly designed by multiple nations really let that happen?
Soon, with a switch of the camera angle and to the astonishment of the livestream viewers, everyone could see that in the deep, quiet sea, massive swarms of dark shadows were rapidly approaching the joint exploration team’s five submersibles!
"Holy crap, what is that?!"
"Is it a fish or a snake?"
"Oh my god, I see a great white shark!"
As the shadows drew closer, their true forms were revealed one by one—they were various types of Sea Beasts, charging aggressively toward the exploration team! Most of these Sea Beasts were at the Spirit Awakening or even Initial Awakening Stage. The strongest among them, a great white shark and a black Sea Serpent, were shockingly at the High-level Awakening stage, and there were nearly a thousand of them in total!
"Danger!"
"Why are there so many Sea Beasts?! Didn’t the officials clear the area beforehand?"
Most people instinctively grew anxious, their hearts leaping into their throats.
But a few felt a vague sense of déjà vu: "Wait, this scene feels a little familiar..."
"I’ll go out." At that moment, Su Zhou smiled at the other members of the exploration team. "I see a few familiar faces. Looks like they’ve been following me ever since I set out to sea and only just caught up. I’ll give them this, they’re surprisingly enthusiastic."
This moment was, of course, captured on camera. When Su Zhou left the submersible via the exit hatch and entered the deep sea, it was a moment of sudden realization for everyone who knew about the incident with the fish swarms in the South Sea.
"So you’re the one who attracted them all!"
The approaching Sea Beasts had indeed put the exploration team on high alert. However, because Su Zhou had previously demonstrated his ability to attract and influence marine life, the submersibles from the other countries took no further action, despite their concerns.
Meanwhile, Su Zhou was launched out like a torpedo into the deep sea. His Water Assistance formed a thin protective film around him, causing the surrounding water to part, which allowed him to breathe freely.
But it wasn’t necessary. Su Zhou dismissed the Water Assistance, letting his physical body bear the deep sea pressure directly. He no longer needed much oxygen to fuel his body’s energy consumption; with most of his organs spiritualized, he only required Spiritual Qi to maintain his internal circulation.
’This environment... high pressure, low temperature, and utter silence. It’s actually quite suitable for spiritualizing my muscles,’ Su Zhou mused, feeling the pressure of the thousand-meter depths. ’And it’s a good chance to adjust my internal organs and tissue structure to adapt to the deep-sea environment.’
Within Su Zhou’s body, his already spiritualized organs began to adjust according to his will, gradually transforming into structures that could easily withstand the ocean’s pressure. An Extraordinary Tier being could adapt to most harsh environments, and the deep sea was just one of them.
BLUBBLUBBLUBBLUB~
Noticing that Su Zhou had emerged, the horde of Sea Beasts let out a joyous cheer and swarmed toward him. They didn’t harm the nearby submersibles—or rather, they had no interest in them at all. In the eyes of these Sea Beasts, there was no other target but Su Zhou.
A giant great white shark with a wood-like hide and a long, black Sea Serpent outpaced all their competitors to arrive at Su Zhou’s side. These were the two Sea Beasts to whom he had given an Aura Seed and his blood.
"Good kids. You must be tired after swimming all this way."
Once they reached Su Zhou, the two Sea Beasts began to twist their bodies joyfully. Su Zhou smiled and reached out to scratch the great white shark’s chin, allowing the Sea Serpent to coil around him.
Behind him, a swarm of a thousand Sea Beasts swam in an orderly fashion. Intimidated by his presence, they didn’t dare approach too closely. Yet, they admired the Authority of the True Dragon, their Tyrant, and so they merely circled from a distance, showing off their forms in the hope of being noticed by the ’Dragon King’ and chosen to become his close guards, just like the great white shark and the Black Serpent.
The five submersibles, descending in sequence, were now surrounded by a host of precious Spirit Awakening Sea Beasts. They formed a protective escort, guarding the submersibles on their way down.
The program’s cameras, of course, focused on Su Zhou, who now looked like a king of the sea, encircled by countless fish and Sea Beasts. This scene was broadcast across the globe.
"He really does look like a Sea King—no joke," one viewer commented.
"The title of Dragon King really fits. It’s true what they say: a name can be wrong, but a nickname never is."
"Does having Dragon Blood mean you can do whatever you want?!" "Sorry, but with Dragon Blood, you really can do whatever you want!"
"So cool!"
"Waaah, these fish are already at the Awakening Tier, and I’m not even as good as a fish!" another viewer lamented humbly.
The magnificent spectacle of the swirling fish brought a pleasant surprise to the audience, while the researchers inside the submersibles took the opportunity to explain the species and power levels of each Sea Beast, showcasing their own extensive research capabilities. It was a demonstration that no matter how rare the creature, they already knew all about it.
They even spotted a few small, completely translucent fish that glowed brightly. They were so adorable that many viewers immediately cried out, ’So cute, I want one!’
Behind one of the screens, a Modu tycoon was scratching the chin of the white Ragdoll cat in his lap. After seeing the strange and varied glowing fish in the video, he couldn’t help but turn to his own massive fish tank, where a red and a green koi were swimming. He sighed, "Reddie, Greenie, you eat the custom-ordered Spiritual Power fish food I buy for you every day. How come you don’t glow? You should learn from them!"
Of course, the tycoon was just complaining casually; he clearly didn’t think his koi could actually understand him.
But as he turned his head back to the livestream on the big screen, he failed to notice the two koi in the tank exchange a knowing look.
Back on the livestream.
Just then, flecks of light, like falling snowflakes, became faintly visible in the otherwise silent and dark deep sea. It looked like ’Deep Sea Snow’—the sinking organic detritus from the corpses of surface-level plankton and algae. But Deep Sea Snow shouldn’t glow. These snowflakes all had Spiritual Power reactions.
This was condensed Spiritual Power sinking down from the enriched Spiritual Power zone above! The surrounding schools of fish could be seen chasing these specks of light. While the Spiritual Power in the Shallow Sea was abundant, it wasn’t concentrated. These naturally condensed points of light in the deep sea were true treasures, a gourmet meal for the Spirit Awakening fish!
Thus, even fish species that had previously lived only in the Shallow Sea were now gradually evolving the ability to dive deep.
At some point since the start of the Spiritual Energy Revival, the ecological structure of the ocean had undergone a massive transformation. As the researchers and the program hosts explained, the viewers gradually understood that it wasn’t just the terrestrial world of humans that had been changed; the same was true for the oceans.
Vast numbers of Spirit Awakening Sea Beasts, a natural Spirit Storage Layer, mysterious ecological cycles and living environments... Many people who had studied oceanography and were prepared to show off their knowledge in the live chat were now stumped. They discovered that while they hadn’t forgotten what their professors taught them, the evolution of the New Era had rendered their knowledge useless.
The submersibles continued their descent. With the Sea Beast escort, they were actually much safer than they would have been otherwise. However, as the depth approached three thousand meters, the vast majority of the Spirit Awakening Tier Sea Beasts could no longer withstand the pressure. They could only stop where they were, watching reluctantly as Su Zhou and the team departed before they turned back toward the surface.
But just then, Su Zhou faintly heard something.
It was a song, composed of high-frequency sound waves, inaudible to the human ear.
