We crossed the calm sea as fast as we could since we expected company soon, we didn't want to delay and stay there as easy prey for any bored cultivator who would come and investigate the reason behind the disappearance of the Deeps.
As we moved across the sea, Wu Di's coughing fits increased, which only further increased the stress on the group, since we were moving with nothing certain but the only hope of finding a technique that can stop the Emrodite Plague.
The grand sea didn't seem to have an end as its calm seas were the only thing one could see. However, it was still troublesome to cross no matter how empty it seemed. Because it only takes a single look at the waters to see shades of creatures far larger than fright ships swimming mindlessly through it.
And what made us anxious the most, was the fact that there was a creature that we tricked into chasing a toy, and once he finds out about it, I'm more than certain that he'll be coming back with vengeance.
Soon enough, the sea parted, and for a moment my heart skipped a beat, as I didn't sense what came out of the water until it was too late, but thankfully it was only Y. And this increased our chances of survival greatly.
"Y, did you get it?" I asked Y who flew casually near us.
"Yes Master, it was an Egg of Delusion, hidden near the bast of a tower, it had an entrance above sea water, I suppose it is the place where you wish to go."
"Probably, can you lead us?" I asked through Divine Sense.
"Yes, but I can only work on low performance, the Egg of Delusion was too powerful for the Reactor you created, it almost broke down before I could even reach it. The Gravitational force shouldn't affect me, but the reactor has been slightly damaged and it will start leaking if I use too much power." Y replied in Divine Sense.
'shit, there goes my safety ticket, if Y can't function at full capability we will have a hard time fending off greater foes. I'll need time to repair and fix Y if I find time'
"Let's go then," I said.
Y then took a straight line forward, and we followed after him.
As I expected, Y was constantly pressing on the Demon Triggers I had for him, transferring the heat from the damaged reactor to the swords, and then he dipped them in the sea to cool them down.
'Damn, I'll need to create a protective layer for the reactor so this won't happen again. Thankfully, Y managed to get the Egg of Delusions, otherwise, if the reactor was to break before he took the Egg of Delusions, he would have shut down in the middle of the Deeps where none of us could swim down and grab him back. I got lucky here, but I doubt I'll be lucky the next time.'
It took us a few hours before we saw the first sign of landmass, but before we could even celebrate.
"Demon Slaying Arts! Descending Blade!" roared Y, as he pulled both swords up, and swung down with enough force that the sea parted away, while from his swords, four draconic serpents surged out and shot down into the waters, creating tidal waves similar to the ones that were created when the Egg of Delusion was taken from its place. (Guess the Reference!)
I wondered why would Y even try and use such a powerful attack while his reactor was heavily damaged, this would only cause more problems and further mess up the reactor.
But the answer came soon, as the moment the sea parted, the same creature that I lured away was actually waiting in ambush, and Y's blow was both to protect us, and scare away the creature.
The moment the draconic snakes that Y blasted out from his sword, touched the creature, it recoiled, reeling back deeper into the sea, as the sea was painted purple in alien blood.
"What the bloody hell!" Wu Di cursed through fits of coughs.
"Hold on," I called, as the waves shot higher and almost flipped our sword.
This was what I feared from Y's strength, this mass of power was created from a damaged core that only worked on high grade spirit stones, I didn't even place the Top Grade Spirit Stone I got from the Three Legged Raven Sect into Y yet, and this much power was enough to blast us to smithereens.
If Y had been using a saint crystal, I'm afraid that not even the sea would remain.
"Master, my combat abilities have decreased greatly, I can at most exhibit a tenth of the abilities the Spirit Reactor is giving me." Y said.
"Can you still fly?" I asked, "Yes, I can take you to the tower, but I doubt I'll be able to do anything more. Also, the beast is heavily wounded but not dead."
"That's good enough, let's get to the tower first," I said and we headed forward and crossed over the pool of blood.
The landmass was small, enough to be an island and there didn't seem to be anything of importance on it.
It had a couple of palm trees, and a few boulders, but with a quick scan of Divine Sense, I noticed an entrance under one of the rocks.
A wail of agonized pain and promised vengeance and retaliation sounded from behind us, and what I thought would take a few moments more to recover, came at us with haste. It parted the sea as it swam forward, not even caring about approaching the coast and leaving the deep seas.
Hua Yue screamed as the creature stood on solid ground and dirt and came at us.
"It's fucking amphibian?! Shit, hurry! let's go," I said as we all jumped down and headed toward the entrance as fast as possible.
Once we got in, we were met with darkness all over the place, the smell of rot and decay pervaded the place. It was like visiting a cemetery that had all its tombs open while the corpses were rotting and the stench was fused to the walls.
Immediately afterward, the whole place began rumbling as if it was being shaken by a titan.
There was a staircase in front of us, and using divine sense I could see that it led to a circular platform with a massive round seam, probably an elevator.
"Let's head down, there is an entry nearby," I said.
We moved without making much sound, or at least relative to the constant rattling of the sea beast, we were pretty damn quiet.
But there was a sense of foreboding coming from the whole place.
"This really is the Palace of the Deep, look," Huang Pointed at a massive engraving on one of the walls where the elevator was which literally read, Place of the Deep.
"But how do we go down?" Hua Yue said.
"I think this is the entrance? We could destroy it and go inside."
"That'll be really loud, and unproductive. We don't know what might be behind this thing or if there are traps, the best way would be to fix it." I said.
"Easier said than done, this thing is centuries old, and it's clearly broken," Huang said as he pointed at the platform under us.
I got down on the floor and inspected the circular platform. There actually was a bit of damage on it, a few cracks that disabled the function of the formation.
I pulled a few spirit stones, crushed them to dust. I turned and found a wet patch of ground, I grabbed a bit of clay from it and mixed it with the spiritual dust.
The group looked at me with wonder, but they didn't say anything.
I then began filling the cracks of the circular platform with the clay, and once I covered all the cracks, the whole circular platform lit up.
"See, no need to be barbaric at times." I said, "What are you waiting for? Get on." I said and the group all got on the platform.
Then I placed one high grade spirit stone on the center of the formation, and the whole circular platform on the ground shook and began a slow descent.