# 873
Chapter 874: Deep Sea Giant Shadow
Two figures dove straight down into the seawater.
Lin Qiye reached out his hand and traced something in the water. After a moment, massive magic arrays unfurled, and several sea beast silhouettes appeared in the water—giant squids with impossibly large bodies, silver electric eels crackling with lightning, small but incredibly fast sea turtles...
These sea beasts floated in the dark waters, each bowing slightly to Lin Qiye before dispersing in different directions.
Among the many nurses at the Asylum of the Gods, there were quite a few "Mysteries" capable of moving freely in the sea. In this environment, they possessed far greater mobility than Lin Qiye himself. Having them assist with the search would greatly improve efficiency.
Lin Qiye waved at one anglerfish the size of a fishing boat, and it immediately swam beneath Lin Qiye and Jialan, carrying them on its back as it swiftly glided through the water.
The reason he chose this anglerfish as his "personal mount" was that the glow from its lantern could repel the seawater. No matter how deep they descended, it could create an environment indistinguishable from land.
The pale yellow glow of the lantern dispelled the darkness and water around them. Lin Qiye spread his spiritual perception outward like a radar, searching the surrounding waters.
"This..." Jialan glanced down, seeing nothing but near-black seawater stretching endlessly below.
"The scope of this loop is much larger than I imagined." Lin Qiye replied.
When he had ridden the Somersault Cloud last night trying to find a path out, he discovered that this time loop covered an enormous area. The fishing village occupied only one-thirtieth of it; the rest was all ocean. But at the time, he hadn't dived to the seabed, so he hadn't realized how astonishing the depth was here.
In the silent waters, the anglerfish carried the two of them, descending at a steady pace...
At this moment, Jialan was feeling rather flustered.
The anglerfish's back was a smooth arch, and except for the lantern that Lin Qiye was gripping, there was nowhere else to secure herself. Jialan stood awkwardly on the anglerfish's back, struggling to maintain balance through sheer determination, trying desperately not to fall off. Her hands cautiously extended outward, as if wanting to wrap around Lin Qiye's waist, but she felt too embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed red, and for a moment she was completely at a loss.
Just then, Lin Qiye's hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Jialan's slender wrist, wrapping her arm around his waist.
"Hold onto me. Don't fall." Lin Qiye's voice came through.
Jialan felt the warmth in her arms and froze for a moment. The next instant, her face was like clouds touched by fire, instantly reddening to her ears.
"Ah? Oh... okay."
She swallowed hard, her heart pounding wildly. After hesitating for a moment, she screwed up her courage and simply stepped half a stride forward, burying her face against Lin Qiye's back as well.
The two of them stayed like that, pressed together, riding the anglerfish through the dark waters.
In the dim and utterly silent environment, only the slightly heavy breathing of the two of them filled the air, and the atmosphere grew increasingly delicate.
Jialan pressed against Lin Qiye's back and listened for a moment, then blinked.
"Seven Nights, your heartbeat is so fast."
"You're hearing things."
Lin Qiye's face, turned away from her, flushed slightly as he spoke with feigned composure.
"Oh..."
Jialan stuck out her tongue.
Time passed second by second. Jialan stayed pressed against Lin Qiye's back, her face flushed red. Just as she was about to say something, Lin Qiye suddenly looked up, gazing into the distance.
"What's wrong?"
"There's something over there." Lin Qiye's eyes flickered with a gleam. He immediately communicated with the anglerfish beneath them and raced toward that direction.
In the murky, dark depths of the sea, the pale yellow light rippled outward. As Lin Qiye and Jialan drew closer, the outline of a massive shadow at the very bottom of the sea gradually took shape.
"A mountain?" Jialan looked up at the vaguely discernible giant peak within the shadow and spoke in bewilderment. "How is there such a huge mountain in the sea?"
"No, that's not a mountain."
Lin Qiye's spiritual perception swept over the black mountain, his eyes growing grave. "That's a corpse... the corpse of a giant beast."
Jialan froze. She looked up carefully, and as the anglerfish drew closer, she could gradually make out the details of this massive shadow. Black scales, each the size of a fishing boat, densely covered the surface of the giant form, like ancient and sharp-edged blades. Even after being eroded by the seawater for countless years, they showed no signs of decay or deterioration.
Several sea beast nurses swam around the giant shadow, communicating through thought:
"卧槽, what is this thing?"
"? When did you learn human slang?"
"Oh, Director Li taught me that. It rolls off the tongue pretty well."
"...How is this thing so huge? What realm was it at when it was alive?"
"No idea. I've never heard of anything like this before. The strongest 'Mystery' in our waters was only one-fifth its size."
"How did a creature like this end up dying here?"
"..."
Jialan couldn't hear their conversation, but Lin Qiye heard every word. He frowned slightly and asked through thought:
"Is there a connection between sea beast size and cultivation level?"
"More or less." The anglerfish beneath him answered. "Sea 'Mysteries' are different from land 'Mysteries.' Generally, the more powerful a 'Mystery' is, the more terrifying its size. This is natural selection..."
"What about this one? Roughly what realm was it?" Lin Qiye pointed toward the giant beast corpse in the depths.
"It?" The anglerfish considered for a moment. "I've never seen a 'Mystery' this size before... Perhaps it has already surpassed this level."
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you saying... this thing might be a god?"
"Possible."
Lin Qiye fell silent.
At the bottom of the waters surrounding the fishing village lay a corpse that might be a god-tier sea beast... Could this be the reason the time loop exists?
Lin Qiye rode the anglerfish, quickly circling this giant beast's corpse. Even at Lin Qiye's current realm, with all his spiritual perception spread out, he still couldn't perceive the full scope of this giant beast's corpse...
Suddenly, Lin Qiye seemed to notice something, and his pupils constricted sharply.
"What did you find?" Jialan asked in confusion.
Lin Qiye rode the anglerfish to the very front of the giant beast.
At the center of its ferocious face, a single eye was tightly shut. Below it, a slash mark approximately six to seven meters tall was deeply carved into its body. Scattered chaotically around it were fragments of broken bones, appearing to be its teeth.
Lin Qiye reached out and pointed toward the deepest part of the slash mark.
"There... there's a living person."