The darkness of the underwater abyss was like thick ink, nearly blocking all light. Guided by Xing Lan, Ye Chenyu, Liyue Ying, and Xuan Ye descended into the depths of the East Sea. The water pressure felt like invisible giant hands, pressing tightly against every breath. Faint ghostly blue light shimmered through the currents, illuminating the fractured reefs outside the coral-bone palace, stretching like ancient spines intertwined. Each surge of water brought an unsettling low-frequency vibration, as if the abyss were whispering, or as if countless spirits' sighs were trapped beneath the sea.
Suddenly, a strange wailing pierced the silence—a baby-like cry, grotesquely twisted, sending shivers through their nerves. Ye Chenyu instinctively gripped the rune shard, his heartbeat spiking, every nerve trembling. The sound belonged to no natural creature; it was a lure from the abyss, tearing at reason and blurring the line between reality and illusion.
Through the dim underwater light, he saw the creature. It had the agile body of a monkey, but its fingers and claws were twisted and sharp, fur disheveled, damp and glistening. Its limbs were light yet exuded unsettling strength. Its face was more grotesque—irregular and terrifying, eyes glinting with a cold, ambiguous smile. Its mouth was slightly open, and the baby-like cries emanated from it. It leapt among the reefs with uncanny agility, each motion stirring whirlpools; the surrounding currents seemed to respond to its presence.
Xuan Ye's face tightened; the rune shard in his hand glowed faintly. He tried to suppress the creature with his rune array, yet the cries pierced their minds like invisible blades, almost driving them to madness. Xing Lan sensed deeper unease beneath the water. Her fingers lightly touched the currents, murmuring softly, synchronizing with the flow. "It is not the end… only the guardian of the Tide Eye," she said, her words striking like waves against rock, pulling Xuan Ye back from the brink of mental collapse.
At that moment, Ye Chenyu felt the entire abyss begin to breathe. The currents swirled as if guided by some invisible will. Behind the creature, a darker vortex gradually took shape—a massive "Tide Eye," its form like a pupil frozen in the abyss, ghostly light flowing through it, reflecting ancient, alien visions. Ye Chenyu's heart skipped; the Tide Eye seemed omniscient, showing desolate landscapes of ancient wastelands and the shadows of forgotten deities.
The Tide Eye opened slightly. Its unfathomable light pierced the bone palace and the surrounding waters, as if freezing the currents while countless eyes scanned the surroundings, each gaze carrying scrutiny and disdain. Ye Chenyu felt his chest constrict, struggling to breathe, as if the abyssal eye was drawing him in. On the edge of panic, he instinctively grabbed Xing Lan's shoulder, feeling the cold, steady reassurance from her fingertips—the only anchor in this moment.
The creature became increasingly menacing in the Tide Eye's glow. Its sharp claws cut lightly through the water, stirring vortices and low-frequency tremors. Its cries interwove with the Tide Eye's whispers, creating an indescribable psychic pressure that nearly tore Ye Chenyu's consciousness apart. Liyue Ying moved with icy precision, the runes flickering in the water, freezing the currents to temporarily restrain the creature, though the oppressive fear remained.
The Tide Eye opened again, its abyssal light flashing, revealing each of the four's subconscious fears and doubts—past illusions, future warnings, fragments of countless spiritual realms shimmering in its depths. Ye Chenyu slowly realized: this Tide Eye was not a mere creature, but the core manifestation of the deep-sea spiritual realm, the gaze of an ancient entity, and one of the connection points of the five lands of the spiritual domain.
The four exchanged a glance, silently agreeing: no matter what unknowns lay ahead, they had to move forward. The underwater whirlpools gradually parted, revealing a passage leading further into the deep, as if guiding them toward the true core of the Abyssal Sea. Ye Chenyu drew a deep breath, gripped the rune shard tightly, and stepped into the passage. Behind them, the four-winged aquatic beast's low hum and the Tide Eye's gaze created an invisible pressure, as though the entire East Sea were watching their every step.
Outside the Bone Coral Abyss Palace, the currents slowly calmed, but the abyssal whispers continued to echo, reminding the four: deeper in the sea lay beings older and more unfathomable than any creature they had yet encountered. Their figures were swallowed by the ghostly blue light, slowly advancing into the Abyssal Sea, as if entering an endless nightmare…