Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 533 - 29 Soul-Forgiving Water

Li Yan became somewhat interested and continued to read.

"The horrifying truth was unveiled during our eleventh exploration of the Abyssal Mouth..."

"In the past hundred years, this was the third discovered entrance to the Abyssal Mouth and also the largest among the three. The submarine of the city-state descended a full 15,000 kilometers for this exploration mission, more than doubling the record of the tenth exploration. But this still wasn’t enough! At this rate, to fully understand the secrets of the Abyssal Mouth, it would take nearly a thousand years of research and the collaborative efforts of a dozen generations of scholars."

"However, the value of this exploration was unprecedented. We discovered one of the most ancient emperors spoken of in legends, the Wingless Emperor, and it was still alive."

"Immediately, a great scholar proposed to the council that, leveraging the habits of the ’Wingless Emperor’, we could create a new type of submarine that would allow the Wingless Emperor to swallow the council members and bring them into the deepest parts of the Abyssal Mouth, the birthplace of the past emperors. It’s only by solving this mystery that the scholars of R’lyeh City-State could put an end to the eternal succession of the emperors’ rule!"

"This plan received unprecedented unanimous approval from the council."

"Sadly, we succeeded. With the help of the Wingless Emperor, we came into contact with a truth that we were never meant to encounter."

"Everywhere was gold-colored water with an strangely high temperature—this seemed to be the nesting grounds of the Wingless Emperor. We called this place the Soul-Forgiving Cavity."

The text that followed was filled with large cracks and dark stains, with most of the writing damaged beyond recognition. Li Yan could only make out fragments.

"We finally unraveled the secret of the emperors! They were born from the Abyssal Mouth, evolved at an extraordinary pace with the aid of [blurry] and over the eons, some of these unusually evolved creatures emerged onto land - these so-called ’emperors’!"

"When the news reached land, R’lyeh City-State held an unprecedented ceremony. All the ’scholars’ believed that we had broken free from fate and that the future would belong to R’lyeh. But later, we found out that it was not the truth at all, and we hadn’t even begun to grasp the origins of the emperors."

Li Yan then skipped an entire section of text that was completely illegible.

"Its appearance was a huge, unparalleled turtle shell, filled with a variety of strange images, including enormous fish, clusters of rainbow-colored bubbles, and celestial creatures shimmering with light... We originally thought that this represented the history of the emperors, until we saw R’lyeh City-State’s civic plaza on the shell, along with the effigy of the Chief Councilor printed on our currency, and even more patterns that were beyond our comprehension..."

After this point, at least four or five paragraphs became unreadable to Li Yan, with only the ending somewhat clear.

"Catastrophe!"

"Earthquakes, droughts, epidemics, volcanic eruptions, great floods... The emperors that had bestowed these upon us now took them away one by one. Our fellow citizens died in succession, and greedy demons hatched from their corpses. Our retribution had arrived! In that moment, everyone understood that our era, no, another emperor’s era had ended. Compared to the monstrous deities that had ruled for tens of thousands of years, the natural science emperors were truly short-lived. The Abyssal Mouth above the Dead Sea vanished, and when it appears again, it may give birth to a new emperor, but no one would be able to hear the lessons of R’lyeh now."

The text on the wall ended abruptly at this point.

Suddenly, Li Yan remembered the current black-robed emperor.

Natural science, isn’t that the Tri-Orb Device? Even if it’s not, there are too many similarities between the two.

The downfall of R’lyeh City-State had unclear causes; was it the exploration of the Abyssal Mouth that provoked something, or did "natural science" itself inherently carry unpredictable dangers?

Li Yan discovered no other clues or items of value, nor did he have the luxury to do so.

At this very moment, the depth at which Li Yan found himself was completely obscured, and even Earth Endurance could no longer calculate how deep he had descended.

Suddenly, the submarine began to shake violently; Li Yan pushed open the hatch and rushed out. Looking up, he saw a massive whirlpool overhead, furiously pulling at everything in the water.

The voice of his personal Earth Endurance came through just in time.

"Esteemed Walker, please be advised! The Wingless Emperor will make a brief stop in its nest and will rise to the surface again. It will expel most of the water it has swallowed before entering its nesting grounds, so please try not to leave the vicinity of the Wingless Emperor’s body."

Li Yan hesitated briefly before taking an item from his personal talisman and clutching it in his palm, actually charging towards the vortex above his head.

The flesh portal opened, revealing only deep abyssal darkness. A gigantic water current surged in the trench, forming a water tornado. Li Yan emerged from the top, and the intense pressure of death immediately assailed him, an overwhelming force that the current Li Yan could not possibly resist. In reality, almost no creature could.

Beneath Li Yan’s feet was a layer of golden water, distinctly separate from the river water of the trench. The moment Li Yan looked down, he saw a streak of black disappearing into the golden layer—without a doubt, that was the Wingless Emperor.

His Earth Endurance once again spoke up to remind him.

"The Wishful Stone and the Summoning Gold Medallion can allow the Esteemed Walker to immediately escape from the current Yan Fu incident. Please cherish your life!"

"The Wishful Stone and the Summoning Gold Medallion can allow the Esteemed Walker to immediately escape from the current Yan Fu incident. Please cherish your life!"

The Wishful Stone, activate.

The Wishful Stone in Li Yan’s palm immediately developed a crack and then vanished entirely. Simultaneously, a ring of deep blue mist enveloped Li Yan.

"You have activated the Wishful Stone, praying for resistance against the water pressure from the Abyssal Mouth for one minute."

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yan sped towards the golden sphere of water, his velocity so great that even the fastest marlin would be left trailing in his wake.

The time granted by activating the Wishful Stone was fleeting, the deep blue mist growing thinner, and the time remaining dwindled from double to single digits.

Finally, with only three seconds left, Li Yan broke through the golden water layer.

Boiling hot golden river water poured into Li Yan’s collar, causing his entire body to shudder.

A hint of helplessness tinged the voice of his Earth Endurance.

"Within the nest of the Wingless Emperor, no artifacts of return can be used."

"The Wingless Emperor will resurface within three minutes. Please cherish this final opportunity to escape."

"Inside the nest of the Wingless Emperor, you can initiate the ultimate Yan Fu event to pluck this Yan Fu Fruit, but please, Esteemed Walker, act according to your abilities!"

Li Yan, however, had no mind to listen to its ramblings, immersed in a soul-trembling sensation.

The Destiny Yak, Quanlang Sea Ghost, along with the powers of Wu Zhiqi Heritage, were all boiling over at this moment!

"You have been stimulated by the Soul-Forgiving Water, triggering the gene awakening: Spring Yak! Summer Yak!"

"Prolonged immersion in Soul-Forgiving Water may further enhance the secret techniques of the Quanlang Sea Ghost!"

Behind Li Yan, a blue-headed, white-haired, flat-nosed behemothy ape suddenly leaped out, opening its massive jaws wide and swallowing the golden river water in a frenzy through its seven orifices.

"Your Yan Fu Heritage: Wu Zhiqi Blood, Calamity Spirit’s Awakening Degree increases by 20% (included in additional Awakening Degree).

"You have gained a new Yan Fu treasure enhancement: Soul-Forgiving Water! Under certain conditions, you can transform ordinary seawater into Soul-Forgiving Water."