‘What’s going on?!’

At the very moment the hunchbacked masked man’s face changed, Lin Zichen also sensed the terrifying energy surging rapidly up from below.

But Danger Perception didn’t thrum.

Before he could think more—in the next second, the once‑calm sea suddenly turned turbulent.

In an instant, a terrifying, sky‑burying wave rose up and slammed toward the masked man above.

The wave formed with incredible speed—and struck even faster.

The masked man had no time to react and was swept into it, dragged into the depths.

Bound by the masked man’s vines, Lin Zichen was implicated as well and swept into the depths with the wave.

But before he sank far, he felt a massive yet gentle force push up beneath him.

Then he stopped sinking and shot swiftly back toward the surface.

Splash—with a crisp break of water, Lin Zichen burst out, borne forward on a surge of spray beneath him, rushing toward Shen Qinghan hundreds of meters away.

Before he could make sense of it, he was already back at her side.

Almost at the same moment, the swell beneath him vanished.

The sea returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

“Xiao Chen!”

Shen Qinghan threw her arms around him, sobbing—her eyes were swollen from crying, tears rolling like beans down her cheeks.

Seeing how hard she cried, Lin Zichen wanted to comfort her.

But knowing this wasn’t the time, he simply let her cry while he swam them out of the area, senses spread wide to take stock of the situation.

That terrifying wave had come too suddenly—surging straight up from below, sweeping a Rare‑Tier masked man into the depths without a trace.

‘Was that Principal Yuan?’

As he moved quickly away, he scanned the surroundings, searching for Yuan Dongzhi.

In his mind, only she could raise such a terrifying wave.

But after sensing for a long while and looking all around, he still didn’t see her.

It seemed that wave wasn’t her doing.

Lin Zichen was puzzled.

Just then, he noticed that when Shen Qinghan’s tears fell to the sea, a pair of tiny hands—palms pressed together, as if reverently receiving a blessing—rose from the surface to catch them.

They were baby‑sized hands made of water—astonishing to behold.

Watching this and recalling how the wave had carried him straight back to Shen Qinghan,

Lin Zichen realized the wave might not have come from Yuan Dongzhi at all, but from his childhood sweetheart, Shen Qinghan.

Since childhood, she had been inseparable from water.

As she grew, she had more than once heard strange voices from the sea.

It seemed she had some connection with the ocean.

‘So… Was she a Water Deity? A Sea Deity? A Spirit of Water? Or something else?’

His thoughts whirled.

Boom—!

Suddenly, a roar of water.

Lin Zichen looked instinctively and saw the masked man erupt from the depths—bloodied, covered in wounds, in utter disarray.

“Yuan Dongzhi, you forced me!!!”

He shouted the moment he emerged, then without hesitation, sacrificed a great quantity of blood essence to feed the aberrant beast genes within, over‑activating them to increase his power.

He hadn’t seen Yuan Dongzhi nor sensed her.

But that didn’t stop him from deciding she had attacked him.

Of all present, only Yuan Dongzhi could command such a terrifying wave.

Now, like her, he would go all in.

Sacrifice blood essence, over‑activate, surge in strength—kill Yuan Dongzhi fast and take Lin Zichen before Military District aid arrives.

His body began to change.

Hair and skin turned dark green.

Limbs twisted into vines.

Four fleshy, vein‑lined wings sprouted from his back.

In a blink, he transformed from a man into a grotesque giant Wood Spirit.

Buzz… buzz… buzz!

With tearing air, his limbs stretched like rubber into countless eerie blood‑red vines that shot toward the sea below like lightning.

Thud… thud… thud!

Vines speared into the water, flinging spray.

Once submerged, they slithered like pythons, killing all life they touched on the seabed and drinking their vitality.

He didn’t know exactly where Yuan Dongzhi hid—but he was certain she lurked somewhere beneath.

He would attack everything indiscriminately in this sea to flush her out.

Today, he would not only take Lin Zichen—he would kill Yuan Dongzhi.

* * *

Seeing the Masked Man go mad as his humanity yielded to bestial rage, Lin Zichen dared not linger and moved to take Shen Qinghan away.

But the instant they moved—the entire sea heaved violently!

Then a giant arm of seawater surged skyward from the depths!

Its palm spread wide as the sky and came crashing down on the masked man like a mountain of five fingers.

BOOM—!

He had no time to react—smashed into the depths with an ear‑splitting thunder.

The blow’s power was monstrous.

Its shockwave, even from hundreds of meters away, blasted Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan up out of the sea, flinging them high into the air.

As they reached the apex and began to fall—another giant arm of water thrust up and flattened its palm, gently catching them.

Staring at the watery giant arm beneath him, Lin Zichen’s thoughts surged.

The same arm—merciless when striking the masked man, yet cradling him and Shen Qinghan like precious jewels.

‘Could this be her mysterious water‑type superpower?’

Shen Qinghan shrank closer, afraid.

“Xiao Chen, what is this?!”

Around her floated many oddly‑shaped droplets.

They seemed alive and as they drifted before her eyes, they shifted into symbols that looked like writing.

Seeing the droplets surrounding her, Lin Zichen was all the more awed. He soothed her quickly, “Don’t be scared—this should be your water‑type superpower manifesting.”

Then he asked, “Did you hear any strange voices just now?”

He meant the eerie whispers she had heard in the ocean before.

Her eyes were still red, tears bright at the corners.

She wiped them and said, a beat late, “Mm, I heard it—something about offending a god, divine punishment—then the sea suddenly raised a sky‑filling wave.”

‘Offending a god? Divine punishment?’

Lin Zichen studied the familiar face before him, “Are you actually some mythic existence—a Water Deity or Sea Deity?”

“I don’t know…” Shen Qinghan shook her head.

“Can you control this giant arm of water?” he asked.

Again she shook her head, “No…”

Lin Zichen fell silent, mind racing—he’d never encountered anything so mysterious.

Thoom—!

Hundreds of meters away, the sea exploded into spray.

He looked up.

The masked man burst out again—face twisted with terror, fleeing the waters beneath his feet like a madman.

But before a second had passed, another giant arm rose from the sea below him and seized him tight.

As the fingers clenched, pain twisted his face—blood gushed from his mouth—his life force pouring away.

“Principal Yuan, don’t kill me! I’m immensely valuable—keep me alive and I’ll be more useful! I know many secrets unknown to the world!”

Sensing death’s approach, he begged with all his might.

Hearing this, Lin Zichen realized the man mistook the attacker for Yuan Dongzhi.

“Principal Yuan! Do you know the truth of your son and daughter’s deaths in the Source?! Spare me and I’ll tell you!”

He coughed blood and shouted hoarsely—but no one answered.

Because Yuan Dongzhi wasn’t here.

At that moment, she still drifted half‑dead in another stretch of water, awaiting the living dead slug gene to repair her grievous wounds.

“...The truth?”

The words made Lin Zichen’s heart stir.

‘Was there more to it? Were Liu Chuanwu’s and Yuan Dongzhi’s children murdered?’

The giant hand clutching the masked man swept swiftly over and stopped before Lin Zichen—more precisely, before Shen Qinghan.

The masked man had meant to keep pleading to the unseen Yuan Dongzhi, but as he opened his mouth, he saw the droplets circling Shen Qinghan, shifting their shapes.

Recalling that Yuan Dongzhi had never appeared nor replied, he realized—too late—that the force assaulting him was not hers at all—it was this girl’s.

His eyes bulged, disbelief twisting his face, “Y‑you! It was you! What are—... Crunch!”

Before he could finish, the watery hand clenched—and before Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan’s eyes, crushed him into a mass of blood, dyeing the giant arm red.

‘Dead just like that?’

Staring at the blood‑stained arm, Lin Zichen froze.

He hadn’t expected a powerhouse of Rare‑Tier to fall so suddenly—without any forewarning.

Splash—after the kill, the blood‑stained arm dissolved into a myriad of droplets, pattering back into the sea.

It all felt unreal.

A Rare‑Tier lifeform slain—by Shen Qinghan—without a chance to resist.

It was like a dream.

Soon, the giant arm supporting them also dissolved into droplets and fell away.

In seconds, with the support gone, they dropped gently back into the sea, staring at the calm surface with dazed faces as if it had all been a dream.

Lin Zichen didn’t remain dazed for long.

Seeing the blood ahead thinning, Survival of the Fittest thrummed, urging him to devour the blood rich with life origin.

He swam quickly to it, touched the blood and willed: Devour!

Four prompts flickered in the air:

[You have devoured a large quantity of the Wood Spirit’s life origin.]

[Lord of the Forest strength +87%.]

[You have devoured a large quantity of the Nine‑Turn Soul Bug’s life origin.]

[Advanced Mind strength +99%.]

He glanced at the messages, a little disappointed.

‘A Rare‑Tier, fused with only two aberrant beast genes—wasn’t that a bit shabby?’

As he thought this, a high‑energy presence raced toward them from a kilometer away.

It was familiar, Yuan Dongzhi.

Seconds later, scaled from head to toe, she broke the surface before them—horribly wounded, criss‑crossed with ghastly gashes.

The living dead slug gene could heal anything—if given enough energy to work.

She clearly lacked the energy to restore her whole body.

“Is the Divine Plant Cult’s Ninth Elder not here?” she asked weakly, spirit spreading as she scanned the area.

“I don’t know,” Lin Zichen answered without hesitation, “I didn’t see him.”

Yuan Dongzhi was no outsider—but he still chose to keep Shen Qinghan’s secret.

He would tell no one the truth of the masked man’s death—and no one would believe it anyway.

Yuan Dongzhi asked nothing more.

Seeing them unharmed, she exhaled.

Where the masked man was didn’t matter.

What mattered was that these two peerless talents were safe.

Without further delay, she willed the sea to lift them both and sped away from the coastal forest.