novelHire Chapter 951: An Unexpected Situation
Chapter 951: An Unexpected Situation
…Amphitrite's figure vanished into the darkness.
The colossal bronze door slammed shut with a thunderous boom.
All around them, they were plunged into a deathly silent darkness.
There was no wind, no sound, not even the sound of their own breathing could be heard.
This darkness wasn't merely the absence of light; it was a kind of all-devouring nothingness, a heavy weight pressing down on everyone.
Even the sense of time became somewhat blurred.
Li Qingran timidly hid behind Chen Huaian, clutching his arm.
Naturally, Chen Huaian remained completely unaffected. With his Golden Immortal soul, these types of illusions and mental attacks were utterly useless against him.
Eve also appeared perfectly calm.
An unknown amount of time passed—
Light abruptly flared.
Chen Huaian narrowed his eyes slightly, surveying their surroundings.
The three of them were standing on a massive, arena-like platform.
The platform was constructed from pitch-black reef stones, circular in shape, with a diameter of roughly a hundred zhang.
Beneath their feet was slippery rock, with glowing corals and seaweed growing in the crevices, emitting an eerie blue-green luminescence.
Beyond the platform—
was an endless expanse of seawater.
Deep-blue seawater surrounded this platform from all directions, like a gigantic eye, imprisoning them in the very center of its pupil.
Countless shadows swam within the water.
Those shadows were densely packed, layer upon layer, extending from the edges of the platform all the way into the unfathomable depths beyond sight.
Some were massive as mountains, some slender as needles, some swam with incredible speed, vanishing in an instant, while others moved sluggishly, dragging long tentacles behind them.
Each and every shadow was illuminated by the glow of a World Ring.
A hundred years.
A thousand years.
Ten thousand years.
There were even a few that shimmered with the light of tens of thousands of years.
Those glows flickered erratically within the deep-blue seawater, like countless eyes, fixedly staring at the three people on the platform.
And the moment the light flared, all those shadows simultaneously ceased their movements.
Then—
They began to converge.
From all directions.
From above.
From below.
Countless Sea World Beasts, densely packed, closed in from all sides.
—Unbeknownst to them, they had already descended from the Divine Temple to the depths of the Endless Sea.
"Hiss—"
Li Qingran drew in a sharp breath of cold air, instinctively snuggling closer into Chen Huaian's embrace, pretending to be scared while her hand already found its way to his abdominal muscles.
The number of those Sea World Beasts was simply too great.
So great it made one's scalp go numb.
Eve, however, merely curled her lip and said coldly, "This old fellow, still fond of playing this trick."
Her tone carried a hint of disdain, a touch of helplessness, and a bit of... familiarity.
Li Qingran blinked her large eyes, asking curiously, "Sister Eve, what's going to happen next?"
"Nothing more than summoning some Sea World Beasts to fight," Eve said flatly. "It won't be particularly difficult at first. Probably just some tens-of-thousands-year-old World Beasts. A warm-up, to test your level, before the real trial begins."
"Tens-of-thousands-year-old World Beasts…" Li Qingran breathed a sigh of relief. "That's not too bad then, not too difficult."
Chen Huaian didn't speak.
He simply watched the converging Sea World Beasts quietly, his gaze settling somewhere behind them.
There, the seawater was churning.
The converging Sea World Beasts suddenly halted.
Then—
They slowly parted.
Like subjects making way for their monarch.
From that opened passage, an enormous shadow slowly swam forward.
That shadow grew larger and larger.
Closer and closer.
Until it passed through the final group of Sea World Beasts and appeared at the edge of the platform—
It was a shark.
A shark as massive as a mountain range.
Its body length exceeded a hundred zhang; its exposed head alone was larger than the entire platform.
Its pitch-black skin was covered in bizarre patterns that glowed with a dark red light, resembling flowing magma.
Its eyes were a deathly gray, lacking pupils, yet they gave the feeling of being fixedly stared at, with no escape.
On its back stood a massive dorsal fin, sharp as a blade, slicing through the seawater and stirring up powerful undercurrents.
And the most terrifying thing—
was the World Ring upon it.
That World Ring encircled its colossal body, shining with a piercingly bright light.
But it wasn't the ordinary ten-thousand-year World Ring Eve had mentioned.
It was a hundred-thousand-year World Ring.
Judging by the aura emanating from this shark-type Sea World Beast, it was a powerful existence of one hundred and twenty thousand years.
Eve's expression changed.
She stared fixedly at that shark, her eyes filled with disbelief, muttering:
"Juntian… Demon Shark…"
"A one-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-year… Juntian Demon Shark…"
Her voice carried a slight tremor.
This was an opponent that should not appear in the first trial.
This was absolutely not a "warm-up."
This was meant to kill Chen Huaian and Li Qingran right from the start.
No wonder that mermaid said, upon leaving, that she hoped to see them still alive later…
But why?
Shouldn't the Divine Trial be fair to everyone?
Right at that moment, a small hand gently poked her shoulder.
Eve turned her head, meeting a pair of large, sparkling eyes.
Li Qingran tilted her head, blinking innocently, and asked, "Sister Eve, is this what you meant by… ordinary sea beasts?"
Eve's mouth twitched, feeling awkward.
"This… uh, this is an unexpected situation…"
"But don't worry, even a 120,000-year Sea World Beast is nothing to me."
She raised her hand, a verdant green vine swirling in her palm, and turned to Li Qingran and Chen Huaian, saying:
"When this World Beast enters later, you two hide behind me. I'll help you pass the trial!"
After all, they had already agreed on the division of labor earlier.
She would help Chen Huaian restore his strength by breaking the seal.
And Chen Huaian would use the methods of the Cangyun Realm to rescue her daughter.
As for whether they could kill the Golden Dragon King…
That was too far off.
Eve's immediate wish was only for her daughter to escape her suffering.
As soon as the words left her mouth—
BOOM!
The enormous Juntian Demon Shark moved.
Its massive body slammed violently against the invisible barrier at the platform's edge.
BOOM—!
The entire undersea cage shook violently.
Cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the barrier, like a shattered glass dome, exploding into pieces the next moment.
Yet, the seawater did not rush in.
It was as if an invisible wall held back the surging ocean outside.
But the Demon Shark entered.
Its hundred-zhang-long body crashed down onto the platform, making the entire arena tremble.
Pitch-black scales, dark red patterns, deathly gray eyes—
It threw its head back and roared!
"ROAR—!"
An invisible sound wave, carrying a terrifying pressure, swept out in all directions like a tidal wave.
The Sea World Beasts gathered in the distance trembled and retreated frantically; some of the weaker ones even flipped belly-up, stunned unconscious by the sheer force.
The pressure was overwhelming.
Eve's expression changed, and she instinctively took a step forward, intending to shield Chen Huaian and Li Qingran.
But the next second—
A figure brushed past her.
Fast as a beam of light.
Li Qingran.
In a flash, she had already appeared directly above the Juntian Demon Shark's head.
"Danger—!"
Eve's eyes widened in shock, her voice a strangled shout.
That was a one-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-year Juntian Demon Shark!
A terrifying existence capable of easily crushing ordinary Legendary Battle Masters!
How dare this girl—
But before her words could fully escape her throat,
they got stuck there.
Because—
BOOM!!!
Dark golden flames erupted from behind Li Qingran!
The flames shot skyward, instantly illuminating the entire undersea cage.
The deep-blue seawater was dyed a fiery gold; countless Sea World Beasts retreated in terror, avoiding the scorching light.
Within the flames, a colossal divine bird slowly spread its wings.
…