Chapter 28: [Side Quest: Run!]

The banquet went on for a long time, eventually ending only when the guests were thoroughly inebriated and slurring their words.

As he was about to leave, Ji Huo cast a glance at the drunken oyster spirit lying on the floor, a faint greenish light flickering in his eyes.

The Dragon God, by this time thoroughly drunk and hazy-headed, asked directly, "Brother Ji, this deity noticed you glancing at that oyster spirit from time to time. Do you two happen to have some past grievance?"

Ji Huo laughed heartily and said, "Not at all, not at all!"

As a future business partner, the Dragon God accorded Ji Huo the utmost courtesy, personally escorting him to the gates of the Dragon Palace.

The Dragon God originally intended to use his magic to send Ji Huo straight back to the mainland, but Ji Huo waved his hand with a smile and said,

"It is rare for me to visit the ocean, so I thought I would wander around a bit more and properly take in the marvels of the deep sea. I shall just stroll back on my own."

Hearing this, the Dragon God laughed. "Very well! Since that is the case, this deity will not press you further. There are indeed many fine sights to be seen in the ocean. However, once you have seen enough, it is much of the same; many years ago, I also enjoyed traveling to the mainland to see the great mountains, famous rivers, and precipitous peaks."

Ji Huo smiled, cupped his fists, and said with a wink, "Ji takes his leave now. When we meet next, it should be quite thrilling."

The Dragon God returned the gesture. "Since that is so, I shall see you off no further! I wish Brother Ji a smooth journey!"

Ji Huo smiled, turned around, and headed south.

The Dragon God stood there quietly, gazing silently at Ji Huo's receding back.

Several great monsters nearby, who had long since become dead drunk and collapsed to the ground, approached the Dragon God one after another, likewise staring fixedly at the retreating figure.

Silence reigned.

"Great King, do you think he figured it out?" asked a shrimp-headed man.

The Dragon God twirled a whisker on his lips, smoothing it down just like stroking fur with a supremely practiced and utterly confident movement. "Of course he didn't figure it out! This king's disguise is an absolute masterpiece!"

The other great demons nearby nodded in agreement. "Indeed, indeed! Keep in mind that we modeled this Dragon Palace after the imperial palaces of their human race; no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look fake."

"Just now, when he wanted to visit the tomb of the so-called Dragon Princess, I panicked and was ready to go build one for him on the spot. Fortunately, the Great King is brilliantly wise and brushed it off smoothly." The great demon who had been sitting further back gave a thumbs-up with a smile. "I am impressed! Truly impressed!"

"All the other clansmen say the human race is cunning and fond of making trouble, but from what we can see, they are nothing much after all!"

"Precisely, precisely!"

The other great demons were in high spirits, chattering away one after another about the tense and thrilling scam they had just pulled off, each of them immensely excited.

"However... I don't know why, but I always felt that the King of Qi's expression when looking at the oyster spirit was a bit off," one great demon suddenly remarked.

"Yes! I noticed it too!"

"That look in his eyes practically had strings attached to it!"

"Earlier, I even suspected that he and the oyster spirit knew each other, and that there was a traitor among us!"

"Where is the oyster spirit? Drag it out and interrogate it about what's going on!"

"It drank too much and hasn't sobered up yet."

...

Meanwhile, Ji Huo picked a random direction and strolled along. Once he made sure no one was tailing him, he pulled a compass from his bosom and checked it.

The needle was still pointing straight east. He had secretly checked the compass while drinking in the Dragon Palace earlier, and it had pointed east even then.

A place even further east than the Dragon Palace.

"Those monsters probably couldn't find a way to enter the second stage, so they thought of taking a desperate gamble to gather the power of faith," Ji Huo muttered inwardly.

"All the sea race people are gathered here now. I have no idea what the background of that fake Dragon God is, but to be able to impersonate the Dragon God, he must have some connection. Moreover, the other sea race monsters are so respectful to him—he must be the leader, or rather, the lead fish... no, wait... the lead cause of it all."

"Aside from tricking me into believing he was the Dragon God and forging a Dragon Palace to win my trust, he probably didn't lie about the Heavenly Lock."

"Right now, the monsters of the entire sea race are probably worried about the variables after entering the second stage. After all, nobody knows what kind of monsters might burst out once the second stage is unlocked. It might just annihilate everyone in an instant."

"Still, why did they bother impersonating the Dragon God? What is the truth behind the Dragon God?"

Ji Huo had a premonition that if he continued further east, he would see the truth. Without any further delay, he used earth-escape arts and dashed eastward.

Fearing he might be discovered by the sea race, he even dove down many meters, enduring immense pressure as he tunneled straight ahead.

After tunneling for a long time with no idea what conditions were like above him, he suddenly noticed the needle of the compass flick upward.

After tunneling a bit further, the needle flipped around completely.

Ji Huo understood immediately that right above him was the place he was looking for.

Before he could even ascend, a system prompt chimed.

[Ding!]

[Triggered Side Quest: Run!]

[Content: Grab it and run!]

[Reward: 100,000 points]

Ji Huo's pupils constricted, and a jolt ran through his entire body.

Good grief, what kind of demons and monsters were up there? Earlier, when he was right in the monster den of the sea race's Dragon Palace, the system hadn't made a single peep unless he actively called upon it.

Now, before he had even surfaced, the prompt had already arrived.

Furthermore, it directly awarded 100,000 points. Usually, such prompt-based quests would only symbolically give 1 point, yet this time it gave a hundred thousand.

This meant that the mere act of surfacing, grabbing the item, and leaving would provide positive feedback to the system and to this world, which was why he had received such a system reward.

"What on earth is that ghost up there!"

Ji Huo took a deep breath, circulating his profound arts to wrap his entire body in the power of the earth.

This was his first time operating the power of the second layer of the *Elemental Atlas* at full capacity. For a moment, he felt completely confident that as long as he was in contact with the ground, he would survive even if someone blew his head off the moment he surfaced.

Moving with extreme caution, Ji Huo slowly drifted toward the surface. As he ascended, he noticed that the seabed in this area seemed to be a raised ridge, likely not too far from the sea level.

First, he sneaked a peek to the left and right, finding a faint glow in the area, but no traces of any living creatures. His martial artist's intuition sensed no danger either.

Thus, Ji Huo fully emerged from the ground, stepping onto the seabed. He looked around to find nothing but scattered stones, pretty little flowers glowing with a faint blue light on the ground, and absolutely nothing else.

"?"

The anticipated danger did not materialize. Ji Huo frowned and checked the compass again, only to find that the needle was still pointing upwards.

Ji Huo instinctively looked up, and his pupils instantly constricted. His whole body trembled uncontrollably, as if he had plunged into an ice cellar.

High above him, sunlight refracted down into the ocean, the blue rays flickering dim and bright through the undulating seawater in absolute silence.

A form at least ten thousand feet long floated quietly in the sea.

Its pale body, so massive it was suffocating, coiled, writhed, and hovered, blocking out the vast majority of the light.

As if it were eclipsing the entire sky.