Chapter 280: Section 68: The Sea God Temple is right here
Cang Xu quietly dived into the sea.
This was a secret mission, and before setting off, Cang Xu ensured that nobody was watching him.
Nevertheless, he still put on a show by casting an Underwater Breathing Spell, despite not actually needing to breathe.
The sea water was cold, and the deeper he descended, the lower the visibility became.
The Fishman village that Cang Xu needed to scout was located deep on the ocean floor, a considerable distance away.
He dived deeper and deeper.
...
Once reaching a certain depth, Cang Xu shook his Magic Robe. The next moment, several ghosts emerged from the wide sleeves of his robe.
The ghosts disregarded the sea water and swiftly roamed, lowering the temperature of the water wherever they went.
The ghosts were positioned around Cang Xu forming a thin line of alert and defense.
The sea was not safe; nobody knew what kind of fierce sea beasts were lurking.
Actually, Cang Xu didn’t expect these ghosts to provide much protection, as they were just ordinary ghosts after all.
He truly relied on himself.
Of course, as a Black Iron Level Mage, even an Undead Mage, his cultivation was indeed low.
What really gave him confidence was his luxurious gear—Silver Level magic books, Magic Robes, Magic Wands, and an abundance of various kinds of Magic Scrolls.
Among these, many of the scrolls were Instant Scrolls.
After swimming a certain distance, Cang Xu would cast a Reconnaissance Magic to check his surroundings.
In such deep water where darkness prevailed, only by using magic could he navigate properly.
Normally, anyone in such dark and quiet surroundings would feel fear and tension, but not Cang Xu.
This was what he was most satisfied with in his cultivation of Undead Magic—he could always maintain his calm, or rather, his indifference.
After casting a spell to resist water pressure for the sixth time, a light quietly appeared in front of Cang Xu.
He continuously approached, and the brilliance gradually expanded in his view, stretching out continuously.
It was a coral bed, emitting a faint glow in the dark seabed.
Inside the coral, there was a village where the silhouettes of Fishmen, clearly active, could be seen.
Cang Xu, as a Scholar, also had certain knowledge of Fishmen; he knew that Fishmen were divided into several types depending on their habitat. The most common were the Shallow Fishmen. However, those living here were obviously Deep Sea Fishmen.
The old Scholar cautiously approached the Fishman village, this time no longer using his previous Reconnaissance Magic.
He had to conceal his magical fluctuations.
After approaching an ideal distance, Cang Xu directed the ghosts to sneak into the village.
He again cast a spell, linking his vision with the ghosts, what the ghosts saw was reflected in his mind.
Thus, five or six images were simultaneously “seen” by Cang Xu.
Such a field of vision was not user-friendly for novices, easily leading to mental exhaustion, light nausea, or even trauma.
Cang Xu had practiced it countless times.
Due to the limitations of his bloodline, his talent was insufficient, preventing him from using his energy and time to increase his Life Level; he could only practice spells.
Cang Xu began to “closely” observe these Fishmen.
The main body of the Fishmen was that of a fish, but with arms and legs. Fishmen generally had no necks, with their large fish heads directly connected to their bodies.
Compared to fish, their tails had degenerated, but their fins still existed, proudly standing upright on their backs, extending to the tail.
Their scales were multicolored, but mainly blue, green, and yellow.
The Fishmen were working in the village, while the young Fishmen were playing.
The village was not large. The houses were made from local materials, or more precisely, rooms were dug out of the glowing coral.
Clearly, the level of civilization among the Fishmen was quite low.
This was evident from the tools they used—stone hammers, fishbone-modified harpoons, seaweed wove fishing nets, and so forth.
Iron tools were rare to see.
Using five or six ghosts, Cang Xu scouted in front and behind the village before discovering three iron tools.
And these iron tools all had thick rust on their surface.
Apart from that, there was one Magic Device—a Fishman Totem Pillar.
The Totem Pillar was located in the center of the village, extremely dilapidated, nearly at the level of destruction.
Seeing this scene, Cang Xu instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
The dilapidated state of the Totem Pillar indicated that there were no Fishman Shamans living here.
Fishmen had no Mages; historically, there had been no records of Fishman Mages, but Fishmen did have Shamans.
One of the ghosts entered the village chief’s house and found the strongest Fishman in the village.
This was an old Fishman whose knife suggested he was a fighter.
The old Fishman was clearly very old and moved slowly, exuding a Black Iron Aura.
The ghost moved into the house, undetected by the old Fishman, who continued with his activities—he was drinking a potion.
Seeing him drink the potion made Cang Xu’s pupils constrict.
The old Fishman was consuming a Magic Potion.
Given the state of this village, it was impossible for such a high-quality product to be produced here.
“This is just the outer periphery of the Sea Eye.”
“Just around here, there’s more than one fishing village.”
“Inside the Sea Eye, there should be larger fishing villages, even towns. Most likely, there are Fishman Shamans present.”
“But to produce this kind of magic potion…”
Cang Xu sank into deep thought.
The potion the old fishman drank was not the barbarian herbal medicine Zi Di had formulated on Mysterious Monster Island. The potion contained magic power and was a qualified magic potion.
To manufacture this potion, a certain level of alchemy and corresponding pharmaceutical facilities such as crucibles were necessary.
“If the Fishmen can produce this potion themselves, it means there is a large city within the inner rim of the Sea Eye. It’s inhabited not just by Fishmen, but likely other intelligent races as well, such as mermaids and Nagas.”
The Fishmen had no mages, at most a shaman. But races like mermaids and Nagas, especially mermaids, produced many mages.
The Justice Pirate Group could handle a Fishman village, but if there was an undersea city, they would definitely not be a match.
In fact, handling a Fishman village was already difficult. After all, the Human Race could not breathe underwater, and the young crew was relatively lacking in underwater combat equipment.
Cang Xu’s speculation led him to abandon the idea of attacking the village forcefully.
Alone, he could annihilate the entire Fishman village. The old Fishman of the Black Iron Level could likely fall victim to his schemes and be the first to lose his life.
Cang Xu decided to secretly capture some Fishmen for interrogation, keeping it as discrete as possible.
He lay in ambush outside the village, using ghosts for reconnaissance.
After a while, his mana was running low.
Though he didn’t need the Underwater Breathing Spell, he needed a spell to resist the pressure of the sea.
Cang Xu calmly drank a light blue potion, quickly replenishing his mana.
He patiently waited and finally seized an opportunity.
A group of Fishmen swam out of the village.
This group was clearly hunters.
After the hunting Fishmen had left the village by some distance, Cang Xu immediately used ghosts to lure a nearby group of sharks.
The Fishmen and the sharks started fighting, soon scattering and desperately fleeing.
Cang Xu targeted the Hunting Captain, quickly striking as he saw him isolated and unaccompanied.
Undead Magic—Bone Spear.
A bone spear made of white bones suddenly coalesced and shot through the water.
The Fishman captain sensed the spell and dodged, but Cang Xu had fully anticipated his movements, so the bone spear hit the Fishman, piercing directly under his arm.
The entire bone spear impaled the Fishman.
With the Fishman Hunting Captain severely wounded, he screamed and threw the spear in his hand with all his might.
The spear accurately hit Cang Xu.
Cang Xu had no time to use defensive magic, he could only mentally manipulate his robe.
The silver robe immediately emitted a faint glow, forming an invisible barrier that deflected the spear.
Several ghosts swooped down on the Fishman captain.
The Fishman captain clenched his fists against the ghosts, but the damage was minimal.
He was only of the Bronze Level, his Fighting energy couldn’t extend outward, making it hard to harm the ghosts.
The ghosts disrupted the Fishman, allowing Cang Xu to successfully cast another spell.
Undead Magic—Bone Prison Technique!
The bone spear that had pierced the Fishman’s body sprouted like a seed, quickly growing many branches.
The branches bound the Fishman’s body and limbs, then clamped tightly together, forming a dense bone cage.
This scene, if seen by an expert, might have elicited a gasp.
Because Cang Xu used a skill combination with spells.
This was not something an ordinary mage could master.
This showed that Cang Xu’s combat cultivation was also exceptional. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have nearly handled the elementals on the Justice by himself during the Silver Brothers’ sea battle.
Cang Xu successfully captured the Fishman alive.
Trapped in the bone cage and unable to move, when the Fishman saw Cang Xu appear, he immediately opened his mouth wide and uttered an angry sound: “garll, walgaaaa, mwgama, aaaaa…”
Fishmen had their own language, and Cang Xu, not being a linguist, understood none of it.
But the Fishman captain’s subsequent aaaa… Cang Xu understood the meaning.
Those were all the Fishman’s screams.
As Cang Xu stepped onto the bone prison, several white bone spikes growing on the bone prison extended continuously, piercing through the Fishman’s scales and deeply into his flesh, causing intense agony.
The Fishman captain was tortured for a short time, showing no intention of surrendering.
Worried that other Fishmen might come looking, Cang Xu immediately employed a method to extract his spirit.
The old scholar was lucky; he successfully turned the Fishman’s spirit into a ghost.
He continued to question the ghost.
The Fishman ghost still spoke Fishman language, but this time, Cang Xu “understood” him.
Because they had a spirit link, he directly understood the ghost’s meaning, thus successfully obtaining intelligence.
This intelligence both shocked and delighted him.
He hurriedly sneaked back to the Justice to report to the Dragon-man youth.
“In the inner and outer perimeter of the Sea Eye, there are a large number of Fishman villages, towns, and even cities.”
“Every so often, the Sea Eye’s center spouts a fountain, the sea fountain shooting straight into the sky. During this time, Divine Envoys often descend from the sky to preach in the Fishman settlements.”
“And about a dozen days ago, a group of people from overseas entered the Fishman territory. These people wore hooded robes, their faces not visible, but were personally guided by the Fishman Shaman. Their initial arrival was at this village, and they even left some potions as a gesture of goodwill.”
“I believe the temple of the Mei Lan God must be hidden within this Sea Eye!”
Cang Xu disclosed his judgment to the Dragon-man youth.