The colossal form of the Jiao-Lao seemed imprisoned within the coral cavern, writhing in a futile attempt to swallow the moonlit clam pearls, yet falling short by several meters. It clung to the great stone tripod resembling a turntable, its head probing the murky current to draw water. The heavy stone plate spun slowly under its exertion; with every fraction of a turn, it dragged itself further from the coral hole, and the moon held by the bronze figure concurrently ascended the ironwood tree higher. Oily, black effluent streamed from the Jiao-Lao’s entire placental mass, making its forward progress increasingly arduous.

The mutilated, limb-less stillbirths had long been dissolved by the turbulent sea. Irley Yang, Fatty, and I were pulling at each other in the water, our bodies tossed unpredictably by the suction of the currents. Yet it was in this precarious state that I recognized the Zhen trigram mechanism of the bronze figure and jade disk was specifically designed to lure out the Jiao-Lao beneath the water. The Jiao-Lao’s monstrous strength spun the stone tripod, twisting the bronze chains wound around it. This action forced open a slight gap in several immense stone sluices hidden near the coral ironwood. A powerful undertow surged out, causing the water to spin clockwise, sucking in the myriad sea creatures within the coral cavern. Many funerary objects resting on the seabed also floated up as if weightless, drawn into the whirlpool behind the sluice gate.

The terrain of the Guixu resembled a whale, lying in the South Sea, head to the west and tail to the east, its blowhole being the Ghost Island situated above the undersea Divine Tree. Judging by the direction the sluice gate opened, it corresponded to the whale's mouth. The corpses of the South Sea Jiangren were placed inside stone sarcophagi, locked with tortoise shells or living giant turtles. The long-sealed sea air suddenly connected, generating a vortex akin to a sea eye. Once several sluice gates were opened, the stone coffins and sarcophagi would be sucked out of the whale's mouth by the sudden vortex, sinking forever into the seabed. To lure out the Jiao-Lao hidden in the coral tunnel, nothing less than the essence of a hundred luminous pearls would suffice. This bizarre "sea burial" could only be executed by assembling the Southern Pearls. These hundred-plus moonlit pearls were not easily gathered; perhaps years, even decades, must pass between collections. The ancients valued death far more than life, willing to pay any price for eternal life after death. However, this sluice gate mechanism for sending the corpse to the sea primarily utilized the wondrous ingenuity of natural creation, not relying too heavily on human effort. The strangeness and divinity of natural creation far surpass what human hands can achieve.

Previously, we thought that during the full moon, an upwelling current would carry the coffin to the surface, but now we see we were completely mistaken. Lord Hentian believed that after death, souls ascended to the moon, allowing life to continue in another form. The passage within the Jianmu was prepared for the departed spirits, but the body would still return to the vast ocean. The Zhen trigram was merely the mechanism for delivering the corpse to the sea; the method of soul transcendence was likely not applicable to the living. It was utterly impossible for us to borrow this mechanism to escape the Guixu.

These thoughts flashed through my mind when I suddenly felt my arms grow numb and swollen, gradually losing my grip on Fatty's arm. Seeing himself about to be sucked into the Jiao-Lao's maw, Fatty could no longer spare thought for the ancient sword. Taking advantage of the strong current, he suddenly let go, sending the bronze sword directly down the Jiao-Lao’s throat. The sharp short sword lodged in its tongue, and a streak of foul blood dispersed in the water, yet the Jiao-Lao seemed oblivious, straining ceaselessly to suck the moonlight.

Fatty released the water-dividing ancient sword, freeing one hand. This time, he gripped my arm with both hands, finally pulling us back toward the trunk of the coral tree. Irley Yang and I also managed to cling to the ironwood. We watched the turbulent flow whirl debris and relics from the seabed everywhere, like a raging tornado. The bronze statue holding the moon remained incredibly solid and unmoved. But clinging to the ironwood, we were trapped, unable to advance or retreat. We watched as the Jiao-Lao climbed the great tripod, the ghostly moon rising ever higher. With no way to halt the rapid deterioration, our only hope was that the sea monster would quickly swallow the clam pearl and retreat to its lair, allowing the water passage to close. Otherwise, we were doomed to be swept away by the strengthening currents and perish.

I refused to wait for death and resolved to risk everything to climb to the base of the tree and destroy the jade disk. In truth, Uncle Ming was closest to the bronze figure, but he was already shaking violently from shock, making him utterly useless. Hardening my resolve, I began climbing down the ironwood into the surging water. Suddenly, the underwater vortex shifted, and through the fossilized ironwood, I felt an intense tremor rising from the seabed.

I looked down by the aid of the underwater moonlight. The vortex behind the stone gate had abruptly vanished. It turned out that with the death of the mother-of-pearl, the geomancy of the Guixu was broken. The residual sea air in the sucking sea eye was gradually dissipating. The labyrinthine coral caves and the whale-belly caverns were originally shrouded in chaotic sea air, causing the water level to fluctuate unpredictably. Once this sea air disappeared, some fragile coral caves began to collapse, resulting in a catastrophe like the heavens falling and the sea breaking.

At this moment, the swarms of vicious Jiao were either sucked away by the water passage or fleeing desperately. The fossils in the coral caves indeed began to crumble, and fallen rocks blocked the sea eye within the stone gate. I hastily abandoned the thought of climbing to the base of the tree to smash the jade disk, instead pushing Dolly and Uncle Ming, who were panicking, urging everyone not to leave this largest ironwood fossil in the seabed. In the astonishing upheaval of earth and sea, even managing self-preservation was taxing; though we wished to assist each other, we were powerless.

The coral cavern seemed to crack open as if heaven and earth were splitting. Several fissures ripped open the cave where the Jiao-Lao was hidden, and the coral reefs pressing down on it loosened. Seizing the opportunity, it slithered out and crawled onto the stone tripod amidst a cloud of murky vapor. However, applying too much force, it snapped several bronze chains. The bronze figure in the tripod, its pearl light swaying, teetered precariously in the surge.

I tried to get a clearer look, but suddenly a massive gash split open beneath the tripod, and seawater was sucked down in a swirl. I quickly ducked to take cover, only for a fierce upward rush of current to follow, as the underground river buried beneath the seabed reversed its flow, surging upward. No matter how sturdy the bronze trigram disk was, it could not withstand this pressure. The hundred or so dragon's-eye-sized moonlit pearls were scattered like celestial blossoms by the undercurrent.

I could no longer hold onto the ironwood fossil and was involuntarily swept upward by the erupting underground river. The massive pressure change made me feel as if my body and spirit were separating, my soul detaching from its shell. Amidst the dizzying rotation, my head broke the surface. I nearly drowned, ripping off my breathing apparatus and mask, and quickly searching for the others. Fortunately, everyone was proficient in water, having surfaced via the surging backflow without any serious injury, though they were clearly terrified, mouths agape, unable to utter a sound.

In the land of Guixu, there was a skylight above and an underground river below. The backflow in the coral cavern surged upward, and before we could catch our breath on the surface, the water level was already steadily rising, rolling over the whale-bone reef where the corpses were stored. In an instant, the water surface rose above the bronze gate beneath the Tongyue Divine Tree and was rapidly approaching the rock ceiling overhead.

At this point, the coral cavern was pitch black. The luminous pearls scattered on the seabed had long been dispersed by the turbulence. I grabbed the bark of the Jianmu, dense with old scales, and shouted to the others: "The scuba tanks are out of oxygen; we can't stay in the coral cavern. Hurry into the bronze gate..."

The others immediately understood. The rising backflow would soon flood the cavern. If they didn't quickly leave the ancient coral cavern tomb, they would either be swept to the depths by the current or drown outright. Only by climbing back the way they came through the Jianmu passage to the ancient city of Guixu could they possibly survive this ordeal. Everyone struggled to swim over. The longer they delayed, the higher the water rose, and the slimmer the chance of swimming through the bronze gate became. Thus, nobody dared to hesitate further, pouring all their strength into swimming toward the Jianmu.

Uncle Ming, desperate to escape, plunged in first. I took a deep breath, preparing to dive underwater, but before I could finish inhaling, continuous, deafening roars echoed from the coral cavern. The sea air was an inextinguishable life force from the Southern Dragon; once it weakened and disappeared, some coral reefs and rocks instantly became brittle and decayed. Above us, like dragons streaking across the sky, the rock strata penetrated by the Jianmu rapidly collapsed and split apart to both sides, tearing a chasm in the bottom of the Guixu. At this moment, the water level above the ancient city was low, so there was no massive influx of chaotic water; instead, the coral cavern and the whale-belly cavern became connected.

We were struck pale by the earth-shattering spectacle, momentarily stunned in the water, clutching the massive, fallen divine tree, forgetting our plan to dive through the bronze gate. Looking up, we could faintly see the ghostly fires on the Guixu dome, resembling streams of inverted lava dragons, churning and flowing through the rock strata.

At this moment, Uncle Ming suddenly surfaced, shouting: "Bad news! The Jiao-Lao from the bottom has been washed up by the backflow too! It's clinging to the divine tree, blocking the entrance to the passage." He was beside himself with panic and seemed ready to dive back into the water to escape, though he truly had nowhere left to go.

I grabbed Uncle Ming’s arm, not bothering to speak further, and shoved him onto the leaning trunk of the divine tree. At this point, we could only improvise: cross through the ruptured ruins of Guixu and climb directly to the top of the tree, laden with arrows and stones, to evade the encroaching backflow and the sea monster.

Afterward, I lifted Dolly and Gu Cai out of the water. Uncle Ming took the lead, agile as an old ape, guiding the two siblings up the wood quickly. Then I helped Irley Yang follow. By then, the backflow had risen to its maximum height. I grabbed Fatty and yelled: "Commander Wang, can you make it?"

Fatty wiped the water from his face and replied: "For the free beer and Vietnamese whores on Coral Temple Island... to hell with it, I’m going all in this time!" With that, he puffed out his paunch and scrambled up the divine tree using all fours, slipping with every step. Having gathered many 'green heads' in the Coral Spiral, even at this moment of desperate peril, he seemed full of energy and eager—in short, spurred by money. Even his long-standing acrophobia was forgotten.

I followed close behind, climbing onto the divine tree. Fragments of collapsed rock constantly fell past me. At this moment, we had to watch out not only for the slippery wood scales but also constantly dodge falling stones. Yet, fear was the least of our concerns; reaching the top meant regaining our lives. If we slipped and fell, or were crushed by rocks, we could only accept fate.

After arduously passing through the fractured rock strata, we were surrounded by leaning bronze slaves. The echoing sound of huge bells and great gongs still resounded everywhere. I took the chance to look down at the water level in the coral cavern. The turbid backflow churned incessantly, and dark scales flickered in the water. Two Jiao eyes, glowing with a sinister grey light, stared upward at the sky.

A wave of shock and doubt washed over me. The underwater moon was gone; why would the Jiao-Lao refuse to return to its lair? Was it intentionally trying to eat us? But then I looked up at the sky and understood the reason, inwardly groaning. The Tongyue Divine Tree pointed directly at the gap on Ghost Island. Now that the sea air was dissipating, the clouds that perpetually covered the sea surface were gone too. It was night; stars and the moon illuminated the sea, and clear moonlight streamed into the Guixu. The Jiao-Lao, gazing up from the seabed at the bright moon, could hardly bear to return to its underwater cave.

With a ripple in the water, the fully black-scaled Jiao-Lao burst through the surface, ascending the Jianmu. Its body, covered in egg sacs and placental tissue, was slick with mucus, which it used like suction cups to cling to the trunk, actually wriggling its way up out of the water. I cursed inwardly and used my diving knife to cut off the oxygen tank of my empty scuba gear, tossing it down to smash against the Jiao-Lao. But this hardly deterred it in the slightest.

I urgently urged Fatty and the others above to climb higher quickly, forbidding them to look down. Everyone had discarded their oxygen tanks, using their short diving knives to secure themselves to the trunk, climbing with all their might toward the summit of the divine tree—reaching this point meant we were cornered at the edge of oblivion. Fatty’s legs grew weaker the higher he climbed. He glanced down, instantly feeling dizzy and slipping off the wet, arrow-strewn wood. This was different from being in the water; he plummeted suddenly. I instinctively reached out to grab him, but his downward momentum yanked me along. We tumbled together, falling dozens of meters down the towering divine tree.