Ye Xiu carefully navigated through the massive reefs, when suddenly a current formed a vortex directly in front of him, sucking him in with a single sweep. Only after managing to grab onto a protruding rock and regain his footing did he realize he had been swept over ten meters away. At that moment, a sound like the wind echoed in Ye Xiu’s ears. He turned to see something resembling a tattered curtain, moving in an in-and-out motion.

“Hey, are you alright…” Old Liu caught up, though his words were distracted; his focus had already shifted to the ragged curtain. He reached out to touch it. “This thing sucks in and expels water with every movement, and the surrounding bubbles must be its doing too.”

Hearing this, Ye Xiu’s heart chilled. “Sucking and expelling water—isn’t that a fish’s gills? Could these colossal reefs be the skeleton of a fish?”

“Nonsense, how could there be such a gigantic fish!” Old Liu tried to dismiss Ye Xiu’s idea, but a hesitation crept into his own voice. “How could a fish this large gestate inside a mountain? Besides, if it lived here, what would it eat?”

“People!” Ye Xiu nodded with absolute certainty, recalling the handless water ghosts they had encountered earlier. If they had died by this giant fish’s maw, their lingering resentment would naturally turn them into malevolent spirits to harm people—this inference held water.

Old Liu let out a long breath, expelling a powerful bubble of air. “If it really is a fish, what purpose does it serve dwelling in this confined space? Is Meishu keeping it as a pet? Moreover, even I don't know of a fish this massive existing in the world.”

Ye Xiu spoke with focus. “The Classic of Mountains and Seas records many strange fish. Anyone with even a little bit of learning knows: In the Northern Darkness, there is a fish named Kun. This fish called Kun should be the largest recorded in classical texts.”

Old Liu stared blankly at Ye Xiu, utterly bewildered. This fellow didn't strike him as someone who had read much. He scratched his head. “Is this Kun really that big?”

Ye Xiu’s knowledge of the Kun was limited to books. Who could truly know the actual size of the Kun? The Classic of Mountains and Seas was ancient; who had actually seen a Kun?

“Hey, stop talking, look over there…” At this crucial juncture, Old Liu suddenly raised his voice, grabbing Ye Xiu’s arm. “Something is flashing over there. If this is a fish bone, that spot must be the head.”

Ye Xiu also noticed the radiance ahead, which flickered on and off with remarkable regularity. He slowly drifted closer, and as he reached it, the object ceased its movement entirely.

Ye Xiu cautiously bent down to get a clearer look. The luminous object was a clump of flesh, shallow red in color. Under the pressure of the current, it seemed to writhe and contract. Setting aside its immense size, Ye Xiu could recognize what it was, having spent time in a hospital before.

“It’s the heart…” Old Liu had already placed his hand on the fleshy mass. His judgment matched Ye Xiu’s guess exactly, though the man seemed terrified, having clearly never encountered a heart this large before, and he hastily pulled his hand back.

“Hwa…” At that moment, the water surrounding the two began to squeeze their bodies, seemingly in rhythm with the giant heart’s contractions. The reefs scattered across the area began to sway and move as if energized.

Ye Xiu remained frozen, watching everything intently. As time passed, the heart’s contraction frequency accelerated, and the flow rate of the surrounding water increased with it. He saw the distant reefs beginning to gather and swing—it was unmistakably the tail of a fish. The constant twitching of that tail indicated that this fish was about to come alive.

“Get away, quick!” Old Liu suddenly lunged forward, pulling Ye Xiu several meters away. Only after they had distanced themselves from the heart did he stop, exclaiming, “Damn, something took the heart away.”

Ye Xiu looked back. Red, filamentous water weeds—the same ones from before—had inexplicably appeared on the surrounding bony reefs. Immediately, these weeds morphed into several long, slender arms. The arms sprouted from the bones, tightly gripping the heart from all directions and hoisting it into the air. When Ye Xiu finally lifted his head, shifting his attention from the heart to the overall scene, he realized that the reefs, propelled by the current, had rearranged themselves into the complete structure of a fish model. He and Old Liu were directly beneath where the heart of this skeletal fish lay.

“Rumble…” The world at the river bottom began to shake violently. Currents rushed against the giant fish’s body from all sides. Since the body was merely an empty frame, the only ones affected by this phenomenon were Ye Xiu and Old Liu; they were tossed back and forth by the surge, struggling to keep their footing.

“It hasn’t fully formed yet—I’ll cut it down.” Ye Xiu knew this giant fish had awakened specifically because of them. For safety, he drew the Death Scythe and swung it at the fish bone nearest to him.

With a “Clang…” Ye Xiu discovered that this calcified bone was incredibly hard. He then shifted his target to the heart being held by the arms suspended in mid-air. He swam upward, sickle in hand, directly striking at the heart.

Suddenly, endless spikes erupted from the surrounding skeleton. These spikes varied in length but perfectly blocked Ye Xiu’s path. Unable to proceed, Ye Xiu swung his scythe again, intending to clear the obstacles. Yet, he now understood how feeble his scythe was against bone spurs that had likely existed for tens of thousands of years. Strike after strike had absolutely no effect.

“Whoosh…” Old Liu’s Thin Blade sliced a crystalline track through the water. The blade’s small size allowed it to slip through the narrow gaps between the bone spikes. Old Liu aimed precisely; when the Thin Blade stopped, it pierced the heart exactly.

“Aow! Aow!” A terrible screech echoed from the riverbed. The skeletal giant fish thrashed its body in agony. Its massive head bone tilted sharply upward, and this movement generated a tremendous whirlpool in the water.

“Look where that vortex is forming,” Ye Xiu shouted, nearly striking Old Liu with his scythe by accident. There was clearly a massive cavern there, hidden from view by the fish’s enormous head-bone structure. Now that it was exposed, it threatened to throw the entire river bottom into chaos.