The roller-coaster-like water channel left everyone exhausted, although Фэн Юань could identify issues ahead of time, adjusting the boat’s speed remained troublesome for him. If it was simply a matter of speeding up infinitely, that would be simple enough, but alas, there were peculiar bends along the way.
If the speed was insufficient at such bends, one would plummet like a waterfall into endless darkness. However, if the speed was too high, the boat might be thrown off the path. Fortunately, after passing those bends, the boat would fall into a normal waterway, sparing Фэн Юань the trouble of ensuring the boat had sufficient water flow to keep moving.
Finally, with the efforts of Фэн Юань and Veronia, the boat successfully reached the end of this unique roller-coaster journey. Seeing the calm waterway ahead, Фэн Юань sighed in relief and sat back in his seat, saying,
"At last, time to rest."
"You think there won’t be any danger ahead?"
Veronia looked at Фэн Юань playfully and remarked. Turning to glance at Veronia, Фэн Юань replied in a grumbling tone,
"I’m exhausted, and with torches lit all around, what could possibly happen next? It’s not like there’s going to be a boss battle."
"You have a point."
Glancing around, the waterway had once again returned to a cavern, but unlike before, the cavern’s sides were now wider, and torches hung from the walls, casting their glow. The boat, moving gently in the center, made it appear as if it was drifting through a starry sky reflected in the water.
Above, a swarm of fireflies flew from behind. Noticing the fireflies and feeling the vibrations from the cave walls, Фэн Юань was just about to rest when he suddenly snapped his head around and found changes occurring behind them.
Giant tentacles and a smooth, intelligent-looking head appeared abruptly behind them — a giant octopus, its robust tentacles reaching towards the boat carrying everyone.
"Can’t even catch a break, can we?"
Veronia hummed lightly, waving her hand. With a commanding motion, the boat surged forward as Фэн Юань glanced back and said,
"Could you handle this next part?"
"Quite good at ordering people around, aren’t you? Alright then, since you were doing the work earlier, I can’t very well pretend it’s none of my business now~"
Sneaking a look at Фэн Юань, Veronia gently waved her right hand. Behind them, the big octopus’s tentacles clapped together, and suddenly, thick columns of lightning surged toward the boat’s position. At that moment, the barrier restricting the direction of the boat’s movement had vanished. Veronia used her force to pull the boat to the right as the electric columns, crackling with energy, cut through the center of the waterway.
Trailing behind, the big octopus ceased speeding its pursuit and instead periodically released electric nets. Although those nets had large gaps, the gaps shifted left and right unpredictably, sometimes even spreading across the lower regions entirely.
"Here we go again."
With a tap from the parasol, a crystalline water path quickly formed beneath the rapidly advancing boat, lifting it into the air. Below, the crystalline path was destroyed by the electric net that swiftly followed.
Taking advantage of the gap above the net to dodge the attack, the crystalline path dissolved in midair, and the boat plunged back into the water.
Xiao Hei and Xiao Ji occasionally launched attacks at the big octopus from behind, but those attacks seemed to strike an invisible barrier, never reaching the octopus.
Softly humming, Najia didn’t need to maneuver the boat to progress or evade attacks — only one person could control the vessel at a time, or else conflict over control could lead to disaster.
However, Najia wasn’t entirely unable to contribute. With the power of her song spreading over Xiao Ji and Xiao Hei, their attacks began to show subtle changes. The invisible barrier started to show cracks like glass, yet even so, the big octopus didn’t cease its pursuit of them.
As the glassy cracks shattered and the invisible barrier broke, Xiao Ji and Xiao Hei’s attacks finally impacted the big octopus, causing a change. In a rage, the big octopus unleashed even wilder attacks on everyone as Фэн Юань spoke, looking speechlessly at Xiao Ji and the others,
"Couldn’t you prepare your ultimate move and wait until it went berserk to take it down in one strike?"
"No need."
With her form transformed, Najia pointed a finger, and a dark star formed out of nowhere, accelerating from standstill to its peak speed instantly. The enormous dark star collided with the giant octopus, shrouded in deathly aura, shattering it completely with just one hit.
With the big octopus vanished, the path ahead changed once more. Metal rails began contracting from both sides, guiding the boat back to its directed route within the metal frame.
Though no roaring waters lay ahead, the light utterly vanished after a certain distance. A chilling, ghostly breeze wafted through as Фэн Юань furrowed his brow and said,
"What strange place lies ahead? Given our descent so far, might we drop right off the map?"
Though the Аномальный Пространство was disorderly internally, it was still a spatial area; thus, Фэн Юань doubted their continued fall would keep them within the Аномальный Пространство.
"Perhaps it’s not so. Didn’t you notice the issue with the waterway just now?"
Veronia smiled mysteriously at Фэн Юань, who gazed into the endless darkness ahead, saying,
"Are you talking about the infinite looping space just now?"
Though Фэн Юань hadn’t mentioned it earlier, in truth, the space had been infinitely looping since the big octopus appeared. The entire waterway interconnected from end to end, and had it not been long enough, they might have spotted the octopus’s back from the bow. As the big octopus shattered, the spatial loop collapsed as well, meaning their progression distance wasn’t very significant.
Except for this section, no trace of a spatial loop was found in the areas they traversed earlier. Lost in thought, Фэн Юань still couldn’t figure out what tricks were at play.
The dark zone finally arrived, and only then did they realize it wasn’t empty space causing the darkness — rather, the rock walls in this area absorbed all light, rendering it pitch black to the eye.
The waterway took a sharp dive at this point. Reaching out, Фэн Юань grabbed Xiao Ji and cradled it in his arms, opening his black-feathered wings. He had a gut feeling telling him that this place would be quite thrilling.
Under gravity’s influence, the boat plummeted rapidly, soon reaching a speed Фэн Юань had forced the boat to achieve during the large-loop maneuver earlier. The boat still hadn’t reached the bottom as the speed continued, now slowing slightly, with Xiao Ji trembling in Фэн Юань’s embrace.
With the current velocity, whether the boat survived wasn’t the issue — whether they would remain unscathed was uncertain.
"Xiao Hei!"
Yang Hongzhi shouted loudly to Xiao Hei sitting behind him amidst the gale force winds. Xiao Hei, curled up in his seat with paws clasped over his head, shivered incessantly. Najia watched the endless darkness ahead with grave seriousness.
Clasping her hands together, Najia began to pray. At this speed, even if the boat didn’t break, Yang Hongzhi could get injured from the sudden velocity change. To prevent this outcome, Najia acted decisively.
Najia’s blessing drastically reduced the wind pressure on Yang Hongzhi. Though he had borrowed Xiao Hei’s power to protect himself, he couldn’t estimate the impact’s force this time around.
The high-speed descent seemed never-ending, with the boat’s speed at its limit. The resistance from air and water prevented any further acceleration. Suddenly, Фэн Юань sensed ahead that the waterway might be ending.
A fiery red glow dispelled the dark, rapidly growing larger. The boat, like a cannonball, shot into the glowing red lake. Water erupted, sending massive waves crashing outward. The force jolted even Фэн Юань, prompting him to shield them with his wings and create a barrier against the downpouring droplets. Xiao Ji timidly popped its head out to glance around.
Once again, the surrounding scenery transformed. On a barren land, meteors rained down, each tail of flames causing tremendous destruction upon impact.
Fortunately, apart from the Heaven Falling Meteorites, Xiao Ji saw no other peculiar creatures about.
Spreading his wings slowly, Фэн Юань surveyed the surroundings and remarked,
"This won’t be another chase scene, will it?"

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