Detonation

The azure heavens and sapphire seas mirrored each other, while a gentle sea breeze coaxed wandering clouds into a slow, stately march. Seabirds cried, and a faint, ethereal mist rose from the cerulean expanse, its hues shifting between celestial blue and aquatic emerald, lending an air of profound mystery to the already mesmerizing panorama.

This region was known as the Thin Mist Sea, situated two hundred and fifty nautical miles north of Newin Port. Two decades prior, it had been universally acclaimed by all major races as the prime scenic marvel of the East Sea. Alas, in the present day, twenty years hence, the insidious sight of Merfolk heads and claws subtly emerging from the churning waves had utterly despoiled the pristine beauty of this 'East Sea's First'.

Concealed within the miniaturized Precious Lotus Scripture alongside Deboning, Du Chen hovered upon the sea's surface. His gaze was fixed on the ceaseless emergence of Merfolk from the roiling waves, each swiftly darting northward. Since his parting with Porter, Du Chen's previously grim countenance had steadily darkened; more precisely, it was increasingly shadowed by a profound bewilderment.

In the distance, the faint outline of Newin Port had long vanished from view; only a hazy sliver of land, bridging the distant horizon where sky met sea, remained discernible. He remained like that, silently gazing at the ocean for a considerable time. Du Chen's expression fluctuated wildly, his fists clenching and unclenching with white-knuckled intensity. Then, his voice abrupt and strained, he finally spoke, 'Deboning, what is the greatest number of lives you have ever eradicated in a single instance?'

Deboning stood impassively behind Du Chen and replied with chilling composure, 'During the schism of the Four Saints, Philip once dispatched three hundred cultivators to besiege and eliminate me. In that battle, though I fought with every fiber of my being and sustained grievous injuries, not a single one of those three hundred returned alive! Furthermore, the residual shockwaves of that conflict annihilated several nearby hamlets. All told... it likely accounted for well over a thousand lives.'

'More than a thousand lives, you say? Haha!' Du Chen erupted into a fit of wild, derisive laughter, doubling over with the sheer force of it. He pointed a trembling finger at the turbulent sea. 'Then do you know how many lives are about to be extinguished in mere moments? One hundred thousand. At least one hundred thousand! Perhaps even every last one of those accursed Merfolk!' As the words escaped him, Du Chen slowly crouched, burying his hands in his golden hair, sinking into a profound silence.

Indeed, he intended to unleash the ultimate destructive force contained within the Precious Lotus Scripture – a veritable super-weapon comparable to the Raging Fire Scorcher Cannon – to utterly annihilate every Merfolk.

Though they were beasts, though they deserved death, if they remained, Newin Port and indeed all of Southern Lanning would know no lasting peace. Yet, they were also living beings, some even capable of human speech, possessing a rudimentary, albeit unsettling, intelligence. And from what Du Chen had observed and estimated along their journey, their numbers swelled to at least... one hundred thousand!

To extinguish over a hundred thousand lives in a single stroke... Du Chen's mind screamed that any being capable of eradicating a hundred thousand lives, or more, in a single, unblinking moment, without the slightest tremor of psychological burden, could not be called human. Such a one could only be... a god... or a demon! Or perhaps... a frigid, calculating engine of destruction!

'What needs killing, kill! A man without decisive will is no man at all!' Du Chen abruptly raised his head, his posture rigid and defiant. 'The Merfolk indeed deserve annihilation, Brook. By eradicating them, I am safeguarding and benefiting the common folk of Southern Lanning! Am I not right?'

Hearing his young master address him by name, Deboning felt a rare flicker within his ancient heart. He nodded, a grim affirmation. 'Du Chen, the Divine, is above! In the sacred name of benevolence, those nefarious Merfolk are destined for obliteration!'

'Yes, they all deserve to die!' Du Chen's gaze hardened to an unyielding steel, and the Precious Lotus Scripture instantly swelled in size around them. 'Let us commence!'

With a sudden, violent lurch, the expanding Precious Lotus Scripture plunged into the ocean. A colossal splash erupted, sending spray high into the air. The instant Du Chen breached the surface, he commanded Deboning to unleash his full destructive might. Wielding the Vanishing Snow Sword himself, Du Chen executed a rapid flurry of strikes, claiming the lives of seven or eight Merfolk in the blink of an eye!

'Kill! To Newin Port in the north! Devour all the humans there! Reclaim the Holy Relic! Kill— Damn it! Humans are here!' The Merfolk chieftains, who had been bellowing commands in their guttural tongue for lesser Merfolk to surge towards Newin Port as reinforcements, suddenly perceived the emergence of two formidable human adversaries directly behind them! 'Devour them! All humans deserve to die!'

Du Chen had already carved a path to stand before an exceptionally robust Merfolk, one as ponderous as a sea cow, yet disturbingly capable of human speech. But instead of striking him down, Du Chen merely swept past on the Lotus Pedestal. He abruptly raised his left arm, revealing a semi-circular white jade stone cradled in his palm...

This object, the Star of Turaam, had taken Fifth Brother considerable effort to retrieve from within the Precious Lotus Scripture. Though it was now merely an empty husk, its true power, along with the tree seed, had already been compressed into the core of a power sphere. Nevertheless, it remained the Holy Relic the Merfolk so desperately sought – at least, for the moment, it retained that illusion.

'The Holy Relic! It's the Holy Relic! Kill that damned human! Seize back the Holy Relic!' The Merfolk chieftain, upon glimpsing the Star of Turaam, instantly plunged into a bloodthirsty frenzy. His hatred seethed: the sacred Holy Relic of the Merfolk, now in the grasp of mere 'fodder' humans! These two humans must be ripped to shreds by their razor-sharp fangs, only then could their righteous fury be quelled!

The Merfolk chieftains' bulbous eyes glowed crimson, their scales shimmered with barely contained fury, and their razor-sharp claws and fangs grated together in a chilling rasp. After but a fleeting instant of stunned realization, they surged forward, launching themselves at Du Chen!

Spurred by their chieftains, and inflamed by the sudden reappearance of their Holy Relic, countless crimson eyes locked onto Du Chen!

'Come!' Du Chen gritted his teeth, showing no inclination to prolong the skirmish. He signaled Deboning, then spun the Lotus Pedestal, ascending from the sea. Yet he did not rise high. Hovering barely ten meters above the waves, he defiantly brandished the Star of Turaam, his cold gaze fixed on the surging horde of Merfolk. 'You wish to reclaim your Holy Relic? Then follow me! I have prepared the very gates of hell for you, so prepare to embark upon the path of the Yellow Springs...'

The Merfolk, already creatures of limited intellect, were driven into a complete frenzy by the sight of the Star of Turaam. In an instant, every Merfolk turned their grotesque heads from Newin Port, letting out bloodcurdling shrieks as they pursued Du Chen! Merfolk chieftains roared above the din: 'Call back the kinfolk at the vanguard! The Holy Relic is here, not in Newin Port! Assemble all our forces! We *must* reclaim the Holy Relic!'

Just as on that fateful day, when the Merfolk had emptied their nests to pursue Adams, devastating Newin Port in their wake, so too today, they poured forth en masse, relentlessly hounding Du Chen as if their very lives depended on it!

...

At the Sea Defense Fortress in Newin Port, Porter stood silently gazing out at the ocean, a faint smile of triumph playing upon his lips. The Merfolk assault had begun to shift dramatically. Initially, despite their chaotic formations and utter lack of discipline, the Merfolk had launched a disorganized but unified onslaught against the Sea Defense Fortress, their singular objective being Newin Port! Now, however, a significant portion of the distant Merfolk had veered off course, and even those on the front lines began to waver. Amidst the chaos, many exceptionally robust Merfolk bellowed fierce commands, seemingly herding their brethren. Under their insistent cries, the Merfolk were beginning to retreat... or, more accurately, to redirect their frenzied charge towards an entirely different objective!

Above the Thin Mist Sea, Du Chen artfully led the Merfolk in a convoluted chase, while Deboning meticulously tracked their proximity. Du Chen, meanwhile, maintained a solemn gaze fixed southward across the Thin Mist Sea...

To engineer such a colossal deep-sea explosion, Du Chen had weighed countless factors. The sheer ecological devastation of the blast, coupled with the imperative to avoid implicating the East Sea Clan, had demanded his every ounce of strategic foresight. Yet, he possessed one immense advantage.

The Gode Sea Chart! Thanks to the young prince's maritime charts, Du Chen possessed precise knowledge that fifty li south of the Thin Mist Sea lay an colossal submarine volcano. This region was perpetually plagued by natural calamities, rendering it utterly inhospitable to the Sea Clan; consequently, no sentient beings inhabited its vicinity. Indeed, the East Sea King had even imposed a forbidden sea decree over the area, specifically to safeguard his people.

After leading them on a winding chase for half a day, the Merfolk horde trailing Du Chen had grown immeasurable. Mentally calculating the elapsed time, Du Chen knew it was sufficient. He plunged headlong into the water, Star of Turaam clutched in hand. Deboning, cutting a path like a living blade, cleaved through the waves, and together they descended, like a swift dart, to the deepest abyssal floor.

The Merfolk swiftly closed in. Du Chen engaged them in a brief, furious skirmish. Once the Merfolk formed an impenetrable encirclement, he suddenly gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and with a chilling command, activated the Lotus Azureveil Shield, which instantly enveloped both him and Deboning upon the Lotus Pedestal. 'Fifth Brother, the rest... is in your hands!'

'Alright, leave it to me! This is a trifle, utterly insignificant, as long as the explosion doesn't occur *inside*! This is nothing at all!' Fifth Brother's notoriously boastful voice chimed in with familiar bravado...

*BOOM!!!* With a thunderous *BOOM*, everything began. On the pale blue, mist-shrouded surface of the sea, an enormous column of water suddenly surged upward, nearly a kilometer in diameter. It was as if an invisible mountain had erupted from the ocean floor, dragging vast quantities of seawater skyward. Then, concentric rings of colossal waves rippled outwards in all directions, each cresting higher than the last, culminating in one of the ocean's most terrifying natural disasters: a tsunami!

The epicenter was three hundred li from Newin Port. By the time the tsunami reached its shores, its destructive force would be significantly attenuated. And Porter, of course, had long since prepared contingency measures to mitigate its impact...

With eyes tightly shut, Du Chen's chest felt constricted, his throat parched, his heart heavy with an indefinable weight. Yet, amidst it all, a faint, undeniable tremor of excitement stirred within him!

This peculiar sensation did not originate from the grand explosion itself; the tremors, though extraordinary, were ultimately a mundane physical phenomenon. Instead, it was an utterly bizarre emotional shift, as if a thousand-catties burden had been magically lifted, leaving him infinitely lighter. Yet, a persistent pressure lingered in his chest, as if something new, something profound, had taken root within his very soul...

What had been added? Du Chen himself held no clarity at that moment. But within Deboning, a subtle ripple of satisfaction arose – for with this momentous 'baptism,' his young master's future endeavors would undoubtedly be imbued with a distinct aura of ruthless resolve! And was that not precisely what was needed?

'One flower, one world...' The Old Monk's Chanting, a faint echo in his mind, suddenly surged, booming like an immense gong and instantly jarring Du Chen back to full awareness. Concurrently, Fifth Brother's indignant voice cut through: 'What are you gawking at?! Get moving, quick! Damn it, why in the heavens did you choose a submarine volcano as your detonation point? Now the explosion has triggered that very volcano! You might be unfazed by *an* explosion, but you're not impervious to volcanic magma, are you?!'

'Got it!' Du Chen shook his head violently, spurring the Precious Lotus Scripture to surge from the depths. But just as he did so... *BOOM!* Another cataclysmic shift, akin to an explosion, ripped through existence. This time, however, the detonation occurred within Du Chen's very mind – specifically, within his Lotus Primordial Spirit!

'Argh!!' Du Chen clutched his head, barely managing to gasp, 'Fifth Brother, take temporary control of all sacred artifacts! Damn it, what is happening to me?!' His head throbbed as if it would cleave in two, and his eyes were bloodshot, threatening to burst – but these physical agonies paled in comparison to the true torment: his Lotus Primordial Spirit itself was convulsing violently!

'Oh, dear, my apologies!' Fifth Brother suddenly emitted an embarrassed chuckle. 'I forgot to mention, you've just eliminated the vast majority of Merfolk, and these creatures...'

'Less chatter, get to the point!' Du Chen roared, his agony near unbearable!

'Oh, simply put, in one sentence: it appears the 'good deed' you performed this time was... a little too grand. Too many benefits converged at once, and you couldn't quite digest them all. You're... *stuffed*?!'