‘I don’t like this…’

Zhang Dong decided to step out of the protective layer of the inner shield. There most of his forces had retreated and the ships that were left outside were keeping a tight formation around the golden fortress. It was possible for some unforeseen attack to come out of any direction while they were descending into the chasm. Yet even after a whole day had passed nothing seemed to be happening.

‘Could they have actually fled back to their own Empire? Following them there would probably not be the smartest move, is there even another empire, or did they come from this side?’

A few theories were floating around in his head. The first theory was about the Cerulean Empire not really existing outside of the Azure Empire. There was a possibility of them just being locked away in a large underground cavern that this massive gush on the sea floor represented. Perhaps if they continued they would arrive at a whole new underground world filled with strange monstrosities they were ill-equipped to handle.

The other possibility was that this was just their temporary headquarters just like it was for all the other Empires. The bridge they arrived through would be somewhere down there. This would make this large chasm they were going through something that had already been here for millenia.

‘It will be better if it’s the second option, I don’t think my people can face an entire Empire filled with enemies. If they were able to make all those clones on this side, I can only imagine what numbers they must have back there.’

Thus he decided to go outside to start his spiritual sense. If something started going wrong he needed to pull his forces back and perhaps think about another solution for the situation. Perhaps defeating the Cerulean Empress was not something possible and their forces would act as constantly increasing waves that he needed to contend with. Now that he found the chasm they were all coming from, perhaps creating an underwater stronghold would be possible.

Yet before he could make his decision they needed to get to the bottom of this place. considering that they were traveling at a slower pace than before it could have taken them a bit longer to get to the bottom of this problem. However, he had a bad premonition that took him outside and this time around he was right.

“Hm?... What is that… I’m sensing something but it’s weird…”

‘Hey Bob, are you picking it up?’

*Trying to identify anomalies… Life signals detected… caution is advised.*

For a while, he wasn’t able to sense anything but in just a second he was getting overwhelmed by the number of beings. It was as if they were waiting for them to get closer. Could have this been a trap or something else?

‘These life signs are strange, it’s as if they are all separate from each other but also part of something bigger… it’s as if…’

Everything was dark in this place and even his spiritual sense was incapable of painting a picture in his mind. Because of all these factors he was unable to make the right decision and blundered. The cavern they were diving into started to open up into a huge chamber filled with even more darkness.

‘What’s that glow…’

Inside this darkness, a glowing circle of light was pulsating as if trying to guide him towards the right path. The whole fortress was traveling the pathway of the leftover spiritual energy and that too was guiding them toward this destination. Perhaps if the light wasn’t so enticing he would have noticed that there was something off about it. While it looked like it was getting larger in actuality there was something else happening.

‘Is it getting closer? Oh, shit… are those… are those supposed to be teeth?’

“Everyone, this is an order from your Patriarch, evacuate from the ships and quickly gather up in the fortress.”

What he spotted was quite gruesome. The light show was just there to lure them into the maw of the beast. What he was looking at was a gigantic angler fish that was many times larger than their whole armada of ships and the golden fortress combined. The teeth were the size of mountains and while the guiding light was dangling before them, those chompers were spreading apart to draw them in.

No one asked questions as they quickly started trying to land with their ships. The fortress was now floating on a large piece of land that left enough outside for them to create a landing strip. After getting there the people could quickly run inside into the more tightly protected inner fortress. This was easier said than done though as the massive beast outside was causing quite a stir.

‘How huge is this thing… I can’t really see where the mouth starts or begins, just teeth…’

The creature was of unprecedented size, Zhang Dong had never seen something like this before. The sheer size was incomprehensible and the amount of spiritual energy this thing possessed was even greater than him. This was something above the level of the nascent soul and perhaps it would be their grave if he didn’t do something about it.

However, even though he ordered a full retreat the golden fortress was unable to pull away. Coupled with the opening mouth a giant suction force was created that was even drawing the city-sized stronghold inside. At this point, the only thing that he could do was to minimize the damage and use his own energy to boost the outer shields that were about to slam into one of those mountainous teeth.

“Senior brother!”

“Husband!”

“Stay back you two, I’ll be fine.”

Both Huo Qiang and Zhang Liena came outside to help him. Yet without his permission, they were not able to get outside of the inner barrier that needed to be kept up. The outside one could break at any moment so he could not risk opening the path outside. The people that had landed on the strip were still able to get inside just not leave.

Suddenly all hell broke loose as the golden fortress tumbled inside the massive mouth of the anglerfish. The beast outside didn’t really react but remained stationary as if waiting for the next prey to arrive. The glowy appendage that it used to lure its prey inside started going out and nothing but silence and darkness remained in this cold place.

…

“ARGH…”

‘I need to hold it, not everyone made it inside…’

Back on the inside, the whole palace was going through a strange torrent of water. They had been swallowed by this giant creature and were now inside its mouth. Normally what Zhang Dong was expecting to do was be sent into the beast's stomach while keeping the barrier up. As long as it didn’t fail them there was a chance of getting out of this whole place alive. However, there was something strange after the beast had swallowed them he noticed something.

‘That was a spatial resonance?’

It was similar to the Dimensional Regalia that he had increased the size to a continent. This place was giving him similar vibes but before he could figure out what was really going on a powerful crushing force attacked them from all slides. The outer barrier began shrinking instantly as it was being pushed back. His main problem was now the people that were evacuated to the inside. He gathered all of his power and everyone that was inside the golden fortress did the same. Even though all of them tried, the bubble burst and the outer barrier collapsed.

“Shittttttttttt……”

Zhang Dong felt a lot of strange pressure being pushed onto his body as the protective layer disappeared. He was tossed all over the place while trying to remain steady. Before he could activate the system's teleportation feature to go into the golden fortress he felt it vanishing from sight. His whole body was then tossed somewhere far, he could feel everyone instantly vanishing to some distant location before everything went dark once more.

…

“Uhg… my head… did I actually pass out for a moment?”

This was not something that happened often but the forces inside of this strange creature had given him a headache. After the barrier collapsed he could feel various things clashing against his body and in his weakened state he had become more susceptible to them. But for some reason, he could feel a warm tingling feeling over his body. He was not trapped in what was supposed to be a monster fish’s belly but instead somewhere comfortable.

“What is this place?”

Zhang Dong was greeted by a vast plain of grass. In the distance, he could see a forest area and even mountains. When looking up, there was even something that looked like a sun. However, his keen senses couldn’t be fooled as he identified the orb to just be an imitation.

‘Bob, It seems that I have found myself in some type of pocket dimension… could it be possible that that creature that had swallowed us wasn’t an actual living being?’

*Calculating… The possibility is at 84.56%*

‘Yeah that’s what I thought, that thing must have been the real entrance to the Cerulean Empire, they must have used it to arrive at this place.’

After putting a few things together he realized that the creature in itself didn’t really possess any life in it. The life signals were coming from within it where all the people from the Cerulean Empire were probably located. The monster anglerfish was something more similar to his own golden fortress or ships, some type of fleshy construct that transported people through its mouth to this location.

It didn’t look like a place that would be populated by undersea creatures. There were a lot of rivers and even lakes all over the place but the air was quite breathable. One part was worrisome as he couldn’t really get a feel for where everyone else was. Also while there were living beings around this place, they were just simple animals without really anything similar to a cultivator nearby.

‘It doesn’t matter, I should be able to teleport back to the palace.’

*Error error.*

‘Or not?’

A problem arose, when trying to access his faction system he was unable to. For some reason, it was being blocked and all the ways of teleporting out were locked. This could only mean that he had come across some type of event that was prepared for a system holder and that it might not be as easy to end this war as he had previously thought.