Sitting at a nearby coffee shop's veranda, Wulin took in the view. The ocean spread infinitely, waves softly rolling over the golden beach. It was beautiful and soothing. At least, it would've been if not for the massive unending hole in the center.
The water was a beautiful shade of light blue that perfectly reflected the sun's rays and yet in the corner of the beach, there was a large area of pitch black. The water was deep with no observable bottom and a man made barrier of large rocks surrounded it to keep any curious children or avaricious adults away.
It was absurdly large and there was no real way to police it when so many powerhouses came and went so it only had the occasional worker watching the surroundings. There was one right now even though he was sleeping at the moment.
Wulin had spent the better part of two hours watching the Eternal Sea and numerous people returned to the surface, pearls in their hands or disappointment on their faces. It took longer than he would have liked but he had a somewhat firm understanding of how deep he could go.
"I'm going in, Father." Warning his father Wulin placed some cash on the table and hopped over the fence. The Eternal Sea was dangerous but only for the greedy and though Wulin was greedy he was confident he'd be fine. After all, if the worst happened he could enter |Level 1| and his safety was essentially guaranteed.
Spreading his spiritual sense outward Wulin tried to explore the depths of the Eternal Sea, his influence stopping a mere few meters beneath the water's surface. The Eternal Sea was an unusual space where spiritual power couldn't spread so it was futile as expected but that was fine as well. He was mostly worried he'd hit somebody coming up when he jumped in himself.
Leaping into the water the pressure instantly pressed against him tightly, the pressure strong enough to make a grown man cry and he was barely submerged. It was far more pressure than one would expect of the depth but that wasn't enough to make Wulin struggle.
[You don't have my blood so the sea… Oh.] Chuckling softly Tang San shook his head wryly within Wulin's mental space. He was about to say that Wulin would have to hold his breath but apparently, that wasn't necessary.
'Gu Yuena truly is the best thing to happen to me.' Laughing softly Wulin swam through the water without a care in the world. While the progress of his blood's ascension was far slower than his partner he still had plenty of benefits. The sea would be kind enough to give him all its oxygen.
It was only when he made it around fifty meters down that he ran into his first issue, the environment. While underwater people moved slowly and with the immense pressure working against them it'd be immensely difficult to move freely.
That's why when the water began to bubble and a hole opened in the wall Wulin knew he reached the first barrier. Flames shot out of the wall, not quite at the level of ultimate fire but still immensely hot. It was hot enough to burn through most metals in the blink of an eye.
'I should ask Mu Xi to bring back something about this hot.' Melting from the relaxing heat all of Wulin's tension and taut muscles began to wash away and loosen. Mu Xi manipulated flames far hotter than these three years ago and blacksmithing was a job closely related to flames regardless. Of all the elements, Wulin was confident that fire was the easiest to resist.
There were three layers of the Eternal Sea and of them, the Upper Layer was by far the easiest for Wulin. The only issues were the geysers and other natural issues such as the crumbling walls which were all easy enough to avoid or endure.
The Upper Layer extended roughly about one hundred and fifty kilometers down with the amount of 'traps' increasing drastically around every ten or twenty kilometers. The danger of the Upper Layer was low but Wulin could see why people would struggle so much to pass it.
'If you don't have a sea type martial soul, this would be impossible.' Thanking Gu Yuena one more time in his mind Wulin continued to swim down. The limiting factor of the Upper Layer wasn't the traps or the pressure, it was the amount of time it took to reach the bottom.
Wulin was moving faster than most he felt and yet it still took him around two hours to reach the bottom. How long could most people hold their breath even if they did have soul power to slow down the rate they needed to breathe?
A sudden pressure caused Wulin's eyes to shoot open, the feeling of his organs quaking alerting him that this trip may not be as easy as he had thought. It was still within the acceptable limits but this kind of pressure was intense.
[It seems the Federation's science is more fearsome than we expected.] Sighing heavily Tang San found it hard to believe himself. The Federation had made a submarine in an attempt to reach the bottom of the Eternal Sea. It was made with saint refined metals of the highest quality and Wulin had heard they had even used one or two heavenly refined metals.
That ship had made the Upper Layer look like child's play, breezing through each step of the process. But as soon as it made contact with the Middle Layer, it was immediately turned into a tiny ball of condensed metal no larger than a grape.
The pressure of the Upper Layer could be likened to a powerful human athlete who dominated their field. It was strong, dangerous even, but compared to the Middle Layer which is at a level where even Title Douluos may lose their life it was nothing.
Wulin had originally taken the Federation's failure as the rest of the world had, a simple failure, but he had been wrong. It was terrifying that they had even managed something that could resist this pressure to such an extent.
Now that he stood here himself, even Wulin found it difficult to move freely. The Middle Layer was an entirely different beast, one that even the Golden Dragon King found oppressive. For a human invention to match even a fraction of divine power… it was horrifying.
'...Let's return.' With that decision, Wulin's first trip to the Eternal Sea ended in failure.
****
Hey there, hope you liked the chapter.
Allow me to remind you that Wulin has a body so strong that even a Title Douluo standing at the pinnacle of the world such as Yun Ming wouldn't compare physically. For him to fail so badly, it should be clear that the Eternal Sea is no joke. Of course, there is the option to cheat but we don't like cheaters around here.
If you want more chapters, head to patre*on.com/TrapOverlord for up to 25 extra chapters. It isn't required but it'd be much appreciated.