Perhaps it was because the fleet had been constantly entering and leaving the Abyss over the past few years, but for whatever reason, the Sovereigns there had gradually begun to adapt.

Now, every time the fleet entered, there would be quite a few Sovereigns hanging around the entrance. As such, every expedition to the Abyss immediately began with a fierce battle.

The fleet had gradually settled into this habit, of sorts.

However, the situation was obviously different this time.

When Su Chen and Gu Qingluo entered, they saw that the Oceanids’ seven generals and the Boundless Sect’s forty puppets were already blasting away at three Sovereigns.

When faced with such an immense combined pressure, the three Sovereigns were completely suppressed and could only react blindly with their instinct.

“Not a bad start,” Su Chen commented.

“Yet it is also only the start,” Gu Qingluo added.

Even though the Sovereigns were powerful, the fleet had always immediately left the Abyss after gathering the necessary resources. This time, however, they were planning on staying in the Abyss for an hour.

An hour was more than enough time for all of the Sovereigns in the Abyss to notice the commotion and come over.

This was, without question, a lot of pressure for the fleet to handle. Even with all of these thorough preparations, it was possible that this was asking too much of them.

Greatcloud yelled, “Su Chen, the rest is up to you!”

“Understood.” Su Chen pulled out a pouch and made a motion with his hand. The four t.i.tan-Cla.s.s puppets immediately flew over, transforming into four streaks of light as they entered the pouch.

The fleet would remain here to tie down the Sovereigns and secure their exit point while Su Chen would destroy the Deep Sea Sorrow. These four t.i.tan-Cla.s.s puppets would serve as his bodyguards.

Su Chen and Gu Qingluo went around the fleet and flew off in a certain direction.

After visiting the Abyss so many times, Su Chen had gotten a good grasp on where the Deep Sea Sorrow was located. Unfortunately, because of how short all of their previous expeditions were, it was impossible for Su Chen to find an opportunity to actually get a good look at it.

However, it was impossible to be prepared for every outcome. Often, adapting on the fly was as equally important as making thorough preparations.

The fleet’s forces continued to pour into the Abyss and suppress the nearby Sovereigns. Those who had entered first began to set up formations to defend the rest of the fleet from the Sovereigns’ attacks.

Su Chen and Gu Qingluo flew forwards for quite some time before an island appeared off in the distance.

This island wasn’t actually an island — it was actually a ma.s.sive turtle Sovereign.

When Su Chen had sent his clones out to scout the area in the past, the clone that had went in this direction had been swallowed by this giant turtle.

The turtle preferred to spend its time resting and was usually standing in this area completely motionless. The fleet had fought with the Sovereigns near the entrance dozens of times, but Su Chen had never personally seen this giant turtle even once.

But if any human were to get close, it would automatically attack.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid this turtle if one wanted to reach the Deep Sea Sorrow. It was like the gatekeeper for the Deep Sea Sorrow.

Su Chen came to a stop right above the giant turtle.

Even though the ma.s.sive turtle was still motionless, Su Chen was certain that the giant turtle would attack if he were to take even a single step forwards.

He was able to precisely control his distance because he had spent three clones to gauge the range of the turtle.

Su Chen coldly glared at the turtle and said, “We’ll use you to test out the power of these guys.”

A spine-crawling buzz filled the air as a large swarm of Catastrophe Bugs appeared in the sky.

These Catastrophe Bugs, after being sent into the Abyss to draw the attention of the Sovereigns and serve as cannon fodder, had split into two groups. One of the groups remained at the site of the main battle and would consume flesh, reproduce, and bolster their numbers. Meanwhile, the other group had come with Su Chen.

Following Su Chen’s command, the large group of Catastrophe Bugs shot forwards.

The ma.s.sive turtle could sense the oncoming threat, and the small island rose from the water, revealing the turtle’s ma.s.sive body. A long neck emerged from the hole in its sh.e.l.l as it roared at Su Chen.

The roar boomed for miles like thunder.

Unfortunately, this threatening howl was completely useless against the Catastrophe Bugs. In fact, it only served to give them a better target.

The turtle Sovereign exhaled, releasing a ma.s.sive cloud of water vapor into the sky.

This old turtle typically preferred to hole up in its sh.e.l.l and defend itself, but this time, it was taking the initiative to spray water vapor into the sky. Obviously, it viewed the Catastrophe Bugs as a significant threat.

The droplets of water vapor were filled with the frightening power of a creature with a cultivation base as powerful as that of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. The droplets of water appeared capable of destroying a mountain or a city.

However, the Catastrophe Bugs were barely affected. Their 80% resistance to all forms of Origin Energy greatly decreased the might of the attacks. In addition, the Catastrophe Bugs had grouped up to jointly handle the attacks.

As the Catastrophe Bugs grouped up, these formerly weak bugs were able to greatly increase their defensive prowess.

The giant turtle observed, to its surprise, that its cloud of water vapor was only able to kill a couple hundreds of the Catastrophe Bugs.

But hundreds of Catastrophe Bugs, in the context of this swarm’s size, was basically inconsequential. The Catastrophe Bugs descended ravenously, and the Sovereign immediately knew that it was in danger and attempted to duck into the water.

However, the water was incapable of stopping the advance of the Catastrophe Bugs because they could maneuver just as freely in the water.

They easily infiltrated the giant turtle’s body and immediately began to launch a furious a.s.sault.

The turtle’s sh.e.l.l was extremely st.u.r.dy, but it didn’t cover all of its weak points. Actually, to the Catastrophe Bugs, there was no such thing as a weak point. As long as they could find a place where their mandibles could bite down, that was good enough for them.

In the blink of an eye, the turtle’s body was infested with the attacks of the Catastrophe Bugs.

“ROAR!” it howled fiercely.

These Catastrophe Bugs were fierce. As soon as they found an opening, they would slip into the target’s body and reproduce as they devoured its flesh. The larvae that they produced would also eat at the target until it was totally consumed.

As such, any target that the Catastrophe Bugs had locked onto would be eaten alive. How could the turtle possibly endure the dreadful pain? It began to roll around in agony, churning up ma.s.sive waves on the surface of the ocean.

Unfortunately, no matter how much power it tried to gather, it was incapable of expelling the bugs from its body. The turtle’s Origin Energy was incredibly vast, but there was simply nothing it could do.

Suddenly, the turtle leapt into the air and bit at Su Chen. The immense pain had driven it to madness, and its only thought was to take vengeance on Su Chen.

When Su Chen saw the giant turtle take action against him, he grabbed Gu Qingluo, and their figures flickered, reappearing on the other side of the strait.

After comprehending spatial Method Power, it had become much easier for Su Chen to bring someone along with him when he teleported.

However, he had only just reoriented himself when thousands of water torrents surged in his direction.

“So this Beast isn’t going to forgive me after all,” Su Chen chuckled.

He teleported away once again.

There was no way that he could take on a Sovereign all on his own, but he did have some confidence in dodging its attacks.

At the same time that he dodged, Su Chen whistled, which stimulated the Catastrophe Bugs and caused them to rapidly speed up their feeding frenzy.

All of the Catastrophe Bugs doubled their fierce a.s.sault. When this effect was amplified tens of thousands of times, even the immovable turtle couldn’t help itself from being consumed.

With a huge bang, an item suddenly shot into the air — the turtle’s ma.s.sive sh.e.l.l. With just a glance, it was clear that the turtle had already been mostly eaten away by the Catastrophe Bugs.

Just before it had died, the turtle had ejected its sh.e.l.l, revealing the scene below. The countless Catastrophe Bugs had left behind enough eggs and flesh for them before returning to Su Chen’s side.

Not long after they left, another large group of bugs crawled out of the turtle’s corpse. They finished consuming the remaining sc.r.a.ps of meat on the turtle’s back before quickly flying away, searching for a new target.

Like a plague, these bugs began to spread everywhere throughout the Abyss.

Su Chen continued to fly forwards.

The Deep Sea Sorrow was located in the deepest depths of the Abyss. It would take quite a bit of time to reach it even without any interruptions, so they didn’t have much time to waste.

Even so, there were more obstacles in their way than just a single turtle Sovereign.

After flying for some time, they stumbled across two more Sea Beasts.

One of them looked like a jellyfish, calmly floating in the sky as if the air was water.

Even though all of the Sovereigns in the Abyss were Sea Beasts, there were still quite a few strange ones, and it was not out of the ordinary to find one that could fly.

Apart from this “floating jellyfish,” there was also a sea otter.

It was lying on its back, sprawled across the surface of the sea, allowing the currents to take it wherever it pleased.

Even so, the sea otter never floated too far away.

Most importantly, this sea otter didn’t appear to be affecting the nearby current — rather, it was the source of the current itself.

Upon closer inspection, the water was actually spiraling around it like a small whirlpool. The sea otter remained at the center of this vortex, the border of which was clearly delineated, and the vortex itself was also traveling along its own circular arc. The imagery was quite strange.

Anyone else might not have noticed anything out of the ordinary about its circ.u.mstances.

Su Chen, however, was immediately able to tell what was so special about this sea otter Sea Beast.

“Method Power,” he said.

“Method Power?” Gu Qingluo was stunned. “You mean……”

“Yes. That sea otter has comprehended its own Method Power,” Su Chen nodded as he replied seriously.

He was absolutely certain that this was Method Power.

After all, he had personally experienced spatial, lightning, and flame Method Power before. Even though he was not able to control all of these different Method Powers, he was not completely ignorant about Method Power anymore.

“But don’t the Sovereigns in the Abyss lack intelligence because of the Deep Sea Sorrow? How could one of them still comprehend Method Power?” Gu Qingluo asked.

“That’s the interesting thing. If this Sea Otter hasn’t somehow broken through the Deep Sea Sorrow’s restrictions and miraculously retained its intelligence, then the only other explanation is that…… Perhaps comprehending Method Power doesn’t require intelligence?”

Comprehending Method Power doesn’t require intelligence?

Then what does it require?

Gu Qingluo didn’t understand where Su Chen was going.

Su Chen didn’t know either. However, he did understand that any Sovereign that could comprehend Method Power was not going to be easy to handle. This also meant that the Sovereign accompanying it was not going to be a simple foe either.

“Two Sovereigns at once is not an easy issue to deal with,” Su Chen muttered. “But no matter how hard they are to deal with, we need to do it regardless.”

As he spoke, he opened the pouch in his hands. Four t.i.tan-Cla.s.s puppets stormed onto the battlefield.

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