In the depths of the Black Water River, the undercurrents surged.
Xia Lie was like a black-scaled water snake, frantically twisting his body as he fled through the bone-chilling river water. He clutched the sunken Fist Seal on his chest, each stroke leaving a faint trail of blood behind him.
The pitch-black underwater rock walls, sharp as if carved by knives and axes, and large patches of dark red seaweed, rapidly receded from his vision.
Hundreds of zhang behind him, a palm-sized Cyan-Scaled Sea-Exploring Swallow clung to his trail like a maggot on a rotting bone.
At times, it dove into the water like a sharp arrow. At others, it would burst from the surface and glide silently along the turbulent river, relentlessly tracking the faint scent of blood.
Even farther away, on the river's surface, the figures of a man and a woman were walking on water, holding hands and using the rising white mist for cover.
