As night fell, the research vessel "Ice Queen," carrying Ling Tian and his companions, slowly approached the island where the relics of the overseas immortals were located. At Ling Tian's insistence, the ship stopped about 10 kilometers from the island.
The island was shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to see anything. However, the merfolk, having lived in the sea for so long, possessed the ability to see clearly in the dark.
Aurora, Lancelot, and others personally came to the deck to see Ling Tian and Ahri off. The two were preparing to land and explore the island.
At this moment, both of them were wearing special combat suits made from sharkskin material.
These suits were crafted to mimic the structure of sharkskin, making them waterproof, warm, and offering good puncture resistance. More importantly, they reduced water resistance when swimming.
It was said that the Australian swimmer Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the Olympics, wore a similar sharkskin swimsuit. Later, to prevent such cheating, FINA banned the use of such equipment in official competitions.
The sharkskin combat suits worn by Ling Tian and Ahri were clearly an advanced version of those swimsuits.
The two boarded an inflatable boat equipped with an electric motor. The primary characteristic of this motor was its silence, especially at night when the sound of the waves could completely mask its noise. From 50 meters away, it was inaudible.
Ling Tian steered the electric motor, and the small boat sailed smoothly across the sea. Ahri, meanwhile, was curiously playing with a pair of weapons in her hands.
These weapons were nearly 40 centimeters long, with a sharp cone at each end.
In the center of the weapon was a ring, which could be fitted onto a finger, allowing the user to manipulate the weapon flexibly with their wrists and fingers.
In fact, this was a famous ancient Chinese weapon called the Emei Dagger, also known as the Water-Splitting Emei Dagger.
Legend had it that this weapon was invented by a monk from Mount Emei, hence its name. It was originally designed as a weapon for underwater combat, allowing for stealthy stabbings of opponents. The slender cone design effectively minimized water resistance.
Furthermore, the sharp cones of the Emei Dagger could be used to pierce the hulls of enemy ships underwater.
Even on land, this weapon was excellent. Its portability made it ideal for assassination or self-defense during travel.
While the blade claws Ling Tian had crafted for Ahri were excellent weapons, they were not suitable for underwater combat and had limited lethality against the merfolk.
As for the sheep horn hammer Ahri often used, it posed even less of a threat to the merfolk. These creatures had tough, leathery skin like rubber, and their bodies were covered in scales that effectively dispersed the impact of the hammer.
After careful consideration, Ling Tian had the spirit of the spiritual realm space forge these two weapons for Ahri using extraterrestrial iron and many precious materials.
Once the Emei Daggers were made, Ling Tian personally tested them. They could pierce a two-centimeter-thick steel plate with ease.
Ahri was also very fond of the weapons, and the talented Ahri quickly mastered their use, wielding them with great skill.
"Ahri, be careful, don't poke a hole in the inflatable boat!" Ling Tian warned.
"Ling Tian, who are you looking down on? Would I make such a low-level mistake?" Ahri grumbled indignantly.
"Alright, my apologies, I underestimated you. But don't forget our mission objective."
"Of course, I haven't forgotten. The main goal is to scout, and try not to engage in combat... Honestly, why bother with all this effort? With just the two of us, we can just charge straight through!"
"How many times have I told you, you can't underestimate the enemy..."
Before Ling Tian could finish, he suddenly felt the electric motor on the small boat vibrate twice and then stop working. Their inflatable boat was now adrift on the sea.
At this point, they were still about 5 kilometers away from the island.
"What happened?" Ahri asked curiously.
"The electric motor broke. This island is not simple. The phenomena surrounding the island are actually a vast barrier. The magnetic field here is very strong, so it's not surprising that some problems have occurred."
"Then what do we do? Do we paddle over?"
As Ahri spoke, she picked up a pair of oars from inside the inflatable boat. These oars were made of high-strength engineering plastic, but with a slight exertion of force, Ahri snapped one in half.
"Uh... I didn't mean to. Who knew this flimsy thing would be so poorly made..." Ahri said, extremely embarrassed.
"Don't worry, what's this little difficulty?"
As Ling Tian spoke, he took out a talisman and affixed it to the electric motor at the stern of the boat.
The next moment, the talisman released a large amount of wind, and with the force of this wind, their boat rapidly sailed towards the island. The speed was no less than that of the motor, and perhaps even faster.
"Alright, Ling Tian, you're still the厉害 one!"
Ling Tian smiled and remained silent, instead releasing his spiritual power. On the sea, Ling Tian's spiritual power could cover a radius of 500 meters.
Underwater, he could see everything within 100 meters.
"Be careful, enemies are appearing!"
Ling Tian suddenly transmitted a message to Ahri through telepathy. Ahri's large, beautiful eyes widened, her pupils dilating to capture as much light as possible. Soon, Ahri spotted the targets. From the direction of the island, five streaks of water were rapidly approaching Ling Tian's small boat.
Ling Tian observed them with his Heavenly Eye divine ability and discovered that they were five merfolk.
These five merfolk were burly and wore leather armor, though the origin of the leather was unknown.
Each of them held a three-edged steel fork made from the bones of some unknown sea beast.
The reason they could approach at a speed of nearly 30 kilometers per hour in the sea was their mounts!
Each of them was riding a giant shark about 4 meters long!
These sharks had been bred for generations specifically for the merfolk to ride. The sharks were fitted with special saddles to facilitate the merfolk's control without hindering their movement.
Facing these five menacing figures, Ahri did not hesitate. She leaped out of the inflatable boat and, on the surface of the water, charged forward with a speed that was no less than that on land.
At this moment, Ling Tian could see through his Heavenly Eye divine ability that a surge of red energy was gathering at Ahri's feet!