Pillar of Yita

As soon as the boat entered the giant mouth of the Skeleton, it abruptly dropped, nearly catapulting everyone out. Fang Hong quickly grabbed the gunwale, looking ahead to see a treacherous shoal before him, with dense, pitch-black rocks strewn about like sharp swords.

Sophie saw even more clearly and had already alerted everyone through the communication channel, ”Be careful, thirty meters ahead, dangerous shoal to the front left, paddle to the right!”

Indeed, without her warning, everyone was frantically paddling to the right. However, being but novice sailors, they applied too much force, causing the boat to slew sideways in the rapids. Fortunately, there was an Elementalist in the team who reacted quickly, creating a water curtain in the river that provided a reverse thrust, allowing the boat to pass through the first shoal safely.

With their example, the two canoes behind them had a much easier time navigating through, passing one by one. Fang Hong, seeing all the boats were safe, finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to give that Elementalist an appreciative look. The person was just a girl of about thirteen or fourteen, quietly sitting in the boat with both hands on her magic wand.

Fang Hong marveled, as ordinary people would find it difficult just to react on the rocking boat, let alone cast spells. Despite her young age, she performed no worse than a professional Invoker. Indeed, those who could enter the Elite Youth Training Team of Silver Weslan were no ordinary people.

He glanced again at Sophie atop the Light Page, thinking to himself that there’s no weak soldier under a strong general.

”Why are you looking at me?” Sophie asked, somewhat puzzled by his gaze.

”Nothing, just a bit envious,” responded Fang Hong as he wiped the drops of water off his face with the back of his hand.

She paused, then smiled and said, ”If you’re envious, why not join our Guild? If you believe me, leave it to me to convince the higher-ups, and we’ll equip you with a team just like mine.”

She paused again, ”Of course, I still hope you’ll join my team.”

Fang Hong was stunned for a moment; how many times had it been now? This young lady’s thoughts were indeed just like Miss Red Leaf’s, but he still shook his head, declining for the first time, ”No, I have my friends.”

Sophie looked at Xiangzi and Parker, then remembered those who had traveled with him in the Mountain Palace and understood. She could have tried to get these people to join Silver Weslan as well, but she decided against speaking out. Firstly, she understood it wouldn’t be effective since she never repeated meaningless words.

Secondly, it would make Silver Weslan look too cheap. She indeed had the power to do it, but that didn’t mean it would be effortless. Having quite a few rivals within the Guild, she didn’t care about those people, but when they spoke ill, it was quite annoying.

Sophie realized this topic was now closed. It seemed that the young man wouldn’t change his mind anytime soon, and to continue would only annoy him—that said, there would likely be other opportunities in the future, once they left this place.

She thought to herself.

Of course, Fang Hong had no idea that the princess of Silver Weslan had so many thoughts running through her mind.

In fact, his attention was quickly drawn to the troubles ahead. The subterranean river had become narrow and turbulent upon entering the Bottomless Depths, riddled with dangerous shoals and rocks. On some steep bends, there were even sights of overturned canoes and piled-up bones flashing by.

It was unclear whether they belonged to previous Adventurers or to the Night Lizard People.

Fang Hong certainly didn’t want to end up as one of them. However, one treacherous shoal followed another, and the canoe almost seemed to navigate through a forest of swords, risking being shattered to pieces at any slight misstep. The intense concentration required left everyone exhausted. Just when they had finally grown somewhat accustomed to the challenge, a sudden surge from the side threw the boat off in another direction.

Amidst the screams of everyone, Fang Hong noticed that two underground rivers were converging, creating a whirlpool of undercurrents, but before he could figure out a plan, someone shouted ahead, ”There’s a fork ahead, which way do we go!?”

The river pathways under the cavern were complex and dizzying with forks, and a slight error could lead to a wrong turn. Fang Hong’s biggest worry was encountering such diverging pathways, and it was just his luck to encounter one at this moment—it was a case of fearing what comes.

While directing everyone to steer the canoe back on course, he said to Sophie, ”Take over the command, I’ll assist you.”

Sophie was startled, thinking Fang Hong was passing the buck, but then she saw him lower his Wind Goggles, raise his right hand, and throw out three or four golden sparkles that flew into the darkness ahead. She hesitated before exclaiming, ”Hey, wait, you’re releasing Clockwork Fairies even in this environment—!?”

”Just command them, turn right,” Fang Hong ordered firmly.

Sophie was taken aback, uncertain if he could really manage it, but understanding the urgency of the situation, she immediately opened the team list and relayed orders through the team channel to all three boats fore and aft.

As the boat veered into the fork on the right, the speed increased, as if flying on water, and that’s when Fang Hong spoke again, ”Watch out for the shoal ahead, about forty meters, rocks on both sides—there might be undercurrents below, be mindful of paddling strength.”

”Watch out for the shoal ahead, about forty meters, rocks on both sides—there might be undercurrents below, be mindful of paddling strength,” Sophie repeated the orders, and after doing so, she looked at him somewhat surprised.

As the echo of her words dwindled, the glow of torches highlighted a forest of rocks ahead. The paddlers cried out in alarm, but being forewarned, they quickly veered away, passing the hazard without incident.