Captain Svenson saw the pirates charging forward. He calmly issued an order. The Ice Queen research vessel quickly turned and sped towards the Devil's Shoals at 28 knots.
The reason they didn't use their maximum speed was to allow the pirate ships to keep up. If they had gone at full speed, escaping the pirates would have been no problem. However, if they couldn't completely eliminate these pirates, they might continue to cause trouble on their future voyages.
"Maintain your speed. Remember, the closest those ships can get is 10 kilometers, no closer!"
Captain Svenson gave the order to the helmsman and began to calculate the precise speed that would allow the pirates to follow while ensuring the safety of his own vessel.
Meanwhile, Ling Tian had already boarded the ship's helicopter and flown to the skies above the Devil's Shoals.
The weather was excellent that day, with very high visibility. Looking down from the sky at the sea, the azure water contrasted with the dark depths below, revealing various submerged reefs. Some of these reefs even broke the surface.
Amidst this rocky shoals, spanning tens of kilometers, a shallow blue channel wound its way. At its narrowest point, it was only about a kilometer wide, and this was the only passage where ships could navigate safely.
"Right here, drop me off!"
Ling Tian, sitting in the co-pilot's seat of the helicopter, tapped on the GPS map. The pilot nodded and flew the aircraft over the designated waters.
The helicopter began to descend. When it was still over 100 meters above the water's surface, Ling Tian suddenly opened the helicopter's cabin door and leaped out!
The pilot and the other technicians were stunned. Ling Tian wasn't carrying a parachute, nor was he using a rope for rappelling. He simply jumped straight down!
100 meters is a considerable height, roughly equivalent to a 30-story building. Jumping from such a height would be no different than jumping onto a concrete surface, whether landing in water or on solid ground.
Just as Ling Tian was about to hit the water's surface and be splattered into a pulp, a thought flashed through his mind, and he entered the Spirit Realm space!
Within the Spirit Realm space, Ling Tian's body came to a stable halt, the impact of the descent completely nullified.
Immediately after, another thought flashed through Ling Tian's mind, and he reappeared about three meters above the water's surface before descending into the sea!
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. The people in the helicopter couldn't possibly detect Ling Tian entering the Spirit Realm space. They only saw him leap from the air and fall into the water!
"Captain, Svenson, my God..." the pilot shouted frantically over the communication channel.
"Are you crazy? What are you yelling about? What happened!"
Captain Svenson was slightly displeased with the pilot's outburst.
"That Chinese guy, he's gone mad! He just jumped out of the helicopter from over 100 meters up, without a parachute or any ropes...
My God, should I go down to collect his body?"
Upon hearing the pilot's report, Captain Svenson looked at Aurora with a suspicious gaze, his expression suggesting he was about to question what Ling Tian was up to.
To his surprise, Aurora Kuyt smiled slightly.
"It's alright, no need to worry. At that height, he won't die..."
Before Aurora could finish speaking, the pilot's voice erupted again from the communicator.
"Oh, my God, he really isn't dead! I see him! He's in the water and he even gave me an OK sign...
Oh, he's dived back into the water and disappeared..."
"Alright then, we'll proceed as planned!" the captain said resignedly.
Ling Tian entered the water, formed hand seals, and chanted incantations. Almost instantly, a bubble formed around his body, isolating him from the water pressure and making him feel as if he were on land.
Furthermore, this bubble contained enough oxygen for Ling Tian to breathe.
This technique was called the Water Splitting Charm, a very useful spell recorded in the Myriad Laws Pavilion within the Spirit Realm space.
Protected by the Water Splitting Charm, Ling Tian descended to the seabed. After dropping over 50 meters, Ling Tian stood on a sandy patch on the ocean floor.
The seabed was covered with reefs and large areas of coral, but there were also some flat sandy areas. Ling Tian chose a flat sandy spot located in the center of the shipping channel.
With a flash of thought, five jade pendants, each about the size of a bowl, appeared in Ling Tian's hands. Exquisite patterns, which were formations, were carved onto the pendants.
Next, Ling Tian arranged these five jade pendants in a specific pattern and then buried each one in the sandy seabed.
As Ling Tian placed the last pendant, the surrounding seawater began to rotate slowly, originating from the center where the five pendants were located.
Initially, the water rotated very slowly, but it gradually picked up speed. At first, the rotation was confined to the area around the pendants, but soon the scope of the swirling water expanded, encompassing the entire sea.
Ling Tian quickly ascended to the surface. With a flash of thought, Ling Tian vanished into the Spirit Realm space. At that moment, an albatross took flight, and on its neck was a metal tag marked with a key symbol.
A few minutes later, the Ice Queen arrived in the area. About ten kilometers behind them, over a dozen pirate ships were in hot pursuit.
Suddenly, Ling Tian dropped from the sky, landing steadily outside the cockpit. His sudden appearance baffled everyone on board. They all wondered where Ling Tian had materialized from.
Even more perplexing was that Ling Tian was completely dry, not a drop of water on him!
The pilot had clearly seen him jump into the sea just moments before!
Ling Tian walked into the cockpit and nodded at Captain Svenson.
"Mr. Svenson, I have completed the arrangements. Now, please order us to proceed at full speed!"
Captain Svenson glanced at Ling Tian and then looked ahead at the sea. He didn't notice anything unusual. However, he didn't want to cause any conflict with Ling Tian, so he directly ordered them to proceed at full speed!
Instantly, the Ice Queen research vessel accelerated to its maximum speed of 35 nautical miles per hour.
More than ten minutes later, the pirate ships behind them began to sense something was wrong. They realized that the distance between them and the Ice Queen was increasing.
"They've accelerated! They were holding back earlier, how cunning! Hurry, order the fleet to full speed, we must eliminate that guy named Ling Tian!" Abubakar roared.
Thus, the pirate ships also pushed themselves to their limits, charging at full speed towards the channel of the Devil's Shoals!