It seemed that ever since everyone learned that Mu Li was at least Heavenly King Level in strength, they developed an inexplicable trust in his words.
For example, regarding going into the sea, it seemed that as long as Mu Li agreed, the matter could proceed.
As for the few staff members of the production team, they had already been startled by that Destructive Beam just now, and now they followed Mu Li's lead.
“But we don’t have any equipment, how do we go down?” Wang Yijia asked, confused. “Why don’t we go check the pirate ships? They should have some equipment.”
Mu Li had originally intended for Gardevoir to take everyone into the sea, but on second thought, since they would be in the deep sea, if any Pokémon attacked, it might be difficult to look after everyone during a fight. Having a diving suit would be much safer.
So, everyone went directly to the three pirate ships, preparing to search for diving equipment.
Just then, they saw five or six people in diving suits swimming up from the seabed. When the two sides met each other's gaze, they were all stunned.
Mu Li and the others: “We just needed diving suits, and they delivered them right to our doorstep.”
The pirates: “We only went down once, how did the people on the ship change?”
The pirates who had been in the water quickly reacted, realizing that the situation on the ship was not right. Just as they were about to have the Pokémon that had dived with them assist in the attack, they found themselves and their Pokémon floating.
“Gengar, Hypnosis.”
As Mu Li’s voice rang out, his shadow suddenly expanded, turning into a several-meter-tall black fatty. From within that shadow, a pair of crimson eyes suddenly appeared, flickering with a strange light that shone upon the pirates and their Pokémon. Soon, the pirates and their Pokémon fell into a state of sleep.
“Now we have diving equipment too,” Mu Li said with a smile.
“What about these people?” Wang Yijia asked, pointing at the pirates still struggling in a heap on the sea surface and the sleeping group on the ship.
“It’s fine, just let Sylveon watch them. When we return, we can hand them over to the police,” Mu Li casually summoned Sylveon and explained the situation to her.
Sylveon indicated: You go ahead, this Sylveon doesn’t want to get all wet.
After changing into their diving gear, the group followed Mu Li directly into the sea. Although among this group, only Wang Yijia had ever dived before, this diving equipment was merely a precaution. They weren't relying on this diving equipment to go into the sea.
Gardevoir directly enveloped them in an air bubble using Psychic, and they followed Gyarados and Wailord into the seabed.
This sea area was not too deep, and everyone quickly submerged to the bottom.
With Gardevoir's Helping Hand, everyone could move freely at the bottom of the sea. For everyone's safety, Mu Li had already had Gyarados release its ancient aura, so even if there were other Pokémon nearby in this sea area, they wouldn't dare to approach.
Everyone searched the seabed for a while but found nothing unusual. There were only corals everywhere, and not even a sunken ship or remnants of ruins were seen.
“I should have asked those pirates earlier,” Mu Li thought, preparing to search for a little longer. If he couldn't find anything, he would return directly.
At this moment, Wailord seemed to have discovered something and swam over happily.
“Wailord says his home is here,” Gardevoir translated.
Mu Li was startled: “Does this Wailord really have a home? Aren’t these Pokémon supposed to roam the world?”
Although there was some doubt in their hearts, Mu Li and the others still followed.
Not long after they swam, everyone discovered that the original seabed suddenly gave way to a cliff, and Wailord continued to swim into the unfathomable depths of that cliff.
Facing this deep sea, like a bottomless abyss, a sense of fear arose in everyone's hearts. It was humanity's instinctive fear of the deep sea.
“How about it? Should we continue?” Mu Li asked for everyone’s opinion.
“Is there danger if we continue? If there’s danger, then forget it,” Fu Peiyao looked at the others, somewhat worried.
“It’s not dangerous,” Mu Li whispered into Fu Peiyao’s ear, “Lugia is nearby, no need to worry.”
Fu Peiyao nodded and said, “What do you all think?”
“Let’s go down and see,” Wang Yijia said, somewhat excitedly. “Since it’s Wailord’s home, there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
Mu Qingqing also nodded, though her expression still revealed a hint of tension.
As for the few staff members of the production team, their minds were solely focused on filming, and they didn't care about any danger, because they knew that if they missed this opportunity, they probably wouldn't encounter such a filming opportunity again in their lives.
Seeing that everyone agreed to dive, Mu Li continued to follow Wailord into the dark abyss.
Wailord's speed was not fast. After following him for more than ten minutes, Wailord finally stopped.
However, they had not yet reached the seabed, but a large opening appeared on the adjacent cliff face. Even Wailord seemed somewhat small in front of this opening.
Upon seeing this opening, Wailord excitedly gestured for everyone to follow him inside.
Mu Li and the others didn't hesitate and continued to delve deeper into the cave. However, as they went deeper, Mu Li suddenly frowned and looked down at the abyss below.
The cave was pitch black inside, and everyone could only rely on the flashlights found on the pirates for illumination, but the light from these flashlights seemed unable to illuminate the entire cave.
However, as everyone gradually went deeper, the original cave seemed to have shrunk considerably. Through the light of the flashlights, everyone could vaguely see the walls of the cave.
Here, time seemed to have stopped, and no one knew how long they had been swimming.
Suddenly, Wailord let out a roar, startling everyone. Just as they reacted, they saw a row of pearly white teeth suddenly appear in the previously pitch-black front. These teeth gleamed with a faint white light, appearing particularly dazzling in the dark cave.
Everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of the white teeth and instinctively shone their flashlights forward.
They saw an incredibly massive Wailord appear before them. Compared to the Wailord Mu Li and the others had encountered, this Wailord was at least dozens of times larger.
Mu Li couldn't help but twitch his lips: “Another ancient form. Why do I keep running into these old monsters who have lived for who knows how many years lately?”
Unlike Mu Li's composure, Fu Peiyao instinctively grabbed Mu Li's arm, and the others were even worse off. Some staff members even went weak in the knees and slumped directly onto Gyarados's back.
“Don’t worry, he’s just big,” Mu Li comforted them.
Mu Li clearly didn't understand what megalophobia was. Faced with such a giant, whose single tooth was larger than himself, probably very few people could remain calm.
However, with Wailord leading the way, the ancient Wailord in front of them seemed to have no hostility and quickly made way.
It was just that the Wailord's body was too enormous; the ocean currents stirred up by a mere movement of its body almost swept Wailord away.
“That ancient Wailord should be some kind of guardian here,” Mu Li explained to everyone.
After entering the cave, there were surprisingly many Water-type Pokémon inside, such as Wailmer, Kingdra, Starmie, and Tentacruel.
As Mu Li and the others passed by, these Water-type Pokémon curiously gathered around. Some of the bolder Starmie even rushed into the air bubble, seemingly not at all worried that the group would harm them.
“These Pokémon are so cute! Have they always lived here?” Mu Qingqing asked, poking a Staryu that had jumped in front of her.
“Probably. This place should be like a sanctuary. When everyone encounters danger, they gather here,” Mu Li guessed.
“There are indeed many Pokémon here,” Wang Yijia also said excitedly, looking at the surrounding Pokémon. “There are even many Dratini!”
As everyone gradually went deeper, a portion of the cave surprisingly had air, and everyone surfaced.
“How amazing, there’s air in here,” Fu Peiyao couldn’t help but exclaim.
Although everyone had been staying in the air bubble, the sense of oppression from the deep sea was something that could not be eliminated. This was a psychological pressure.
Soon, everyone swam to the edge of a piece of land.
“Wailord says we can go in and look. He says humans have been here before too,” Gardevoir translated.
“Humans have been here?” everyone couldn’t help but exclaim.
Mu Li couldn't help but roll his eyes and say, “Haven’t we appeared here?”
Wang Yijia chuckled, “You’re right.”
After hearing Wailord’s words, Mu Li and the others couldn’t help but become curious about this place.
Everyone had originally thought this was a place where Pokémon resided, but they never imagined that other humans had also been here.
Following the path, everyone delved deeper, passing through a straight, semi-circular passage, and arrived in a spacious cave.
“Look at your feet!” Fu Peiyao exclaimed.
Mu Li and the others instinctively looked down, only to see that the material of the ground in this cave had changed from rock to stone blocks. The entire ground seemed to be composed of these stone blocks, arranged according to some pattern. More importantly, these stone blocks were even engraved with some strange symbols.
“It seems to be some ancient symbols?” Mu Li had seen similar symbols in some ancient ruins before, but he couldn't decipher them.
“It’s not just on the ground, it’s on the surrounding walls too,” Wang Yijia also discovered the same markings on the walls.
“This is very likely the ruins those pirates were talking about,” Mu Li guessed. “I just don’t know what kind of ruins it is.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Li saw a dark blue Pokémon emerge from the depths of the cave. This Pokémon had a round head, was very small, and looked a bit like a jellyfish.
Upon seeing the group, this Pokémon also blinked its large eyes, curiously observing Mu Li and the others.
“What kind of Pokémon is that? It’s so cute?” Mu Qingqing couldn’t help but exclaim.
“That’s Phione, a very rare Pokémon,” Mu Li explained. The moment he saw Phione, he finally knew exactly what kind of ruins this was.
Mu Li added, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be the ruins of the Prince of the Sea—Manaphy.”
Manaphy and Phione look very similar, except the former is known as the Prince of the Sea, a Water-type Mythical Pokémon. Legend has it that it can communicate with any Water-type Pokémon telepathically.
“Phione will appear in the same place as Manaphy,” Mu Li explained.
With that, a Pokémon that looked very similar to Phione appeared before everyone. What was different from Phione was that the ends of this Pokémon's head tentacles were spherical, and there were two yellow dots above its eyes.
“This is the Pokémon known as the Prince of the Sea—Manaphy.”
