The moment that voice echoed through their souls, the entire sea area came to an abrupt standstill.

The inverted whirlpools froze like sculptures, the churning foam hung suspended in mid-air, and even the light and shadow of the deep sea were drained of color, leaving only a deathly, silent grey.

When Bai Cheng and the others broke the surface, they found the entire sky had changed as well.

The twilight was dyed a dark purple, the starlight extinguished, and the clouds hung low like sheets of lead, as if the entire firmament had become a projection of that gaze.

The silver train hovered a hundred zhang high, the runes on its shell flashing frantically, emitting an overloaded hum.

"Get on the train! Now!" Bai Cheng shouted sharply, her silver eyes fixed unwaveringly on the deepening darkness below.

Lu Duo, Zi Yuan, and Leng Ningxue transformed into streams of light and shot towards the hatch door.

Yu Nian was in the cockpit, activating the thrusters at full power, while Lu Duo expanded a life barrier, attempting to block out the omnipresent oppressive pressure.

But the moment they stepped onto the deck, the seawater beneath their feet suddenly collapsed.

It wasn't falling, but vanishing—an entire ten-nautical-mile radius of sea area was swallowed by an invisible maw, instantly transforming into a bottomless vacuum abyss.

Seawater, submerged reefs, remnants of mirror fragments, even light and sound, all rushed towards the bottom of the abyss, forming a massive, counterclockwise-rotating vortex of darkness.

At the vortex's center, that pair of nebula-like giant eyes slowly rose.

Each eye was a hundred zhang in diameter. Deep within their pupils, silver-grey star spirals rotated, while the sclera was covered in dark red ancient patterns, as if recording the forbidden knowledge of forgotten epochs.

The eyes had no physical form, being mere condensations of pure energy and will, yet they were more heart-stopping than any tangible existence.

"What... is this thing..." Lu Duo gripped her Thunder Spear tightly, her fingertips turning white from the force.

Even when facing a Constellation Leader, she had never felt such a pure, soul-crushing oppressive force.

Zi Yuan drew her long blade. Purple lightning danced restlessly along its edge, like a small beast encountering its natural enemy: "The energy level... is incalculable. It's above Monarch-level, but it doesn't feel like the complete realm of an Emperor."

Leng Ningxue's icy eyes were grave: "It seems like some kind of... incomplete Ancient God, or a sealed Will of the Abyss."

Bai Cheng didn't speak, her silver eyes fixed on that pair of giant eyes.

Her spatial perception was screaming warnings. It felt as if just one more moment of looking would drag her consciousness into the star spirals deep within those eyes, to be completely assimilated and disintegrated.

But what startled her more was the direction of those eyes' gaze.

It wasn't them, but the direction behind them—towards the Desert Kingdom.

To be precise, towards the direction of those three sandstone statues beside the oasis in the Desert Kingdom.

"It's looking at the Power of Faith," Bai Cheng suddenly spoke, her voice slightly hoarse from excessive tension. "It sensed the flow of belief gathered by the statues."

As if confirming her words, those giant eyes slowly turned, their star spirals locking onto Bai Cheng.

A thought echoed directly in her mind:

"Bloodline of the Gate... Thief of Faith... You have awakened me."

The voice held no emotion, yet carried a bone-chilling cold logic.

"Daring to absorb the Power of Faith, you have violated a taboo!"

Bai Cheng's heart sank.

In an instant, she understood why Gemini had chosen the Abyssal Trench as their stronghold. It wasn't because it was suitable for setting up mirror mazes, but because they had long known some ancient entity slumbered deep within this trench.

Gemini had deliberately lured them into destroying the runestones, perhaps precisely to create a strong enough energy disturbance to awaken this Abyssal Pupil!

"We've been played," Leng Ningxue also realized, her ice-blue eyes sweeping towards the abyss. "Gemini never intended to fight us head-on from the start. They were just... baiting."

"Baiting?" Yu Nian's voice came through the communication array, tinged with shock and anger. "Using us as bait to lure this monster?!"

"I'm afraid so," Bai Cheng's silver eyes grew colder. "Gemini knew we carry special bloodlines and the Power of Faith, and what this entity needs might be precisely this kind of power that touches the essence of the soul.

The energy chaos we caused by destroying the runestones, combined with the scent of the Power of Faith, just reached the threshold needed to awaken it."

As if responding to her deduction, the star spirals within those giant eyes suddenly accelerated their rotation.

From the depths of the abyss came a heavy, rumbling sound, like dragging chains.

Immediately after, eight thick, dark golden chains, massive as mountains, slowly rose from the darkness. Each chain's surface was densely carved with sealing runes, which were now visibly disintegrating and flaking off.

At the ends of the chains was connected a blurred, translucent humanoid outline.

The outline had no facial features, no details, only a general form, yet it emitted an aura more ancient and void-like than those giant eyes.

"My prison... has cracked open a sliver," the voice of the Abyssal Pupil sounded again, this time carrying an extremely faint, almost pleased fluctuation.

As the words fell, the sealing runes on one of the eight chains completely shattered.

The dark golden chain links turned to ash one by one. And on that translucent humanoid outline, a one-cun section at the position of its left wrist suddenly solidified.

Merely this one cun of solidification caused the laws of the entire sea area to begin twisting.

Seawater surged upwards towards the sky, gravity flickered in and out of existence, and countless fine black cracks appeared in space, as if this region was being peeled away from the real ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) world.

"It's breaking free from the seal!" Lu Duo exclaimed in alarm. "For every portion of faith or soul essence it absorbs, it can solidify a part of its body and recover a portion of its power!"

Bai Cheng made a decision instantly.

"All crew, activate the train's maximum speed! Evacuate this sea area!"

"What if it pursues us?" Yu Nian asked urgently.

"It won't," Bai Cheng's silver eyes were sharp. "Only part of its seal is broken; its main body cannot leave the trench.

But it can project its power. We must find the source of the seal, or... find a way to oppose it, before it fully awakens."

The silver train roared. Its thrusters spewed blazing silver flames, tearing through the solidified air as it fled at full speed towards the southeast.

Behind them, within the abyss, those nebula-like giant eyes watched silently, not giving chase.

But a thought, like a clinging shadow, branded itself deep into the souls of all present:

"Run. You cannot escape... No matter where you flee, I will eventually find you."

"When my eight chains are all severed, that will be the time of your sacrifice."

The voice faded, but the sensation of those eyes' gaze lingered like a festering sore, refusing to dissipate.

The train broke through the dark purple firmament, plunging back into the normal night.

Starlight reappeared, the sea wind howled, as if everything moments before had been a collective hallucination.

But inside the cockpit, on the energy monitor, a blood-red marker was firmly locked onto their flight path, blinking incessantly.

It was a tracking mark left by the other party.

"The mark cannot be removed," Leng Ningxue said, her icy eyes somber after several attempts.