The waves were stained with muddy oil.

Zhang Xiaolin's dinghy sailed out of the harbor in the evening when the sky was getting darker, and slowly slid into the murky waters.

The wrought iron statue at the bow of the ship has a windproof lantern hanging from its tentacles, like a lone star in the dark.

She sat in the stern, one hand on the side of the ship, her fingers hanging down to the water, paddling across the grease that floated on the surface, leaving a series of swirling ripples that drifted with the undulation of the blood waves.

"It's barbaric." She muttered, the magic of the cleansing spell running through her fingertips, but unfortunately the greasy stain hadn't been washed away, still clinging to her hand.

"The flesh and blood of the sea beast Leviathan contains powerful magical powers. There is no way to get rid of normal magic. Monsieur Pierre, who sat in the bow of the boat, said mildly. Then he handed out a handkerchief from his bosom.

Zhang Xiaolin took the handkerchief, wiped her fingers, and put the handkerchief in her pocket.

"Wealth touches people's hearts." "In addition, there are disemboweling fish and skinned eels hidden in the water, and this is the time for their feast. ”

Are you afraid my finger will be bitten off? Zhang Xiaolin raised her head and said.

"You can't hold a wand without your fingers."

"You're too worried, Basil."

"My job is to worry about you where you don't bother to worry about it."

"Like the one in Congo?"

"That time—it happened for a reason!" Monsieur Pierre said with some excitement, "I didn't expect the other party's witchcraft to break through my magic. ”

"Just tell me generously, who saved you." Zhang Xiaolin looked at Mr. Basil playfully, "Someone really has no conscience"

“.” Monsieur Pierre blushed and tried to explain, but when he opened his mouth, he did not know where to find a reason, and then he could only fall silent.

Yes—it was because he wasn't good at it, but it's not the same now.

Now he is confident — never — will not hold back.

"Don't have anything to say!" Zhang Xiaolin said proudly, and the boat under him was moving automatically.

There's no way she's really going to be there for a few days.

The day after returning from Lisbon, she and Basil began exploring the surrounding seas.

According to the tips of the townspeople, many strange things happen at night.

That's why they don't sleep at night rowing.

Does anyone think they're dating?

As he spoke, sea fog suddenly rose in the sea ahead.

Unlike the off-white fog of other places.

The mist in front of him took on an eerie lilac color.

"It's coming!" Zhang Xiaolin immediately clenched the folding fan in her hand.

Monsieur Basil Pierre also hurriedly drew his wand from his bosom and waited for it.

The purple mist quickly obscured them.

There is a faint degrading smell in the air, and when you smell it carefully, it feels like a rotten flower, with both fragrance and smell, and the smell is very complex.

Zhang Xiaolin's expression was in a trance for a while, and then she hurriedly stabilized her mind.

She tried to apparition, and found that there was no anti-apparition magic around her, which meant that she could leave whenever she wanted to, and in an instant, she was a little nervous, and she relaxed again.

Mister Basil Pierre also noticed the anomaly, but when he knew that he could leave at any time, he opened his mouth gently, "Don't be afraid - it may be the fog formed by the collapse of the magic of the sea beast Leviathan after its death, and it is similar in some places - such as around some ancient magical ruins, because the concentrated magic makes the surrounding area shrouded in smoke all year round. ”

"Who's afraid." Zhang Xiaolin said stubbornly, "In Daming, this kind of place can be seen everywhere. Chang'an Taixue is even more built in the virtual realm, and I don't know how high it is higher than this fog protection. ”

Monsieur Basil Pierre smiled noncommittally, he knew the gifted girl.

He is known as the best graduate of Chang'an Taixue in the past century. Although she was taught by her master to be humble and cautious, the pride in her bones was still dazzling, and this was what made her lovely, proud, intelligent, and a little evil. As long as you spend time with her, both men and women will be 'captured' by her nature and like her.

Zhang Xiaolin's eyes fell behind him, and through the fog, he saw a huge ship shadow gradually emerging.

"That's?"

It was a very old sailing ship, and it should be a medieval Voyage freighter in the museum.

Old and arrogant. On the wide deck, the faint glow of dozens of hanging lamps outlines the tall masts.

The outer layers of the two reinforced mainmasts are coated with water-repellent caulk, and the carved scales form the shape of a python coiled around them.

At the cracks in the wood, the clumped salt cover glowed silver in the moonlight. Although the sails had been put away, Zhang Xiaolin knew that those sails sewn from silver canvas must be expensive.

The Federation has made a lot of money on this ship. The battering ram-like bow statue is a fanged python forged from the elves' triumph, the magic cannon.

"I don't even remember, it's that big!"

"The Camelot." Basil Pierre said, "The federation actually sent it. ”

It is a research ship used by the Federation to explore the Arctic and South Poles, the sunken Atlantis, the underwater continent of South America, and other legendary ruins.

It's very precious, and it's the only one, and under normal circumstances, they don't want to use it at all.

Because the ship is said to have been built by Merlin during his lifetime, the hull is engraved with countless ancient runes, many of which have been lost, which means that if the ship is slightly damaged, modern wizards cannot repair it.

Who would sail around in antiques without any problems?

The two of them were distracted, and suddenly a figure appeared on the deck.

With a cold face, he lowered his gaze and looked at the two people below.

Basil Pierre and Zhang Xiaolin quietly and directly apparitioned, and the next moment, they appeared on the deck of the Camelot.

"You didn't pay any attention to the federation manual." The man said coldly, "Maybe I should remind you how many people died in the first two wars caused by the obelisk?" Do you need me to pronounce their names one by one? ”

"I don't have to worry if you can't win, you can survive, of course we have no problem." Zhang Xiaolin looked at everything on the deck, not taking Sirius's warning to heart in the slightest.

"Strength?" Sirius continued to grimac, "Do you think you can defeat a Titanan who is a few hundred feet tall, or do you think you can defeat Voldemort?" ”

"If you're not cautious enough, then think about the look on Master's face when he receives your death notice!"

"Alright, Blake." Basil hurriedly stepped forward to interrupt the fight, they really shouldn't have been in the sea at night.

After all, there are wizards in front of him who have experienced the disaster of the obelisk twice, and it is their predecessors, and respecting him is respecting the wizards of the Federation who have paid their lives to sum up their experience.

"We're sorry." "It's also for work, we get information that some anomalies only appear at night," he said. ”

"It's all gone, isn't there no accident." At this time, a young man with a round body and a prosthetic left arm stepped forward with a smile, "Long time no see, Zhang-Basil." ”

"Winston!" Basil stepped forward and gave him a hug, "How are you doing at the French Ministry of Magic?" If you don't come back, join me in the federation. ”

"How do you encourage people to join the federation when you see them?" Zhang Xiaolin also came to Winston, and the two shook hands, "I really doubt that you are a recruiter sent by Dumbledore." ”

"Haha - I'm doing well in France." Winston Norton smiled innocently, "The mentor is back, and so is Mr. Grindelwald, and there is no better time than this." It's just that I don't see Garona, Kent, and Victor often, which is a bit regrettable. ”

"You're shining in your respective posts. Scattered is a starry sky. Zhang Xiaolin praised.

"For the greater good." Winston said with a smile.

Then the three of them got together to talk and laugh.

I didn't take the dangerous sea under my feet seriously.

Sirius remained silent, watching coldly, not caring about the three men.

The federation is probably really short of people.

It's not that there is no one, but there is a lack of experienced and steady people.

It was undeniable that he had read the information of the children in front of him, the oldest was only twenty-two years old, and the youngest had just turned twenty this year.

They are indeed very good, very good, and judging from the information kept by the Federation, the witch from Daming even saw the shadow of Owen and Hermione's future in her resume.

The same genius wizard has a spell that other wizards can only dream of, and can only be spied on even for a lifetime.

But—they didn't understand the horrors of the obelisk, they hadn't faced the gods, and no matter what others described, the mere demagogic power was far beyond most people's imagination.

The use of magic by the gods is completely different from that of the sorcerer, whose spells cannot be compared to the vast, deep, and mysterious works of the gods.

His work is deeper than the deepest trenches.

Sirius pondered, the waves crashing against the hull of the ship, and the purple mist around him did not dissipate.

Even his eyes widened that he couldn't see through the fog, even through a speculum.

All he could see was an ocean, and the water was as dark as ink.

Suddenly, he heard a louder and louder sound, not the hull of a ship.

It was even more dull, like the sound of 10,000 bison stepping on the earth.

At the same time, the surrounding waters became more and more turbulent, converging into a rolling current.

"Collect the sails." Sirius shouted, "Open the sky." ”

Other- About a dozen wizards work together to control the giant ship.

The towering mast shrank rapidly like a deflated balloon.

Then, from the bow and stern, countless pieces of wood seemed to lay the tracks, forming an arc to cover the dome of the sailing ship.

After a while, the ship turned into an oval cocoon.

But those inside can still see outside.

The dome appears to be transparent from the inside out, with faint tree-like streaks.

"That's amazing, what kind of magic is this?" Basil Pierre marveled at in amazement, while the other two looked curiously at the sudden formation of the ship's hull, trying to figure out how it worked.

Sirius didn't have time to pay attention to them.

He looked up into the distance.

The lilac mist had dissipated.

The currents beneath the hull gain an unusually fast speed, increasing by the minute.

Within five minutes, all the sea areas became turbid.

The roughest part of the sea was two or three nautical miles away.

Through the Sky Dome's built-in telescopic function, everyone has already noticed.

The water there split into thousands of rushing streams, undulating and boiling.

A few minutes later, the scene changed dramatically.

Large ribbons of foam are now emerging on the surface of the sea. Mixed with oil stains and unknown fish carcasses, the foam band gradually spread into the distance, and finally joined in a line.

Eventually, it begins to exhibit a swirling rotational motion.

In the blink of an eye, a large vortex had clearly formed.

The diameter is more than half a mile.

The inner wall of the funnel was a smooth, shiny wall of water.

The wall is at an angle of about 45 degrees to the water.

Spun at a dizzying speed and made a terrible sound into the air, half like a scream, half like a roar, and even the majestic waterfall never uttered such a wail to the sky.

The ship trembled, and all sorts of strange shapes of ancient runi appeared on the planks, and the glittering words were exuding vigorous magic, working together to maintain a stable magic.

On deck, the wizard just felt a strong shaking, and then everything calmed down. Some are just a slight tremor.

"Maelstrom?" Basil Pierre stared dumbfounded at the legendary vortex that existed in the mouths of the townsfolk sailors.

He had been surveying the surroundings during the day a few days earlier.

There could be no whirlpools around, and if there were fishing boats, how could those wizards not know where they were?

Only a few sorcerers have taken it to legend.

Basil Pierre asked the experienced wizards who had been fishing here for decades several times, and they learned that the fabled whirlpool seemed to exist in the Tasman Sea, halfway between Tasmaya Road and New Zealand.

However, the closest distance between the two sides is more than 1,500 kilometers.

It is simply wishful thinking that he can complete the search of such a large area of sea in just a few days.

What's more, at this time, it was only an hour before he and Zhang Xiaolin sailed away from Tasmania together.

No matter how fast the magic dinghy is, it won't travel more than twenty kilometers during this time.

It was just a simple magic-powered dinghy. There's no speed to add to it, and they don't have a destination, just a date rowing.

Twenty kilometers!

There are so many fishing boats that come and go every day, how can you not find them?

There are fishing boats at night, too!

"It's a little weird!"

Everyone is aware.

But the currents carried by the huge whirlpool could no longer keep the sailboat out.

"Don't panic!" A wizard roared, "The Camelot is a creation left behind by Archmage Merlin, and it can sail normally in the waters below tens of thousands of feet, where the pressure and destructive power far exceed this vortex. So there could be no danger to us. ”

I have to say, his voice is very useful.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they knew how strong the sailboat was beneath their feet.

And it seems to verify his words.

At this time, the giant ship had already sailed into the whirlpool, and the surrounding sea water slashed at the hull like a long knife, but the giant ship was still stable, without the slightest hint of shaking.

Now—no one doubts the gold content of Merlin's work anymore.

Sirius steadied himself, he had made a fool of all possible measures, there were several portkeys on the sailboat, they were all new products carefully modified by Victor, and they were much more stable and powerful than the usual portkeys that cast spells at will.

Dumbledore even had a replica of an artifact mounted on the ship. It's the one in the room that responds to requests.

If anything happens, he will take everyone and the boat straight back to England.

At this time, the crowd, whose mood had gradually stabilized, looked around with a mixture of awe, fear, and praise.

The giant ship resembles a gecko, looking as if it is hanging from the surface of a large, deep funnel. And if it weren't for the smooth inner wall spinning at an alarming speed, if it weren't for the glittering glow, the surface of the water might have been mistaken for smooth ebony.

High in the sky, the bright moon tilted the silver light into this huge vortex, and the light shone down the dark vortex wall to the bottom of the unfathomable vortex.

But the crowd still couldn't see anything.

Ahead, there seemed to be a layer of dark ink wrapping around the dome.

A magnificent rainbow in the ink, like the legendary rainbow bridge in Asgard. They will be brought with them some of the kingdom of God.

The giant wheel rotated with the vortex wall in circles and circles, followed by a dizzying halo of light swinging.

Looking around, everyone noticed that there seemed to be more than just them in the whirlpool, and there were many more, ranging from ferries and sailboats, to steel fortresses, and even rafts.

Time seems to have gone out of mind here.

There were human beings on the raft, dressed in animal skins and animal clothes, looking like they were thousands of years different from their civilization history.

"I think there's something wrong with it!" Winston Noam muttered, "We seem to have sailed into the flow of time. ”

"I know." Sirius frowned, and immediately ordered, "Prepare to go home." Confirm the coordinates and we'll come back later. ”

After saying that, the wizard in the cabin immediately waved his wand and entered one command after another into the crystal console in front of him.

Immediately after, a golden prayer wheel-like magic prop floated in front of them.

The golden veinings, as well as the inscriptions carved on them, suggest that this is not a European alchemical artifact.

The prayer wheel floating in the air is divided into three layers, the upper, middle and lower, and the golden wall is carved with the sky, the mountains, and the earth.

and complex ancient Chinese character inscriptions.

"Shangri-La?"

Zhang Xiaolin just glanced at it, and recognized the treasure-the treasure of Kunlun Xu's town courtyard, one of the ancient artifacts recognized by the Ministry of Magic of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of chapter)