Antler coral and black sponges crowded the underwater entrance. Pei Jing slipped through the crack fifty fathoms below the surf, then followed the ramp until his head broke the surface of a pool under the island.
Dry air filled the dome. Water dripped from stalactites into the dark pool. Pei Jing hauled himself out onto a granite terrace.
The chamber had a narrow air chimney high above the pool. He left it clear and set a small warning ward at its base. Then he rolled two five-ton boulders across the submerged mouth where the ramp opened into the pool. Eight feet of stone and another ward stood between his mat and anything that found the passage from the sea.
He spread his wet robe on a boulder and set the star-iron blocks nearby. Their violet light reached the stone where he would train.
He rested until he could stand without holding his side. For the next three days he worked through his usual two-hour sessions, stopping after each one to check that the wound hadn’t opened again. On the last day, he set out one of the bronze flasks of Leviathan Marrow Oil, a bowl of sea salt, and three cups of spring water. The oil carried enough water qi to hurt even a Foundation Establishment cultivator who took too much at once.
