The coral cave's bioluminescence faded behind them as Lin Tian led the group into the trench's throat.
The water changed.
It pressed harder, denser, like walking into a wall that kept pushing back. Lin Tian felt it in his ears, his chest, the spaces between his bones. But the Abyssal Lung passive kicked in, and his body adjusted.
He could breathe.
Not through gills or magic bubbles, but through the bond itself. The water entered his lungs, and his lungs treated it like air. The pressure stopped being a threat and became just another sensation.
Xueya touched her throat, eyes wide.
"This is strange," she said, her voice carrying through the water as if it were air. "I can speak. I can breathe. But I feel the weight."
"Don't fight it," Lin Tian said. "Let the bond do the work."
Su Lan swam forward, her movements fluid and practiced. "I've trained in underwater environments before, but nothing like this. The pressure alone would crush a normal cultivator."
