Chapter 1704: Endless Sea

Chapter 1688: The Endless Sea

Bai Ziqi’s fleet had been drifting on the Endless Sea for a full ten days.

All around was the vast, clear, glistening, endlessly undulating sea.

The view of the sky meeting the sea, with vast misty waves, was magnificent, but after ten days, it became tiresome. So far from shore, there wasn’t a single seabird; only the solitary ships and themselves remained between heaven and earth.

At this point, one could only sigh, "Oh, sea, you are all water."

There was nothing but water. Everyone could only lie on the deck, sunbathing and yawning, utterly bored. Occasionally, a mouse would emerge from the cabin, and the entire crew would chase it around for several laps.

Bai Shiqi stretched, exhaling a puff of white mist.

By this time, the country of Yao was already in full spring bloom, with peaches and plums flourishing in Tianshui City, oblivious to human sorrow.

However, at the far end of the Glimmering Gold Continent, the distant North Sea was still howling with cold winds, showing no signs of warming.

It wouldn't get slightly warmer here until mid-June, and two months later, in mid-August, snow would begin to fall again, and temperatures would drop.

The freezing cold made it unsuitable for human habitation.

Nevertheless, the northern ports were now unfrozen, allowing ships to sail. Bai Shiqi spent a fortune hiring eighteen large sea vessels, loading everyone aboard, and setting sail.

After more than a month of thorough preparation, the team Bai Ziqi took to sea numbered over three thousand, comparable to a small army.

He was aboard the main vessel, the largest, most luxurious, and reportedly the steadiest. Yet, even the boatman, who had sailed for over twenty years, had never personally been to the Inverted Sea, only heard similar legends.

“My family has been sailors for three generations. About seventy years ago, my great-grandfather hired a sailor who claimed to be from a place called Silver Pearl Island, located in the Inverted Sea. Many humans lived on the island, supposedly descendants of fishermen whose ancestors encountered a storm at sea, were swept onto Silver Pearl Island, and settled there. When this sailor was thirteen or fourteen, he secretly took a boat out to play, but he accidentally drifted out of the Inverted Sea with the current and could never return.”

The boatman added, “He worked on my great-grandfather’s ship, hoping that one day he might find the Inverted Sea and return home.”

Someone asked, “So, did he ever go back in the end?”

“No, he died of old age in An Port, and was later buried in the pauper’s grave near the port.”

Bai Shiqi then asked, “Are there immortals on Silver Pearl Island?”

“How did you know?” the boatman asked in surprise. “He said yes, there are.”

“What kind of immortals?”

“Oh, I forgot,” the boatman said awkwardly. “Actually, I never met him; my father heard it from my great-grandfather.”

Just then, Bai Shiqi’s Candle Spirit appeared, pointing northwest.

Off course, the ship was veering. “Turn the rudder, quickly!”

The boatman didn’t know the principle behind their directional commands, but the one paying was the boss, so he had no objections. The group looked formidable and clearly not to be trifled with, possessing supernatural abilities. Moreover, this was a massive fleet, so the boatman dared not entertain any ill intentions.

Bai Ziqi glanced back, seeing sails fluttering across the sea, the ocean-going fleet quite spectacular.

Besides the forces Bai Ziqi brought with him, all the others were troops of Miaozhantian.

This main deity held great power in the Glimmering Gold Plain, with followers as numerous as clouds. Although Bai Ziqi first tracked down the clues for capturing the Illusory Immortal and only sought her help midway, Miaozhantian immediately issued a divine decree, gathering her elite forces from Glimmering Gold and dispatching this powerful lineup.

Not to mention their hidden powers and trump cards, there were over a hundred demons under her command. The elite forces from Tianshui City’s temple, by contrast, only carefully selected sixty people. The rest came from the three tribes in the central and north-central Glimmering Gold Plain — Luodian, Kasha, and Longye — who worshipped Miaozhantian. Every one of them was a seasoned fighter with extremely firm beliefs.

The goddess’s help was so selfless that Bai Ziqi appeared humble and awed, but deep down, he understood the true situation.

Capturing the Illusory Immortal this time was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Miaozhantian!

The current turmoil and delicate situation in the divine realm made Miaozhantian determined to seize this opportunity exclusively.

She had to capture Illusory Immortal, no matter the cost.

Although confronting an ancient true immortal carried immense risk, the rewards, if successful, would be incredibly rich.

Even Miaozhantian could not resist such temptation and placed a heavy bet.

However, since she was so generous, Bai Ziqi felt the heavy burden on his shoulders greatly lightened, allowing him to devote more energy to the objective.

The next day, before dawn, while everyone was still asleep, they heard the on-duty guards and the boatman shouting:

“Wake up, wake up! Storm ahead!”

When sailing at sea, no two words were more terrifying than “storm.” Everyone’s drowsiness was instantly gone; they got up, put on their boots, and hurried onto the deck.

Bai Shiqi had previously accompanied Bai Ziqi to the North Sea and encountered a super storm where the ship almost sank, making him vomit all his bile.

This time, hearing “storm” again, everyone felt lingering fear.

In fact, as soon as they woke, they sensed something was wrong; the ship was rocking violently. Once on deck, they felt the wind roaring, and those of lighter weight quickly hugged the pillars, fearing they would be blown away.

“Storm!” the boatman stammered, pointing straight ahead. “Storm... wall!”

Bai Shiqi looked, and on the horizon, there seemed to be a greyish-yellow storm wall, reaching from the sky to the sea. Dark clouds rolled in the sky, hiding something that pressed heavily down on the sea surface, inspiring a suffocating dread in observers.

“To see it from this far, this storm circle is huge!” the boatman’s expression was grim. “I’ve been sailing for twenty or thirty years, and this is the first time I’ve seen such a terrifying storm.”

Bai Ziqi stood at the bow, observing the storm, then stepped back two paces and said, “Sail towards it.”

He Xiao’s hint was indeed true; it helped him calculate the precise location of the Inverted Sea!

This was the first time Bai Ziqi had encountered such a reliable opponent.

With such a storm moving around on the sea, Bai Ziqi would not have found it without help. Moreover, the Illusory Immortal’s cave dwelling was only open for ten days; no entry after that.

“Huh?” The boatman knew they were looking for the Inverted Sea and had secretly chuckled over the past ten days, feeling perfectly justified in earning such a large sum from these crazy people.

Who knew they would actually encounter it!

At this moment, the boatman began to have cold feet.

“Sirs, this storm is moving much faster than the ships. If we get close, we’ll be instantly smashed to pieces!”

Earlier, the fleet seemed magnificent, but now, in front of the storm, they were just a dozen tiny specks.

Bai Ziqi didn’t bother to speak. Bai Shiqi pressed a dagger against the boatman’s lower back: “If you don’t obey, you can go feed the fish in the sea right now.”

The boatman had no choice but to obediently turn the rudder.

Only then did Bai Ziqi say to him, “You won’t die, don’t worry.”

The boatman didn’t believe that assurance, but circumstances were against him, and the knife in Bai Wei’s hand was quick and sharp.