Volume 4: Across the Sea
Chapter 364: An Isolated Island and a Huge Ship
‘My head feels heavy!’ This was the first thought that came to Han Li’s mind upon waking up.
After Han Li and Crooked Soul started the transfer, he felt immense pressure from the yellow light enveloping him. But fortunately, the Greater Displacement Medallion promptly released a faint azure light, causing the pressure to immediately disappear at the cost of it wildly draining the spiritual power in his body.
However, Han Li was prepared and wasn’t alarmed. This change caused by the “Greater Displacement Medallion” had been described in ancient records.
In an instant, the medallion stopped absorbing Spiritual Qi and the yellow light around him faded away. He and Crooked Soul had arrived in a dark, indistinct place.
As there was very little light, Han Li was unable to clearly see his surroundings. But based on the silence, there shouldn’t be anyone nearby. Han Li felt relieved and walked out of the spell formation.
But he felt a sudden burst of dizziness after just a few steps. His legs grew soft and he fell on his behind, feeling the urge to vomit from his discomfort. Han Li knew that the long distance teleportation had left him feeling unwell, and the severity of his current discomfort was caused by his low cultivation.
However, now was not the time to deal with it. He quickly commanded Crooked Soul to destroy the transportation formation.
Crook Soul expressionlessly took out the huge silver sword he was previously given and chopped the spell formation into pieces.
When Han Li saw this, he finally relaxed. He then sat on the ground and rested for a moment, eventually adapting to the darkness of the cave.
He had a vague feeling that this room seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago. Not only was it pitch-black, there was also a dense smell of decay. He touched the floor to find a thick layer of dust.
This caused Han Li to feel more at ease. At the very least, nothing dangerous would appear for the time being.
A long while later, Han Li’s feeling of discomfort eventually passed, and he stood up using his hand to support him.
After that, Han Li took out a moonlight stone from his storage pouch and was able to clearly see the room. Just as he had suspected, this place was a stone room that had been uninhabited for a long time. There was nothing of note except for a stone door across from him.
Han Li turned his head to glance at the destroyed transportation formation. After a moment of hesitation, he turned his attention to the door and attempted to forcefully push it open. Much to his surprise, Han Li was able to easily open it.
“This is…” Han Li was astonished.
A huge flight of limestone stairs appeared before him. He slowly turned his gaze upward and saw that there was no end. Just like the room, the stairs also had a layer of dust on them. It was clear that no one had came here for quite some time.
After taking another look back at the room behind him, he discovered that the stone room was actually a small mountain cave.
Han Li pondered for a moment before lightly shaking his head with ridicule. He then slowly climbed up the stairs with Crooked Soul following behind him.
The flight of stairs wasn’t very long. After turning a corner, Han Li was already able to see the exit. A huge mountain rock was blocking the round exit.
Han Li wrinkled his brow and commanded Crooked Soul without the slightest hesitation, “Split it open!” Han Li then took a step to the side.
Crooked Soul moved forward with a large stride and grasped the silver sword above his head. He easily chopped the rock into pieces as if it were soft tofu, allowing blinding sunlight to seep in along with a burst of fresh air.
Han Li took a deep breath in and out.
Ever since he was teleported here, he had held his breath, unwilling to breathe due to the strange scent within the cave. The fresh air was a liberation from the suffocating atmosphere.
However, he was a bit confused as to why the air was moist and had a faintly salty taste. He had never smelled such a unique scent before.
With that question in mind, Han Li walked past Crooked Soul and took a look outside with eyes squinting from the blazing sun.
Han Li was left stunned by what he saw. As far as the eye could see, he saw endless expanse of dark-blue water.
Han Li was lost in amazement for a long while before finally waking up.
‘Could this be the legendary sea?’ Han Li thought with pleasant surprise.
The largest bodies of water Han Li had seen previously were the huge hundred-meter-wide rivers at the Lan Province. He had heard of such a vast, limitless ocean in books, but now that he saw it with his own eyes, he felt a huge shock unlike any other.
After gazing at the scene from above, Han Li lowered his head and thought about his location, revealing some confusion a few moments later.
He was located on a relatively tall cliff and while the bottom of the cliff wasn’t far, it bordered a huge ocean. Waves from the huge ocean repeatedly struck against the reef below.
Stroking his chin, Han Li pondered for a while.
The color of this ocean’s water was entirely different from the description of the endless sea, as it appeared to be the color of a normal sea. It seemed that he had been transported from the Heavenly South Region to the coastline of some unknown region.
Nevertheless, there was nothing that he could recognize here. Being outside of the Heavenly South Region, he felt uncertain and wasn’t able to make out any familiar features in this place.
With that in mind, Han Li didn’t immediately set off on his magic tool. Instead, he closed his eyes and slowly released his spiritual sense to see whether there were any cultivators nearby.
After the time it took to make a cup of tea, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense and revealed a strange expression.
He wordlessly released his Divine Wind Boat. With a flash of light, he soared through the sky without the slightest effort at concealment. After he was about a hundred meters in the air, Han Li stopped and stood at the front of the boat, surveying the scenery around him.
Everything he saw was tinted with deep blue light. The sparkling light of the sea’s rippling waves blurred Han Li’s vision.
He was above an isolated island about six kilometers wide. As for the cliff he flew out of, it was only a small protruding hill on the island.
Han Li stroked his nose and bitterly smiled.
This was truly troublesome! Although there seemed to be no danger here, he was unable to cultivate on this island. The island’s Spiritual Qi was extremely thin.
If he wanted to mature spiritual herbs, he would require a place with adequate Spiritual Qi. Otherwise, the green liquid would be ineffective. In addition, due to the strong spiritual nature of precious spiritual herbs, abundant Spiritual Qi was required. This left Han Li feeling very helpless!
Han Li sailed around the island once through and found that there weren’t any other islands nearby. In addition, this small island had no life aside from mountainous trees and small snakes.
As a result, he could only sigh and return to the cave.
Once he returned, Han Li first slept off his headache without any interruptions. He had previously worked on restoring the formation over many days without sleeping, leaving him completely exhausted. These problems were best tackled after he had slept his fill!
With Crooked Soul guarding him, Han Li slept soundly for an entire day.
Once he woke up, Han Li stood alone atop the mountain and stared at the sea while lost in thought.
After an unknown amount of time, Han Li expressionlessly flew down the mountain and found a suitably sized stone to block the cave.
Then, with Crooked Soul on board, he circled the vicinity on his boat and confirmed the direction of the setting sun before flying off without hesitation.
Han Li guessed that since there was nobody on the island with the transportation formation, there must be some other island or land nearby. Otherwise, who would head out to the middle of nowhere and construct such an expensive Ancient Transportation Formation.
Naturally, Han Li didn’t know which direction was correct. He had already decided to fly in this direction for several days. If there were no traces of any cultivators or mortals, he would go back and fly in a different direction.
Although this method was extremely clumsy, it was Han Li’s only choice in this unfamiliar sea. In any case, he had plenty of spirit stones in his storage pouch; he didn’t have to worry about running out of spiritual power.
Perhaps Han Li’s luck was especially good that day, he only had to fly for half a day before finding a huge seafaring ship.
Han Li was delighted. After all, dealing with mortals would be much smoother compared to negotiating with cultivators!
But Han Li felt a bit baffled upon looking at the huge ship. The hull of the ship strangely had no mast or sails. At the ship bow, there were over ten huge fish quickly pulling the ship forward.
Although these fish had huge bodies and a mouth filled with sharp teeth, he felt that they didn’t possess the slightest Spiritual Qi and weren’t demonic beasts by any measure. If this were not the case, Han Li wouldn’t have dared to go near the ship.