Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Li Mu carefully examined the strange ship and nodded, "Hmm, it is indeed a Ghost Ship. Who will come with me to explore it?"

Hearing this, Hai Lan'er turned her head to look at Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng knew what her glance meant, so he spoke up, "I haven't sensed any danger."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the Gui Xin Tree eagerly said, "Boss Mu, I'll go with you."

"Count me in." Others didn't want to miss the opportunity and also volunteered one after another.

After everyone made their positions clear, six people simply boarded the ship together.

Once on the ship, the details of their search need not be elaborated upon.

An hour later, everyone left the Ghost Ship and returned to the Da Fu, sharing their respective finds.

Gui Xin wanted to show off the top-grade magical tool and the two Storage Bags he had just found to everyone.

Zhao Sheng didn't care about Gui Xin's show-off act at all.

What he was concerned about now were the two items in Li Mu's hands, the Nautical Gold Plate and a palm-sized White Jade Scroll.

Engraved on the Nautical Gold Plate was a nautical chart, and the importance of the nautical chart was self-evident. In the Shattered Star Sea, the nautical chart is the most precious treasure on a ship.

Zhao Sheng was very patient. He waited for Li Mu to finish looking at the Golden Plate and also waited until he had removed the Jade Scroll from his forehead before taking the opportunity to ask, "Uncle Mu, any findings?"

Li Mu glanced at Zhao Sheng and handed over the Jade Scroll, "See for yourself!"

Zhao Sheng took the Jade Scroll and held it close to his forehead, his spirit probing into it,

"... Mist Sea... Death Flames... Soul Absorption... True Water... Thunder Cloud Storm..."

Zhao Sheng looked pained because too much time had passed, and the imprint of the spirit within the Jade Scroll had mostly dissipated, leaving the information inside fragmented.

After struggling through it once, he only gathered some disjointed information.

"Let me see!"

No sooner had Zhao Sheng removed the Jade Scroll than a delicate pale hand appeared before his eyes.

He handed the Jade Scroll to Hai Lan'er, then fell into deep thought.

Combining his own experiences and the information on the Jade Scroll, Zhao Sheng was certain they were in the Mist Sea.

The Mist Sea is a mysterious sea region just beyond the Shattered Star Sea, enshrouded in fog all year round. Once a ship inadvertently strays into it, very few return alive.

The sea region he was in differed from the typical Mist Sea; it seemed normal during the day, only reverting to the appearance of the Mist Sea at night.

This was one of the reasons they had previously speculated but had not dared to confirm that they had truly fallen into the Mist Sea.

Zhao Sheng wouldn't dwell on why this place differed from other regions of the Mist Sea, only considering how to escape from here.

Escaping from the Mist Sea is difficult, but the Jade Scroll suggested an idea: during a Thunder Cloud Storm, when the fog briefly dissipates, one could take the risk to navigate and strive to break through the Mist Sea.

Navigating under a Thunder Cloud Storm is extremely dangerous.

If it weren't a last resort, it would be best not to try, after all, it is just a conjecture.

In fact, Zhao Sheng had thought of a way to escape, but the conditions did not allow it for now, so he could only temporarily keep it in mind.

While Zhao Sheng was deep in thought, the Jade Scroll had already been passed around the others.

When Li Mu asked for everyone's opinion,

Gui Xin, the biggest gambler, immediately stated his intention to try it no matter what.

Yan Kai and Zou Li both subtly expressed that they should be cautious.

Hai Lan'er had no opinion of her own; she only looked to Li Mu for guidance.

Zhao Sheng finally said, "What's on the Jade Scroll is just a conjecture, and besides, we don't have enough people right now!"

His words immediately awakened everyone.

They only had six people, far from enough to bring out the full power of the Da Fu.

To maximize the capabilities of the Da Fu, they would need at least twenty Cultivators.

After hearing this, Li Mu frowned.

The Gui Xin Tree was extremely disappointed, complaining, "Damn, I don't want to die old on a ship. I haven't even taken a wife or had kids yet!"

Zhao Sheng said, "All we can do now is wait, wait for another Treasure Ship to fall into this place."

As soon as everyone heard this, their spirits were instantly boosted.

That's right!

If another ship came in, they could pool their manpower and that would be enough. Discover exclusive content at empire

Seeing the crew's morale lifted, Li Mu's brows relaxed slightly, but his face still bore an expression full of concerns.

Zhao Sheng noticed this and with a thought, he roughly guessed what the other was thinking.

There wasn't much time left for Li Mu!

After the Ghost Ship incident, the crew's morale surged, and the frequency of the Cloud Boat going out to scout the surroundings immediately increased from once a day to three times a day.

In the first month, morale was high, with three outings a day.

By the third month, morale slightly waned, changing to twice a day.

In the sixth month, morale plummeted, reverting to once a day.

…

Three years later, the reserves of Spirit Stones were nearly gone, the crew's spirits were down, and the task of scouting became a perfunctory chore done with half the effort—going fishing for three days and drying nets for two.

In such circumstances, Zhao Sheng's cultivation quietly advanced to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, the price being that he was sick of eating spirit whale meat.

Over the years, Zhao Sheng often went out to sea to catch prawns, fish, sea beasts, and various other seafood under the pretext of improving the meals.

Having witnessed his extraordinary swimming ability, the crew had long since stopped finding it strange.

As his diving expeditions became more frequent, Zhao Sheng gradually gained a deeper understanding and made more discoveries about this sea area.

He found that as long as he didn't touch the Death Flames on the ocean floor and didn't approach the coral reef too closely, there wasn't much danger here.

Zhao Sheng also discovered that the spiritual acupoint of the Pure Yin Spirit Vein was right beneath the coral reef, and the Ocean Graveyard spanned around the reef with a radius of about three hundred li.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Over these three years, Zhao Sheng clearly noticed that Li Mu was especially concerned about that Pure Yin Spirit Vein,

because Li Mu made no attempt to hide his intentions and had asked Zhao Sheng to take him to the coral reef to investigate multiple times.

But it was just for investigation, Li Mu never took a step beyond the Thunder Pool.

Zhao Sheng knew he was waiting for the right moment.

As for what the moment was…

Three months later, on a certain day, just after a Thunder Cloud Storm had passed,

Hai Lan'er, feeling dejected, stood on the deck, gazing blankly at the sunrise on the horizon.

It is said that women change drastically when they turn eighteen, but the same is true of men.

At twenty years old, Zhao Sheng had grown into a handsome young master with a handsome appearance, a tall figure, and a mature and solid temperament.

So, there are some things that Zhao Sheng can't simply avoid if he wants to.

For example, Hai Lan'er's infatuation with him was so obvious that even a fool could see.

And yet, a certain someone was clueless, always responding in a lackluster way, which made the Gui Xin Tree itch with frustration, wishing he could step in his place.

As the dawn's colors faded and the sun leaped above the sea surface, at the point where the sun and the ocean met at the horizon, suddenly a black dot appeared.

Hai Lan'er's gaze sharpened, she rubbed her eyes to be sure she wasn't seeing things, and upon confirming she was right, her face lit up with ecstasy as she shouted, "A ship! There's a ship coming!"

"What? A ship from where?"

Upon hearing there was a ship, the Gui Xin Tree, in a panic, hurried out of the helm cabin, jumping up and down and looking towards the distance.

Seeing the black dot, he was overjoyed, "It's really a ship!"

Meanwhile, Li Mu, Zhao Sheng, and others also hurried onto the deck, all showing joyful expressions as they watched the approaching sea ship gradually becoming visible in the distance.

Year after year, and another year... they had finally waited for this moment!