Chapter 250

Chapter 250: Swift Speed

Integrating into the small circle of Blue Moon Island granted Li Hui the qualification to borrow from the bank, but joining the sea area Merchant Alliance still felt far away!

The hull of the Wave Breaking Cone bore the Longde Bank logo, transformed into one of the bank’s merchant ships. It surged out from Blue Moon Island, riding the wind and waves, moving ever faster.

“Ha ha ha, the boss is about to explode with excitement!” Chef Zhao stood on the deck, holding his straw hat, laughing at the bank’s stationed practitioner. “Long Yun! Feel the charm of the Wave Breaking Cone! Our boss pursues perfection; speed and passion! We must reach Aofeng Sect within twenty days—there’s no such thing as fast enough!”

“Twenty days?” The practitioner sent by the bank smiled, clearly skeptical.

At that moment, two loud bangs resounded, and a rainbow light shot out from the ship’s stern as the crew hurriedly lowered the sails.

Mechanically designed fins unfolded from both sides of the ship, lifting it a whole yard high, keeping the waterline at an impressively low level. Surrounding the fins were spirit talismans spinning around; many other talismans emerged from the bow and stern, creating a buzzing sound beneath their feet as the ship started to accelerate.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

A tremendous pressure of wind arose on the deck, causing the crew to panic and scurry below deck, fearing a hurricane would sweep them away.

Suddenly, the entire ship glowed with a green light as if covered with large shield-like scales. The howling of the wind intensified, signaling further acceleration.

“Is this really possible? The speed of flying on a sword at the Condense Essence Stage,” Long Yun gasped in shock, feeling both envious and jealous. He thought, “How many spirit talismans and spiritual shells must be used for this? It’s clear that youth doesn’t guarantee reliability; pursuing speed at any cost makes sense as to why the teacher gave such a high rating.”

To be honest, Li Hui found the speed still lacking! He was currently writing at a pace nine times faster, occasionally incinerating the green feathers into ashes with a pale blue flame, using the talisman ink to write.

“Lightening Feather Talisman! Talismans ready, talismans ready, failure…”

“Not effective; I can only reach Nine Patterns. I need the Nine Patterns Three Exotics Lightening Feather Talisman and the Swift Wind Treading Cloud Talisman—time to use fragments of treasures!”

On the second day of their journey, Long Yun was astonished to discover another talisman formation had appeared, suddenly boosting the ship’s speed by thirty to forty percent. This kid named Li Yingjun was truly a speed fanatic.

Fast? There’s no room for slow!

Li Hui continued his efforts. On the fourth day, he ignited a larger talisman formation, tens of thousands of spirit talismans gleaming under the influence of spiritual energy. Once activated, the Wave Breaking Cone barely skimmed the ocean’s surface with only a small section touching the water, while the rest floated freely, instantly doubling its speed—a truly remarkable pace.

After that, even Long Yun didn’t dare to leave the cabin; if not for the protective talisman formation supporting the mast, it would have surely snapped under the furious winds.

The burly Zhong Yuan and the young Jin Feng took turns using scouting talismans, giving early warnings of impending danger. Whether facing sea beasts or pirates, they would zoom past before they could even react.

When Aofeng Island came into view, Long Yun finally realized that when they set sail, the chubby boy’s estimate of twenty days was extremely conservative—only eighteen days had passed since leaving Blue Moon Island, and they had reached their destination!

Aofeng Island was notoriously filled with poisons, and Aofeng Sect specialized in poison crafting. Li Hui thought this place was great and decided to dock for two days to gather some toxins for Ao Chongguang.

Long Yun reminded him, “Please instruct the crew to refrain from wandering around; Aofeng Sect is fraught with dangers, and safety is only ensured within the harbor market.”

“Ah-ha? When has our boss ever feared poison?” Chef Zhao chuckled, tapping a cooking knife against a ladle. “Dinner’s ready; let’s feast while docked! We’ve had some idiots vomiting every day. How can you get seasick running a ship, you guys are an embarrassment.”

“It’s too fast; we can’t adapt.” The crew’s faces turned green in discomfort, unable to hold back their complaints. “The rough sea wind is simply too much! Fat Chef, we’re just commoners—we can’t handle this!”

“The boss is improving the talisman formations and is close to finishing; we’ll be even faster then.”

“Faster?” The crew imagined it and rushed to the side to vomit.

Li Hui stepped out from the cabin and said, “Disperse the crew, letting them stay on Aofeng Island until the next ship arrives. The Wave Breaking Cone will continue to increase its speed; we must sacrifice stability—those without cultivation will faint from it.”

“Please take us with you! We’re not afraid of hard work!” Most of the crew members wanted to stay because there was a chance to become practitioners on the ship.

“Come and go as you wish! Practitioners leaving will receive a hundredfold severance payment.” Li Hui decided to let go of some people, wanting to increase ship speed; every bit of weight was a burden. Even practitioners who could be sacrificed would be. He had already informed Qiniang to offer generous rewards; only those who could handle the rewards were true friends.

Hearing about the compensation given by the ship’s owner, many people were tempted, reflecting on the hardships they endured recently.

“Let’s go! Let’s take a look around the island.” Li Hui took Zhong Yuan and Jin Feng and floated away.

These two were quite interesting: one was particularly dull, and the other was overly timid. However, when it came to cultivation, Li Hui couldn’t help but feel envious and jealous of them!

Zhong Yuan took just twenty days to sense spiritual energy and activate his Spirit Motion mark. Jin Feng was slightly slower but had also activated his mark in the past few days, both soon to join the middle tier—such talent would earn them the rank of inner sect successors in Dalong and true disciples in the Jade Symbol Sect.

In no time, the three arrived at a huge archway marked Tianyuan Street.

Looking ahead, a wide street, a hundred zhang long, split Aofeng Island in half. The left side was eerie and frightening, with a wraith-like fog spreading menacingly, while numerous poisonous creatures lurked on the black trees, watching the street from afar. The right side flourished with plants illuminated by brilliant lights, with brightly colored birds and beasts puffing out colorful mists, which were, in fact, also toxins.

Li Hui scanned the area and remarked, “The left is filled with dark poison, and the right is bright poison—Embrace the Yin and hold onto the Yang. Within the bright poison lies dark poison, and within the dark poison lies bright poison.”

Jin Feng, being timid, trembled at the sight of those towering black trees standing behind the shops; Zhong Yuan observed intently.

Everyone has their own karma and shouldn’t be forced. Li Hui smiled slightly and walked forward.

“Hey, where did you come from?” Just before stepping onto the long street, a beautifully carved little girl emerged from behind the archway, looking down her nose at Li Hui as if discovering something amusing.

“From Blue Moon Island, a traveling merchant,” Li Hui glanced around and pointed at himself, saying, “With so many people, why do you only ask me? Is it because you think I’m handsome? Step back; I’m not interested in little girls.”

“Hehe, little brat, you seem to be younger than me, yet you dare to…” Just then, someone shouted, “Qing’er, where are you running off to?”

“Oh no!” The girl, almost the same height as Li Hui, suddenly transformed and dived into Ao Chongguang’s Mysterious Water Pearl, secretly transmitting to him, “What are you waiting for? Hurry and run! If my big sister catches you, you’ll be in trouble. Oops, there’s a little demon snake in here!”

Li Hui was secretly astonished; what kind of cultivation did this girl have? How could she possibly dive into the Mysterious Water Pearl? And her speed was incredible.

Before long, a woman in a dark shirt appeared, stopping under the archway and scanning the surroundings. The waves of her Strong Spiritual Sense spread rapidly. Li Hui acted as if nothing happened, passing right in front of her while politely stepping aside, leading Zhong and Jin Feng toward the spirit talisman pavilion…