Chapter 278

Chapter 278: Passing Three Barriers

The Wave Breaking Cone plunged into the black hurricane, creating a large grid on the ship’s hull to withstand the terrifying black wind.

“I only have two incense sticks’ worth of time. If I can’t get through the black wind, it’s destruction for both the ship and crew in the blink of an eye,” Li Hui stated, channeling his profound skills. A golden Ideal Body appeared behind him, dazzling talisman light flickered at his feet. With a powerful thud, he combined himself with the formation, the formation with the ship, merging his techniques with the configuration of the ship.

“Boom…” The side of the ship scraped against a clump of black fish eggs, causing an immediate explosion that sprayed bright white light, a stark contrast within the black wind.

“Go!” Li Hui merged with the formation and steered the Wave Breaking Cone to weave through. The stacked layers of talisman formations enhanced its power, making it more sophisticated than his own Ideal Body, transforming him into a lightly flickering shadow that appeared and vanished.

The ship flickered, seemingly disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere. Occasionally, fish eggs would explode, yet when schools of fish rushed in, the true source remained unseen.

In mere moments, countless spirit talismans turned to ashes, but Li Hui remained undistracted, waving his hands and extending an unseen silver light.

“Hurry, faster!”

“Bang, bang, bang, bang…” The bow of the ship exploded in a myriad of lights as fish eggs swirled in the black wind. Despite the mystery of the Ideal Body, its sheer size made it an unavoidable target.

Even so, Li Hui remained unaffected, continuously increasing his speed.

To move through the black wind sea area, he could not tell how many Five-Color Fortune Coins he had used, crossing thousands of miles in an instant. If he could maintain this astonishing speed, even the Hongmo Sect wouldn’t catch up. But the speeds couldn’t last; halfway through, he began to slow, and danger approached.

The sound of breaking air echoed as fish schools surged forward.

The black wind fish were as long as an adult’s thigh and as thick, spreading their fins like flying kites, gliding effortlessly with the wind. The most terrifying aspect was their numbers; tens of thousands swept in waves, turning the Wave Breaking Cone into a frail boat in comparison.

These black wind fish formed a natural formation, the power immense and unimaginable, giving anyone who looked a prickle at the scalp and a pounding heart.

If these had been ordinary fish, releasing the Yin-Yang Nine Heads would have sufficed; no matter their numbers, they would all perish. But it was clear even at a glance that these fish were immune to Azure Sky evil energy. Over time, they had likely absorbed the malice into their very souls. If one were to carelessly bite into them, it would not be them that perished, but rather the Yin-Yang Nine Heads.

“Faster, faster, faster…” Li Hui appeared deranged, hair disheveled, feet moving with Daoist steps, fingers flying. He sent thousands of blood lights soaring from the ship, unleashing Blood Ignition Talismans, Exotic Blood Talismans, Failing Blood Talismans, Unceasing Blood Flow Talismans, Blood Mouth Spitting Talismans, and Blood Rain Stinking Wind Talismans, causing chaos among the fish schools and seizing the opportunity to break free.

Li Hui had transformed the Wave Breaking Cone into a large artifact; if he was willing to spend, the explosive power unleashed in a short time could hardly be described in words.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom…” The sky darkened, yet he aimed straight ahead, charging through.

The black hurricane intensified, creating immense binding forces. Although the black wind fish glided freely, any foreign object crossing into their domain would feel as if bound with ropes.

At first, it was manageable, but as time dragged on and they advanced, loud cracks echoed from outside the ship, and thick black lines appeared, shifting from illusion to reality.

“Shake!” Li Hui bet everything; dozens of strategically placed talisman formations erupted, rotating to emit a green light, causing the outer defense of the ship to suddenly break apart, as if shedding a layer of shell, freeing themselves from the grip of the black lines.

The Wave Breaking Cone shot out like a Golden Cicada Shelling, regaining its speed with a rush.

Having paid a great price, he finally broke free from the black hurricane, and Li Hui collapsed in exhaustion. Supported by Chef Zhao and Huo Qiniang, he returned to the cabin to recover, knowing he wouldn’t be able to steer the ship for three days.

Si Ma Suiyun took over the ship’s operations, continuing to speed through the skies.

By the afternoon of the fourth day, the Wave Breaking Cone approached a strange ocean area, full of towering dead trees twisting upwards, exuding a green miasma.

Ahead lay a vast expanse of water similar to a swamp; this was the second checkpoint, the Toxic Forest Swamp.

Before the ship could get closer, the sound of flapping wings approached—it was invisibility bats, not only stealthy but also dangerously toxic.

“Let me take care of this,” Su Qing’er asserted, stepping forward to assume defense. She leaped onto the drum on the bow, producing a buzzing sound as numerous fist-sized toxic bees emerged from her line of sight, each with three to five poisonous needles on their tails.

What followed was a fierce battle of toxins; Ao Chongguang swam to the stern and stretched out to grab the bats, devouring them with large bites.

The whole ocean was filled with towering dead trees, making mobility challenging; they could only attack little by little.

The war nest drum gifted by the Aofeng Sect played a crucial role, battling the toxic bats, toxic woodworms, toxic dart frogs, and toxic water weasels as they fought from noon into the night, and then from nightfall until dawn, yet they still hadn’t escaped the Toxic Forest Swamp.

When the sun rose high, the toxic bees encountered a colorful poisonous insect.

Even the toxic bees couldn’t withstand this; though they exhausted their needles, they still couldn’t stop the poison bugs. The vibrant toxic light flooded toward the bow, and the war nest drum cracked, on the verge of destruction.

“What a fearsome bug!” Su Qing’er shouted as she faced the poison light, summoning a large cauldron artifact, eight holes emitting a hollow sound, spraying blinding white light to clash against the toxic light.

“Quickly, we need to leave; more poisonous insects are coming. Don’t worry about the cauldron.”

“Boom, boom, boom…” They left the cauldron behind to attract the poison bugs as Si Ma Suiyun hurriedly steered the ship to flee. At that moment, Li Hui was in the cabin making talismans, pouring all his focus into it and unable to lend his attention elsewhere.

Was the second checkpoint difficult? Compared to the third one, it wasn’t even a scratch.

The final checkpoint was truly challenging; it was a sea trench spanning who knows how many thousands of miles, rising into the Azure Sky layer, creating a magnetic force that pushed the sea waters aside. Hundreds of large islands hovered, occupied by powerful spiritual beasts and strange beasts, along with scattered smaller islands, generating the barriers of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind.

Every decade, there might be one or two openings in this dire region, and traveling in a fleet could allow passage, but during this season, it was far too dangerous to attempt.

Su Qing’er sacrificed three artifacts to restrain the poisonous insects, narrowly escaping their pursuit. Looking down at the war nest drum, she found even the frame was rotting, and not a single bee remained alive, causing her to stomp her feet in frustration, “Damn it! The myriad poison techniques were ineffective; no wonder Grandma said the outside world is dangerous. Aren’t these just hybrids of several poison insects? How could they be this powerful? I need to study this properly.”

The Wave Breaking Cone continued moving forward, and Li Hui was at a critical moment in talisman-making.

Inside the cabin, colors flowed, and the sounds of crackling explosions echoed as the talisman brush sparked a brilliant torrent; each stroke drained all his inner spiritual energy, prompting him to quickly extract spiritual energy from the treasure cabinet to replenish what he had lost.

Li Hui, displaying his youthful brilliance, focused all his mind for a second stroke. The prayer beads around his neck emitted thin green smoke, constantly repairing his spirit.

The beads swayed unpredictably, echoing a sorrowful sob, “Waa, what a loss! I knew this would happen; having not cultivated spiritual sense, forcing myself to draw those signifying earth-shattering talismans with principles, I’m definitely going to be in trouble.”