Chapter 239

Chapter 239: The Mechanized Warship and the Wave Breaking Cone

After a brief inspection of the ship, Li Hui found no danger and whistled for Chef Zhao and Huo Qiniang to come aboard.

When Ao Chongguang approached, the crew finally understood how this young master had caught up to the mechanized warship. A massive sea beast appeared, resembling the legendary dragon beast. Even more astonishingly, in a flash of white light, the dragon beast vanished.

Li Hui played with speed; his attacks were quick! No one could match his pace, leading others to take blows without retaliation.

Chef Zhao squatted beside the old man’s corpse, pinching his nose as he rummaged through pockets, periodically flashing a smile at Huo Qiniang. “Don’t worry, I’ll wash my hands thoroughly before cooking later. Hehe, I often do this kind of work on Wan Nest Island; it’s been a while, so I’ll have to be extra careful.”

“Can someone take me to the bottom of the ship?” Li Hui called out, and a diligent crew member quickly stepped forward, answering, “Young master, our mechanized warship was stolen from the Minghai Gate by the master and the second master. That old man was surnamed Wen; I heard he offended a powerful demon cultivator on Nanhuan Island and needed to flee. When we encountered each other, everything fell into place. Before, we traded between islands, sometimes seizing beauties and treasures along the way. We happened to encounter a mirage snail, and the master and the second master planned to blackmail the goods being transported, intending to claim the ship was wrecked…”

“Stolen?” Li Hui was slightly taken aback.

“Hehe, of course it was stolen.” The crew member grabbed an ever-burning lamp from the side of the staircase, illuminating the path ahead. “The Minghai Gate robs others; I don’t even know where they got this warship. They haven’t added any weapons yet. The elders inside can’t be bothered to invest more, so they just let it drift on the secret waters. Many disciples from the Minghai Gate like to take advantage of others, but the master and the second master aren’t Minghai Gate members; they seized the opportunity to sneak it out.”

“The Daling Dynasty is chaotic enough; it seems the seas are even crazier than the land,” Li Hui stated, suddenly stopping. He poked a box set in the corridor, asking, “What’s in this box?”

“In response to the young master, the box contains the goods we are transporting this trip. I heard that they can be refined into alchemical pills. The master and the second master pulled a fast one on their guarantors, but it’s reasonable to use the mirage snail tide as an excuse!”

Li Hui was not particularly interested in that and followed the crew member down to the ship’s bottom, where he saw many gears and linkages. In the center stood an Eight Trigrams stone platform.

“This is the spot. Every hour, we need to use three spiritual shells for operation. If we want to sail at full speed, we heard it requires ten spiritual shells,” the crew member pointed at the Eight Trigrams stone platform.

Spiritual shells were palm-sized shells that contained spiritual energy and could assist in cultivation, making them equal to Miao Jade for overseas cultivators. Li Hui never expected that the mechanized warship beneath his feet would run on spiritual shells.

He began to feel sympathy for the two brothers who stole this ship; no wonder they resorted to deceit—they clearly had a losing asset, as the faster the ship went, the more it cost.

“Tell the crew to navigate against the current; I want to try sailing at full speed,” Li Hui commanded, and the crew member rushed outside to relay the orders without hesitation.

Once the crew member left, Li Hui tapped his forehead, causing three purple crystals to fly out. Letting the cloud energy guide them, they floated onto the Eight Trigrams platform, releasing a large amount of spiritual energy. The Eight Trigrams stone platform began to spin like a grinding wheel, speeding up with each rotation.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

The surrounding gears accelerated, and the linkages creaked. Li Hui couldn’t help but furrow his brow, thinking to himself, “These idiots! They’ve had this mechanized warship for a long time and haven’t performed even a single maintenance session. They have cool oil sitting in the lower cabin, yet they don’t even know to apply it to reduce wear!”

With no other choice, Li Hui used the Cloud-Brush Dragon Claw Technique to perform maintenance himself. After lubricating the gears and linkages, the speed increased by at least 20%.

The ship’s tail paddles spun, pushing the vessel forward.

Li Hui roughly estimated that sustaining the mechanized warship at full speed would cost five low-grade Miao Jade shells every hour. That amounted to sixty shells per day; a few days could be manageable, but over time, that would be unbearable.

In fact, this mechanized warship was called the “Wave Breaking Cone,” a recent development in the surrounding waters. The speed was impressive, but the excessive consumption made it unwieldy. Even if the brothers hadn’t stolen it, it would have gradually rotted away in the secret waters, unfit for anyone’s use.

“Wave Breaking Cone?” Half an hour later, Li Hui learned the name from the crew while also receiving several bags of spiritual shells from them.

With these shells, they wouldn’t even last five days at full speed. So, by day, this ship would be the Wave Breaking Cone, and by night, it would transform into a ghost ship. They had initially wanted to avoid the mirage snails by speeding through, but the brothers changed their plan to sail upstream vigorously against the current, aiming for Paifeng Island.

Li Hui invested a large amount of resources, using all the spiritual shells, and topped it off with purple crystals. Aside from performing maintenance every three days, they maintained continuous full-speed sailing otherwise.

In the beginning, the days felt quite enjoyable—he had Ao Chongguang catch some big fish to satisfy their appetites, lay on the deck to sunbathe, and help the crew raise and lower the sails, even shooting at oblivious sea birds with crossbows. However, after ten days, Li Hui grew bored, spending time eating the fruits from the Clear Spirit Cloud Tree to strengthen himself. Meanwhile, Chef Zhao and Huo Qiniang were busier than ever.

What were they so busy with?

Chef Zhao was focused on culinary delights, while Huo Qiniang busied herself with managing the crew. Li Hui’s arrival brought some benefits; all the cargo and food on the ship was stored in a Bamboo Box, making the space feel much more spacious. Furthermore, he used a few artifacts, drawing hundreds of Sheng Dou talismans.

These Sheng Dou talismans could store sunlight, providing three days and nights of illumination.

Light dispelled darkness, brightening the ship’s cabin, and with the Nine-Tier Lotus Platform purifying both above and below, not a trace of shadow could linger.

These changes unified everyone aboard the Wave Breaking Cone. Coupled with Li Hui’s generous demeanor and indifference towards the black shells and purple shells, paying them proper wages according to their duties delighted the crew.

After twenty days of travel, the crew’s spirits transformed drastically. Under Huo Qiniang’s guidance, they started to view themselves as servants.

Those who performed well were rewarded with alchemical pills from Huo Qiniang, allowing them to test their cultivation potential. This opportunity was far too rare, and everyone began to actively perform, polishing the deck until it shone and painting large “Li” characters on the sails.

Two crew members who had previously worked as blacksmiths took courage and approached Li Hui with suggestions. They proposed embedding hollow metal at the base of the mast and the ship’s sides, which would not only be aesthetically pleasing but also provide protection.

“Hmm?”

After the two reminded him, Li Hui suddenly remembered that the Flying Kite Sect combined mechanical art and talismans to yield many unexpected effects. Since he had time on his hands, he thought it would be best to design a talisman formation for the Wave Breaking Cone! It should help reduce consumption and enhance speed.

When one gets busy, time passes incredibly quickly.

While flipping through miscellaneous books related to mechanical arts, he began to ponder the internal structure of the mechanized warship, designing corresponding talisman formations.

Despite the current inapplicability of talisman-making, purely focusing on design would not be an issue.

Li Hui had experience in designing Heavenly and Earthly Arrays and sought to make the talisman formations perfect, which took longer than expected. When he finally snapped back to reality, over a month had already passed.