Chapter 277

Chapter 277: Swift Sailing

“Buzz, buzz, buzz…”

In the distance, a buzzing sound echoed, and almost at the same moment, a slender ship appeared ahead.

Swiftly, and there was no need for further elaboration!

In just two hours, the Wave Breaking Cone had left the range of the Thousand Islands, racing south at breakneck speed.

Indeed, it was flying.

Each hour saw a large amount of spiritual shells invested to maintain speed, while Li Hui consumed artifact fragments and made the most of the limited talismans and talisman ink at his disposal, preparing Zhong Yuan and Jin Feng to switch talismans in the formation at any moment.

From day to night, they not only did not pause to rest but instead accelerated crazily.

Speed was life; Li Hui firmly remembered Ruan Mingjun’s advice: "Not insane, not alive."

“Go rest. Tomorrow at noon, we will reach the Great Kun Sea. There is a giant fish with flying capabilities, and you need to maintain the talisman formation and operate the bomb launcher,” Li Hui instructed.

The crew felt a chill; they had never seen this side of their master. To them, he was always elegant and relaxed, but now, he was bare to the waist, resembling a ship’s captain ready for action.

“What are you still doing? Go to the cabin and rest,” Huo Qiniang shouted, snapping everyone out of their trance.

“Crack, crack, crack…” Dark clouds gathered in the distance, lightning flashed, and Li Hui released Ao Chonglin, saying, “Here’s extra food; hurry and boost your strength.”

“Hungry, hungry, hungry!”

Ao Chonglin coiled around the mast and eagerly gazed at the lightning and thunder.

Before long, the Wave Breaking Cone plunged into a storm, the sounds of wind and rain howling filled the air, and the sky lit up with flashes of lightning. Ao Chonglin raised its head to devour the energy, emitting a dragon’s roar.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom…”

Terrifying thunder ricocheted around the ship; this storm was fierce, yet Ao Chonglin, being foolish, tried hard to attract lightning.

Li Hui paid it no mind, focusing on controlling the talisman formation to shield the ship from the elements.

Not until dawn did the Wave Breaking Cone finally pass through the storm. Ao Chonglin, once slender, now appeared plumper than Chef Zhao. It blinked and struggled towards Li Hui, then suddenly burped, sending a bolt of electricity shooting from its mouth, nearly shattering the helm.

“Back you go!” Li Hui quickly sent the creature back into the Mysterious Water Pearl, unleashing hundreds of Hundred Dragon Claw Phantoms that barely managed to lift it. No wonder the ship had been slow; it was dragging them down.

Accelerate, never stop speeding up.

By noon, a loud crash erupted from the ship’s left side, sending up a massive water column.

Then, a twenty-zhang-long giant fish leapt from the sea surface. Fortunately, the ship was quick enough to swerve away. A hard collision would have wasted many talismans.

The crew was well-prepared, but surprisingly, Li Hui stepped away from his station and said to Chef Zhao, “You take charge. This is just an insignificant hurdle on our way back. Starting today, everyone must handle their responsibilities independently. Failure means death; to survive, we must all improve together.”

Li Hui walked off! He did not look back as he entrusted the Wave Breaking Cone to a stunned Chef Zhao.

“Boss! I, I…”

Huo Qiniang kicked him sharply, yelling, “What’s the matter? The young master needs rest! If you want to leave Wan Nest Island alive, can’t you even manage one ship? Keep whining, and I’ll toss you into the sea to feed the fish!”

Chef Zhao had been living too easily; he deserved to be scolded!

That kick snapped him to attention; he took several heavy breaths, his jiggling face contorted with fury as he barked, “Follow orders! There are definitely shadows of the giant fish in the sea. Ensure proper reconnaissance and avoid early encounters! Move, hurry!”

“Su Qing’er, Long Yun, you two take charge of the bow and stern respectively. Adapt to any surprises. Listen carefully; once you’re on this ship, you have no autonomy. We, the twenty-two of us, are a team; no one should drag anyone down. If you disobey orders, I’ll kick you off the ship.”

“Hmph, relying on the tiger’s might!” Su Qing’er scoffed, leaping onto the war nest drum at the ship’s front. Positioned there, she could initiate action if any situation arose, maximizing efficiency under her command.

Long Yun walked towards the stern. He had the chance to leave but stayed behind, not for Longde Bank, but out of pure desire to see more of the world. Why wait until he was old to travel?

He was that kind of pure-hearted person.

As for danger? Where was there no danger? He grew tired of watching his teacher at the bank scheming against others and disliked the designation they had given him. Li Hui provided him with an excuse to escape that suffocating environment without resistance, flowing away with the ship!

“I’m free! Off to explore the wide world. From today on, I shall call myself Si Ma Suiyun!”

Li Hui was fast asleep. He had laid so many talisman formations on the ship that even if they crashed into something, they would manage to get through, so he wasn’t worried.

The reason he left the ship in Chef Zhao’s hands was that the latter had been living too well lately and forgotten the days at Wan Nest Island. It was time to squeeze the lessons out of him. Without training now, when real danger struck, they would surely be caught off guard.

Daytime was manageable, but nighttime brought real danger. The Wave Breaking Cone encountered peril twice, and the crew, inexperienced, wasted many reserves.

Everyone faced the dangers together. After leaving the Great Kun Sea, Li Hui refreshed and stepped up the pace. With all the spiritual shells used and Miao Jade consumed, he prepared the Five-Color Fortune Coins. In comparison to his life, what were these materials?

In ten days, everyone on board grew rapidly.

Each person was allowed to sleep only two hours a day; when time was up, they had to wake up to switch places with others. The sea became increasingly perilous, with bizarre sea beasts appearing sporadically.

Li Hui released Ao Chongguang and Ao Chonglin to guard against storms and toxins and exert pressure on certain sea beasts, deterring them from causing chaos.

“It’s too slow! I need to burn talismans to move forward.”

“Just follow the boss’s orders. The Hongmo Sect belongs to those lowlifes, and I never want to go into the sea again,” Chef Zhao muttered bitterly, unable to forget everything that had happened over the past year.

The Wave Breaking Cone’s speed surged as the talismans that aided in lifting and flying burned rapidly. Li Hui still felt it was slow and began consuming artifact fragments wildly to enhance their speed, finally reaching the first checkpoint after fifteen days of leaving the Thousand Islands.

The return journey held three challenging checkpoints.

The first checkpoint was the Black Wind Strait, just in time for the black wind fish to return for spawning, which would make them wildly aggressive. The skies were thick with black wind, and a careless move could lead to encountering fish eggs. If one egg exploded, it would trigger a massive explosion, bringing disaster upon them!

The difficulty lay in the drifting fish eggs in that black wind, and a ship like the Wave Breaking Cone could not avoid them. If surrounded by black wind fish, destruction would be inevitable.

Of course, there were other sea routes, but according to the calculations of the high-level practitioners at the Little Heavenly Machine Pavilion, taking alternative routes would be even trickier; there were several vicious sea beasts migrating in droves. An ordinary practitioner at the Bosa stage could easily perish in those waters, while only All-Manifestation Realm cultivators could come and go freely.

This time it was Li Hui’s turn to take charge; he had to breach the Black Wind Strait at the fastest speed. The black wind was not just a breeze, but instead, it was filled with Azure Sky evil energy mixed in, creating a formidable obstacle, akin to forming its own realm. A moment’s carelessness meant absolute ruin!